ANIME: Which region had the WORST gym leaders?

Region With The Worst Gym Leaders

  • Kanto

    Votes: 19 48.7%

  • Orange Islands

    Votes: 10 25.6%

  • Johto

    Votes: 6 15.4%

  • Hoenn

    Votes: 2 5.1%

  • Frontier Brains; Battle Frontier

    Votes: 1 2.6%

  • Sinnoh

    Votes: 3 7.7%

  • Unova

    Votes: 13 33.3%
  • Total voters
    39
Paulisthebest

Paulisthebest

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When it boils down to it which region had the worst of the worst in terms of gym leaders?

For me I’d say the things to consider are which gyms were usually closed most of the time or had Ash perform some kind of stupid errand for the leader in order to get to battle them. Location of the gym, what kind of leader the person Ash battled was (in terms of being a dick, bitch, cold-hearted, cheery, etc.).
Overall when I think about these things I would cast my vote for Sinnoh. Which is ironic because I think in the anime it had the BEST gym leaders because we really got to see Ash shine in terms of tactics. Not to mention the leaders were not just one episode faces that we never saw again. There were story arcs in each city and then we’d have a gym battle.

It’s just that there were so many times Ash arrived at a gym and for whatever reason didn’t battle. Fantina was either away or refused to battle almost half a dozen times before she fought Ash. Bryon’s “special training” was going to dig on Iron Island, Maylene was having suicidal thoughts (well not really but seriously after the beating from Paul who wouldn’t?) and that goes along with Volkner’s emo-behavior after his lover…I mean friend Flint went to the E4.

Sure Sabrina was a bitch, Erika denied Ash a battle since he hated perfume, Blaine’s gym was inside the volcano then on top of it meaning any Pokemon (that wasn’t a fire type) would die instantly if it hit the lava, and the list goes on. However, Sinnoh TO ME seems to come out at #1 on the list.

Unova…well that entire gym series sucked balls. The only battles that were good with Clay and Brycen (the Ice leader) the first 4 battles sucked but the leaders were “meh.”

What do you think?
 
I really hated the way the anime portrayed Skyla. In the games she's a caring person who helps out an injured Pokémon at the top of Celestial Tower. In the anime she's selfish and resulted to "air battles" just because so that she would have more time to fly her plane.

I can't really decide on which region in the anime had the worst gym leaders. If I said Johto it would only be because I don't really remember the Johto gym battles all that well except Whitney's, but that's just due to my forgetful mind so it wouldn't be fair for me to vote Johto just because I can't remember the battles.
 
Nothing beats good old Kanto for horrible gym leaders.
1. Takeshi, the kid who leaves his irresponsible father to take care of a million siblings and the gym, and then gives Satoshi a badge for turning the sprinklers on?
2. Kasumi, the girl who takes advantage of Pikachu not wanting to battle her? Not to mention her super responsible sisters...
3. Erika, the woman who doesn't want to battle a boy because he doesn't like perfume? Seriously?
4. Natsume, the Girl-Woman-Thing who turns Satoshi's friends into dolls? I liked the episode, but what a bitch.
5. Matis.... He's a jerk, but he's hilarious and actually good at his job.
6. Kyou... He's so boring and unremarkable that I can't even remember anything about him. I guess he was ok?
7. Katsura's not even in his gym anymore! And even though his battle with Satoshi was cool, he's not exactly what you'd call a responsible gym leader. Not to mention he should be put into jail for allowing a 10-year-old to battle on a freaking volcano.
8. Sakaki... Leaving 3 idiots to take care of the gym or almost killing just your opponent's Pokémon with your pet disaster is not what a responsible gym leader should do.

All in all, the Kanto gym leaders might've been entertaining (or well, some of them), but it's amazing how their gyms weren't closed down by Nurse Joy.
 
You mean worst as in being crappy characters or worse at doing their jobs :confused:

If it's the first one, the Johto GLs come to mind, as many of them were unlikable/uninteresting stiffs.

If the second, it's a toss between Kanto (most of whom GAVE their badges to Ash) or Isshu (who were lost in really bullshit ways)
 
While Unova really did mess up big time with the Gym Leaders (especially my favorite one, Skyla), I'm gonna have to vote for Kanto. While, yes, it was the early stages of the show, and yes, the whole franchise was just getting off the ground, it wasn't a good enough excuse for poor writing and even poorer reasons. Erika probably is the main kicker for me, especially since she denied poor Ash over an issue with perfume. What 10 year-old boy LIKES perfume!? Sabrina was another, more evil situation, and another reason why I think Kanto was the pits. It took a prank-loving Haunter (and Ash "dying") to (barely) defeat her, if you can call it "defeating her". Talk about going way out of your way just to get one Gym Badge. Surge actually did a good job, and Ash actually EARNED that badge, the others were, more or less, given to him. So I vote Kanto, though Unova is probably a close second.

Hoenn and Sinnoh were the best, as Ash really learned a lot from those battles, even if some characters, like Fantina, did screw around a bit more than they should've. I mean, Ash learned how to use Aerial Ace from Winonna, use his Pokemon's Abilities well with Norman, develop Counter Shield with Fantina, among other things. So Hoenn and Sinnoh were the best of the best. That's how I feel.
 
Worst (Entertainment Value Wise)- Sinnoh & Unova
Worst (Competence Wise)- Kanto
Worst (Voice Wise-- English Dub)- Johto & Hoenn Female Gym Leaders (Poor Lisa Ortiz Was Overused)

All of them are the worst in their own ways. XD.

You see what I did there? lol.

Best- Orange Islands & Battle Frontier (Frontier Brains) :thumbup:
 
I haven't really formed any solid opinion on the gym leaders, but I'll just say that I found the Kanto gym leaders to be the worst because almost have half of them were entirely forgettable. Just yesterday I was trying to remember who they were when I saw a gif of all the gyms on tumblr, and I took 10 minutes trying to think up of who the gym leaders were before giving up and looking up who they were on Bulbapedia.
 
As a person who find the Kanto Gym Leaders to be some of the best Gym Leaders in the anime character-wise, even *I* admit that they were shit at their jobs. I guess it's a trade-off sometimes.
 
The most Kanto leaders gave badges to Ash because of that he was a nice guy. And half of the Unova leaders lost to Pikachu and then we have that bad protrait of Skyla too. I liked the Unova Gym Battles but Pikachu was to dominant. It is a draw between Unova and Kanto.
 
Satoshi_Pikachu said:
Nothing beats good old Kanto for horrible gym leaders.
1. Takeshi, the kid who leaves his irresponsible father to take care of a million siblings and the gym, and then gives Satoshi a badge for turning the sprinklers on?
2. Kasumi, the girl who takes advantage of Pikachu not wanting to battle her? Not to mention her super responsible sisters...
3. Erika, the woman who doesn't want to battle a boy because he doesn't like perfume? Seriously?
4. Natsume, the Girl-Woman-Thing who turns Satoshi's friends into dolls? I liked the episode, but what a bitch.
5. Matis.... He's a jerk, but he's hilarious and actually good at his job.
6. Kyou... He's so boring and unremarkable that I can't even remember anything about him. I guess he was ok?
7. Katsura's not even in his gym anymore! And even though his battle with Satoshi was cool, he's not exactly what you'd call a responsible gym leader. Not to mention he should be put into jail for allowing a 10-year-old to battle on a freaking volcano.
8. Sakaki... Leaving 3 idiots to take care of the gym or almost killing just your opponent's Pokémon with your pet disaster is not what a responsible gym leader should do.

All in all, the Kanto gym leaders might've been entertaining (or well, some of them), but it's amazing how their gyms weren't closed down by Nurse Joy.
Click to expand...

And this is why Kanto gets my vote. That and most of Ash's badges he got out of pity or because he was a nice guy. Plus with Misty's gym battle they didn't even finish it and yet he still got a badge. Ash now wouldn't even accept a badge if things happened that way. And I also hated how they made Skyla a bitch in the anime in Unova, but at least their gyms were handled well. I hated how Marlon got glossed over, and I especially hated his "slang" in the dub.
 
Yeah Kanto was a good pick! You all have excellent answers.

Erika's Rainbow Badge was fickle to me. Think of it like this Ash's loud mouth about hating perfume was why he didn't get into the gym BUT Erika's job as a Gym Leader is to accept challenges from trainers. I'm not familar with the rule book of Gym Leaders but I'm pretty sure personal opinions on a gym shouldn't dictate whether or not a trainer gets to battle.

So, Ash helped TR break in and they started the big fire but Ash went in to save Gloom's life and he got the badge because of it...um not sure how to feel about that. He got the badge because of his heroism yet he was indirectly the cause of the fire in the first place.

I'm not THAT ticked off about the badge from Misty's sisters because it seemed clear that Stamie was down for the count but TR busted in at the wrong time. Against Brock he stood down and he was going to win though the sprinklers was a cheap move but it wasn't Ash's fault about that. Sabrina I really wanted him to win with Haunter just because she was a powerful leader and beating her would have said a lot about Ash's skill as a trainer from when he first started out against Brock.

Surge, Koga and Blaine seemed to be the only LEGIT badges he won. Earth Badge, well technically he "did win" but it just sucks he had to battle the same TRio like he does in every episode to win it. Shoot he was better off pulling a Barry and just taking the badge.

You know I'm not going to hate on Kanto solely because it kind of shaped Ash you know? Like not wanting the Bolt Badge without earning it. Remember he was hesitant to take the badge from Daisy at first, sure he was caving in to actually get it before Misty showed up.

The Yaz and Kaz gyms were going to be shut down because of Pokemon Street Fights (the episode with Scyther/Electabuzz) yet gyms that actually hand out badges were still open haha that was funny to think about xD
 
I don't see the problem with Skyla, since she actually got character development and personality, which are things she was severely lacking in the first BW game due to her short appearances outside of the Gym. Her attitude and way of distributing Badges was terrible for trainers who need to learn and train their teams, but she grew out of that and discovered battling again.

I'm going with Kanto on this one, in terms of competence/professionalism. Koga and Surge showed off their battling skills and acted responsibly, so they get a pass. Sabrina made a good villain, and I liked her arc. But as a Gym Leader, turning your opponents into dolls isn't very professional of you. Blaine's cool Gym was pretty unsafe. Erika didn't even accept Ash's challenge because she was butthurt over Ash's opinion. The Misty Sistys gave a Badge away to someone for cleaning the pool. Giovanni appeared as the boss of Team Rocket. But as a Gym Leader, he beat Gary and was otherwise absent.

Misty's sisters, those poor girls, who were thrust into their position while their younger sister gallivanted around with a boy, traveling to different places while they stayed home. Can you blame them for being incompetent when all they have is their beauty, swimming talent, many Water Pokemon and hundreds of male fans? They never stood a chance because Misty was born with all the battling talent. :'(

I really can't blame Kanto's Gym Leaders too much, since the show was finding their voice at the time. But it's very obvious how far we've come ince then.
 
In terms of competence/professionalism, I voted for Kanto. Brock gave Ash a badge for a lucky break, although I think that's one of the cheap badges I can kind of understand. Misty's sisters were perfectly willing to give him a badge for absolutely nothing and then gave it to him later for getting Team Rocket, instead of finishing the match. While it was an interesting choice to make Sabrina a villain, she turned challengers into dolls and terrified people with her psychic powers. Erika wouldn't let Ash into the Gym because he didn't like perfume, despite the fact that she said right before their battle that it's her duty under the League's rules to accept any challenger's request to battle her, and then gave him the badge for saving her Gloom. Blaine's Gym is in a volcano that puts trainers and their Pokemon in life threatening danger. Giovanni is the leader of Team Rocket, which I don't see how they could have missed if they went through the process of making an official Gym. The only ones who actually acted like professional Gym Leaders were Surge and Koga. I can understand how this came to be when this was the first series, but in retrospect, it's really amazing that a lot of these Gyms weren't closed down.

In terms of personality, I'd probably go with Johto. A good portion of the Gym Leaders were pretty bland personality wise, especially compared to their video game counterparts. I don't expect every detail of their video game personalities to remain in tact and the anime can make their own spin on a character to make them stand out, but characters like Jasmine and to a lesser extent Clair were given pretty generic Gym Leader personalities compared to the personality traits that they had in the video games.

In regards to entertainment value, I'd probably go with Unova. While I think that the Gym battles in Kanto are worse, at least they have the excuse of being the first Gym battles and the writers were still figuring out how to handle them. With Unova, they don't really have a reason like that. Most of the battles were pretty bad with cheap victories and last minute evolutions to give Ash the win. The only battles I enjoyed were the matches against Clay, which was pretty decent up until Roggenrola evolved, and Brycen, which was as close to a DP quality Gym battle as it could get. Everything else either annoyed me or just wasn't that good. As far as Skyla goes, I was really annoyed with her attitude. She did have some growth to get over it and learn to love battles again, but her whole Sky Battle attitude made her look way more like an over confident jerk than anything else to me to the point where I didn't care that she changed at the end.
 
I find it funny how when we are talking about Kanto being the worst, we talk about their competence while we are talking about Unova, calling Skyla worst because her character sucked. What are we talking about competence or character? Her gym was one of the better battles in BW. I liked the whole Unfezant versus Swanna sequence. I haven't seen a flying vs flying battle since Pokeringer!

Her character. I don't see how the anime giving her their own character is wrong. Should every Gym Leader be predictable and be their Game selves? Sorry, I am not interested in that kind of writing. I would rather have a bitch-ey character than that. I liked her a bit more than Lenora's Gym at least. Remember the Hax win Tepig got?

What's more funny is her Air Battles gave accurate results. She told Cilan will lose and he lost. She told Krokorok will fall, Tranquill will be on par with one of her Pokemon and Pikachu will do tad better and the net result will be Ash losing. Her predictions were mostly coorect. Ash only won because Unfezant evolved. So basically, the writers didn't do a good job convincing me LOL.

I am just playing around though. I think Unova battles and the mid battle evolutions were terrible.

I would say Unova< Kanto<Johto<Hoenn<Sinnoh

I a talking about overall quality of the episode which includes every aspect.
 
I think the most competent ones were the Frontier Brains though they aren't Gym Leaders. The worst were Kanto.

But the ones I hate the most are Johto because their personalities from the games are butchered.
 
I'd say Johto mostly because they're just carbon copies of each other. They're all like "ZOMG LET'S FIGHT!!!11!!1" and were never really given their game personalities like Ranger Jack Walker said above. The writers really missed some comedic moments by not have Akane be a crybaby when she lost or have Ibuki be pissed off when Satoshi beats her.
 
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Best Wishes had the worst gym leaders. All of them seem bland and unfaithful to their game counterparts.
 
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