YMMV / Pokémon Evolutions

• Fight Scene Failure: A criticism of "The Rival," whose battle scenes are seen as too close to the games in question instead of the more active fights of the regular anime and previous episodes like Lunala versus Necrozma.
• Growing the Beard: With the exception of the polarizing "The Rival", the later episodes of Evolutions, such as "The Plan", "The Wish", and "The Show" are more highly regarded than the first three episodes.
• It's the Same, Now It Sucks!: Part of the reason for the lower regard to the earlier episodes, as the adaption of plots that had been adapted previously (in the main anime and in Generations) contributed to the poorer reception of the Galar and Kalos episodes, and the Alola episode to a lesser extent as most fans did praise the Lunala VS Necrozma fight animation.
• Sequelitis: While not seen as a bad series, reactions to the series have generally been seen as less positive than the preceding Generations series.
• Tear Jerker:
  • In "The Plan", Hilda at least appears to be crying for N when she confronts him, knowing that he's being used but that she still must fight him in order to get him to see reason.
  • Similarly, Zinnia tearing up as she watches May preparing to capture Rayquaza, flashing back to her childhood and giving us the first ever look at who is strongly implied to be the mysterious Aster.
• They Changed It, Now It Sucks!: The general reaction to Barry's personality shift to a far less energetic and emotive character in "The Rival" from his traditional characterization, being one of the two main criticisms of the episode alongside the fight scenes.
• Unexpected Character:
  • The key art for the series reveals that Green/Leaf, the female player character from FireRed and LeafGreen, will make an appearance in some fashion. This surprised many fans since she has never been considered canon in the games except for her appearance in Pokémon Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee!, which verge on Alternate Continuity. Not only that, in the episode itself, she's the primary focus character.
  • By the same token, the second trailer provides a Freeze-Frame Bonus revealing that Elaine, the female player character of the Let's Go games will also be showing up.
• Visual Effects of Awesome: The In-Universe practical effects used in "The Show" look absolutely gorgeous, featuring the Kimono Girls' Eeveelutions using their elemental moves to progress the retelling of the two Towers, several Pokémon spreading powder for visual pizzaz, and Flying-type Pokémon performing shadow puppetry.

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