As a kid, the Pokemon anime was my absolute favourite show. However, after re-watching the show as an adult, I've noticed a couple aspects that have room for improvement. I've really only seen the Indigo league, so I don't know if later seasons improved or not, but judging by the Orange Islands they get worse.
Cut down on Team Rocket! - This is one of the bigger problems with the show, I think. Now, I like Team Rocket. They are funny, charming, and actually can be pretty cool at times, but there is just way too much of them. They are in Every. Single. Episode. This makes it so that the plot of nearly every episode is "Team Rocket tries to steal " and nothing else. No matter what is happening in the plot Team Rocket inevitably comes in, steals the spotlight, and generally wastes time for a bit before blasting off. I think even if they were only in every other episode it would be a vast improvement. That would allow the show to explore plots other than Team Rocket and give us a little time to miss them before they reappear. Also, the things they try to steal can get pretty stupid. There is an episode where they go all out trying to kidnap two Nidoran! Like, what the heck?!
Make Ash earn his gym badges - Ash earns 3/8 gym badges. As in he only wins 3 of the matches against gym leaders, and the rest were inconclusive at best. This really hurts Ash's image as a credible Pokemon trainer, and seriously, Ash can't afford to look less competent. This one is probably related to the Team Rocket problem above as a good number his badges were earned by simply dealing with Team Rocket's interference (3 of them).
Have more recurring characters - I can't count how many times Ash and Co. said something along the lines of "I hope we meet again real soon!" only for the character to then turn around and drop off the face of the planet. Now not every character needs to come back, but it would be nice to have a couple characters that meet up with the main group from time to time and maybe stick around for a couple episodes. Like Snap or Ritchie, only more frequently than once every 200 episodes. Also they completely wasted their opportunity with Snap, he could have been developed into an interesting character, but they gave him barely anything to do for the couple episodes that he hung around. And really, what happened to AJ? Did he ever make it to the Pokemon League? For such a serious trainer it's hard to believe that he didn't.
Anyway, those are my main gripes with the show. I think if those points had been implemented the show would have been vastly improved. There are probably quite a few other problems with the show, but that's enough for an OP.
[link]http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/18.933811-How-could-the-Pokemon-anime-have-been-improved[/link]
