- Joined
- Jun 17, 2006
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- #4,281
I really feel that Gou is not pulling his weight in the relationship.
Since one-sided bonds hit me in a personal level, I am unable to find something wholesome/likeable in Satoshi and Gou's friendship.
I blame the writers for rushing the pace and ruining what did have potential.
While I can understand why it might bother you on a personal level, I also think it's rather harsh to say that Goh isn't pulling his weight in the relationship. I think that actively ignores how much Ash cares about Goh and vice versa. Moments like Goh pushing Ash out of the way of the poachers' attack during the Suicune episode shows how much Goh cares about him too. This also seems like a rather harsh way to view a friendship, especially when not all friendships or relationships function on the same level. Ash's dynamics with all of his previous traveling companions were different, but they were all still friends. How believable those friendships were is subjective, but the characters would still be considered friends.
The notion that Goh has to pull his weight also just seems odd to me because I've never seen that kind of response to any of Ash's other friends. Not even Iris who I still think has the weakest connection to Ash compared to the rest of his friends. Saying that their relationship feels forced or rushed is an understandable complaint, but going as far as to say that Goh isn't pulling his weight or that their relationship is unhealthy just seems too harsh to me. It feels more like an excessive complaint more than anything else to me, especially when it increasingly feels like Goh can't do anything in the series without getting some kind of backlash. He could sneeze funny and it would be the newest thumbnail on the next video essay explaining why some fans don't like him.