Interestingly enough i hasn't being one of i suppose rare fans which watched it from episode 1 until now. Barring few banned episodes which are hard to go by and newest pokemon movie which im planning to when i catch enough spare time.
However that's not to say i didn't thought of taking break from it or even considered quitting due to some rather jarring decisions and bad directions anime headed to. First time it happened at end of Johto when Misty was replaced liking character and original trio chemistry being disappointing to see such great character which still had lot of unexplored potential about her leaving in such abrupt way. With series losing some of humor and charm her strong presence brought to show. Though i decided to give chance top May and AG and i grew to like them over time.
Second time it happened after voice actors were replaced with dubbing being took over by PUSA finding how we lost spontaneous, unforced and natural portrayal of voices for main characters bring jarring to get used to new ones whose acting felt out of place. However even though i still prefer older dub i can say i grew to accepot it with new VAs doing decent job compared to early days.
So all in all despite all changes or moves which changed things for better or worse depending on your own according i managed to stick with anime. With pokemon while not being especially deep and quality written series having certain lighthearted appeal, relaxing note and journey aspect of exploring new regions, people and cultures which makes you excited and hooked toward it.
Most of Johto had tons of horrible filler, how did you make it through that? Also most people found Misty really dull during that arc, while May was actually the reason people started to like the anime again. Hoenn was a much better arc than Johto as anyone who watched through it can attest.
Im not sure if its fair to talk in everyone name, because each person has different perception on each saga and preference of what they will find appealing or not. Perhaps you found Johto saga boring, but i can assure you how many would think exact opposite.
This saga had its share of good moments like Lugia and red Gyara arc,Whirl Cup(where Misty shined through whole region most being done in pretty good way),Silver Conference league,breeding contest Brock had with Suzie,episodes like Seaking catching contest,one with wild Teddiursa(pretty funny thanks to nice dynamic between redhead and wild pokemon)etc.
Group as a whole worked well having pretty good chemistry between Ash,Misty and Brock seeming like long time friends providing funny moments,and interesting dynamics.
Problem is that some things due to lack of experience weren't done properly.
Also dunno about you but Misty wasn't boring at all there. Ill give you how she didn't received as much development as she should had and there were times where it seemed like she was on sidelines. But generally speaking she was very vibrant, playful and temperament as character bringing lot of comedy and dynamic interactions, battled more compared to Kanto forming pretty interesting team and had some pretty good growth entering several competitions, meeting other specialists and gradually overcoming complex of inferiority imposed on her by sisters.
Personally i liked May,welcomed addition of extra side quest in firm of contests and found her rivals funny, peculiar and multidimensional. But i can say without doubt how anime for me lost great deal of appeal, lively humor, sarcasm and flare Misty colorful personality brought to anime.
Not to mention we got deprived of opportunity to learn more about character relatively unexplored past and story with her water career offering lot of untapped potential and several directions through which writers could had continued on. Whether it involved expansion on Whirl Cup creating fresh, alternative quest in form of water based events in which people could had enjoyed in case of getting bored with gym quest, taking her through E4 route with such members being one type masters meeting other specialists etc.
With that said i can understand why so many lost interest in pokemon series around time AG began finding series lost its identity and purpose it established around itself with backlash being ensued to happen after such drastic change made for first time.
