List of Kanto Gym Leaders

Below is a list of Gym Leaders from the Kanto region in the fictional Pokémon series of video games games, anime and manga.

Each of these gym leaders is in charge of a Pokémon gym. In "Pokémon Red", "Blue", "Yellow", "Gold", "Silver", "Crystal", "FireRed" and "LeafGreen", their main role was as one-off, more-difficult gym trainers the player had to defeat to progress through the game and face the Elite Four. They serve much the same role in the anime, each of them posing to Ash a challenge to overcome or task to complete before he earns the badges he needs to participate in the Kanto Pokémon League championships.

"Pokémon Red", "Blue", "Green", "Yellow", "FireRed" and "LeafGreen"

Brock

is the third gym leader and resides in Vermilion City. He is an expert on Electric-type Pokémon. [Official Pokémon Gold and Silver Official Strategy Guide, "Phillip Marcus" p. 27]

In "Pokémon Red", "Blue", "Yellow", "FireRed", and "LeafGreen", Lt. Surge is depicted as a paranoid American war veteran. His paranoia is shown when the player must find and activate two hidden keys in the Gym to challenge Surge. In "Pokémon Red", "Blue", "Yellow", "FireRed", and "LeafGreen", one of the lesser trainers states Lt. Surge was his "strict C.O." in the war; in "Pokémon Gold", "Silver" and "Crystal", another trainer states that Lt. Surge saved his life.

In the "Red" and "Blue" games he sports a Voltorb, Pikachu and Raichu, but in "Yellow" he sports only a supercharged Raichu, much like in the anime. In "Pokémon Gold", "Silver" and "Crystal", he is the first Gym Leader of Kanto that can be challenged. When defeated, he gives the player a Thunder Badge.

In the "Pokémon Adventures" manga, Lt. Surge is an ex-Team Rocket Elite, and sailor on the "S.S. Anne". He also served in a war as a commanding officer, using his Pokémon to defeat enemies.In the anime, Lt. Surge is a tall, muscular tough guy who calls any opponent who hasn't beaten him a "baby". In the anime, he is portrayed as a "gentle giant" at times. Surge compliments Misty when she, Ash, and Brock first entered the Gym, thinking it was Misty who had come to challenge him.

When he battles Ash, his Raichu easily defeats Ash's Pikachu. However, because Lt. Surge didn't give his Pokémon the chance to learn the speed and agility, it could have as a Pikachu (as he evolved it right away), Ash wins the rematch by having Pikachu wear out Raichu by dodging its attacks.

Erika

, is a character in the Pokémon video game series, the Pokémon anime series and the Pokémon manga series.

Blaine is the seventh Gym leader in the Kanto region, who is an expert on Fire-type Pokémon. Blaine resides in Cinnabar Island, and in the anime and the GSC games has his gym inside a volcano. His name could be a take off the word "blaze". One of Blaine's unique traits, at least in the video games and anime, is his affection for riddles. This, combined with his training of Fire Pokémon, has earned him the nickname "The Hotheaded Quiz Master". Due to this fact, his name may also be a reference to the character "Blaine the Mono" in Stephen King's "Dark Tower" series, who also has an affection for riddles.

In "Pokémon Red", "Blue", "Yellow", "Gold", "Silver", "Crystal", "FireRed" and "LeafGreen", Blaine is the second to last gym leader in the Kanto region (before Giovanni in "Red", "Blue", "Yellow", "FireRed" and "LeafGreen"; or Blue in "Gold", "Silver" and "Crystal).

In "Red", "Blue", "Yellow", "FireRed" and "LeafGreen", battles with his underlings can be avoided by correctly answering riddles. Victory against Blaine earns the player both a Volcano Badge and TM 38, Fire Blast.

According to information gained from various characters in the game, Blaine was inspired to train fire Pokémon after he was guided out of a freezing mountain range by the fire bird Moltres. He is also an old friend of Mr. Fuji, an old man in Lavender Town that looks after orphaned Pokémon, such as Cubone.

Blaine makes his home on Cinnabar Island in "Red", "Blue", "Yellow", "Fire Red" and "Leaf Green", [Official Pokémon Gold and Silver Official Strategy Guide, "Phillip Marcus" p. 59] as a native of the island who has lived there since before the creation of the island's Pokémon lab. By "Gold" and "Silver", he has moved to the Seafoam Islands due to the eruption of the once-dormant Cinnabar Island volcano, which made it impossible for him to locate his gym there. Strangely, the volcano does not appear anywhere near Cinnabar Island in "Red", "Blue", "Yellow", "Fire Red" or "Leaf Green".

In the two "Pokémon Stadium" games, Blaine is a member of the gym leader lineups. Unlike the other games, he does not entirely rely on fire Pokémon, using the non-fire types Clefable, Kangaskhan, Chansey, Tangela, Parasect, Octillery and Vileplume. The reason for this is unknown, though it is possible the Grass Pokémon and Octillery are to thwart any Water- or Ground-type Pokémon the player may be using, or because of the lack of fire types in the early games.

In the "Pokémon Adventures" manga, Blaine is first introduced as a Team Rocket scientist working on the creation of Mewtwo. However, his appearance is brief, and he is not given a name until later. It is later revealed that he also was involved in experiments on Eevee, Gyarados, and others. He chose to work with Team Rocket based on his love of science, but regretted his decision after hearing about how Red had been taking on the organization.

As revealed in Blaine's dreams, he combined the DNA of Mew with his own DNA in order to finish Mewtwo while working with Team Rocket. This also left some of Mewtwo's DNA inside of Blaine, which was claiming Blaine's life, but allowed the gym leader to track the Pokémon. After Mewtwo broke free of the Team Rocket facility, Blaine left the group and went into hiding until he helped Red fight off some Team Rocket thugs.

During the escape from Team Rocket thugs and their Moltres, he discovers the old amber that Red has been carrying, and has him revive it into an Aerodactyl to fight off the Moltres, after which he lets Red keep it as he goes off to find Mewtwo. Red later reencounters Blaine and is able to help him capture Mewtwo with a Master Ball. Because of the DNA that they share, they are unable to be separated for very long without becoming ill. As a scientist, Blaine tries to find a way to separate them without hurting either.

Blaine later reappears two years later as the fourth member of the alliance of good gym leaders (the other three being Brock, Misty and Erika) to help find Red, who has gone missing. When the Elite Four launch attacks on Pewter, Cerulean and Celadon City, Blaine is forced to go to Cerise Island, the location of the Elite Four's secret base, with the aid of Yellow, Green, Blue and Bill, with the intent of dissolving the group. However, they find Lt. Surge, Sabrina and Koga instead, who state that they wish to help defeat the Elite Four, as the Elite Four are destroying the land that Team Rocket wishes to rule. He and Yellow are then paired together to fight against the Elite Four by Sabrina's "Spoons of Destiny", eventually facing off against Lance. However, the bond between Mewtwo and Blaine proves to be his undoing, as he faints before the battle is over.

Blaine next shows up in the "Mask of Ice" plot during the Johto vs. Kanto Gym Leader Competition during the tri-annual Pokémon League Tournament, in which he faces off against Clair. While the competition is apparently simply a matter of having the two regions compete against each other, in reality, it is to find out who the new leader of Team Rocket was, as fragments from the leader's Ice Mask had been discovered to be made out of the same material as gym badges. When the Legendary Dogs choose battle partners, Entei selected Blaine based on his specialty with Fire Pokémon, and it was then revealed that Blaine had been searching for Entei at the same time for his healing flame. Using the flame, Entei is able to break the bond between Blaine and Mewtwo by removing the DNA in Blane's arm, at which point Mewtwo leaves. Blaine is then able to use the legendary Pokémon to easily defeat Clair, who had insisted on holding their match on a runaway magnet train on which all the gym leaders had become trapped.

Blaine then works with Misty and Lt. Surge (who were battle partners with Suicune and Raikou) to fight against the Mask of Ice and free Lugia and Ho-oh from his control. Ultimately, however, it is the emotions of a large number of Pokémon that frees the two legendary birds.

In the anime, while Ash is on his way to Cinnabar Island in order to challenge Blaine for a Volcano Badge, he is told by Gary Oak that there is no badge. However, Ash does not believe his rival, suspecting that the latter only wants to trick him out of a badge. However, upon arriving, he learns that Gary was actually telling the truth, as a hippie-like character shows Ash and his friends the old, burned-down ruins of Blaine's abandoned gym. The hippie then tells them that as Cinnabar Island grew into a popular tourist attraction, too many non-serious Pokémon challengers arrived, driving Blaine away. He then hands them a business card for his hotel with the location disguised as a riddle.

After Ash and his friends are unable to find a place to stay (the Pokémon Center being full of tourists as well), Misty figures out this riddle, and as a reward, the hippie (who seemingly appears out of nowhere) gives them free lodging. Through Misty's Togepi, they find a secret entrance into Cinnabar Island's volcano at the hippie's hotel, and learn that the riddling hippie is Blaine in disguise. Ash, now knowing who Blaine is, challenges him to a match. While Ash calls upon Charizard early in the match, the Pokémon still refuses to listen to him, so he uses Pikachu instead. However, Magmar proves to be too much, and Ash is forced to pull out, with Pikachu nearly getting killed falling in lava. In the next episode, Team Rocket tries to get hold of Magmar thus setting Blaine's volcano gym on ice thereby causing the volcano to erupt. Ash,Misty and Brock assist Blaine in saving the entire island and Blaine gives Ash another chance for a battle. This time, Charizard follows Ash's orders (only to test Magmar's strength and see who's stronger) and defeats Magmar with a Seismic Toss attack after a tough fight, winning Ash the Volcano Badge.

Giovanni

is the sixth gym leader in the Kanto region and resides in Fuchsia City. She is an expert on Poison-types. In "Pokémon Gold", "Silver", and "Crystal", Janine became the gym leader when her father Koga joined the Elite Four. Janine is also the most mischievous of the Gym leaders and likes to play tricks on her opponents. Her main trick is getting all her trainers to disguise as her to confuse the opponent trainer. Her localized name is a pun on the word "ninja".

In "Pokémon FireRed" and "LeafGreen", she speaks of training in her father's footsteps. In this game, she is called Charine (perhaps as a matter of translation).

Janine has never appeared in the Pokémon anime, but Koga instead has a sister named Aya. Ash first met her when he went to challenge Koga for a Gym Badge and again while she was training in Johto.

Blue

Pokémon character
name=Blue


caption=Blue, as seen in "Pokémon FireRed" and "LeafGreen"
japanname=Green
voiceactor=
japanactor=
speciality=
occupation= Kanto Pokémon League Champion; later Viridian City Gym Leader
firstgame= "Pokémon Red" and "Blue"
firstanime=
firstmanga="A Glimpse of the Glow"nihongo|Blue|グリーン|Gurīn|Green in original Japanese language versions as well as all versions of "FireRed" and "LeafGreen" is the main antagonist of "Pokémon Red", "Blue", "Yellow", "FireRed" and "LeafGreen". Although the player can change his name at the beginning of the game, the game will generically refer to the character as “Blue”. He serves as a repeated foil and recurring boss for the player.

After defeating all of the Johto Gym Leaders, the player is granted access to Kanto, the setting of the original generation of Pokémon games. The player will proceed to defeat all of the Kanto Gym Leaders, but will be unable to find the leader of the Viridian City Gym as no mention of it has been made after Giovanni departed from the Gym.

The player can find Blue on the remains of Cinnabar Island, staring out into the sea. Blue speaks to the player briefly and returns to Viridian, where he is revealed to be the Gym Leader. After beating all of the other Kanto Gym Leaders and speaking to Blue, the player can then challenge him in the Viridian Gym. If the player defeats Blue, he or she receives their 16th badge and Professor Oak will grant them access to Mt. Silver.

Blue's Pokémon are the same ones he used at the end of "Red", "Green", "Blue", "FireRed", and "LeafGreen" (minus the starter). Because of this, he is said to be much more difficult to beat than the other Gym Leaders, as his team doesn't use a specific type and are of higher levels than the other gym leader's Pokémon.

Gary Oak is loosely based on Blue, in the same sense of Ash Ketchum being based on Red, but all are distinct characters.

Anime

ubstitute/Replacement Leaders

The Kanto Gym Leaders in the Pokémon anime are based on the "Red", "Blue" and "Yellow" Gym Leaders, except for the following:

Daisy, Lily and Violet

Pokémon character
name=Daisy, Lily and Violet


caption= Left to right: Violet, Daisy and Lily
japanname=Sakura (Daisy), Ayame (Lily) and Botan (Violet)
voiceactor=Lisa Ortiz (Daisy) Megan Hollingshead (Lily) Rachael Lillis (Violet)
japanactor=
speciality= Water-type Pokémon
occupation= Cerulean City Gym Leaders
firstgame=
firstanime= "The Water Flowers of Cerulean City"
firstmanga=

Daisy, Lily, and Violet (Sakura, Botan, and Ayame) are the older sisters of Misty and the Cerulean City Gym Leaders, often calling themselves the "Sensational Sisters". In the Japanese versions, like their English counterparts, their names all connote flowers, as "sakura" refers to the "cherry blossom", "botan" refers to the "peony", and "ayame" refers to the "iris".

Daisy, Lily, and Violet are known for their teenage girlish personalities similar to that of stereotypical adolescent Southern California Caucasian females or Valley Girls - Complete with thick "Valspeak" accents and love of shopping, modeling, fashion and body building.

Their speciality is Water-type Pokémon. They are not as skilled as most Gym Leaders are, and are more concerned with beauty than their duties as Gym Leaders. As such, they will often give out badges for free; Ash Ketchum was offered one for free just because all their Pokémon were at the Pokémon Center, while a trainer they met near Lilycove City received one just for cleaning out the pool. Their glamorous life style leads to them winning a World Tour, at which point they hand over the running of the Gym to Misty. On returning, they let Misty continue as it gives them more free time for glamour. Another attraction they have is their aquatic shows. However, Daisy is not quite as concerned with glamour as Violet and Lily, and so finds time to spend some time at the Gym with Misty. This won her a date once when Tracey Sketchit helped out.

Before the start of the first season, their teasing of Misty — often calling her "scrawny," or "runt" — caused the redhead to run away from home. Overtime, after Misty grew a much wiser trainer and person, the three sisters of Misty begin to show a moderate amount of respect toward Misty, especially Daisy. Most notably beginning as she was (somewhat forcibly) made the star of The Misty Mermaid event at Cerulean Gym. And now Misty's sisters trust her enough to fully operate the gym on her own.

As leaders of the Cerulean Gym, the trio have the following Pokémon, among others:
* Luvdisc - Daisy has a female Luvdisc named "Luverin" who rejected the advances of Misty's Luvdisc, "Casurin". After an attack on the gym from Butch and Cassidy, resulting in the two Pokémon working together, Casurin finally wins the love of Luverin.
* Goldeen - three respectively, caught before "The Water Flowers of Cerulean City"
* Seaking - at least one, caught before "The Misty Mermaid"
* Gyarados - at least one, evolved from Magikarp which Misty tamed and claimed as her own in "Cerulean Blues"
* Dewgong - originally a Seel, evolved into Dewgong in "The Misty Mermaid"
* Starmie - Misty's, left at the gym in "The Misty Mermaid"
* Horsea - Misty's, left at the gym in "The Misty Mermaid"

*In the episode 'The Misty Mermaid' the Pokémon that appeared other than Misty's are three Goldeens, a Dewgong, a Shellder and a Seaking. Perhaps each of the four sister own a Goldeen. The other three sans Misty owns either a Shellder, Dewgong or a Seaking.

Brock's family

Pokémon character
name=Flint (Father) / Lola (Mother) / Forrest (Brother)


caption= Flint and Lola, Brock's parentsForrest, Brock's Brother
japanname=Munoo (Father) / Mizuho (Mother) / Jirō (Brother)
voiceactor=Ted Lewis & Rodger Parsons (father), Bella Hudson and Annie Silver (mother) and Andrew Rannells and Joanna Burns (brother)
japanactor=Takaya Hashi (Father) / Mako Hyōdō (Mother) / Romi Paku (Brother)
speciality=Rock-type Pokémon (Father & Brother) / Water-type Pokémon (Mother)
occupation=Pewter City Gym Leaders
firstgame=
firstanime="Showdown in Pewter City" (Father & Brother) / "A Family That Battles Together Stays Together!" (Mother)
firstmanga=

Flint (Munō in the Japanese version) and Lola (Mizuho) are Brock's parents. Flint was Brock's predecessor as the Pewter City Gym Leader. However, he left to try and become a better trainer. Soon after, Brock's mother left (though in the English anime it originally stated she had died), leaving Brock the responsibility of looking after the Gym and his siblings. However, when Ash Ketchum wins the Boulder Badge, Flint returns and takes possession of the Gym, allowing Brock to accompany Ash on his journey. Brock has nine younger brothers and sisters: five boys and four girls. The oldest of Brock's siblings is Forrest (Jiro), followed by Salvador, Yolanda, Tommy, Cindy, Suzy, Timmy, and fraternal twins Tilly and Billy. The majority of Brock's siblings remained unnamed until late in the Battle Frontier saga.

When Brock returns to the Gym in the "Pokémon Chronicles" episode "A Family That Battles Together Stays Together!" he finds that Lola has returned, and has converted the Gym into a Water-type Gym. However, Brock succeeds in reconverting the Gym to a Rock-type Gym, and hands it over to his father and Forrest.

Flint's Pokémon are a Golem and a Rhydon.

Lola's Water-type Pokémon include Slowpoke, Mantine, Poliwag, Gyarados, Vaporeon, Blastoise, Tentacruel and Marill.

Forrest has a Steelix, Crobat and Geodude, all lent to him by Brock.

Brock's Forretress, Ludicolo and Marshtomp are also at the gym though it unknown who is caring for them.

Jessie, James and Meowth

Pokémoncharacterinfobox
name=Jessie, James, and Meowth


caption=
japanname= Musashi (Jessie), Kojiro (James), and Nyasu (Meowth)
voiceactor= Rachael Lillis & Michelle Knotz (Jessie), Ted Lewis, Eric Stuart & Billy Beach (James) and Nathan Price, Maddie Blaustein & Billy Beach (Meowth)
japanvoiceactor= Megumi Hayashibara (Jessie), Shin'ichirō Miki (James) and Inuko Inuyama (Meowth)
speciality=
occupation=Team Rocket grunts
firstgame="Pokémon Yellow"
firstanime="Pokémon Emergency!"
firstmanga=|During the episode "The Battle of the Badge", Giovanni beats Gary Oak but has to go away due to an "emergency assignment", leaving the duties of the gym to Team Rocket members Jessie, James and Meowth. The trio battles with Ash Ketchum, using an electric system that shocks the trainer whenever their Pokémon get hit - and after being defeated, Jessie refuses to give Ash the Earth Badge. However, due to Misty's Togepi playing with the remote control of the electric platforms, the trio gets blown away, and while they fly off Jessie drops the badge, leading Ash to catch it. The Gym is also destroyed as an aftermath of Togepi's curiousness with the remote control.

The trio use Giovanni's Machamp, Kingler, and Rhydon (curiously, the Gym is for Ground-type Pokémon and Rhydon is the only one of this type), Jessie's Arbok and James' Weezing.

Agatha

Pokémon character
name=Agatha


captiom=Agatha, as seen in "Pokémon FireRed" and "LeafGreen"
japanname=Kikuko
voiceactor=Allyson Johnson
japanactor=
Kazuko Sugiyama
occupation=Kanto Pokémon League Elite Four member
firstgame="Pokémon Red" and "Blue"
firstanime="The Scheme Team"
firstmanga="Ponyta Tale"
speciality=Ghost-type PokémonAgatha appears in Advanced Generation episode 132, "The Scheme Team" as a temporary leader for the Viridian City Gym. Her anime appearance is loosely based on her appearance in "FireRed" and "LeafGreen". As in the games, she is a member of the Elite Four.

As Ash Ketchum returns from Hoenn, he passes through Viridian City, and finds the Pokémon gym completely rebuilt. While in Viridian City, he meets Scott, an agent for the Battle Frontier, and Agatha, the temporary Leader of the reformed Gym. Agatha asks Ash if he's come for a Gym Badge, but since Ash already has the badge for this gym, they just fight for fun. The battle is a one-on-one battle between Ash's Pikachu and Agatha's Gengar in which, after a fierce fight, Gengar wins the battle. Agatha also has a Golbat which she uses while fighting Team Rocket.

Agatha is the last member of the original Elite Four to appear in the anime.-

References