Both the anime and the games would be kino if they were being handled by literally anybody else. I know that’s not exactly an unpopular opinion around here, but I wanted to examine this in-depth. Now we can sit around shittalking Ohmori and jerking off Morimoto all day as usual, but what I want to address in particular is Mega Evolution.
Megas served (note the past tense) a three-fold purpose; reigniting the hype for old favorites and making them competitively viable again (Charizard), making current favorites seem even cooler (Garchomp), and giving forgotten mons a new purpose (Audino). But rather than treating it as the revolutionary new game mechanic that it was, Game Freak just saw it as another gimmick for them to abandon once Gen VI ended. Some hold out hope that we’ll get Sinnoh starter Megas in Gen 8, but I remain skeptical.
To add insult to injury, the Dex entries for the Megas in S&M made it seem as through the process actively harms our bros physically and mentally, a stark contrast from the “power of friendship” theme they gave it just three years prior. As if to say “Megas suck, look how shiny Z-Moves and Alolan forms are!” What’s especially telling is that the main character of their anime series never even got a Mega Ring, despite having ~3 mons that would benefit. And speaking of the anime…