Did you like May/Haruka's role on the show?

I really loved May, a lot more than any of the other females on the main cast. Not only did she complement Ash very well (him being experienced, her being a new trainer) but her stubbornness and enthusiasm really made episodes that would've been otherwise bland enjoyable. Seeing her continue to mess up even as she got more experienced was a realistic take tbh since she was still a new trainer no matter how much experience she'd gained in that short amount of time. Plus her inexperience and gullibleness gave Drew and Harley more of a reason to poke fun at her which I thought was really fun to watch ~ The rival interactions were some of the best (if not the best) of the whole series.

I didn't exactly mind her "unjustified" victories since she was the first new female addition after Misty's replacement and the staff were testing the waters.

One of my favorite things about her were May's expeditions if anyone still remembers them o/

Makes you wonder why the writers gave her the worst send off of all the female characters.

Yes May shared a ribbon with Ash, but her goodbye scene in AG191 was done as if a rival or COTD was leaving the group, not a travel companion who had been there for nearly 200 eps. To this day it sticks out like a sore thumb.

I loved her role. it was very exciting. I would have loved it if she did do a gym like Dawn did but that might have been too much. And also she didn't get the worst send off. No girl did. She didn't show as much emotion near the end unlike her brother did. But lately after Misty the girls don't have those emotional send offs and the same will probably happen with Iris.

I enjoyed May, but I disliked her Squirtle and Bulbasaur.

Whilst I did like Haruka's personality, it's her role in the show that made her my favorite of the girls. It's the fact that she proved once and for all that the show could focus on someone who wasn't Satoshi, give them a story, and make it gel, really really well. I love how she not only had her own rivals but her rivals were interesting. I love how she had a variety of pokemon and not all of them expected. I like how she interacted with Masato. I think she genuinely changed the show for the better and it's her ultimately that allowed the show to take the direction it went in DP. Ultimately I love how she allowed the writers to experiment after the blandness of Johto.

I like how she doesn't really fit into the categories of 'girly girl' or 'tomboy' and how she fitted into the cast. Looking back, it's a shame they couldn't have evened out her luck in contests a little bit but really the fact that she had had flaws in other areas made up for that anyway. She made filler episodes fun and really she was just very nicely done.

I liked her role. After years of seeing Misty doing tiny little things here and there, follow May's active steps was like breathing fresh air. I liked her interactions with the group and they all seemed to be good friends. I also liked her interactions with her rivals and the Pokémon she captured were pretty cool too. She had an interesting personality and her journey was fun to watch, especially because I love Pokémon Contests and characters that take the spotlight from Ash.

With that being said, her story had some flaws that really bothered me. First, the fact that she did not like Pokémon was never explained, and this plot was treated in a terrible way, since the girl who said not to like Pokémon in the first episode tried to capture an Azurill in the second and fell in love with the idea of Contests so suddenly that I almost could not keep up. I really don't understand how a person who does not even like Pokémon can become interested in showing their talents and abilities on a stage as fast as May became. She received a great deal of development, but this development wasn't handled as well as it could have been. Many of her Contest victories were unbelievable and she arrived at the Grand Festival without knowing how to show her Pokémon properly, and that's why we had that wonderful appeal where she used Assist so many times that if it were in the games, the PP of the move would have been depleted. She also had a lot of luck and her Pokémon were known for learning moves right before Contests.

So to finish, I can say that I liked her personality, her Pokémon, how she interacted with the group and her rivals, and how she was an active girl and not a fern on the wind, but I think her story could have been handled better.

*raises a coke can*
May, to a great companion, coordinator and overall my second favorite main characther(just below ash), may arceus have mercy and let you return to the main group

hell yea, the only thing that pissed me off that she wasn't able to even touch Solidad in BOTH GFs :o :( :x

May interested me the moment I saw her because she was the first character to start off not liking Pokemon and was more interesting in just traveling. She was also a complete newbie and didn't know a single thing about Pokemon attacks, and need her little brother to help her out. You can really see how far she's come if you compare her first episodes to her last episodes. She's went through so much growth and development during her journey, not to mention that she had lots of great comedic moments as well.Some of her contest wins were cheap but every main character has a cheap win once in a while. I also think that she had the best team out of all of the girls on the show.

The only thing I hated was her sendoff. Misty's and Dawn's goodbye's were a lot sadder, while May's was just like "See you later!" Plus it seemed more like a goodbye for Max than it did for May. Other than that, May still remains to be one of my favorite characters in Pokemon.

I also liked how May started off with not liking or knowing a thing about pokemon. It was just interesting to see a character start off that way. I also liked how she was the first main character besides Ash to have a quest. We really didn't see Misty or Brock do much with their goals of wanting to be a "water pokemon master" or Pokemon Breeder. I also thought that her rivals were some of the most interesting rivals on the show. It seemed like the writers were making up for not havign Gary appear that much throughout Kanto and Johto. So yes, I did like May's role on the show. The only thing I hated was how she always managed to get past the first round of every contest, but I can understand that since contest were new back then.

The question should be who doesn't like M.H's role on the show, because the writers tried their damned hardest to make us like her.

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Originally Posted by pokemonsquared

The question should be who doesn't like M.H's role on the show, because the writers tried their damned hardest to make us like her.

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They sort of had to. She was the first new main girl in the series after Misty. Most likely if it had backfired then neither Dawn nor Iris would have come in afterward and the original trio probably wouldn't have been split again. Think about how the Tracey/Brock switch was reversed but the Misty/May one wasn't.

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Originally Posted by The Fighting Misty

Quote:

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Originally Posted by pokemonsquared

The question should be who doesn't like M.H's role on the show, because the writers tried their damned hardest to make us like her.

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They sort of had to. She was the first new main girl in the series after Misty. Most likely if it had backfired then neither Dawn nor Iris would have come in afterward and the original trio probably wouldn't have been split again. Think about how the Tracey/Brock switch was reversed but the Misty/May one wasn't.

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well that in the fact that they needed to get more attention to the gen 3 and continued with dawn in gen 4, but at the end IT WORK

I think they added May to the show was because May is the female character you play as in the games, and since Ash already took Brendan's place they put May in and gave her a bigger role. Then they continued that by putting Dawn in in DP. That's why May and Dawn got such big parts compared to Misty or Iris. Those two are characters you play as and since Ash already took the place of Brendan and Lucas they added the girl character in instead.

Ill be honest, at first i wasn't too keen on getting new character into show feeling very indifferent about May. I didn't know nothing about that girl, i grew up with Misty and i disliked that out of all original characters she was the one who got replaced.

But after first 10 to 20 episodes i started to like May, appreciating role in show she had with every day more. She was interesting character and i enjoyed in her sweet, positive personality as well various quirks(like big fondness for food) bringing fun interactions among cast. From student/mentor relationship with Ash teaching her about pokemon basics, helping to adjust to battling and strategies developing strong friendship compared to initial rocky start. Brother/sister relationship with Max showing great deal of care for younger brother trying to keep from getting himself into trouble, with their arguing and getting into fights adding fresh note to group dynamics. And she even had memorable moments with Brock too, maybe not as much as Misty but they still felt like friends coming to respect each other, and i remember several scenes where they interacted together. Such as Brock going with her to shopping, showing interest in his cooking, trying to drag him to haunted house etc.

May was great character who certainly brought something new and changing for this show in form of contests and i liked her development from girl who didn't liked pokemon just wanting to travel, growing into more mature and self confident character finding place under the sun and realizing what is her true calling. She started completely insecure and naive not knowing much about pokemon at all, she was in phase of self searching not wanting to follow father footsteps and i enjoyed in slow transformation she made growing to appreciate pokemon and get over negative views she formed about them(this can be especially noticed in close bond May had with pokemon like Swablu or Manaphy).

Interest for contests came spontaneously developing interest after seeing Janet and Beautifly competing in one of them, which coincidentally sparked desire to get such pokemon as well. On road of becoming top coordinator she had both ups and downs; she experienced harsh loses which helped her to learn from defeats and improve , but moments of success as well having balanced progression as coordinator. In second half of her run she also eventually realized how as much as Ash may have helped her in beginning , his methods and staying in group is starting to hold her back. She became too dependent on Ash battling style with his influence starting to reflect negatively in contests battling more like trainer than coordinator, which set up another change in character coming to understand how its time to leave nest and develop her own battle style. Which was another testament to growth May experienced as character becoming more independent.

Fruits to further labor were especially showed during appearance in Wallace Cup arc returning as successful and accomplished coordinator ,with several evolutions like Venusaur, Wartortle, Glaceon being proof to her improvement ever since she left cast.
Another highlights were definitely May rivals. From overconfident and arrogant Drew who grew to respect May becoming strong friends, to feminine and envy Harley which was bastard(but lovable one) often manipulating others and taking advantage of her kindness playing important role in May growth as character leaving influence. Big part of May appeal definitely came through unique, interesting rivals with clash and interactions she had with them bringing humor and much needed spice to start things rolling. Making journey she went through all the better.

On negative side her contest arc and development wasn't nearly as much detailed like Dawn's and i felt quite a few of her contest wins came in unbelievable/cheap way. Such as Skitty defeating Dusclops, Eevee making ridiculous comeback against Brock Marshtomp etc, but given this was writers first take on contests still testing ground for them i can cut them some slack in that aspect.
I also felt how dialogue with other characters was at times monotone not bringing so much life to chemistry like Misty or Iris did ,with emotional reactions against rivals seeming sometimes contrived.

But all in all most of time i enjoyed in May interactions with feminine aspects of character and certain fiery side being recipe for endearing dynamic between characters.

You can say May set up pathway for future female protagonists, being important in sense of introducing contests in this show and writers did good job in making people care for character, putting thought and effort into it with contest arc despite not being so detailed and fleshed out like Dawn being more enjoyable imo. Like they say sometimes "less is more", and i think writers lived up to that statement with May development path.

p.s. I just realized after skimming through this thread how one sided opinions about May are, that its almost bizarre. Its like everyone thought she was great character .

On other hand Dawn and Misty threads are total mess with opinions varying a lot from person to person.