With the exception of Ash, Team Rocket and (unfortunately) Brock, most of the major characters in Pokemon are actually relatively short-lived. Even Ash's teams. For example:
- We think of Bulbasaur/Squirtle/Charizard being Ash's team for a long time, right? When in reality they only lasted about 130 episodes, and Bulbasaur slightly longer than that. Ash's Sinnoh team on the other hand has been around for nearly 200, excluding Gible. Ash didn't even have Charizard on his roster for all that long. Ash's classic Kanto team was actually one of his shortest lived main teams of the series, only lasting slightly more than the Johto team.
- Gary was only Ash's rival for 5 years out of a 13 year series. Its shocking to realize how short-lived the Ash/Gary rivalry in the show really was. That's not even half the show!
- Misty, similar to Gary, was only a main character for 5 years out of a 13 year history. Once again, that's less than half the series. Ash, TR and Brock are all in literally double the amount of eps she was in.
- Tracey was of course very short-lived, with only 32 eps on the main cast.
- May, despite getting two sagas and two Contests arcs while Dawn only got one, only got around 192 episodes on the main cast. She (and Max to a lesser extent), was only part of the show for 4 years. Quite a shock when you think about how many more Contests they made in AG compared to this arc. It also felt like May lasted longer in the anime than she did, since AG was split into two arcs.
- Harley only existed for the last 2 years of AG.
- Dawn, if she leaves when DP ends, will have about the same amount of time May did, with somewhere around 192 or so eps on the main cast, and a 4 year run.
- Barry missed the first 100 eps of DP, and was thus only around for brief moments in 90 eps.
- Kenny only appeared in about 7 episodes. Ursula in only 5. Nando only has 5 major appearances in the show, even if he stayed through the GF.
- Pokehunter J only has 5 appearances in the show before she met her demise.
- Team Galactic and Magma/Aqua appeared no more than 10 times in their respective sagas.
- The real Giovanni, not the Meowth daydream, has only appeared in maybe 15 episodes of the entire series.
When you stop to think of it, Ash/Pikachu, TR and Brock are really the only characters who lasted in the anime a long time. Everyone else is actually short-lived. Does anyone else realize that when you go by episode count, characters didn't last quite as long as believed?
- We think of Bulbasaur/Squirtle/Charizard being Ash's team for a long time, right? When in reality they only lasted about 130 episodes, and Bulbasaur slightly longer than that. Ash's Sinnoh team on the other hand has been around for nearly 200, excluding Gible. Ash didn't even have Charizard on his roster for all that long. Ash's classic Kanto team was actually one of his shortest lived main teams of the series, only lasting slightly more than the Johto team.
- Gary was only Ash's rival for 5 years out of a 13 year series. Its shocking to realize how short-lived the Ash/Gary rivalry in the show really was. That's not even half the show!
- Misty, similar to Gary, was only a main character for 5 years out of a 13 year history. Once again, that's less than half the series. Ash, TR and Brock are all in literally double the amount of eps she was in.
- Tracey was of course very short-lived, with only 32 eps on the main cast.
- May, despite getting two sagas and two Contests arcs while Dawn only got one, only got around 192 episodes on the main cast. She (and Max to a lesser extent), was only part of the show for 4 years. Quite a shock when you think about how many more Contests they made in AG compared to this arc. It also felt like May lasted longer in the anime than she did, since AG was split into two arcs.
- Harley only existed for the last 2 years of AG.
- Dawn, if she leaves when DP ends, will have about the same amount of time May did, with somewhere around 192 or so eps on the main cast, and a 4 year run.
- Barry missed the first 100 eps of DP, and was thus only around for brief moments in 90 eps.
- Kenny only appeared in about 7 episodes. Ursula in only 5. Nando only has 5 major appearances in the show, even if he stayed through the GF.
- Pokehunter J only has 5 appearances in the show before she met her demise.
- Team Galactic and Magma/Aqua appeared no more than 10 times in their respective sagas.
- The real Giovanni, not the Meowth daydream, has only appeared in maybe 15 episodes of the entire series.
When you stop to think of it, Ash/Pikachu, TR and Brock are really the only characters who lasted in the anime a long time. Everyone else is actually short-lived. Does anyone else realize that when you go by episode count, characters didn't last quite as long as believed?
