Controversial opinions

[Sai]

It's always weird to go back to early DP and remembering how good Turtwig was in battle before it evolved. It really is the only case in the entire anime where one of Ash's starters actually does progressively worse as it goes through its evolutions.

 

[cricketlaxwolvesbandy]

420 pages dank

 

[Lightning Flame Blast]

If anything, I’d say Roark’s battle is a perfect example on how to have Ash believably beat an overwhelming opponent. He got his ass kicked once but did manage to get a grasp on Roark’s shortcomings, so he planned accordingly and managed to have both Aipom and Pikachu still standing to soften big bad Rampardos up before the pokemon with a type advantage could come in-and even then Turtwig didn’t just win out of brute force, it took strategy and clever improvising to get Rampardos in a place where Razor Leaf could take it out.

 

[Alola]

If anything, I’d say Roark’s battle is a perfect example on how to have Ash believably beat an overwhelming opponent. He got his ass kicked once but did manage to get a grasp on Roark’s shortcomings, so he planned accordingly and managed to have both Aipom and Pikachu still standing to soften big bad Rampardos up before the pokemon with a type advantage could come in-and even then Turtwig didn’t just win out of brute force, it took strategy and clever improvising to get Rampardos in a place where Razor Leaf could take it out.

I think the early DP Gym Battles were quite special with the Pokémon and strategies used, the music that played, and the animation/choreography of the fights. Everything went downhill with Candice imo; her and Volkner's battles were so boring & lackluster to me.

 

[Lightning Flame Blast]

I think the early DP Gym Battles were quite special with the Pokémon and strategies used, the music that played, and the animation/choreography of the fights. Everything went downhill with Candice imo; her and Volkner's battles were so boring & lackluster to me.

Honestly, I like the battle with Candice. I like the matchups and the switching that came into play, those are often ignored.

 

[Weddingbells]

I don't really think goh insecurities and social issues was written properly and sometimes felt it came up when the plot needed it too

 

[Blob]

I don't really think goh insecurities and social issues was written properly and sometimes felt it came up when the plot needed it too

The whole thing with bratty Grookey could have been a growing experience for Goh, by telling the monkey to stop being a brat.

 

[Sai]

I think the early DP Gym Battles were quite special with the Pokémon and strategies used, the music that played, and the animation/choreography of the fights. Everything went downhill with Candice imo; her and Volkner's battles were so boring & lackluster to me.

Admittedly I don't remember DP Volkner's Gym too much but I remember liking it for the most part. Candice being a 4 vs 4 battle probably resulted in a lot of it being a bit rushed.

 

[LuxrayOfTheWild]

I don't really think goh insecurities and social issues was written properly and sometimes felt it came up when the plot needed it too

Yeah, any flaws he has only come up when the plot needs it. He's never been written consistently.

 

[PrettySylveon]

I understand that everyone hates the episode JN030, but there is one scene in which I felt bad for Pikachu. Ash didn’t give Pikachu a chance to train (he was too busy training Riolu), yet we’re supposed to think that Pikachu was the one being lazy after Ash called it lazy. By calling Pikachu lazy, Ash was blaming Pikachu for being inactive. I was happy when Pikachu shocked Ash. Ash was being a jerk in that scene even though Pikachu was disgustingly out of character in this episode.

 

[Die-Hard Dragon Devotee]

Everything went downhill with Candice imo; her and Volkner's battles were so boring & lackluster to me.

Candice's was alright at least I thought, but by the time of Volkner's battle (which was waaaaay too late in the series in my personal opinion BTW, I mean hell, the Sinnoh league started just 3 episodes later, ) the Infernape favoritism was in overdrive. It basically stole the show.

 

[RetroPokeFan]

I understand that everyone hates the episode JN030, but there is one scene in which I felt bad for Pikachu. Ash didn’t give Pikachu a chance to train (he was too busy training Riolu), yet we’re supposed to think that Pikachu was the one being lazy after Ash called it lazy. By calling Pikachu lazy, Ash was blaming Pikachu for being inactive. I was happy when Pikachu shocked Ash. Ash was being a jerk in that scene even though Pikachu was disgustingly out of character in this episode.

Honestly even with Pikachu acting OOC, I'd say Ash is the WORST thing about the episode with how just how dumb and ignorant he was thanks to the terrible writing.

All of this could have been easily avoided if he just oh I dunno, actually let Pikachu train with Riolu but no instead he continues to act as Mr Dumb Dumb before Chloe knocks some sense into him off-screen (because of course it's off screen, where else would it be?).

 

[cricketlaxwolvesbandy]

Candice's was alright at least I thought, but by the time of Volkner's battle (which was waaaaay too late in the series in my personal opinion BTW, I mean hell, the Sinnoh league started just 3 episodes later, ) the Infernape favoritism was in overdrive. It basically stole the show.

Torterra should’ve won against Jolteon at least

 

[Daren]

Candice's was alright at least I thought, but by the time of Volkner's battle (which was waaaaay too late in the series in my personal opinion BTW, I mean hell, the Sinnoh league started just 3 episodes later, ) the Infernape favoritism was in overdrive. It basically stole the show.

As I've noted before, Chimchar became stronger than the vastly more experienced Pikachu then evolved twice. I don't think the writers have ever loved something that isn't a Charizard quite that much.
Edit: And unlike other aces was allowed to sit out the league kicker match.

 

[Ghost Diplocaulus]

My theory: somebody in the anime staff just really freaking adores monkeys. I mean, just look at how Rillaboom is being treated like an absolute powerhouse to the point that it was the one who swept through four of Diantha's Pokemon when normally Charizard would be the one relegated to such a badass role.

So yeah, clearly monkeys are the favorite animal of someone who has a lot of say on how the battles should go

 

[Daren]

My theory: somebody in the anime staff just really freaking adores monkeys. I mean, just look at how Rillaboom is being treated like an absolute powerhouse to the point that it was the one who swept through four of Diantha's Pokemon when normally Charizard would be the one relegated to such a badass role.

So yeah, clearly monkeys are the favorite animal of someone who has a lot of say on how the battles should go

I think we can guess who considering Tomioka wrote both the Master Eight and most of the Paul battles.
Edit: Although looking at the PWC tracker topic it seems like Pikachu has Infernape-tier loves in JN, though with his quarter century of experience there's a sort of logic to it and at least some of those were quick one on ones.

 

[cricketlaxwolvesbandy]

Aura is overrated and worse than the bond phenomenon.

 

[cricketlaxwolvesbandy]

TF arc and Kalos League final should have been swapped with Ash winning. The Kalos League should have had way more importance but it was overshadowed by TF, and I feel like it would still be this way even if Ash won.

 

[Alola]

Candice's was alright at least I thought, but by the time of Volkner's battle (which was waaaaay too late in the series in my personal opinion BTW, I mean hell, the Sinnoh league started just 3 episodes later, ) the Infernape favoritism was in overdrive. It basically stole the show.

That's a part of the reason though, that I didn't like it - the Infernape favoritism was already in place. That was Chimchar's 4th Gym Battle and the second where he got to star and defeat the ace Pokémon. I also thought Ash used some questionable tactics, using all his Pokémon weak to Ice rather than use Pikachu and Buizel (Ice Aqua Jet, hello) strategically and a necessary evil in Grotle or Staraptor; I don't even know why Gliscor was sent in, only to be unceremoniously KOed after such a great battle against Byron. I also wasn't fond of how they portrayed Abomasnow as a belligerent brute, especially when Candice's shtick is being a focused fighter.

They just could have done so much more with it imo. Namely playing with Snow Warning (which two of her Pokémon have and didn't use, let alone any Hail) and Snow Cloak shenanigans with Piloswine and Frosslas.

 

[Sai]

I haven't watched the DP Gym battles in years, probably a decade. I really have to rewatch them at some point because I've forgotten a lot of them besides some key moments. I guess this is a problem when the show now has 1200 episodes and goes on for 25 years, all the episodes tend to blur together after awhile unless you rewatch them.

In a way it's kinda sad, the show has gone on so long now that unless you watched a saga a lot as a kid like the original Kanto saga for most, all the events of the other series start to fade from memory over time.