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What is your favorite/least favorite of Ash's rivals?

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PungentFruit

Quest to be a Master
Ash has had many rivals on his journey to become pokemon master.
Of these rivals who do you think were the weakest and most powerful and who are you favorite and least favorite of them?

Discuss.
 

cranberries

Well-Known Member
I personaly think Paul is too much of a jerk. I'm still a fan of old Gary.
 

Indragon

Back in the USSR
Favourite - Gary. Paul's good, but I prefer Gary's character and personality overall.

Least favourite? Hm...I dunno really. Never been much of a fan of Morrison, so I guess him.
 
Favorite: Paul. Gary's a close second.
Least Favorite: ...none really. :/ I guess Ritchie.
 

White Wizard

Hundred acre Woods
i hate richie!!!
but i l-o-v-e paul!
 

PokéVeteran1992

<----Claimed Shimama
Though I hate Paul, but the Paul-Ash rivalry is the best so far imo. Gary, Barry, and Tyson is pretty close for me. Least is Ritchie. As a matter of fact, they Rivaled each other before they even battled, and battled once (Indigo League, Semifinals?)
 

White Wizard

Hundred acre Woods
oh yea i also really like gary
 

BlueDragonfangirl

Well-Known Member
Favorite: Paul, he's just soo awesome and I love his rivalry with Ash that's gotta be the best rivalry of the series.

Least favorite: Ritchie, what an Ash clone >>
 

whitepetal

Active Member
favorite-... hmm PAUL AND GARYYY!!! (luv them! they really rocked!)
not so favorite-conway(irritating) and richie
 

NightRainn

Well-Known Member
Favorite: Paul, because he is by far my favorite, he might be rude, but I found him to be one of the most interesting, and a strong opponet for Ash. Plus the rivarly was really entertaining to watch, and it was nice to have somebody who had different training methods.

Least favorite: I really don't have a least favorite, I'm pretty indifferent to the rest of them.
 

thunderblade12

Well-Known Member
Good:

Paul - The best handled rivalry in the saga. I can't believe people don't like him because "he's too mean." I see this with villains in other animes too, usually among female fans. It's stupid. Shows need conflict. It'd be totally unrealistic (and sickening) if everyone was sugary sweet and righteous, there needs to be douchebags to even things out.


Barry - While he was never much of a rivalry, how could you not love the ADHD diagnosed kid? Not to mention, they actually showed the first rival from the games sense Gary which I liked a lot.

Morrison - Like Barry he wasn't much of a rival, mainly due to appearing so late, but he was the perfect friendly rival IMO. Not overtly helpful like Zoey and not not as bland as Nando and Kenny. He was hilarious. I would have rathered him take Brock's place in the main group in AG (and Barry in DP)

Conway - His antics were hilarious.

Jackson - It was cool that Ash was connected with someone that met Jimmy and Marina. I wonder if Tyson or Harrison ever met Brenden or if Paul or Barry ever met Lucas.

Macey - Interesting twist on Ash's rivalries.


Bad:

Gary - A saga-long rival really should have been handled better than this. Actually, he was around for two sagas (270 episodes) and had like 15 episodes throughout. Most of which were League episodes. And when he did appear it was literally just for a few seconds to say "haha yew suxxor. i catched many moar pogemans!" If he was a rival like Ritchie or Harrison I'd say he was handled nicely for what they gave him due to his obnoxious and unique (for this show anyway) personality. There's just no excuse for a character that had 270 episodes to get so little screentime and development.

Harrison, Tyson, and Takuto - They were there to beat Ash. That's all. They provided little entertainment value outside of their pokemon and Ash's pokemon beating the **** out of each other. All three have very similar personalities. Takuto seemed like he could be different due to the mysterious factor, but in the end he was just a mature, older rival too.

Ritchie - All of the League rivals are bland, the only reason I'm setting Ritchie apart from the others is because Ash's battle with him was horrible. Squirtle didn't actually even faint, it was put to sleep. Pikachu was cheaply beaten by a measly Charmander that Charizard later made look like a joke (and then later in Ash's Orange Islands double battle Pikachu and Charizard look equal.) And Charizard just ignored Ash. Not only did Ritchie's personality not bring anything to the table, the battle wasn't much to watch either.


Nando - Awful battle. Awful character.

Casey - I don't hate many characters, but I remember finding an episode unbearable while the Johto saga was airing if it had Casey in it. I found her extremely annoying and it made me feel embarrassed to be seen watching the show while she was doing her little chant to be honest. And then what happens? We seen her in Johto more than Gary IIRC and SHE DOESN'T EVEN MAKE THE JOHTO LEAGUE. We don't even get the pay off of seeing Ash beat the crap out of her after having to suffer through like three Casey episodes.
 

kemal07

Well-Known Member
The best has to be either Paul or Gary and Barry coming from right behind.

The worst rival is Casey.
 

GetOutOfBox

Original Series Fan
Fav - Gary, though I didn't like how he suddenly became a sappy good guy in the span of an episode (Ash beating him).

Least favorite - Richie, not only is he practically a copy of Ash, he's hardly a rival since he and Ash are practically best friends. I never felt they were truly competitive beyond a friendly battle.
 

Yamato-san

I own the 5th gen
Harrison, Tyson, and Takuto - They were there to beat Ash. That's all. They provided little entertainment value outside of their pokemon and Ash's pokemon beating the **** out of each other. All three have very similar personalities. Takuto seemed like he could be different due to the mysterious factor, but in the end he was just a mature, older rival too.

personally, I think Takuto was alright. Sure, it's annoying that they don't even try to explain how he was able to acquire legendary Pokemon (a league of monsters which, prior to Jindai's Regis, seemed downright uncatchable), and there's a very good chance we're never even gonna hear of this mysteriously powerful character ever again (though if we do, and Satoshi gets in a rematch, I'll applaud the writers very much). However, I like the fact that Satoshi was taken out of the league by a character that, for once, he had absolutely no connection to. Losing to a skilled opponent you're only meeting for the first time is hardly unrealistic (on the other hand, ALL the trainers who defeated Satoshi in tournaments prior to this were people he got along with after he just so happened to meet them immediately as the tournament was beginning). Also, considering the much-hyped rival battles he was having, if Satoshi was still going to lose the tournament anyway, it was a nice move to at least have him take out TWO legendaries in the process.

I'd also give Tetsuya at least a few points for having an awesome Pokemon (even though he himself was pretty dull). Not like they could've done much for that tournament anyway, since they couldn't even establish a long-standing rival for Satoshi all of Houen, and the only one they gave him a few episodes prior was rather inexperienced (Masamune). Still, given all I said about Takuto, it would've still been nice to not go the "friendly rival I just got to know" route for the 3rd time in a row. Kaede was an awesome enough opponent for him to lose against... in fact, just about everyone competing in the Saiyuu Tournament was infinitely more interesting than Tetsuya (seriously, if you were on those boards while those episodes were airing, you'd know that a lot of characters garnered some fans just for having an appealing design that showed up on screen for a mere couple minutes... Jump, Yuriko, Hyuuga, etc.).

BTW Thunderblade, since you mentioned just about all the other rivals, regardless of whether or not they did anything more than compete in a single league battle against Satoshi, what were your thoughts on the Houen competitors (and I guess Kiyo, who only turned out to be a drop-out just like Nanako before him)? And, for that matter, Korm and Kaoruko from the Sekiei Tournament.
 
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