Gym leaders are the ultimate source of power for Pokemon trainers throughout their journey. They serve as a way to test a trainee's progress and as a challenge that can help push them past their limits. Both the anime and the game make it clear: gym leaders can be hard to beat.
Ash battles many Gym Leaders in various areas on his journey, with some battles being easier than others. Although all gym leaders must be strong enough to maintain their position and test well the trainers who challenge them, some are naturally more skilled than others. Here's a look at the strongest gym leaders in anime for each region.
Pokemon: The 7 Strongest Water-Type Trainers in the Anime
These talented Water-type trainers prove themselves to be some of the best the Pokemon anime has to offer.
Canto: Giovanni
The leader of Team Rocket and the former gym leader of Viridian City, Giovanni may seem like just a scheming mob boss, but he's actually a powerful trainer. He always has his Persian on hand, but it's not the strongest Pokemon Giovanni uses.
Giovanni has some heavy-hitters on his team like Machamp, Raiden and Golem. But his strongest Pokemon was Mewtwo, with whom he formed a temporary alliance and is sometimes used to great effect in gym battles. Even without Mewtwo, Giovanni was a clever, resourceful gym leader.
Joto: Claire
Claire is no pushover in the games, and the same is true for her anime counterpart. As Lance's uncle, Claire is adept at dragon-types, showing them a care that really helped her grow as a trainer and gym leader.
Claire is an aggressive trainer, using her powerful Dragon-type Pokémon to push her opponents and take advantage of their unique strengths. Although she isn't an Elite Four member like Lance, Claire is pretty close in terms of skill and would have challenged anyone.
Hoenn: Wallace
A former Hoenn champion and one of the leaders of the Sootopolis gym, Wallace is a skilled trainer who is one of the strongest in anime out there. A water-type specialist, Wallace has a small team of Pokémon, but they're enough to get the job done.
Rearrange the covers into the correct Japanese release order.
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Rearrange the covers into the correct Japanese release order.
Easy (5) Medium (7) Hard (10)
The biggest obstacle in Wallace's team is his ace Milotic. Although it is mostly known for its beauty, Milotic is a powerful water-type. Although Wallace lost his championship title to Steven, he is still considered one of Hoenn's top trainers and gym leaders.
Sinnoh: Volkner
Although he initially lost his passion for fighting, causing him to fall into a rut, Volkner's passion for Pokémon battles was rekindled by his encounter with Ash. When he wasn't trying out, Volkner was a strong gym leader who needed a challenge to pique his interest.
Although not a member of the Elite Four, Volkner is very close in skill to his childhood friend, Flint. This places him among the strongest trainers in Sinnoh, and hands down the strongest gym leader in the region. He uses a solid team of Electric-types, and is a smart, resourceful trainer who can beat you with his tactics just as easily as he can with his Pokémon.
Unova: Roxie
Although her game counterpart isn't much of an early-game challenge, Anime Roxy is different. Roxy is a determined young gym leader whose poison-type team can be deadly if not taken seriously.
Roxy's most impressive feat in the anime came during her battle with Ash, where she took out five of his team members while only using three of her own. Homefield advantage aside, this is a pretty impressive feat, even though Ashe wasn't always at his best at Anova.
Kalos: Wulfric
The Kalos region had some incredibly talented and tough gym leaders in anime. As the last Gym Leader of Kalos, Wulfric poses a formidable challenge to anyone who takes him on.
When Ash challenged him, Wulfric managed to take Ash down with two Pokémon, challenging him to re-examine his bond with his Greninja. Thanks to this advice, their second match was very close, with Ash coming out victorious after an intense battle.
Alola: Hala
The Alola region does things a little differently, eschewing traditional gym battles for island challengers presided over by island kahunas, of which there are only four. Hala is the kahuna of Melemel Island and serves as the strongest trainer the Alola region has to offer.
The ability to use Z-Moves gives Kahuna a slight advantage over most trainers in the series, giving his Pokémon a huge boost in battle. His great test battle against Ash was imminent, with his Crabrawler and Hariyama pushing Ash's team over the edge in a fight that could have gone either way.
Galar: Raihan
Raihan is not only the strongest gym leader in Galar, he is also one of the top ranked trainers in the world. Raihan was the 8th ranked coach in the World Coronation Series, but dropped to 9th after losing to Ash.
Still, that's ridiculously high. Raihan is Leon's rival, which shows how highly he ranks in his own field. He's one of the strongest, if not the strongest, dragon-type trainers in the anime, taking an already powerful type and getting the absolute maximum out of his team to the point where he can probably take on many of the region's strongest trainers.
Paldea: Larry
At first glance, Larry doesn't seem like much. But behind his intimidating demeanor, there is an incredibly talented trainer and gym leader. Not only is Larry on the medal, but he is also part of Paldea's Elite Four.
As both a Gym Leader and Elite Four member, Larry has two different teams; A normal type team for his gym and a flying type team for the Elite Four. This shows how talented Larry is as a trainer, able to master and excel with two different types and still stand above the rest of the gym leaders in his field.
Pokemon
- Release date
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1997 – 2023
- network
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TV Tokyo, TV Osaka, TV Aichi, TVh, TVQ, TSC
- directors
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Shigeru Omachi, Koji Ogawa, Fumihiro Ueno, Hideki Hiroshima, Maki Kodaira, Makoto Oga, Ayumi Moriyama, Keitaro Motonaga, Shigeru Ueda, Fumihiro Yoshimura, Minoru Ohara, Yoshitaka Makino, Kiyoshi Egami, Makotoi, Murki, Makotoi, Murkoi, Nako, Hey Nishida, Tomoe Makino, Masahiko Watanabe, Hiroaki Takagi, Tazumi Mukaiyama, Ryohei Horiuchi, Yoshihiro Oda, Hiromichi Matano
- The authors
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Junki Takegami, Atsuhiro Tomioka, Hideki Sonoda, Yukiyoshi Ohashi, Yuka Miyata, Takeshi Shudo, Shouji Yonemura, Shinzo Fujita, Michihiro Tsuchiya, Deko Akao, Reiko Yoshida, Aya Matsui, Junichi Fujisaku
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Rika Matsumoto
Satoshi (voice)
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Ikue Otani
Pikachu (voice)
