Worst Loss In The Pokemon Anime?

[Ghost Diplocaulus]

I can see maybe the referees deciding to let it go since they didn't want to disqualify Ash when he kept going but yeah, it's a bit weird. I guess I didn't notice because the show and games are often pretty vague on the rules of battles, considering things like Blaine trying to kill his opponent twice in a row and I reall him saying Ash would be the one punished if he succeeded.

I actually tried a quick google search to find out if real like sporting events have rules for what happens if one person forfeits but couldn't find anything.

To be fair, the Blaine moment can be chalked up to early installment weirdness, since life endangerment (be it to the Pokemon or trainers themselves) is almost entirely absent from any battles that don't explicitly involve villains, and there's every indication that battles are meant to be friendly competitions, which would logically imply that life endangerment would result in at least an infraction. The only other time a Pokemon nearly died in a post-OS battle was Pikachu against that COTD's Raichu in DPP, and that was an unofficial battle, so we have no way of knowing what would have happened if it had occured in some sort of stadium.

 

[Lucifer Angel]

Ash vs Cameron will always be one of the worse losses in the series. But another one to consider would be during Ash's match against Hau even though he won the match and all. I'd say just by chance he had lost that'd have been a bad way to go losing because Rowlet fell asleep.

 

[Rainbow-Rain]

I'm going to say that Alain vs Ash was the most infuriating because of how they tried to hype it up so much


I thought Cameron's Lucario solo'ing Ash's Unova team was just hilarious tbh lmao

 

[marshiyanmisuta]

Satoshi vs Hau in Alola League, mostly due to how absurd it was.

 

[BNSF1995]

Ash vs Tobias

The latter was created as an excuse to get to Black & White sooner, and they did so by giving him OP Legendary Pokemon, which you'd think would be against league regulations.

 

[ManUtd22]

Against Cameron for sure

 

[Handy Man]

I just started watching Sun & Moon for the first time the other day. I hated how Hala used Belly Drum and the Fighting Z-Move against Pikachu, only for Pikachu to somehow survive and then win with an unboosted, non-STAB Normal Z-Move. Any Pikachu would’ve been OHKO’d, and seeing Pikachu survive that was impossible to believe. That has to be Hala’s worst loss by far, especially since they could’ve showed Pikachu fainting and then Rowlet could’ve defeated Hariyana afterwards.

 

[Weddingbells]

I just started watching Sun & Moon for the first time the other day. I hated how Hala used Belly Drum and the Fighting Z-Move against Pikachu, only for Pikachu to somehow survive and then win with an unboosted, non-STAB Normal Z-Move. Any Pikachu would’ve been OHKO’d, and seeing Pikachu survive that was impossible to believe. That has to be Hala’s worst loss by far, especially since they could’ve showed Pikachu fainting and then Rowlet could’ve defeated Hariyana afterwards.

Any Pikachu sure ,but that's ash Pikachu. I swear if Pikachu lost, you would of seen people complaining saying they depowered him. Pikachu definitely should of won

 

[Beatsy Ray]

Any Pikachu sure ,but that's ash Pikachu. I swear if Pikachu lost, you would of seen people complaining saying they depowered him. Pikachu definitely should of won

They could have written a more convincing victory though. The trope of Ash's Pokemon tanking infinite damage and then making a miraculous comeback has become disgustingly overused in recent years, other notable examples being Ash vs Hau and nearly every Lucario battle.

 

[Weddingbells]

They could have written a more convincing victory though. The trope of Ash's Pokemon tanking infinite damage and then making a miraculous comeback has become disgustingly overused in recent years, other notable examples being Ash vs Hau and nearly every Lucario battle.

Definitely. But it also depends on the pokemon as well. Someone like Greninja or Charizard I can suspend my disbelief a bit. Someone like dracovish who had no training tanking hits is bull

 

[Imtnt]

In any given competition, there's always gonna be a winner and a loser. Sometimes you might see scenarios where both parties end up in a draw, but in most cases, you'll have a winner and a loser. This topic is dedicated to those losses in the Pokemon anime. Not just any loss though. Its losses that truly frustrated you whether it felt wrong, forced, or just all around terrible to begin with. This doesn't just apply to Ash though. This is for all of his friends who have thrown themselves into any kind of competition. So what do you think? Which loss in the Pokemon anime bothered you the most?

Most frustrating - Trip's first match.. won with snivy lvl 5.. and he became the worst rival from nowhere. Made me mad.

 

[Ghost Diplocaulus]

I just started watching Sun & Moon for the first time the other day. I hated how Hala used Belly Drum and the Fighting Z-Move against Pikachu, only for Pikachu to somehow survive and then win with an unboosted, non-STAB Normal Z-Move. Any Pikachu would’ve been OHKO’d, and seeing Pikachu survive that was impossible to believe. That has to be Hala’s worst loss by far, especially since they could’ve showed Pikachu fainting and then Rowlet could’ve defeated Hariyana afterwards.

I think it that case the reason Pikachu survived Hariyama's attack is because if you look closely you'll see that he actually managed to dodge most of it . That being said, it's pretty telling how Z-Moves tended to be a big double-edged sword in that Ash had some pretty noticeable Plot Armor when it came to using them and facing them: if Ash uses a Z-Move, he's almost guaranteed to win, but if his opponent uses a Z-Move against Ash, it'll almost always fail somehow.

 

[Handy Man]

I think it that case the reason Pikachu survived Hariyama's attack is because if you look closely you'll see that he actually managed to dodge most of it . That being said, it's pretty telling how Z-Moves tended to be a big double-edged sword in that Ash had some pretty noticeable Plot Armor when it came to using them and facing them: if Ash uses a Z-Move, he's almost guaranteed to win, but if his opponent uses a Z-Move against Ash, it'll almost always fail somehow.

Interesting. I guess it’s something to keep a note on as I watch Sun & Moon, I’m up to episode 12 right now. Although, as someone who used to play Pokémon Showdown a lot, getting hit by a 6+ attack leaves a serious dent in any Pokémon no matter what, and my suspension of disbelief got completely removed by that. A 6+ All-Out Pummeling will leave all Pokémon at low red HP from full health at worst, and it’s just hard to ignore that, even considering that anime battles are rarely like game battles.

 

[AgedVeteranofShow]

Ash vs Alain or Ash vs Cameron, toss up.

 

[Area54]

Ash, Pikachu and Trio

 

[c la fet]

Iris vs Clair
Poor Dragonite always gets humiliated

 

[R.O.B.]

Barry vs Paul, Barry did nothing particularly wrong yet he couldn't take out a single Pokemon because Paul's team suddenly had basically invincibility power-ups.

 

[Dr. Gro 3001]

I wouldn't call it a loss, but I was never a fan of Ash and Elesa's Gym Battle. Palpitoad vs. Zebstrika, no problems. Type advantage and all that allowed Palpitoad to win. Then Emolga comes out and shuts down Palpitoad. So, Ash decides to leave the gym to switch out Pokemon for Snivy. He does get the ok, but come on. Could he not have had a backup plan if Palpitoad lost? Snivy and Emolga cancel out each other's Attracts, and Emolga wins with the type advantage. Ash freaks out because he has no other ideas on who to use. Pikachu shocks him and Ash decides to use Pikachu. Pikachu easily defeats Emolga and with a bit of trouble manages to beat Tynamo.

I despise this battle because Ash didn't have some backup plan if Palpitoad lost and had to run off to switch Pokemon, mid battle. That should be grounds for a forfeit, but they just let him do it anyway. Also, the Attract strategy was really getting tired by this point. While it does work out pretty well when fighting a Pokemon of the opposite gender, I was never a fan of how it just completely shut down an opponent. At least the contest battle between Dawn and Lila allowed some of Ambipom's attacks to land while infatuated. Ash banking on it to work against Emolga only to fail shows that he really should tried other strategies than just spamming Attract all the time and then letting Snivy wail on restrained opponent.

 

[Dr. Gro 3001]

A pretty poor loss that came to mind was regarding a singular Pokemon: Wulfric's Avalugg. In the first match that Ash had with Wulfric, Avalugg tanked attack after attack and beat Hawlucha, Talonflame, and Ash-Greninja with some healing from Ice Body. Come the rematch, Avalugg defeats Pikachu without much damage and loses to Talonflame after 2 Flame Charges and a Steel Wing. I think they did a poor job showcasing how powerful this Avalugg is/was. Either don't let it take so many attacks from the first battle or show much stamina it is supposed to have in the second battle.