Honestly there were some good episodes based on pokemon changing as they evolve and whether that’s something they and their trainer actually want. Digimon Tamers played with it a little bit but not for long.
Also yeah, the evolution lines are just so fucked. I remember trying out the card game ages ago and being so confused by how different the evolution lines were from the anime.
The above being said I never turned down an opportunity to watch Digimon as a kid, I still liked it a lot.
Oh for sure. The most recent series, Ghost Game, was pretty good, too (as long as you don’t expect anything from the scant overarching plot).
I read an article that said that the Ghost Game show was intentionally built up as a villain of the week show, with a minimal overarching plot, because the creators were aware of how successful tiktok and short form media was.