More often than not, I think this is the problem. Look at Hidamari Sketch for example. The first season has a LOT of the "static characters with two frames of mouth movement" thing, and often cuts out to stylised backgrounds or solid colours when people are talking or moving around significantly.
Obviously the show picked up some better funding after the first season, because each season since the first has gotten better and better in the animation department. Do keep in mind this is a Slice-of-Life anime and as such there's not a lot of room for delicious & eloquent animation, but the difference between first and other seasons is noticeable.

And yes, I too dislike the whole "spiky haired kid saves the world by playing a children's card game "battling" the bad dudes with collectable children's toys" theme. At least in Pokщmon it sorta made sense - if you've just beaten up the bad guy's pokщmon, he's got nothing to protect himself from your superpowered electric death rat. You're effectively holding him at gunpoint :P