The Sun & Moon Pokémon anime was divisive among fans and critics alike, who both praised the change in tone as refreshing, but disliked the art direction for feeling it had become too cartoonish. At the time of its initial release, it was also criticized for being too similar to the Yo-kai Watch anime, which was a direct competitor to the Pokémon franchise for a short time.
As the show progressed, it began to find its identity and culminated in one of the most well-known and loved finales among all of the Pokémon series. However, that didn't stop some fans from finding fault in the way it closed off to make way for the Pokémon Journeys series to follow, which promises to be somewhat of a return to form for Ash, the ageless Pokémon Trainer.
10 Not Perfect: Releasing Naganadel
Ash has a long history of releasing his Pokémon when they are needed for something greater than battling, from his beloved Butterfree to the infamous Greninja release. Naganadel is a bit of a unique situation for Ash, as he has released it on more than one occasion.
The Ultra Beast returned to Ash just in time for his 6v6 battle against Kukui, having evolved since their last encounter, and it was expected that Naganadel might stick around for a while once the final league battle was over. Unfortunately, it was immediately released again following the conclusion of the Alola Pokémon League and sent back through the Ultra Wormhole.
9 Perfect: Mimikyu's Growth
Over the course of the series run, Jesse's Mimikyu had a unique relationship with Ash's Pikachu that hadn't been seen by Pokémon before, particularly with other Mimikyu. There had been instances of jealousy between Pokémon for how one is liked more than another, but Mimikyu took it to a whole new level with its aggressive hatred of Ash's starter Pokémon.
It would constantly ignore Jesse's orders in favor of taking a shot at Pikachu, usually with less than successful results, but it wasn't until the end of the series that it had a change of heart. After seeing its reflection for the first time, it sparked an epiphany that made it release it shouldn't be so violent and was able to close off its character arc in a way that hasn't been seen before with Team Rocket's Pokémon.
8 Not Perfect: Ash Leaving Most Of His Pokemon With Kukui
It's expected nowadays for Ash to start each new regional journey with just Pikachu, building a new team from the ground up to tackle a new challenge rather than relying on Pokémon he knows he could easily win with. It's a great way for the series to introduce new Pokémon characters and stories and usually leads to Ash's team being left with Professor Oak once the battles are over. However, this time Ash didn't leave his Pokémon with his long time babysitter.
As Alola is shown to be quite far away from Kanto, Ash's home region, it makes sense that his Alolan Pokémon would be better equipped to stay with Kukui instead of Oak, but it also means they won't be able to bond with the rest of Ash's Pokémon.
7 Perfect: Lillie, Gladion & Lusamine Search For Mohn
In both the anime and Pokémon Sun & Moon games, Mohn is heavily involved in the Ultra Wormhole research at Aether Foundation before his sudden disappearance. He appears to the player character as the man running the Poké Pelago but is given some form of closure in Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon when he returns to Lusamine with no memory of his family or past life.
In the anime, he is mentioned several times but never seen, with Lillie, Gladion, and Lusamine all believing he is lost forever until a fateful encounter with Tapu Fini reveals that he may still be alive and prompts the broken family to search for their father and husband. Hopefully, their meeting will be less somber than in the video games.
6 Not Perfect: Ash's Melmetal
In a twist few fans saw coming, Ash caught the mysterious Meltan for his Alola team after it became separated from its group and grew attached to Ash's Rowlet, a friendship that would only grow stronger over time. As one of the smallest Pokémon in the series, Metlan's battle strengths were fairly limited, although it showed great potential on occasion.
This would change during the Alola League, as the other Meltan returned and fused into Melmetal and created what should have been a powerful addition to Ash's team. Unfortunately, Melmetal had fewer wins after it evolved than it did as a Meltan, and was left with Kukui after being shown only a handful of times.
5 Perfect: The Masked Royal Unmasked
For the final round of the Alola League, the winner was to face the Masked Royal, a mysterious and powerful trainer who, in a twist that shocked no one, was actually Professor Kukui.
While it began to grow incredibly frustrating that not even the adult characters had figured out who was under the mask, the eventual reveal of Kukui being the Masked Royal was played out perfectly as a comedic moment. The mask flew off of his face by accident while he helped Ash deal with an Ultra Beast invasion.
4 Not Perfect: Jesse & James Leaving Their Pokemon
They may be constantly chasing after Ash and his Pikachu, but it seems that Team Rocket are also picking up some of the protagonist's bad habits when it comes to their own Pokémon. At the conclusion of the Alola series, Jesse and James are recalled to Kanto by Giovanni and subsequently decide to leave their Pokémon behind.
While the pair may have had a good reason for leaving their Pokémon behind, believing that they wouldn't be happy at Team Rocket HQ, it didn't make their release any less heartbreaking. This was particularly true for James' Mareanie, who had a hard time understanding what it meant for James to leave.
3 Perfect: Everyone Begins Their Own Journey
Sun & Moon was unique as the number of side characters that all got their own arcs, as well as a decent amount of screen time, was significantly higher than past seasons. After the Pokémon League had ended, all of Ash's classmates have learned enough from their time at the school to be confident enough to go on their own adventures, and their future endeavors weren't limited to Pokémon battles and contests like fans had seen in the past.
It was a nice reminder that the world of Pokémon isn't limited to various competitions and that there are people in the world who just want to be better at what they love, no matter what that is.
2 Not Perfect: Ash's Incineroar
The Fire-Type starter Pokémon on Ash's team all tend to have long drawn out storylines that create an interesting and fleshed out character, from the defiant Charizard to the abused Infernape. Like those past team members, Litten had its own struggles to overcome, eventually holding a fierce rivalry with Kukui's Incineroar that would come to a head in the final battle of the Pokémon League.
After an intense battle, Toracat finally proved it was the better of the two, before suddenly evolving into Incineroar and passing out. While this was a nice end to their rivalry, it also meant that viewers never got to see Ash's Incineroar in action, as Ash left Alola shortly after this.
1 Perfect: Ash Finally Won A Pokemon League
For many fans, Ash should have won the previous Pokémon League in Kalos, as his team was one of his most powerful to date as well as having arguably his strongest Pokémon, Greninja, obtain its own unique form.
With a disappointing previous League finish, it was both surprising and exciting for Ash to finally come in first place after many failed attempts to win a regional Pokémon League.