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Preview JN085: Rival Showdown! Satoshi VS Saitou!!

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FinnishPokéFan92 said:
I respectfully disagree. We've had many different kinds of rivals over the course of the franchise's history. Friendly rivals, competitive rivals, League rivals, and so forth.
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There are types of rivals, but the definition of a rival has been fairly constant. They’re a person who grows along with you for a common goal, and good rivalries are defined by characters being foils for each other, and they are often influenced and grow thanks to the other person. That aspect has been pretty constant. Friendly and Competitive rival classification literally makes no sense- a rival can be friendly AND competitive (Barry) and not to mention they’re just aspects of a character's personality. League rivals are irrelevant in JN.

Bea has been marketed with the term "rival", which directly pits her against people like Paul, Gladion and Trip. Does she even compare to any of them really? No. That doesn’t change the fact that the Pokémon anime has consciously chosen to market her with a term that compares her to people like them. The Pokémon franchise doesn’t use the literal definition of a rival, so I find the points saying literally anyone in the PWC is Ash's rival moot.
If the Pokémon anime markets her as a rival, of course people are going to compare her to past rivals.
 
I feel bad for Bea, really. She's Ash's first main female rival and is a Galarian Gym Leader on top of that, but she's handled terribly. I know that the PWC is a tournament that takes place around the whole world, so its not like the two could constantly run into each other, but still. Morrison, despite appearing pretty late in the Hoenn Saga, at least had some kind of dynamic with Ash.
 
FluffleFi said:
I feel bad for Bea, really. She's Ash's first main female rival and is a Galarian Gym Leader on top of that, but she's handled terribly. I know that the PWC is a tournament that takes place around the whole world, so its not like the two could constantly run into each other, but still. Morrison, despite appearing pretty late in the Hoenn Saga, at least had some kind of dynamic with Ash.
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Yup and on top of that, they had the chance to develop her in the Great Class giving her and Ash multiple battles even without PWC. They could have even given her a role in the Darkest Day Arc yet they didn't choosing Raihan who is another "rival". Let's face it, the true rival of the series will have to be Leon because he and Ash have a dynamic and Leon is fairly well developed.
 
AnimeJewel246 said:
He's battled her literally only twice. And even then, she hasn't even made a single appearance since. I honestly can't blame anyone who doesn't consider Bea to be Ash's rival for this very reason.
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she did appear in episode 77
 
Unireon said:
That only applies to those who did get the Mega Evolution Specials, which were left out by some subbers and dubbers.
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I say this as someone who hasn't watched those specials: Alain still feels more developed than Bea to me, even if its only by a margin. At least we can say for certain what his personality is like and who he is to Ash. He's still on the lower end of characters for me because of the weird disconnect between the specials and the actual series, but he's still better than Bea. Which sucks to me, because I actually really like Bea because of Twilight Wings.
 
AnimeJewel246 said:
I say this as someone who hasn't watched those specials: Alain still feels more developed than Bea to me, even if its only by a margin. At least we can say for certain what his personality is like and who he is to Ash. He's still on the lower end of characters for me because of the weird disconnect between the specials and the actual series, but he's still better than Bea. Which sucks to me, because I actually really like Bea because of Twilight Wings.
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I think Bea is a rival, and a strong one. While she's only appeared three times so far, she had influenced Ash's character growth beyond just those episodes.

Also, fun fact: in the Japanese version of the anime, Ash called Casey a rival too.
 
AnimeJewel246 said:
Alain still feels more developed than Bea to me, even if its only by a margin.
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I agree with you regarding Saito, however I was talking about the comparison between Alan and Dande.

Saito is just mandated by the plot, that defines her strength and appearances.
Outside of that, she's just a generic obstacle.
 
Bea is a rival in the same way Raihan and Iris were, but after Ash beats them they move on from them. I’m sure Bea isn’t going to appear anymore after this episode (besides a cameo of her watching Ash’s later matches on TV or something) but she’s a rival for this competition.

I again don’t know why people compare them to past rivals, those rivals were there to continue to appear till the league. The ones in the PWC are there till Ash beats them. Bea is by far the best handled recurring character this series not counting Leon or Raihan so far.

If anything Iris should have been handled like Bea too and battle Ash again lately; but unfortunately I don’t think Iris will appear again so...
 
So we ARE getting Mega Evolution vs Gigantamax here. Cool! Now if only this matchup was possible in the mainline games...

Ahem.

Anyway, I'm excited for this. It does suck that Lucario didn't recieve as much buildup as it should've for its Mega and Bea too should have been more recurring, but the premise of this fight is interesting enough on its own that this could be a cool episode regardless. I also think it would be interesting if Ash tried to battle Gigantamax Machamp with his own Gigantamax Pokemon first, but that Pokemon was then defeated so Lucario has to pick up the slack instead.
 
Ghost Diplocaulus said:
also think it would be interesting if Ash tried to battle Gigantamax Machamp with his own Gigantamax Pokemon first, but that Pokemon was then defeated so Lucario has to pick up the slack instead.
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Did I hear "Gengar"?
Actually I'm expecting this to some extent since it would feel odd if Ash doesn't Max in the battle, but maybe they'll have a reason.
 
Daren said:
Did I hear "Gengar"?
Actually I'm expecting this to some extent since it would feel odd if Ash doesn't Max in the battle, but maybe they'll have a reason.
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Just based on the images we've gotten, I guess the main reason will be because he won't have his dynamax band. Also, I wouldn't be surprised if he wasn't expecting Bea to use the mechanic and already had plans to mega evolve Lucario anyway.
 
Daren said:
Did I hear "Gengar"?
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Well, the only other option is Pikachu, but judging by his stellar treatment in this saga I highly doubt they want to make him lose unless he takes down at least one other Pokemon first, and a fall guy is practically guaranteed in this fight since Lucario has a score to settle with Grapploct, meaning it's almost certainly going to take down both it and Gigantamax Machamp, and seeing how Sirfetch'd needs to get even with Bea too...

Although, making Pikachu the fall guy in this fight would actually be a pretty decent opportunity for an interesting arc: the very first time Pikachu Gigantamaxed he struggled greatly with the form due to how it forced him to take a battling approach that is the complete opposite to his usual speedy style. So him losing here with Gigantamax without getting a single win could end up being the wakeup call he and Ash need to realize that it might be a good idea to master this form if they want to beat Leon at his own game, thus leading to an arc where Ash, Goh, and perhaps even Chloe get to spend several episodes in Galar as Ash and Pikachu train to master the Gigantamax form, with other Pokemon such as Ash's Gengar, Goh's Cinderace and Inteleon, and Chloe's Eevee Gigantamaxing as well so Pikachu has partners to spar with, thereby showcasing multiple Gigantamax forms for several episodes as a marketing bonus.
 
FinnishPokéFan92 said:
No. She has been marketed as a rival, but it's not been specified which kind of rival.
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Did you read my comment? I literally responded to this before.
PkmnTrainerV said:
There are types of rivals, but the definition of a rival has been fairly constant. They’re a person who grows along with you for a common goal, and good rivalries are defined by characters being foils for each other, and they are often influenced and grow thanks to the other person. That aspect has been pretty constant. Friendly and Competitive rival classification literally makes no sense- a rival can be friendly AND competitive (Barry) and not to mention they’re just aspects of a character's personality. League rivals are irrelevant in JN.

Bea has been marketed with the term "rival", which directly pits her against people like Paul, Gladion and Trip. Does she even compare to any of them really? No. That doesn’t change the fact that the Pokémon anime has consciously chosen to market her with a term that compares her to people like them. The Pokémon franchise doesn’t use the literal definition of a rival, so I find the points saying literally anyone in the PWC is Ash's rival moot.
If the Pokémon anime markets her as a rival, of course people are going to compare her to past rivals.
Click to expand...
I could plausibly see a distinction between regular rival and a "league rival", but the PWC has thrown the latter right out of the window. And some league rivals were leaps and bounds more developed than Bea anyways.
 
My prediction for Bea's lineup is Pangoro, Grapplcot, and Machamp. She likely won’t use Hawlucha or Hitmontop again and she has no reason to use any other Pokémon seen in her picture with them. My prediction for Ash's lineup is Sirfetch'd, Pikachu, and Lucario.
 
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