This game has, without a doubt, the best gym leader designs in the entire series so far and we've only seen the first 3 (Bea & Allistar are alt gym leaders).
Milo, Nessa and Bea & Allister BTFO out of any other games first 3 gym leaders.
Gen 1
>Brock, Misty and Lt. Surge
3 solid and memorable gym leaders, admittedly decent competition for gen 8s but they still don't cut it.
Gen 2
>Falkner, Bugsy and Whitney
Another solid showing but once again these don't have the same impact as the gen 8 gym leaders either.
Gen 3
>Roxanne, Brawley and Wattson
Roxanne is great, the other 2 are meh.
Gen 4
>Roark, Gardenia and Maylene
Roark is shit, Gardenia and Maylene are decent
Gen 5
>3 waiter fags, Lenor, Burgh
Unironically the worst starting gym leaders in the entire series.
Aesthetically ugly and forgettable
Gen 6
>Viola, Grant, Korrina
Mediocre, Korrina is pretty great though.
Gen 7
Doesn't have gyms.

Character designs are absolutely on point so far with gen 8. Every single gym leader has been a hit.
They look great, their personalities shine through, their animations are great and quirks are great. If there is one thing that gen
8 has absolutely nailed so far, it's character designs.