Every Kanto Gym Leader In Pokémon, Ranked From Worst To Best

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The Pokémon world is filled with interesting and powerful trainers, across both its video games and anime iterations. Among those trainers is the Elite Four, the regional champions, and of course, its gym leaders.

Every region – except Alola, which does things a little differently – has gym leaders, but today we’re looking at the gym leaders of Kanto, the collection of trainers every trainer has to fight in the first generation of Pokémon games and its remakes. To that end, we’ve ranked every single Kanto gym leader, including the two replacement gym leaders featured in Gen 2 and its remakes — they are gym leaders in Kanto, after all.

Lt. Surge

Kanto’s Electric-type gym leader, Lt. Surge, is just plain boring. He did play somewhat of an interesting role in the anime, being a hardened foil to Ash and making him reconsider Pikachu’s future as, well, a Pikachu — but in the games, there’s not a lot going for him. He fought in an unspecified war and then he became a gym leader. Big deal.

Blaine

I don’t hate Blaine, Kanto’s penultimate gym leader who specializes in the Fire-type, but much like Surge, he’s kind of boring. The quiz gimmick of his gym is okay, I guess, and he has a pre-existing relationship with Mr. Fuji which is a nice little bit of world-building, but he’s so forgettable that I actually had to look up a list of leaders in Kanto when making this list because I was missing one. He gets some redemption in Gold and Silver and its remakes, but it’s not enough to bump him up the list.

Brock

Brock is the first gym leader that many trainers faced in their journeys, and kicked off a long line of first gym leaders being Rock-type masters. Of the Rock-type leaders, though, Brock is probably the least interesting. He is, however, a fantastic companion to Ash throughout much of the anime, and his drying pan line in the dub is one of the most iconic scenes in anime history, so it’s not as if there’s nothing going for him.

Koga

Poison-type gym leaders are reasonably rare throughout the series, but Koga is pretty interesting. He’s a ninja with a history in medical care, having made antidotes and potions for the poisons he wields in battle, and even eventually becomes an Elite Four member in Gold and Silver. He’s a little on the bland side, but he’s a fun character nonetheless.

Janine

Janine is a much more interesting version of Koga, essentially, who replaces him in the Fuschia Gym in Gold and Silver. She’s Koga’s daughter, and despite her prowess in battling and mastering Poison-type Pokémon, she’s still learning the ropes and trying to get out of her dad’s shadow. It’s a nice little change in leadership, and it’s cool to see the next generation of leaders step up and take their place.

Misty

Ah Misty, what a character. In the anime, this Water-type gym leader left her post to travel alongside Ash for quite some time, but in the games, she’s a challenging second fight for any aspiring trainers in the Kanto region. She’d probably be further up the list if it wasn’t for the weird dating subplot in Gold and Silver. What was up with that?

Erika

Erika is one of the most memorable gym leaders in Pokémon history, with her girls-only Grass-type gym representing the halfway point through the Kanto region’s gym challenge. She’s always depicted in a beautiful kimono, and depending on your starter, could be a real challenge. She had a minimal role in the anime to begin with, but got a spotlight in an episode of Journeys that was truly delightful.

Sabrina

Sabrina is a fascinating character, being shown as a devastatingly powerful recluse in the games, having crushed the Fighting-type gym so badly with her Psychic-type Pokémon that it was deregistered. In the anime, though, she’s a depressed little girl who hides away from the world, before Ash and his silly Haunter cracks her steely facade and gets her to laugh. She’s very memorable for this reason, though her redesign in Heart Gold and Soul Silver is… a little weird.

Blue

Look, Blue is here on a technicality, being the second gym leader of Viridian Gym after the first had to leave for… reasons. We’ll get to that in a moment. Having the rival of Red and Blue show up as the final gym leader in Kanto in Gold and Silver is a wild moment, really connecting the two games in a way that’s only been seen once since in Black and White 2. Blue is a unique gym leader too, in that he doesn’t use a specific type, but instead uses a team similar to that of his team in Red and Blue. It’s great.

Giovanni

Giovanni is easily one of the most fascinating gym leaders in Pokémon history. He’s the bad guy! The leader of Team Rocket. And as it happens, the final gym leader a trainer has to face before taking on the Indigo League. It’s not a twist, exactly, it’s very well telegraphed ahead of time, but it is a very neat idea. Kalos did something a little bit similar, with Team Flare member Malva being a member of the Elite Four, but it just doesn’t hit quite right.