>>54276484The weird thing is, it started out doing its damnest NOT to bring back any old characters. There were bunch of anime-original characters, or characters from the games that didn't appear before. To the point that instead of a rematch with Lt. Surge, they had him replaced with a new Vermilion Gym Leader (who also uses a Raichu) while he's "off training".
The series started to take a major shift after Iris's return. Before this episode, it seems the writers were trying to do their own thing with the series, but from this episode onward, they just went full fanservice.
