Gladion succeeds as a rival where Alain failed.

I know I just made my 300th post a little while ago, but I wanted to make this one while the proverbial iron was still relatively hot.

A while ago, during my post of "13 Things Wrong with the Character of Alain," I made this observation: "With the Sun and Moon anime potentially setting up appearances from Gladion and Lusamine via a photograph in the newest Japanese episode as of this writing; I think it could be an opportunity to do the things they could have done with Alain. Their relationship in the games has more than enough backstory to work with (still not spoiling any specifics, go play the games yourself and you'll know what I'm talking about), so I am wondering where it might go from there."

Well, it turns out that my wish was granted; and I didn't even need Jirachi or Shenron to do it: the most recent Japanese episode as of this writing has officially introduced Gladion to the anime as a potential rival to Ash. Even though there are some liberties taken with his character in the video games, I can say that I'm satisfied with his portrayal in his introductory episode.

I am not going to get into to too many spoilers about either version, but I will definitely take a few moments to address how Gladion succeeds as a rival where Alain failed.

First off, the character was set up in the 8th episode of the Sun and Moon anime; and it was also established that an incident led to Gladion running away from home six months prior to the events of the series.

Second, a more capable voice actor has been chosen to portray him: Nobuhiko Okamoto, a young seiyuu who has already been making a name for himself as a capable talent with a diverse array of roles. Ones that I particularly enjoy are Accelerator in A Certain Magical Index and its spinoff A Certain Scientific Railgun, Eiji "Crow" Nizuma in Bakuman, Yoichi Saotome in Seraph of the End; and Katsuki "Kacchan" Bakugo in My Hero Academia, among others. His character is given someone who fits the role given to him like a beat-up leather outfit and a snazzy pair of red sneakers.

Last, but not least by a long shot, is how the character was introduced in a fashion that leaves room to be fleshed-out more in the Sun and Moon series. While he may not be as conflicted as his video game counterpart (not spoiling anything, go play them yourself and you will know why), he has proven himself to be a capable Pokémon Trainer even at this early stage. While he doesn't appear to have the same affiliation with Team Skull or abrasive behavior as he does in the games, the way he interacts with Ash and Lillie may suggest that he's being set up as a more morally-gray rival; rectifying many of my problems with Alain from his first appearance alone. This is further compounded by the fact that the rest of the students of Pokémon Academy only make one appearance in the entire episode.

While other elements have yet to appear (such as Guzma, Plumeria, Type: Null, President Lusamine and the Aether Foundation, among others), I find this prospect fascinating. I will address the matter further in the near future; but I'm going to work on some other stuff for this blog I want to do before the end of the month. Depending on what happens with school, I may also be bumping some of it to June if I have to. My point is, any 10-year-old with a 3DS in their hands can pop a Meowth Balloon. It really impressed me when Gladion not only freed Ash's Pikachu and his own Midnight Lycanroc, shot out the tires of Team Rocket's getaway car, broke their axle and destroyed what was left with one of his Z-moves. He's already joined the list of my favorite rivals, and I may revise that list for 2017 later this year.

After I finish one more assignment for health, you should see my next few recaps: a double feature of the remaining Pokémon Advanced films, and an episode I've had on my radar for a long time. You will just have to wait and see what it is. That will be all for now. Enjoy the silence.