Team Plasma they are, but I've only ran into them twice so far. It's not especially hard to play B/W if you've studied Japanese for any appreciable amount (and have a
dictionary handy).
I'm a little past the first gym now. Here's my elite Pokesquad:
Last time I played was Silver (proper, back in '00 xD). First ever double battle was wuuuuut, afraid of the triple battles
And all these new balls and stuff, this shit is intense.