Pokemon battles in the anime are usually action-packed and suspenseful to the very end. They’re absolute spectacles that end up as benchmarks, both in terms of plot progression and as moments that most fans have a hard time forgetting.
Of course, with the good comes the bad, and with the close battles come the lopsided ones. Sometimes, your opponent is just miles ahead of you, and you don’t know how to handle it. As a result, not every battle is a nail-biter, and these nine in the anime prove to be the opposite of that.
9 Tobias vs. Ash
While the subsequent entries are way more one-sided than this one, Ash’s match against Tobias in the Lily of the Valley Conference semifinals is unquestionably the most popular instance of a one-sided battle. It’s hard to expect an outcome that isn’t completely in favor of the Trainer who owned at least two overpowered Legendaries.
Of course, Ash was the only Trainer to put up a fight against Tobias, defeating the Darkrai that had wiped the rest of the League prior, before having Pikachu draw with his Latios. Still, it took Ash’s whole team to defeat a measly two out of Tobias’s six, so it was a one-sided battle all the same.
8 Paul vs. Ash (Lake Acuity)
Ash and Paul’s rivalry hit a fork in the road when they battled each other at Lake Acuity. Ash had a point to prove: that Paul’s training style was too harsh and not the right way to train.
Paul was having none of it, and he battled as such, totally outplaying Ash with the perfect balance of thoughtful strategy and unrelenting force. Ash wasn’t prepared for Paul’s constant switching and counter-puncher style; not even a jolt of momentum from Ash’s Chimchar evolving into Monferno was enough. The battle ended with Paul having four of his Pokemon still able to battle, and all of Ash’s sustaining injuries and needing extensive healing at the Pokemon Center.
7 A.J. vs. Ash
A.J. was an interesting filler character in an episode of the Original Series. While Ash at that point had two Kanto Gym Badges, A.J. was on an unlicensed battling record of 98-0, hoping to get 100 wins before registering to the Pokemon League.
Ash would play gatekeeper and dismiss A.J.‘s record due to it not being officially recognized, which resulted in a battle. A.J. proved his unofficial status as moot, easily beating Ash’s Pidgeotto and Butterfree with just a Sandshrew. Ash accused A.J. of cheating, but he was clearly just not expecting such a strong Pokemon from an unlicensed Trainer. As a cherry on top, this battle showcases Ash’s troubles with type matchups; his two Flying-types lost to a Ground-type.
6 Solidad vs. May
Contest battles in the anime are usually decently close, with this being the only one on this list. It took place in the Kanto Grand Festival, with May facing Solidad, a Coordinator simply leaps and bounds ahead of her.
It’s similar to and arguably even worse than Ash’s situation with Tobias, from a writing perspective. Not much was known about Solidad prior to the Festival, other than the fact that she knew a lot about May’s rival, Drew. Then, all of a sudden, she’s completely wiping May off the stadium floor, and in the same episode right after she beat Drew. Not only was the battle completely one-sided, but it was a completely rushed way to finish that arc of the anime.
5 Brandon vs. Paul
You can almost commend Paul for requesting a battle against someone much better at battling than him. It’s not like he did it out of overconfidence, either; he just wanted to test his strength against one of the best Pokemon Trainers in the world. It was also prompted by the battle Brandon had with his brother Reggie sitting in the back of his mind.
Alas, Brandon proves his status as a Frontier Brain by wiping the floor in a six-on-six bout. Paul managed to get a few solid hits in there, but he let his emotions get the best of him after Brandon relentlessly taunted him with his brother’s defeat. A 6-0 sweep is a 6-0 sweep.
4 Cynthia vs. Paul
Another case of Paul challenging a world-renowned Pokemon Trainer, and this one was just appalling. Paul couldn’t let Cynthia, the Sinnoh Champion that struck fear into literally everyone else, mind her own business without a full six-on-six battle. As expected, it went…poorly.
The battle didn’t even go the whole way, with Cynthia’s Garchomp completely wrecking four of Paul’s Pokemon singlehandedly. His Torterra got a Giga Drain in there, but it was the one hit that prevented the battle from being a defenseless massacre. As the icing on the cake, the crowd that watched the battle made fun of Paul as he forfeited the match. This was the first real chink in Paul’s armor, showing he still had a lot to learn.
3 Ash vs. Cassandra
The Trainer’s name might not ring a bell, but Cassandra owned the infamous Paras that couldn’t stand up to a poke to the face without fainting. It was never meant to battle, and was only doing so to evolve into a Parasect, helping Cassandra come up with a new potion. This was proven with its battle against two of Ash’s Pokemon.
Both Pikachu and Squirtle went easy on the poor thing, but even a “teeny static bolt” from Pikachu and a weakened Water Gun from Squirtle were too much for it to handle. It wasn’t until Ash sent out his disobedient Charmeleon, who had no intentions of going easy on it, that it got serious and put up an OK fight.
2 Ash vs. Casey
Ash’s decision-making during this battle was…startling, to say the least. It’s not like he strategized poorly or anything, but bringing out your most powerful Pokemon against a beginner Trainer is actually kind of pathetic.
That’s exactly what Ash did against baseball superfan Casey, and it was just too easy for him. After the two got into an argument, they agreed to settle it with a battle, but Ash’s overqualified Charizard beat Casey’s Pidgey, Rattata, and Chikorita with little effort. This was the right time for Ash to pick on someone his own size by giving one of his weaker Pokemon some experience, but he went out of his way to embarrass Casey and take a stab at her pride.
1 Brock vs. Ash
This was Ash’s first Gym battle, and even though no one would’ve expected him to get the hang of things fresh out of Pallet Town, it was an absolute nightmare for the new Trainer. It didn’t help that Pikachu was an Electric-type facing off a Ground-type — Brock’s Onix.
Still, you couldn’t help but feel sorry for Pikachu as it didn’t even want to battle. It eventually found itself stuck in Onix’s Bind, and Ash forfeited just minutes into his first-ever Gym battle, not wanting Pikachu to get too hurt. While it could certainly be seen as cowardice, it was that kindness that eventually got Brock to join Ash on his travels after their…interesting rematch.
NEXT: 9 Pokemon Masters Sync Pairs That Make No Sense
