Hanto
Water Addiction
It is just my own opinion, but do you think that quality of rival's characters and story is getting worse and worse since AG and DP?
Paul was the pinnacle of rival's character development and his conflict with Ash was the most interesting part of this series. Coordinator rivals of May and Dawn also were kinda well-balanced, except maybe Kenny and Nando, but secondaries are always getting pretty shafted.
BW rivals had a great potential, but turned out kinda meh. They all were very fun characters with cool personalities and chemistry with Ash/Iris/Cilan, however, none of these rivalries got a conclusion. I feel very bitter about Trip the most, cause he started as a total jerk, but keeps getting more friendly towards the end of series and battle with Alder. Trip revealed to Ash the reason behind Oshawott's inability to use Aqua Jet, helped during venipede invasion and started to understand that power is not the only key to a victory after unexpected strategies of Ash and Bianca. After Junior Cup he had greatly subdued his nasty attitude, having been humbled by his battle with Alder too. Along with his newer persona, he showed a genuine interest in battling Ash in the League, and along with that ceased his past tendencies of mocking him.
So the writers could turn that fact into something similar to Sawyer-Ash friendly relationships. While Trip would learn unusual tactics from Ash, the latter would use more strategy and rely on abilities and switches in battle. However, we did not see even a proper full battle. Trip would have a pretty menacing team of Chandelure, Conkelldur, Serperior, Unfezant, Vanillux and Jellicent, but only his starter got some time to shine and Conkelldur surpassed Torterra's overwhelming losing streak. The same thing applies to Georgia and Burgundy and to a lesser extent to Kenyan and Bianca.
Original XY rival trio of Shauna, Tierno and Trevor started kinda well, but were completely downplayed to background later. Ash has no proper battle with Tierno before the League. Shauna/Miette/Nene never really defeat Serena and just not feel like real rivals and threat, Serena never lose because any of them outshined her performance. Sawyer is okay, Alain is Marty Stew, and Amelia is an example of wasted potential.
SM series brings only one rival that is Gladion, however, he feels like a recurring character, not a main rival. He had some interesting conflict with Ash about UBs nature (Ash considered them as just Pokemon from different dimension, while Gladion thought they are monsters) and that could lead to potential showdown between Naganadel and Silvally, but alas...
Hau is pretty loveable and interesting character from the games who got just one episode and was eventually defeated by grass type Z-Move with 0,25 x effectivity -_-
Do you think that nowadays rivals are poorly handled and have a less impact on the main characters?
Paul was the pinnacle of rival's character development and his conflict with Ash was the most interesting part of this series. Coordinator rivals of May and Dawn also were kinda well-balanced, except maybe Kenny and Nando, but secondaries are always getting pretty shafted.
BW rivals had a great potential, but turned out kinda meh. They all were very fun characters with cool personalities and chemistry with Ash/Iris/Cilan, however, none of these rivalries got a conclusion. I feel very bitter about Trip the most, cause he started as a total jerk, but keeps getting more friendly towards the end of series and battle with Alder. Trip revealed to Ash the reason behind Oshawott's inability to use Aqua Jet, helped during venipede invasion and started to understand that power is not the only key to a victory after unexpected strategies of Ash and Bianca. After Junior Cup he had greatly subdued his nasty attitude, having been humbled by his battle with Alder too. Along with his newer persona, he showed a genuine interest in battling Ash in the League, and along with that ceased his past tendencies of mocking him.
So the writers could turn that fact into something similar to Sawyer-Ash friendly relationships. While Trip would learn unusual tactics from Ash, the latter would use more strategy and rely on abilities and switches in battle. However, we did not see even a proper full battle. Trip would have a pretty menacing team of Chandelure, Conkelldur, Serperior, Unfezant, Vanillux and Jellicent, but only his starter got some time to shine and Conkelldur surpassed Torterra's overwhelming losing streak. The same thing applies to Georgia and Burgundy and to a lesser extent to Kenyan and Bianca.
Original XY rival trio of Shauna, Tierno and Trevor started kinda well, but were completely downplayed to background later. Ash has no proper battle with Tierno before the League. Shauna/Miette/Nene never really defeat Serena and just not feel like real rivals and threat, Serena never lose because any of them outshined her performance. Sawyer is okay, Alain is Marty Stew, and Amelia is an example of wasted potential.
SM series brings only one rival that is Gladion, however, he feels like a recurring character, not a main rival. He had some interesting conflict with Ash about UBs nature (Ash considered them as just Pokemon from different dimension, while Gladion thought they are monsters) and that could lead to potential showdown between Naganadel and Silvally, but alas...
Hau is pretty loveable and interesting character from the games who got just one episode and was eventually defeated by grass type Z-Move with 0,25 x effectivity -_-
Do you think that nowadays rivals are poorly handled and have a less impact on the main characters?