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Most Well-Written Gym Leaders of the Anime?

shoz999

Back when Tigers used to smoke.
Discuss what you think are the most well-written Gym Leaders of the Anime. I'll kick off with undoubtedly the best most well-written Gym Leaders, a trio in fact, in my eyes. I know what your thinking. Blue, Red and Green colors can only be associated with one particular gym.

Jessie, James & Meowth of the Viridian Gym. You see, You got James's blue hair, Jessie's reddish-pink hair and her green earrings that matches well with her reddish hair. See, red, blue and green. Makes sense right? They are arguably the most well-written Gym Leaders ever in the Pokemon anime series, traveling across regions, meeting new people and Pokemon from all walks of life aiming to be the very best thieves like there no one ever was. There life as Gym Leaders happens during their meeting with the big boss Giovanni who finally entrusts Jessie, James and Meowth with the Viridian Gym temporarily, thus becoming Gym Leaders. It is here that Giovanni recognizes Jessie, James and Meowth's strength and capabilities, freely giving them a chance to wield some of Giovanni's most powerful Pokemon without hesitation, without a single thought. With Jessie, James and Meowth's top-class skills combined with Giovanni's own personal selection of Pokemon, they prove to be quite the tough match for Ash Ketchum. Still Ash prevails over the Gym Leader trio but they don't hand over victory so easily without a fight. In fact you could say that Ash's triumph over Jessie, James and Meowth of Viridian City, the very last and strongest of the Kanto Gym Leaders, serves as a testament to Ash's skills as a Pokemon trainer. We must also remember that the writers could've easily just ended Jessie, James and Meowth's roles right there with Ash winning the Earth badge like all the other Gym Leaders but no. The writers saw the potential in them and like fellow Gym Leaders, Brock and Misty, who aspired to follow their dreams and capture all sorts of Pokemon including outside of their specialty, we see the Gym Leader trio of Jessie, James and Meowth do the exact same thing only as the villains. We have never seen Gym Leaders like these before, a group of villains traveling across the world plotting to kidnap Pikachu without compromise, with such determination, with such high spirit bouncing back on their feet again time and time again, with such...

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It's Korrina. She's best well-written Gym Leader.
 
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mehmeh1

Not thinking twice!
ayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy
While not exactly the best gym leader, I kinda liked Wattson's short character arc about regaining his confidence after getting WRECKED by ash. It's not often that we see adult characters in pokemon have these kind of issues, much less adult gym leaders, so having the plot actually revolve around the aftermath of ash's victory and how an event like that can affect someone was a pretty nice change of pace. Now that I think of it, Maylene's character arc was also a bit similar, but this time with paul crushing her instead of ash, which IMO made for a better "regaining confidence" character arc, as just like what would happen to ash some time after, her philosophy as a trainer was shattered by this butthole and she now can't even think properly, let alone battle, to which dawn and ash would go on to help her with, the latter giving her one of, if not the best gym battle we had ever had at the time.
Also, while not a gym leader, I liked the recent poni island arc with hapu opening herself up to other people and different ideas, realising that there was more to the world and battling than what she saw of her grandpa, which was what she lacked and why she couldn't become kahuna until she finally accepted and even fought for others, even going as far as attacking the island guardian, sadly the grand trial, the resolution to her character arc (as well as the climax to the poni arc) was as underwhelming as possible
 

TheWanderingMist

Paladin of the Snow Queen
I'm going with Sabrina. Excluding Ash's companions and TRio for this for obvious reasons.
 

ash&charizardfan

Humans are tools
Volkner to me has to be the best gym leader of all time, sabrina was cool but she was more of a wasted potential.
 
I'll do mine by saga since there are so many to choose from at this point. These are probably more biased on who I like, but I'll try to be objective.

Kanto: Brock and Misty aside, I would say Sabrina. Her story is rather unique to the series.

Johto: I'll go with Claire here. She got more screen time than a lot of the other leaders and even appeared in the Decolora Archipelago, which showed her progress.

Hoenn: Wattson's growth was interesting. Norman was the first that came to mind, but on second thought, he's really not that interesting compared to his children.

Sinnoh: This is the hardest for me to say because I loved all of the gym leaders in Sinnoh. Roark surely is one of the top contenders for me. He had the whole struggle of facing his father, which was unique. Volkner would be my second ranked.

Unova: A lot of fun ones here, too, and Cilan will not be included similarly to Brock/Misty. I will ultimately say Skyla. Her growth was so interesting to see. She wanted to follow her passion for flying and took shortcuts, which Ash and Cilan contested. Easily one of the best gym arcs in the Best Wishes saga.

Kalos: All of Kalos' gym leaders were loveable, in my opinion, and Clemont will be excluded like Cilan/Misty/Brock. If I have to choose one, I would have to say Korrina simply because she had her own arc and so much screen time, even appearing in the Magearna film. Honorable mentions outside of her: Viola and Grant (their relationship is something unique) and Olympia (loved that she was more important to the plot than the others).
 

Jangobadass

Surprise!
Individually Maylene and Korrina for having actual story arcs. Well handled ones at that, IMO.

After that, I'm going to go collective and say the Sinnoh GLs for having a lot of personality, more depth than usual, and even roles outside of just battling Ash. 2nd place is the Kalos GLs.
 

ash&charizardfan

Humans are tools
In addition to volkner, sabrina and korrina one other gym leader that deserve mention is roark from sinnoh. I thought he could have made a good travelling companion if he had little less age.
 

Hanto

Water Addiction
I do like relationships between Viola and Grant. It was a nice touch to see it in the Battle Chateau episode and then in the Team Flare finale.
 

Zoruagible

Lover of underrated characters
Korrina, Maylene, Volkner, Flannery and Wattson were all pretty great
I miss getting longer period of time spent with gym leaders, that didn't just come off as a result of Ash losing, it was always great getting to see more of gym leaders and their lives. I really hope gen 8 does that with Gym Masters as I was so disappointed the only gym leaders who actually got focus in recent years were Viola and Korrina, sacrifice a few fillers and COTDs and give more time for Gym Masters.
 

mehmeh1

Not thinking twice!
Korrina, Maylene, Volkner, Flannery and Wattson were all pretty great
I miss getting longer period of time spent with gym leaders, that didn't just come off as a result of Ash losing, it was always great getting to see more of gym leaders and their lives. I really hope gen 8 does that with Gym Masters as I was so disappointed the only gym leaders who actually got focus in recent years were Viola and Korrina, sacrifice a few fillers and COTDs and give more time for Gym Masters.
while they're not gym leaders, what about the kahunas? We've spent a lot of time with olivia and hapu, and also quite a bit with nanu and hala
 

Champion Jared 14

Well-Known Member
I’m gonna pivot a bit from the obvious choices in a different direction by saying Morty and Brawly. I say Morty because he was skeptical of Ash when he said he saw Ho-oh. Articuno, Moltres, Zapdos, etc... “Yeah, I’ve seen (insert legendary Pokémon here) before”. Being the protagonist, Ash is bound to meet every single legendary Pokémon as long as he’s around. It’s interesting to see someone from an in-universe POV to not just believe what he says as gospel.

I say Brawly because on the surface, he seemed like the stereotypical surfer dude who doesn’t take anything seriously, including his gym leader responsibilities, and that’s the conclusion Ash jumped to. But it wasn’t until after his Makuhita evolved that Ash learned that Brawly really cares for his Pokémon and was a serious contender.

I’m always interested in characters that aren’t instantly drawn to or impressed by Ash, or characters that challenge his philosophies, his perception of others, etc. I would also add Lt. Surge as an honorable mention. He only appeared in one episode, but I believe he was the first trainer who made Ash seriously consider evolving his Pikachu to win a major battle against its evolved form if I’m not mistaken, which prompted the same storyline a few more times through the series.
 
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