Which Gym Leader Had The Best Portrayal In The Anime?

[Araragi-hakase]

Which gym leader do you think had the best/most interesting portrayal in the anime and why? Almost all of the gym leaders have other sides to their personality besides being a gym leader (Kamisture being a model, Arti being an artist, Hachiku being a movie star, etc), which ones do you think were showcased the best? What did you like or not like? Even though most gym leaders only appear for an episode or two, I think they're much more than COTD because most fans already have expectations for how they are expecting them to be, having played the games.

I really enjoyed Katsura's personality, and felt he was much more interesting than I thought he was in the games. The same goes for Erika and her story with Kusaihana, and Natsume's story with her creepy doll house and her family. I admittedly don't remember so much of Jouto and didn't see much of Hoenn, so I will skip those ones for now.

In DP, I enjoyed Melissa, Tougan and Denzi. Denzi especially, and his interactions with his bff Flint and all, I was glad they showcased their friendship in the anime. I also enjoyed how they had Melissa has a Contest judge.

In Best Wishes, I loved Arti and especially his interactions with Satoshi & co. His personality was a lot of fun. Kamitsure was also another favorite of mine, I'm so glad they showed her modeling. Fuuro's "air battles" and story was something I liked, too. I liked Aloe a lot, as well, especially how she explained things during the battle, but I wished that they had shown her doing more at the museum besides the filler episode before it.

 

[Garren]

Pryce.

I've said it before, but he's the one character I can say without question was done better in the Anime compared to Special.

Spoiler

Mainly because he actually responds realistically to losing a Pokemon as opposed to abducting children in order to travel through time lol

 

[Itsuki]

Chili, without question. We got to see his struggles, we got to see him grow and learn as a gym leader and as a brother as well. We saw more personality in him than we've seen in most of the gym leaders in any season, too.

 

[SammyW27]

Most of the Sinnoh GLs come to mind. They had a lot of depth, personality and many of them actually showed in enough episodes to count!

 

[Tyro-Nitar]

Brock Obama. Nuff said. He's a good brother to his younger siblings, taking care of them while their father was gone, even before he travels along with Ash.

 

[Bouffalant Herdier]

Byron. I never thought he was never a particularly memorable battler or character before, but the anime version was one of the funniest characters to ever grace the show. I loved watching the interactions between him and his son Roark, something sorely missing from the games.

 

[CommanderPigg]

Cilan, just Cilan. I have never seen a game character act SO DIFFERENTLY from their anime counterpart. It's really amazing how much life the anime brought to him, while in the games he's just a meek little mareep ><

As for non-main characters...I like Volkner, if not just for the dead accuracy and Byron because holes.

 

[LuxrayOfTheWild]

Byron was just unbelievably epic. He was really entertaing and who can forget "I LOVE [insert thing here]!!!" *explosion*

 

[Bandit Keith]

Byron, Volkner, and Juan.

I LOVE X, Sullen & Depressed, and the Most metro-sexual Gym Leader ever.

Freaking Beautiful.

Also, do Spenser and Brandon count?

 

[Hellwarden]

Maylene.


Seeing her grow into a strong awesome gym leader back in DP was awesome.

 

[Bluelatios]

At the moment Blaine comes to mind. His riddles were great, and he's got an interesting split personality. And he has awesome Pokemon. For training fire types, he's one cool dude! XD

 

[Hellwarden]

At the moment Blaine comes to mind. His riddles were great, and he's got an interesting split personality. And he has awesome Pokemon. For training fire types, he's one cool dude! XD

The Charizard on Magmar battle with Blaine is one of the few gym battles from the original series that still holds up.

 

[Masurao]

The Charizard on Magmar battle with Blaine is one of the few gym battles from the original series that still holds up.

Iwane still hasn't lost his touch.

At any rate, I'd agree with the statement that most of the Sinnoh Gym leaders were fantastic. I don't think there was one I didn't like. In terms of others...Blaine, Whitney, Flannery, Elesa, and Cilan all get honorable mentions.

 

[Almonds]

All the Sinnoh gym leaders had good episodes. Byron and Roark's being my fav XDD

I think Elesa had a good episode as well AND Chili.

 

[sonic10158]

Sabrina because they gave her a very interesting backstory, even if the whole toybox thing was sorta dumb

 

[Spindae2]

Gardenia! love her!

 

[Shinneth]

Nearly all the Sinnoh Gym Leaders were treated well by the anime and as a whole, I say the anime portrayed them better than any other Gen IV-related media. It's really hard to say which one is actually the best for that region.

Blaine and Sabrina were quite memorable from their deviation from their game counterparts, mostly in a good way. The only Johto Gym Leaders I recall even liking were Whitney and Pryce because the rest seemed incredibly generic and devoid of a personality, wheras Whitney had some funny quirks and Pryce had a good backstory. I'm... drawing a blank with Hoenn right now, actually. I'll have to rewatch AG to get a clear idea on how their Gym Leaders were. Thankfully that will be convenient and feasible soon.

And for Unova... well, only the Striaton brothers have had an amazing portrayal that's on par with the DP Gym Leaders. I was okay with Lenora, Elesa, and Clay, but they didn't get much opportunity to stand out beyond a little backstory or the odd quirk here and there. The Chili episode helped give Cilan's brothers the development they deserved having, and on the whole Cilan/Chili/Cress are way more interesting and fleshed out than any other Unova Gym Leader so far.

Again, like I said. Hard to pick just one.

 

[Headless Whoreman]

Byron, because he fucking loves defense.

 

[icygrass]

Volkner to me, i really enjoyed the episodes he was in, and his gym battle with ash was also epic.

 

[WatcherMark]

Sumomo/Maylene is mine. Her whole story arc, from being unsure of herself and doubting her battling abilities to becoming an awesome leader who held Satoshi to a draw and helped fight off Team Galactic made for an excellent mini-arc and made her one of the most realistic and believable Gym leaders the show has ever seen.