Ash's Rivals

Ash had plenty of rivals during his Pokemon adventures! They had different attitudes and different attitudes, but posed quite a challenge for Ash when battling against them.



Which one of Ash's rivals did you enjoy the most? Which one did you think compliment Ash's character and was the best rival for Ash? Do you have any other thoughts?

My favorite was Gary, and I liked how he matured later in the series.

If you didn't grow up with Gary like I did, then the default answer is Paul. Even as someone who started watching the anime from the beginning, I have to go with Paul over Gary in this regard. Paul challenged and battled Ash at multiple points through Sinnoh. Gary wouldn't even give Ash the light of day or courtesy to battle him because he thought Ash was an inferior trainer. In other words, Gary was an Elitist snob while Paul was a rigid and overly serious trainer who was pretty much a complete 180 to Ash when it came to raising Pokemon.

I also must add that even though my favorite series happens to be XY/XYZ, I will still go with Paul despite having Sawyer and Alain as options. The reason why is that Paul appeared early on in the series while Sawyer didn't appear until much later or roughly the midway point and Alain didn't meet Ash until the final season or last third of the series. Time in the series matters.

Gary is my favorite. He is a knowledgeable kid who was always ahead of Ash. I liked how he is cheerful unlike other rivals I know who were always so serious. Gary gave Ash a nickname, had his own group of funny cheerleaders, and instead of traveling on foot he had his own sporty red convertible with a chauffeur.

Gary was a fun and competent rival, Paul was a good foil and challenge to Ash, both forcing each other to grow stronger. The rest range from alright to below average. Ritchie was a copy and pasted Ash except less brash, Ash should of fought Gary in the Indigo League. A lot of the other rivals didn't have big relevance to Ash's journey or weren't interesting characters and the League rivals were just there to beat Ash so he could move on to the next region.

Gary was the rival that I enjoyed the most throughout the series. However, for the rival who mostly complimented Ash as a rival it would honestly have to be Paul. Being an opposite of Ash seeing them clash and watching them grow from one another was a treat and I believe Ash learned more from Paul than he did from any of his other rivals. Paul was also the one that brought the most challenges for Ash and pushed Ash to the limit. In fact it's kinda of part of my headcanon as to why Ash acted the way he did during his travels in Unova, but that's a topic for another time, hahah.

I enjoy most of his other rivals, as well. I believe there is only one rival that I honestly don't like and that's Kotetsu (I believe that's his name) from Unova. I even vastly prefer Trip (though mostly because of roleplay reasons) over the boy that should have honestly not beaten Ash during the Pokemon League in Unova. :T

Can't choose between Paul and Trip, I like them both. I like them because of the challenges they presented and their teams were badass.

Ash has had FEmale rivals, too.....I guess they aren't shown in the first post's picture.

For one, there's Bianca. She was okay, rather funny at times.

The other one, I think there's different opinions whether or not she's really a 'rival', but she's shown traits of it, dispite being a 'gym leader'. Similar to how she is in the x and y games.

And that person is Korrina. She's my favorite pokemon character, too, so seeing her as a rival to Ash makes me feel happy :3

But, yeah, there was really a rivalry between Pikachu and her Lucario, if you ask me. Hopefully many people who've seen her arc and then the gym battle could get what I mean. I may not spoil anything for anyone, though.

Jirachu said:

Ash has had FEmale rivals, too.....I guess they aren't shown in the first post's picture.

For one, there's Bianca. She was okay, rather funny at times.

The other one, I think there's different opinions whether or not she's really a 'rival', but she's shown traits of it, dispite being a 'gym leader'. Similar to how she is in the x and y games.

And that person is Korrina. She's my favorite pokemon character, too, so seeing her as a rival to Ash makes me feel happy :3

But, yeah, there was really a rivalry between Pikachu and her Lucario, if you ask me. Hopefully many people who've seen her arc and then the gym battle could get what I mean. I may not spoil anything for anyone, though.

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I suppose Bianca can be considered one but Trip often gets the nod as the primary rival during Unova. As for Korrina, by being a Gym Leader, she can't be a rival. Granted... she was arguably in the top 3, if not fighting for #1 Kalos Gym Leader with that Lucario.

I thought I had replied this but meh.
Paul is my favorite and he will always be the best. Why? because Paul was an important piece to the plot of DP unlike the other rivals of Ash. Their rivalry made them both grow as characters and they really gained tons of character of development due to it. Paul also has a better and more interesting personality and growth than the other rivals. Paul was the closest to a Sasuke or Vegeta rival that he ever had. He will always be the best rival to me.

Alain comes in a second close but it was late when he came in the show. Also, unlike his other rivals Ash never defeated Alain hence that makes me hard to pick him. Alain also had some Stu traits but even so, he was really a great rival.

Paul was the best rival Ash had. Not just because he was a colossal douche and because the battles were epic but because it was really good writing. It wasn't just a matter of not liking each other and sometimes he showed up. Paul was the total antithesis of Ash but he was also better than him in combination with it. You saw Ash not only have to beat the asshole rival but defend his ideology and methods against a superior opponent which forced him to grow in ways his other rivals couldn't. Not to mention Paul was actually extremely involved with the plot and was well fleshed out for a Pokemon character.

There were also a few others who were good for various reasons but they just don't compare really. Then there's others who were just boring or uninteresting or Trip who was a dull one dimensional character with a personality that made him an awful follow-up from Paul and the worst rival character the franchise has ever had.