How do you expect the writers to go about writing the 8th gen?

[Red and Blue]

Since the anime is so averse to using game rivals, I have a few rivals I want to see: the elitist snob who dismisses the threat anyone may bring while still being hyper competent, the fanboy who finally is old enough to participate in these competitions and sees Ash as a threat to his own dream, and a guy who is pressured to do this because of expectation rather than out of real desire.

I honestly want to see the last one the most. I don't think we've had a reluctant rival who is doing everything to appease a stage parent/win a parent's love and approval. It would be interesting to see where that would go.

You say the anime is against game rivals but SM is the first season since OS to actually have the game rivals be the main ones. Heck even in the league there isn't an OC meant to be the dream crusher like the past ones

 

[Zoruagible]

You say the anime is against game rivals but SM is the first season since OS to actually have the game rivals be the main ones. Heck even in the league there isn't an OC meant to be the dream crusher like the past ones

Well it's not like they had a choice, those two rivals just happen to be related to characters Ash met. And with such a large cast it's easier to just use Hau and Gladion as they don't need to spend much time introducing or developing an OC. Still sucks they took away Kiawe's rival card though....

I won't be surprised if they go back to using OCs come gen 8, especially if Hopp is the only rival. But if we do get one, I hope it's a girl trainer for a change. It's so annoying how the other characters(May, Dawn, and Cilan) are allowed competent rivals of the opposite sex, but not Ash. It'd be a fine way of changing things up... though I'd just settle for the rivalry being an actual rivalry like Paul and Trip's where Ash has to fight to earn their respect and not instantly have it like he did with Sawyer and the Stu cause everyone in Kalos worshiped the ground he stood on.... like certain fan fics
That's why I like Guzma being portrayed as more of a rival, he didn't start off as Ash's friend and much like Paul and Trip doesn't share the same views. It makes me a bit hopeful that his main rival can be more along those lines and not his friend like in XY and SM.
I do love Gladion, but they shouldn't have made him so quick to bond with Ash. Hau being Ash's friend immediately works because Hau's that type of character, he instantly becomes Sun/Moon's best friend in the games despite them just moving to Alola.

Heck with Galar being so battle oriented, I'd love to see a rival with a massive ego. That'd be quite fun. "You think your Pikachu can take my *insert fully evolved Galar Electric/Yamper's final form*? Ha! Get lost, kid!" "Ha, told you! Now if you excuse me, I've got a date with my fan club!" "Yeah, I'm the greatest trainer! Leon's not going to stand a chance when I face him!" "I-I lost? N-No, I was distracted! This battle doesn't count, my streak continues!" "You dare try and steal the future champion's Pokemon?! Corviknight, make an example out of those clowns!"

 

[Leonhart]

Since the anime is so averse to using game rivals, I have a few rivals I want to see: the elitist snob who dismisses the threat anyone may bring while still being hyper competent, the fanboy who finally is old enough to participate in these competitions and sees Ash as a threat to his own dream, and a guy who is pressured to do this because of expectation rather than out of real desire.

An elitist type of rival could work in the Galar saga given how popular Gyms are in the region, which I could see as a justification for the writers to introduce a rival who is extremely competent just to give Satoshi another rival who is better at winning badges than him. Kind of like Shinji, only more arrogant.

 

[JustAStatistic]

But if we do get one, I hope it's a girl trainer for a change. It's so annoying how the other characters(May, Dawn, and Cilan) are allowed competent rivals of the opposite sex, but not Ash.

No, no, we can't have that. An actual rivalry would let the rival win some fights. Ash is the main character that all the little boys watching the show are supposed to identify with, we can't have him getting beaten by a girl.

 

[MockingJ]

No, no, we can't have that. An actual rivalry would let the rival win some fights. Ash is the main character that all the little boys watching the show are supposed to identify with, we can't have him getting beaten by a girl.

I know that it might not happen, but Ash getting beaten a few times by a female rival would be a nice change and since we're in the 21st century, some female empowerment in the anime would be a good thing.

 

[Pokegirl Fan~]

I know that it might not happen, but Ash getting beaten a few times by a female rival would be a nice change and since we're in the 21st century, some female empowerment in the anime would be a good thing.

Yeah, but it seems like the Pokemon anime has been going the other way with their female characters lately.

 

[AznKei]

I know that it might not happen, but Ash getting beaten a few times by a female rival would be a nice change and since we're in the 21st century, some female empowerment in the anime would be a good thing.

It's the 21st century, yet there's still a good amount of countries with patriarch societies including Japan, the makers of Pokemon. You can't really compare that from what's happening like in the US and Canada.

 

[Pikachu Fan Number Nine]

It's a known fact that Pikachu wasn't initially intended to be the mascot of the Pokemon franchise.

This gives me an idea for an episode which reveals that Ash's Pikachu wasn't initially meant for him.

In this episode while away from his travel partners, he is clinked on the head and taken to an isolated place.

Here Ash initially does not remember who his kidnapper is but he knows who Ash is.

Turns out that the kidnapper is someone from Ash's past. He was the one who was meant to have Pikachu.

Ash faces a grim fate but his friends and the police manage to track him down.

 

[lolipiece]

It's a known fact that Pikachu wasn't initially intended to be the mascot of the Pokemon franchise.

This gives me an idea for an episode which reveals that Ash's Pikachu wasn't initially meant for him.

...Except Pikachu was never meant to go to Ash in the first place? Or anyone in general?

Pikachu was just a leftover Pokemon Oak gave to Ash because the Starters were taken by the other Kanto Trainers.

If Gary was the late one, he probably would've gotten Pikachu instead of Squirtle.

 

[Epicocity]

I know that it might not happen, but Ash getting beaten a few times by a female rival would be a nice change and since we're in the 21st century, some female empowerment in the anime would be a good thing.

Yeah, but it seems like the Pokemon anime has been going the other way with their female characters lately.

It's the 21st century, yet there's still a good amount of countries with patriarch societies including Japan, the makers of Pokemon. You can't really compare that from what's happening like in the US and Canada.

You all do realize that female empowerment isn't just about making a female the strongest character around, or even necessarily a strong trainer, right? An empowered female character is literally just a well-written one...

 

[Leonhart]

No, no, we can't have that. An actual rivalry would let the rival win some fights. Ash is the main character that all the little boys watching the show are supposed to identify with, we can't have him getting beaten by a girl.

I really hope that things change in the Galar saga and that Satoshi will be allowed to have a female rival, and hopefully one that is actually handled well unlike Bel. I don't know whether it would be an anime-exclusive female rival or some other female character from the games that hasn't been revealed yet, but I think that the status quo needs to be shaken up a bit.

 

[AznKei]

You all do realize that female empowerment isn't just about making a female the strongest character around, or even necessarily a strong trainer, right? An empowered female character is literally just a well-written one...

Even if you believe that certain female characters are well written, fans would still complain because they had different tastes. I for one would just want the female characters to get more involved in battles and drop the notion that we don't want to see them struggling or in pain in these, instead of giving most battles to Ash because he's the main character and it is his main passion.

 

[DatsRight]

Even if you believe that certain female characters are well written, fans would still complain because they had different tastes. I for one would just want the female characters to get more involved in battles and drop the notion that we don't want to see them struggling or in pain in these, instead of giving most battles to Ash because he's the main character and it is his main passion.

For example, Kiawe has had a rather compressed battle arc, but it worked because each battle had proper substance and shown his development and branching out of his battle style. His matches against Marowak and Viren were good transitions, he lost, got back up and got a win due to pinpointing his previous error. Fallibility allowed him to improve. Lana to compare has just sort of awkwardly been transitioned into a powerhouse without any real battles. Even her desire for competitive battles just got left unanswered, like they keep wanting her to get development but someone keeps saying No afterwards.

Even just downplaying that cushioning would help. It looks like the pattern since XY is that the girls are allowed one token KO where they're allowed to struggle and put up their best, likely to say they aren't completely plot armoured. Bulk it up to three or four even and that's enough for them to improve and develop a defining battle style much in the same way Kiawe did.

 

[Leonhart]

Even if you believe that certain female characters are well written, fans would still complain because they had different tastes. I for one would just want the female characters to get more involved in battles and drop the notion that we don't want to see them struggling or in pain in these, instead of giving most battles to Ash because he's the main character and it is his main passion.

I do think that Satoshi should stand aside during filler episodes at least and allow his companions to shine during those. He can get the focus during Gym battles and other important subplots in the Galar saga, but filler episodes should be a chance for his friends to be more active.

 

[DatsRight]

I do think that Satoshi should stand aside during filler episodes at least and allow his companions to shine during those. He can get the focus during Gym battles and other important subplots in the Galar saga, but filler episodes should be a chance for his friends to be more active.

I don't mind Ash doing fillers to maintain some personality, his SM ones did a decent job in this regard, but I do think they should let the other characters get more limelight.

Granted I think SM's issue wasn't as much the lack of limelight as much as fathoming an agency for some of the companions. Kiawe only had about five limelight episodes and yet he still stuck out well as a supporting character (I still think he should have got the shrink ray episode over Ash though, way more humour potential ). Sophocles did okay and Lillie sort of went in and out due to sporadic trainer development. Due to lacking many foibles and getting their secondaries too late, Lana tends to only really get limelight for trainer development while most of Mallow's episodes revolved around external forces or her having a characteristic that was never really developed on for the rest of the series.

To be fair SM is also the first series not to rely heavily on formula or external force plot lines like antagonists or COTD, so maybe next series they'll have a better hang of being more character driven.

 

[Litleonid]

You know, I kinda get the feeling that the Sword and Shield series isn't going to be as slice-of-life and comedy heavy as Sun and Moon is. I think it will be somewhat more like the XY series, with some influence from sports anime like Haikyu!!, or Kuroko no Basket. The whole set up for the Galar League heavily draws inspiration from English sporting events, which does make me think there will be some sports anime influences.

 

[Leonhart]

You know, I kinda get the feeling that the Sword and Shield series isn't going to be as slice-of-life and comedy heavy as Sun and Moon is. I think it will be somewhat more like the XY series, with some influence from sports anime like Haikyu!!, or Kuroko no Basket. The whole set up for the Galar League heavily draws inspiration from English sporting events, which does make me think there will be some sports anime influences.

The fact that the Gym challenge in the Shield and Sword games seems to be a pretty big deal [what with the whole sponsorship angle] does make me think that the Galar saga won't be as light-hearted as SM was, unless the writers manage to find a way of balancing humor and serious battles.

 

[PorcelainVulpix]

I really hope the sword and shield anime won’t be too serious or whatever so that it doesn’t come off as dull.

 

[Pokegirl Fan~]

I really hope the sword and shield anime won’t be too serious or whatever so that it doesn’t come off as dull.

I'm hoping that it's its own thing and not a copy of DP, XY, etc

 

[AznKei]

I really hope the sword and shield anime won’t be too serious or whatever so that it doesn’t come off as dull.

I think it would be hard to make it more comedic like in SM, since the characters we have seen so far looks very competitive and less casual like the characters in SM.