Dawn's Rivals: Could they have/can they be better than they are now?

[Duckgon Z]

I got this idea from Serebii, but I'd like some other people's opinions as well.

Everyone generally agrees that the DPPt saga has been handled relatively well compared to the others in the past. Everything is generally better...but Dawn's rivals. Ash has such awesome ones this time around with Paul and Jun, yet Dawn gets rivals that... well, aren't all that interesting to be honest.

When Zoey first appeared, and Kenny, I thought that it would be a pretty interesting dynamic with those three personalities. But as time wore on, Zoey didn't really do all that much besides being friendly. She lost her "hate" for people who did both gyms and contests, but that faded and we were left with nothing. Sure she's helped Dawn, but having the personality of a brick just doesn't leave me wanting more.

Kenny has appeared a grand total of 4 full episodes, both two parters. Besides his cameos and parts in openings and endings, he really hasn't made an impact or been used to his full potential. They could have/can do so much with the Kenny/Dawn childhood angle, but they either a) Don't have him appear, or b)have Zoey appear.

But my main beef is how no one light's a fire under Dawn. There's no emotion or feeling with her rivals. They just sort of go their own way, and if they don't get to the GF, whatever. Rivals are supposed to keep you going, keep you moving, always on your toes and always training. Drew and Harley did that for May...but Kenny and Zoey don't do that at all for Dawn.

So how do you guys feel about Dawn's rivals, or lack there of?

 

[Lil Brother]

Well, I honestly kind of like Zoey. Despite using her for my Halloween account, I'm not a huge fan of the girl, but I find her "girlfriend" relationship with Dawn to be rather fun to watch.

The lack of use of Kenny was a massive dissapointment. Did they just figure they didn't have any ideas for him and shuffled him aside? Seriously, just throw him in random fillers here and there like you love to do with Zoey. It feels like we hardly know him at all.

Yeah, May's relationships with Drew and Harley were incredibly interesting and were probably the best part of all of AG imo. There were solid character arcs with the way the two of them interacting with May and their role in the series in general. Meanwhile, Dawn's storyline has been more focused on her own shortcomings and intense self-doubt as opposed with interacting with others. But now that's over, and we're in desperate need of some character interaction. Harley didn't show up until late Hoenn; maybe he'll have a Sinnoh counterpart. And with us going to Snowpoint soon and the writers love for implementing character-driven drama into the Grand Festivals, maybe Zoey will become a bit more important to May as rival instead of merely as a friend. They're sure to battle during the GF, after all.

 

[Musashi]

I don't know the AG Contest arc well enough to compare, but I think the writers really dropped the ball with the DP one.

Like you said, things started out good, but then everything just kinda fell by the wayside. When Nozomi got over her hate of gym people doing contests so early, I knew that was a really bad sign. The writers could have done so much more with that angle, but it's like they just lost interest with the whole thing. Who knows if we'll ever find out what her problem was, and it really doesn't seem to matter at this point. When was the last time we even saw her?

Kengo and Naoshi turned out to be a bust, so now we're left with one shot rivals. Not that I don't mind those, but that's all Hikari seems to have left. She's gotten over her slump, and now just needs to tame Manmoo before the Grand Festival. How dull.

I guess the writers used up all their Contest ideas last generation. I don't even want to think what they'll do if we get yet another new Coordinator next generation.

 

[Snake Bandage]

Dawn's rivals should've been better, but the writers are handling them as wrong as possible. And unlike May's rivals, I don't find any of them to be very likable or interesting. The only way to improve them at this point is to travel back in time and rework them from scratch, but that obviously can't happen.

 

[Kairyu]

We can still hope for Urara NOT being a one-shot rival. I really hope she returns.

That Urara alone has more personality than Nozomi, Kengo, and Naoshi put together should really say how dull Hikari's above mentioned rivals are.

 

[Piplup]

But my main beef is how no one light's a fire under Dawn. There's no emotion or feeling with her rivals. They just sort of go their own way, and if they don't get to the GF, whatever. Rivals are supposed to keep you going, keep you moving, always on your toes and always training. Drew and Harley did that for May...but Kenny and Zoey don't do that at all for Dawn.

I explained my opinion about this a lot of times before but it seems like I'm one of very few people who think so:
May had to have rivals like Drew and Harley to push her to do her best
But Dawn is different and her story focus more on her trying to overcome her confident problems after her constant loses... Dawn's story made it so she better get friendly rivals to support her and not "mean" rivals to crush her even more than she was already

I think it's stupid to want all rivals to be "mean" to the heroes... there's nothing wrong with friendly rivals especially when we already have Paul in DP so there was no serious need for another "mean" rival
If Dawn got rivals like May's, people would complain they're too similar... when Dawn get rivals different than May's, people complain they're boring... there's no escape

I don't say Dawn's rivals are so amazing but they're good enough in my opinion and again they fill great their role as supportive friendly rivals
The fact Zoey is like "big sister"/teacher to Dawn is also really nice... none of the previous rivals acted this way toward the heroes
I really liked Zoey in the Solaceon Contest when she came all the way just to help Dawn (and how she did was also nice)

Not to mention we do have Jessie as a "serious" rivals this time and she did laugh at Dawn a few times... and we have other Coordinators (who might return) like Lila or Urara who really was like Harley was to May
I like how Dawn's story is different than May's and I really can't get what's so wrong with it
But if Dawn will stay next gen (and I assume she'll be showcased as a more experienced Coordinator like Ash changed in AG) I guess it will be nice to see her get more "mean" rivals instead (or in addition) to her current rivals

 

[Snake Bandage]

We can still hope for Urara NOT being a one-shot rival. I really hope she returns.

That Urara alone has more personality than Nozomi, Kengo, and Naoshi put together should really say how dull Hikari's above mentioned rivals are.

I don't know, I wasn't impressed by her either. She's like Harley Redux, except nowhere near as good.

 

[Yoshi-san]

We can still hope for Urara NOT being a one-shot rival. I really hope she returns.

That Urara alone has more personality than Nozomi, Kengo, and Naoshi put together should really say how dull Hikari's above mentioned rivals are.

I agree. Urara reminds me of Harley by her interactions with Dawn and this could be a great rival for her.

 

[Nando]

Yeah, Urara is just a Harley clone - her setup was even a ripoff of Harley's (Dawn's Pokémon not liking Urara's Poffins = May and Harley's cookies)

Zoey was always a boring rival. Kenny and Nando could have been much better than they ended up being, but because the writers completely botched and abandoned both of them, they ended up failing too. Nando even moreso because his potential to be a gym rival too was a total false start.

 

[JB88]

My view on Zoey has changed. I did not like her at all in the beginning, but she's softened on the whole "gym and contest" stance, so she's not as annoying as she was. She still carries that vibe with Dawn, but it's not as frequent as it was before.

Nando...no comment. Moving right along.

Johanna's old rival. Yes, she was admirable. Was there another one, before Urara? Of not, Urara looks promising, but I don't like the "Harley" that's everyone else is tagging onto her. My definition of Harley is who he completely is, including his er...gay "tendencies", for lack of a better word. I do agree however, that this Urara does have some Harley characteristics, I won't deny that.

 

[Cybersai]

Yeah, Urara is just a Harley clone - her setup was even a ripoff of Harley's (Dawn's Pokémon not liking Urara's Poffins = May and Harley's cookies)

So? She's nothing like Harley otherwise.

I'd love to see her again. The biggest problem with all of Dawn's rivals is they're TOO NICE. Urara was great because she's the type of rival Dawn needs. I dunno if she'll ever re-appear though.

And as said, its actually rather odd that both Kenny and Nando have fallen off the face of the Earth.

EDIT: Looks like we spoke too soon. Kenny is back.

 

[Luxio2k8]

Dawn needs good rivals. It's what made May's rivals so much fun and why I'm hoping that we'll get more of Urara in the future.

I never cared for Zoey. She's too boring and one-dimensional.

Kenny could have been fun, but it's like Ash/Gary's rivalry. Kenny shows up so rarely that you wonder if he even exists anymore. Just like when Gary was Ash's rival.

 

[ii kanji]

I'm agreeing with the need for an antagonistic rival. Frankly, it's just boring without one. You can count Musashi if you want, but she doesn't really even interact with Hikari enough to count as a rival.

I'd love Urara to come back, as has been said, she's more interesting than the rest put together. Just because she's mean, doesn't make her a Harley clone.

I suppose it's a good thing at least that Kengo's coming back, I hope they make good use of him.

 

[Duckgon Z]

Heh, looks like I jumped the gun a bit for Kenny. He's appearing, and that's cool.

And Piplup, I never said I wanted a rival to be "mean" to Dawn, though Urara is pretty interesting. I want them to be competitive, to have a "I'm gonna beat you!" type attitude to them. The friendly stuff is fine when Dawn is having problems...but she doesn't have them anymore, and she hasn't for a while now. Now is the time for Kenny and Zoey to be RIVALS, to be competitive once in a while.

 

[J J M]

Nando seriously annoys the heck out of me. I would like it if he never appears again.

 

[Cybersai]

Is anyone noticing Kenny and Jun are almost the same character? Well, Jun is more hyper and bumps into people, but...

It's like when DP started they had no desire to use Jun (hence him not being introduced until after 100 eps), but they changed their minds. And originally it was just Kenny with the childhood friendship.

 

[Piplup]

It's simply that the writers prefer to show us more of Paul/Zoey...
Jun/Kenny don't appear as much but are still rivals just as the others

 

[Musashi]

Is anyone noticing Kenny and Jun are almost the same character?

What? Except for being from the same town and starting with a Potchama, they're nothing alike.

 

[Trainer'sInsomnia]

What? Except for being from the same town and starting with a Potchama, they're nothing alike.

I think that's his way of saying they appear for like an episode or so, then disappear for an extensive time again. But that's whatever...
----

Anyway, Dawn's rivals could be so much better.

Zoey's lost anything that's made her interesting. Now she just kind of acts like the mentor rival, while still maintaining that "look at me, I'm Pokemon's attempt at a stylish, cool character" attitude. I really don't care for her much though, sorry to say. And I'm tired of hearing "I'm gonna sit this one out" from her, in the writers' attempt to avoid having she and Dawn face off.

Kenny... I don't have much of a problem with him, other than that he's kind of bland. I think they should expand on their history a bit more, so we can have an Ash/Gary-esk rivalry going on to get things cooking. 'Cause I mean the format's there, but the execution has fallen a bit short thus far.

 

[Shinneth]

The obvious answer is: yes, they could have been done a hell of a lot better. The "friendly rival" concept was a nice try, and could have been genuinely entertaining if it weren't the same tired routine with Zoey all the time. I mean, it's nice that she got some character development, but it was a bit too early for that to happen. Unless they have something super planned for her when the group reaches Snowpoint City, then I'm officially labeling her a lost cause.

I dismissed Nando as our poor man's Robert/Solidad ages ago. And had I thought that they were ever going to actually introduce Jun to the anime, I would've said in a heartbeat that he should've replaced Kenny entirely. Seriously, Jun hasn't had many episodes, but he made a great impression in what little time he's had so far, which says a lot more for Kenny, who's had almost as many episodes to establish himself and the best we've got is "I'm your childhood friend! I call you a nickname and pretend there's an interesting plot point surrounding it along with that ugly-looking friend of yours who looks like me!". Yeah... maybe if they... I don't know... did Kenny completely differently than how they ended up portraying him, maybe he would've had potential. But as he is now? He's just a boring lump of mass whom I couldn't care less for. Dawn already beat him in her second-ever Contest, so even if he beats her in this upcoming one, we all know she'll get him back at the GF, so the suspense is dead no matter which way the wind blows. The rivalry itself feels even deader than the one with Zoey.

Not that I mind Jun being Ash's rival, as I think he's a good one to counteract Paul, but he could've easily been in Kenny's place to make things just as entertaining. So, yeah... I think Dawn's rival situation could only be improved if there were completely different people in the scene right now. Dawn's one-shot rivals being much more interesting than her long-term rivals says a lot.

So I would say: scrap them. Except the anime won't do that. So Jessie had better make her way to the GF, or else this is going to be one piss-poor boring Grand Festival to endure. Jessie's about the only hope I have in this scenario being even remotely fun.