All the writers previous statements don’t seem to hold much weight now. Misty has returned. That means canonically, two writers, Takeshi Shudo and Masamitsu Hidaka are wrong in previous statements regarding her. Bulbapedia needs an update. I understand it could hurt some young fans feelings, but I’m honestly waiting for Tetsuo Yajima to be wrong as well. The original three’s time has come.
To preface, not bashing Shudo, but I will judge his work and his thought processes.
Shudo on one hand he had a lot interesting ideas, but he also came across as conflicted. The second movie is the biggest evidence of this. Specifically the scene of Misty saving an unconscious Ash.
His main point is that its about the emotional connection is meant to be between pokemon and humans, not humans and humans. That its meant to be coexistence between human and pokemon. He also stated Misty didn't save Ash out of love.
Yet he wrote a scene that he had creative control of, where instead of her sending out any number of water pokemon to save Ash, she dove into freezing waters to save him when it was very turbulent. Aside from the coat, shes not wearing anything that would really protect herself either from those kind of waters.
Its also telling that among the other staff members, that when asked to point out a part that made them cry, they mostly pointed out this scene as being one that made them cry. As this is another part of why he is conflicted. He claimed he didn't want to write a scene which intentionally made someone feel sad, just it was up to the audience.
Its also a scene that comes after Misty basically makes peace with Melody. A character who had up to that point had been teasing her and stating in a manner of fact way that Misty is Ash's girlfriend throughout a lot of the film. Based on if its subbed or dubbed Misty either states that "He is my burden... right?" or "Hes never alone because he has... me".
And to even rewind it a bit more to an earlier scene with Melody and Misty, she tells Misty in that same matter of fact way that she [misty] is Ash's girlfriend, Misty at first denies it but Melody just replies with "Your a girl and you are his friend right?" and Misty just nervously laughs and nods.
Its hard not to read into it as Misty is coming to realize her actual feelings for Ash over the course of the film. As it comes across as text and not subtext.
And to use another thing that shows more Shudo's own confliction, there is the light novels he wrote. Which were meant to be his own ideas for the show as they are meant to mirror the episodes. I will not dwell on them too much but there is a part where Ash and Misty are at Pewter City and they visit the museum there. And an old man chats with Misty, this old man is theorized to be Ash's grandfather based on other contextual things in the novel. The main thing about the scene in the novel is he basically talking about his approval of Ash and Misty being an item, aka a couple.
And to end off my examples, just to go even further to show Shudo's conflicted mindset. My avatar. That is a scene from The Ghost of Maiden Peak episode, its specifically from Ash's point of view in how he views her and how he basically finds her stunning. Its an episode that Shudo wrote.
