Its been nearly 20 years since Misty was permanently written off the Pokemon anime

[precita]

I actually found this kinda funny when I realized it, especially for those of us who watched Pokemon since the beginning. Misty left the anime in 2002 in Japan, and that means by next year in 2022, Misty will have officially been gone from the anime as a main character for 20 years. She hasn't been around now for almost two decades besides brief cameos (like she got in the SM anime), but even those are pretty rare.

Now that Ash has had so many companions in the anime, it's kinda surprising when you stop to realize how short-lived Misty's character in the show really was. The anime started in Japan in 1997 and by 2002 she was already leaving, she was only around about 5 years. I still remember how some people tried to make such a big deal out of Misty leaving the anime, like they used to troll Pokemon forums for years and decades in the early 2000's about her leaving, and in the end none of it mattered since she really did stay gone permanently for the rest of the series.

I'm not really one of those people who cared much when she left since I already lost interest in the anime in the middle of the Johto arc like most original fans, and only got into it again after all the other females like May, etc. were introduced. But it's pretty funny now millions of kids grew up watching the anime long after she was gone over the last 20 years, and that she's only relevant to like 20% of the fanbase now.

[ZeManaphy]

She did make a temporary return in the Sun and Moon anime though. 

[King Marth 64]

Misty did returned in Sun and Moon anime. Misty also appeared in Black and White for the flashback and had appeared in the CGI Movie Remake for Mewtwo Strikes Back Evolution. She's definitely not written off from the Pokemon anime universe.

Edited September 10, 2021 by King Marth 64

[Zapp Branniglenn]

Five years is a long time. I feel like she overstayed her welcome, though not as much as Brock certainly. Misty's asperation to be the best water pokemon trainer didn't differentiate her much at all from Ash, especially when she almost never battled or was given any development toward that goal. All the while she's shirking her duties as a gym leader, and we even see how the gym falls into disarray when her siblings take over. Her dynamic within the group just never served a purpose beyond "girl", and I think the point of Ash having companions is exploring what other things people could do in the world of pokemon that isn't battling, gym challenges, basically the Red/Blue experience. I'm aware the biggest offender here is of course Ash, the ageless boy who routinely ditches his teams and has to look up pokemon in his pokedex that he absolutely has encountered before. But changing up Ash's companions is one of few decisions that salvage the watchability of a cyclical series like Pokemon. If they had the sense to put together a completely new cast for each generation, that would be ideal.

[henrymidfields]

I did one fanfic draft that retained and reimagined Ash after Gen 3. It got lost when Bulbagarden did an overhaul with the Blog system, but here how my retrospective wish-list went:

OS (RBY and GS) - Act 1 and 2

• Ash: As the main trainer
• Misty/Brock: As his mentors/buddies

AG (RSE) - Act 3

• Ash becomes the mentor to Brendan, and he's grown up 2-3 years. He's also the trainer Lance sent, and Steven summoned to investigate Teams Aqua and Magma.
• Brendan is the even dumber counterpart to OS!Ash.
• May is the same as vanilla.

FRLG - Act 4

• Ash comes second in his retry for the Kanto League.
• Brendan goes for his Battle Frontier trials.
• The two team up with Misty, Brock, and Sabrina to battle TR in the Silph Tower takeover.

DPPt - Act 5

• Brendan mentors Lucas, who is a smart yet timid trainer.
• Dawn is the same as vanilla.
• Lance and Ash meets the trio from time to time in investigating Team Galactic.

HGSS - Act 6

• Lance, Ash, Misty, and Brock's battle against Team Rocket.
• Giovanni tries to take Mewtwo again, but fails, and is put to prison. Team Rocket is dissolved.
• Ash wins the Johto League, but loses against the first Elite Four boss.
• Meanwhile, Drayden visits Kanto, and asks Lance if he could send Ash to Unova.

BW1+2 - Act 7

• Ash once again, gets sent to Unova to investigate Team Plasma. He does his job and training alongside Hilda and Hilbert, and he also mentors Iris and Cilan.
• Hildabert reminices their first adventure and their previous encounter with Team Plasma.
• Iris and Cilan are the two trainers to participate in the Leagues as instructed by their respective gyms.
• Ash meets up with past gym leaders for the World Tournament, and also meets Diantha and Serena. He then trains for, and wins the four Elite matches.

XY - Act 8

• Diantha asks Lance to send Ash into Kalos.
• Ash and Serena (as childhood friends) travels around Kalos together, both to train, and to investigate Team Flare. They also mentor Trevor, Tierno, and Shauna from time to time.
• After they take down Team Flare, Serena wins the Kalos League, then proceeds to win the Elite Four.
• It is revealed that Brendan wins the championship match against Steven.
• Lance and Diantha invites the two to their joint-region championship battle as the finale to mark the 25th Anniversary. Ash and Serena wins the championships and becomes the new champion of their respective regions.

SM - Act 9

• Ash appears from time to time as a guest lecturer in Alola.
• Hilbert appears as an FBI special agent leader to investigate Lusamine. 
• It's also revealed that Misty is invited to the Elite Four selection match after Agatha passed away, and Koga retires, and Lucas wins the Shinnoh League.

SwSh - Act 10

• Chloe and Goh are the two trainers to take on the League competition.
• Ash, Serena, Brendan, Cynthia, and Hilda returns for the Champions' League and battles each other.

Edited September 10, 2021 by henrymidfields

[Etrurian emperor]

This news is making me feel very old. I never cared much for Misty though, or May, or Brock, or Max, or whoever that guy in the Orange League was. As far as Pokemon goes I'm only really attached to Team Rocket. 

[FailWood]

4 hours ago, Etrurian emperor said:

I never cared much for Misty though, or May, or Brock, or Max, or whoever that guy in the Orange League was. As far as Pokemon goes I'm only really attached to Team Rocket.

Misty was too much of a hothead for me to like her, and Max was a little shit (less so in Battle Frontier, but nowhere near enough to redeem his time in Hoenn).  I liked Brock for being the voice of reason, and May was one the better female companions.  James is the only Team Rocket member I liked due to his background before joining them.  Jesse was the generic bossy female villain character which is something I never liked, while Meowth talked too much for me to like him.  Tracy (the Orange Islands guy) was unmemorable, so there was nothing to like or dislike about him.

Edited September 10, 2021 by FailWood

[Lord_Brand]

The funny thing is, had they implemented a character like Leaf/Green in Gen 1, then Misty likely wouldn't have been one of Ash's companions at all, just another Gym leader he encountered on the journey to get the badges. Not gonna lie, I'd have loved to see Red and Green as the protagonists of the anime. Heck, I'd have loved to see Green as a character in the original games. I've even begun writing scenarios for where all she'd appear and what she'd do. Which is to say, she'd appear in most of the "dungeons" starting with Viridian Forest as well as the towns, oftentimes accompanying Red and occasionally battling him to test how far she's come with her Pokemon.

 

Edited September 10, 2021 by Lord_Brand

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

Not really accurate to say she's been "permanently" written off the anime, when she's made appearances in the Advanced and Sun & Moon series. She just hasn't been a main character, since she's off doing her own thing.

20 hours ago, Zapp Branniglenn said:

Five years is a long time. I feel like she overstayed her welcome, though not as much as Brock certainly. Misty's asperation to be the best water pokemon trainer didn't differentiate her much at all from Ash, especially when she almost never battled or was given any development toward that goal. All the while she's shirking her duties as a gym leader, and we even see how the gym falls into disarray when her siblings take over. Her dynamic within the group just never served a purpose beyond "girl", and I think the point of Ash having companions is exploring what other things people could do in the world of pokemon that isn't battling, gym challenges, basically the Red/Blue experience. I'm aware the biggest offender here is of course Ash, the ageless boy who routinely ditches his teams and has to look up pokemon in his pokedex that he absolutely has encountered before. But changing up Ash's companions is one of few decisions that salvage the watchability of a cyclical series like Pokemon. If they had the sense to put together a completely new cast for each generation, that would be ideal.

Sounds about right. I like Brock, but having him hang around as far as Gen IV felt just absurd.

Also, new name? I've been gone for just over a week, and apparently that was too long.

8 hours ago, Lord_Brand said:

The funny thing is, had they implemented a character like Leaf/Green in Gen 1, then Misty likely wouldn't have been one of Ash's companions at all, just another Gym leader he encountered on the journey to get the badges. Not gonna lie, I'd have loved to see Red and Green as the protagonists of the anime. Heck, I'd have loved to see Green as a character in the original games. I've even begun writing scenarios for where all she'd appear and what she'd do. Which is to say, she'd appear in most of the "dungeons" starting with Viridian Forest as well as the towns, oftentimes accompanying Red and occasionally battling him to test how far she's come with her Pokemon.

I know Green appears in LGPE, but only as a postgame cameo. I wonder, how might an in-game Green have been differentiated from the existent rival in Blue/Gary? Presumably, she'd be friendlier, more akin to the "Gen III and beyond" rivals we see. Some of the battles that Blue currently has could go to her instead (like optional Route 22 and S.S. Anne), while also adding new rival battles (i.e. Pokemon Mansion and Cerulean Cave). If implemented in FRLG, presumably Red would fill a similar role if you start with Leaf (although letting him talk would be... weird).

[Zapp Branniglenn]

6 minutes ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

Also, new name? I've been gone for just over a week, and apparently that was too long.

I am the man with no name

I just didn't realize I could change it until now. Much more up to date with what I've been calling myself since 2014.

[Lord_Brand]

On 9/10/2021 at 8:28 PM, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

I know Green appears in LGPE, but only as a postgame cameo. I wonder, how might an in-game Green have been differentiated from the existent rival in Blue/Gary? Presumably, she'd be friendlier, more akin to the "Gen III and beyond" rivals we see. Some of the battles that Blue currently has could go to her instead (like optional Route 22 and S.S. Anne), while also adding new rival battles (i.e. Pokemon Mansion and Cerulean Cave). If implemented in FRLG, presumably Red would fill a similar role if you start with Leaf (although letting him talk would be... weird).

I've been writing down ideas for how I'd have incorporated her into the Gen 1 games. She'd appear in most of the "dungeon" areas as well as the towns, and would spend a good deal of time traveling with Red. At first, she does so mostly for safety and comfort, but over time she grows to enjoy Red's company and happily tags along just to spend more time with him. She could possibly help out by providing free healing on occasion, since double battles wouldn't be a thing yet (though in Gen 3 remakes, she would definitely join Red in Double Battles). And yes, there would be times where you battle her as a friendly training exercise. In contrast to Blue, who picks the starter strong against yours, she has the starter that's weak to yours, though she learns to compensate for that with other Pokemon strong against your starter. Her battles would generally take place between Blue's, trading off between the two of them. I think I'll start a topic about this to go into further detail.

Incidentally, Green and Blue's names are switched in Japan. This is because Green was the original alternative version to Red, hence why the GBA remakes were named Fire Red and Leaf Green. Blue was the original third version, before even Yellow (which technically makes Yellow a fourth version, in Japan at least), thus the girl was and is named Blue in Japan. In my opinion, that naming convention works better as Blue sounds slightly more feminine than Green, but I imagine the rival's name being Blue is too firmly entrenched in the Western imagination to change it at this point.

In the case of remakes with an added female protagonist, I think I'd actually keep "the girl in a black dress" a distinct character, making her more analogous to Bianca, Shauna, Lillie, or Marnie. That way she can still play a role as an NPC while giving the player a female option.

Edited September 12, 2021 by Lord_Brand

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

On 9/11/2021 at 10:19 PM, Lord_Brand said:

I've been writing down ideas for how I'd have incorporated her into the Gen 1 games. She'd appear in most of the "dungeon" areas as well as the towns, and would spend a good deal of time traveling with Red. At first, she does so mostly for safety and comfort, but over time she grows to enjoy Red's company and happily tags along just to spend more time with him. She could possibly help out by providing free healing on occasion, since double battles wouldn't be a thing yet (though in Gen 3 remakes, she would definitely join Red in Double Battles). And yes, there would be times where you battle her as a friendly training exercise. In contrast to Blue, who picks the starter strong against yours, she has the starter that's weak to yours, though she learns to compensate for that with other Pokemon strong against your starter. Her battles would generally take place between Blue's, trading off between the two of them. I think I'll start a topic about this to go into further detail.

I'd definitely be game to read a topic like this! Anything to liven up the ghost town that is the Pokemon subforum, haha. I've already cooked up some thoughts about what 'Mons she might favor.

On 9/11/2021 at 10:19 PM, Lord_Brand said:

Incidentally, Green and Blue's names are switched in Japan. This is because Green was the original alternative version to Red, hence why the GBA remakes were named Fire Red and Leaf Green. Blue was the original third version, before even Yellow (which technically makes Yellow a fourth version, in Japan at least), thus the girl was and is named Blue in Japan. In my opinion, that naming convention works better as Blue sounds slightly more feminine than Green, but I imagine the rival's name being Blue is too firmly entrenched in the Western imagination to change it at this point.

Yep, I've heard this one before. I was going to counter it with "but Blue wears blue"! Looking him up, though, there's not much consistency between colors in his design. Maybe my memory was based on Gary's blue (or is it purple?) shirt in his original anime appearance.

On 9/11/2021 at 10:19 PM, Lord_Brand said:

In the case of remakes with an added female protagonist, I think I'd actually keep "the girl in a black dress" a distinct character, making her more analogous to Bianca, Shauna, Lillie, or Marnie. That way she can still play a role as an NPC while giving the player a female option.

Hey, that's good by me. We didn't get a strictly* female rival until Bianca in Black and White, so retrofitting her in is welcome. And as a side note, I don't think we've ever before gotten a strictly* female sole or primary rival. I'll leave that to the wish list for future games, though.

*"strictly" here meaning "regardless of the player's chosen gender". So, Serena may be the primary rival to the male player character in XY, but she's replaced by Calem if the female player character is chosen instead. Compare to Barry, the sole rival in DPPt, who exists regardless of the player's chosen gender.

[King Marth 64]

@Shanty Pete's 1st Mate & @Lord_Brand Umm... what does the recent discussions have to do with "Misty from the Pokemon anime"?

Also, I technically think Misty was too busy in the Anime being a Gym Leader in the entire Seasons after Advance series since her Anime-only sisters gave her the position as a Gym Leader due to they were on a vacation during in the Pokemon the Series: Sun & Moon series. We never saw her sisters appeared in any of the Sun & Moon arcs as well. I know that Misty's three sisters Daisy, Violet, and Lily didn't technically exist in the Game Canon since they're technically Anime Filler Characters and place holders for making Misty as Ash's Companion.

Edited November 9, 2021 by King Marth 64

[Lord_Brand]

Apologies. Yes, our conversation is getting off topic. I'll start a new topic for it and ask a mod to move our posts relevant to the subject there.

EDIT: And there we go! Any further discussion about "the girl in a black dress" being in the games should be directed to this topic:

EDIT 2: Thanks, mods!

Edited November 12, 2021 by Lord_Brand