Should trainer battles in the anime use more Pokemon?

[Peppermint Phoenix]

On one hand the show has time constraints each episode must take just between 20-25 minutes and one on one adds atmosphere making it more about the Pokemon. On the other hand they are a lot of filler episodes in the anime and team construction is part of Pokemon batting and by having say an entire tournament with one on one battles you're shorting a key part of the competition some say the most important part. Another thing is while the writers have time constraints the characters don't: their journeys are about training pokemon and with the type system a one on one battle is very unbalanced , a trainer's goal is to have multiple strong pokemon not just one.

If you look at the stadium in the 4 episode tournaments in BW that seems to be a pretty big stadium for such short battles and they only did 8 of them at most per a round. Seems a little unrealistic.

Paul and Ash's first battle(which was three one on one battles) clocked in at under five and half minutes including dialogue starting at when the first pokemon selection is made and ending when the ref declared the winner. So an evenly matched regular 3 on 3 battle could theoretically happen in under nine minutes even less if they don't pokedex anything.

 

[Hidden Mew]

Moved to the Anime section since the topic fits here more than in the Pokemon League section.

 

[Jukain]

Long battles aren't too practical for regular episodes, but for junk like tournaments, I will agree that it should involve more than one poke, or at least make it so that junk isn't taken out in one shot. The truly big battles should be the sole domain of the League unless there is a good reason for it, like for a rival.

 

[Almonds]

If it's a CoTD, I don't think it's necessary for the trainer to use a lot of pokemons. Just a few to indicate what types/kinds of pokemon the trainer favors, or which would bring out the characteristics of the trainer best.

 

[Master Cyrus]

Too bad the majority of COTDs only have one pokemon. And its obvious the don battle toruneys were just the writers trying to pad out time that otherwise would have gone to contests or whatever5th equivalent.

 

[Peppermint Phoenix]

I think 3 should be the base line not ONE! I mean with one you just rehash the type advantages aren't everything dealy

 

[CrackFox]

My preference is no. I don't like the battles really. I know it's kinda weird to be a Pokemon fan and say that but I never have. Some are really enjoyable though and I have enjoyed quite a few over the years (mostly gym battles) but yeah, generally short battles is all my attention span can handle these days.

 

[Iteru]

The battles should just be of better written quality as opposed to throwing more Pokémon in and hoping that makes them better.

 

[Araragi-hakase]

The battles should just be of better written quality as opposed to throwing more Pokémon in and hoping that makes them better.

I agree; if anything, more Pokemon would mean less focus on the battles themselves with trying to cram so many in.

I'd rather see one or two pokemon against each other in a well written battle than 5 or 6 quick ones to fill time.