History Anime / PokemonTheSeriesDiamondAndPearl

* AnAesop: The overarching one of this series seems to be finding that middle ground between ThePowerOfFriendship and MightMakesRight. While friendship is powerful, it [[HardTruthAesop is often no match for real skill]] (Paul is completely dominant in his and Ash's rivalry for much of the arc), but at the same time, focusing solely on strength without taking care of your trainee's mental wellbeing can end up squandering potential and, at worst, end up inflicting serious emotional scars (which Chimchar is dealing with for much of the arc thanks to Paul's ''even more extreme'' methods to unlock his potential). Finding a good balance is needed if you want your trainee to reach their peak (Ash ultimately manages to unlock Infernape's true potential thanks to taking care of his emotional needs in ''addition'' to kicking up his own training when it comes to his Pokémon as a whole).

** Barry idolizes and admires Paul greatly. Despite [[TheDeterminator trying very hard]] and even making use of clever strategies such as having Skarmory set up Spikes and taking advantage of Empoleon's Torrent, a far cry from his usual "AttackAttackAttack" battle style, he suffers a CurbStompBattle at Paul's hands, 3-0.

* BrokenAesop: The message of the season is that both Ash's empathetic methods and Paul's ruthless methods have merit, and the key to victory is relying on a balance of ThePowerOfFriendship and being [[CombatPragmatist pragmatic]]. Where the message falls apart is that Paul is downright abusive towards his Pokemon when training, committing deeds that in past seasons were treated as acts of villainy [[note]]a trainer abandoning a Pokemon for not performing to their standards was treated as a MoralEventHorizon [[Recap/PokemonS1E11CharmanderTheStrayPokemon when done in the first season]], and making things worse, the defeats Paul abounded his Chimchar over are his own fault[[/note]], but the series treats them as acceptable.

* ProtagonistCenteredMorality: Or [[TheRival Rival Centered Morality]] in this case. Paul abuses his Pokemon and abandons them for not performing to his standards, both of which were treated as acts of villainy in his past seasons, but Paul is, at worst, treated as a JerkWithAHeartOfGold. Making things worse is that he abandons his Chimchar over defeats that are his own fault, [[{{Hypocrite}} despite Paul asserting that defeats are the fault of the trainer rather than the Pokemon]].

** "Sandshrew's Locker!" features Mira, who has lost her Sandshrew after her town was flooded. The Pokémon was in the Poké Ball for decades deep under the water. If Ash and friends hadn't rescued it, who knows how much longer it would have stayed there.

** Nando mainly uses Bug-type Pokémon on his team, training a Kricketune, Armaldo and Kricketot. His Kricketune is defeated by another Bug-type, Ash's Heracross.

** Barry idolizes and admires Paul greatly. Despite [[TheDeterminator trying very hard]] and even making use of clever strategies such as having Skarmory set up Spikes and taking advantage of Empoleon's Torrent, a far cry from [[AttackAttackAttack his usual battle style,]] he suffers a CurbStompBattle at Paul's hands, 3-0.

* {{Deconstruction}}: The series-long rivalry between Ash and Paul is one of ThePowerOfFriendship and the AllLovingHero. Ash's empathy and bonds with his Pokemon has caused him to become exceedingly irrational in battle, [[LeeroyJenkins never planning ahead]] and thinking he can overcome any matchup just by believing in himself. Ash's kindness also leads him to befriending weaker specimens that he stubbornly insists are just as strong as any other, only to be [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome proven wrong time and again]].

* HonorBeforeReason: Another of Ash's shortcomings that's highly on display in this series is that he repeatedly insists that his Pokemon have to win in the way that makes ''them'' the most happy, whether they're disregarding [[ElementalRockPaperScissors type matchups]] or simply defending their egos. Paul frequently takes advantage of this by goading Ash into unwinnable matchups, [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome with his Pokemon's will to win just getting them injured even worse]].

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: Compared to May, Dawn's progression throughout the contests is surprisingly gradual, with a few occasions she doesn't even pass the first round, and resultantly starts getting rather disheartened until her trial and error pays off. By contrast, Jessie, after two regions worth of failures, finds herself at an advantage for once due to her gained experience and actually starts winning ribbons and overtaking Dawn for a while (albeit due to actually training and [[ChekhovsSkill utilising learned abilities creatively]] over playing dirty).

* WorstWhateverEver: The Japanese title for one episode translates to "The Worst Togepi Ever!" The English dub changed it to "Where No Togepi Has Gone Before".

** "Following A Maiden's Voyage!" [[AndNowForSomeoneCompletelyDifferent starts off and solely focuses on Dawn's first day as a Pokémon Trainer]], with no Ash or Team Rocket in sight until the last few minutes of the episode. This, combined with the fact that Dawn's story is almost beat per beat similar to "[[{{Recap/PokemonS1E1PokemonIChooseYou}} Pokémon — I Choose You!]]", cements Dawn as [[{{Deuteragonist}} a main character on par with Ash]], a fact that is later reflected in the Japanese title scroll starting with the fourth episode. [[note]]The title scroll summarizes the series as the story of Ash and Dawn instead of just Ash, which hasn't happened to any other female leads except Lillie in ''Sun & Moon''.[[/note]]

** Cynthia's sister is a minor character who doesn't have a sprite of her own, but she still appears in the games. In the anime, however, only Cynthia and her grandmother appeared.
** Sinnoh and Johto's Frontier Brains other than Palmer do not appear. Caitlin does appear in the ''Black & White'' series albeit in her Unova Elite Four incarnation.

** Ash finally catching a pseudo legendary Pokémon, or at least a member of its line, rather than simply befriending it and then letting it go.

* WillfullyWeak: Addressed: Ash admits he could just bring a team of his best Pokemon to fight Paul, but he wants to prove a point by beating him with his Sinnoh team specifically.

** Ash's female traveling companion is not seen first. Ash met up with Brock first before both catching up to Dawn.

** Ash finally catching a pseudo legendary Pokémon, or at least a member of its line, rather than simply befriending it and then letting it go.