>>43248077If they absolutely wanted they could have used the older style but given it a higher budget.
I'm not a huge fan of the style, but I do like it better than some seasons where there was little animation and the art assets made everything look lifeless and sterile. It has merit in doing what it's trying to accomplish and had this been an original Non-Pokemon project and refined with that in mind, on an art level, it would have been better received
I appreciate that the newest season listened to some feedback refining the style to look more in-line in with previous seasons while still retaining some of the new that was added in with S&M to make it easier to animate and characters expressing more. It's not perfect, but they want to make something for people to enjoy. I don't follow enough behind the scenes, but I do know a few of the crew members talk openly about the show on twitter, and they seem genuine. Masaaki Iwane's been with the series since the first season and you can tell he genuinely cares about the anime (and Pokemon), drawing forgotten characters and lamenting not being able to have older characters re-appear, even answering fan questions about his work. It makes me glad to know that people working on it actually care, even if it doesn't resonate with me.
I still don't think it'll ever look as good as it did in the first season, but I'm a sucker for hand-painted cels, and it could have such beautiful watercolor backgrounds. I can admit though that it still had plenty of stunted episodes with little animation.
I miss Jessie having red hair instead of magenta 
