Ehhh I've been meaning to post in this again... Any who hope this sparks some active discussion in the forum.
Gary is just Blue with a different name. xD;
Well anyway, I guess it would be great to see some game rivals in the anime, I mean, I'm sure a lot of us would want to see them animated and voiced. But then again, I do actually like how the anime makes these exclusive characters, it gives the anime some uniqueness if you like. But then again, you can't really see much of anything new from these characters, I mean Trip is essentially Cheren's anime counterpart, in my opinion at least. He has the same personality, has that whole wanting to be champion and wanting to beat Alder or whatever. Paul had that whole Silver personality about him. Though I would want exclusive rivals as Ash's main, and then game rivals as just in a sense sub rivals(?)
Too me Trip seems like a combination of people rather then just Cheren alone. He has the drive to be the best and become the Champ like Cheren but more then likely he doesn't know what to do with it outside of saying "I am the strongest trainer what is left for me to do". Then he shares characteristics of Gary by acting like a jerk to pretty much just Ash and the hobbies of Todd. So I like how they can mix characteristics of different people and make it into one character. I dunno about how much of an extent Paul and Silver share the same personality. Yes they want to prove something to Reggie and Giovanni respectively but they seem to have two entirely different molds and stories. I haven't really read up much of Silver or remember him abusing his pokemon in game so I really can't speak to that. Either way I would have liked to have seen his character brought to life through the anime.
It depends. With characters like Bianca, they have changed her character (in my opinion, for the worse). She wasn't such a ditz in the games, the whole issue with her was that her father wouldn't let her have any independence. Some characters like Gary, initially, they kept the same.
I don't think that being a game character necessarily means that they're going to have a predictable story. Who would've thought Gary would become a professor? o.O
I do love seeing the game characters in anime form, and I think they should try and include as many main and secondary characters in the anime as possible. I love to see how they interact with the main cast. Also, some anime-only characters have the problem of looking like generic "filler episode" characters, such as Kenny, and that what-is-it wrong name pronunciation guy from BW whereas game characters in the anime pretty much always look great.
I suppose the main thing is for the rival characters to have good, interesting personalities and designs. I don't mind too much about anime-only characters, I just wish that we got to see all the game characters in anime-form. Don't think we'll be seeing Cheren, though :( (and what about N??).
So was a bit of a ditz to an extent but I think they over dramatized her to where that is all her character really is to this point.
And I agree Gary is virtually the same as he was as Blue. Expect they expanded on his story and he followed in the steps of his gramps.
Yeah some anime exclusive characters seem rather bland like Stephan in BW. But that's probably cause they limit the interactions he gets with Ash and Co.
Personally I think we will see in, why build up a character in a game so much not to showcase him in the anime. But then again they had two opportunities(one coming up in Cold Storage) to show him as he appeared in the game the other being the Ferris Wheel. And of course the prior two meetings which weren't really notable imo. I just think they are waiting for the right time, maybe around the time they release the two postponed episodes they show N in a future one.
Do you prefer them to keep up the trend of Anime Exclusive Rivals or do you prefer to have them anime rivals that parallel in game rivals like Gary does with Blue?
I personally have no preference with what ever rival they bring to the table as long as the rival in the game is bearable to deal with. As long as they showcase their personality that they did in the game and expand on it I am completely fine. Or if it's a entirely new character then I have no expectations at that point but to see what comes of it.
Do you think they could have or should have substituted either Silver and Wally in during the Johto and Hoenn Sagas respectively? Or at the very least have added an exclusive rival? If they did do you think Ash rivalry or lack there of would have been handled better as it seemed none existent at times during those Sagas?
I don't necessarily think they needed to add Silver in Johto to have a suitable rival, but at the very least give Ash and Gary more interactions then they got. I mean Johto is at least to me one of the longest Sagas, they can't meet(not even battle just meet) more then a handful of times? I think they could have did better with that personally. As for Hoenn I am fine with them focusing on May rivalry and letting Ash play somewhat of a mentor role, so there wasn't really a need for a intense rivalry at that point. Although I would have liked to at least see Wally introduced to the show rival or not.
Do you think a character created exclusively for the anime has more room to expand on character wise then one where we have already seen shades of in the games? Like we already knew Blue was a jerk from the game, already knew Barry was a spaz from the game, we already knew Bianca was clumsy from the game. Whereas with Trip and Paul the writers have a blank slate to work with? So is there any truth to that statement?
Like I always say when it comes to other things in the show. It's all up to the writers creativity really. They can have the blandest rival that is from the game or a character they made up, it's what they do with the personality and their character that really matters. It probably makes their job a bit easier when they got something to already work with with the in-game characters, but also it helps with they expand the characters personality from that in-game character to make them something more. Kind of like what they did with Alder, you could definitely tell he was unique and had a unique personality which we really didn't see much of in the game since they were pretty much focused on OMG N the Dragons oh noes! I do like that they have anime exclusive characters though, Paul and Trip are definitely some of my favorite characters introduced. Even if they have a bit of qualities of game characters they are exactly their own entity.
