>>31486026IIRC the Sabrina episode was setting up Ash acting reckless like he usually does so kids watching it would probably pick up on the fact that Ash was in the wrong for acting that way, especially after you see that his actions end up putting all their lives in danger. Usually when Ash was doing something dumb the show would point it out in some way.
Also Ash becoming a bland goody kid is probably so they can avoid controversy more than what they think would make for an entertaining show. I mean, they won't even put Porygon in the show and almost never use any moves similar to Earthquake. Okay the former I kinda get since the seizures thing was specifically something caused by the Pokemon cartoon, but the latter is just silly.
>>31486027People who say the early leagues were great definitely have nostalgia goggles on IMO. The animation was hilariously bad (obviously at the time it was fine but there's no reason to defend that now).
Some of the league battles can be enjoyable but that's in spite of the animation and not because of it. Ash vs Gary, for example, is something you enjoy because they build up the rivalry of the characters in various episodes and it's something the show kinda teases you with since the first episode. The battle itself was pretty shitty since like half the match was OHKOs.
