Very good points, very solid summation of things. Once you isolate the key differences like that, it's really easy to recognize.
I mean, since when have we had another case like The Marsh Badge, in which the gym leader was slightly corrupted and threatened Ash and co upon defeat, or they traveled to a dark and mysterious haunted tower to obtain a ghost Pokemon that would be key in success over the gym leader. There was more of an "adventure story" to it. Now it's more training and battle-oriented, in which Ash and co must develop techniques and strategies, or gain further experience before taking on a gym leader like Fantina. It's kind of straightforward. Now we see a lot of Ash, and even Dawn, training to improve, and actually developing various techniques/moves. Whereas in Kanto, battles at time would take a backseat, and Ash wouldn't even win each of his badges conventionally.
There is deeeefinitely a difference, and it really just comes down to preference, because both are great. In fact, if you really look at it, you can kind of see a steady development towards where the show is now...Kanto was a good mixture of adventure and battle, leaning towards more adventure.OI took this adventure theme and ran with it, by having the gang explore the islands, and even having the different gym leaders provide particular challenges and tasks that varied from battling.
While returning to the usual battle format, Johto had also packed the show with adventure, so much so that they had many episodes centering around quests that were unrelated to the goal of the protagonist, creating at least a 20-30 ep spand between most gym battles. In doing so, it tried to explore more of the habitat and nature of different Pokemon, which separated itself from Kanto in the type of adventure aspect.
Hoenn really began to emphasize the battling and competitive aspect of Pokemon more. Adventures were still carried out, but it was clear that there was kind of an overturn as to the direction of the show. With the addition of contests, we would not only see gym battles galore, but those of the contest as well, creating more competition, and more training involved.
Battle Frontier was like the exact opposite of OI in some aspects. It was clear that the theme was definitely to conquer the BF and Contests in Kanto.
And then, of course, there's Sinnoh. Sinnoh obviously has adventures as well, but it's quite clear that the competition aspect of the show has accelerated. We have a lot of onscreen training going on - much more than any amount we've had in the past. There's an emphasis on strategy, gaining experience, techniques, etc... All relating back to the main goal of either of the protagonists. Even in the Galactic Arcs, etc... There's a lot more battling going on than say, when Ash would take on some TR heads in the older seasons. The ratio's shifted to get to this point.
