Top Ten Best Sub-Plots from the Pokemon Anime
Fueled huge character development for both characters and allowed both of then to come out of it as better men as a result overall.
Paul is by far the greatest rival in Pokemon History. His tactics, his character, every last single thing about him pushed Ash over the edge. This all culminated in their epic final battle at the sinnoh league, Wlwhich, in my opinion, was the greatest pokemon battle in the anime ever, tied only with Ash and Alain's epic final battle at the kalos league.
Technically a part of Ash and Paul's rivaly, and a very big part of it at that, but Ash's Infernape still manages to shine even as an individual character.
The mega evolution special was amazing. And the Team Flare Arc was even better.
In the beginning, Charizard was an an extremely adorable and extremely loyal Charmander. When he evolved, however, he became very power hungry and disobedient. His massive lust for power was most likely caused by his abusive former trainer, Damian, who constantly called him weak. In the end Ash wins back Charizard's Trust. To this very day, Charizard is, in my opinion, Ash's second best pokemon behind only Greninja.
I personally believe that Greninja is Ash's best Pokemon even without this transformation.
Nevertheless, the transformation was an amazing subplot and definitely gave Greninja huge loads of character development rivaling even that of Ash's Infernaoe and Ash's Charizard. In the beginning, the power of the transformation is very unstable and inconsistent. Sometimes Greninja is extrenely strong but still not strong enough to beat Alain's Charizard or Wulfric's Avalugg. Other times he is even stronger than Alain's Charizard and Diantha's Gardevoir but at the same time also causes Ash to pass out. Once the transformation is finally mastered, Greninja maintains a rather impressive winning streak until he is just barely brought down by Alain's Charizard in the Kalos League Finals.
My favorite shipping. Dawn proved to be Ash's equal, excelling in contests just as much as Ash does in battles. Ash adopts many of her techniques and even perfects them. By far the biggest and greatest example would definitely be the counter shield, which Paul adopts from Ash. By far the most shippable couple.
Not an actual subplot. Maybe you should look up the definition.
My second favorite shipping tied with both Ash's Pikachu and Dawn's Buneary and Ash's Pikachu and Sophocles's Togedemaru. However, this one has much more development so far, so I am listing it above them.
By far best contest rivalry ever culminating in the Grand Festival Finals which was by far the best contest battle ever. Ash even takes a page out of Zoey's book in the first round of the tag battle tournament with Paul, and with tremendously successful results.
Best evil team in the anime, until Team Flare came around.
I hate its fanbase with a burning passion. Even more so than the Amourshipping fanbase. The Hell that they put people through during the BW Era was brutal and unforgivable. It will probably be a very long time, if ever, before I can even come close to forgiving them. Even worse still, I am primarily a pearlshipper. And sadly, pearlshippers seem to get hit by both Pokeshippers and Amourshippers the hardest by far.
Neverthess, I love this pairing. Amazing character development on Misty's part, to go from being an unbearable character at times to one of the best ones. My third favorite shipping.
Although I haven't seen the anime because of several reasons, I think that this is nice. Lillie, great job!
Hands down some of the most adorable moments ever.
Move over, sonic the hedgehog! Sophocles's Togedemaru is an even more hyperactive hedgehog than you are! Every bitnas adorable as lagomorphshipping.
This was by far the greatest anime running gag of all time.