Why Misty Is the Best Female Companion from Pokémon!
The Pokémon franchise is a behemoth whether you are a fan of it or not. I got introduced to Pokémon through the anime years back, and since then I’ve seen a lot of changes occur, namely the number of female companions with whom the hero Ash Ketchum traveled. While Ash is currently travelling with his fifth new lead female trainer companion, Serena, I still think that Misty, the original female companion, is the best!
Just a short refresher, the chronological order of Ash’s female companions is Misty, May, Dawn, Iris and Serena. I haven’t included Bonnie because she isn’t old enough to become a trainer yet. These young female trainers traveled with Ash at different times during his journey through various regions/generations. Misty is the only female companion as of yet to have traveled with Ash through two generations, namely Generation I and II, and has also appeared in the most number of anime episodes.
The thing I like most about Misty is that she started out as Ash’s rival or equal instead of the mentor-tutor relationship he shared with the other female characters. Misty set out to become the world’s greatest Water Pokémon Trainer, and it was fun seeing her butt heads with Ash during their journey.
Character Development
I know some fans don’t like Misty because she was bossy and belittled Ash. I get where such fans are coming from, as Misty’s fiery temper is quite obvious during the first series. However, what I like to stress is the reason she acted in a bossy manner. She had an inferiority complex because of her three older sisters. Even though they cared about Misty, her sisters always made fun of her and called her a runt. Misty also had a lot to prove to herself and her sisters. This led her to leave home and become a better trainer. It’s clear from the series that she doesn’t like being told she’s wrong and likes to take control of situations. That’s why she’s bossy towards Ash and they bicker a lot, which is something I haven’t seen Ash and his other female companions do.
This is why I like Misty’s relationship with Ash. They both started out on their journeys together with little to no experience under their belts. As the series continued they both learned to respect each other as trainers and individuals. And while Misty did show her soft side in the first generation series, she became more mature, especially during Master Quest. She still retained her fiery personality but was always there when Ash needed a friend and advice during battles.
Not only that, Misty also worked through her childhood fear of Gyarados. During Cerulean Blues, she protected the Pokémon she feared the most and in the end tamed it. She still has a fear of Bug-type Pokémon, unless they are cute, but I think that has more to do with comedic effect than an important trait of her personality.
A book titled The Japanification of Children’s Popular Culture described Misty’s role in the anime as a mother figure to Ash and Brock. It also called her “unusually ‘complete’ girl of the cartoon world”. Re-watching her role in the anime makes me remember Sakura Haruno from the Naruto franchise because of the way she showed her soft side and her temper when necessary towards the hero.
I do feel that some fans don’t like Misty because of her being a ‘rival’ to Ash. I can understand young boys not liking the female lead being disrespectful towards the hero. She also beat Ash during the Whirl Cup to be placed Top 8 in the international competition. She also beat him during Tour de Alto Mare. Her beating Ash during competitions they both participated in can be a reason some fans grew up disliking her.
Other Girls Came From Her
This is something that I have been noticing for a while now. It is true that when Misty was part of the Pokémon anime there was no concept of Pokémon Contests and Pokémon Showcases. This was a major drawback when it came to giving Misty episodes that solely focused on her and her Pokémon.
May and Dawn were introduced as Pokémon Coordinators and Serena become a Pokémon Performer. Even Iris had numerous tournaments she participated in alongside Ash. Such competitions made sure that the female companions got their time to shine and to give them a separate identity and goal from Ash.
However, I have noticed that whatever the future female companions have done, Misty had already accomplished something similar. May and Dawn participated in Pokémon Contests, which showcased a Pokémon’s appeal relating to appearance and attacks. Serena currently participates in Pokémon Showcases, which showcases both the Pokémon and the ability of its trainer to complete specific tasks together.
Misty did similar things during the anime series in which she was the female lead. She participated in The Annual Beach Beauty and Pokémon Costume Contest in Beauty and the Beach. She dressed up Squirtle and Starmie for the 
competition. She also participated in and won The Queen of the Princess Festival contest where she battled it out with other female trainers, all wearing a formal traditional Japanese outfit.
Like May and Dawn, Misty also comes from a family of performers. Misty’s three sisters are famous performers known as the Sensational Sisters. Misty herself was shown as more than capable of performing in a play underwater in front of huge crowd during The Misty Mermaid.
The events of these episodes clearly show that Misty has a knack for making herself and her Pokémon look appealing and put up a performance, something that May, Dawn, and Serena did during their respective competitions.
Even Serena’s crush on Ash is something that has already been talked about through Misty in various episodes as well as in the second Pokémon movie. However, contrary to Serena’s feelings for Ash, the hinted crush between Misty and Ash was never made Misty’s driving force as a female character in the anime, and for that I am grateful.
Iris most resembles Misty because she too is destined to be a Gym Leader and wants to become a great trainer specializing in a single Pokémon type. She also has a fiery personality like Misty and treats Ash like a child. She can talk to Dragon-type Pokémon and is proficient when it comes to training them, something that Misty demonstrates with Water-type Pokémon.
In the end, I truly think that compared to the other female companions, Misty is the best. She showcased her skills as a Pokémon trainer and a Gym Leader as the series progressed and did it without having the added advantage of participating in Pokémon Contests and Showcases. She was shown to be ‘equal’ to the main lead, Ash Ketchum, and they both learned from each other to become better trainers.
This is not to say I didn’t enjoy watching the other female companions because I did. But they started off in awe of Ash’s skills as a Pokémon trainer. Misty, on the other hand, was with Ash when he was just starting out and in a sense, paired with Brock, mentored the hero of the Pokémon anime franchise.
What do you think of Misty? What are your opinions about the other female companions in Pokémon? Let us know.
Author: Farid-ul-Haq
Farid has a Double Masters in Psychology and Biotechnology as well as an M.Phil in Molecular Genetics. He is the author of numerous books including Missing in Somerville, and The Game Master of Somerville. He gives us insight into comics, books, TV shows, anime/manga, video games, and movies.
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How was Misty ever shown equal to Ash or skilled as a trainer/battler? Ash surpassed her early into Kanto and from that point on Misty was portrayed as lackluster and bad at battling to the point where she rarely won a battle. Likewise Misty got so little screentime as a female companion that I don’t see how you felt she had an equal or huge role to the protagonist.
Misty beat Ash during the Whirl Cup (A huge international competition for water-Pokemon trainers) so by no means can she not battle. She was also very willing to battle, and did, during the third Pokemon movie. Also during the episode where Misty and Ash went against a boy who wanted to make his water gym official.
I am not saying that Ash isn’t a better battler than Misty, the point is that when it comes to water Pokemon, Misty surpasses him (which is also the focus of her character). Also her role in the series, though obviously lesser than Ash, was comparatively different, and in my opinion, better than other female companions. There was never a mentor-student dynamics between them and as the series progressed she, paired with Brock, thought a lot to Ash, and in return learned from him too.
She can obviously not have a role as huge as Ash, as he is the main character, the comparisons in the post was made between her and the other female companions and their dynamic with Ash.
Which kind of goes what I said. Ash quickly became stronger than Misty early into the Kanto saga, and after that he consistently got better while Misty just stayed the same and rarely battled.
Have you forgotten what most of Misty’s battles in the anime were like? Besides the Cerulean Gym, she pretty much bombs almost all the battles she’s in and has to constantly rely on Psyduck’s headache to save herself. She borrows Ash and Brock’s pokemon during the Princess Festival episode because she flat out says her pokemon weren’t strong enough. Then she rarely battles in general from that point to the end of Johto. Likewise Misty’s win against Ash in the Whirl Cup was another cheap Psyduck victory, rather than being an actual win by skill.
As for your other points, sure you can prefer Misty over the other females, but I wouldn’t say she was all that well developed. I mean Misty was literally known for being one of the least focused on female companions of the series, her goal and battles were treated as afterthoughts, and she does very little for the entire span of Johto up until the tail-end of the saga.
And lastly, there’s no way Misty’s water pokemon are stronger than Ash’s. Ash has Squirtle, Totodile, Corphish, Kingler, Buizel, Palpitoad, Oshawott and soon a Greninja, all of which had far more impressive and better battlers than virtually any of Misty’s water pokemon. All of them have tons of impressive victories in the show, which in comparison to Misty’s team, her only real powerhouse is her Gyarados, and the rest of them are either fairly average (like Poilitoed and Corsola), or generally weak and incompetent.
I honestly don’ have a problem with Misty, She’s Okay in my Book, but I honestly feels she’s not the best companion in the show (Only Really Beating Dawn for Me.) I consider Serena, Iris, May and even Bonnie (Yes, I’ll include her) better than Misty.
My Main Issues with Misty was her Lack of Character Development. She’s Probably The Least Developed Female Companion on the Show.
* She barely developed over the course of Kanto, with only sprinkles
* She did better in the Orange Islands
* By Johto, She was dead weight, She was only there to carry Togepi around
They also failed to progress her as a Water Type Trainer. While OS had character, it failed at progressing any character other than Ash, which is something done better by literally every other Female Lead.
Her Team was also awfully stale. By the end the only memorable Pokemon she had was Psyduck, and she had more Pokemon than the other Girls (Misty had 10, May had 7, Dawn had 6, Iris had 5, and Serena currently has 3), yet I got more out of Serena and Iris’s Pokemon. I feel the whole “Master a Specific Type” Development was done better with Iris in Best Wishes, as we got to see Iris’s progression a lot more.
Honestly, Johto is what killed Misty for me. She wasn’t as much a character (Like she was in Kanto & Orange Islands) and more of a prop
Honestly, if I had to say, My Personal Best List gos:
Serena > Iris > May > Bonnie > Misty > Dawn
I think a lot of Misty being undeveloped compared to the rest of the female companions has to do with the writers not being able to give companions a ‘proper’ arc earlier in the series. Now, as you mentioned, even Pokemon have their own personality traits that are highlighted in the anime, with Serena’s only three Pokemon being quite distinct from the rest. I feel that Misty, as a character, and her Pokemon, would’ve been handled a lot different if she was introduced as a companion in Unovo (Like Iris) or XY (Serena). They did however, showed her finally getting over her fear of Gyarados before she came back to meet Ash and May, etc. And her competence as a gym leader was also admired by Max. As I mentioned, the rest of the female companions do feel like the writers took different parts of Misty and made a whole new character…Iris = Specific Pokemon Master and future Dragon Gym leader, similar to Misty (though she already considered herself one)…and even playing with Serenas crush on Ash…let’s see what the next female companion looks like.