YMMV / Pocket Monsters: The Animation

• Angst Aversion: Despite being written by Takeshi Shudo (whom many fans agree was the only top creative mind who wanted to do more than plug merchandise with an episodic formula), seeing his Darker and Edgier interpretation of the Pokémon world (in which, for example, Gym Leaders are disqualified for losing four times in a row and as such bribe challengers to lose for large amounts of money) can be rather off-putting for some, even those who enjoy the episodes and movies he wrote.
• Angst? What Angst?: Her husband ran off, just like her father had years ago, yet Delia doesn't seem to mind. It's mentioned that she no longer loves her husband, but she hasn't divorced him and turns down suitors.
• Fanfic Fuel: The books are considered an Alternate Continuity by most fans for a couple of reasons (tone, anime info conflicting with the info within, etc.) however it's still used as a source of ideas for fanfics seeking to expand on the series lore, especially for works that mention or focus on Ash's father, the family history of Delia and the Oak family, what Pallet Town is like, Ash's childhood, history of Pallet Town, and the state of the world at large.
• Harsher in Hindsight: Shudo wanted to end the anime in a Downer Ending in which Pokemon would rebel against humanity, with Pikachu as the rebellion's leader and Team Rocket's Meowth as an ambassador/translator, and Ash realizing his dream of being a Pokémon Master is a naught but a dream, and he has to wake up. N and Team Plasma would definitely support such a rebellion.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • There's a passage where a character, implied to be Professor Oak, waxes poetic about what might happen if various inanimate objects turned out to have Pokémon versions of themselves. Many of these examples now are actual Pokémon. The examples given are fighter jets (Latias and Latios, the Dragapult line), tanks and pistols (tenuously the Octillery line), swords (the Aegislash line), and dolls (Banette).
  • One passage had Delia describe something similar to the World Coronation Series, including mention of a Master Class.
• Periphery Demographic: Lore fans find this series, much like The Electric Tale of Pikachu find the series interesting not for its infamous nature (in this case its dark and bleak take on the anime world) but for its expansion on elements from the anime and different takes on controversial moments in the series (for example a better take on the infamously Broken Aesop of the fourth episode is better applied in this adaption than in the anime).
• Values Dissonance: Almost done to a deliberate degree. In these novels, ten years old counts as being a legal adult. They can get jobs, get arrested, even get married… it doesn’t take a genius to figure out why these elements were never incorporated into the anime.
• What Do You Mean, It's for Kids?: Has some pretty adult themes for a kid's book, namely children being legal adults at age ten, Teen Pregnancy and adultery, Pikachu dying if using all of its electricity, to name a few examples. Of course, this is Takeshi Shudō we're talking about, who wanted the anime to be just as much for adults as for kids.

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