[Powder]

I wasn't big on the animation style myself until I watched an episode or two, & then I fell in love with it. It's really fun, & very clean aesthetically There's a much wider range of expressions, some of which being comically exaggerated to great effect. It may have a slightly more kid oriented look than before, but it hasn't become more childish or anything.

The tone is more or less consistent with past material, I guess? I'd say Ash is a little more mature, but not necessarily in that he's more serious, just less goofy, maybe. I'm a bit behind but at least in the first 20 episodes (that's as far as I've gotten so far) there hasn't been much of a "filler" feel yet, & it's different in that Ash isn't traveling a whole lot. His sight-seeing has all been local, there's a lot of getting to know his knew peers & whatnot. He's in school (I use that term lightly) sometimes too, which is unique to this season. If you like everything that came before this, you'll like this too. I for one am enjoying it more than the last few years of material, but Best Wishes was the last season I was really into, so my taste may be different than yours.