What did you think of Gary/Shigeru's role on the show and should he appear again?

[Almonds]

Yep, anyone who's known pokemon during the past 15 years will know Gary is Ash's first rival, Prof. Oak's grandson, a better portrayed counterpart of the rival in Gen1, and pretty much the reason why Ash travelled various regions. Gary and Ash are practically inseparable... or maybe 'was'. In fact, Ash was named after the real creator of the Pokemon franchise, Satoshi, and Gary was named after his mentor (and rival), Shigeru. What's more to explain how much both affect each other, in anime and out?

In Kanto and Johto, Gary was Ash's goal to compete and surpass. However, he had disappointingly only a few episodes - and even in some he only appeared as a passerby, not even directly interacting with Ash.

Still, Gary was important, and the final showdown in the Silver Conference had been quite thrilling. And after that, he continued to appear here and there, although he got less and less screentime.

DP was Gary's final appearance, and ever since BW started, we get no signs of Gary.

Is he forgotten for good? Or will he come back? Is there even a slightest possiblity he'd make an appearance?

 

[Iteru]

Re: What did you think of his role on the show and do you think he should appear agai

Approved.

 

[Cybersai]

Re: What did you think of Gary's role on the show and should he appear again?

I don't think we saw enough of Gary in DP for it to matter. He only appeared in 3 episodes and really didn't do much in any of the three. He got the bare minimum of screentime in those 3 episodes as well.

I honestly thought Gary was making a comeback to the series when DP started, but now it looks like they were just minor cameos. I wouldn't mind seeing him again but if he was what he was like in DP I wonder why they'd bother.

 

[Peppermint Phoenix]

Re: What did you think of Gary's role on the show and should he appear again?

I think his original role was completely botched. None of his Pokemon appeared until the 8th gym, his growth was done entirely separate from Ash and he fought no more intelligently than Ash did half the time even though being cool headed and less impulsive than Ash was the entire point of his point of his character. Sure the final battle was cool but besides that he was poorly handled. He was pretty cool in AG but for DP I agree with Gliscor'd. He should appear again but only used to characterize and develop Ash a tiny bit.

 

[Cybersai]

Re: What did you think of Gary's role on the show and should he appear again?

I think the problem is since he's not a trainer anymore there's not much to do with him. We saw him as a researcher a couple of times but they didn't even bother to tie him into researching Dialga/Palkia which should have happened back in DP.

Gary also has surprisingly very few appearances in the anime. For someone who was the main rival from Kanto through Johto, he only ever appeared less than 15 times.

From AG through DP, again he only has like 3 appearances in each series. And in AG's case one of those appearances was in a special.

 

[Bouffalant Herdier]

Re: What did you think of Gary's role on the show and should he appear again?

I loved Gary's personality and his skill as a trainer; he's still my favourite rival character to this day, but I can't deny how poorly he was handled. He was nicer than his game counterpart, but he really knew how to wind Ash up, and there was a time I wished he was the main character instead because he seemed so much cooler, he caught far more Pokemon, evolved them, and so on, which is more like how most people play the games themselves. I thought if the show focused on him, there would be a significant event happening in every episode, but now I realize why that wouldn't work, especially considering how much trouble they have with Ash's much smaller roster of Pokemon as it is.

I just wished he appeared more frequently, had a larger role in general and battled Ash a number of times before the final showdown. (Not counting Pikachu vs Eevee, that was too short) At least they fixed these problems with Paul and Trip, much as I dislike the latter. How are we supposed to get involved in a rivalry if we barely see one of the characters?

 

[GreatLiver]

Re: What did you think of Gary's role on the show and should he appear again?

I was really expecting him to play a much bigger role in DP. When he sparked Ash to go there at the end of DP it seemed that he would actually show up. That last episode of AG with him and Electivire was just so exciting because it was a throwback to us older friends but was the start of something new. But then he never showed, and when he did he didn't do a whole lot. He was far more interesting in his hoso than any time in DP.

 

[Cybersai]

Re: What did you think of Gary's role on the show and should he appear again?

I was really expecting him to play a much bigger role in DP. When he sparked Ash to go there at the end of DP it seemed that he would actually show up. That last episode of AG with him and Electivire was just so exciting because it was a throwback to us older friends but was the start of something new. But then he never showed, and when he did he didn't do a whole lot. He was far more interesting in his hoso than any time in DP.

Its sad really. They devote the last episode of AG to him like he was making this huge comeback to the show.

Fast forward 4 years later and we all know how that went.

 

[Ampharos King]

Re: What did you think of Gary's role on the show and should he appear again?

The most ironic part about Gary's appearances in DP were that they hardly focused on his presumed field of study (pokemon evolution). It made sense for Gary to work as an apprentice researcher under Professor Rowan in Sinnoh because Rowan's main field of study was Pokemon evolutions in the games, but it was a shame that they focused so little on this with both characters.

The pokemon who debuted in DP arguably had the most diverse evolution requirements in any of the games so far. Some pokemon evolved when they were in a specific location, others evolved when they learned a new attack, and others evolved when in contact with items (which are further subdivided into conditions such as day/night and trade). Since Gary's intended research was supposedly how certain pokemon evolve and the appearances of these evolved pokemon from their pre-evolved forms, this could have been an outlet to provide needed focus and development for this character. The majority of these "special" evolutions did not happen on-screen, so Gary's potential to develop in this regard had been wasted.

The only episode in DP where Gary appears or has a cameo that focuses on evolution was the one where he gives Ash's Gligar a special item that enables it to evolve later on in the episode. His presence here is mitigated because Gary mentioned that he was going to Lake Valor to study the legendary pokemon Azelf. Gary simply had that Razor Fang in his pocket and knew that Gligar would evolve if it was in contact with it.

It felt like the writers wanted to include Gary as an assistant researcher for some of the more relevant subplots (such as the legendary pokemon in the lakes), but in this sense this made him stand out less or feel less important compared to the other researchers who were also involved with these projects. Consequently, Gary had not stood out as a competent battler, either. Some of his more signature pokemon (the Electivire that defeated Pikachu at the end of AG and his Umbreon, who had also defeated Pikachu in the past as an Eevee) lost singlehandedly against Saturn's Toxicroak. At this moment, it felt like the writers were satisfied with Gary's current role in the series and did not want to do anything to increase his presence any more than they had.

So no, I don't think Gary should appear again in the series. Since the writers seem to have their hands full with the characters in the Unova region, there is absolutely no place for Gary to contribute any way in the current series.

 

[Hellion]

Re: What did you think of Gary's role on the show and should he appear again?

Gary, as a rival, wasn't all that. Gary, as a character, was great. He was hilarious and he knew how to push Ash's buttons and the dynamics between the two was fun, and the evolution of their UST filled friendship was also something that was interesting to see. I'd definitely like to see him back.

 

[El_]

Re: What did you think of Gary's role on the show and should he appear again?

Gary, as a rival, wasn't all that. Gary, as a character, was great. He was hilarious and he knew how to push Ash's buttons and the dynamics between the two was fun, and the evolution of their UST filled friendship was also something that was interesting to see. I'd definitely like to see him back.

This basically. Though I have to say that while his rivalry could of been handled a bit better, for what it was its still much much better than the Ash/Trip rivalry lol

To be honest he didn't even have to appear much for people to know that he was the rival, he was just that fun a character I guess. He'll always be the original for me.

 

[Cybersai]

Re: What did you think of Gary's role on the show and should he appear again?

I kind of forgot Gary's existence in Johto. How horrible is it that over 3 Johto seasons he only gets 3 episodes prior to the league?

 

[Rainami]

Re: What did you think of Gary's role on the show and should he appear again?

Although I generally ignore the anime, Gary is awesome and should totally appear in the series again.

 

[Cinderfella]

Rival Wise, Gary was no huge deal. He was hilarious though, I'd give him that. You gotta love a rival who brings reactions out of the protagonist. Paul definitely was a much better handled one, but since Gary is a classic and started off the series as Ash's first, he definitely deserves some credit. Besides Ash vs Gary(Johto League) was, for its time, one of the greatest battles and rather unique.

In terms of appearing again, absolutely! Why not right? I'm up for anything currently to make Best Wishes better and him appearing in DP was nice.

 

[Caseydia]

In Kanto he wasn't as serious as he was in Johto. He was more tolerable in Johto. In Kanto, Gary reminded me of Trip alot because of how little he pops up and how much he ignores Ash. But as far as appearing again, he probably will. I mean he and Ash live in the same town, of course he'll pop up sooner or later.

 

[Cybersai]

I feel like Gary only appeared in DP to give him closure.

 

[Blue1225]

lol of course i'd love for him to appear again. He's my favorite character and I always loved his interactions with Ash. As others have said, he never even appeared that often but the rises he could get out of Ash were classic and he really did grow as a character from the start of Kanto to the end of Johto. I thought that with him appearing at the end of AG and the fact the writers had improved since Kanto, we would get to see a good bit of him in DP. Obviously this didn't happen, which makes me wonder why they bothered at all.

 

[Ash Ketchum!]

Obviously this didn't happen, which makes me wonder why they bothered at all.

Well he appeared at the end of AG and said he was heading back to Sinnoh. Also DP referenced a lot of older characters like Jessilina, Butterfree in a flashback, Growlie, Jasmine, etc so I guess they felt he was something they could bring back.

 

[Pokémon Master Ash]

I thought he was a cool rival. Yeah, I think he should appear again.

 

[Hidden Mew]

I didn't care much for Gary as a rival. I think I liked their rivalry when I first saw the series, but when I watched the series again when I was older, I realized how lackluster it was. Gary barely appeared in Kanto, although at least he had more of a presence there than he did in Johto due to how often Ash would bring him up, we didn't see any of his Pokemon until his match against Giovanni and he didn't get a battle with Ash until the end of the Orange Islands, which was incredibly anticlimactic in my opinion. He worked as a character who would push Ash's buttons and get him fired up even more, but not much of a rival in my opinion. It also didn't help that his development was mostly off-screen. Their full battle in the Johto League was great though.

I don't know if I'd want to see him again. I wouldn't be against it necessarily, but there isn't much they could do with him now. I didn't have much of a problem with how he barely appeared in DP since I never thought that he was going to play a central role in the show, despite encouraging Ash to go to Sinnoh. He is a Pokemon researcher now, so he wouldn't be a rival to Ash and they wouldn't devote a lot of time to him either.