The Rivals

Let's have a fun chat about the various rivals for Ash that have appeared throughout the series, shall we?

What, in your opinion, makes a good rival for Ash? Who would you like to see return - or would have liked to have seen more of than you did - and who did you dislike the most?

Sawyer I like the nice guy rival type. I hate Paul the most out of all of them.

I usually don't care enough to see the rivals come back. I preferred friendly rivals and like to see them have good storylines themselves.

I think the best rivals for Ash are ones that force him to learn and adapt, causing growth in him as a trainer and vice versa. Then by the end there is a strong mutual respect from the two sides. This is why my favorite rivals are Gary and Paul because you can see the growth on both sides and by the end, they may not be best friends but they do respect each other and are gracious for what they've learned from each other.

I would love to see the two of them return again soon. Gary seems like a possibility in Alola but we'll see. In all honesty, I wouldn't mind seeing Barry again either, not for the above reasons but just because I thought he was funny.

Ones that I wish had more screen time would definitely have to be Cameron and Sawyer. Cameron was brought in incredibly late and would've benefited from more time on screen and the development that comes with it. That deus ex machina will forever be irritating. As for Sawyer, I know he got a fair amount of time but I would've liked to see him come in a little earlier because his growth as a trainer was kinda insane. Either more of a training background could've been given or they have him be introduced very shortly after Ash began his Kalos journey to keep the mentor/mentee relationship intact rather than around 1/3 of the way through or so.

My least favorite rivals were the Hoenn and Unova (barring Cameron) rivals. These rivals just didn't seem to cause any growth for Ash or themselves. Now Cameron didn't either but I personally saw a lot of potential in his character and the dynamic between him and Ash that I didn't see in the others.

Alain and Paul. They are the best rivals of Ash. Those two are impressive trainers. I love that they decided to make Alain a rival that Ash can never beat. It is a nice change. Ash already defeated previous rivals. He doesn't need to defeat Alain. It was time for him to have an unbeatable rival.

Alexander18 said:

Alain and Paul. They are the best rivals of Ash. Those two are impressive trainers. I love that they decided to make Alain a rival that Ash can never beat. It is a nice change. Ash already defeated previous rivals. He doesn't need to defeat Alain. It was time for him to have an unbeatable rival.

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Why? To me that makes every battle with the two boring and pointless if Ash is all ways going to lose.

SH60 said:

Why? To me that makes every battle with the two boring and pointless if Ash is all ways going to lose.

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Ash does not need to win against every rival. There is no rule that says that he would eventually beat every rival in every region.

Alexander18 said:

Ash does not need to win against every rival. There is no rule that says that he would eventually beat every rival in every region.

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Then why are they rivals if Ash is going to get wrecked every time they battle that to me makes Ash look weak.

SH60 said:

Then why are they rivals if Ash is going to get wrecked every time they battle that to me makes Ash look weak.

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Maybe Sawyer is the rival that Ash can beat while Alain is the one he can't.

Alexander18 said:

Maybe Sawyer is the rival that Ash can beat while Alain is the one he can't.

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Ok maybe but still if there only 1 rival then they both have to win and lose

SH60 said:

Ok maybe but still if there only 1 rival then they both have to win and lose

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Writers get to decide if Ash should beat his rival or not. What i do know is Alain was never meant to be beaten by Ash and was the reason for Ash to lose the pokemon league.

Alexander18 said:

Writers get to decide if Ash should beat his rival or not. What i do know is Alain was never meant to be beaten by Ash and was the reason for Ash to lose the pokemon league.

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If Ash has a rival that is unbeatable and can win vs anyone it will get boring.

SH60 said:

If Ash has a rival that is unbeatable and can win vs anyone it will get boring.

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Alain was probably a one off. I never said all rivals would be unbeatable.

Alexander18 said:

Alain was probably a one off. I never said all rivals would be unbeatable.

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Ok then will I like a rival that will be equal to Ash as a trainer.

Am I the only person who wants to see the actual game rivals get their time in the spotlight? It often feels like this show goes out of its way to ignore game rivals, either having them not appear at all (Silver, Wally, Hugh) or shoving them into the background in favor of an OC rival (Barry, Bianca, Cheren, XY friends).

It's even more egregious when two of the OC rivals (Paul, Sawyer) are blatant stand-ins for unused game rivals -- If you want to have Silver and Wally, why not just use the actual characters instead of going through the trouble of creating these obvious ripoffs?

Gary was the only game rival that handled even decently well, and even he mostly became background material after Kanto. So far, it looks like Hau is going to be another Silver/Wally and be completely ignored.

I'd favour rivals that would be on par with Ash, or that (s)he edges him out slightly.
Someone who gives Ash the drive and desire to beat him and vice versa.
There has to be mutual respect towards each other.

But also I want that the rivals that learn from each other and have made progress each time they battle again, so I can get hyped and root for both of them.

A little bit of arrogance/cockyness is okay. I'd mostly like it if it's mostly for tease/banter or work up each other in good gesture.

In my opinion, Gary was a good example. though he was on the limit with that sometimes. I also hope he comes back in Alola (even if it is briefly).
I'd say Alain was also pretty good since both were really competitive, though they did not work each other up that much, I think. Sawyer was also a pretty good rival.
Paul however was in my eyes just an arrogant little shit who didn't really show respect to Ash until the very end, so I distaste him a lot.

Paul.

He is by far the best rival Ash had to date. Both of them grew together from hate to respect each other as trainers. They've had the best battles in the whole series. They are both linked to Chimchar which plays an important rol in DP's plot. According to what I know Paul will return in the show when Ash and him face each other in the Champions League tournament after Ash wins a regional league, it was implied this way.

I hope he returns and faces Ash once more.

I liked Trip even though most fans hated him. He needed a bit more screen-time and development sure, but I loved his team and his personality.

Also, I want to add according to a interview Alain was never meant to lose against Ash hence Ash did have an unbeatable rival.

Kuzehiko said:

Also, I want to add according to a interview Alain was never meant to lose against Ash hence Ash did have an unbeatable rival.

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Why is that to me that makes the rivalry boring and pointless because the same thing is always going to happen then whats the point of hyping their final battle if Alain was always going to win.