#which character u defending like this *iphone 5 concept photo*

[lazloorpington]

anipoke rant time: Hau deserved so much better

i may be biased because hau is one of my favourite pokémon rivals for sure, but hear me out here okay (obviously major pokémon sun & moon anime spoilers up ahead of you haven't watched it already)

hau is a pretty important rival for ash, since of course, they battle in the alola league. it's a tough battle too, since rowlet is going to be at a noticeable disadvantage to decidueye. hau's also really enthusiastic about battling and is really energetic, just like ash! so surely, they'd have multiple encounters and get along super well, right?

well... no! not really!

first of all, i think hau was introduced WAY too late into the season. like, ultra legends?! that is the last part of the season, god damn it! considering that, in the games, hau is (afaik) one of the first characters you encounter, i find it crazy that he's introduced so late! i mean sure, ash is spending a lot of time at the pokemon school, so the likelihood of them interacting was kinda low, but still... i feel like his introduction should've been way earlier.

let me demonstrate my point with another green-haired rival: sawyer! throughout the second and third parts of xy, ash and sawyer interacted pretty frequently. a lot of them were meaningful too, not just "hey, let's battle!"... and again, sawyer becomes important because of the kalos pokemon league! and, just like hau, sawyer is a tough opponent for ash! but it feels more meaningful when ash wins because we watched sawyer get to develop his skills by battling and analysing ash's skills, by watching their battles you could tell that sawyer was getting much stronger, even stronger than ash! it was great to watch that development, leading up to that big moment; their battle at the pokemon league!

i know hau and sawyer are very different, but my point still stands, right? after hau's introductory episode, he did NOT appear again until it was time for the pokemon league, where it was all "aha oh yeah dartrix evolved and we're like way stronger" like it's great! but it would've been so much better to watch that development happen the same way we watched it happen with sawyer! if ash and hau had more of a time to build their rivalry (and friendship!), i think that battle would've been so much more meaningful! and it's not to say it wasn't, since rowlet and decidueye were established rivals already, but still... i wish his character could've been explored and developed more.

but i'm not done. i haven't talked about journeys yet!

now, granted, i haven't finished journeys yet. but i'm at the masters 8 tournament. so i'm pretty close to the end. now guess, how much screentime has hau had this entire season?

if you guessed less than 5 seconds, you'd be correct!

seriously though?! in the last s&m episode, hau was shown battling nanu. we can assume that he completed all of the island challenges by the time ash came back to alola, right? so... why did they never get to have a second battle? or... even interact at all??? it's genuinely so sad because with two kids eager to battle with passion, you'd think they'd be shown interacting and battling way more! but they don't!!!! hau hardly got ANYTHING throughout both seasons. fuck- he got basically NOTHING in journeys! honestly, the 5- no, it's closer to 3 - seconds he appears in journeys almost feels like a slap on the face for anyone who EVER wanted to see ash and hau interact again.

i mean i could say similar things about a lot of the rivals in journeys, mind you. but at least in the seasons they were introduced they were treated WELL. hau just. wasn't. which makes me so sad...

sorry for the long ass rant i just felt sad about one of my favourite pokemon characters and i hope others feel the same