Ash and Haruka

[Cheens]

As Haruka is a beginning trainer how much of a showing are they going to give to her compared to ash. both are new to the league and even though ash and brock will be the ones giving her the advice the main character in the series is still ash. i cant see haruka taking a back seat since she will be as eager or even more so than ash to battle and win badges. How will the writers work the gym battles? Is each gym match going to be a case of haruka has her match then ash battles another of the leaders' pokemon?

[Hanada Tattsu]

*Spoiler Alert*

I don't Haruka will actually battle in the Houen League or in any of the gyms.

Even though Senri, who is her father, was the gym leader of the first gym in Touya City, I think Haruka's just going to be a Pokemont trainer and train her Pokemon, not aim to be a Pokemon Master like Satoshi.

*End Spoiler Alert*

[quilava flame]

While I don't think Hakura will take a back seat but unlike Ash she dosn't want to be a pokemon master but a gym leader which dosn't require nay badges.

[T M Pikachu]

YESSS! :jumping around: There is still a chance that Haruka and Masato could go bye bye. Masato reminds me of Misty's Togepi. Useless, annoying, and gets in the way. Only thing is Masato can talk and makes Ash feel horrifible.

Yes that means we won't have to be bored by Haruka's Pokemon battling skills. SHE SUCKS!!!! Sorry Haruka fans but I think she sucks. Ash did better than her at the beginning and Haruka grew up in a gym.

[Purasuru]

Originally posted by T M Pikachu
YESSS! :jumping around: There is still a chance that Haruka and Masato could go bye bye. Masato reminds me of Misty's Togepi. Useless, annoying, and gets in the way. Only thing is Masato can talk and makes Ash feel horrifible.

Yes that means we won't have to be bored by Haruka's Pokemon battling skills. SHE SUCKS!!!! Sorry Haruka fans but I think she sucks. Ash did better than her at the beginning and Haruka grew up in a gym.

Yeah but do you think she really gave a damn about Pokemon? My theory is that she was just some girl growing up who didn't really have an interest in Pokemon until she was ten. Then at ten, she wanted to explore the world and to do that she needed to get a Pokemon. Solution? Become a Pokemon trainer! So right now we know Haruka's really doing this so she can explore Hoenn. But now as she watches Ash, I believe she'll be able to learn more about Pokemon and actually want to be a Pokemon trainer.

Masato IMO, is a more interesting character than Misty. Here we have a kid who's smarter than Ash and brings up many different strategies (let's hope he brings up some from the game) that Ash himself cannot think of, and that alone makes Masato's teasing a lot more funnier than Misty's ever was. I hope Haruka and Masato stay, they're great characters and people are just not looking into them enough.

[Light_Togetic]

Actually, I find Masato's teasing really annoying, even when I've only read the episode summaries! He reminds me of when my little brother was younger...

As for Haruka, I still find it strange that she doen't know how to battle when she grew up in a gym (how could you not get curious about your dad battling when he does it every day?). Not to mention, there have been people on the show that grew up with pokemon as their friends (not for battling) that still knew how to handle their pokemon in a battle. So unless Haruka is so nervous about her inexperience with battling that she doesn't even know to tell her pokemon which attack to use, I don't think there's any excuse for her except for... she's dumb! But, that doesn't mean she'll never learn.;)

And I agree, I think, like every other main character on the show, she will end up taking a back seat to Ash. I don't see why she would challenge a gym leader; she has no drive. And like it was said before, she doesn't even want to be a Pokemon Master, so I still think the main focus will be on Ash. Besides, they show him more in the intro.:)

[Cheens]

so she is literally taking misty's role. its a shame though, even though we'd need to see two gym battles at each gym it would be good to see two equally motivated trainers travelling together, the competition would be good to see.

[pokemonm]

i would like they have to gym battle 2 difrent ways to beat a gym leader
sometimes when you have no intress in somthing you wouldnt want anything to do with it i think this is what hapend haruka

[BenRG]

I think it would be both interesting and instructive if we see one or two 'double battle' episodes, where both Ash and Haruka fight the Gym Leader for the badge. It would be interesting to compare the fighting style of an experienced Trainer like Ash to that of a total newbie like Haruka.

It would also let Ash show off, which you and I all know that he enjoys. ;)

It might also let us understand a little more about Haruka's situation. Does she really want to do this or is she being forced into being a Trainer by her father's expectations?