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Favorite Character Thread

Kuzehiko

That moment I found a lifetime treasure
Dawn
May
Ash
Paul and Brock.
 

AshxSatoshi

Ice Aurelia
Lillie- She's has so much internal and personal growth and proves you can truly write a character greatly without a goal..despite me liking characters to have a goal (a good one). Also I appreciate the writers for not copying and pasting her role within the games into the anime but instead making her, her own character. I also credit them for tackling adult-ish subjects like PTSD (although they'd never call it that) and going to into full detail about her fears and what physiologically caused instead of some vanilla plot about her not being able touch Pokemon that lasted for a couple of episodes. Yes they're dragging it out but it's more realstic that way.

Paul- I thought Paul was cool as a kid and still (kinda) do. His ways were borderline abusive but he was interesting none the less. I think I only really like him because of Ash. They were polar opposites but contrasted each perfectly. He was a person you knew wasn't a bad guy deep down but thought was a d*ck head most of the series.

Iris- Definitely top 10 on best characters this show has ever written. One of the very few ethnic characters we've gotten (besides Brock) so that was cool, I'm all for racial diversity. She was the only girl who was a complete tomboy and I loved how she had that "one with nature" vibe going for her. The anime really cared about her development and backstory and it shows. She's the second/third best developed Poke Girl (Dawn being first and May being equal to her). I also liked how the writers learned from their mistakes with Misty and gave her stuff to do to develop her goal. She challenged Gyms, handled a disobedient Pokemon, helped a couple of Dragon Pokemon on her journey, mastered Dragon Rage, won a tournament and got Axew to learn some powerful moves. Her interactions with Cilan and Ash were completely funny and they all fealt like real friends. Not to mention her comebacks were gold especially when she used Zoura to spite Langley.

Dawn- Most developed Poke Girl. She started off from being an arrogant brat who wanted everything handed to her, to a runner up and almost top coordinator. I loved she started her journey thinking she was going to win strictly because her mom was a famous coordinator but got beat twice in the appeal round. It made her character more realstic vs May who won almost everyone she competed it. This taught Dawn to depend more on training and strategy than luck and over confidence. She's definitely the closest to Ash by far (next to Misty and Iris) and their friendship was nice to see. When Ash leaves and says "no need to worry" is one of my favorite parts of all DP

Finally
Cilan- A nice departure from Brock and overall good character. I like how his goal was always developed from the start so we didn't get some shoehorned plot for him going towards the end of the series. He there strictly (mostly) for comedic purposes and he delivered. "It's evaluation time" wasn't funny in the slightest but Iris' Burgendy Dawn and co reactions to it were gold. They were like "shut up already".
 
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Satoshi no masara

Professional couch potato
Favorite characters:

Male:
Ash
Red (Both game and Manga)
Nate
Ethan/Gold (both game and manga)
Gary
Sun (Manga)
Max (fight me)
Tracey
Prof. Oak

Female:
Leaf/Blue/Green (both game and Manga)
Serena
Mizuki/Moon (both game and manga)
May
Rosa
Hilda
Lillie
Anabel
Kris
Lana
 

Steven of Venus

From Another Planet
Sabrina is my favorite character, because she's so potent with psychic penetration and she sees through people's minds like they're plastic.

Her dad is very devastated by how she grew icy and antisocial, being very solitary and quiet. But she has a humorous side too in her doll at the imaginary playground.

I also love her Pokemon team in Stadium 2 round 2 with Slowking (which is her), and Slowking could be Pupitar, that gray thing on his head, Alakazam, Scizor, Typhlosion, Hitmonlee, and Sandslash.
 

Mew2

Team Rocket's Enemy
My favorite characters are:

Male:
Ash
Red (games and manga)
Ethan (games and manga)
Lance
Steven
Tracey

Female:
Leaf/Blue/Green (games and manga)
Lillie (she's quickly rocketing up to my all time favorite character in the animé)
May
Dawn
Hilda
Serena/Y (Yvonne) (games and manga)
Moon (games and manga)
Cynthia

Pokémon:
Mewtwo
Ash's Charizard
Ash's Pikachu
Ash's Sceptile
 

oshawott7

cat burgler
My favorite humans are:

1. Drew
He was the first anime character I ever had a crush on lol. I was 14 at the time and loved everything about him. My love for him and Contestshipping was such a major part of my life back then that he still holds a special place in my heart.

2. May
I'm a firm believer that May's character development was the most well done, she has so much personality and depth but always stays consistent. She's most like me personality wise out of all Pokemon characters so I relate to her a lot.

3. Serena
I've always loved Serena from the very beginning, she's just such a fun character! People might complain about performances being poor knock offs of contests but I still enjoy them a lot, I like the feeling of them being more like celebrities. I sincerely hope she'll return one day...

4. Harley
Harley is awesome, period. There's no character like him except maybe James. Whenever Harley is featured you know it's going to be a great episode and that makes a well made character!

5. Misty
Honestly I did struggle with her or Paul being in 5th place but I ultimately picked Misty out of pure nostalgic value. Misty's character took a huge downfall when Johto started and never improved in the slightest until her return in AG. It doesn't help that I greatly dislike her Psyduck and Togepi as well. Despite all that I still love her for her role in Indigo League, the movies and her cameos. I was so happy when she came back in SM as a successful Water Pokemon trainer.


As for Pokemon:

1. Dawn's Togekiss
2. Ash's Bulbasaur
3. Ash's Corphish
4. Bewear
5. James' Chimecho

Other faves:
- Ash's Quilava
- Ash's Oshawott
- Ash's Charizard
- Ash's Torkoal
- Ash's Lycanroc
- Brock's Chansey
- May's Venusaur
- May's Skitty
- May's Munchlax
- Harley's Wiggylytuff
- Drew's Roserade
 
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Zyar

Unknown Member
It has to be Meowth. I don't really know why, though. As a kid, I didn't pay him much mind. When I finally decided to watch Pokémon seriously, from start to finish, a year or so ago, it was mainly because of Team Rocket and because I saw a post on Tumblr that made a joke about Meowth lol So, maybe you can say I started watching with a bias.

And yes, the main reason I watch the anime (even to this day) is Team Rocket (trio). That's why it bugs me they don't appear in every episode now. For me, there was nothing broken about the TRio in Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, or Sinnoh. I enjoyed every minute they appeared in, and I hated what they did to them in Unova. They didn't fix them (there was nothing to fix), they broke them for real this time. And when they attempted to return them to the way they were in Decolora Islands and in Kalos, they just weren't the same. That's when they started to feel tiring to me, like they weren't genuine, original or as funny anymore.

Still, I kept loving those three, even through the worse of times. And I still do!

But, of course, given Pokémon is such a long series and has a rotating cast, there are others I could classify as my favorites too! (Although, I don't think I'd keep watching Pokémon is my all time favorite character wasn't a part of the permanent+main cast —which consists of Ash, Pikachu, TRio and Wobbuffet—)So the list would go like this:

1. Meowth
2. Jessie and James
3. Dawn and Piplup
4. Cilan
 

keepitsimple

site of lies
Brock before DP was a really funny character and idk I guess I just like comedy relief sidekick characters a lot. He's probably my favourite character if I had to pick only one.

Dawn comes close though, probably the sidekick whose development the writers put the most effort into

Gary was my favourite rival, he always knew how to piss Ash off lol.

I liked Team Rocket, but only before Best Wishes. They had so many great and hilarious moments and I would be here too long if I tried to list them all. They were good in Best Wishes too, just really out of character. I didn't start disliking them until XY

Actually, I should really add post-BW Team Rocket to my disliked characters in the other thread
 
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Pokegirl Fan~

Liko>>>>>Ash
I didn't really care much for Mallow at first, but I think she's starting to really grow on me. I also like Lillie, Kiawe, Sophocles, Dawn, Paul, Conway, N, Iris, Brock (OS), Harley, and more recently Misty as well. I also liked Ash alot until the ending of the Battle Frontier.

My favorite character is probably between Lillie and Dawn.
 

DatsRight

Well-Known Member
As my account name would suggest, I've always had a soft spot for Meowth. While I agree it's probably for the best they downplayed TR these days (there's a dynamic and spark between them and the twerps that the writers just don't get anymore) Meowth will remain my favourite and the reason I always have one on my team in the games. I miss Maddie as Meowth in the dub though, there was a slick but sympathetic air to him I think only she got right.

Also I'm really starting to like Ash since SM. I love those dippy but brilliant and sweet hearted characters, and I appreciate he's not being held down so much by the formula anymore, making him much more versatile and likeable. People say he doesn't work as a butt monkey, and while it is a tad overdone at times, it's only relatively compared to the other characters, otherwise Ash is at his most endearing as a butt monkey, just when there's a whole lot more to his character than being one. Ash feels like a character you're supposed to underestimate before he 'gets dangerous'.

Also, in spite of mangling her story from the games, I just can't hate Lillie. She's so dorky and sweet and timid. A character you just want to hug all better. I also love whenever Ash has an 'onii-chan' dynamic towards one of the female companions (in another timeline Ash was probably supposed to have a baby sister). At the same time, she's not useless, she helps in rather unique ways, rather than just battling and raw power, she provides smarts and strategic help, which makes for a more developed team work dynamic to me.

Other top spots include the rest of TRio, Jessie's Wobbuffet, James' Inkay, pretty much all of Ash and Kiawe's Pokemon in SM.
 
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ash&charizardfan

Humans are tools
I must say after watching BW again I think iris is massively underrated and gets way to much unnecessary hate and that too for calling ash a kid, I think misty was way ruder than iris was ever been. Not to mention the unnova trio of ash, cilan and iris also have good chemistry.
 

Pikachu Fan Number Nine

Don't Mess wit Texas
My favorite of Ash's Kalos acquisitions is Noivern, considering he raised it from the time it was a pup.
 

Denko Sekka

Well-Known Member
I loved May because she was actually invested in her goal unlike Misty who didn't advance until she was given the Gym Leader job all of a sudden.
 

DatsRight

Well-Known Member
I have to say, while underplayed a bit, I kinda like Sophocles. He feels like one of the better realised non-battling companions since most of his episodes still focus well on his personality and his attributes, without needing any of the usual cheap plot devices like a TR/jobber curb stomp to make him look superficially badass. His Pokemon also feel routinely useful and likeable, in spite of not being that powerful and being largely stagnant in terms of power and abilities.

He also works nicely off of Ash, being more intellectual and lucid, but also more snarky and neurotic to Ash's more carefree and eager personality. I also like how Ash, despite being something of a uneducated jock, bounces off of a computer geek like Sophocles and knows to appreciate other forms of Pokemon expertise, even if he doesn't fully understand all of it (the same dynamic I see with other intellectuals like Clemont and Lillie at times). I love the bro moments Sophocles gets with Ash and Kiawe throughout SM.
 

Zhydra

Master of Chaos!
I loved May because she was actually invested in her goal unlike Misty who didn't advance until she was given the Gym Leader job all of a sudden.

May has the best character development out of all the girls. Barely a trainer at the start of her journey, then becomes a top coordinator that is able to go toe to toe with Ash. We don't get that in the others down the road that have a similar character. (Dawn and Serena.)
 

Satomine Night

The Power of Z!
I have to say, while underplayed a bit, I kinda like Sophocles. He feels like one of the better realised non-battling companions since most of his episodes still focus well on his personality and his attributes, without needing any of the usual cheap plot devices like a TR/jobber curb stomp to make him look superficially badass. His Pokemon also feel routinely useful and likeable, in spite of not being that powerful and being largely stagnant in terms of power and abilities.

He also works nicely off of Ash, being more intellectual and lucid, but also more snarky and neurotic to Ash's more carefree and eager personality. I also like how Ash, despite being something of a uneducated jock, bounces off of a computer geek like Sophocles and knows to appreciate other forms of Pokemon expertise, even if he doesn't fully understand all of it (the same dynamic I see with other intellectuals like Clemont and Lillie at times). I love the bro moments Sophocles gets with Ash and Kiawe throughout SM.
I think I would like Sophocles more if the writers actually used him more often. You're right, he could bounce off Ash nicely, being the brain to Ash's brawn, and with the stark differences in their personalities. However, IMHO, the writers don't really take advantage of that as well or as often as they should. As a result, Sophocles feels more like the load in many situations.
 

DatsRight

Well-Known Member
I do agree that Sophocles is underused (a large cast that already has an intellectual in the group probably doesn't help) but I guess what plays into it is that we do get SOME moments that use him to proper potential like the Tapu Koko rematch, the Charjabug race episode or the Celesteela UG episode, and other subtle moments throughout other episodes that are just enough to keep me invested in him.

He's not one of those characters that you can sort of see what they're going for and how he could work but is NEVER quite put into proper form, which sadly does occur a fair bit with Pokemon characters, especially the male companions. He also isn't stuck in the same old boring formula to try and hide it like many of said examples, his episodes do a good job showing other sides of him.

I do find it odd we don't see much of his tech smarts at least, though I suppose they might have drained that element with Clemont last series.
 

flod1

Active Member
My top 10 including Characters and pokemon:
1. AG ash
2. OS Brock
3. Ash Charizard
4.May
5. Misty's psyduck
6. Ash's Corpfish
7. Dawn
8. Ash's bulbasaur
9. Professor Birch
10. Max
 
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