I didn't grow up watching the anime. So my first piece of media outside the games was the manga. The stark contrast in storytelling is night and day. The anime is a muddled mess of inconsequential stories. With no real goal for the protagonist beyond collecting meaningless badges. The manga has a clear objective for the protagonist and even an antagonist to overcome. With a steady pace that reaches an eventual climax. The anime just meanders until the next region. You could finish the entire manga in the span of a season of the anime. So why bother watching it?