Paul

This article is about the character from the Diamond & Pearl series. For the English voice actor credited as Ed Paul, see Ted Lewis.

Paul シンジ Shinji
Paul
Age	11 (est. by Pokeani)
Gender	Male
Eye color	Black
Hair color	Purple
Hometown	Veilstone City
Region	Sinnoh
Relatives	Reggie (brother)
Class	Trainer
First episode	Two Degrees of Separation
English voice actor	Julián Rebolledo
Japanese voice actor	Kiyotaka Furushima

Paul (Japanese: シンジ Shinji) is a rival of Ash in the anime. He is from Veilstone City in Sinnoh. He was first seen at the end of Two Degrees of Separation, though his full introduction was in When Pokémon Worlds Collide!.

Personality and training

Paul's only concern in his Pokémon is of their strength in battle. He strongly dislikes weak Pokémon and has a habit of releasing them if they do not meet his high expectations. To this effect, Paul always checks new captures with his Pokédex to learn what moves they know and trains the Pokémon he keeps harshly to make them strong. He feels that bonding with Pokémon would only turn them into slackers. He also has a habit of scolding his Pokémon for losing to opponents he feels they could have beaten, and this was a recurring trait when he owned Chimchar. He also scolded his Honchkrow when it lost to Ash's newly evolved Staraptor in Pursuing a Lofty Goal!. As a person, he is very callous and even at times brutal, especially in battle; and as a result, he has been shown to have very little emotion other than an occasional rough smile.

Sometimes, he gives some of his Pokémon to his brother, Reggie, for temporary training and caretaking, as revealed in Lost Leader Strategy!. Paul also disagrees with his brother for giving up on being a Pokémon Trainer after failing to get the Brave Symbol. He feels his brother's approach and view on this to be wrong.

A Pyramiding Rage! was an important episode that revealed much about Paul's motivation as a Pokémon trainer and more about his character. When Reggie was a roaming Pokémon trainer, he had lost to Brandon. Reggie's loss to Brandon is what caused Paul to be so adamant about strength in battle. This single loss is also what caused Paul to become the callous person he was, and that was because of how his brother handled the loss. Instead of bearing the shame of his loss to Brandon, Reggie moved on with his life and put the loss behind him. Paul found this to be unacceptable, and he became disappointed of his brother. He challenged Brandon to a full battle in hopes that he would be able to do what his brother never could. However, Paul lost to Brandon without being able to knock out any of Brandon's Pokémon. Brandon says that this loss was because Paul was unable to control his emotions.

At the beginning it was assumed that Paul was a trainer just starting out. However this was proven false in Top-Down Training where he revealed that he had already traveled through Kanto, Johto and Hoenn, participating in their respective Leagues before returning to Sinnoh. In A Pyramiding Rage!, it was revealed that Kanto was the very first region he traveled through.

Paul feels that Ash is a weak trainer and can easily bring on Ash's anger by stating it. Ash's very different attitude towards being friends with Pokémon also provides much fuel to their rivalry. Paul barely recognizes their rivalry and Ash as a trainer and ignores Ash's speeches about loving his Pokémon. Ash on the other hand has a hatred of Paul that flares up at Paul's indifference to his Pokémon. However Ash accepts that Paul is a strong trainer but considers himself on the same par as him. Paul's only hint of respect for Ash was in A Pyramiding Rage! when he was very surprised to hear that Ash had beaten Brandon in a Pokémon battle before.

Although Paul finds most of Ash's Pokémon weak, he has shown a particular interest in his Pikachu. Paul is also angered by how Ash contradicts himself by criticizing Paul's training methods and then he uses similar methods, such as entering the Wallace Cup, despite Ash's motivations being clearly different than Paul's.

Paul appears to feel indifference to Dawn, showing that he didn't even know her name in A Gruff Act to Follow. Paul shows mild respect as well as distaste towards Brock, probably because Brock supports Ash's view on Pokémon. Paul does show respect for his elders, such as Professor Rowan, Cynthia, Nurse Joy and Brandon .

Following Reggie's suggestion in A Pyramiding Rage!, Paul battled Ash in a full battle in Pedal to the Mettle! and Evolving Strategies!. Here, he shows his true colors in battle and, despite Ash's Chimchar evolving into Monferno, he won the match easily with only at a loss of two Pokémon overall, where one defeated three of Ash's Pokémon nearly single-handed. He had his Pokémon use a broad variety of strategies, which he kept up his sleeve until this battle, such as his Torterra's Stone Edge never missing, Electabuzz using Light Screen to aid its comrades, using his Ursaring against Ash's Pikachu rather than Torterra to activate the Guts ability, and his Magmortar using Rock Tomb to protect itself against Water-type attacks. As a result, his strategy of completely overwhelming and outsmarting Ash with his more powerful Pokémon team succeeded. He appeared to be satisfied with his victory over Ash, but as for Ash, he was shocked, saddened and angered that he allowed himself to lose to the one Pokémon Trainer he hated more than any other.

Pokémon

Paul is a very different Pokémon Trainer from Ash. Paul has no patience for weak Pokémon, thus when he loses a Pokémon Battle he has a tendency to release the losing Pokémon. This listing is of Paul's Pokémon as of the most recent Japanese episode:

On hand

As a result of Paul's selective team creation, his active team is composed of Pokémon that he deems to be powerful. While the captures of Ursaring and Gliscor were shown in Different Strokes for Different Blokes and Riding the Winds of Change! respectively, the rest were obtained off-screen.

Torterra
	Main article: Paul's Torterra Torterra is Paul's strongest Pokémon and his starter as well. It made its first appearance in Top-Down Training! where it was used in a battle against Cynthia's Garchomp. Torterra helped Ash's Grotle cope with its lack of speed after evolution.

Electabuzz

Main article: Paul's Electabuzz Electabuzz was the first of Paul's revealed Pokémon. Paul used it as an Elekid during his first appearance in When Pokémon Worlds Collide! in a battle against Ash and his Pikachu. After a fierce battle, both Pokémon fainted and the battle ended up in a draw. In Smells Like Team Spirit!, Elekid evolved into Electabuzz during a tag battle where it was fighting alongside Ash's Chimchar. It was revealed in Lost Leader Strategy! that Paul had left Electabuzz with his brother, Reggie, for training. Electabuzz rejoined Paul after the events of Enter Galactic!.

Honchkrow
	Main article: Paul's Honchkrow Honchkrow's first official appearance was in Top-Down Training!, as a Murkrow, where Paul used it in battle against Cynthia's Garchomp. It evolved off-screen between Riding the Winds of Change! and Lost Leader Strategy!.

Weavile

Weavile made its first appearance in Top-Down Training!. It was used in a battle against Cynthia's Garchomp. Despite having a type-advantage, Weavile lost easily to Garchomp. It was also revealed in this episode that Paul caught Weavile while journeying through Hoenn, Johto and Kanto. It was not seen again until Riding the Winds of Change! where Paul used it and Electabuzz to capture Gliscor, and again until Aiding the Enemy, where it was seen training with Torterra. It appeared again in Pedal to the Mettle!, where it was one of the battlers in Ash and Paul's full battle. It lost to Ash's Staraptor. It is voiced by 西村ちなみ Chinami Nishimura in Japanese and Bill Rogers in English.

Ursaring
	Main article: Paul's Ursaring Paul caught Ursaring in Different Strokes for Different Blokes with the help of his Chimchar. Ursaring was seen several times since, often battling with Chimchar.

Magmortar
	Main article: Paul's Magmortar Paul chose Magmortar to replace his Chimchar after he released it. It first debuted in Lost Leader Strategy! as a Magmar where it appeared in a flashback. It made its first real appearance in Aiding the Enemy!, sleeping with Paul's other Pokémon. Magmar's evolution was revealed in Pedal to the Mettle! when Paul chose Magmortar to battle Ash's Pikachu.

Released

It is implied that Paul has caught and released many more Pokémon than has been shown on-screen.

Starly
	Paul caught three Starly in When Pokémon Worlds Collide!. Two of them were released as soon as he checked them on his Pokédex. The final Starly was kept due to its knowledge of Aerial Ace and used against Ash's Starly in their first battle. Despite Paul's Starly winning, Paul decided it was not up to his standards and so it was released after the battle.

Stantler
	Paul caught Stantler in Different Strokes for Different Blokes, but released it as soon as he checked it on his Pokédex, due to the fact that it's only move was Tackle.

Chimchar
	Main article: Ash's Monferno When Paul first saw Chimchar, it was being chased by a group of Zangoose. Paul was impressed with it and added it to his regular team. However, this first impression did not match up to Chimchar's normal abilities and so Paul regularly criticized it for being weak. After losing to Cynthia's Garchomp in Top-Down Training, Paul realized that Chimchar was not fulfilling his expectations. This culminated in the tag battle tournament arc where he was forced to battle alongside Ash. During a battle against a Zangoose and a Metagross, Chimchar was too scared to make any attack when caught in Zangoose's claws. After the battle, Paul released Chimchar in front of Ash, who then invited it to join him.

Given away

Azumarill
	Paul caught Azumarill for his battle with Roark in Shapes of Things to Come, attempting to use the type advantage over the Rock-type Pokémon. However, Roark's Geodude had little trouble in defeating the Water Pokémon. After such a loss, Paul gave Azumarill away to a little boy during A Gruff Act to Follow. Azumarill's known attacks are Water Gun and Hydro Pump.

Status unknown

In Veilstone City, Reggie told Ash that Paul's "other Pokémon are here too" which may include his reserves.

Gliscor

Main article: Paul's Gliscor Gliscor was accidentally blown into a city from a forest by strong winds, and was soon terrorizing the town with a flock of Gligar it had drawn to the city until it was captured by Paul in Riding the Winds of Change!. Gliscor's next appearance was in Chim - Charred! where it easily defeated Ash's Gligar. It then made a brief cameo in Aiding the Enemy and has not been seen since.

Ninjask
	Paul's Ninjask was caught shortly before Paul met Chimchar, as shown in a flashback in Glory Blaze!. It is unknown if Paul still has Ninjask as he is known by his reputation on releasing Pokémon that are not strong.

Hariyama
	Paul's Hariyama has only appeared in A Pyramiding Rage!. It fought against Brandon's Regirock and lost; its only known moves are Arm Thrust and Force Palm. It is unknown if Paul still has Hariyama.

Nidoking
	Paul's Nidoking has only appeared in A Pyramiding Rage!. It fought against Brandon's Registeel and lost. Its known moves are Earth Power, Double Kick and Thunderbolt which all hit Registeel directly but didn't do much damage. It is unknown if Paul still has Nidoking.

Lairon
	Paul's Lairon has only appeared in A Pyramiding Rage!. It fought against Brandon's Regice and lost in a matter of seconds. Its only known move is Iron Defense. It is unknown if Paul still has Lairon.

Known badges obtained

Sinnoh League

• Coal Badge (Shapes of Things to Come!)
• Cobble Badge (prior to Lost Leader Strategy!)
• Relic Badge (prior to Aiding the Enemy)

It can be assumed, if not confirmed, that Paul also has at least eight badges each from Kanto, Johto and Hoenn, as he has entered all three of their league conferences.

Pokémon League

Paul has competed (off-screen) in the following Pokémon League competitions:

• Ever Grande Conference
• Indigo League Conference
• Silver Conference

Pokémon competitions

• Hearthome City Tag Battle Competition (Champion - with Ash) (Smells Like Team Spirit!)
• PokéRinger (Runner-up) (Pursuing a Lofty Goal!)

Voice actors

Trivia

Early artwork

• Paul was first revealed to the fandom through a CoroCoro scan that showed him alongside Ash and Dawn. However, his name and role was not revealed until the following week. The first scan showed him commanding a Chimchar.
• His Japanese name, Shinji, can be taken to be 信二, which literally means faithful second (son). This fits, as he has an older brother, Reggie. He may be named for 宮崎慎二 Shinji Miyazaki, who is the composer of the music of the Pokémon anime. The name Paul, meanwhile, is a reference to Paul Baron, a staff member at The Pokémon Company, as well as Pokémon Pearl, in contrast to Dawn referencing Pokémon Diamond. This can also be applied to his Japanese name— the Japanese word for "pearl" is shinju (真珠), though there is no such link for Dawn's Japanese name. There is, however, a link in Dawn's own rival, Kenny, whose Japanese name of ケンゴ Kengo is similar to the Japanese 金剛 kongo.
• Several similarities have been noted between Paul and a game rival, Silver. Their personalities are especially similar. Another interesting similarity is that the pose used in Paul's stock art is the same as the pose in a picture of Silver drawn by Ken Sugimori, right down to the angle and position of the hands and feet. Paul has similar taste in Pokémon to the Silver portrayed in Pokémon Adventures. Both have an Ursaring. Both have also owned a Murkrow at one point, and assuming Paul caught his Weavile as a Sneasel, both have owned a Sneasel at one point. Furthermore, when Silver had a cameo in the original Japanese opening of The Legend of Thunder!, he was seen with a Nidoking, another Pokémon that Paul has.

Sugimori's sketch of Silver

• Furthermore, both have challenged, been defeated easily by, and given crucial advice about raising Pokémon with love and care by their respective regional Champions, Lance and Cynthia respectively. While Lance's words being Silver's true catalyst, it is unknown yet if Cynthia's words have truly affected Paul.
• The majority of the Pokémon that Paul has on his team are part of an evolution family related to Generation II.
  • Ursaring was introduced in Generation II.
  • Honchkrow, Weavile and Gliscor are Generation IV Pokémon, but evolve from Generation II Pokémon (Murkrow, Sneasel and Gligar, respectively).
  • Electabuzz and Magmar were introduced in Generation I, but evolve from Generation II Pokémon (Elekid and Magby, respectively).
• Some of Paul's Pokémon are based off Pokémon owned by other rivals of Ash and his friends. There are also some traits he shares with Ash's main rival, Gary:
  • Paul's Torterra is similar to Gary's Blastoise, as in that they are turtle-based starter Pokémon.
  • Paul's Electabuzz is in the same evolution family as Gary's Electivire.
  • Gary's Magmar is in the same evolution family as Paul's Magmortar.
  • Both trainers own a Nidoking.
  • Paul often acts rudely to Ash, much like Gary did until the end of the Johto saga.
• Three of Ash's Pokémon have evolved while battling against Paul: Turtwig into Grotle, Staravia into Staraptor, and Chimchar into Monferno.
• Paul is the first regular rival seen capturing a Pokémon on screen.

Names

External links

• Shinji's Profile on Pokeani (Japanese)
• Shinji's Pokémon on Pokeani (Japanese)

This article is part of Project Anime, a Bulbapedia project that covers all aspects of the Pokémon anime.