Controversial opinions

[DankOverlord]

That's not entirely true because we haven't seen how his rematch with Pyramid King Brandon turned out,it was supposed to air but never happened.Besides I don't see people complaining when Gary makes several pointless returns along with DP characters like Dawn,Cynthia and Volkner returning but Paul can't get one just because his rivalry ended with Ash?Besides how great of a rival he was to Ash the other great quality about him was his skills as a trainer.Would've liked to see him battle again and implement one of the newer powerups like Z-Move or Mega Evolution.

This I agree on.

Also on topic of being trainers, Paul's better than Ash when it comes to flexibility and tactics. Ash sort of sucks at using Pokemon that aren't speedy sweepers, and his tankier mons often pay the price for his incapacity to use said battle styles. Whereas Paul's Torterra is a strong mon despite his lack of speed

 

[-PokemonBattleFanatic-]

This I agree on.

Also on topic of being trainers, Paul's better than Ash when it comes to flexibility and tactics. Ash sort of sucks at using Pokemon that aren't speedy sweepers, and his tankier mons often pay the price for his incapacity to use said battle styles. Whereas Paul's Torterra is a strong mon despite his lack of speed

I'll give Ash that he's good at coming up with unorthodox strategies on the fly depending on which version we're talking about but I still don't think he's as efficient as Paul was.And as far as the pokemon goes yeah Ash is more compatible with ones with a lot of speed as opposed to ones that are bulkier and lack speed,his Torterra was a perfect example of that.

Paul's Torterra showed it how to battle with it's new body,absorb the blow and then fire right back with an attack of your own.Paul pretty much used this same method with vast majority of his pokemon as they are shown either taking the hit,using a defensive move or countering back,they rarely were shown dodging attacks.

 

[PkmnTrainerV]

Paul is a better trainer than both Ash & Alain

As someone who defends Paul often, I can’t really say that this is true. Just look at Chimchar. The above posters claim Paul is flexible with his styles, but he is inflexible, just in a different way. His training style is akin to a coach's tough love, and it works on some Pokémon, and he releases the others (the ones he deems "weak"). But when he saw a powerful Pokémon that did not adhere to this tactic, Chimchar, we all know how it ended.

Both Ash and Paul were at times, stubborn and inflexible, and that’s what causes the rivalry in the first place.

 

[-PokemonBattleFanatic-]

As someone who defends Paul often, I can’t really say that this is true. Just look at Chimchar. The above posters claim Paul is flexible with his styles, but he is inflexible, just in a different way. His training style is akin to a coach's tough love, and it works on some Pokémon, and he releases the others (the ones he deems "weak"). But when he saw a powerful Pokémon that did not adhere to this tactic, Chimchar, we all know how it ended.

Both Ash and Paul were at times, stubborn and inflexible, and that’s what causes the rivalry in the first place.

But that was just with one pokemon,all the rest of Paul's had no problem with his training style.Plus the way he trains is more effective than Ash's as he was able to turn Elekid and Ursaring into absolute juggernauts in a short amount of time while with Ash he doesn't maximize his pokemon the same way as he's more of a trainer that shows love.Just look at Paul's entire roster of pokemon,6-9 of them are tanks/powerhouses and they got to that level through Paul's training system.

Pokemon like Charizard,Squirtle,Snorlax and Gliscor were either already powerful or got to a certain level through another source.So what I'm pretty much saying here is that Paul is better at "training" up his pokemon and making them stronger,he gave them equal amount of focus and didn't just focus on one pokemon like an Alain or Barry.He also planned ahead for his battles and trained his pokemon to use certain moves for future opponents like what he did with Roark and Ash at Lake Acuity.
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Sinnoh Champion Cynthia to Paul: "Paul your pokemon are all very well-trained and I'm especially impressed with your Torterra,it's really quite amazing."

Frontier Brain Brandon to Paul: "You've done an excellent job raising and training your pokemon,but you allow your emotions to betray you on the battlefield!"

Older Brother Reggie to Paul: "It's amazing that you've been able to perfect your pokemon's moves in just 10 days." (Lake Acuity)

Barry to Paul: "The word on the street is you've raised some powerful pokemon,so a battle would be great."

Paul to Barry: "The pokemon I have with me are the ones training for the sinnoh league,I don't want them engaged in a pointless battle that might confuse them."

 

[Unireon]

I think that DP Satoshi and Shinji had so different approaches that it is impossible to compare them fairly.
The simmilarity may be that both require the Pokemon to adapt to, either the former's style and the latter's methods.
Both had their own strenghts and flaws, but it was that what made their rivalry interesting.

Please, don't put Alan in this category. A walking Diabolus-ex-Machina/Plot-Resource.
They botched his pass from the Especials into the Main Series. Just for more Lizardon-shilling.
Then all went nowhere when they, in a very appalling move, put him in the League with a trashy-reason.
And we didn't get any closure from this 'rivalry', what a train-wreck. Moral superiority, my eye!

Though, all those points are now moot since Journeys Satoshi is a neglectful ditzy excuse of a trainer.
In this case, I agree, and go far to say, that all previous rivals are better than what he has become.

 

[Daren]

Honestly I think comparing trainers from separate series' is difficult because usually the only real comparison is Ash, and his skills jump up and down randomly.
DP had him coming up with stuff like Counter Shield but it didn't actually result in concrete improvements to his record (in fact DP had his lowest W/L rate up to that point) and after AG he stopped really advancing his career as a trainer until Sun/Moon.
So that's why even though the intuitive idea is that, for instance, Bea should be one of Ash's strongest rivals I don't think you can really say it conclusively.

Edit: I think I have a good comparison; he got 1 spot higher in the Sinnoh league than Hoenn. However, there's good evidence he would have won Hoenn if he used his reserves and would have won Sinnoh if Tobias hadn't entered. In Hoenn he was handicapping himself to a massive extent and in Sinnoh (where he used reserves) his ranking was going to basically come down to when he battled Tobias because absolutely nobody stood a chance against Tobias.

 

[Sai]

Alan is definitely on Elite 4 level at least

 

[cricketlaxwolvesbandy]

Honestly I think comparing trainers from separate series' is difficult because usually the only real comparison is Ash, and his skills jump up and down randomly.
DP had him coming up with stuff like Counter Shield but it didn't actually result in concrete improvements to his record (in fact DP had his lowest W/L rate up to that point) and after AG he stopped really advancing his career as a trainer until Sun/Moon.
So that's why even though the intuitive idea is that, for instance, Bea should be one of Ash's strongest rivals I don't think you can really say it conclusively.

Edit: I think a good comparison; he got 1 spot higher in the Sinnoh league than Hoenn. However, there's good evidence would have won Hoenn if he used his reserves and would have won Sinnoh if Tobias hadn't entered. In Hoenn he was handicapping himself to a massive extent and in Sinnoh (where he used reserves) his ranking was going to basically come down to when he battled Tobias because absolutely nobody stood a chance against Tobias.

Ash would have definitely won Unova and Kalos if he used his reserves

 

[Die-Hard Dragon Devotee]

Ash would have definitely won Unova and Kalos if he used his reserves

Without a doubt.

 

[R1ke]

Another word on Sirfetchd’s performance. Wow, that was genuinely horrible. I’ll compare it to Gengar (against Volkner) real quick:

Gengar

• Was sent out against Luxray, a pokemon Ash was already struggling with and couldn’t bypass
• Dealt significant damage to it, which allowed Lucario to KO it after
• Lost to Volkner’s brand new rotom and due to it gave Ash intel about its moveset, attributes and strategy; when Lucario faced it later Ash knew what to expect and was able to counter it properly
• Also because Lucario had quick exchanges with Luxray, most of its screentime was battling Gengar (similar thing with Rotom, but to a lesser extent)

So he actually felt important despite being the fall guy, Ash needed him

Now Sirfetchd

• Sent against Machamp, whom Ash was initially struggling with but had just got the upper hand against
• Only got one fury cutter off, whilst Lucario which was probably less than Lucario’s reversal anyway
• Lost to Hawlucha (again) but Ash already battled it and knew most its moves (like sky attack), so he didn’t learn anything new after
• Hawlucha had much longer and better battles against Pikachu and Lucario so Sirfetch’d wasn’t even its main opponent, then Lucario did most the heavy lifting against Machamp so his contribution there was nonexistent
• To add insult to injury, he was the only pokemon that didn’t battle in part one either and his brutal swing strategy didn’t do anything (for some reason)

So he was actually wasted, Ash probably would’ve won without him. I’m actually baffled that Tomioka wrote this.

 

[HiroHunter]

Another word on Sirfetchd’s performance. Wow, that was genuinely horrible. I’ll compare it to Gengar (against Volkner) real quick:

Gengar

• Was sent out against Luxray, a pokemon Ash was already struggling with and couldn’t bypass
• Dealt significant damage to it, which allowed Lucario to KO it after
• Lost to Volkner’s brand new rotom and due to it gave Ash intel about its moveset, attributes and strategy; when Lucario faced it later Ash knew what to expect and was able to counter it properly
• Also because Lucario had quick exchanges with Luxray, most of its screentime was battling Gengar (similar thing with Rotom, but to a lesser extent)

So he actually felt important despite being the fall guy, Ash needed him

Now Sirfetchd

• Sent against Machamp, whom Ash was initially struggling with but had just got the upper hand against
• Only got one fury cutter off, whilst Lucario which was probably less than Lucario’s reversal anyway
• Lost to Hawlucha (again) but Ash already battled it and knew most its moves (like sky attack), so he didn’t learn anything new after
• Hawlucha had much longer and better battles against Pikachu and Lucario so Sirfetch’d wasn’t even its main opponent, then Lucario did most the heavy lifting against Machamp so his contribution there was nonexistent
• To add insult to injury, he was the only pokemon that didn’t battle in part one either and his brutal swing strategy didn’t do anything (for some reason)

So he was actually wasted, Ash probably would’ve won without him. I’m actually baffled that Tomioka wrote this.

I love how with the two Galar mons Ash has Dracovish is barely here and Sirfetchd is getting treated like a loser jobber.

 

[Rainbow-Rain]

I love how with the two Galar mons Ash has Dracovish is barely here and Sirfetchd is getting treated like a loser jobber.

I think the writers have made it pretty apparent that they do not give a crap about anything Galar

 

[HiroHunter]

I think the writers have made it pretty apparent that they do not give a crap about anything Galar

Is it fair to say that Galar is the worst treated region in the anime nothing comes close?

 

[Unireon]

Lucario throws its teammates under the bus, to get the glory for itself only!

Joke aside. Gengar and Sir Kamon are treated in horrific way. It's clear that the writers don't care.
To them, those two are just worthless jobbers to allow them add more Lucario-shilling.

Is it fair to say that Galar is the worst treated region in the anime nothing comes close?

That was expected since the start, after the announcement that Galar had to share series with the rest of regions.

Ash would have definitely won Unova and Kalos if he used his reserves

Nothing for Unova, there the blame is on the staff for trying to copy Kanto.
I was expecting the reserves in Kalos at least for the anticlimatic and twisted final.
Since they went through the hassle to bring back the decayed Numerugon.
Remains a riddle how the reinforcements would have performed.

 

[Jewel the Quaxly]

Ash's Rowlet receives WAY too much hate sometimes. I understand not liking its battle against Decidueye, but it feels like that battle has prevented anyone from seeing the good parts of Rowlet, like his actual character. He has a unique relationship with his adopted father and family, has balanced character traits of both negative and positive, and has good relationships with other members on the cast.

The rowlet line from Alola is actually my favorite starter line, which is why I utterly cringed at the treatment of Decidueye, but I didn't feel like hating Ash's Rowlet for it, especially since not all of its wins were total BS. It waned as time went on, yes, but I still enjoyed its personality and a lot of its battles. (Also, I'm not really one to judge on BS wins since I actually like Thunder Armor, so...)

 

[Rainbow-Rain]

Is it fair to say that Galar is the worst treated region in the anime nothing comes close?

Oh of course!

Only Unova comes close and it was STILL better handled than Galar

 

[R1ke]

I love how with the two Galar mons Ash has Dracovish is barely here and Sirfetchd is getting treated like a loser jobber.

It is ironic how the anime is made to showcase these new gen pokemon but they’ve been shafted the most this series

Ash's Rowlet receives WAY too much hate sometimes. I understand not liking its battle against Decidueye, but it feels like that battle has prevented anyone from seeing the good parts of Rowlet, like his actual character. He has a unique relationship with his adopted father and family, has balanced character traits of both negative and positive, and has good relationships with other members on the cast.

The rowlet line from Alola is actually my favorite starter line, which is why I utterly cringed at the treatment of Decidueye, but I didn't feel like hating Ash's Rowlet for it, especially since not all of its wins were total BS. It waned as time went on, yes, but I still enjoyed its personality and a lot of its battles. (Also, I'm not really one to judge on BS wins since I actually like Thunder Armor, so...)

Honestly Rowlet was a great pokemon for Ash. It suited SM’s comedic tone perfectly and played off most of Ash’s pokemon (and Mallow’s too). He was actually important as well, helping Ash with several trials/kahunas early on then helping develop Meltan by the end. He didn’t do much in the middle but that’s also when Lycanroc/Torracat/Poipole had their focus.

Yeah his battle/rivalry with Hau sucked but as a whole he was handled really well. Although he’s got many gag battles, he’s legitimately strong and has a good moveset to back it up. Alola wouldn’t be the same without him.

 

[Ghost Diplocaulus]

I love how with the two Galar mons Ash has Dracovish is barely here and Sirfetchd is getting treated like a loser jobber.

It is ironic how the anime is made to showcase these new gen pokemon but they’ve been shafted the most this series

What really doesn't help is that both Dracovish and Sirfetch'd share types with Dragonite and Lucario, both highly popular and marketable species. It's very telling how both Dragonite and Lucario have had more usage and better combat performances than their Galar counterparts do, athough Dracovish's/Dragonite's case is admittedly to a far lesser extent, since not only has Dragonite not had a major appearances in a while either, but Dracovish could (at least in theory) differentiate itself from Dragonite by playing up its Water-type aspects more. Poor Sirfetch'd on the other hand not only has to share a team with a Pokemon that's far more popular and marketable than Dragonite, but Sirfetch'd is mono-Fighting, meaning it can't even differentiate itself from Lucario by emphasizing a secondary type. It could in theory fall back on its vastly different fighting style, but so far that clearly hasn't been enough. Seriously, who on earth though it was a good idea to give Ash a second Fighting-type in the same saga where Ash gets one of the most popular, marketable, and highly requested Pokemon, let alone Fighting-types for him to catch??

A big part of me wonders if the overshadowing of Galar mons would be at least a little bit less prevalent if Ash's Gen 8 captures had been Pokemon of types that didn't overlap with the big moneymakers like, oh I dunno, a freaking Galar Starter, or a Grimmsnarl, or a Drednaw. Heck, maybe even an extra Steel-type like Perrserker would have been a better idea for a Galar regional variant catch if the anime staff wanted to have type overlaps that badly, since Lucario's Steel attributes are never anywhere near as highlighted as its Fighting ones.

 

[R1ke]

What really doesn't help is that both Dracovish and Sirfetch'd share types with Dragonite and Lucario, both highly popular and marketable species. It's very telling how both Dragonite and Lucario have had more usage and better combat performances than their Galar counterparts do, athough Dracovish's/Dragonite's case is admittedly to a far lesser extent, since not only has Dragonite not had a major appearances in a while either, but Dracovish could (at least in theory) differentiate itself from Dragonite by playing up its Water-type aspects more. Poor Sirfetch'd on the other hand not only has to share a team with a Pokemon that's far more popular and marketable than Dragonite, but Sirfetch'd is mono-Fighting, meaning it can't even differentiate itself from Lucario by emphasizing a secondary type. It could in theory fall back on its vastly different fighting style, but so far that clearly hasn't been enough. Seriously, who on earth though it was a good idea to give Ash a second Fighting-type in the same saga where Ash gets one of the most popular, marketable, and highly requested Pokemon, let alone Fighting-types for him to catch??

A big part of me wonders if the overshadowing of Galar mons would be at least a little bit less prevalent if Ash's Gen 8 captures had been Pokemon of types that didn't overlap with the big moneymakers like, oh I dunno, a freaking Galar Starter, or a Grimmsnarl, or a Drednaw. Heck, maybe even an extra Steel-type like Perrserker would have been a better idea for a Galar regional variant catch if the anime staff wanted to have type overlaps that badly, since Lucario's Steel attributes are never anywhere near as highlighted as its Fighting ones.

Just makes me wonder what's up with Gengar now, since he's so unique and popular. I guess Gmax will help him for a bit. The last team that had all this overlap was his Kalos one, but that was alright. Talonflame and Hawlucha were drastically different in battle style/attributes. Goodra wasn't even on the team (until the very end) when Ash had his second dragon so he didn't compete. Noivern felt redundant, but he was kinda screwed over by the gyms. Not much incentive to use him against a fairy, psychic (in a double battle) and ice gym. Besides, he at least showed up.

I'm just thinking about the Bea battle again. I think they messed up by having Grapploct be Lucario's rival in the first place. Cause then Lucario wouldn't 'need' to get 2 KOs here. Machamp was always her ace anyway so idk why they switched it up. Also in hindsight they shouldn't have had Lucario solo all her pokemon in part 1, since he basically does that in part 2 anyway. Have Lucario briefly battle Grapploct and struggle against Machamp but emphasise Pikachu and Sirfetchd more. Have Sirfetchd battle Hawlucha instead of Lucario. Lot of ways you could rewrite this which everyone's already done. Also although I like the switching, I think the drawback here is that certain matchups feel rushed due to all the time it takes.

As a side note, man I hated that bloody Hawlucha. Every time he battled here things went downhill.

• Against Lucario he gets off a high jump kick and sky attack, making it hard to believe Lucario can take all that
• Beats Kamon anti-climatically
• Loses to Pikachu, who he honestly shouldn't be fighting - I am kinda annoyed that Ash countered sky attack only after Sirfetchd lost to it (but he already knew about it)

Someone also mentioned that he used sky attack to quickly as well, which is true yeah

 

[Enzo]

Loses to Pikachu, who he honestly shouldn't be fighting - I am kinda annoyed that Ash countered sky attack only after Sirfetchd lost to it (but he already knew about it)

Someone also mentioned that he used sky attack to quickly as well, which is true yeah

Well, charging turns in the anime have always been weird because the turn-based battles just don't get translated that well in the anime. They wouldn't be that dynamic if they were 1:1 with the games imo.

But seriously: this is yet another example of Ash's battling in this series being weird. Bea immediately noticied Ash was gonna tell Pikachu to do the ''relax and set yourself free'' strategy yet again against Grapploct and she just as immediately shut that shit down by telling it to cave Pikachu's snout in with Close Combat.

Yet Ash let Sirfetch'd get taken down by Sky Attack even tho he was fully aware it had that move, but didn't bother coming up with an strategy to stop it.