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World Championships in the anime

He could definitely make it in, as there are zero prerequisites. Ash chose to battle a higher-ranked trainer, but Go wouldn't have to do that.

I am not saying it should happen, but it would be no different than Dawn battling Maylene for Buizel's sake (if anything, it would have lower stakes, as the opponent could be a newbie). If Ash encouraged Go to participate in the Battle Frontier tournament, he would definitely want him to give a ranked battle a try. I think it's more likely that Go will participate in that new Vermilion gym that probably exists for a reason, even though it hasn't been mentioned in months.
The problem is, Raboot would probably require battles on a regular basis, which one or two ranked battles are not enough for. Nor has he expressed consistent interest in anything not named Mew.
 
Personally, I hope Gou doesn't compete in the World Championships. Since we learned in the last episode that past accomplishments/careers don't have any bearing on a trainer's ranking, I believe Gou would be able to enter. However, I don't really think that the World Championships is the best place to start for a totally beginning trainer, and also would prefer if it this were to just stay as Ash's goal.

I said it before the series even started, but with Ash participating in the World Championships, Gou would be perfect for gym battles. Even if he doesn't do a strict badge quest like Ash has done in the past, he could battle a couple of gym leaders in regions. That would be an interesting way of getting old gym leaders (as well as the new one from Galar) to appear without Ash having to battle them all over again (I can't imagine every single one is entered into the World Championships?) Plus, it would provide a bit more of a challenge for battle loving Raboot.
 
I think Go just needed to use Raboot more in fights to catch Pokemon.

Raboot seems to have some interest in fights, but he also likes participating in Go catches.

I mean, Raboot was the first to notice Spearrow on Episode 18 and he quickly started following it.
 
Yeah sure, let's totally forget that every battle Gou's been in has ended up him being quite incompetent and letting his Pokemon be one-shotted, never mind the fact that a newbie would get their ass handed to them in an elite competition like the World Championships even if it's open to all. He never even spends time with any of his Pokemon or trains them and unlike the Raid battle, Ash won't be there to carry him throughout this time. Where did people even come up with the concept of Gou participating in the PWC, never mind the redundancy of doing so?
And he can't become better as a trainer and work more with his Pokemon? He and Raboot came become stronger together which may lead him to want to enter the WC himself.

He can still fight trainers and catch Pokemon
 
And he can't become better as a trainer and work more with his Pokemon? He and Raboot came become stronger together which may lead him to want to enter the WC himself.

He can still fight trainers and catch Pokemon
Never said that he shouldn't be a better trainer, he just doesn't want to. If it weren't for Scrobunny throwing a tantrum and attacking him, and Ash's subsequent prodding, he wouldn't have given a damn about Scorbunny at all ("I tried so hard to bring out it's best" without doing anything at all, the words he spoke immediately after Scorbunny ran away). If he has to become a better trainer, it should be because he wants to willingly and not because someone else prompts him, otherwise that "bettering oneself" is hollow. And him participating long term in the PWC only comes off as redundant, he can always participate in some minor stuff like regional Leagues or small tournaments like the recent "Battle Frontier" cup. He shouldn't even be participating in the PWC if he's to learn the basics about battling, he'll be destroyed.
 
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Never said that he shouldn't be a better trainer, he just doesn't want to. If it weren't for Scrobunny throwing a tantrum and attacking him, and Ash's subsequent prodding, he wouldn't have given a damn about Scorbunny at all ("I tried so hard to bring out it's best" without doing anything at all, the words he spoke immediately after Scorbunny ran away). If he has to become a better trainer, it should be because he wants to willingly and not because someone else prompts him, otherwise that "bettering oneself" is hollow. And him participating long term in the PWC only comes off as redundant, he can always participate in some minor stuff like regional Leagues or small tournaments like the recent "Battle Frontier" cup. He shouldn't even be participating in the PWC if he's to learn the basics about battling, he'll be destroyed.
He can learn the basics of battling with Raboot before he faces his first PWC opponent. By then he could be good enough to win
 
The problem with all these theories is that Cynthia is just another trainer to the writers and they don’t consider her particularly superior to any other champion (that we know of).
Sorry for the late reply. Haven't seen that post until now.

Well, although I can't disagree with you (because in the end it's all speculation), I'm convinced there's enough evidence the writers preferred Cynthia to all the other champions.
First, of all champions so far she's had the most appearances (Plus her re-appearances show that she was and still is highly popular).
Second, she got more focus and public interest both in the Pokemon universe and probably also among us fans than any other champion (maybe only leon and Lance come close to that).
And third, even Alder acknowledged her in that exhibition match against Caitlin back in BW. So, yes, it's all speculation but at least it's based on evidence in my eyes.

Anyways, may I tell you what the real problem is? The games!
I usually don't like speculation threads (this one is an exception), because in the end, it's not what we fans think will happen, but it's the games that literally dictate everything!
If a new games has to be promoted, then, of course, the writers can't help but portray the current champion as the coolest person there is and feature him at all costs. So even if the writers' most favorite champion is Cynthia (which I tried to explain above based on my own experience), they still have no other choice than let Leon win the World Championships, because the whole world has to see how cool Galar, their trainers and ultimately, the new games are. And that's exactly why I hated that the World Championship Finals-episode so much.
I know that's pretty sobering but they won't give us the matches of our dreams anyways, so we shouldn't expect too much from that new element of the Anime...
 
If his starter Pokemon has an interest in battling he may eventually decide to battle more as a result. And what better opportunity for that then the World Championship.

I just don't see the point of it. I mean it's one thing to want Go to get better at battling so that he can start battling Pokemon before he captures them (even if it would ruin the whole point of the Pokemon GO angle that the writers are obviously going for), and a completely different thing to want him to get involved in Ash's new goal. Like what's even the point of that? In the past each character in the cast had a different goal from Ash for a reason; to avoid them potentially overshadowing Ash at his own game.
 
I just don't see the point of it. I mean it's one thing to want Go to get better at battling so that he can start battling Pokemon before he captures them (even if it would ruin the whole point of the Pokemon GO angle that the writers are obviously going for), and a completely different thing to want him to get involved in Ash's new goal. Like what's even the point of that? In the past each character in the cast had a different goal from Ash for a reason; to avoid them potentially overshadowing Ash at his own game.
Don't see the problem. Remember back in Alola when all of the classmates participated in the League?
 
Yeah, but that was a big contributing factor to it feeling like they just handed Ash an easy league to win instead of him finally improving enough.
I disagree that it was an easy league win but that's besides the point. The fact that the companions entered the league showed that they had no issues with them being involved in Ash's goal. If it happened once it can happen again with Go
 
I disagree that it was an easy league win but that's besides the point. The fact that the companions entered the league showed that they had no issues with them being involved in Ash's goal. If it happened once it can happen again with Go
Except your suggestion is that Gou continues to participate in the PWC instead of it being a one time thing. Unlike the Alola League, the PWC is high stakes and a rookie like Gou has no business being there even if it's open to all. Someone like Gou should start out small.
 
Except your suggestion is that Gou continues to participate in the PWC instead of it being a one time thing. Unlike the Alola League, the PWC is high stakes and a rookie like Gou has no business being there even if it's open to all. Someone like Gou should start out small.
He is starting out small though. He would have to work his way up from the bottom of Normal rank. He can improve along the way the more trainers he defeats
 
He is starting out small though. He would have to work his way up from the bottom of Normal rank. He can improve along the way the more trainers he defeats
I need clarification before I can respond; do you just mean Gou having some ranked battles or are you talking about him reaching the Master class and participating in the eight trainer elimination tournament?
 
I need clarification before I can respond; do you just mean Gou having some ranked battles or are you talking about him reaching the Master class and participating in the eight trainer elimination tournament?
Either or. I could see him reaching Master Class or getting knocked off in either Super or Hyper Rank
 
Either or. I could see him reaching Master Class or getting knocked off in either Super or Hyper Rank
Gou having some ranked battles is one thing, but I simply do not see him making it to Master's for two reasons.

First, he should realistically stand zero chance. He's a rookie and one focused mostly on filling his dex and finding Mew. Getting into Master class should mean taking on trainers close to Elite Four tier--even AG Ash struggled against the Frontier Brains, and AG Ash had far more battle experience than Gou has time to get.
Now, the show is willing to bend realism but there's a limit; they jumped through some hoops to get Ash's classmates and TR into a League (no entry requirement, and the qualifed is a Battle Royale).
However, there's also a narrative reason Gou won't get into Masters.

The show and advertising around it has been putting pretty heavy focus on the two having separate niches--Gou captures lots of Pokémon, Ash is a powerful battler. Gou having enough ranked battles he gets into Masters class would be intruding too much on Ash's arc.
 
Either or. I could see him reaching Master Class or getting knocked off in either Super or Hyper Rank

Mind you, the PWC involves beating down tons of experienced trainers to get anywhere near Super/Hyper Rank. Gou getting that high would imply he's at least in the Top 1000 trainers that competed. Given his current skill level, current drive to even battle, and the type of trainers that would compete in the PWC, it would be pretty unrealistic. He has no business getting that far.
 
Please note: The thread is from 4 years ago.
Please take the age of this thread into consideration in writing your reply. Depending on what exactly you wanted to say, you may want to consider if it would be better to post a new thread instead.
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