Eneko vs. Zenigame *spoilers*

[Yamato-san]

I'm sure tons of people agree that both Haruka's Eneko and Haruka's Zenigame have been total cheapshots in a few cases in the anime. I recently made a post in the speculation thread for the latest episode (as of the date of this post, it's "Gonbe's Debut Battle! Harley and Taking the Game Seriously!"), and looking back on it, I'm now wondering what other people find to be the lesser of the two evils. Eneko, or Zenigame? No senseless character bashing, please. As much as I friggin hate Zenigame and would gladly read posts wishing for its gruesome death to come soon, you'll need to present the reasonings to your answer.

My answer is Eneko. I honestly find it to be a very cute Pokemon, much more appealing in appearance than Zenigame (it's voice doesn't grate my nerves, neither). Also, I doubt there was much controversy surrounding Eneko until the Phantom battle (or perhaps immediately learning Blizzard from Johny, shortly after Kimori took a whole episode to learn Bullet Seed.... better than belittling Yukiwarashi, at least). I mean, Eneko was a cute and considerably popular Pokemon at the time, it made sense that a character would end up with it. Zenigame, on the other hand, was a very questionable Pokemon from the get-go. Haruka already had a Fire/Leaf advertisement dumped on her, it's another Pokemon Satoshi already had, Hitokage gets left out again (considering back in Kantou, it evolved to Lizardon), and I don't recall many people took too kindly to its crybaby persona (some even considered it a rip-off of Cotoise). The events at Yamabuki City were just salt in the wound. There's also the fact that Haruka took a bit of effort to help out Eneko before catching it. With Zenigame, though, the writers were being lazy and just made the thing gain an (inconsistent) fear of Monster Balls before jumping into her arms, immediately attached to her. If you want to see my afforementioned post to see even more about why I think Eneko's better than Zenigame, here it is.

Squirtle and Skitty can be complained about although Squirtles were a little more believable since they made sense unlike wonder skitty.

No, I actually found Eneko more believable. Sure, it plowed through a Hyper Beam with a Blizzard, but at least it had quite a bit of time to develop before its contest. Hell, it prolongued being in the first contest Haruka was in since its capture (the battle against Grace, which Agehunt took part in), and it managed to learn not one, but two new techniques within the time span. Sure, it kinda got a hold on Blizzard a bit quickly, but at least it saw the attack in action and managed to try it before supposedly mastering it (unlike a certain turtle, which didn't see Ice Beam in use at all). I'd go as far to say that Eneko's development at that point had perfectly prepared it for its first contest.... they just didn't pull off the contest itself correctly.

Zenigame, on the other hand, was a starter Pokemon. In other words, a Pokemon for beginning trainers, meant to be a little weak so trainers can grow with them (and not instantly uber so all starting trainers are cheap). On top of that, its crybaby persona immediately leaves you to assume that it's very young as well, while with Eneko, we have no clue as to how old it is when it was caught in the wild (sure, it's playful, but that's just representative of it being a cat). Within about 15 episodes after Haruka got it, it barely receives any training whatsoever, and it's still at a point where it's running to Haruka crying for comfort. Yet, in the exact same episode where Shuu's Flygon battled it, it immediately went from crybaby, to being able to take down Musashi's Dokucale with a single Tackle (I know Rocket Dan's a bit weak, but Jesus, they deserve more credit than that). Then about two or three episodes later, it suddenly pulls out an Ice Beam despite being completely unfamiliar with the technique.

Then it immediately participates in the first contest it comes across, unlike Eneko, and if you were paying attention to what I just said, the preperation for said contest was hardly realistic. They should've had it gets its as* handed to it by Ariados, much like what happened to Fushigidane when it first participated in a contest (and it's not like it was very crucial that Haruka win her first ribbon in the Kantou region, anyway), but nooooo, it goes and wins, and the win was also cheap and unrealistic (that Ice Beam hardly came in contact with every web around the contest hall, and the writers could've damn well had Harley find some way to make Ariados defend itself in that situation. Also, that recoil effect only seems to have been present in that episode and nowhere else). I may be a bit biased, since I actually find Eneko cute unlike that damned turtle, but given what I said, I'd say Eneko's actions are actually a bit justifiable by comparison.

Yeah Squirtle's victory was kinda cheap with the ice beam but, I think we can get past that it has done awesome things and done things to make up for the ice beam incident. IMO the only pokemon that deserves the hate is her skitty so far.

You say it's done awesome things to make up for it? Like what, exactly? Do you mean the way it stole Heigani's rightful spotlight in the Hakuryuu lake episode (Heigani, BTW, not having had a good role in quite a while) by learning Rapid Spin (Heigani also never learned a new technique in the whole time Satoshi's owned him, while the rather new Zenigame was just recently given Ice Beam)? Or having its ugly mug showing up in almost every frame of the time travel episode, just kinda standing there out of its Monster Ball for little reason but plot convenience? Besides, it's not a matter of "doing something cool" that would make up for its crap. More of a matter of seeing it beaten to a bloody pulp itself as retribution for that Ariados fiasco (it still has yet to be KOed in a battle. It only ran off the battlefield crying while battling Flygon).

 

[Shadowcat]

Actually Yamato, I completely agree with you. At least Skitty/Eneko had Delcatty to show her the attack. Unlike Zenigame, who could cheaply use Ice Beam easily...

For the recent Contest epi, Zenigame could use a Perfect Ice Beam attack, which was very cheap, IMO. And it's personality was kinda' ripped off from Torkoal/Cotoise.

 

[The Benmeister]

I would say Squirtle is the worse of two evils. Since at least Skitty managed to train for its moves...but Squirtle, having hardly any training, can manage to learn Ice Beam out of nowhere whereas it took Snorunt an age to learn how to use Ice Beam properly (in fact it needed to evolve just to do that). It is basically a combination of Ash's Squirtle (because it is a Squirtle, duh), his Torkoal (only Squirtle is a worse crybaby, although actually it has not cried for a while now) and his Snorunt (only Squirtle skips the whole training part when it comes to learning moves).

 

[CyberCubed]

I liked Skitty. It was a cute Pokemon in general, had proper build up, and the only cheap contest it was in was against the Phantom.

 

[MaskedManAbsolkid]

No one humiliates Harley! Skitty's cute, funny, and had to train a small bit. It seemed to be higher than Lv 5, but lower than Lv 30. Squirtle is around Lv 5, and became Super Squirtle, learning techniques quickly without training. It's an annoying crybaby which hogs up valuable show time. I'm glad she has Eevee, at least it makes squirtle's time considerably less.

 

[ghost master]

I remain undecided at the moment. Skitty vs. phatom was cheap. I also felt May shouldn't have passed that far into the GF because of her appeal with Skitty. It just used assist over and over and then got confused which May solved with doubleslap. Nothing spectacular that deserved such a high score. Squirtle has only had one moment of cheapness and it was the battle between ariados and the ice beam incident but, that was a major cheap point due to Snorunt and trying to learn the move. Squirtle has done ok beyond this point.
Although dont misintrepret me. I think Skitty is one of her best pokemon. I also feel Squirtle's good but, has a long way to go to be up at Bulbasaur's rank. I hope May doesnt use Squirtle in the next contest though because its starting to get annoying having seen it in 3 contests in a row. Squirtle also isnt a cry baby anymore. After it got horribly humiliated by Drew's flygon it had stopped being a crybaby.

 

[intergalactic platypus]

I really loathe Squirtle. It has no originality with its crybaby personality, its way too uber for its level, and it totally gives a bad name to Squirtles after Ashes badass one. Although I wasn't the biggest Skitty person, it suited May well and it was at least reasonable in buildup unlike super Squirtle. Plus I don't like it humiliating Harley

 

[Heracross]

Eneko is loads better. Even if I do think it's win against the Phantom was cheap, it did have some prior training and actually had to learn its attacks beforehand. And other than that I had nothing against it, really.

Zenigame on the other hand, makes me sick. Not only did it humiliate Harley, it made Yukiwarashi look like a complete fool for taking so long to perfect ice beam. That might have been more believable if it was a higher level pokémon that she cought in the wild, but it's a freaking cuddly cutesy little baby. Like intergalactic platypus said, it's a disgrace to Satoshi's awesome Zenigame that actually had to work hard to get where it is.

 

[The Big Al]

Both need to be sucked into a black hole. They're both cheap pokemon.

Skitty is so cute its sick. I tired to make Skitty a minor villian in one of my fan fics but because it's so cute and super deformed, I wound up having to use Meowth instead.

I generally hate all Skitty. May's however, was worse then all the rest. The Assist bull's eying all the time was annoying and Phantom deserved to win. Then she defeated a Houndoom when she should have been dog chow. It made me sick. I want to go Jason Hanson on its head.

However, Squirtle really got my back up. I like the Squirtle line but that crybaby midgit annoyed me from day one. Then, it got cheap. As in stealing the spotlight from much more worthy Pokemon. Making a certain ice Pokemon look like a retard. And tooped it all off by beating a certain spider who should have taken victory.

 

[Dark Cacturne]

May's squirtle is really cute, personally he did a great job in this episode 'Munchlanx battle debut! Harley and taking the battle seriously!' with all those bubbles and then that ice beam. But actually I think it's exaggerated for such a baby squirtle. Anyway, May's Skitty is really bored, it would be better and more impressing must it evolve into a Delcatty, I'm pretty sure about this.

 

[Jo-Jo]

They've both had cheap victories. But Skitty is a pink kitten. Thus, it wins.

 

[Kabuto]

I honestly can't decide. They both suck equally. I'm glad Skitty is left at Petalburg and I hope the same for Squirtle after BF is over. And no, May's Squirtle shouldn't join the Squirtle Squad when it leaves, it is not worthy of being a firefighter like Ash's because it is a lucky weakling like Skitty.

 

[RaikousThunder]

To go with the No one humiliates Harley, Zenigame sucks, shouldnt Bulbasaur and Beautifly be there too? Bulbasaur humilated him not once but twice.

But anyway. Im not gonna vote but i'll say what i think. I dont like May's Squirtle very much since it was a baby starter pokemon and it pulled a strong Ice Beam out of its rear and beat an evolved pokemon in its first real battle. Its also taking the light off of May's other pokemon. I think they show it in Contests way too much. I'd rather see Combusken than Squirtle all the time. Now that May has used Munchlax and has Eevee maybe we will see less of the little turtle in contests.
I like Skitty since its a cute little kitten but some of its battles bothered me. First it kicks butt against an evolved, powerful Ghost pokemon and then it beat both Houndoom and Jynx. As much as i like Skitty i dont like the fact that it beat a better pokemon, Houndoom. When the heck is Houndoom gonna win a battle? First beaten by a Bayleef and then a little kitten.

It seems May gets some uber pokemon fairly fast. Ash's pokemon pulled off some crazy victories but i think May's do it more. Torchic didnt get much screen time till after it evolved and Combusken should be shown as a powerful pokemon. Skitty and Squirtle should have had some eps shown for training and then given an ep to show off and look strong. The one thing i did like about Skitty was it didnt master Blizzard right away, unlike Squirtle who mastered Ice Beam right away. I just hope they dont make Eevee an uber right away. It just hatched not that long ago after all. Combusken and Munchlax should be shown more often, they rock.

 

[Gravy]

To go with the No one humiliates Harley, Zenigame sucks, shouldnt Bulbasaur and Beautifly be there too? Bulbasaur humilated him not once but twice.

The difference being that Bulbasaur and Beautifly actually got some decent training time down. Being defeated by two moderatly experieced pokémon is hardly as bad as being kicked to the curb by a starter pokémon with no training what-so-ever.

If I'm quite honest, I can't say I'm fond of either one of them. They're both incredibly cheap pokémon, and neither of their personallities actually appeal to me at all. Though I have to give kudos to Skitty for being original at least. Squritle is so god-damn boring.

 

[Korobooshi Kojiro]

Squirtle is evil and cheap. His attacks are like nuclear bombs. He stole Torkoal's quirk, and does it badly. He upstaged Snorunt, who is cooler. He even stole Munchlax's attention (I rember I used to dislike Munchlax, but since Squirltle, he is way cooler then the turtle). He made mincemeat of Ariados in one attack. Thank god Eevee has begun to steal his attention.

You know, maybe Squirlte was possessed by Misty's Togetic, to continue his new world order plan...

 

[CyberCubed]

Heh, let's hope Eevee doesn't follow the Skitty/Squirtle path...

 

[PDL]

Heh, let's hope Eevee doesn't follow the Skitty/Squirtle path...

you know, I haven't eevee done ANYTHING since it hatched... except being carried around by May...









oh shi...

 

[High Commander Solomon]

Skitty. I hold a grudge against Squirtle for basically locking Ash's Squirtle, whom we all love for his badass shades, out of the series.

 

[PDL]

Skitty

Cons:

- Considered cheap
- learned Blizzard with *little training*
- won mostly by luck
- can be too cute (debateable)

Pros:

- Cute
- Not based on any previous character
- Some training involved

Squirtle

Cons:

- Considered very cheap
- learned Ice Beam and Rapid Spin with *no* training whatsoever, upstaging Snorunt in the process
- Stole Torkoal's act, does shitty job at it
- completely slanders Ash's Squirtle by a longshot
- sickeningly cute

Pros:

- ...Not a communist?

 

[The Big Al]

Squirtle holds up a soviet flag
PDL: Dammit.

Sorry, I just had to.

Skitty was a new character. She just got annoying very, very fast.