Thread: Which one of ash's rivals was the best and why?

Hello everyone i'm here to know which rival you liked or gave ash a good battle. lol if i'm not mistaken their are 3 of them. gary,paul, and trip. out of the three i'm going with paul because he gave ash a battle, plus he was the strongest out of the rivals ash faced.

Gary, unfortunately, lacked screen-time and personality compared to the other two. Paul was definitely the best rival as he was truly Ash's polar opposite and really helped Ash push himself. I really like Trip but I always felt that his is a story that goes alongside Ash's. He receives a lot of character development but only so much as a result of Ash. In the end he was still a better rival than Gary but lacked the intensity that Paul had.

Gary. he was the original rivals wth ash since they were kids no one can compete with that, hes a really good trainer who made Ash push on to get better becasue he was desprate to beat Gary for the first time also he dosent have any persoanllity problems like Paul, he is just a nice normal guy who is cool and strong without trying hard unlike Trip.

IKR

Shinji was the best rival. His teams were awesome, he had a lot of character development and I like his 'design'.

Shigeru (Gary) was by far the worse imo. @Edit: Oh noes, he wasn't the worst.
I almost forgot about that Riolu boy from Best Wishes. He basically killed every episode he made an appearance, to me.

Moved to anime section.

Paul, for being Ash's opposite.

I also have a soft spot for Barry and Bel (even if the dub effed them up)

I think Ash's best rivals were both Gary and Paul. Gary was Ash's original rival and he's been in competition with him ever since he was a kid. He was so determined to get ahead of Gary though Gary always was one step ahead and he really knew how to get Ash all riled up and his cocky attitude was always kinda entertaining. Though he lacked screen time compared to Paul, he was still a great rival and after all the disrespect and cockyness, we wanted to see Ash beat him someday.

Paul was another good one because he was pretty much the polar opposite of Ash who Ash was determined to prove to him that bonding with Pokemon isn't a bad thing and that his training methods aren't weak. We constantly saw Ash lose to Paul and the 6 on 6 at Lake Verity really made Ash question his abilities as a trainer, pushing him to better himself, eventually leading to a lot of character development for Ash and him finally beating Paul in the epic 3 part battle in the league.

I'd say Paul for now, the rivalry did a lot for Ash =]

BW would be Bel.

Paul & Gary !
I guess it because Ash was jealous of Gary !
And in Paul case , Ash was determinated to prove him wrong about Pokemon training.

Originally Posted by PrettyVenomoth

Gary. he was the original rivals wth ash since they were kids no one can compete with that, hes a really good trainer who made Ash push on to get better becasue he was desprate to beat Gary for the first time also he dosent have any persoanllity problems like Paul, he is just a nice normal guy who is cool and strong without trying hard unlike Trip.

"NICE"!? "No personality problems"!? Gary was a complete and utter jerk. He constantly bullied and berated Ash every change he got, and even insulted Ash through graffiting a signpost outside of one of the cities in the off-chance Ash would read it.
I take it you only saw the episodes after Kanto, which he had really mellowed down.

Originally Posted by Moogleknight24

Originally Posted by PrettyVenomoth

Gary. he was the original rivals wth ash since they were kids no one can compete with that, hes a really good trainer who made Ash push on to get better becasue he was desprate to beat Gary for the first time also he dosent have any persoanllity problems like Paul, he is just a nice normal guy who is cool and strong without trying hard unlike Trip.

"NICE"!? "No personality problems"!? Gary was a complete and utter jerk. He constantly bullied and berated Ash every change he got, and even insulted Ash through graffiting a signpost outside of one of the cities in the off-chance Ash would read it.
I take it you only saw the episodes after Kanto, which he had really mellowed down.

Yes its called a rivalry thats what happens he was a jerk to Ash to begin with because he felt superior to him as he had never beaten him before. He dident respect him much at that point but gradually gained respect as Ash improved, deep down he wanted Ash to do well and was just pushing him to do well if he wasent he wouldent of been happpy for Ash when he got better or stayed to watch Ashs next match after he had beaten him. A real jerk would of been a bitter loser and continued to belittle Ash but he dident. He is clearly a nice guy yes his pokemon all love him and are raised well he also helps other people out when they need it usually from team rocket, hes done this multiple times.
I take it you have some deep Gary issues for some reason

Originally Posted by PrettyVenomoth

Originally Posted by Moogleknight24

Originally Posted by PrettyVenomoth

Gary. he was the original rivals wth ash since they were kids no one can compete with that, hes a really good trainer who made Ash push on to get better becasue he was desprate to beat Gary for the first time also he dosent have any persoanllity problems like Paul, he is just a nice normal guy who is cool and strong without trying hard unlike Trip.

"NICE"!? "No personality problems"!? Gary was a complete and utter jerk. He constantly bullied and berated Ash every change he got, and even insulted Ash through graffiting a signpost outside of one of the cities in the off-chance Ash would read it.
I take it you only saw the episodes after Kanto, which he had really mellowed down.

Yes its called a rivalry thats what happens he was a jerk to Ash to begin with because he felt superior to him as he had never beaten him before. He dident respect him much at that point but gradually gained respect as Ash improved, deep down he wanted Ash to do well and was just pushing him to do well if he wasent he wouldent of been happpy for Ash when he got better or stayed to watch Ashs next match after he had beaten him. A real jerk would of been a bitter loser and continued to belittle Ash but he dident. He is clearly a nice guy yes his pokemon all love him and are raised well he also helps other people out when they need it usually from team rocket, hes done this multiple times.
I take it you have some deep Gary issues for some reason

I don't have "deep issues" I just saw him as a jerk because he acted as such. Nothing more.

Originally Posted by Moogleknight24

Originally Posted by PrettyVenomoth

Originally Posted by Moogleknight24

Originally Posted by PrettyVenomoth

Gary. he was the original rivals wth ash since they were kids no one can compete with that, hes a really good trainer who made Ash push on to get better becasue he was desprate to beat Gary for the first time also he dosent have any persoanllity problems like Paul, he is just a nice normal guy who is cool and strong without trying hard unlike Trip.

"NICE"!? "No personality problems"!? Gary was a complete and utter jerk. He constantly bullied and berated Ash every change he got, and even insulted Ash through graffiting a signpost outside of one of the cities in the off-chance Ash would read it.
I take it you only saw the episodes after Kanto, which he had really mellowed down.

Yes its called a rivalry thats what happens he was a jerk to Ash to begin with because he felt superior to him as he had never beaten him before. He dident respect him much at that point but gradually gained respect as Ash improved, deep down he wanted Ash to do well and was just pushing him to do well if he wasent he wouldent of been happpy for Ash when he got better or stayed to watch Ashs next match after he had beaten him. A real jerk would of been a bitter loser and continued to belittle Ash but he dident. He is clearly a nice guy yes his pokemon all love him and are raised well he also helps other people out when they need it usually from team rocket, hes done this multiple times.
I take it you have some deep Gary issues for some reason

I don't have "deep issues" I just saw him as a jerk because he acted as such. Nothing more.

yeap and i reasoned why he seemed to be "a jerk" in my comment , you told me i was wrong for saying his "nice" and has "no personallity issues" you picked out 2 isolated moments in he anime to back up your points thats nonsnese. I looked at the anime as a whole now if your gonna acuse me of being wrong fair enough atleast come in with an argument im open to any decent ones, still waiting. Sorry i said you have gary issues becasue you dident back up your "your wrong im right" opinon then acused me of not watching the kanto saga (seen every episode like 4 times) your comment suggests to me your the one with a handfull of episodes under your belt.

Still really dont know why you felt the need to quote me in that comment and suggest i havent seen the kanto episodes..

Paul. He had the best character arc and had a nice Pokemon team as well.