Ash’s best rival battle in a league

[Paulisthebest]

Really, Nando didn't need a League battle period much less an epic/good one. He already got his fill of the epic limelight with Zoey at the cost of Dawn and Jessie's screentime; that's a lot for a character who only barely appeared in the show. I really wish Nando wasn't in the League at all. Cut that and maybe one more pre-League filler and maybe we would've gotten full battles that Conway and Barry deserved. Though for what we got and the utter lack of rivalry between him and Ash, Conway certainly made the best of his League battle; it's waaaay up there for me. Not just for the amazing strategy utilized, but the utterly horrifying and suggestive moves pulled that I couldn't believe the show managed to get away with. That in of itself was a milestone. But really, Conway should have been Dawn's rival. And at least Conway appeared in at least seven episodes before the League; that's more than what characters like Kenny got pre-GF, so for a minor recurring character, the creeper got a good amount of screen time.

But uh, yeah, the Paul battle is the best, no questions asked. I really should re-watch the Gary battle someday, though. I barely remember it, as it's been years since I watched it. I'd take points off that battle and put it below the Paul battle if only for the shoddy resolution, though. Becoming a researcher out of the blue, whut.

Those writers and storyboard artists are gonna have to pull off a miracle to out-do the Paul battle. I'm dead serious, here.

I agree, the same thing with Shooti based on what we've seen so far there is not too much to him compared to Paul's first couple of appearances. Also, the next rival battle in a league has its work cut out if the writers want to top Paul.

 

[Yamato-san]

Ash Vs. Katie match is still one of my favorites. All of Ash's Hoenn Pokemon shined as they usually do and the animation was fantastic. Katie also used game-strategy which was nice.

not exactly in-game. A move like Disable prevents a Pokemon from using a move again, but seeing as Cotoise already used Iron Defense once, its defense should still be monstrously high (not that it should do much against Golduck's special-based move anyway). Still, seeing Trainers actually invoke strategies that involve switching the team around is extremely rare in the anime (switching period is rather rare, though I've seen it more frequently in Diamond&Pearl). I agree with what was said earlier, Kaede is easily the best non-rival opponent Satoshi's ever faced (and even if she were included amongst his main rivals, she'd still be pretty high up there). Anyway, here's how I'd look at the rivals and their respective battles, in ascending order:

Hiroshi, Hadzuki, Tetsuya: Yeah, I'm doing all three of these end-tournament Trainers at once. As characters, these guys really sucked (though I'd say they got slightly better with each tournament). They just happen to encounter Satoshi at the start of or during the tournament, get all buddy-buddy with him, and eventually he loses against them (and with the exception of Tetsuya, who at least had the decency to win the whole thing, they'd only go on to lose against the next opponent, and this was repeated in the Whirl Cup as well). This formula was stupid the first time, it didn't need to get repeated twice. And it really didn't help that they were dull as shit, AND there were far more interesting rivals going around in the same tournament. Hiroshi was just a Gary Stu clone of Satoshi, Hadzuki was a blatant 3rd gen advertisement, and Tetsuya.... well, he's kinda decent, if only for the fact that HIS POKEMON was a far more interesting character than he was.

As for their battles, Hiroshi's was fucking awful. Given the shit writing of Kanto, it couldn't even end with a KO, but with Lizardon falling asleep (I guess this does further showcase Satoshi's flaw of having a disobedient Pokemon around, but it still could've been done better... at least in the Dengeki! Pikachu adaption, Satoshi had to prematurely recall his Lizardon because it was about to kill Hiroshi's). Since they had to bring him back for Jouto AND the Housou specials, it's a real damn shame they couldn't have at least given us the satisfaction of seeing Satoshi pwn his sorry ass for real. Hadzuki's was better, but prior to the (admittedly awesome) Lizardon/Bashamo fight, it really seemed like nothing more than a rushed stream of one-hit KOs (and something should be said about the last Jouto match ending in a battle between Pokemon from two completely different generations, but then again, it seems the 3rd and 4th generations are equally guilty of this, and Satoshi even agreed to only use his Houen team for the Saiyuu Tournament... though, AG as a whole did go out with that Jukain vs. Bashamo contest, at least). Once again, I'd say Tetsuya's the better of these three. Sure, the battle here also felt horribly rushed, but at least it had its moments rather than relying completely on the Pikachu vs. Nyaasu-in-boots fight and quickly offing every Pokemon prior to it (for example, Oosubame REALLY shows off just how badass it could be here, and Satoshi taking out a pseudo-legend like Metagross is no easy task).

Naoshi: Meh, he was barely Satoshi's rival to begin with. It really is a shame that for somebody played up to be both a challenger of Gyms and Contests, he had practically zero competitive encounters with either Satoshi or Hikari past his initial appearance (on the other hand, he did battle with Nozomi twice, winning one of them, which I guess would make sense given how he's a foil to Nozomi's attitude that battling and coordinating should be treated as two completely separate things). It's a real crying shame that we couldn't even see most of his battle with Satoshi (especially when the one battle that got cut off for Rocket scenes had to be the only one featuring Satoshi's Magmarashi, only now coming off of an evolution that it was unfortunately denied a decade ago), however, the Heracross vs. Korotok battle was pretty great and awesomely animated (the same could also be said of the last few seconds we saw of Magmarashi vs. Armaldo, for that matter). If nothing else, I like his seiyuu. Comparatively speaking, he looks a lot better when you fit him into the crappy bunch of rivals that Hikari was cursed with (shy of only Urara and the surprisingly competent Musashi, of course), but when you look at him as Satoshi's rival, he really can't stand out worth shit.

Takuto: For all the negativity this guy gets, I actually like him a bit. Sure, he's kind of an unexplained Gary Stu, but considering Satoshi apparently HAD to lose this tournament anyway, at least letting him get taken out by somebody who has legendaries was a decent way to go (not only that, but Satoshi was even allowed to take out two of said legendaries, this being in spite of Takuto's reputation of sweeping ALL his Gym and tournament matches with just one, so the odds were certainly stacked against him). Also, given the three rivals I mentioned above, it was nice to finally have somebody that Satoshi WOULDN'T happen to befriend at the start of the tournament. Sure, there was some foreshadowing, but for the most part, he's just a mysterious, unknown Trainer who shows up out of the blue to overwhelm Satoshi. It's far from being an unrealistic scenario, and going this route was definitely a breath of fresh air. As for his battle, one could say it was rushed for being just one episode, but then, Satoshi only faced two Pokemon which quickly wiped out most of his team. It was nice to see Jukain finally defeat a legendary after he was unfairly screwed out of a Regirock rematch last time (and being one of Satoshi's biggest powerhouses, he certainly was deserving of the feat), and I can't say Pikachu having to slowly wear down Latios was a bad way to go about it either. Overall, I wouldn't call Takuto the best character out there, but he's better than most people would give him credit for (and I dare anyone to say he was worse than Hiroshi).

Masamune: I really liked this guy. For once, we had a rival with Satoshi who was always at competitive odds with him, even if it was over rather childish things (and he was voiced by Goku, WIN!). This guy's major flaw, though, is that he showed up way too fucking late. Also, his battle wasn't particularly great. Half of it was showing how the guy had confidence issues over having an actual serious match with his friend (though I guess it works a bit in context), all the while Heigani sweeps away half his team. It was a nice moment for Heigani though, as even after Masamune got his confidence back, he still had enough in him to take out his friggin' Laglarge. Sadly, the writers then felt the need to even the playing field by making his Haganeil wipe out half of Satoshi's team (including the very shafted Cotoise, despite a type advantage). I know Haganeil's a big Pokemon, but it's far from invincible, as indicated by the fact that Satoshi's taken out at least two others prior to it. As much as it intensifies the situation, I honestly wonder if it's really fucking necessary to have almost all of Satoshi's battles ending with him down to his last Pokemon.

Kouhei: He was awesome as a character, but there was pretty much zero build-up for him as a rival (hell, there was more interaction between him and Hikari than him and Satoshi, so unless you're a rabid shipper, it doesn't seem like Satoshi has much motivation to go against this guy, at least not more than any other Trainer he faces in a tournament). Still, I was pleasantly surprised when Saikou Everyday first debuted, and he was standing there alongside Shinji, Jun, and the "oh my god, he's still alive" Naoshi. I can't say much about his battle with Satoshi. It was nice that Satoshi's Yorunozuku actually fucking did something decent (the poor thing was shafted throughout Jouto sans a single Gym battle, and like most of his Jouto reserves, went unused throughout all of AG), and Fukamaru could finally master Draco Meteor. The usage of less conventional moves from the games was a nice treat as well (though I do find it odd that the whole episode's title was about his usage of Trick Room, and he had a team full of slow Pokemon, but Trick Room was never actually used until he was down to his last Pokemon). Other than that, though, I can't say it stood out as anything particularly epic (even with the inclusion of "Mezase! Pokemon Master").

Shigeru: As a rival, this guy was barely even around. Hell, Masamune showed up late in his respective region, but I'd be willing to say even he got close to as much screen time as Shigeru got IN OVER 170 EPISODES. Still, he was kinda good as a motivator for Satoshi, and while always being a step ahead of Satoshi and rubbing it in his face isn't the best signifier of his competence as a rival, it's still kinda amusing in its own way (mostly as comedy, though). It sucks that he couldn't have actually faced Satoshi back in the Sekiei Tournament (especially if the series was meant to end afterwards as originally planned.... then again, maybe that was the only reason Shigeru lost and Hiroshi was half-assedly inserted in the first place, or at least I hope that was the case), but when they finally did go against each other in the Shirogane Tournament, it was probably one of the best battles the series would see up to that point. Only the second time ever that Satoshi would have a Full Battle, it felt a lot better paced than the Hadzuki battle afterwards, several of his old reserved Pokemon and even one of his Jouto Pokemon (Heracross; Bayleaf was unfortunately shafted here) would get ample time to shine, and surprisingly, Satoshi even resisted the urge to use Pikachu (which is especially bewildering given how much he abused the rat throughout every single one of his Jouto Gym matches).

Shinji: Best rival ever, pure and simple. He's introduced at the start of the region, it's later explained that he's as much a veteran as Satoshi is. He has conflicting ideals with Satoshi, and unlike Shigeru, he constantly has run-ins with him (their rivalry was even showcased in a variety of ways, including having to cooperate together in the Tag Battle Tournament). Hell, he was practically a regular to the Diamond/Pearl series, even managing to get a rather random cameo in that maze filler (where he's seen trying to catch an Onidrill). Fittingly, their final battle was nothing short of epic, intense, and finely animated (and I think the only three-part battle the series has ever had). Hell, the two-part Full Battle they had in the middle of the saga was pretty great as well.

I've seen some people criticize the guy because of the way he doesn't change and, after his battle with Satoshi, just walks away from the Goukazaru he previously abused without any repercussions, but I really don't see what they're getting at. While he did go a little crazy with trying to bring about Hikozaru's true strength (which he witnessed for himself shortly before catching the thing, and it's not as if Hikozaru itself wasn't interested in becoming stronger either, as even in-canon, it's highly implied that Pokemon, as competitive animals by nature, enjoy being toughened up by humans, even if it takes some borderline abusive tactics to do so; just look at Akira's Sand way back in the beginning of the series), we do see over the course of the series that he is respectful of his Pokemon, and in his final episode, clearly acknowledges Goukazaru's strength. It may be hard to notice through his constantly cold and serious demeanor, but he does show respect to his Pokemon all the same. Then there's the whole "he releases his Pokemon" deal. A lot of people have already defended this with "it's better they get released in the wild than rot in a box", but I'll do one better: it's not like Trainers are expected to befriend the Pokemon at the time of capture to begin with. Sure, Satoshi's had plenty of Pokemon willingly join him after he helped them out, but there are tons of Pokemon Satoshi just caught on a whim (like pretty much every bird he's owned up to this point), and even some he caught simply because he "wanted to own one" (Hinoarashi, Tsutarja), never actually forming a "bond" with them until well after the fact. How's this supposed to make him better than Shinji? This isn't like Dragon Quest games where, after a battle, a wild monster can suddenly get up again, take a liking to your character, and ask to join your party. This is fucking Pokemon, where you beat critters into submission before trying to contain them in what amounts to a spherical CAGE. So would anyone explain to me how targeting the stronger specimens is any worse than targeting any animal to forcefully join your party in the first place? I also like how these same people fail to bring up Shinji's Mariruri (which was rather generously given to a kid who wanted it), or the fact that Shinji's had plenty of other Pokemon (strong in the first place though they may be) lose a battle without him suddenly deeming them useless and tossing them aside. He may be a hardass, but he's far from denying when he's simply lacking as a Pokemon's Trainer.

 

[Charbok]

At the time when it was new I'd say Gary and Harrison's battles. Especially Charizard vs. Blaziken. I still remember that battle and I'll never forget how awesome it was for me when I first saw it. Right now though it's definitely Paul. I loved the development and build up of their rivalry and how when they battled in the league they did it out of respect. If Gary was around more often during Kanto and Johto then I'd rank him a little higher right now, but he only battled Ash about 2 times before the League.

I blame pretty much everyone for Ritchie's battle. Team Rocket almost got him disqualified and then the referee called a sleeping pokemon unable to battle. Plus Ash had no choice but to use Charizard because all of his other pokemon were weak because of Team Rocket's attack. The judges or someone could of at least let him heal him pokemon for an emergency like that.

 

[Dr. Buni]

Yeah, that was an epic match, the Jap music was the best of course loved the Aerial Ace/X Scissor clash in the middle of the match and then the Megahorn/Horn Attack combo!!

Exactly what I think.
It's rare to see bug-type pokémon battling and this fight was little, but awesome. Never thought that a weak pokémon like Kricketot would do such a nice fight on anime.

 

[Pinkcutieno]

I know Ash and Paul's match was epic but, Ash is growing up. probably in the Best Wishes series since Ash is starting to act like a huge child again, will probably be better than that but for now, the Ash and Paul battle is my favorite. I really don't know why.

 

[Owain]

^^ Ash is not turning into a Child again, i say stop saying this, he acts that way everytime a new region is starting geez, he was just excited to be in a new region with so many new Pokémon.

 

[sqwat500]

The gary battle was my favorite, as it showcased many of my favorite of ash's pokemon and had some epic charizard pwning

 

[Emboar]

Wow, Morrison and Tyson dont get any love.

 

[Paulisthebest]

not exactly in-game. A move like Disable prevents a Pokemon from using a move again, but seeing as Cotoise already used Iron Defense once, its defense should still be monstrously high (not that it should do much against Golduck's special-based move anyway). Still, seeing Trainers actually invoke strategies that involve switching the team around is extremely rare in the anime (switching period is rather rare, though I've seen it more frequently in Diamond&Pearl). I agree with what was said earlier, Kaede is easily the best non-rival opponent Satoshi's ever faced (and even if she were included amongst his main rivals, she'd still be pretty high up there). Anyway, here's how I'd look at the rivals and their respective battles, in ascending order:

Hiroshi, Hadzuki, Tetsuya: Yeah, I'm doing all three of these end-tournament Trainers at once. As characters, these guys really sucked (though I'd say they got slightly better with each tournament). They just happen to encounter Satoshi at the start of or during the tournament, get all buddy-buddy with him, and eventually he loses against them (and with the exception of Tetsuya, who at least had the decency to win the whole thing, they'd only go on to lose against the next opponent, and this was repeated in the Whirl Cup as well). This formula was stupid the first time, it didn't need to get repeated twice. And it really didn't help that they were dull as shit, AND there were far more interesting rivals going around in the same tournament. Hiroshi was just a Gary Stu clone of Satoshi, Hadzuki was a blatant 3rd gen advertisement, and Tetsuya.... well, he's kinda decent, if only for the fact that HIS POKEMON was a far more interesting character than he was.

As for their battles, Hiroshi's was fucking awful. Given the shit writing of Kanto, it couldn't even end with a KO, but with Lizardon falling asleep (I guess this does further showcase Satoshi's flaw of having a disobedient Pokemon around, but it still could've been done better... at least in the Dengeki! Pikachu adaption, Satoshi had to prematurely recall his Lizardon because it was about to kill Hiroshi's). Since they had to bring him back for Jouto AND the Housou specials, it's a real damn shame they couldn't have at least given us the satisfaction of seeing Satoshi pwn his sorry ass for real. Hadzuki's was better, but prior to the (admittedly awesome) Lizardon/Bashamo fight, it really seemed like nothing more than a rushed stream of one-hit KOs (and something should be said about the last Jouto match ending in a battle between Pokemon from two completely different generations, but then again, it seems the 3rd and 4th generations are equally guilty of this, and Satoshi even agreed to only use his Houen team for the Saiyuu Tournament... though, AG as a whole did go out with that Jukain vs. Bashamo contest, at least). Once again, I'd say Tetsuya's the better of these three. Sure, the battle here also felt horribly rushed, but at least it had its moments rather than relying completely on the Pikachu vs. Nyaasu-in-boots fight and quickly offing every Pokemon prior to it (for example, Oosubame REALLY shows off just how badass it could be here, and Satoshi taking out a pseudo-legend like Metagross is no easy task).

Naoshi: Meh, he was barely Satoshi's rival to begin with. It really is a shame that for somebody played up to be both a challenger of Gyms and Contests, he had practically zero competitive encounters with either Satoshi or Hikari past his initial appearance (on the other hand, he did battle with Nozomi twice, winning one of them, which I guess would make sense given how he's a foil to Nozomi's attitude that battling and coordinating should be treated as two completely separate things). It's a real crying shame that we couldn't even see most of his battle with Satoshi (especially when the one battle that got cut off for Rocket scenes had to be the only one featuring Satoshi's Magmarashi, only now coming off of an evolution that it was unfortunately denied a decade ago), however, the Heracross vs. Korotok battle was pretty great and awesomely animated (the same could also be said of the last few seconds we saw of Magmarashi vs. Armaldo, for that matter). If nothing else, I like his seiyuu. Comparatively speaking, he looks a lot better when you fit him into the crappy bunch of rivals that Hikari was cursed with (shy of only Urara and the surprisingly competent Musashi, of course), but when you look at him as Satoshi's rival, he really can't stand out worth shit.

Takuto: For all the negativity this guy gets, I actually like him a bit. Sure, he's kind of an unexplained Gary Stu, but considering Satoshi apparently HAD to lose this tournament anyway, at least letting him get taken out by somebody who has legendaries was a decent way to go (not only that, but Satoshi was even allowed to take out two of said legendaries, this being in spite of Takuto's reputation of sweeping ALL his Gym and tournament matches with just one, so the odds were certainly stacked against him). Also, given the three rivals I mentioned above, it was nice to finally have somebody that Satoshi WOULDN'T happen to befriend at the start of the tournament. Sure, there was some foreshadowing, but for the most part, he's just a mysterious, unknown Trainer who shows up out of the blue to overwhelm Satoshi. It's far from being an unrealistic scenario, and going this route was definitely a breath of fresh air. As for his battle, one could say it was rushed for being just one episode, but then, Satoshi only faced two Pokemon which quickly wiped out most of his team. It was nice to see Jukain finally defeat a legendary after he was unfairly screwed out of a Regirock rematch last time (and being one of Satoshi's biggest powerhouses, he certainly was deserving of the feat), and I can't say Pikachu having to slowly wear down Latios was a bad way to go about it either. Overall, I wouldn't call Takuto the best character out there, but he's better than most people would give him credit for (and I dare anyone to say he was worse than Hiroshi).

Masamune: I really liked this guy. For once, we had a rival with Satoshi who was always at competitive odds with him, even if it was over rather childish things (and he was voiced by Goku, WIN!). This guy's major flaw, though, is that he showed up way too fucking late. Also, his battle wasn't particularly great. Half of it was showing how the guy had confidence issues over having an actual serious match with his friend (though I guess it works a bit in context), all the while Heigani sweeps away half his team. It was a nice moment for Heigani though, as even after Masamune got his confidence back, he still had enough in him to take out his friggin' Laglarge. Sadly, the writers then felt the need to even the playing field by making his Haganeil wipe out half of Satoshi's team (including the very shafted Cotoise, despite a type advantage). I know Haganeil's a big Pokemon, but it's far from invincible, as indicated by the fact that Satoshi's taken out at least two others prior to it. As much as it intensifies the situation, I honestly wonder if it's really fucking necessary to have almost all of Satoshi's battles ending with him down to his last Pokemon.

Kouhei: He was awesome as a character, but there was pretty much zero build-up for him as a rival (hell, there was more interaction between him and Hikari than him and Satoshi, so unless you're a rabid shipper, it doesn't seem like Satoshi has much motivation to go against this guy, at least not more than any other Trainer he faces in a tournament). Still, I was pleasantly surprised when Saikou Everyday first debuted, and he was standing there alongside Shinji, Jun, and the "oh my god, he's still alive" Naoshi. I can't say much about his battle with Satoshi. It was nice that Satoshi's Yorunozuku actually fucking did something decent (the poor thing was shafted throughout Jouto sans a single Gym battle, and like most of his Jouto reserves, went unused throughout all of AG), and Fukamaru could finally master Draco Meteor. The usage of less conventional moves from the games was a nice treat as well (though I do find it odd that the whole episode's title was about his usage of Trick Room, and he had a team full of slow Pokemon, but Trick Room was never actually used until he was down to his last Pokemon). Other than that, though, I can't say it stood out as anything particularly epic (even with the inclusion of "Mezase! Pokemon Master").

Shigeru: As a rival, this guy was barely even around. Hell, Masamune showed up late in his respective region, but I'd be willing to say even he got close to as much screen time as Shigeru got IN OVER 170 EPISODES. Still, he was kinda good as a motivator for Satoshi, and while always being a step ahead of Satoshi and rubbing it in his face isn't the best signifier of his competence as a rival, it's still kinda amusing in its own way (mostly as comedy, though). It sucks that he couldn't have actually faced Satoshi back in the Sekiei Tournament (especially if the series was meant to end afterwards as originally planned.... then again, maybe that was the only reason Shigeru lost and Hiroshi was half-assedly inserted in the first place, or at least I hope that was the case), but when they finally did go against each other in the Shirogane Tournament, it was probably one of the best battles the series would see up to that point. Only the second time ever that Satoshi would have a Full Battle, it felt a lot better paced than the Hadzuki battle afterwards, several of his old reserved Pokemon and even one of his Jouto Pokemon (Heracross; Bayleaf was unfortunately shafted here) would get ample time to shine, and surprisingly, Satoshi even resisted the urge to use Pikachu (which is especially bewildering given how much he abused the rat throughout every single one of his Jouto Gym matches).

Shinji: Best rival ever, pure and simple. He's introduced at the start of the region, it's later explained that he's as much a veteran as Satoshi is. He has conflicting ideals with Satoshi, and unlike Shigeru, he constantly has run-ins with him (their rivalry was even showcased in a variety of ways, including having to cooperate together in the Tag Battle Tournament). Hell, he was practically a regular to the Diamond/Pearl series, even managing to get a rather random cameo in that maze filler (where he's seen trying to catch an Onidrill). Fittingly, their final battle was nothing short of epic, intense, and finely animated (and I think the only three-part battle the series has ever had). Hell, the two-part Full Battle they had in the middle of the saga was pretty great as well.

I've seen some people criticize the guy because of the way he doesn't change and, after his battle with Satoshi, just walks away from the Goukazaru he previously abused without any repercussions, but I really don't see what they're getting at. While he did go a little crazy with trying to bring about Hikozaru's true strength (which he witnessed for himself shortly before catching the thing, and it's not as if Hikozaru itself wasn't interested in becoming stronger either, as even in-canon, it's highly implied that Pokemon, as competitive animals by nature, enjoy being toughened up by humans, even if it takes some borderline abusive tactics to do so; just look at Akira's Sand way back in the beginning of the series), we do see over the course of the series that he is respectful of his Pokemon, and in his final episode, clearly acknowledges Goukazaru's strength. It may be hard to notice through his constantly cold and serious demeanor, but he does show respect to his Pokemon all the same. Then there's the whole "he releases his Pokemon" deal. A lot of people have already defended this with "it's better they get released in the wild than rot in a box", but I'll do one better: it's not like Trainers are expected to befriend the Pokemon at the time of capture to begin with. Sure, Satoshi's had plenty of Pokemon willingly join him after he helped them out, but there are tons of Pokemon Satoshi just caught on a whim (like pretty much every bird he's owned up to this point), and even some he caught simply because he "wanted to own one" (Hinoarashi, Tsutarja), never actually forming a "bond" with them until well after the fact. How's this supposed to make him better than Shinji? This isn't like Dragon Quest games where, after a battle, a wild monster can suddenly get up again, take a liking to your character, and ask to join your party. This is fucking Pokemon, where you beat critters into submission before trying to contain them in what amounts to a spherical CAGE. So would anyone explain to me how targeting the stronger specimens is any worse than targeting any animal to forcefully join your party in the first place? I also like how these same people fail to bring up Shinji's Mariruri (which was rather generously given to a kid who wanted it), or the fact that Shinji's had plenty of other Pokemon (strong in the first place though they may be) lose a battle without him suddenly deeming them useless and tossing them aside. He may be a hardass, but he's far from denying when he's simply lacking as a Pokemon's Trainer.

Wow, I couldn’t agree with you more there is so much good information in each of your match descriptions.

At the time when it was new I'd say Gary and Harrison's battles. Especially Charizard vs. Blaziken. I still remember that battle and I'll never forget how awesome it was for me when I first saw it. Right now though it's definitely Paul. I loved the development and build up of their rivalry and how when they battled in the league they did it out of respect. If Gary was around more often during Kanto and Johto then I'd rank him a little higher right now, but he only battled Ash about 2 times before the League.

I blame pretty much everyone for Ritchie's battle. Team Rocket almost got him disqualified and then the referee called a sleeping pokemon unable to battle. Plus Ash had no choice but to use Charizard because all of his other pokemon were weak because of Team Rocket's attack. The judges or someone could of at least let him heal him pokemon for an emergency like that.

I know the refs from the Richie battle sucked, be Ash really never explained about why he was late I’ m sure if he explained to the officials why he was SO late then maybe they would have made an exception because he was kidnapped. Yeah, if Gary was around more even if it was not as much as Paul was then it would have made their match more exciting.

Exactly what I think.
It's rare to see bug-type pokémon battling and this fight was little, but awesome. Never thought that a weak pokémon like Kricketot would do such a nice fight on anime.

I know right, in the games if you hit it with one Super-effective move then Krictune are out like a light! But in this match it was going head to head with Heracross that more than likely have a much higher Attack power I love how the anime makes the not so strong Pokemon in the games really powerful and exciting in the anime.

Wow, Morrison and Tyson dont get any love.

Well, Morrison and Tyson were like late bloomers, Morrison more so anyway. AG had no rival for Ash more than likely since the plot was split into the plot of gym battles and then contests. Not really fair since May was given some (but either way they were really good rivals). Pikachu losing to a Meowth was like watching Tom and Jerry, not to mention if you notice if it weren’t for Meowth wearing those boots it would have fell down first. Morrison’s match was pretty dull with what Ash almost taking out his first 3 thanks to Morrison not fighting, Steelix taking out almost ½ of ash’s team and then the final battle where a Steel type got dominated by Headbutts, but it was a cool spinning one!

 

[KaPi96]

I think the Paul battle was the best.
I also really liked the Gary and Harrison battles though.

Wow, What an incredibly one sideded poll.

 

[Paulisthebest]

I think the Paul battle was the best.
I also really liked the Gary and Harrison battles though.

Wow, What an incredibly one sideded poll.

Yeah, the poll is certainly tipped in Paul's favor! I wonder if Ash vs. Shooti will happen in the league, or will he come upon one or more rivals. Either way, they have some BIG shoes to fill because of Paul. Like him or not, he was one of if not the best rival Ash has had to date.

 

[Cybersai]

LOL, Nando's character was handled so poorly it makes you wonder if they had bigger plans for him at the start but then abandoned the idea.

He starts off seeming like he'd be a main rival to both Ash/Dawn, and then he disappears for literally 150 episodes. Dawn never battles him again, and he can't even really be considered Dawn's rival in the end. He was Zoey's rival.

And the whole Ash Vs. Nando thing was just kinda swept under the rug. You could tell the writers didn't care about it at all.

 

[Charbok]

I hate when the writers just throw away a character like that. It's just wasted potential. They did the same thing to Casey and Nicolai back in AG. These characters could have become pretty interesting rivals but then the writers just decide to just abandon them.

 

[Cybersai]

I don't think Nicholai was ever intended to be a rival. He was just a filler character that was brought back once, they've done that before with other filler characters.

 

[Dr. Buni]

To me:

Paul > Nando > Conway > Gary > Tyson > Other ones.
Judging by how good was their fights.

But like I said, I voted in Nando, because Heracross vs Kricketot was an EPIC fight.

 

[Charbok]

I don't think Nicholai was ever intended to be a rival. He was just a filler character that was brought back once, they've done that before with other filler characters.

He had the potential to be a rival to Ash (and maybe May too) because he got a lot of development in his 2 episodes he appeared in. He was a beginning trainer, he battled Norman, he battled Ash twice, and his Mudkip evolved. Plus he ended up getting a pretty strong Zangoose as well.

He seemed to get more development than just a typical CotD. I think he could have been a good AG rival for Ash if they stuck with him but maybe they dropped him because in a might have been too much like Ash and because the wanted to focus on May a little more.

 

[Paulisthebest]

To the above users;

Yeah, when we first saw Nando I thought that it would be an interesting concept to have a rival for Dawn AND Ash unlike in AG when May was the only one with true rivals. Just to make this conversation short instead of longwinded, it has already been mentioned that the writers just tossed him to the side I mean the guy did things that Ash and Dawn couldn’t do; he beat Gardenia on his first try, managed to beat Zoey at least once and although it is not seen he probably won his first contest on his first try (Ash entered an unofficial contest on his first try and tied with May). It was just a lot of great potential thrown to the side.

Casey IMO was a good potential rival or regular character on the show I didn’t mind her energetic personality she reminded me a bit of an early version of Barry.

Nicholai was good also I liked his “Pokemon Change” technique lol. Many things have already been mentioned about him having some similar things to Ash I don’t think he was too much like Ash but he had good potential, wonder how Max would have reacted if he did beat his dad, I mean he got totally pissed when Ash did, but Nicholai at a time talked trash about him (also wonder how the people of Petalburg City would have responded to his words…)

 

[Fud]

Hello everybody.

The poll isn't really based on facts, since it is about opinions only.

Paul wasn't consider to be the best rival ever on the show,but this is based on opinions and not,Paul was an okay rival and the battle was good but not epic in anyway.

 

[Bandit Keith]

Are we forgetting the Orange (League?) and the battle against Drake? That battle is of the same caliber as all these.

 

[Paulisthebest]

Hello everybody.

The poll isn't really based on facts, since it is about opinions only.

Paul wasn't consider to be the best rival ever on the show,but this is based on opinions and not,Paul was an okay rival and the battle was good but not epic in anyway.

Could you elaborate more about what you mean? I mean yeah its opinion using facts from the matches. How can you say that it wasn't epic?

Are we forgetting the Orange (League?) and the battle against Drake? That battle is of the same caliber as all these.

I don't know because I didn't consider Drake a rival in anyway just that he was the final gym leader or "champ" of the Orange Crew. It was a good battle though the only dislike would be the use of low level moves like Thundershock-Electabuzz or Ember from Charizard. Not to mention like the Ritchie match a Pokemon was judged unable to fight at an unfair time; Bulbasaur was paralyzed by Thunderpunch and it was called as unable to battle while it still could.