More enjoyable to you, Misty or May?

[Cybersai]

I've noticed we have a Misty or Dawn poll here:

http://bmgf.bulbagarden.net/f554/misty-vs-dawn-131665/

So why not a Misty or May one? I made the votes multiple choice so you can vote for both if you like.

Overall at the start of the show I liked Misty up until the beginning of Johto, but then after that it became obvious the writers had no long term plans for the character, so her character dulled for me. I think May was a better handled character overall, at the time the Contests were something new and fresh for the series, and I think May just overall had more character development than Misty did. Not to mention rivals in Drew/Harley and more battles. No she wasn't handled perfectly and some aspects of the Contests were improved into DP, but I think May was one of the few main characters the writers did a decent job with over these last 16 years.

Hopefully this can be a civilized poll, with respectable polls. Just curious to see how people feel all these years. I notice in the character club sections and past polls they're usually neck and neck or May just with a slight edge in votes. But a lot of different people are on the forums now so who knows, this one might turn out differently.

 

[megaevolvedmushroom]

Voted both by accident (stupid phone), but of course, my real vote goes to Misty.

She was more entertaining than May could ever dream of being, she had more believable development, and she had a more fleshed out backstory. Yes, she was a cliche (who isn't?), but she was handled compellingly.

Oh, and she swims better.

 

[Pokémon Master Ash]

It's hard for me to choose, since I liked both of them a lot. I'm going to say barely ahead is Misty, but May is freaking amazing as well in my book. Both are hot, too, for cartoon characters.

Both were the first of their characters to establish the different personalities female lead character. A lot of what we saw in Dawn was already present in May, while a lot of what we see in Iris was already present in Misty. It's more that both Misty and May were the first to establish these personalities and their successors are similar to them that makes Dawn and Iris a bit worse in my opinion (respectively).

Misty wins it for me by just a little bit. It's neck and neck in this comparison, though, considering Misty and May are my favorite female chars so far. Iris I'm 50/50 on (when she's nice and polite/refrains from "little kid" she's awesome and I like her traditional values a lot more than I did Dawn's character, but when she's mean she's incredibly unlikeable and that's really detracted from my overall view of her in BW), and I liked Dawn for having a nice spirit to never stand down and rise back up to defeat her rivals (she's kinda like another Ash like you said once before as a female character, for better or worse), but found Dawn very bland and generic sometimes. XD.

 

[Hidden Mew]

I'm going to go with May. She had a more fun personality than I thought Misty had and I was more engaged in her Contest arcs than I was with Misty's goal of being a Water Pokemon Master. May did have some cheap wins and should have lost a couple of more times when she first started out. Misty was just there, but relatively okay. May was just more enjoyable to watch for me during AG because having a more active female lead and seeing another trainer start off at the beginning of their journey was really refreshing for me at the time. May was just a more fun character to watch for me, so she would be a more enjoyable character compared to one that I was indifferent towards.

 

[Sakuraa]

I initially disliked May because she replaced Misty in the show, but later grew attatched to her and now she's my favorite of Ash's female freinds.
I really liked May's Pokemon and her having an actual career rather than Misty just having a random goal she hoped to eventually accomplish. May's Pokemon also had more personality to me than Misty's Pokemon, but this could be due to progress that happened in AG giving Pokemon other than Ash's actual personality.
I also really liked May's caring relationship with Max in contrast to Misty's more harsh relationship with her sisters. May in general just seemed nicer than Misty and would actually listen to problems before getting mad.
May also had more starring roles in episodes and was basically treated more like a co-star than a sidekick.
So I'm going with May.

 

[Sweet Veil]

I voted for May because she simply did more than Misty and consistently and had more entertaining personality for me, all her Pokemon were pretty cute and entertaining for me despite her having significantly lesser than Misty at a time. I thought she had some great development, her battles were fun despite quite a few being pretty cheap, I thought Drew and Harley were excellent rivals in many regards, I thought her closer episode(The Unbeatable Lightness of Seeing!!) was one of the best character wrap-up episodes ever. Max was a great character and his interactions with May were great and May wouldn't come without a Max. I liked her nickname(Princess of Hoenn), she's the best Coordinator on this show for me because she took Ash's battling style and mixed it with a typical Coordinating style and had a more battle-orientated way of going about Contest. She wasn't overly-feminine and acted badass at times and she got overconfident at time but got served some nice humble pie when it was needed. She had a whole movie focusing on her with Manaphy and Munchlax continues to be one of the best Pokemon ever for me.

 

[Cybersai]

There were basically 2 1/2 good seasons of Misty, but 3 1/2 good seasons for May.

May only started getting stale in the non-Contest episodes of Battle Frontier, but Misty was too stale for most of Johto until Master Quest.

 

[Lillie]

Well for me Misty was enjoyable until she lost her short temper problem and matured up. It did make her feel quite dull tbh. I also find May enjoyable for her quirks, especially with food XD

 

[FANG-TAN]

Kasumi was best when she was a tsundere. Haruka had the benefit of being based on an in-game playable character.

 

[pokemon fan 132]

Without much hesitation ill say Misty. I enjoyed in her rich, highly versatile personality having plenty of enjoyable quirks and traits specific for her knowing how to lift up atmosphere and embellish anime with more humor and drama. She was feisty, spunky, caring, assertive and full of adventurous spirit often playing role of heroine by saving people lives, helping others about their problems and having great sense of humor bringing great dynamics and humor in cast during all 5 years of her run.

I also enjoyed in growth through she went as character, starting as short tempered girl exploding over everything trying to cover up her insecurities with temper, with time gradually growing in more mature and confident character growing attached to Ash and Brock who were her best friends, managed to stand up for herself and grow out of sisters shadow with whole sad background coming from family of glamorous siblings who treated her as runt with most people on travels downplaying her making character all that more sympathetic and easy to relate to. Improved as water trainer greatly learning more about water pokemon establishing close bond with quite a few whether its Psyduck, Marill, Poliwhirl etc helping her later on when she had to directly confront her childhood fear from Gyarados taming it which was sign of her independence and character strength.

While more was left to be desired and i wish she got more growth i can say Misty development as person was gradual and believable giving us insight in her issues and showing various sides on which writers expanded more showing how aside from hotheaded nature she showed to be deep romantic and passionate battler, liked to glam herself being interested in girly things too, showed to like doing pranks having lot of snark but also caring and sensible side as well. Which led to some great character development later on.

I also liked her niche, big devotion in training and using water type she adores so much with no one showing so much fire and love toward particular type like she did. Her determination to learn everything she can to become water pokemon master one day often sharing her ideas and likes with others of same or different opinion like water trainer Marina or Egan. Additionally her story and dream of water pokemon master added mysterious quality to character making her story extremely flexible. Since she used most widespread type having versatile, rich pool of pokemon creating foundation on which competitions could be created to take her forward, or expand on her liking toward Lorelei who she viewed as idol taking her down E4 route while at same time not being dependent on games and pre established paradigm such quests needs to follow not having much room for tweaking according to your own imagination.

I know its been long since she left cast, but part of me hopes we will see her again too.
She has lot of untapped potential, leaving several things about her story unexplored and untied. Like goal of becoming water pokemon master which was unfinished existing several ways through which this dream could be advanced,potential to learn more about Misty seeing her grow as person,catch new pokemon and so on.
Along with experiencing that great dynamic and spunky, strong willed personality she showed.

Next is May which is my second favorite female character in this show. Granted i wasn't happy when Misty left cast and was rather skeptic about her debut in show not enjoying much in her personality initially. However after some time she grew on me liking how she decided not to follow her father footsteps wanting to get away from life at gym not being sure what kind of career to pursue in her life. That is until she met Janet and her Beautifly falling in love with contests at first sight, and i presume sparky Beautifly influenced her decision in getting one as well. with time starting to become interested in contests. Her development as coordinator had its ups and downs having to work hard experiencing several harsh loses adding realism to her quest and i liked how with time she blossomed in strong coordinator finding her place under sun , collected fairly good collection of pokmon growing to like them. Training under Ash guidance helped her a lot too, although it was double edged sword later on getting in her way of going on higher level as coordinator due to ties with past and her battle style starting to imbibe characteristics of trainer battles lacking elegance and beauty pokemon are needed to perform in contests. Her interactions with Max looking after him as big sister, admiration for Ash skill and competence along with curious nature asking Brock various questions having several memorable moments made her amusing and exuberant character.

And while i liked her i guess reason why i still prefer Misty is because of having more rich, and easy to relate personality imo, because i found her backstory more touching as well considering her goal/career more unique never living to full potential unfortunately.

There were basically 2 1/2 good seasons of Misty, but 3 1/2 good seasons for May.

May only started getting stale in the non-Contest episodes of Battle Frontier, but Misty was too stale for most of Johto until Master Quest.

Depends for who. Because while its true how most focus for Misty in Johto happened in Master Quest she was still enjoyable as character having fun interactions with TR(one of most memorable moments was when she was separated with Meowth and James), Brock having talks about romance and love joking with each other or Ash and her playful teasing while sometime getting into clash. Let along various things she did such as playing role as detective, entering events like Seaking contest, taking care of Brock when he was sick trying to cook , being fun to watch her antics with wild pokemon like Teddiursa etc.

Main issue with Misty in Johto until Master Quest was lack of focus, but regardless she still played fun and memorable role in most episodes. Especially in "Johto Journeys"(3rd season), and to lesser extent 4th season.

Can't say i found May boring for most part in BF outside contest episodes either. Sure every character has his moments of staleness but for most part i found May was still fun and enjoyable character there having fun moments such as travel through time, build up on rivalry between her and Harley prior to contests falling for his tricks, when she got Eevee egg etc.

Even with new characters we can't expect that they play role and be interesting in every episode, but what counts is overall appeal and value they bring in general, moments when they do things and interact with others showing whether character is fun or not.

Kasumi was best when she was a tsundere.

Dunno she still seems to have certain tsundere traits with more mature spin added to it.

 

[Misty Calls Masquerain]

Misty, there was more to like, she was more awesome, she had better Pokemon, better personality, and better everything, really.

 

[Cybersai]

Misty, there was more to like, she was more awesome, she had better Pokemon, better personality, and better everything, really.

I thought Misty's team was quite lackluster and that May's pokemon were more interesting and diverse. May also had more moments of glory in the series, a better storyline, better battles and more noticeable character growth.

Misty was just plain left to stand on the sidelines with her character doing nothing. And whenever she did get a chance to do something it was basically the same type of filler May did anyway.

 

[Misty Calls Masquerain]

Misty, there was more to like, she was more awesome, she had better Pokemon, better personality, and better everything, really.

I thought Misty's team was quite lackluster and that May's pokemon were more interesting and diverse. May also had more moments of glory in the series, a better storyline, better battles and more noticeable character growth.

Misty was just plain left to stand on the sidelines with her character doing nothing. And whenever she did get a chance to do something it was basically the same type of filler May did anyway.

May's is more diverse, but that's about it. If May's Blaziken somehow replaced Blaze with Speed Boost (does speed boost even exist in the anime?), I would agree, but in a real battle, Misty's team wins. Also growth doesn't equate to good.

 

[Cybersai]

Misty, there was more to like, she was more awesome, she had better Pokemon, better personality, and better everything, really.

I thought Misty's team was quite lackluster and that May's pokemon were more interesting and diverse. May also had more moments of glory in the series, a better storyline, better battles and more noticeable character growth.

Misty was just plain left to stand on the sidelines with her character doing nothing. And whenever she did get a chance to do something it was basically the same type of filler May did anyway.

May's is more diverse, but that's about it. If May's Blaziken somehow replaced Blaze with Speed Boost (does speed boost even exist in the anime?), I would agree, but in a real battle, Misty's team wins. Also growth doesn't equate to good.

What exactly does this mean? Even ignoring the games and just looking at the context in the anime, many of May's pokemon have had better battles.

Most of Misty's pokemon couldn't battle properly like Togepi or Psyduck, or were useless outside of water like Goldeen or Horsea. Then there was Starmie who was just dumped way too early without ever showing its potential.

Misty's only real good battlers were Poliwhirl/toed, Corsola and Staryu. The Gyarados didn't even come till after she left the team so I'm not counting it for when she was a lead.

 

[Sweet Veil]

in a real battle, Misty's team wins. Also growth doesn't equate to good.

Just outta curiosity, why do you think that? :O

Blaziken, Munchlax, and Wartortle are all pretty strong imo, Munchlax did pretty much all the work against Harley in the GF and was quite a brute despite his fat and lazy attitude during the late days of Hoenn. Squirtle did beat Ariados and Banette, managed to take Thunders left and right and KO a Flygon. Beautifly is the only Pokemon to bring Zoey to her knees. Skitty, Eevee, and Bulbsaur were largely unimpressive, I agree though. In Bulbasaur's case she at least managed to beat Harley in her only two battles her whole run though.

Misty had Psyduck as her only really strong Pokemon imo and then Corsola and Politoed were decent battlers and I'd put them around Bulbasaur's power levels.

 

[Misty Calls Masquerain]

Misty had more fair battles that didn't involve weird, ridiculous anime physics or deus ex machina or whatever else you wanna call it, and they were more believable.

Blaziken- Strong, but not unbeatable, can be beat by one of her Water types.
Bulbasaur- Can probably take out one or two of them because of advantage, unless Misty finds a way to overcome it.
Skitty- With Assist DEM, can win, without DEM, will lose.
Eevee/Glaceon- Her moveset was terrible, Politoed or Corsola will win, maybe even Staryu.
Squirtle/Wartortle- With DEM, yes, without it, it loses.
Munchlax- Not bad, but not that amazing, either.
Bulbasaur/Venusaur- OU Gyarados and Flamethrower roast it.
Beautifly- Not that impressive, to be honest. Not a weakling, but still not impressive.

 

[pokemon fan 132]

I thought Misty's team was quite lackluster and that May's pokemon were more interesting and diverse. May also had more moments of glory in the series, a better storyline, better battles and more noticeable character growth.

Maybe in your opinion. I actually find myself being able to enjoy more in Misty pokemon finding unique that she trained mostly water type striving to become best with them. Regardless how much it was used Starmie is one of most flexible and versatile pokemon out there. Staryu, Corsola and Poliwhirl all proved to be strong battlers and if we are talking about rest of her team most of them had potetial to blossom in real powerhouses. Such as Psyduck and his enormous hidden psychic power, Horsea which has predisposition to evolve in dual half dragon type etc.
Add to that Gyarados, Luvdisc or Azurill and i think we have balanced and versatile pokemon team.

Additionally i don't evaluate someones merit and value by how much someone does, but by how impacting character to anime and storyline was and how important his deeds were. And in that sense i can say how Misty added more humor, drama and genuine, amusing interactions between characters bringing overall more charisma to anime with her quirky persona, had more interesting story by having to grow up without parents in older sister shadow pursuing water master carer which offered potential to be took in many directions adding for unpredictability.

As well finding myself to enjoy in her battles sometimes even more than it was case with May, Dawn etc often containing humor and suspense when Psyduck battled, or her more prominent fighters like Poliwag line and Corsola.

Misty was just plain left to stand on the sidelines with her character doing nothing. And whenever she did get a chance to do something it was basically the same type of filler May did anyway.

So basically to you every thing Misty did was "useless filler of no importance", while everything May did was important and of greater significance?

Needless to say i disagree completely. Misty didn't need to enter contests and collect ribbons to remain active having stronger presence than May did imo often taking initiative to move things forward on her own, directly influenced main plot and story on several occasions(whether it was by saving group from dangerous situations or saving protagonist lives), played bigger role in Ash growth and development as trainer than any other successor after her did along with entering various competitions like Kanto race, Seaking contest, balloon race, Whirl Cup etc, battled various trainers ad bod with other characters giving us insight in her issues such as conflict with siblings, preference for water types etc along with collecting several pokemon during her travels bringing identity and balance in main cast.

May may have got more focus, but as far as character quality go Misty wasn't in any way inferior contributing to anime just as much in different fields where her actions came to bigger, of more importance expression.
And right after May i can say Misty experienced most notable character growth which especially came on surface in late Johto, hosos ad AG specials after departure.

Most of Misty's pokemon couldn't battle properly like Togepi or Psyduck, or were useless outside of water like Goldeen or Horsea.

Togepi and Psyduck are only two out of 10 pokemon Misty has. That's not most. Also pokemon like Horsea while not as movable like they would be in water are capable of battling on dry land as showed with Clair Kingdra.

 

[Toxsa Dalton]

Misty is the best choice. Because she gets to avoid Brock's future relationships with random girls.

 

[Cybersai]

Misty had more fair battles that didn't involve weird, ridiculous anime physics or deus ex machina or whatever else you wanna call it, and they were more believable.

Blaziken- Strong, but not unbeatable, can be beat by one of her Water types.
Bulbasaur- Can probably take out one or two of them because of advantage, unless Misty finds a way to overcome it.
Skitty- With Assist DEM, can win, without DEM, will lose.
Eevee/Glaceon- Her moveset was terrible, Politoed or Corsola will win, maybe even Staryu.
Squirtle/Wartortle- With DEM, yes, without it, it loses.
Munchlax- Not bad, but not that amazing, either.
Bulbasaur/Venusaur- OU Gyarados and Flamethrower roast it.
Beautifly- Not that impressive, to be honest. Not a weakling, but still not impressive.

You have no idea how Assist works, do you? Assist isn't like metronome, it takes a move another pokemon on your team has and uses it. You may have to use it over Andover to get what you want but it's not DEM. Skitty isn't a strong pokemon, but Assist moves make sense.

Likewise the type of pokemon May took down in contests are above Misty's level.

 

[Misty Calls Masquerain]

I do know how Assist works. In fact, now that you mention it, isn't it awfully convenient how she almost always managed to get just the move she needed?