Why was the Ash and Gary's rivalry so underdeveloped?

[shoz999]

I've always considered Paul to be closer to Silver than Blue in terms of game characters.

Put the two characters side by side. Sure, they look similar but other than using Pokemon as tools, what else do they have in common? Once you start comparing, you start to realize that Paul feels like a very different character from Silver and as some other fans noted, may feel more like rival Blue/Green of Gen 1 then Silver of Gen 2.

 

[Leonhart]

If you mean that Gary's true passion was learning about Pokemon more than battling with them, I disagree because he was obviously extremely skilled at training just judging from the glimpses of his team that we saw as early as the Viridian Gym.

I think that the fact that he had so many Pokemon shows that he was also into collecting, and not simply training and battling. Not that he wasn't obviously a good battler as well since he did collect ten badges in Kanto, just that he might've had other reasons for capturing so many Pokemon.

 

[Apslup]

I have always found it strange that many people proclaim Gary to be one of Ash's best rivals, if not his best rival. I think it's because people associate Gary with Blue from the Gen 1 games. I love Gary and have always thought he was very entertaining, but it never really seemed like he was rivals with Ash. In the way he behaves towards him (always bragging about far ahead he was and how good of a trainer he is), it doesn't seem like Gary saw Ash as a rival at all. This coupled with a severe lack of screentime really crippled Gary in the anime.

But Ash vs Gary in the Johto League is still a dope battle lol. I also quite like his battle with Ash at the end of AG where he fights Pikachu with Electivire.

 

[Jeal]

Imagine him appearing at the end of SM to defeat Ash after he won the league like Orange Islands and BF lol. I once read that the relationship between him and Ash was supposed to be like a apprentice-master relationship, someone he would never get over. Like Satoshi Tajiri saw Shigeru Miyamoto.

 

[shoz999]

His grandfather is the greatest Pokemon researcher of all time. He has a lot to live up to, but he also thinks he's special just because of his family connections. Which is why he gets humbled twice in Kanto, against Giovanni and during the League. He's still got a bit of an ego afterward, but it's not nearly as much of a hindrance as it was before.

In the games, it does have to do with his grandfather but more in the fact that he wants to be his own great person rather than seen as the grandson of the famous Prof. Oak. I like how they referenced this little fact in the SM games where Gladion thinks Hau is like Green's character, someone who is annoyed at others who can see greatness in the individual through their famous grandfather's achievements rather than the individual's achievements alone. When Hau reveals, "Nah, fam. I don't care what others view me. I love my grandpa!", I just found this downright funny how GameFreak made it clear that Hau is the exact opposite of Green Oak lol.

 

[Redstar45]

It was always my head-canon that Shigeru was just spoiled as a child, and given that his grandfather is a famous professor, perhaps that also inflated Shigeru's ego and his self-important personality. Like someone said, people like him are a dime a dozen unfortunately.

And all this is a shudõ novel as well @Leonhart

 

[Lord Godwin]

I think it was too much extended in time. If all Ash vs Gary battles would've happened in around 150 episodes as opposed to 270 and rounding up in 1 season it would've been a lot better.
The rivalry had some great moment's like Pikachu vs Eevee (sad we never got a rematch) and the final battle but there was little between.

Also Gary appeared much less than other rivals.

 

[LilligantLewis]

I think it was too much extended in time. If all Ash vs Gary battles would've happened in around 150 episodes as opposed to 270 and rounding up in 1 season it would've been a lot better.
The rivalry had some great moment's like Pikachu vs Eevee (sad we never got a rematch) and the final battle but there was little between.

Also Gary appeared much less than other rivals.

I don't think they knew how long Gen II would last in the games since it was the first time they had had to do 3 full years of the anime on one region.

 

[Blastmaster]

I think it was underdeveloped in some areas (definitely agree that Gary needed to at least appear more in Johto), but it's iconic and still largely works for what it is. It was the beginning, so it made sense for the rivalry to be so simple. Ash and Gary were both immature brats at the beginning, but by the end are much less petty. Early Kanto also had a very different tone than every other series, so you kinda have to take certain things with a grain of salt.

I also think Gary's definitely the best way to do an "asshole just for the sake of it" rival. He and Ash were rivals even before starting their journeys, so they can actually get away with how petty the rivalry was at first. Compare that to say, Trip, whose dislike for Ash isn't fueled by anything. Is he just an asshole in general? Is he just immature like Gary was? Even if that's the case, what makes his rivalry with Ash special then? There's no reason for him to dislike Ash more than any other "weak" Trainer. Gary and Paul actually had reasons to especially dislike Ash.

 

[Jeal]

I also think Gary's definitely the best way to do an "asshole just for the sake of it" rival. He and Ash were rivals even before starting their journeys, so they can actually get away with how petty the rivalry was at first. Compare that to say, Trip, whose dislike for Ash isn't fueled by anything. Is he just an asshole in general? Is he just immature like Gary was? Even if that's the case, what makes his rivalry with Ash special then? There's no reason for him to dislike Ash more than any other "weak" Trainer. Gary and Paul actually had reasons to especially dislike Ash.

I didn't watch BW, but of the few episodes I saw, Trip was completely indifferent to Ash. He don't exactly disliked him.

 

[Leonhart]

I didn't watch BW, but of the few episodes I saw, Trip was completely indifferent to Ash. He don't exactly disliked him.

He was indifferent for the most part, although he made a rather rude offhand remark about Satoshi's hometown during his first appearance if I remember correctly, and he was very arrogant for a beginner trainer. But I certainly wouldn't put him on the level of Shigeru since Shigeru was much more of a jerk to Satoshi than Shooti was.

 

[Captain Jigglypuff]

I don’t think it was underdeveloped. It seemed to be at the appropriate level. Gary was a huge jerk that was always one step ahead of Ash. He was the better of the two and Gary’s arrogance drove Ash to become a better trainer. When they had their Silver League match, Gary was over confident in his abilities as a trainer and dismissed Ash as being the one who would lose. So when Ash defeated Gary in a close match, it took both of them by surprise and Gary had no other choice but to acknowledge Ash as an equal and competent trainer and friend.

 

[saradanaruto]

There wasn't that much left for the writers to do with that rivalry since it wasn't the main point of Ash's journey anyways. Ash meeting new Pokemon and trainers was more important than him settling a score with his rival.

 

[Leonhart]

So when Ash defeated Gary in a close match, it took both of them by surprise and Gary had no other choice but to acknowledge Ash as an equal and competent trainer and friend.

I like to think that Shigeru acknowledged that Satoshi was stronger than him, not just that they were equal in strength. Because to me Satoshi winning against Shigeru at the Jouto League showed that he had surpassed Shigeru completely.

 

[AJ97]

I think that the fact that he had so many Pokemon shows that he was also into collecting, and not simply training and battling. Not that he wasn't obviously a good battler as well since he did collect ten badges in Kanto, just that he might've had other reasons for capturing so many Pokemon.

No. Gary was obsessed with being a Pokemon Master and he was a very strategic trainer who liked rotating his teams(Brock references the latter in the Johto League).

Especially in the earlier series, capturing a lot of Pokemon was indicated to be a trait which kind of defined a trainer's ability as I recall them constantly referencing how many Pokemon Gary caputred in comparison to Ash to kind of indicate how Gary was superior to Ash. I also recall the professor saying that Gary had over 200 pokemon from 60 different species. It wouldn't make sense for a collector to capture as many duplicates of the same pokemon. I think it was more for the stat or number indicating I have x pokemon more than everybody, hence I'm the best trainer.

 

[AJ97]

I like to think that Shigeru acknowledged that Satoshi was stronger than him, not just that they were equal in strength. Because to me Satoshi winning against Shigeru at the Jouto League showed that he had surpassed Shigeru completely.

How exactly is this true? Gary had control of the battle almost until the end. He dominated Ash at the start. It was a narrow victory. Gary literally defeats Ash's Pikachu after Ash won the battle frontier. Gary said at the start of the battle, that when Ash and he fought for the pokeball when they were kids and it was a tie,(Each get 1 half), gary considered it a loss, which in other words, implied that he thought that little of Ash.

However, after Ash put up a really good battle against Gary and managed to even beat him, Gary acknowledged him as his equal and a trainer he respected.

Even in case of Ash's fight with Paul, the former winning by no means indicate that Ash is better than Paul. It was a pretty even battle and could've gone both ways.