Do you like it when Ash battles contest rivals?

[Cybersai]

One thing I find interesting, is the writers had Ash battle Drew, Zoey AND Kenny, despite the fact that the three of them are not Ash's rivals.

- Ash battled Drew back in very early Hoenn, where Taillow lost to Roselia.

- Ash battled Zoey in the first DP contest, where Aipom lost to Glameow.

- Ash battled Kenny's Prinplup with Turtwig, and I think also with Pikachu earlier on in his first appearance.


Do you like it when Ash battles contest rivals, yet for some reason, they never have Dawn battle his rivals, like Paul and Jun?

Does it somewhat impose on the girl's storyline, since as much as the writers try to make Dawn almost equal to Ash, Ash still gets the greater focus?

 

[Ino-Chan]

I'm okay with it. Not too sure if Dawn should battle Paul or Jun, though the Paul battle would be cool.

It just seems that Ash needs to battle everyone, Dawn doesn't.

 

[ii kanji]

I guess there's 2 things which would influence whether you like it or not:
1. If you see it as inequality between Satoshi/girlchara's importance.
2. If you care.

I think I'm probably neither. Though TBH I think Satoshi's time (as far as Shinnou is concerned anyway) would be better spent battling someone more interesting, be that one of his own rivals or a CotD.

 

[Piplup]

- Ash battled Kenny's Prinplup with Turtwig, and I think also with Pikachu earlier on in his first appearance.

First was Pikachu/Prinplup, second was Turtwig/Breloom

I don't like it that Ash gets too involved in the heroine's plot - unless there's a purpose behind that or if the heroine also gets involved in Ash's plot

For example, Ash was in two Contests which is "Dawn's thing"
But Dawn got involved in Gyms - "Ash's thing" too:
1. Ash won his rematch with Roark thanks to learning Dawn's spin move
2. Dawn battled Gardenia in a Tag Battle (and not really counted but Ambi did make a Contest entrance in Gardenia's Gym Battle, which was some buil up connected to Dawn during Ash's battle...)
3. The biggest thing: Dawn actually had a Gym Battle VS Maylene, before the battle she even got some bond/talk with her rather than Ash doing it
4. In Pastoria Gym - Ash used Dawn's move of ice Aqua Jet
5. Ash learned from Dawn's Contest Battle of the Celestic Contest and used that to win in the Hearthome Gym

I think so far, it's only the Canalave Gym that Dawn seriously didn't have -anything- to do with

For the rivals, I do think it's stupid to have one battle the other's rivals if the other don't do the same
I always wanted Dawn/Paul to argue about Contest and have Dawn force Paul to enter one (she'd say she can beat him in that for sure and he'd get annoyed and decide to prove her he can do that if he want) so for one Contest we could see Dawn battle Paul as her "rival"
That could be intereting...
Jun in a Contest could also be nice and even logical - Kenny can influence his friend to try one...

 

[Musashi]

Shinji doesn't care what Hikari thinks, so there's no way she'd force him to anything, let alone a Contest.

Jun being in one would just be plain awesome, but I'm worried it's too late in the series for that.

As for the topic, I think Satoshi should stay away from all things Contest related and let the girl have things to herself.

 

[Cybersai]

Yeah, one thing about the very first DP contest I didn't like, is instead of seeing Dawn, they show us Ash's battle first. It was really odd.

We get to the first contest ep, and the focus for the entire first half is on Ash's battle against Zoey. Storywise I realize they did this so Ash could lose first and Dawn can be in the last round, but it was pretty ridiculous to see that Dawn didn't even get the first contest to herself.

The other odd thing is the writers treated this contest arc as if everyone already knew what contests were, yet there were new kids and new fans who weren't around for the previous arc. In the beginning of Hoenn they actually explain contests very slowly, yet in DP we jump right into them by about the 10th episode.

 

[Sleet]

I think it's fine. A willing opponent is a willing opponent. It's probably for the best they don't shoehorn characters into simple roles, anyway.

 

[Nando]

I'm not surprised you forgot that Ash battled and defeated Nando in the only regular battle the series has ever shown him in.

Really, Nando should have been a contest-only rival officially, Kenny should have never existed and Barry should have been doing both Gyms and Contests, I think.

 

[Luxio2k8]

It doesn’t bother me that Ash battles the contest rivals. If anything it’s really just a part of Ash’s character to always wanting to improve and battle against as many different trainers and styles as possible so that he can learn from them since Ash wants to be the best trainer that he can be.

 

[LightningKimba]

It doesn’t bother me that Ash battles the contest rivals. If anything it’s really just a part of Ash’s character to always wanting to improve and battle against as many different trainers and styles as possible so that he can learn from them since Ash wants to be the best trainer that he can be.

Spoken like Tajiri would've answered that.

Ash wants to be the greatest trainer, a Pokémon Master. Wouldn't he have to battle as many people as he can, and learn from his mistakes in battle? Honestly, it's pretty cool how he's going off trying new things and becoming a growing and maturing guy. Even Lisa would agree on me about that, I bet.

 

[Deadman]

I think it is good cuz contest move can do the trick in battle as well (as we already saw). If a pure battler is confronted with contest movements he gets distract and open his guard so you can land the maybe deciding hit, you understand? I believe to be a good battler you also have to be a good coordinator cuz move from one of the sides can be pretty usefull for the other as well.

 

[Sleet]

So to be good at causing harm to others you need to know how to look good doing it?

 

[Cybersai]

I would like to see Dawn battle Barry for fun. Unlike Paul, I can see Barry willing to give Dawn a battle.

I'd also like to see how Piplup fares against Empoleon.

 

[Tiamat]

No. I don't know why its even necessary for him to do it in the first place. And like someone said earlier he should just stay out of them. He loses in the contests at the beginning mostly anyways (excepting that dress up contest which he placed third or whatever).

I would personally like seeing Dawn battle Ash's rivals. It'd be a nice change of pace.

 

[Wengar64]

Well I don't know.
I have no problem with him battling contest rivals but I do think that Dawn doesn't get too involved. I would like to see Kenny vrs Dawn battle or soemthing like that. And with the paul and dawn battle- to be fair, it wouldn't last long.

 

[Nando]

No. I don't know why its even necessary for him to do it in the first place. And like someone said earlier he should just stay out of them. He loses in the contests at the beginning mostly anyways (excepting that dress up contest which he placed third or whatever).

I would personally like seeing Dawn battle Ash's rivals. It'd be a nice change of pace.

Didn't he not only do well in the Jubilife Contest but also almost defeat Zoey?

 

[Cybersai]

I think the reasoning is there's no point to put Ash in Contests since he loses them all anyway since they're not his story.

Ash has the whole show to himself, he doesn't need to impose on what little screentime the other characters get.

 

[Mr. Charlie]

So to be good at causing harm to others you need to know how to look good doing it?

You're completely right! *Runs off to polish the knife used to slaughter people*

I think the reasoning is there's no point to put Ash in Contests since he loses them all anyway since they're not his story.

Ash has the whole show to himself, he doesn't need to impose on what little screentime the other characters get.

Well, Ash had the show to himself in the Original Series. The show has focused much more on other characters since Advanced, even Brock gets more screentime now IMO. Yeah, he still has the most screentime of all by far, but he is the main character and that's what main characters do. Either way, Ash likes to enter every single pointless competition he comes across, why wouldn't he enter a contest or two?
About Ash battling contest girl's rival. Outside contests I think it's fine, since it's a normal battle and that's Ash's "thing". I aslo belive it's fine for him to lose to one of girl's rival in the contests he enters, it makes perfect sense that he gets to battle one every once in a while and that they win because contest battles are their "thing". I would hate to see him winning, however.

About the other way around... I guess May never got to do so because she sucks in every way, but I would find amusing to see Dawn battle Barry. Crossing The Battle Line is my favorite episode of the entire DP series, because it showed how Dawn could put up a fight against a Gym Leader and I find that really interesting.

I believe that main characters crossing battle lines and doing things they don't usually do great, they should have started doing that earlier. Just make them put good fights and losing every time.

 

[Cybersai]

Either way, Ash likes to enter every single pointless competition he comes across, why wouldn't he enter a contest or two?

Because Dawn will only be here until the end of the generation, whereas Ash will be here forever. I'd much rather they use the characters to their full potential rather than letting Ash take spotlight from other characters arcs.

About Ash battling contest girl's rival. Outside contests I think it's fine, since it's a normal battle and that's Ash's "thing". I aslo belive it's fine for him to lose to one of girl's rival in the contests he enters, it makes perfect sense that he gets to battle one every once in a while and that they win because contest battles are their "thing". I would hate to see him winning, however.

One contest is fine, but I always found it odd that DP started with Ash being the first in a Contest battle, rather than Dawn.

About the other way around... I guess May never got to do so because she sucks in every way,

How so, who was she to battle? And it sounds to me like you're ignorant of the character, so at least have a clue of what you're talking about before spewing forth nonsense and random BS.

Crossing The Battle Line is my favorite episode of the entire DP series, because it showed how Dawn could put up a fight against a Gym Leader and I find that really interesting.

It was a good battle, but its bothersome that if Dawn was going for Gyms this region, she wouldn't have the strength to take down the same ones Ash did.

 

[Mr. Charlie]

Because Dawn will only be here until the end of the generation, whereas Ash will be here forever. I'd much rather they use the characters to their full potential rather than letting Ash take spotlight from other characters arcs.

I just don't think that Ash entering a contest and battling one or two of her rivals counts as taking the spotlight from anyone. They have many contests, other competitions like the Heartome Collection thing and Dawn has had quite a few soul searching episodes dedicated to her. I feel that sometimes Dawn gets even more character development than Ash does lately.

One contest is fine, but I always found it odd that DP started with Ash being the first in a Contest battle, rather than Dawn.

Yeah, you do have a point. It was kinda lame to do that to Dawnie. But then again, she did had DP001 all to herself.

How so, who was she to battle? And it sounds to me like you're ignorant of the character, so at least have a clue of what you're talking about before spewing forth nonsense and random BS.

Right, Ash spend much time without a rival in Hoenn, there was no one for her to battle. But she could have challenged her father or something. I don't like May, never did, never will, therefore I will not make any statments about her anymore. Let's not discuss her any further or this will become a pointless conversation.

It was a good battle, but its bothersome that if Dawn was going for Gyms this region, she wouldn't have the strength to take down the same ones Ash did.

Dawn, in her first Gym Battle lost to a Gym Leader Ash only managed to tie with. Ash lost his first Gym Battle (and second and third if you only count the first battle with each leader and not count interrupted ones). The first Gym Leader Ash managed to have a clean victory agaist was Koga, the fifth Gym leader he challenged. Do you think that shows her as weak?