>>52323278>better executedhow?
AJ was Paul but better. He didn't abuse his pokemon, he cherished them and they cherished him back. He was so loved in fact that wild pokemon would come to his gym and train under him just because of how nice and effective he was as a trainer.
I suppose you could argue that AJ was too good to be Ash's rival, in which case I'd agree. AJ was out of Ash's league, and there was nothing Ash was better at than AJ, not even morally. Paul is a better rival because he was a heartless bastard, which at least gave Ash the moral high ground.
>>52323283A large number of trAsh fanboys miss that part and furiously hate AJ for dunking on their self insert.
