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The Pokemon anime has always worked differently from the games, especially when it comes to battles. Now, this makes sense to some extent, as the anime treats Pocket Monsters as living, breathing creatures and not as pieces of code following commands. On the flip side, this has often led to inconsistent battles in the show, with results decided based on the writers' whims and not much else.
In this article, we will look at some of the battles in the Pokemon anime in which the losers perhaps should have deserved to win.
Top 10 Pokemon Anime battles where the loser didn't deserve to lose
10) Ash vs Tobias in the Sinnoh League semi-final
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Let's get this one out of the way first. Yes, Tobias was clearly introduced as a means to eliminate Ash from the Sinnoh League. And, yes, the fact that he had a Darkrai and a Latios only exacerbated the sheer levels of unfairness at play in his battle with Ash.
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At this point in the Pokemon anime, Legendaries were only used by a handful of skilled trainers, like Brandon of the Battle Factory. So, the fact that Tobias had even one almost guaranteed that he was defeating Ash in their battle.
So, why is this battle ranked at the bottom? It's because, despite knowing the sheer odds against him, Ash battled magnificently against Tobias. His Heracross used Sleep Talk to counter Darkrai's Dark Void, and his Sceptile was the first on-screen mon to bring it down. Even Pikachu tied with Latios. Was it unfair to Ash? Yes. Did it showcase his skills as a trainer up until that point? Also, yes.
Also read: 3 ways Liko is a better Pokemon anime protagonist than Ash (and 2 ways that she's worse)
9) Frontier Brain Greta losing to Ash's Snorlax
This fight, taking place during Ash's Battle Frontier Challenge, is one of the more infamous ones. Against a Fighting-type expert like Greta, Ash chooses to use Grovyle...and Snorlax (keep in mind he has Swellow in his party). Grovyle goes down quickly to Greta's first Pokemon Hariyama. And now Ash has to rely on Snorlax to win the battle.
In this fight, Snorlax takes multiple super effective STAB Focus Punches, which at the time was the strongest Fighting-type move in the game. Which should have knocked out Snorlax in the first few times it got hit, as it's a Normal-type. Additionally, Snorlax uses six moves in this battle, which even for the Pokemon anime is inaccurate.
8) Pikachu uses an Electric move to defeat Hapu's Mudsdale
Ash's fight against Hapu isn't the first time this has happened in the Pokemon anime. Against both Brock's Onix and Pryce's Piloswine, Ash used external means to get the Pokemon wet and hit them with an Electric move. However, the incident against Mudsdale is the most recent, when the anime should have respected type matchups a lot better, as opposed to how it worked in the original season.
An explanation is given, namely that getting splashed by seawater caused Mudsdale to turn into a Water-type Pokemon, similar to the move Soak. However, this doesn't work if you stop to think about it for a moment.
Firstly, Pikachu used Electroweb before this information was revealed. Secondly, this took place in Alola, a region made up of islands. By that logic, Pokemon living near the beach, like Sandygast and Crabrawler, should turn into Water-types all the time.
7) Barry losing 3-0 to Paul in the Sinnoh League
Yes, sometimes forced losses are applied to trainers not named Ash as well. Paul clearly had become a favorite character for the Pokemon anime writers at some point. And this was obvious nowhere else than in his fight against Barry.
The fight starts with Barry's Skarmory getting knocked out by a single Flamethrower from Paul's Magmortar, which makes sense. However, Magmortar then tanks a Hydro Cannon from Barry's Empoleon, which is the strongest Water-type move in the game and lives. This continues with Paul's Ursaring taking a Close Combat and High Jump Kick from Barry's Hitmonlee and still knocking it out.
The fact that Paul won 3-0 is an example of the writers of the Pokemon anime hyping him up. That is the only explanation as to why Barry's Pokemon can get one-shot because of type disadvantage, but for Paul's team, it won't matter.
6) The Gym Battle against Elesa
This one is bizarre. Most fans are aware of the infamous reputation of this Gym Battle for multiple reasons, all of which stem from Ash being an idiot. Only bringing Palpitoad to the Gym, forgetting that his Snivy is a girl and that Emolga is part Flying — all of these can be traced back to Ash acting completely clueless.
It's almost as if the Pokemon anime was trying to show that they are not the same as the games. Using Palpitoad to sweep Elesa is a valid strategy (speaking from experience) in the games. But even then, players don't just go into Gyms with one Pokemon, even if it is a valid counter. It says more about Elesa's competence as a Gym Leader that she couldn't beat Ash in this battle.
5) Goh getting Tokens from the Articuno Raid
This Raid Battle is on the list for the fact that the heroes should not have received the points from this mission. The battle itself does have some questionable moments. For instance, Articuno knocks out creatures that resist Ice like Tyranitar and Darmanitan with a single Blizzard from full health. But Legendaries have been able to do that in the Pokemon anime forever, so that's not important.
No, the main reason it's on the list is that this mission was one to test the candidate's ability to cooperate with others. And while Horace did act as decent support, both Gary and Goh were constantly bickering throughout the Raid. Gary is shown to have been correct by the Pokemon anime writers, considering he earns an extra token for leadership, but he just starts bossing them without a plan.
But Goh is much worse. Acting against the group's interests just because he's mad at Gary, not listening to sound advice in battle, and trying to repeat techniques already used on Articuno. The worst part is at the end when he asks if teamwork is really important, and he is greeted with silence.
4) Ash losing to Cameron
If Ash losing to Tobias still showed respect to his growth as a trainer, his loss to Cameron showed the exact opposite. While Cameron also started with a powerful Pokemon in Hydreigon, who took down two of Ash's Pokemon, he also made several questionable choices. He sent out a Ferrothorn (a Grass/Steel type) against Ash's Pignite and a Swanna (a Water/Flying type) against Pikachu.
He proceeded to lose both those matchups and was whittled down to his fifth and final Pokemon, Riolu. Yes, in a 6v6 battle, Cameron only brought 5 Pokemon. And somehow his Riolu not only beats three of Ash's Pokemon but also evolves along the way. There was no denying that the Pokemon anime writers did not care enough about Ash's reputation in this one.
3) Leon casually defeating Alain
Another battle not starring Ash. And this one comes down to the fact that Alain's battle was a rushed 3v3, in which Alain's Mega Charizard X is taken out by Leon's regular Charizard. This isn't helped by the fact that Alain debuts two new Pokemon on his behalf, who are dispatched fairly easily.
While Leon probably would've won even a long and drawn-out fight, what makes this worse is that Alain was the secondary protagonist of the XY saga of the Pokemon anime. For him to be casually dismissed in favor of hyping up Leon probably did him a disservice.
2) Ash defeating Trip in the Unova League
Trip was built up as Ash's main rival in Unova. From the beginning of the series where his Snivy defeated Pikachu (another moment that was infamous for fans), he was built up as someone who fans wanted Ash to beat. However, throughout the series, he kept getting beaten regularly. Not by Ash, but by Cilan, Bianca, and Alder.
With each of those defeats, it became more apparent that the Pokemon anime writers had shifted away from Trip as Ash's main Unova rival. This was confirmed by their battle in the Unova League, where Pikachu and Serperior fought in a 1v1 in a mirror of their first battle.
However, the ultimate reason this makes the list is that for most of the battle, Pikachu was losing. Serperior dodged everything and hit Pikachu multiple times to the point of exhaustion. However, Pikachu combined an Electro Ball and Iron Tail to hit Serperior once...and that does the trick somehow. It was a poor way to write Trip off the show.
1) Ash's Rowlet defeating Hau's Decidueye
This is one of the most infamous battles in Pokemon anime history. While unevolved Pokemon doing better than their evolved counter parts has been a thing since the start of the Pokemon anime, this was the most shoddily handled execution of the concept yet.
The first mark against this battle is that Ash's Rowlet is wearing a cloak which lets him survive Decidueye's Z-Move. But the biggest one is when Rowlet who has taken more damage at this point use Brave Bird, which clashes with Decidueye's Sky Attack, leading to an explosion. This leads to Rowlet lying on its face, Decidueye standing, and the match being called in Hau's favor.
Except Hala, the Kahuna of Melemele Island and Hau's grandfather, overturns the ruling by saying that Rowlet...was actually asleep. At this point, it was just a formality that Ash would win this battle, even though he definitely should have lost.
