The anime has actually made a turn around this region. Unova was just a huge low point. Kalos has taken all the best features of previous regions. The original theme song was actually a parody of the first ever Pokemon theme too. It has three companions, plus a sibling duo. A common trope for the side male that isn't annoying (since even though his inventions tend to blow up, they don't always do, which is nice). They brought back the whole one of the companions is a gym leader thing. Ash actually knows stuff about Pokemon like he did in Sinnoh. They reference past series as well, which is nice. We had a short Caterpie equivalent arc. They also don't always focus on ash for episodes too. So it's improved in many ways.