Ranking the Pokégirls

[Cat's Eye Draco]

Bond With Ash:
1. Dawn
2. Misty
3. May

Dawn and Misty probably had the closest bonds with Ash, Dawn because they not only enjoyed one another's company but clearly respected and supported one another, and Misty because she was there for him when he was first starting out. I was kind of stuck debating between May, Iris, and Serena for #3, but ultimately went with May because I enjoyed the student/mentor aspect of their friendship; one of my favorite moments between them, for example, is when May was sitting on a bench after being criticized for her treatment of Bulbasaur during a contest and Ash went out and talked with her.

Goal Improvement:
1. Dawn
2. May
3. Serena

Dawn experienced a lot of ups and downs on her journey that forced her to think differently and try new things, while May had more constant progress (which resulted in problems of its own) that eventually led to her gaining confidence enough to step out on her own and find her own style. I kind of wanted to put Misty at #3, but ultimately went with Serena since most of Misty's biggest achievements happened either off screen or after her time as a companion had ended.

Looks:
1. May
2. Dawn
3. Serena (original design)

May's design has been my favorite for a while now, closely followed by Dawn's and Serena's original look, though I've never cared for her redesign. Her long hair and simpler first outfit suited her far better, in my opinion.

Pokémon:
1. Dawn
2. May
3. Iris

Dawn's team was mostly made up of smaller, cuter Pokemon, but they all fit her well, had unique personalities and problems for her to deal with, and she was able to use them in a number of creative ways. May finished out her series with a fairly diverse team and returned for the Wallace Cup with some impressive evolutions, but I ultimately put her second since, like Misty, that development took place off screen. I put Iris at #3 because I enjoyed the disobedient streak that ran through her team and their individual personality quirks even if only two of them were dragons.

 

[Darthlord7]

Well, let's see (that's the biggest post I have ever made by far):

-Looks

Spoiler

1) Lillie: I really like the combination of blond hair (especially the adorable braids) and green eyes making her a really pretty and cute girl. But the main reason I put her first above the other Pokegirls is because of how the animators are changing her outfits and hairstyles depending on the occassion. This really compliments her overall appearance even more in my eyes since we get to see her under different colours and fashion styles more often compared to the other girls.

2) Dawn: I always liked the contrast between black and pink in her outfit. Always liked the way she tied her hair at the back of her head and I'm going against the norm here but I never minded her beanie in every version of her(anime, games, Pokespe) and always thought it actually looked really good on her. Wasn't really fun of her pink dress and ponytail during contests but I really loved her hair and outfit she had against Zoey at the final of the Grand Festival.

3) Serena: Another cute and pretty girl here. I like the combination of honey blond hair and blue eyes but I was never really fan of her side swept hair she initially had and I utterly despise that tie at the near end of her hair but I liked her original clothes. After the haircut, her hair looked way better and cuter that way. I also wish we could get to see the ponytail Serena has in the games at least once in the anime too since it's my personal favourite hairstyle of hers. Regarding the second outfit, the only thing I disliked was the blue ribbon Ash gave her. It just didn't fit there colour-wise imo. The Showcase outfits she wore were pretty nice overall.

4) Misty: Always liked the hair and eye colour and outfit yet I was always apathetic towards her ponytail. I vastly prefer the GSC/HGSS appearance of hers over the original one but even with that I doubt she would dethrone my Top 3.

5) May: The outfit looked nice. The combination of red shirt and black pants was really dope plus the bandana was also really fitting on her and even made her look badass. But my major problem I always had with May was her hairstyle especially at how extremely short it was at the back of her head. I never liked it and never will.

6) Mallow: She's really cute but I don't like her outfit at all since I don't think it fits on her. Her hair both in ponytails or down are really cute and the flower on the head looks really nice on her. Overall, I like that she looks like a jungle girl but she loses lots of points from her outfit.

7) Iris: I liked she had a more wild look compared to the previous Pokegirls and how original her appearance was but I never liked the hair. I always found the dragon-shaped hairstyle unappealing and just like with Serena's case the tie knot at the end of the hair. Seriously, what's up with that? Anyway, if she got her B2W2 outfit and hairstyle which I really like she would be in fourth place.

8) Lana: She looks cute and I like her pants but that's just it. I don't really find anything special to comment about her appearance.

-Goal Improvement

Spoiler

1) Dawn: The second Pokegirl who took the coordinator goal. We got to see her some amazing performances from her which involved lots of creative move combinations which was a result of her working on both appeals and battles throughout her training which also benefitted Ash as well. It's also important to note that Contests were also way better represented in the show during their second run making them a delight to watch throughout DP. Furthermore, we saw her recovering from a harsh period of bad performances which also further compliments at how far she got at the Grand Festival but this is something I will talk more about at the Character Development board. The only con here is the lack of interesting rivals.

2) May: The first Pokegirl who focused on contests. May had arguably the best rivals in the series for a Pokegirl goal which made her contests quite intense to watch since she had to compete against an arrogant jerk (Drew) and a cheating clown (Harley) being on her way constantly. While I liked her journey at being a coordinator I didn't like how repetitive and uninspired where her performances sometimes during the appeal rounds. Also, adding the fact that she relied on luck quite a lot through Munchlax's Metronome and Skitty's Assist which gave the impression that apart of Ash's battling style she had no backup plan making Drew's statement that she lacked a style partially true. I liked that despite the fact that May's loss against Solidad wasn't fully shown, she realized that Ash's style is far from perfect and can be countered and that she needs to work on her own style from now on for her career.

3) Misty: If it hadn't been for the Kanto arc in SM she would have been way down in this list. She had lots of Water-type Pokemon but the problem with the Type Expert goals is the same with Ash's Pokemon Master one: We don't know exactly how and when we can define that someone is a Pokemon Master/Type Expert in the series. Also, let's not forget how badly Misty was treated in her goal throughout the series. Despite those issues, we saw Misty surpassing her fear she had with Gyarados and finally getting one for herself, she innovated her Gym once she stopped travelling with Ash, she mastered with her Gyarados Mega Evolution, it seems that she can use Psyduck's "hax mode" efficiently now and looks to be able to make pretty good tactics during her battles just like with Hurricane/Rain Dance combination which according to her, no challenger was able to counter barring Ash thus giving her a higher place in this list than I would ever believe myself.

4) Serena: Her goal took unnecessarily way too long to get revealed and sadly it ended up being an inferior version of Pokemon Contests which lacked battles and was also rushed only requiring three keys to enter in the Master Class while some parts didn't make sense about that goal. For example? What has baking even have to do in Perfomances anyway? To make matters worse, the Performances sometimes felt that they were centered around her character. The part where the performers had to attract a bunch of Rhyhorn out of all Pokemon gave it out. It didn't help that she couldn't possibly lose against her opponents/rivals which were incompetent and uninteresting unless bad luck kicked in. While the dancing parts and as I mentioned before her appearances were visually appealing, felt repetitive after a while. But despite all this, I really liked that she realized what she wants to make people smile with her performances and set that as goal, rejecting Palermo's offer and going on her own journey in Hoenn, trying Contests to sharpen her Performance skills.

5) Iris: Just like with Misty's case, Iris had a Type goal. She certainly make improvements like when she had to fight Ice-type Pokemon which she was scared of (even though I will always think her reasoning was nonsense), she caught a powerful Dragonite which she had to work to get its trust and get over its disobedience and overall she was one of the most experienced Pokegirls in terms of Pokemon battling. I wish she evolved Axew since it was also a part of her goal at being a Dragon Master but sadly didn't happen. At least, she got to meet with Clair and keep her training but imo it should have been Drayden the one who should have had that role just like in the games.

6) Lillie: Well, this is going to be placed in spoilers since we aren't in the Anime Spoilers forum section

Spoiler

She has claimed that she doesn't have a clear goal yet but she has shown determination at being a better trainer. We saw her trying to work on her bad throws, she recently got her Icium-Z which confirms she is getting her own Z-Ring, has an Ice Stone and uses her Pokemon knowledge to make up for her own inexperience. Due to the baby steps she is making as a trainer, I cannot place her higher.

7) Mallow: While her goal has nothing to do with Pokemon, she has stated that she wants to make her restaurant the best throughout Alola. She had looked for ingredients to improve her cooking and test new dishes and

Spoiler

has won Alola Bread Festival when her brother had lost hope when they lost their fruits

. I think having a rival and exposing her partner Pokemon more in the cooking goal along with more focused episodes around her character would have worked even better for her.

8) Lana: Her goal is about making Popplio to create a big bubble in which she can enter inside and explore the ocean underwater. She's making lots of improvement in this but it's a really weak goal and despite the fact that Lana got a Z-Ring and Waterium-Z at the end of the day it doesn't really seem to contribute in her goal in any way.

-Character Development

Spoiler

1) Lillie: She started as a really timid and weak-willed girl who couldn't touch Pokemon, something that was hurting her since she couldn't remember the reason and really loved them. To make matters worse, her mother was a workaholic parent who neglected her, never addressed on her problem while she was still treating her as a baby child in front of everyone and never asked her about her own opinion or questioning her own feelings. After getting caught up in certain incidents, she ended up touching Shiron's egg and Shiron itself risking her life to protect her very first Pokemon and some time later Ash's Pikachu and a Stoutland making baby steps at solving her PTSD and slightly becoming a more confident person in advance. Now the main issue with Lillie's development was that the relapse she experienced was resolved right in the next episode which killed the drama but it was still a really heartwarming sight to see her touching Pokemon once again. When their mother protected her and Gladion instead of grieving she showed that she has the determination to get her back even willing to go by herself. She also finally got to express her feelings towards Lusamine claiming that she hated her for treating her like a baby child while she was acting like one herself under the influence of Nihilego and that she's better than that. After the end of AF arc, Lusamine finally realized her mistake and even asked her to join the UGs showing that she sees her daughter differently from now on improving their relationship.

2) Dawn: She was really overconfident due to her mother's successful carreer when she started her goal. Just like I mentioned above, after winning her first ribbon she got a bad streak of losing from the appeal rounds which considerably affected her self-esteem, leading her to a depression till she decided to move on and work harder taking advice from Zoey as well eventually becoming more humble person as well. Also, she had a hard time to make her Pokemon listen to her properly due to her inexperience as a trainer since they were moments that Pachirisu was using Discharge blindly and of course Mamoswine being disobedient as well later on in the series finally gaining all of her Pokemon's respect and even having Dawn herself respecting her own Pokemon's opinions (Piplup wanting to stay unevolved, Ambipom wanting to play ping-pong regardless of how much I freaking hate this). Furthermore, early on in the series she was also really insecure about her appearance in front of her companions spending lots of time taking care of herself before she could show up in front of them something that she managed to overcome later in the series, becoming less concerned about that since she had to focus more on her Pokemon and goal.

3) Serena: Just like with Lillie, she had a rocky relationship with her mother since she, unlike Dawn didn't want to follow her mother's carreer goal and instead she wanted to find a different one finding the chance to leave once she saw Ash on TV. The problem ofc was the long time it took for her to find the goal and the fact that she wasn't actively trying to find one during that time making her character stale. After finding Showcases though, she decided to finally reveal to her mother that she didn't want to follow her own goal but become a Performer instead. After Serena showed her determination by winning the Rhyhorn race against her mother, she had a bad time losing her first Performance. That was the moment she decided she had to start anew by cutting off her hair symbolizing exactly that. I wish this could happen after having a streak of loses like with Dawn's case which would have more impact but still this didn't change my opinion of this being my favourite episode in the whole XY saga. Also, she showed how she really cared about her Pokemon when she left the stage to look for her overly shy and scared Eevee. Furthermore, as the series kept going on she finally found the courage to confess to Ash even going as far as kissing him on the lips during their goodbye.

4) Misty: She had a fiery short temper during the Kanto era shouting a lot and even hitting her companions mainly Ash when he was acting stupid and annoyed her. As the time passed, she fixed her attitude and also had a more maternal side taking care of Togepi and eventually having to release it as well.

5) Iris: She was affected when she lost against Drayden after having a 99-win streak since she had a big idea of herself along with the fact that she was considered to be a prodigy in her village. Also, the fact that she had a hard time in the Opelucid Gym being alone without friends due to her own immaturity made things worse. Due to that attitude, when she started travelling with Ash she started calling him a kid for every mistake he did being hypocritical about this since she was prone on doing similar mistakes as well while trying to prove that she was more mature as a person. Eventually, she accepted that she was also immature and that she has to work on that.

6) May: She wanted to travel the world despite disliking Pokemon initially but ended up liking at the end of the day choosing her goal as well. I think it should take a bit longer to her to decide her goal. Just like with Serena taking too long, I think she found what she wanted to do way too fast, especially for someone who initially disliked Pokemon.

7) Mallow: She is always a sweet and energetic girl who wants to get along with everyone but she also wants to get acknoledged for her hard work as we saw when she had an argument with her dad. Putting aside of that, there is not much to talk about her.

8) Lana: She is gentle and a playful girl who can be really angry when she sees Pokemon getting mistreated. There is not much to talk about her either.

-Bond with Ash

Spoiler

1) Dawn: While they were bickering at the beginning, the two of them ended up being best buddies. They had their iconic high-fives, were cheering on each other a lot with passion with Dawn being his cheerleader and they were helping out each other with their goals improvising moves and unconventional tactics together. Dawn also cheered him up after his crushing defeat against Paul in Lake Acquity making a small show for him to cheer him up. Seemingly, Ash showed that he was really saddened when she saw Dawn losing again for twice in a row hiding his eyes under his hat.

2) Misty: She was the first person she met on his journey and along with Brock played a big role at making Ash who he is today. Despite their constant fights throughout OS they showed they deeply cared for each other. Also, everyone was saddened when they had to part ways with Misty misunderstanding a bit though. Another example. at how much Ash treasures his friendship with her is when he denied to let Dawn use the Misty lure he has. Tbh, the first two can go either way.

3) Iris: Just like with Misty, they didn't have a good start but they developed an adorable sibling-like relationship given how both acted in this series. Iris after bonding with Ash started calling him a kid as a harmless teasing, she was really supportive during his battles especially against Roxie where she was cheering on him like crazy or when they both apologized with her giving him an apple while he offered a flower and there were also moments when they were really concerned about each other's well being in the series. If only, we had an actual goodbye episode...

4) Lillie: While they don't interact as much compared to other cases since Ash doesn't spend 24/7 with his friends in SM but this is one of the few cases that Ash showed genuine concern and interest in another person's personal life and problems. He went along to check on her when she got the Shiron's egg and tried to help touching Pokemon again. When Ash met Gladion and saw how conflicted Lillie was when he disappeared he followed back to her mansion concerned where she opened up to him and told him the whole story about her brother and Ash tried to cheer her up telling her that her brother was a nice person. When he screwed up with Nebby and Lillie experienced her relapse, he felt the need to cheer her up and also learned a lot more about her past through Nebby's teleportation. He was also holding her close to him for a bit after he jumped to save her from Mother Beast's attack so she won't make more reckless moves. Generally, Ash seems to brought out her more cheerful side throughout the series even having similar reaction under certain cases.

5) May: They had a good relationship and Ash was good mentor for her to look up to since he had more experience on journeys and was inspired by his offensive battling style which she used throughout the series. They had some really heartwarming moments like in the Manaphy movie.

6) Lana: They seem to have lots of fun together since Ash likes observing her progress at her own goal spending a lot of time together on the beach and she is most likely the person he spends the most time with when he is out of school. No wonder that her sisters love trolling her afterwards lol

7) Mallow: They looked quite funny together at the beginning especially when she was dragging him along with her but the two of them don't interact all that much lately. It was really cute though when he joined at looking for nectar for her dish and claiming that he wants to be the first person to try her dish. Also, it's pretty hilarious that Mallow likes messing with him too. (being the first one to drag him along with the other girls for extra shopping when the other guys escaped or when she dressed him as Nurse Ashley).

8) Serena: Their interactions were just ok with nothing really amazing compared to the other main Pokegirls. Honestly, it felt like they had the weakest Ash-main girl relationship and the fact that Ash was a really bland character in XY only made things worse. Most of the time, it felt more like Serena was crushing on a guy she had visualized in her mind rather than the actual person Ash truly was, while the latter didn't show the same interest in her compared to other Pokegirls showing how incompatible they were. Ash felt really closer to Clemont while Serena with Bonnie instead in the gang.

-Pokemon

Spoiler

1) Dawn: All of her Pokemon had vibrant and individual personalities. But I have to say that I never liked Dawn's Piplup.

2) Iris: Axew was pretty cute and there is an unpopular opinion but I found Iris' Emolga amusing to watch. Excandrill was a pretty cool Pokemon being around as well.

3) Serena: Really liked how elegant Braixen looked and overall Serena's Pokemon team despite being small felt like a close family which was pretty cute.

4) Misty: Psyduck was really hilarious due to his gag and Politoed was amusing with its clapping. Most of Misty's other Pokemon were bland and Togepi was just there to look cute.

5) May: She has many Pokemon I like but apart from Munchlax which was devouring everything, the rest of her Pokemon where also bland. Blaziken looked really badass though.

6-8)SM girls: Shiron, Tsareena and Popplio don't really have much going on with them. I wish the girls got finally a second capture so we could possibly see how those Pokemon would interact with Pokemon sharing the same partner/trainer.

 

[DatsRight]

4) Lillie: While they don't interact as much compared to other cases since Ash doesn't spend 24/7 with his friends in SM but this is one of the few cases that Ash showed genuine concern and interest in another person's personal life and problems. He went along to check on her when she got the Shiron's egg and tried to help touching Pokemon again. When Ash met Gladion and saw how conflicted Lillie was when he disappeared he followed back to her mansion concerned where she opened up to him and told him the whole story about her brother and Ash tried to cheer her up telling her that her brother was a nice person. When he screwed up with Nebby and Lillie experienced her relapse, he felt the need to cheer her up and also learned a lot more about her past through Nebby's teleportation. He was also holding her close to him for a bit after he jumped to save her from Mother Beast's attack so she won't make more reckless moves. Generally, Ash seems to brought out her more cheerful side throughout the series even having similar reaction under certain cases.

I think that's an element I like however, since they make clear Ash is not an all encompassing part of Lillie's life, she was part of the main group before him in fact and unlike the other companions before they're not tied to each other on a journey 24/7, and yet they still seem to take each other's significant notice. With some companions I feel like if they weren't practically fastened to Ash's side, he wouldn't really bother with them, but he went out of his way to look out for Lillie, if partially out of guilt (she was one of the first companions he accidentally hurt in a serious way, and I think that encouraged him not to take them for granted as much), as a result of this Lillie definitely seems to look up to Ash, not to an extreme pedestal like his Kalos buddies, but more in an affectionate big brother/little sister sort of way, helped by his much more approachable personality this series (she's not above playful teasing or getting a little exasperated with his behaviour like the other students).

Another subtle detail I liked was when Nebby evolved and he bemoaned Lusamine not being around, before quickly realising what a callous thing that was to say after Lillie had just lost her in Ultra Space and apologising. He didn't need calling out for that (Lillie actually just told him it was fine), but often Ash feels more engrossed and compassionate towards his Pokemon than his human friends, so it felt significant he caught himself on it with one companion.

I think Ash brings out a cute bit of character agency with Lillie too, since she's not as experienced, but quite intelligent, thus can often provide strategic help while Ash provides muscle, which I think is more unique than the usual tag team battling against TR most of the other girls got. She sometimes even compliments some of Ash's own plans in a fun way, like making a costume for his Passimian act.

I do admit however, that we haven't seen much interaction with Ash and Lillie in recent episodes. Even the shrinking episode they did together didn't give them a lot of moments (except maybe Ash giving her a ride on Pikachu to try cheer her up).

 

[Power Up]

What would your ranking be by category (bond with Ash, goal improvement, character design, Pokémon, characterization, character development)? Is Serena first at everything for you?

She would be top at everything for me honestly besides maybe her goal

 

[Zoruagible]

Dawn's clearly the best. Lillie ain't even close to the development Dawn had. Dawn suffered and worked hard through her journey, and all of her Pokemon except Togekiss since it came in so late were all properly developed Pokemon with fully fleshed personalities. Yes Ambipom leaving could be considered a flaw, but I don't really see any difference between that and May leaving Beautifly and Skitty in Hoenn while she went to Kanto. Dawn's never going to be topped, not unless they bring back contests or give the girl a non-original goal exclusive to the anime!

In fact Dawn leads pretty much every category, only really having a clash with May over the Pokemon. Back when the girls actually got more than three Pokemon and they were all pretty diverse compared to the rest of their teams, apart from when Dawn owned Buizel anyways.

Bond
Dawn>Misty>May>Serena>Mallow>Lillie>Lana>Iris

Goal Improvement
Dawn>May>Serena

Pokemon
Dawn and May > Misty(Gotta love Psyduck) > Serena(Braixen and Pancham's interactions.... before he got shelved in favor of Eevee) > Mallow(Tsareena is queen) > Iris(I love Excadrill even though I extremely dislike her) > Lana > Lillie

Looks
Mallow(Hair down..... <3) > Dawn > May > Serena > Misty > Lillie (Honestly she'd be second or third if z-form was permanent.... like it should be) > Lana > Iris

 

[raichu27]

I would say Dawn, they seem to have a lot of common. Plus, Ash seemed closer to her than the other Pokegirls. They also cheered eachother on between gym battles and contests. Serena would probably be my 2nd choice. They've met since childhood.

 

[LilligantLewis]

Bond with Ash:
9. Iris
8. Lana
7. Bonnie
6. Mallow
5. May
4. Lillie
3. Misty
2. Dawn
1. Serena

Goal Improvement:
9. Mallow
8. Lana
7. Lillie
6. Misty
5. Iris
4. Bonnie
3. Serena
2. May
1. Dawn

If you're wondering why Bonnie is so high, it's because I believe the writers did an incredible job of hiding in plain sight truly crucial episodes, that seem at first to be fillers, but were actually important to the final arc of the show. I'm talking about the Flabébé and Tyrantrum episodes. Her relationship with Flabébé and Tyrunt at the beginning of each of those episodes is just like her relationship with Squishy when she first finds it. How much difficulty she had saying goodbye to each of them at the end of those episodes was important to see because when she has to say goodbye to Squishy instead, and she's actually having less difficulty and knows it's her duty to say goodbye, and is able to much more easily and bravely say goodbye, showing her growth. I don't believe her relationship with Squishy would have been as understandable to the audience without those two seemingly fillers. She was an incredibly well written character.

The reason Iris is above Misty is because I only considered their initial runs in the show, not information that came after. While both were pretty bad, Iris's gym battle against Drayden served as a much better conclusion for her than the Whirl Cup. It wasn't even clear to me at the time that the Whirl Cup was meant to be a "Misty sendoff" since Ash competed in it too, not to mention that it happened way too early, when Ash only had 5 badges, rather than Iris's Opelucid battle which happened when Ash had 8 badges.

Looks:
13. Iris
12. Lillie ping pong hairstyle
11. Lana
10. Misty
9. Lillie regular hairstyle
8. Serena original hairstyle
7. Bonnie
6. Lillie Z-powered hairstyle
5. Serena haircut
4. Mallow
3. Dawn
2. May
1. Mallow hair down

Pokémon:
9. Bonnie
8. Mallow
7. Lillie
6. Lana
5. Serena
4. Iris
3. Misty
2. May
1. Dawn

Overall based on the above four attributes:
9. Lana
8. Iris
7. Lillie
6. Bonnie
5. Mallow
4. Misty
3. Serena
2. May
1. Dawn

Yeah, his constructive analysis is better than writing stuffs like hating the Pokegirl because "She didn't contribute anything in the show" or "She's useless".

His constructive and comprehensive analysis in the best in this entire forum, in THREAD after THREAD!!! I find myself in any thread I ever enter, always instinctively looking for the @Genaller post!

 

[Sceptile Leaf Blade]

I feel like I'm the only one who really likes Lana... Her ability to switch from totally badass and eager to silent unfazed to flustered and embarrassed in the blink of an eye is just so entertaining.

 

[Lord Starfish]

I feel like I'm the only one who really likes Lana... Her ability to switch from totally badass and eager to silent unfazed to flustered and embarrassed in the blink of an eye is just so entertaining.

Nah, I like her too. She's a huge troll. And that's awesome.

 

[Slapstick-Olivia]

Lana is cool... but just very underused in the anime like almost half of the cast.

 

[DatsRight]

While Lana isn't as dull as Mallow, she's suffering a similar problem of being underplayed heavily and not really getting to stick out much besides odd gags and lacking much of a defined role within the team. Her last limelight episode was a vehicle for a COTD Pokemon, and even in many group focused episodes like the Ultra Guardian plots she ends up not doing much noteworthy. Her Popplio is also one of the blandest of the main characters' Pokemon right now, that now including the Ride Pokemon who started gaining more distinct personalities in all of one episode.

 

[Dragalge]

For me (the SM girls are tentative by the way sans looks)...

Bond:

1. Dawn
2. Lillie
3. Misty
4. May
5. Mallow = Lana = Iris
6. Serena
7. Bonnie

Bonnie’s interactions with Ash was nonexistent and I liked how Dawn and Ash were good friends although Misty and Lillie are fine as well imo.

Looks:

1. Mallow
2. Lillie
3. Lana = Misty
4. May = Iris = Serena (before haircut)
5. Serena (haircut)
6. Bonnie
7. Dawn

Can’t beat Mallow with her hair down lol. 2 - 5 range from decent to OK. Bonnie’s design is bland and for Dawn...why? ._.

Personality:

1. Misty
2. Dawn
3. Lillie = Mallow = Lana
4. May = Iris
5. Serena = Bonnie

Misty was hilarious throughout OS imo and I also found Dawn’s personality fine too (Even in BW I enjoyed her personality more). Despite Lana and Mallow being underdeveloped, they still manage to at least be entertaining that I’m OK with them how they are atm (although Mallow has been doing a bit better lately thankfully). And Lillie’s is pretty fun too. I’m neutral on May & Iris and I personally found Serena and Bonnie a snoozefest throughout XY.

Pokémon:

1. Misty
2. Iris
3. Lillie = Mallow
4. May = Lana
5. Serena
6. Dawn

...seventh place goes to Bonnie if you count her having Dedenne (despite Clemont owning it). Dawn is the only one who has Pokémon I actually dislike that consists a majority of them (other then Braixen but I’m neutral on her others). I put Misty in first because Psyduck is just awesome but I also like Dragonite, Excadrill, Snowy and Tsareena.

Overall despite me not liking her Pokémon and design, I personally thought Dawn had the best mixture of good development and personality. Probably my biggest gripe with her is Ambipom being released in favor of a boring Togekiss. Like don’t take away the most enjoyable Pokémon on your team like that

 

[NanoMoltres]

~ Dawn
~ Lillie
~ May
~ Lana
~ Serena
~ Mallow
~ Misty
~ Bonnie
~ Iris

 

[LilligantLewis]

~ Dawn
~ Lillie
~ May
~ Lana
~ Serena
~ Mallow
~ Misty
~ Bonnie
~ Iris

Why is Lana so high? I can mostly see/understand where you're coming from on the rest.

 

[Epicocity]

Why is Lana so high? I can mostly see/understand where you're coming from on the rest.

As someone who finds Lana to be the best part of SM, it's because she's really a girl of action. Everything she's gained by this point has been strictly through her own actions. On top of it, she just has a fun personality as the girl who likes to troll everyone. That's at least a surface level explanation, I think.

 

[Aquafinna]

As someone who finds Lana to be the best part of SM, it's because she's really a girl of action. Everything she's gained by this point has been strictly through her own actions. On top of it, she just has a fun personality as the girl who likes to troll everyone. That's at least a surface level explanation, I think.

Besides Lillie gettting slight help from Nebby concerning her fear, the same can be said about her besides the troll part I guess.

 

[DatsRight]

Besides Lillie gettting slight help from Nebby concerning her fear, the same can be said about her besides the troll part I guess.

Well she gets rescued by Ash several times, and Charjabug technically got her Iceium Z and Ice Stone for her as well. She does return the team play in some episodes though, thinking up strategies for Ash at times or minor assistance like making his Passimian costume or figuring out where his Electrium Z was.

I put Lillie further up because she tends to stick out a bit better than Lana or Mallow (at least since season two). Lana has good limelight episodes, but besides minor bits of comic relief she doesn't really get to do much as a supporting character, while Lillie seems more capable of getting a team role due to her smarts.

Also this might be a bit of schadenfreude, but I rate Lillie a bit higher because she's allowed to play butt monkey at times, just like the earlier Pokegirls. I feel more able to sympathise with Lillie because she does have things at her expense, she is allowed fail miserably at things or make a fool of herself just like the Ash and the other boys do, and that makes her more fallible to me, while Mallow and Lana rarely have any 'loser' qualities outside group gags, to the point their inexperience is almost nonexistent as a weakness whatsoever. The fact she has more distinct strengths AND weaknesses I think also allows for more character agency, being an intelligent, eager but sheltered, neurotic and slightly frail character. You can put her in a group and she will neither be useless or render everyone else redundant.

 

[Aquafinna]

Well she gets rescued by Ash several times, and Charjabug technically got her Iceium Z and Ice Stone for her as well. She does return the team play in some episodes though, thinking up strategies for Ash at times or minor assistance like making his Passimian costume or figuring out where his Electrium Z was.

I put Lillie further up because she tends to stick out a bit better than Lana or Mallow (at least since season two). Lana has good limelight episodes, but besides minor bits of comic relief she doesn't really get to do much as a supporting character, while Lillie seems more capable of getting a team role due to her smarts.

Also this might be a bit of schadenfreude, but I rate Lillie a bit higher because she's allowed to play butt monkey at times, just like the earlier Pokegirls. I feel more able to sympathise with Lillie because she does have things at her expense, she is allowed fail miserably at things or make a fool of herself just like the Ash and the other boys do, and that makes her more fallible to me, while Mallow and Lana rarely have any 'loser' qualities outside group gags, to the point their inexperience is almost nonexistent as a weakness whatsoever. The fact she has more distinct strengths AND weaknesses I think also allows for more character agency, being an intelligent, eager but sheltered, neurotic and slightly frail character. You can put her in a group and she will neither be useless or render everyone else redundant.

Most of the episodes she’s gotten rescued by Ash (if you could even call it that) where filler episodes and she isn’t the first PokeGirl to be rescued by Ash xD. Wasn’t her Icium Z earned because she helped Alolan Sandslash? I remember him finding the Ice Stone but not the Z Crystal. Agreed 100% with the rest.

 

[DatsRight]

Most of the episodes she’s gotten rescued by Ash (if you could even call it that) where filler episodes and she isn’t the first PokeGirl to be rescued by Ash xD. Wasn’t her Icium Z earned because she helped Alolan Sandslash? I remember him finding the Ice Stone but not the Z Crystal. Agreed 100% with the rest.

Charjabug found two Ice Stones, the first one was used on Sandshrew who found an Iceium Z as a pay back for both acts of kindness.

Ash had to be on bodyguard mode for most of the AF arc. I mean you're right, Ash saves his other friends a lot and she wasn't useless because of it (plus role reversals like the Palossand episode have happened), I'm just saying she wasn't independent in those stories. Not that I'm moaning too much about it, if anything I like she's not some forced action girl who can curbstomp bad guys by the thousand or anything, and has a more subtle but equally helpful personality. I like Sophocles for similar reasons. It's a nice change to have characters that prove their worth in ways besides being powerful.

(Plus I like whenever Ash has a companion he's in 'protective big brother' mode around.)

 

[Sceptile Leaf Blade]

The Icium Z wasn't to repay for the Ice Stone, it was to repay Lillie for defending the Sandshrew from Tyranitar. If it was about the Ice Stone it'd have given the Icium Z to Sophocles.