Rivals in the anime

[Emerald]

Why the writers have given Ash, Gary as a rival (based of the rival in R/B/Y and FR/LG) and even Jimmy (based of the G/S/C male protagonist) from "The legend of thunder" is shown to have rivalry with Silver (based of the G/S/C rival), when instead of giving May and Dawn their respective rivals from the games(Brendan/Damion) they gave them rivals who have nothing with their game counterparts?

 

[Arseus Ex Machina]

Well, Drew does look a LITTLE like Wally, but he acts like Gary.

 

[Emerald]

Drew may look like Wally, but he's not based on him.

 

[Geoffrey]

Just to clear things up Emerald, Gary is NOT the rival from R/B/Y and FR/LG, Jimmy is NOT the main character from G/S/C, and Kamon is NOT the rival from G/S/C. Their designs are based off of them, but they are not the same.

 

[Emerald]

Just to clear things up Emerald, Gary is NOT the rival from R/B/Y and FR/LG, Jimmy is NOT the main character from G/S/C, and Kamon is NOT the rival from G/S/C. Their designs are based off of them, but they are not the same.

I know that they are not the same.I was just wondering why the writers based Gary and Silver on the R/B/Y/FR/LG rival and G/S/C rival, when neither of May's or Dawn's rivals are based on the R/S/E rival or D/P rival.

 

[Geoffrey]

That would probably be because those rivals would be more suited towards gym battles than contests, which is most likely why they're getting shelved.

 

[Emerald]

How come Brendan and Damion would be more suited towards gym battles than contests? Ruby a character from Pokemon Special who is also based on R/S/E Brendan is a coordinator.And Damion could work well as a coordinator.Besides May and Dawn's main goal in the games is the gym challenge, yet the writers made them coordinators in the anime.

 

[Geoffrey]

The manga and anime are produced by different people. The anime has a lot of sexism in it, so they would obviously make Brendan and Barry battlers and not coordinators. Not only that, but Brendan and Ruby as well as May and Sapphire are different. I don't see how Barry would be more suited as a coordinator, given his impulsive behavior. In the games, May and Dawn's main goal is to fill up the Pokedex if you play as the male character. Remember, the games, mangas, and anime are different.

 

[Emerald]

The anime has a lot of sexism in it, so they would obviously make Brendan and Barry battlers and not coordinators.

Do you mean that just becouse Brendan and Damion are male protagonists automaticly makes them more suitable for gyms, while May and Dawn being the female protagonists makes them more suitable for contests? Why can't the male protagonists be coordinators anyway?

I don't see how Barry would be more suited as a coordinator, given his impulsive behavior.

Dawn in the anime is pretty impulsive and rush, yet she does contests.

In the games, May and Dawn's main goal is to fill up the Pokedex if you play as the male character. Remember, the games, mangas, and anime are different.

Well, it depends with who you play. If you play as May her goal would be the gym challenge, while Brendan's would be the Pokedex.

 

[Geoffrey]

Do you mean that just becouse Brendan and Damion are male protagonists automaticly makes them more suitable for gyms, while May and Dawn being the female protagonists makes them more suitable for contests? Why can't the male protagonists be coordinators anyway?

Ask the writers, not me.

Dawn in the anime is pretty impulsive and rush, yet she does contests.

Dawn in the anime and Dawn in the games are different. Plus, she's not as impulsive as Barry is.

Well, it depends with who you play. If you play as May her goal would be the gym challenge, while Brendan's would be the Pokedex.

Right, so why are you using the games to prove your point?

 

[Cybersai]

Drew was introduced instead of Wally or Brendan because they wanted to introduced a character that appeals to girls.

Since May's character is aimed at girls and her story arc is shoujo, creating a pretty boy like Drew who gave her roses is far more appealing to them than the other two. There's a reason why Contestshipping is one of the most popular ships in the anime.

As for the yellow-haired rival, who knows, maybe they just didn't want to use him?

 

[A Concerned Solomon]

Canon status, especially without a significant third party to start rabid shipping wars over love triangles, always boosts popularity, dude. Given enough artistic license, Wally could just as easily have come out as something of a pretty boy, despite being sickly. If it's about the appeal of one male character to girls as an idealized boyfriend, certainly the Gary ships would have a stronger backing than they do, now wouldn't they?

 

[Cybersai]

That's because people shipped Gary with Ash back then.

Let's not...go there...

 

[A Concerned Solomon]

There was also Egoshipping. Wouldn't you say it suffered for having no shot at canon?

 

[Super-Staff]

I can see where both sides are coming from in this case. Wally and Damion could have easily been adapted for Contests, but since the anime does suffer from a case of 'sticking to traditional gender roles', they probably thought that they did not fit the mold they wanted to set with the Contests. Though, in any other case, I'm sure they could have been great rivals for May.

Or maybe the anime writers just like creating their own characters? That's a possibility, too.

At any rate, I'd have liked to have seen them, along with Brendan (in anything other than two movie cameos) and Lucas (who may or may not appear). I guess the writers want to put more of an emphasis on the cute female protagonists and not risk taking Ash's spotlight away, so they omitted the two main male charries completely. It's still a shame since they could have had interesting ties to their respective games...oh and ADVERTISING as the writers seem to apparently like doing.

 

[Cybersai]

Or maybe the anime writers just like creating their own characters? That's a possibility, too.

That's probably it.

May's rivals are considered two of the best rivals of the anime, and Nozomi is fairly well-liked as well.

The anime writers do a MUCH better job with their rivals than what is offered in the games. Why should we have Brendan when we can have Harley instead? The writers can actually strike gold with their own rivals, rather than using some bland trainer that would be just like anybody else.

The smartest decision the writers ever made was to come up with unique rivals for the characters, and they have been ever since Gary.

 

[Yamato-san]

The smartest decision the writers ever made was to come up with unique rivals for the characters, and they have been ever since Gary.

haven't the likes of Hiroshi and Hadzuki cropped up after Shigeru?

You make a point, though... more often than not, the anime writers tend to either butcher a character from the games [cough]Mikan[cough], or just end up with more or less the exact same thing you've already seen in the games (the games not being very big on characterization in the first place). With their original characters, it's often times a hit-or-miss (I say this because, while some of their originals easily make up the majority of the best characters in the show, no contest there, others are shit, like the aforementioned rivals or the numerous 2D throw-away one-shots). I guess Satoshi/Haruka/Hikari are something of a special case, since they're essentially zero-personality avatars in the games and become something of original characters themselves during the conversion to anime.

 

[Suzu]

Why should we have Brendan when we can have Harley instead?

The manga had Ruby. Who is pretty much the same, excpet having 100x more depth, although just as funny. And in my opinion, Ruby does the metro thing better =p

Anyway, I think that writers create original characters because, well, they must like making up Original Characters, as stated. Just like fanfic writers =p

 

[Super-Staff]

Anyway, I think that writers create original characters because, well, they must like making up Original Characters, as stated. Just like fanfic writers =p

Yeah, I'm sure they like making up their own designs and personalities for characters of their own creation. I tend to like their original charries (well, the secondary ones like Drew, not the 'characters of the day' usually), those from the anime and the movies.

Though, it would be nice to see the game characters in interesting roles in the anime (or a movie even). There's just something about seeing someone like Brendan show up that gives the fans a sense of...nostalgia, perhaps? Just like when I saw him in his cameos in movies 6 and 9, I suddenly thought about the Ruby/Sapphire games.

I guess I'm fine with them having their own characters, but I'd like to see some cameos/appearances from some of the game characters they haven't shown... though it's not a big deal if they don't actually do it. Characters like Harley are actually one of the few things the anime did right. I just wish they could be as good with developing their own storylines.

 

[Cybersai]

Well if Palmer is going to show up in the anime, maybe they'll show his son, which is the yellow-haired rival.