Ah alola! I love this series so much. It's funny how when the first poster came out I was disgusted and hated the trailer and everything. And then I watched the first two episodes. The art style was still horrendous to me but this series had a charm that I liked. As episodes went by I was enthralled by the soul of the series, how moving it was, how it had so many Charming moments, so many personalities. It was legit funny a lot of the times. It's fillers were new and amazing, no longer the same boring ones and had so much heart put into it that I loved it. The artstyle stopped bothering me. Heck i even like Trio's art for those seasons and don't mind Ash's art. The family bonds were so wholesome. The cast felt like a big one family. Kukui Burnet ash were just so nice together. And I love his alola team so much. They were well rounded, and all had development. All had great personalities.
Now let's talk about one of the main themes of this series: Family. That theme was so prevalent throughout the show. That mallow episode was just top tier. When that episode aired, there were no sides to the fandom, no toxicity, no hate. Only love for how beautiful that episode was. Same with the stoutland litten episode. We got to see each cast members family. How they supplemented each other. Each new Pokemon felt like a new family member. Gladion and Ash's rivalry too was very nice, and very very well done. I completely agree with Ash's team staying in alola. It's their home. As the theme of the Pokemon and nature coexisting and supporting each other existed throughout the series, it made more sense for me to see Ash's alolan team stay at Ash's second home. Alola felt like a second home to ash. That island island episode where Ash and Pikachu were alone, gods rewatch that episode. It forshadowed the end of the SM so well and displayed how much ash loves alola. And hence, he deserved to be the champion of that region.
Thank you sun and moon for giving me a series full of soul and heart. For tying up arcs and having beautiful stories. Thank you for being my 2nd fav series, and honestly if nostalgia for DP is removed, it might be my fav. And thank you for carrying its soul into PM(2019).