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.

I agree, Kanto/Orange felt like a legitimately fun kids show sort of like the beginning of Avatar. Johto is when the show gets bogged down by repetitive filler episode and Misty and Brock never go through any character development from that point onward. Hoenn and Sinnoh are a bit better if only because May and Dawn actually develop as characters and are treated as more important than just token sidekick companions like the others. Serena's been rather disappointing in comparison.

Seems Ash is finally going to evolve his water starter this time. I wonder if May will appear for the Hoenn remake promotion. Probably not till next year if she does.

The problem with Johto is it had way too many terrible filler episodes, and Misty just got boring as she lost all her personality. If Johto wasn't such a poorly done saga of the anime I would have been content with Ash being written out then and there.

Why are you constantly reminding us about this? So you don't like Gen III, who honestly cares? Nobody is forcing you to buy the games. You sound like you're making a life or death decision here.

Iris also wasn't as interesting as she could have been. I thought she had a lot of potential at the beginning since she was a change from all the similar girly female leads we've had...but she overall just became rather meh over the course of the region and then obnoxiously mary sue-ish. Sadly Serena in XY isn't much better because its just the opposite, she's literally a bland girly clean slate and there's nothing else to say about her. I wonder if May will get another cameo for the Hoenn remakes, or maybe a standalone special episode.

Well fair enough, I don't understand why you're so defensive though. I can already tell by reading past threads here that you get really bothered everytime someone disagrees with you.

They did?

She had the best personality and development of the females and the Contests were much funnier and enjoyable when she was doing them. While Dawn's appeals were prettier, the Contest battles were a lot more engaging when May was battling her rivals.