And next off... the episode in which Chimchar evolves (if you weren't aware, too bad, you should know this already).
For one, I found that, besides the fact that Ash lost, besides the fact that Paul seems to be the EV training, Metagame player, and besides the fact that Chimchar Evolved... I think Ash may want to somewhat reconsider his training methods just a tad.
Okay, sure, I get that he was attempting to prove a point with the way he trains, and obviously this episode was all about Chimchar -> Monferno, I just can't believe they made half of Paul's team that overpowered.
Ursaring... my god, what have they done. I get it, it was a menace back in Johto, why must you put so much emphasis on that. It gets hit by it's own Focus Blast, and is able to keep going through 2 more of Ash's team before finally being taken down by Chimchar... of all things. I get it, you wanted to evolve Chimchar (ironic, since Chimchar was what Paul used to catch the damned bear), but my god, why couldn't Ash had just immediately swapped to Chimchar, taken down Ursaring, and then have another 2 guys ready to take down another member of Paul's party (and maybe give the rest of his team some chance at taking down at least Electabuzz and maybe Torterra... I don't know if it was beaten, correct me if I'm wrong).
Otherwise, I think Paul just had the better strategy; he actually seemed to use actual in-game techniques that work pretty damn well (using his Electabuzz to set up Light Screen was pretty damn clever, IMO).
Personally, Ash was at a disadvantage from day 1. Reggie even points this out! Paul obviously went with his best team, and used that. Ash... he just stuck with 6 pokes and left it at that. No real strategy. I hate to say it, but Ash: YOU NEED TO GET A STRATEGY IN THERE THAT WILL WORK AGAINST PAUL! I get that he's trying to point out the other method of training, but at this rate, he's not going to be able to prove much if he keeps losing.
I sincerely hope the writers have taken that into consideration and are planning to give Ash a much needed strategic makeover. C'mon, where's all these "outside" the box stuff that got Ash to this point int the first place? I thought Ash could think up a strategy in the middle of battle and come out victorious.
Oh wait, I forgot, that only works with gyms, because he obviously needs to win those.
Not very smart. I hope the writers realize this and actually give him time to concoct these outlandish strats that Ash was known for. I get it, Paul has a different way of treating his Pokemon. Can't we just let that slide?
<C_L>