Gym Leader Rankings: Kanto

Okay guys, I'm looking at both the anime and games for this list. Remember it's all an opinion. Leave your own thoughts below. Know that there isn't a gym leader I don't like. I just like some more than others.

#10

Honestly, the only reasons Janine is here is because 1. We know next to nothing about her other than the fact she took over for Koga when he went to the elite 4 and is his daughter. That's cool but I want to know more. 2. I just really hate poison pokemon. I'm sorry. It's unfair but true.

#9

Erika is too much of a girly stereotype in both the games and the anime. Don't get me wrong. Being girly is fine, but I feel like it didn't really fit a gym leader. However, her backstory with gloom was surprisingly touching, though I'd like to know how its stench frightened off a grimer. Oh whatever. XP If anyone could pull off the girly gym leader thing, it's her.

#8

Okay. Lt. Surge's a pretty sweet guy and his raichu is electrifying! Shoot, his story about the pokemon war is so famous it's started its own theories. But, he was such a jerk to Ash and even meaner in the manga. Also, I'm not going to use manga in every example because I've only been able to read 2 of the original manga. Sad isn't it. :c My store stopped selling them for the BW manga. Anyways, what saves him from being worse is that he was a good sport when Ash beat him and was genuinely happy for the kid. That was cool too.

#7

Boss of Team Rocket and the first final gym leader. As a kid, the revelation of the most evil person you met being your Kanto gym leader. As cool as it was, it was an easy fight if you had a water type, something you likely used last gym and used to surf.

#6

Another leader with an interesting story. She was the hardest gym leader to fight. Her pokemon kept using recover and psychic was op in gen 1. The ghosts had a glitch where they couldn't hurt them with lick, the only ghost move that wasn't fixed damage at the time. (At least my blue version did that.) Bug moves were pathetic too. Sure, now a days she's not that hard and I have memorized the puzzle of her gym. But at the time she was a really good challenge. Also, I can't be the only one she mentally scarred in the anime. X'D Those Brock and Misty dolls though.... o.o

#5

Okay I realize the gif is Gary but cut me some slack, please. Anyways, it was cool to see your old rival once more in gen 2 and the remakes. Even better was that he was now a gym leader. We may have crushed his dreams of being champion in the last games, but he moved on and became the best of the gym leaders of Kanto in pure strength and team diversity. He was definitely one of the hardest gym leaders and made up for the disappointment from Giovanni.

#4

Respect! That is what I think of when I look at Koga. I realize he was creepy in the manga, but it was an interesting type of creepy and evil. It's thanks to him we saw an arbok ripped in half (even if it was an illusion. X'3) But in the games and anime, he was an honorable ninja with lightning quick pokemon. He rose to the elite 4, the only gym leader to do so (I think? Kindly tell me if I'm mistaken. Maybe one did in gen 5?) Thanks to this he's a noteworthy ninja and poison master indeed.

#3

If you know me, you know I freaking love Misty! The thing is, I relate closest to her than any of the other characters in the anime. I am also the youngest in my family. Even my cousins are older. I was stuck with hand me downs and was too poor to get much of my own. When she yelled at Ash, I wanted to do it too. Most of the time she had a reason. But despite her tom boyish nature, which I also share, she had a very loving side. We saw she genuinely did care for her friends and for pokemon. Usually she just was trying to hide it and act grown up. I share her love of water and fear of bugs. But still, I like the other 2 more (though honestly the order of these 3 are interchangeable.)

#2

Blaine, the master of riddles is my number two, though I'm sure he'd beat #1 had he had more appearances. Surprised? Yeah, me too. I found him to be interesting with his use of riddles. He was also quite funny but serious too. He lost his gym to Team Rocket but ended up moving it somewhere else. Before that, it had been in a volcano. How cool is that?! (Assuming the anime and Yellow were that sinked to each other.) Oh and guys, let's not forget his amazing magmar. Now, magmar is one of my least favorite fire pokemon, but even I found his magmar to be pretty cool.

#1

Okay okay. So it was obvious when I included the anime. I'm sorry but most of us know and love this guy. There's a reason most of the fans like him. He has been shown to be a serious battler, but with a dream that was elsewhere. His dream was to be the best pokemon breeder, making him competitive before it was cool yo. B| He's also a big flirt and honestly, he's hilarious. There's a reason he made it through 4 gens guys.