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The switch to digital lineart and coloring hurt A LOT of Japanese artists, and the expectation that artists should put out work even faster with digital tools led to a slipping of self-imposed standards. Nobody at GF is going to tell Sugimori that art looks bad.
At the same time, the self-fulfilling prophecy of marketable, easy moeblob character design wormed its way into every franchise in the past 20 years which further lowers the standards for 'mon and character designs.
Sugimori should have never been the primary artist, and should have just been the final editor with the power to revise and reject the designs. Pokemon having various artists and design inspirations helps regions feel organic and distinct.
