pikapikaabc

I'm gonna admit right here at the beginning that this is gonna be more along the lines of "why I think Drew is a great character" and won't only address why he's not a little asshole, but we'll get there. That being said, here are some of his redeeming qualities:

He works hard to be good at what he does Frankly, this should be a given. We see him training his Pokemon or working on his routines all the time. He opts to skip out on social festivities so he can train because he's just that focused on achieving his goals and bettering himself. Does he gloat a lot? Of course, but we know that he's put in the necessary effort to get to where he is, and this leads into the next point regarding when he loses.

He isn't a sore loser During the course of AG/BF, we see him sustain 4 losses: Grace, The Phantom/Timmy, Robert, and May (AG51, AG61, AG123, AG182). We also know that in the past, he'd suffered a crushing defeat to Solidad (AG180). At no point do we ever see him throw a fit over losing, nor does he hold a grudge against anybody he's lost to. Even against The Phantom, who grievously wounded his partner Pokemon, he's more worried about the state of his Pokemon than seeking revenge for his loss. For someone who gloats the way he does, you would expect that kind of prideful attitude to carry over into his losses too, but it doesn't. Not even mentioning that we don't ever really see him gloating to anybody else outside of May and co. In the scenes where it really matters, the gloating jerk is nowhere to be seen.

He knows how to reflect on himself This goes along with him not being a sore loser and a hard worker. Drew is, without a doubt, his own harshest critic. Keep in mind that he, like many other trainers/coordinators outside of the main characters, travels by himself. The only person we know he keeps in touch with periodically is Solidad, and she's stated that when they talk, they don't discuss contest strategies to each other (AG181). We never hear of his family situation at all, so for all we know, he doesn't have a support network the same way Ash and co do. Despite all this, he's still managed to be as good as he is. This kind of improvement doesn't happen for anybody that doesn't take time out to consider their weaknesses and how to approach fixing them. When the cast finds Drew training Absol in AG181, we see Drew being critical of himself firsthand, blaming himself for his appeal not going as well as he wanted. The original line he says is 「僕が未熟だからです」, "Because I'm not good enough". It's not 僕ら/bokura here, which would include his Pokemon as well, it's just 僕/boku, himself. One last thing about AG181/182 because this is actually just my excuse to blab about those episodes, but one of the important features of his match against May in the semifinals is that it's a clash of their ideals regarding how to raise their Pokemon. I think some people really harp on him for his outburst at May during that training scene, and I partially blame that on the dub having him call her a wimp. I'll quote the entire original exchange here with my own translation before I get into it. Haruka: シュウ！失敗だったなんて…アブソルは一生懸命やってたしあんなにきれいに決めたのに…もっと褒めてあげてもいいんじゃないの？ (Shuu! Calling it [the appeal] a failure... Even though Absol did its best and did it so beautifully...would it be so bad to offer more praise?) Shuu: ロゼリアもアメモースもフライゴンも常に上を目指してやってきた。一生懸命やったからって褒めるほど僕らは甘くない。君達とは違うんだ！ (Roselia, Masquerain, Flygon; they've always given 110%/aimed higher. We [Drew and his Pokemon] aren't so naive to think that just doing our best is praiseworthy. We're not like you guys!) [Drew walks away here] Haruka: みんなで頑張っても励まし合って優勝を目指すのは甘いことなの？ねえ、シュウ… (Hey, Shuu...is it really naive to aim for victory through everyone doing their best and encouraging one another?) I don't think I did justice to May's last line, but it's basically the "we'll get 'em next time, you were great" mentality. I'm going to be inserting my own personal opinion on self-improvement here, but I think Drew has a point. Improving yourself isn't doing your best, it's about being better than your best. There's nothing wrong with May's approach—that much is proven to Drew when she defeats him in the semifinals—but just like Drew's method, it doesn't work for everyone. In the same way that Drew's method might feel too harsh on anyone that can't handle it, May's method assumes that encouragement and praise will always convince someone to work harder. There's a whole tangent I could go on about all this, but I'm digressing too much from my main point. As a final addition to this point, I do think it's naive to think positive reinforcement is all you need. When Drew loses to May in AG182 after their disagreement in AG181, he acknowledges her side of their argument because the results are staring him in the face. A lot of people wanted him to apologize for yelling, but the look they share after the match is the apology. It's a recognition of her efforts and her methodology. There aren't any excuses for why he lost and no blame assigned anywhere. As a bonus, we also don't see him immediately start training after the Grand Festival ends like he did after the first one (although maybe he does after walking away, who knows). Then we see him again in AG187 and, by his own admission, he's been spending the time since they last saw each other working on himself and his Pokemon. Note that in this same episode, he's noticeably nicer to May. He shows up and openly helps her through the funk she's in without any of the usual criticisms or goading that have been typical prior. Smells like character development.

He cares a great deal about not only his Pokemon, but Pokemon in general I feel like this should also be pretty self-evident, but here we go. At various points, we see him taking care of and treating his own Pokemon well (Keeping Masquerain hydrated in AG122, petting Absol in AG182, feeding Roselia pokeblock in AG187, to name a couple). He's also shown to be torn up when Roselia gets seriously injured battling against The Phantom in AG61. Pretty typical for a trainer or coordinator worth their salt to care about their own Pokemon. But we also get to see him care about Pokemon that aren't his. Despite how much he critiques May, it's always a critique of her and not her Pokemon. AG162 has Drew telling Ash to lay off of Sceptile because he's putting unnecessary pressure on him. AG139 has him giving up on capturing Arcanine despite the potential benefit because, and I quote from the original lines, 「久しぶりにポケモンたちの美しい愛情を見せてもらった。それで十分さ」("I got to see the beautiful love between Pokemon for the first time in a while. That's enough for me"). And then AG113 has one that gets lost in translation: the scene where May gets kidnapped and the Wynaut build a slide for him to get down from the cliff. What does he say before he uses them to get down? 「すまない！」("Sorry!"). He literally apologizes to the Wynaut before using their heads as a pathway instead of just thanking them for helping.

He's respectful and generally kind to his competition Ignoring his treatment of May for a second, we've never seen him be mean to any of his other competitors or fellow coordinators. In fact, excluding the one time he pushed Ash to battle him (AG50), he's relatively civil with Ash and co too. He compliments Savannah on a good battle after defeating her in AG78, is nothing but kind and helpful to Brianna in AG162, and shows a great deal of respect towards Solidad and Robert. With that out of the way, we can discuss his treatment of May, his main rival. Is he tough on her? Absolutely. He gloats and eggs her on and isn't afraid to criticize her when he thinks she's doing something wrong. But think about what kind of person May was, especially around the Rubello contest, and consider that she needed a reality check sometimes. Being critical of his first interaction with her makes sense to me, he's pretty properly mean there since they don't know anything about each other, but nearly every interaction after is "being cruel to be kind" coded. To bolster this argument, we only need to look back at the clash from AG181 again. It's clearly established that Drew is the kind of person who takes a much more hardened approach to encouragement. Even if it makes him look like the bad guy, he pushes because he knows there's more potential to unlock. Most of his interactions with May are this in a nutshell. And the kicker is that he really doesn't need to do all this. AG77 and AG187 imply that having fans isn't really something he thinks about when it comes to his coordinating career, and it puts him in an awkward spot when he's faced with the more overtly enthusiastic ones. Yet he's still willing to offer praise and advice to the ones who started their coordinating careers after being inspired by him, even if they might be his future competition. May is one of his direct competitors and he puts himself at a disadvantage trying to unlock her potential, but he does it anyway. Also, side note but the actual character development from AG77 to AG187 is that he went from not giving out autographs to signing Nurse Joy's little photo book.

He's very perceptive I added this point in just for fun, but he figures out Harley pretty quickly in AG122/123. Likewise, he catches wind of potential trouble happening in AG174/175 with Harley + Team Rocket. He wasn't there for everything that happened with Sceptile, but manages to zero in on the fact that he's not in the best shape pretty much immediately in AG162. AG50 has him recognize the disconnect between Ash and his Taillow, as well as May's obvious lack of sync with her own Pokemon. AG187 has him correctly pinpoint May's current struggle (though this can be chalked up to him having been in a similar place in the past). There's also all the commentary he offers when he's sitting in the stands at contests.

He goes out of his way to help his rival and her entourage This one sort of goes with the whole "being nice to his competition" point, but I separated it because he actually does this almost every time he appears, including his debut episode where he was at his meanest. If that doesn't show that he's not a complete asshat, I don't know what will. With that said, let's go through all the times he's given May and co some help. AG33, his debut episode, he has no qualms at all about May cutting their battle short to go stop Team Rocket. Keep in mind that at this point, he knows zilch about who Team Rocket are and doesn't know May and her friends at all either. He just takes May at her word when she says they need those Bluk Berries for someone and helps the group take down Team Rocket, no questions asked. AG35 has him dispelling May's nervousness before her turn on stage by egging her on. AG50 has him witnessing May's failed attempted at combinations due to uncertainty. He does his whole gloating song and dance and then, very unusually, he challenges Ash to a battle after running into the rest of the group later on. This is something we never see him do again. Even stranger, he wants Ash to use Taillow specifically. Drew very pointedly doesn't decide to end the battle until May is in the vicinity to see it, and wouldn't you know it, he gives a whole speech about teamwork after defeating Ash. Gee, I wonder what lesson he's really trying to drive home here. AG61 has him appear very briefly to lose a battle with The Phantom, but he still goes out of his way to inform May and co about the potential threat in the upcoming contest. AG78 is when May starts letting her wins get to her head too much. Here again, he goes out of his way to give May advice regarding her current attitude. I can't remember what he says in the English dub, but his phrasing in the original line is kind of poetic: 「いつまでもそんな調子じゃリボンが泣くよ」("Keep that up and your ribbons will cry"). He and Brock exchange telepathic eye contact about it later when May blows up at Ash, recognizing that if verbal advice isn't going to dissuade her, then experience will. AG113 sees him rescuing May from Team Rocket after they accidentally kidnap her, then teaming up to send them packing. AG122/123, when Harley tries to trick May into getting eliminated from the Hoenn Grand Festival. Drew has his eye on Harley basically the entire time until he's certain the guy's up to no good. The moment he has confirmation, he tells May, then berates her for misplacing her faith. Even more, he's not telling her that she should've trusted him (he did warn her earlier, after all), he's reinforcing the idea that she should've trusted in herself and her Pokemon. AG139, he's helping the gang again with defeating Team Rocket and rescuing the Arcanine and her pups. AG174/175, he's keeping an eye on Ash and co as well as Harley and Team Rocket in secret. There's no reason at all for him to save them here, but he does it anyway. He also doesn't even mention that he saved them to May later when they interact, so if Ash and the others didn't say anything, he wouldn't have gotten credit for anything. AG182, Drew offers May some advice regarding her upcoming match against Solidad. And finally, AG187 where he has a hand in pulling May out of the depression she's been in. This one feels particularly egregious because what's he even doing there anyway? Same for Harley, who's also there for some reason.

If you've made it this far, congrats. The moral of this whole thing is that Drew is actually a pretty nice kid, even if he isn't the Ash-and-co brand of nice, and has tons of good qualities. You don't have to like him, but by AG187, it feels objectively wrong to make him out to be some asshole in any sense of the term.

AG113: Who, What, When, Where, Wynaut? (まぼろし島のソーナノ！)

I'd be remiss not to include this. Prior to AG113, Shuu refers to Haruka as "Haruka-kun", appending the -kun to her name as a means of condescension (when he isn't using kimi, "you"). This episode marks the moment he drops the -kun and calls her "Haruka" permanently. You won't miss the shift in their dynamic in the dub either, but in Japanese, it's made completely clear with this change.

Fun fact about Shuu: he only ever uses -kun or no honorific with Haruka. Every other character we see him interact with is -san out of politeness or distance, if he says their names at all. Satoshi and co are kimi-tachi ("you guys") and he never addresses Harley by anything, not even kimi.

AG123: Rhapsody in Drew (決戦！グランドフェスティバル➂！！)

English: Caroline: May will give it her best, I'm sure of that. Japanese: Mitsuko「宿命の対決って感じね」 (It feels like a predestined/fated matchup, doesn't it?)

Haruka's mom says this line before the Haruka vs Shuu match begins. The rivalry is such a core component to Haruka and Shuu's relationship, one that's central to both Grand Festivals, and changing the line here feels like it shifts the focus to Haruka instead of their clashing as rivals.

宿命の対決 (shukumei no taiketsu) is a really battle shounen phrase, but I wanted to note the word shukumei ("something determined before birth that can't be avoided") because it comes up again later.

English: Caroline: Yes, he's certainly a very good Trainer, huh? And I don't expect he's the type to take it easy on someone who's down either. Japanese: Mitsuko「確かにシュウ君ってすごい子ね。しかもなんだかハルカを挑発してるように見えるわ」 (Shuu-kun certainly is incredible. What's more, it almost seems like he's provoking Haruka)

Flygon dodges Combusken's attack and Haruka gets an eyeful of the sun. Takeshi then mentions how Shuu's making good use of the open stage. Mitsuko, however, doesn't feel like the move was purely strategic; he's purposefully drawing Haruka out too. It's a verbal acknowledgement of how they interact as rivals that we don't quite get from her dub line.

English: Drew: I'm still determined to become the top coordinator someday. Hey, I'm already thinking about attacks I might wanna use in next year's festival! Japanese: Shuu「僕はトップコーディネーターを目指す。僕にしかできない方法でポケモンたちを輝かせるんだ」 (I'm aiming for Top Coordinator. I'll make my Pokemon shine in a way only I can)

I've got this one here because the 4Kids dub altering this line ends up looking silly when May calls back to it in The Unbeatable Lightness of Seeing! with the TPCi dub:

English: May: Remember? When you told me you needed to find a battling style that was yours and only yours? Well, I want to find my own style too, and learn how to show off my Pokemon a lot better than I do now. All my own, like no one else! Japanese: Haruka「いつかシュウ言ってたよね？『自分にしかできない方法でポケモンたちを輝かせたい』って。私も自分だけの方法を見つけたい。もっともっとポケモンたちの魅力を引き出したい。私にしかできないやり方で！」 (You said it before, didn't you? "I want to make my Pokemon shine in a way only I can". I want to find my own way too, to draw out the charm of my Pokemon more and more. In a way only I can!)

With the dubbing company changing between S8 and S9, this was kind of out of their hands, but the mismatch means you might miss how influential that conversation on the beach is to her.

AG143: The Saffron Con (ポケモンコンテスト・ヤマブキ大会！(前編))

English: Harley: I wonder if your little rival will enter this contest. Japanese: Harley「あ～ら、やっぱり二人は宿命のライバルなのねえ」 (Well now! So [as I thought] you two are predestined/fated rivals after all, huh?)

Here's that shukumei word again, this time in 宿命のライバル (shukumei no raibaru). Haruka and Harley both mention running into Shuu in Kanto and he says this line. It's another comment about their rivalry that gets lost in the dub, but also a small nod towards how convenient it is that they'd run into each other despite never talking about where they were planning to go.

AG162: Spontaneous Combusken! (ポケモンコンテスト！ユズリハ大会！！)

English: Brock: Gee Drew, why don't you tell us how you really feel?

Japanese: Takeshi「全くシュウはハルカには厳しいな」 (Geez, you sure are tough on Haruka)

"Wasn't this in the other post?" Yep. One of the things this episode does in spades is show us the difference in how Shuu treats Haruka vs other people. This line, the way it's phrased in Japanese, serves a similar purpose. What Takeshi is saying is "I don't know about anyone else, but at least towards Haruka specifically, you're critical/harsh", highlighting the contrast.

English: Brianna: C'mon, May! It seems to me your feelings for Drew go way beyond just contests and battling. May: Huh? Me and Drew? He's just a rival, that's all! Brianna: Oh yeah? Well, I wanna know if you like Drew! May: Like him!? To be honest, I've never really given it that much thought... Brianna: For your information, as soon as I win this, I'm telling him that I love him! May: That's fine with me except for the 'soon as you win this' part.

Japanese: Wakana「ハルカさん。結局ハルカさんってシュウ様のことどう思ってるんですか？」 (Haruka-san. So what/how do you think of Shuu-sama?) Haruka「はあ？シュウはライバルよ。いつか絶対に勝ちたい相手」 (Huh? Shuu's my rival. Someone I absolutely wanna win against someday) Wakana「そうじゃなくって。好きかどうかってことです」 (That's not what I mean. I'm asking whether you like him or not) Haruka「好き！？そ…そんなこと意識したことないし…急に言われても…」 (Like him!? I...I've never considered it before...so even if you suddenly ask me...) Wakana「私、ハルカさんに勝ったら、シュウ様に告白しようと思ってるんです」 (I'm thinking of confessing to Shuu-sama once I win against you) Haruka「えっ！？あっ、ワカナがそう決めたんならそれでいいかも」 (Huh!? Um, if that's what you've decided, then [I guess] that's fine)

The part I wanted to highlight is how Wakana asks Haruka rather than the more pointed accusation in the dub, which colors how Haruka/May responds. The dub line feels like she understands the implication on some level, whereas the original line gives her that wiggle room to take the question at face value. "What/How do you think of Shuu?" → "He's my rival!"

She doesn't register her fixation as anything else, something Wakana picks up on, so it flows much better into the next set of lines when Wakana clarifies she meant "do you like him". Then she turns red, flounders with her answer, etc etc. This becomes relevant come The Unbeatable Lightness of Seeing!.

Detour note: Haruka has a habit of frequently ending her sentences with -kamo (short for kamoshirenai, an expression of uncertainty like "maybe"), which doesn't quite make it into the localization. Harley calls attention to it all the time, but it's usually treated more like white noise. I've written "I guess" in brackets for the last line to reflect that it's there.

AG174: New Plot, Odd Lot! (ハーリー＆ロケット団！悪役同盟結成！？)

English: Drew: Guess it had to be. Japanese: Shuu「そうこなくっちゃね」 (That's what I'm talking about/That's how it should be)

He has all of three lines in this episode (four if you count the flashback), but here's one where I don't think the localization really captures what he means. The phrase そうこなくっちゃ (sou konakuccha) is used often in response to something turning out the way you wanted, and he says it right after Haruka makes it past the appeal stage. The dub line is oddly more subdued than the original, which is kinda rare.

Extra tidbit, but he says this in his first appearance in Now That's Flower Power! too when Haruka agrees to battle him over the Bluk Berries.

AG181: Thinning the Hoard! (ハルカVSハーリー！ダブルバトルでステージ・オン！！)

English: Harley: The poor little loser girl got her teeny feelings all hurt. Japanese: Harley「まあ、かもちゃんったらあんなに動揺しちゃって」 (My my, Kamo-chan's so shaken up)

Harley says this right after The Fight™. He orchestrates this altercation and his original line places emphasis on how much it affected her—an emphasis that sounds suspiciously like a line he's said before at a certain other Grand Festival (which got changed into the boyfriend line):

Harley「ふん。まさかシュウ君がこんなにあんたのこと気にしてたなんてね」 (Hmph. To think Shuu-kun would care/concern himself this much with you)

This was also in the other post, but I do think it's better than the boyfriend line even if it's not as funny. A decent chunk of Harley's commentary seems to exist to call attention to certain aspects of their relationship; these two lines are no different.

Side note, but if you have to watch any episodes of AG subbed/in Japanese, the Kanto GF arc is a good choice. The dub...certainly does a thing with some key lines.

AG187: The Unbeatable Lightness of Seeing! (ハルカVSシュウ！ライバルよ永遠に)

English: May: You really gave me a shock back there. See, I was just thinking about you when all of a sudden, there you were. Drew: Were they good thoughts? May: Uh, c'mon! Of course they were! Japanese: Haruka「さっきはびっくりしたわ。シュウのこと考えてたらいきなり目の前に現れるんだもん」 (That was a surprise. I was thinking about you and suddenly, there you were) Shuu「考えてた？」 (Thinking [about me]?) Haruka「あ…いや、そういう意味じゃないの！」 (Ah, no, I didn't mean like that!)

Remember that exchange with Wakana in Spontaneous Combusken? Wakana asks her dou omotteru ("what/how do you think of—?) with romantic implications and Haruka answers at face value. Shuu asks her kangaeteta ("thinking?") with no implications and her immediate reaction is to not take it at face value.

This bit of dialogue provides continuity for the events of Spontaneous Combusken and is basically the only time Haruka reacts this way without some third party needling her. The dub change turns it into a funny but mostly forgettable interaction.

English: Harley: How touching. It's dangerous~ Two kids alone like this. May: Ah, c'mon! We were just talking! Really! Japanese: Harley「お二人さん！何やってんのよ、怪しいわね」 (Hey, you two! What's going on here? How suspicious) Haruka「そんな！私たち別に…その…」 (No way! We're not really...um...)

I don't have much to say about this one—you can watch the scene yourself to hear the difference. If May had stuttered or sounded hesitant in the dub line, it'd be more accurate to the original.