Review AG143: Pokémon Contest - Yamabuki Conference! (Part One) ・ AG144: Pokémon Contest - Yamabuki Conference! (Part Two)

[Rocketshipper]

They should let Jessie make the final round and face Haruka in one of the contests. Maybe she can use the Manene they'll be capturing soon.

 

[Jo-Jo]

My unofficial prediction is that May will run into Drew for either her second or third contest and perhaps one other early one, and then May, Drew and Harley will all enter the same one at some time in the second half of the saga.

I kinda doubt that Jessie will ever be May's main opponent in a contest, though.

 

[Cybersai]

Well if Drew enters the same contest as May, then another coordinator will have to beat Drew and finish him off (a la the Grace and Savanna episodes) because the writers will refuse to allow May to beat Drew until the Grand Festival. Seeing as how she needs her ribbons, the writers have put Drew in a very tight spot for his appeareances, which is why he's been appearing in non-contest episodes lately.

May simply cannot succeed in a contest if she battles Drew, which is the rival formula the writers are using as they are saving her victory over him for a Grand Festival.

 

[Jo-Jo]

Yup. But the writers managed to have Drew participate in three of May's contests and attend a fourth in Hoenn without letting May beat him, so I'm sure they can do the same for Kanto. It needn't be a problem for him to lose to another trainer - he seems to acquire ribbons at an incredible speed off-screen, so as long as he tells May that he's up to four when she's still trying to earn her second, it won't matter if he goes on to get pwned.

 

[FabuVinny]

But then there would be complaining about how it isn't realistic enough. Just as there has been complaining in this thread that Squirtle can win a contest.

 

[Cybersai]

^ Drew collecting ribbons at a fast speed or Drew losing to other coordinators?

 

[FabuVinny]

Drew getting pwned by May, despite collecting ribbons at a fast speed,

 

[Cybersai]

Well all May really needs is something to take down his Flygon, and she's all set. Roselia and Masquerain may put up a good fight, but I'm sure her pokemon like Combusken and Beautifly can take them down eventually.

Flygon is the only big one, and May currently has nothing that can really take it down. I don't know if she'll get a new Pokemon during the Kanto saga even...

...but then I suppose they can just have her Squirtle Ice beam it to death...but then we'd have more complaining.

 

[Jo-Jo]

Last time we saw it, Beautifly still couldn't take down Roselia, and seemed at best to be evenly matched with Masquerain. And anyway, May doesn't have it with her. I imagine she'll use her current three and whatever she catches in Kanto to fight Drew at the end of the season. Combusken might be able to take out one of Drew's Pokemon, although it didn't manage to knock out either Flygon or Roselia in the GF, but I doubt it'll KO two.

I'm torn on the May vs. Drew issue. On the one hand, I doubt the writers will rehash the scenario of Drew being the one May loses to in the Grand Festival. But on the other, he has been portrayed as so much stronger than her up until now that I don't see how she can get powerful enough over the course of the season to beat him.

 

[FabuVinny]

Beautifly is in Petalburg City, so presumably, the writers want it to be out of the question. But if she continues to do well, and maybe catches a cuple more Pokémon, she could scrape a win at the Grand Festival. As I said above, she won't win easily, but she could still do it.

 

[Cybersai]

The thing is, I can't see them stretching the May/Drew rivalry for a whole 'nother region after this one. How many times can you have Drew waltz in, flick his hair, hand out a rose, and walk off time and time again?

Gary didn't even last two full regions before Ash beat him. (Ash didn't face Gary in their first tournament and beat him in his second).

Remember, we all thought Gary was lightyears ahead of Ash as a trainer as well, and that Ash would never catch up to him. Yet at the Johto league Ash used almost all of his strong evolved Pokemon and took Gary down, even with a type disadvantage (Charizard Vs. Blastoise)

Granted, May has far less Pokemon than Ash does, and far less evolved forms, but she has to take him down eventually as that's the reason Drew was created in the first place, and I can't see them stretching it out past this Kanto region.

Of course she won't win the entire GF, (she'll maybe lose to Robert or another "expert" coordinator), but beating the main rival certainly isn't out of the question.

 

[FabuVinny]

Ash actually got further than Gary in the Kanto Tournament as well, (though with less badges). It really depends on whether May will stay on after AG. If she does, then contests will continue and I don't see Drew going. But if she goes, (even if she doesn't win the Grand Festival at that time,) a victory against Drew would certainly be in order.

 

[Jo-Jo]

I dunno, I distinctly got the impression when I watched Kanto that Gary wasn't quite as good a trainer as he liked to think he was. The thing is, he and Ash never battled that season; we only had his word for it that he was stronger. Just because he had more badges doesn't prove much when you bear in mind that Gary had a car to travel around in rather than walking everywhere, he didn't have to deal with regular attacks from Team Rocket, and something tells me it's unlikely that he stopped in every town to help the needy, like Ash did. The real test of their respective skills was the Indigo League, and Ash did better in that. So I think that Ash and Gary were actually fairly equally matched throughout Kanto-Johto. Ash pulling off a victory in the end wasn't unreasonable.

Whereas Drew walked all over May a mere two episodes after meeting her, and while she gained some ground over the course of AG, he still beat her pretty soundly in the Grand Festival, over two seasons later. There is a bigger discrepancy between May and Drew's abilities than there was between Ash and Gary's, IMO. May will have to improve a LOT during Kanto in order to beat Drew, unless she gets very, very lucky. And I hope for her sake that doesn't happen. The fanwank against her was bad enough after Saffron.

Added to all that, there's the fact that the May-Drew rivalry is a lot more complicated than the Ash-Gary one. Ash vs. Gary was a completely self-contained plotline, but May vs. Drew has the additional factors of Drew vs. Robert and May+Drew vs. Harley. Those will have to be resolved first if Drew's role on the show is going to end when May beats him. Will there be time to take care of all of those plot threads in Kanto? We know it's not going to be a long season.

I don't think it's a certainty that Drew will stay on past Kanto, but I would give him a 60% chance. Besides all else, if they get rid of him they'll just have to find May another rival. And he is pretty popular.

 

[Cybersai]

Added to all that, there's the fact that the May-Drew rivalry is a lot more complicated than the Ash-Gary one. Ash vs. Gary was a completely self-contained plotline, but May vs. Drew has the additional factors of Drew vs. Robert and May+Drew vs. Harley. Those will have to be resolved first if Drew's role on the show is going to end when May beats him. Will there be time to take care of all of those plot threads in Kanto? We know it's not going to be a long season.

The whole Robert/Harley/Drew power stuggle thing can all be settled in one Grand Festival. You're wondering about the build up or tension between those 3 coordinators? It can all be solved fairly easily. Remember, these are the same writers that resolved the entire Team Magma/Team Aqua/Groudon/Kyorge story arc in the span of 2 episodes. Everything from Maxie and Archie, to Tabitha and Isabel, to the two legends and all the build up they had throughout Hoenn....all ended in 2 episodes. If the writers can take a major arc of buildup like that and end it so quickly, they can easily end a Harley/Drew/Robert power struggle in the span of a 3 episode Grand Festival. There's really not much else to say here.

Besides all else, if they get rid of him they'll just have to find May another rival. And he is pretty popular.

1) Gary was pretty popular, if not more than Drew ever was. Everybody knew/liked Gary back in the 1st season, especially from the games and the show. I don't think Drew (outside the fangirl population) is anywhere near as popular as Gary was in his height. And what happened to Gary? He was written out of the show after Ash beat him, regardless of his popularity. Since I don't think Drew is even half as popular as Gary was, I don't see what the difference is between his lasting power in the show. Also, Misty says hi. Another popular character (much more than Gary even) and she got written out as well. Misty and Gary are both more popular characters than Drew, and if they can be written out, he can too.

2) As for finding May another rival...they either can or will not do that. Ash had no rival in Hoenn, and he got along just fine. Sure, Ash has rivals during the leagues (Richie, Masamune, Tetsuya, Harrison) but none of them were rivals that he bumped into during his adventure.

Gary was Ash's only "real" rival, as he was the biggest and most important one. But now the writers are content with only giving Ash new rivals when the leagues begin, but for the actual adventure...he has none. He had no rival in Hoenn and it doesn't look like he has a rival in this Kanto saga either.

For May, the writers might do the same thing. Or beside that, they'll just have new rivals pop up during one Contest and then show up in a Grand festival. (Harley being a good example, he only appeared in one contest and then became a big rival in the GF).

If May faces Drew and beats him in the GF (which I think has a 60-70% chance of happening), then it could be his send off in the anime. There is nothing out of the question here.

 

[Jo-Jo]

I didn't say it was out of the question for Drew to leave after Kanto. I'm just trying to analyse the possibilities, and it seems to me that the writers have created a set-up whereby they can keep him around for a long time, if they choose to. They didn't have to make Drew announce beating Robert as his personal goal, but they did. They didn't have to get Drew involved in the May-Harley relationship, but they did. There was no equivalent for either Harley or Robert in the Ash-Gary rivalry, because Gary didn't have significant relationships with anybody apart from Ash. I'm looking at these things as possible factors when determining how May-Drew is likely to pan out, and they all point at the rivalry carrying on for a bit longer, IMO.

Or maybe it'll all go down in Kanto. I don't know. My pessimistic side leans on that theory.

But I do think that the BF saga is a bit too small and too... well, like a slightly more important version of the Orange Islands arc to end the main rivalry of the series since the start of AG. Ash and Gary had Johto; I think May and Drew need something big like the D/P region for a proper finale. At the earliest.

 

[Misty]

Wasn't Gary written out because his voice actor quit?

 

[Unregistered]

Wasn't Gary written out because his voice actor quit?

That was a rumour proved false.

 

[FabuVinny]

When?

 

[Cybersai]

But I do think that the BF saga is a bit too small and too... well, like a slightly more important version of the Orange Islands arc to end the main rivalry of the series since the start of AG. Ash and Gary had Johto; I think May and Drew need something big like the D/P region for a proper finale. At the earliest.

By the looks of things, the BF saga may be the length of the original Kanto, 80 something episodes. Possibly even longer, as there is like 12 episodes between Ash's Brain matches so far, and D/P don't even appear to be close to being finished yet.

But for May and her contests, this arc is just as big as Hoenn.

5 ribbons required? Check.
Grand Festival? Check.
New region? (To May) Check.
New Pokemon? (To May) Check.

Kanto and it's Pokemon may not be new to us, but Kanto is a brand new region for May, and many of these Kanto Pokemon May has never seen before. (And it's quite possible that they're new to Drew and Harley as well)

For Ash this season isn't something new (arguably), but for May, it's pretty much just as big as Hoenn. Probably intensified, as May now has two very competent rivals that she didn't have all throughout Hoenn.

So yeah, this is definitely an important region for May and her rivals, arguably just as big as Hoenn was. It could resolve Drew and May's rivalry as it's a second big region, like Johto was to Kanto. And since the D/P region may be a brand new series named Pokemon Ranger, it'll be like how Pocket Monsters ended with Johto. Old rivals say goodbye, characters depart, and fresh faces emerge for a brand new series and saga.

 

[Rocketshipper]

When?

When people realized it didn't even make sense, given the situation. When a character only appears in ten out of 150+ episodes, the voice actor quitting isn't going to have that big an impact, a replacement could easily be found. Gary probably left because the writers felt he had fulfilled his purpose and was no longer needed.