>>58252747It just seems like Blue/Gary being the rival that was always a step ahead of Red/Ash was a main thing in every gen 1 media. It's harder to pull that off if he's traveling with Ash, but I guess if Green/Leaf made it into the anime she would more likely be a second rival like Sugimori envisioned when he drew her rather than a Misty stand in or some proto-contest girl.
