- XY was one of the most boring points of the series, or at least the last half was. They had went back to relying on the formula 90% of the time after BW had offered them some reasonable storytelling freedom, and even worse it was largely at its most stale. Everything felt like it was on autopilot, stock/catchphrases were spammed, the protagonists lacked agency outside by-the-numbers plots, and any time it looked like they were gonna do something interesting, an old trick like a Team Rocket interruption would happen. It felt like they were using the hype train (over a fake promise no less) to excuse keeping most of the series on 'autopilot'. Even worse, since XY wanted to take itself more seriously than previous series, it lacked even the intentional in-universe jadedness about the repetition.
- Serena was kinda boring. Again she was stuck in a series she wasn't allowed to remotely break from autopilot, she was a natural winner at nearly everything she tried (or in exceptions like battling, would just be plot armoured out of proper challenges anyway) and the shipping wasn't really interesting when Ash completely stonewalled her most of the series, having very few organic interactions with her.
- SM was rather slapdash in execution, but after XY it was a breath of fresh air, largely because there was WAY more spontaneity about it. Interactions were a bigger focus and felt way more organic, fillers were no longer repetitive and were actually enjoyable, the formula was only moderately used and floodgates were opened without relying on a hype train, an almost opposite of how XY worked. I definitely understand why many don't think it worked and was poorly executed, pacing was awful and in many cases it seemed unsure what to do with itself, but I feel it was a very necessary experiment.
- SM had the best male companion focus. This isn't as controversial for Kiawe I suppose, but I seem to be one of few who liked Sophocles, who I thought had a decent if subtle character arc. Female companions did kinda get screwed over though, even Lillie.
- I tend to overlook prestige in captures and evolutions with a Pokemon in favour of if the Pokemon in question is actually interesting with their trainer. Melmetal worked fine and they didn't over rely on its mythical status to shill it. Pikachu, Rowlet and Squirtle are memorable and rounded Pokemon despite never evolving. There's actually plenty of Pokemon I didn't really favour evolving since they tend to end up losing a lot of their personality and becoming battle bots to shill their trainer, though even then if they are done well and still likeable I can approve (I miss Rockruff, but Lycanroc was done well and was a good mix of badass while still having his old quirks and interactions).