Ash and Gym Battles

CynthiaLover

CynthiaLover

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I've noticed something while watching the anime. Doesn't it seem, I dunno, too common that Ash is almost ALWAYS knocked down to his final Pokemon in a Gym Battle? There are only two episodes that come to mind where Ash didn't lose a single Pokemon in a Gym Leader battle. The first was against Wattson, although it could be argued that Pikachu was powered up by the Raikou robot, and thus, would've been different. But I still call it a good battle. The second is with Wake. None of Ash's Pokemon were knocked out, mostly because Turtwig was recalled before it would get knocked out. But those two examples are probably the few times he's ever swept a Gym Leader.

I find it annoying that in every other Gym Battle, Ash is always knocked down to his final Pokemon, even before the Gym Leader is at times (like Morty, Ghastly took out Pikachu while Haunter took out Cyndaquil, leaving Ash with just Noctowl while Morty had Haunter and Gengar). I find it that, after so much experience as a Trainer, he still gets pushed around in Gym Battles. I know it's to add dramatic effect, but come on, let the guy get a sweep every so often, or at least just knock out ONE of his Pokemon, not all BUT one.

I know Gym Leaders are tougher than normal Trainers, but I wish the writters would give the kid a chance to really show his stuff. Sure, he's known for last-minute victories, but it would be nice to see Ash's skill finally kick in and take down his opponents with a little more ease. What do you think? Like I said, I know its for dramatic effect and such, but since Ash has been a Trainer for so long, you think he could pull out an outstanding victory more often than he does.
 
I think they do it so all of Ash's Pokemon get screentime, (instead of one doing a clean sweep), and to increase tension, even though we know Ash will likely win anyway.
 
I guess I should've made what I meant clear. I mean, more or less, have Ash swap his Pokemon in mid battle more, like he did with Wake. I mean, after all, he is allowed to sub whenever he wants, so why doesn't he do that more. Give all his chosen Pokemon some screentime, but swap back and for to get the right teammate out at the right time, keeping his team active. Look at Paul. In his full battle with Ash, he swapped out numerous times, keeping all but Weavile active, who was knocked out. I wish Ash would do that more, so to keep his opponent on their toes, and give him a better chance at a good victory. That is what I meant. Sorry if I got some people confused, but that is what I meant: more subbing when needed to keep the damage spread out.
 
Swapping takes a lot of time, if you notice most Gym battles have Ash take out his opponents Pokemon, then he loses his, "switching turns" in a manner. Of course there are exceptions where Ash KO's two Pokemon in a row, or two of Ash's get KO'd in a row.

Plus the writing for battles was very different pre-DP, so you have to take into account the different style of writing they used back then. Just like the show itself has changed, the way Ash's battles have done has been changed too.

It's why you can't accurately compare a Johto Gym battle to a Sinnoh Gym battle, they're done completely differently.
 
I don't know, we know he's gonna win the badge eventually, but there's no telling if he'll win the battle (except if, like most of us, you look at upcoming episode summaries)... like how he lost against Roark, so being down to the last pokemon actually makes it more compeling... The writers did it differently with Watson and Wake for a reason... First of all, with Watson, Ash only had four pokemon at the time... Corphish, Taillow, Treecko and Pikachu... Corphish and Taillow wouldn't have been able to do a whole lot and neither pikachu or treecko had an attack that would have been effective against a magnemite or a magneton... so it would have been very hard for the writers to write a battle without making it look like they were giving the victory to Ash... The battle against Wake, Ash kept all of his pokemon because the purpose of the battle was to teach buizel how to be a team player and the importance of team spirit... The writers only make Ash not be down to one pokemon when they've a- written themselves into a corner or b- when the whole point of the battle is to showcase working together
 
I agree with what's been said. It is a little tedious, but I guess that's just how the show works. Even though Ash has been through enough to be a great trainer by now, he still has to be the underdog to be the hero. I guess we can say he's doomed to an eternity of being just a teensy bit thick XD
 
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