This has similar issues to other archetypes, like The Mentor, which is a specific character role but is used for literally any "mentor", even if they don't fill the story archetype. I also noticed that Rival Turned Evil specifies that they need to start as friends, which doesn't seem to pan out in examples either.
In other words, I think it's because the concept of "a rival" is so much broader than the trope itself, which seems to be based on anime if I had to guess (though we now have the more direct Stock Shōnen Rival). That's just a hunch because while I've seen these types of rivals in other scenarios, it seems to mostly be an anime thing, where every protagonist gets to have their rival; rivals in other media can fit into the broader roles. And tropes like Friendly Rivalry confuse it more since tropers are more likely to assume it's a subtrope than a contrasting trope.
Edited by WarJay77 on Oct 26th 2024 at 2:34:16 PM
Working on: Author Appeal | Sandbox | Troper WallOldest Internet Archive copy
does indeed have the early-wiki phrase "this is an Anime Trope" on it, and also seems to be even more specific than I was expecting based on the OP's description. (To my surprise, that decades-old paragraph, which seems to be describing a character arc as much as a character and seems to overlap with Defeat Means Friendship, remains part of the description to this day.)
Edited by MorganWick on Oct 27th 2024 at 3:54:13 AM
Yeah, I thought as much. Rivals in western works don't fit the same exact pattern. At most they're often still foils, but in the way that any antagonist will be a foil to the hero to some degree.
Working on: Author Appeal | Sandbox | Troper WallAt this point The Rival should probably be merged with Rivalry Tropes to create an indexing supertrope and the description and examples rejiggered accordingly. Stock Shōnen Rival seems to be targeting the original anime-centric definition.
Duly noted.
Edited by StarSword on Oct 30th 2024 at 1:45:41 PM
Trust me, I'm an engineer!
Do note that we'd need to check 107 wicks for this to happen.

The Rival is a really big trope, having over 10k wicks. It's also quite problematic. The actual definition is an antagonistic character who is not quite a villain, someone who is a foil to the hero. The problem is that is refers to any form of rivalry, even if one or both of the characters are evil.
Doing an actual trope repair shop will be a difficult and arduous task, I just want an acknowledgment that their is a wide gulf between what the trope is supposed to be and what it is used for.
Edited by randomtroper89 on Oct 26th 2024 at 10:49:27 AM