Paul
- This article is about the character Paul from the Diamond/Pearl season. For the English voice actor, see Ed Paul.
| Paul シンジ Shinji | |
| [[File:File:ShinjiDP.png|{{{size}}}]] Paul | |
| Age | 11 (est. by Pokeani) |
|---|---|
| Gender | Male |
| Hometown | Veilstone City |
| Region | Sinnoh |
| Relatives | Reiji (brother) |
| Trainer class | Trainer |
| Anime debut | 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. He is voiced by 古島清孝 Kiyotaka Furushima in Japanese, Julián Rebolledo in English and Gabriel Noya in the Brazilian dub.
Paul's only concern in his Pokémon is of their power 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.
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 appears to feel indifference to Brock and Dawn, showing that he didn't even know Dawn's name in A Gruff Act to Follow. However, Paul does show respect for other characters, such as Professor Rowan, Roark, and Cynthia.
Although Paul finds most of Ash's Pokémon weak, he has shown a particular interest in his Pikachu. In A Gruff Act to Follow, Paul was about leave the Oreburgh Gym after Ash's battle with Roark disappointed him. After Pikachu launched a powerful Thunderbolt, however, his interest was piqued once more, and he decided to stay and watch the rest of the battle.
Pokémon
This listing is of Paul's Pokémon as of the most recent Japanese episode:
On hand
 →  →  Turtwig → Grotle → Torterra | ||
 Ursaring |
 Weavile |
 Gliscor |
 →  Murkrow → Honchkrow |
 Magmar | |
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 DP064 respectively, the rest were obtained off-screen.
In training
 →  Elekid → Electabuzz |
Before DP066, Paul left his Electabuzz in Veilstone City with his brother Reiji.
Released
 Starly ×3 |
 Stantler |
 Chimchar |
It is implied that Paul has caught and released many more Pokémon than has been shown on-screen. Two of the Starly caught in When Pokémon Worlds Collide and the Stantler caught in Different Strokes for Different Blokes 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.
Chimchar's capture was shown in a flashback in Glory Blaze. Paul releases it at the end of that episode. Ash then offers Chimchar a place on his team and it accepts happily.
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.
Status Unknown
 Ninjask |
 Fearow |
Ninjask was caught shortly before Paul saw Chimchar, as shown in a flashback in Glory Blaze. Paul was also seen attempting to capture a Fearow in A Maze-ing Race!, though he kept getting distracted by Ash's group. Whether he kept them or even succeeded in catching Fearow in the first place is unknown.
Badges obtained
Pokémon League
Paul has competed in the following Pokémon League competitions:
Pokémon competitions
- Sinnoh Double Battle Tournament (Champion - with Ash)
Trivia
- 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 and so he received the fan name "Nugai", coined by Pie as a play on the phrase "new guy". The first scan showed him commanding a Chimchar.
- At the beginning it was assumed that Paul was a trainer just starting out. However this was proven untrue in Top-Down Training where he revealed that he had already traveled through Kanto, Johto, and Hoenn and participated in their respective leagues before coming back to Sinnoh.
- His Japanese name, Shinji, can be taken to be 信二, which literally means faithful second (son). 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.
- Paul's Japanese name is Shinji and his brother Reiji's name contains "Rei". Shinji and Rei are both names of characters from Neon Genesis Evangelion.
- Several similarities have been noted between Paul and another 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 Special. Both have an Ursaring and a Murkrow, and assuming Paul caught his Weavile as a Sneasel, both have owned a Sneasel at one point.File:SugimoriSilverSketch.jpgSugimori's sketch of Silver
- All of his Pokémon that he has except his Torterra, are part of an evolution family related to Generation II.
- Ursaring was introduced in Generation II.
- Weavile and Gliscor are Generation IV Pokémon, but evolve from Generation II Pokémon (Sneasel and Gligar, respectively).
- Electabuzz and Magmar were introduced in Generation I, but evolve from Generation II Pokémon (Elekid and Magby, respectively).
- Paul's hometown is Veilstone City, which happens to be the home of the main headquarters of Team Galactic. Whether or not this is a coincidence is unknown.
- Paul is the only rival to have had two starter Pokémon in his team, but eventually releases one of them.
- Similar to Ash's previous rival Gary, whose starter was a Squirtle, which is based on a turtle, Paul's starter is also based on a turtle.
External links
- Shinji's Profile on Pokeani (Japanese)
- Shinji's Pokémon on Pokeani (Japanese)
| Paul's Pokémon | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| On hand: | |||||||
| At home: | |||||||
| Released: | |||||||
| Given away: | |||||||
