Why the turnover? (Pokémon animé)

 I remember fondly when I started watching Pokémon, the animé. It was the fifth episode, Ash’s very first gym battle with Brock. Misty, the female character, stood out for me. Now, I’m not a perv, I’m more of a romantic, and whenever I see a female lead, I get all gooey inside my male guts and my mind flitters like a Butterfree.

When Misty left, I was a little saddened, but not surprised. Over time, I forgot about Misty and focused on May, who had a wonderful role because her character latched onto the Pokémon contest scene. Sure, I did like Misty and her goofy Psyduck, but before we get into May and Dawn, let’s figure out a bit about Misty.

A lot of people hated the writers for dumping Misty into role as permanent Cerulean Gym Leader. Brock, who used to be the Pewter City Gym Leader, got to dump his duties on his family, but Misty’s sisters took away her freedom. Why? Well, after reading some posts on Serebii.net forums, I decided to come up with an explanation:

• When Misty and Brock were made into Ash’s companions, the animé’s original set up was to be a single season, 52 episodes, and then Ash would win the Pokémon League and get his dream, and that was it. However, by the time that epic finale was coming close, Nintendo told the writers “Oops, we’re going to do a sequel to our games, they’re a hit!” This meant that the writers had to extend Ash’s journey to get him to Johto, and it snowballed from there.
• During this first season, Misty and Brock were just there to provide comic relief and look pretty for the camera. Brock was the adult chaperone and Misty pulled his ear whenever his hormones got out of whack. It was a classic Punch-and-Judy act.
• Misty’s goal: To be the great Water Pokémon trainer in the world. Of course, specialized type trainers were very narrow-minded in their catches and training and any smart trainer like Ash would monopolize that type’s weaknesses; Ash would always beat Misty with Pikachu and his grass Pokémon every time.
• Once Johto came around, the writers were forced to come up with clever ideas for Misty, but except for catching a Corsola, Misty was reduced to a cheerleader and comic relief.
• Also, her Pokémon weren’t as popular as Ash’s. Ash had a yellow mouse which could shoot lightning, a couple of grass Pokémon, one with a crush on him, a crazy alligator, a punkish turtle, a fire dragon, and a bunch of other interesting creatures. Misty had: a couple of faceless starfish, a goldfish and seahorse which couldn’t even live out of water, a duck which was comic relief 90% of the time and got his shining moments whenever someone stupidly wounded his head, and a coral creature which acted cute. Then there was the cute baby Togepi, but thankfully the writers wrote it off by evolving it during Misty’s visit to Hoenn. Okay, so there was also a frog called Politoed which claps a lot, but it and Psyduck were the only memorable Pokémon in her lineup.
• The last two points sealed Misty’s fate: All she was good for was fighting with water Pokémon, which was her role as a gym leader in the games. Therefore, the writers realized she had to return to her gym. They could have made her a coordinator as an excuse to keep her with Ash, but by that time, people were drooling over the new “cute female lead brunette” and forgot about Misty.
• Those who complained about Misty’s axing were those who wanted Ash and Misty to hook up, but Pokémon isn’t a love-fest, the cartoon is about Ash’s journey around the world, experiencing new Pokémon adventures, not about him making out with a cute girl. I bet those people complained when Rumiko Takahashi ended her story about Ranma Saotome with him walking off with Akane as friends instead of getting married to her.

Now, that’s not to say I don’t miss Misty; she had a nice character while she was in Kanto and the Orange Islands, but once she entered Johto, most of the episodes were focused on Ash, not her. The Whirl Cup was nice, but I felt cheated she didn’t win. Still, if she had been training her Pokémon, she wouldn’t have lost to a Chinchou.

When May and Max left Ash’s company, I felt a little more sad, because I enjoyed May and especially Max. However, I am glad May is coming back to fight against Dawn. Dawn is proving to be an interesting character and these developments make her interesting. If it had been Misty training that Piplup, I would have probably seen it rot in its Pokéball. Sad but true.

I don’t know if Dawn will meet Misty(she did see Misty in Ash’s fishing lure), but it’s clear that Misty has jumped the Sharpedo. It’s time to move on.

So long, Misty, we will miss you…