Takeshi Shudo's blogs [no shipping debates]

[pokemon fan 132]

What to say,despite knowing about this blogs before im still disappointed with motives and actions behind writers,especially when it comes to Misty.First they introduce her in show,give her plots,start to develop her just to slowly stop with time ditching her in end with her halfway developed story never getting ending nor progress.They did big mistake with this.

If she didnt had much of a purpose,than why writers even bothered giving her goal,introducing plots which formed initial storyline or for that matter including her in show in first place?Why he made her likeable character,giving her personality and ambitions.
She definitely had stronger justification for being in show than Tracey or Max had(compared to her they barely did anything),and im still trying to figure out how on earth Brock had stronger position in show than she does?

Sure he cooks and cleans,but in terms of character interaction and battling screen time Misty leads by far.Even if she had "weakest justification" he could have strengthen it making her position in this anime more secure.Like expanding more on her goal and story in Johto,that would be a step forward.But i guess he was too lazy,waiting for opportunity to ditch her out.

As for his statement how there wasnt romance in this show.I may not be a shipper but i cant deny how Misty/Kasumi showed romantic affection toward Ash in Kanto and OI.Hell even in Johto there were some moments which implied this pretty obviously like when she was jealous at Macy when she was around Ash at Johto league.

If he didnt wanted romance in this show,its his fault that he included some things which leaded toward fanbase misunderstanding his intension.

Well im glad he isnt head writer anymore,because frankly if you dont care about characters you write for your not good writer at all.And judging by fanbase negative reactions when Misty was replaced,with people all over the world wanting her return,he miscalculated himself when he took her out.
New head writer is obviously better as Pokemon Advance and DP showed with improvements they made..

Here is the direct quote about how the writers felt about Misty during the Johto days:

One correction.Those are views only from mr.Shudo who did construction for original series until mid Johto.We dont know how other writers felt about Misty character nor if everyone agreed with him.

Going by Takeshi Shudo blogs it was implied how he planned to replace Misty long before Johto even began but considering original trio was very popular with anime going strong and since not all members of writing staff shared same opinion he had no choice but to keep character.

Also interesting to note is they were also considering having Team Rocket leave the anime at the end of Johto, but instead kept them around. Can you imagine how different this show would be if TR really left at the end of Johto?

I can,show would probably got better considering how in that case we might have had for first time in history two girls in same cast.Since Misty would stay in case of TR being replaced and May would possibly join to promote contests this would ring doz of fresh air into cast allowing for some great dynamic.

Not to mention Misty might in that case be given justice as character never being developed to full potential with many things in character story being left unfinished and unexplored.Judging by increase of her focus in Master Quest getting better treatment toward end of Johto make it seem how other writers tried to redeem for mr.Shudo mistakes.

Now, as a character, Misty was fine, but I will admit that besides Water Pokemon, she didn't really get any sort of storyline. Hell, she at least had something, while Brock... nothing.

Her story was to become water pokemon master(concept which was never much explored),sh had complex of inferiority caused by older sisters feeling less worthy and she wanted to explore pokemon world catching and learning about water types as much as she can.

Misty had potential,story and undiscovered things to develop and flesh pout character but unfortunately she was victim of poor writing and lack of Takeshi Shudo care.He admitted blatantly how he never liked her.

However we dont know how other writers felt about Misty character with some things being done in original series implying how not everyone agreed with mr.Shudo viewpoint as i pointed out above.

Im not looking for a debate either, but I thought it was quite clear that Brock had more of a story (or development if you call it that) than Misty.

Still, let's leave it there.

I wouldnt be so sure about that.If you compare amount of focus and character centric episodes Brock and Misty received in Kanto and Johto she leads getting notably bigger amount of spotlight.

She also received some good development going from short tempered girl in more mature and level headed character developing in nice blend of spunky and playful yet more self confident and responsible character.Her skills as water trainer also vastly improved,managed to get over far from Gyarados and complex of inferiority caused by sisters.

When taking in account all seasons Brock was in show this may not be the case,but in original series Misty received more development than Brock did.

Also taking Misty out was in reality mistake,because her character was never given justice.Many things going for story were underdeveloped never receiving closure as well having lot of potential to do more which was never used because of mr.Shudo fault.Instead they just ditch her like garbage.

And i dont think im the only one who share this opinion because many fans are disappointed with Misty mistreatment wanting her back.

So Misty left because they had nothing else for her to do?

Not at all.Mr.Shudo himself admitted how it was his mistake of not developing Misty character and story enough replacing her while laving lot of potential unused,apologizing for character poor treatment.

Anyone who watched original series can clearly notice how much things in story were never developed regarding Misty.Like goal of becoming water pokemon master which was unexplored for most part,her backstory(not knowing many things like what happened with parents,why she prefers water type,why she fears bugs etc),several of her pokemon were unexplored(like Psyduck,Horsea,Starmie) etc leaving lot of untapped potential there which could be used to do more with her character.
Unlike its case with Dawn or May we dont know even motives behind Misty desire to become water pokemon master and what influenced her to have preference for one type.We didnt see Misty overcoming her personal issues which stand on her way of becoming water pokemon master never coming to significant realization how to achieve her dreams either.

We got in end nothing,despite there existing several directions through which Misty story could have been taken.

Reason Misty got replaced was because ratings started to decline with writers wanting to add some change in cast.Since she had weakest role to stay due to his fault of not being developed enough and considering how he had preference toward TR stay its obvious why female lead was chose as one who got the axe.

EDIT:apologies for mentioning pokeshipping.When i was writing this message i didnt read all previous posts just wanting to give my 2 cents about everything which was said in blogs.I wont mention it again.

So about Misty's reason for leaving, its not exactly surprising, is it?

We all knew Misty got stale in Johto, people used to talk about how Togepi ruined her personality. She hardly did anything over the entire span of Johto besides those few water-centric fillers they gave her and the Whirl Cup.

Two things to correct.Just because you thought Misty "personality was ruined"=/=other sharing same opinion.Misty didn't get enough focus for a long saga like Johto was that is pretty much obvious,but she was anything but bland being full of personality having several achievements there.She actually received little more screen time in Johto than she did in Orange or Kanto.It was agreed upon fandom how Misty development as character starting to mature was positive thing because it allowed to build up on established character exploring different personality traits giving it overall more depth liking further character growth it happened in chronicles and Hoenn with Misty growing in more selfconfident and mature character while still being quirky and spunky retaining enjoyable traits.
Just like most liked Ash maturity in Hoenn or Mays at end of Battle Frontier.

Most people thought Misty was personality wise after getting Togepi and in Johto fine,still being quirky,flamboyant and appealing while other personality traits being explored more starting to mature.Their biggest issue with character in Johto was that Misty was never developed much with story going nowhere during Johto.
For record lack of screentime=/=affecting quality of personality.If someone is often in bacground not being able to display his traits and interact with others doesnt mean his character sucks,because what counts is what kind of chemistry he produce when being center of attention.And Misty definitely showed plenty of character when being center of attention in Johto not being much different compared to Kanto days(aside from being less violent)..

Misty laving was surprising in itself because people thought original trio will be permanent cast(especially after Brock return),with Misty being very liked and popular.If anything fact that her story started to go somewhere in Master Quest gave out wrong impression to people how her character is going to stay considering writers finally started to div more into character.
At last thats what i noticed judging by some of people posts back than.

Also last time i checked Brock did a lot less than Misty did in Johto.
Misty received more focus,battled more,had her own arc(like Whirl Cup) and had more involvement in group chemistry and interaction with characters which can b noticed with established relationship with several characters out there.

 

[matt0044]

Sorry for this Sushi but: How are the "Pokeshipping hints" all Shudo's fault when there were other writers who could've made them? You act like this is a series Shudo wrote all by himself.

I just had to point that out. I will not say another word about it but I will accept answers.

 

[Sushi]

...It's kinda awesome when people ignore my posts, but it's even more awesome when they see them and still don't follow them But I digress.

For the sake of... something, I'll clarify this a bit: I don't exactly mind if people bring up the paragraph(s) about romance, or lack thereof, per se. Shudo said that he didn't want romance to be one of the defining factors of the show, that he didn't want it to delude the real aim of it - Ash's growth - in any way. And by all means, I think that's something almost everyone here agrees with. For the record, when he writes about romance, he doesn't mean Brock's silly antics or Pokémon having heart eyes for 20 minutes. So yeah, his view doesn't really differ that much from ours in that regard.

It's when people try to get nitpicky and dig up any bits of dialogue, "telling glances" and whatnot, throw it here and claim that he's wrong, wrong, wrong that you know things have gone awry. Again, please spare us from a debate discussing the canon-ness - or fanon-ness - of PokéShipping. The majority of people don't want to see it and would much rather focus on the really interesting parts of these blogs. Thanks :]

 

[matt0044]

...It's kinda awesome when people ignore my posts, but it's even more awesome when they see them and still don't follow them But I digress.

I just wanted to put that out there but I acknowledge you post.

 

[Arceusgamer14]

Not at all.Mr.Shudo himself admitted how it was his mistake of not developing Misty character and story enough replacing her while laving lot of potential unused,apologizing for character poor treatment.

Anyone who watched original series can clearly notice how much things in story were never developed regarding Misty.Like goal of becoming water pokemon master which was unexplored for most part,her backstory(not knowing many things like what happened with parents,why she prefers water type,why she fears bugs etc),several of her pokemon were unexplored(like Psyduck,Horsea,Starmie) etc leaving lot of untapped potential there which could be used to do more with her character.
Unlike its case with Dawn or May we dont know even motives behind Misty desire to become water pokemon master and what influenced her to have preference for one type.We didnt see Misty overcoming her personal issues which stand on her way of becoming water pokemon master never coming to significant realization how to achieve her dreams either.

We got in end nothing,despite there existing several directions through which Misty story could have been taken.

Reason Misty got replaced was because ratings started to decline with writers wanting to add some change in cast.Since she had weakest role to stay due to his fault of not being developed enough and considering how he had preference toward TR stay its obvious why female lead was chose as one who got the axe.
.

Well I'm glad they got rid of her because she had lack of development in Johto if she stayed too long people would get board of her.
May was the reason I got back into the Pokemon anime.

 

[deathseer]

Not much you can do with "Best Water Pokemon Trainer" anyways. Sounded like she was a lost cause from the beginning and was only there to say that there was a main girl in the series.

If she had a more tangible or more interesting goal, then maybe she wouldn't have turned out to be so boring. I'm still of the camp that says she should have just been a Gym Leader like in the games.

 

[Dephender]

Not much you can do with "Best Water Pokemon Trainer" anyways. Sounded like she was a lost cause from the beginning and was only there to say that there was a main girl in the series.

...not to mention she tagged along for about two years for no properly explained reason before they invented that water master thing.

 

[pokemon fan 132]

Well I'm glad they got rid of her because she had lack of development in Johto if she stayed too long people would get board of her.
May was the reason I got back into the Pokemon anime.

Problem is people doidnt get bored of her wanting that writers do more with character instead of leaving all that potential wasted with several things in story being left unanswered,Backlash which Misty departure caused with several people wanting her back just showed how they felt about whole thing.

Not much you can do with "Best Water Pokemon Trainer" anyways. Sounded like she was a lost cause from the beginning and was only there to say that there was a main girl in the series.

If she had a more tangible or more interesting goal, then maybe she wouldn't have turned out to be so boring. I'm still of the camp that says she should have just been a Gym Leader like in the games.

Except thy could,when even ex head writer apologizes itself for not developing character enough leaving potential unused its clearly obvious how there was more he could have done with Misty if he actually cared.For start they could have her enter more water based competitions serving as chain of mini events through which whole thing would be better defined serving as steps through which it would be advanced(instead of leaving it just on Whirl arc).They could use Marina from OI,Andreas or Trinity as Misty rivals to add more depth and conflict to whole quest.They could have done do more with her pokemon team(like Horsea,Goldeen,Psyduck teaching it to control his powers),have her catch more than one water type in Johto and have her battle more.

Johto would be definitely more interesting if some of this concepts were implemented in Misty story instead of wasting majority of screen time on pointless fillers which revolved around Ash helping COTD and his pokemon.

Speaking of boring,that may be your opinion but to many people Misty didnt got stale.Judging by their complaints they liked her when she was doing something finding her personality interesting,but problem was it didnt happened enough wanting that writers do more with her story actually taking character somewhere.

 

[ShinyCharyZard]

She only evolved one Pokemon the whole time she was a main character on the show (Looking at you Politoed, you lucky bastard). That's how little they cared what happened with her.. She had a Horsea that she could've evolved, or even her Goldeen. That could've helped further her goal quite nicely if she spent a bit of time training with Ash like the other girls have since..

Oh and they say she wouldn't have suited contests.. I'm sorry, but i'm sure there are co-ordinators that focus only on one type. They could've done that quite well and given Mudkip some proper treatment or have her overcome her fear by training a Surskit. Plus they could've kept that from getting boring thanks to secondary types such as Wingull's flying type, Ludicolo's grass type, etc..

Oh, the possibilities.. if only they'd tried harder.

 

[Demonsead]

...not to mention she tagged along for about two years for no properly explained reason before they invented that water master thing.

She wanted Ash to reimburse her for destroying her bike.

Yes, that was why she was with him at all before her retcon goal.

 

[munchlaxboy]

Well, there's three main things I wanna discuss: Team Rocket, Misty, and Brock.

Team Rocket had agruably the most fleshed out characters out of any in the series. They had backstories and there was plenty of insight on their lives. This was partially because when Ash, Misty, and Brock were frolicking around the Pokemon world, helping others and conquering Gyms, Team Rocket was secluded by themselves in many scenes with just the three of them, which really fleshed out their characters. Shudo did an excellent job in making likable bad guys that we the viewers loved to see every episode. After the Original Series (post Master Quest), their roles really started to decline and they became more necessary than wanted. When Team Rocket showed up in an older episode, I became excited to see what would happen next (most of the time). Althought I rarely watch the show anymore, when I do, I just wanna turn away when the rear there faces into the screen (especially in Sinnoh). They became stale and more monotonous than ever.

As for Misty, I was quite disappointed in Shudo's treatment of her. The one thing I will agree with him on is that forming a full-on romance (like Ash having an actual boyfriend-girlfriend relationship with Misty) would ruin the show. I was perfectly content with the millions of little hints thrown in about the two of them, but if he was going to make Misty leave, they should have really fleshed out her feelings towards Ash even more than they did in Gotta Catch Ya Later! Heck, I would have settled for a goodbye hug. Misty's leaving really changed my view on the show. I began to stop watching and I grew up a bit, from my nerdy self up to 1st-5th grade (well, Pokemon was cool up to 4th grade-ish) to a more outgoing, normal guy I am now in 11th grade. I can't imagine myself still watching the show on a consistent basis now. I think I watched all of two episode in Black and White and utterly despised it.

Also, like many others here, I do not see how her leaving was the most justified. Team Rocket staying is fine, as their "badness" and humor was needed for the show. Ash and Pikachu had to stay as the main characters. To be perfectly honest, Brock was the least justified out of all the main characters. Misty and Brock both had a barely-developed goal of being a Water Pokemon Master and the World's Greatest Pokemon Breeder (respectively). Misty had a fiery personality, unique and lovable attitude, and brought a feminine perspective to the show. Meanwhile, Brock's only regular duties were being the "mother" of the group, doing all of the caretaking, and semi-mentor at times. Oh, and of course the "girl thing" he had going. Some times it felt like he was just there (but heck, he turned invisible in Sinnoh). Misty at least had a presence about her, and I see absolutely no reason as to keep Brock in the show (and not Misty).

I would trickle out a few more thoughts but it's early and I really gotta get some homework done.

 

[deathseer]

That's the very reason why Misty was expendable and Brock wasn't.

It had been established that Ash is not capable of taking care of himself which is why we have Brock. No matter how "useless" people try to claim him to be, like it or not, the reason he was there was because of Ash. He took care of the things Ash would have been surely brushing off as not needing to do such feeding his Pokemon, taking care of his sleeping arrangements (not just crashing under some leaves in the forest), and other things a responsible Trainer should do.

All Misty had was just her arguments with Ash and how much better she always thought she was than him. She didn't provide anything for Ash so it was the right move to dump her off. Towards the midway point of Johto it became clear that she didn't serve any kind of purpose other than cheerleader when Ash was in a battle and her "Water Trainer" goal was a joke.

 

[ShinyCharyZard]

All Misty had was just her arguments with Ash and how much better she always thought she was than him. She didn't provide anything for Ash so it was the right move to dump her off. Towards the midway point of Johto it became clear that she didn't serve any kind of purpose other than cheerleader when Ash was in a battle and her "Water Trainer" goal was a joke.

It's not until now that i've realised that Iris is just a remake of Misty.. with a little more going for her of course, since she's actually getting development.

- Thinks she's better than Ash..
- The little arguments..
- Aim to be a master of a certain type..
- Being afraid of a certain type..
- Carrying a baby Pokemon outside of a ball, without us knowing if a Pokeball even exists for it..
- Followed along at first, but didn't think of actually travelling together as friends until Brock/Cilan brought it up.

Seriously, next they'll both try to capture a Pokemon and then battle for the Pokeball..

 

[CyberCubed]

As for Misty, look at it this way, the character was in the anime for 275 episodes. Out of those 275 episodes, only a fraction of it were "Misty-themed" episodes.

It seemed to me that Misty's AG cameos were an attempt to give the development to her she didn't get in Johto. They evolved and got rid of Togepi, showed her as a Gym leader in the specials, and gave her a Gyarados.

Funny thing is, Misty went through more character development in her few AG appearances than she did over the entire span of Johto. If anything AG did Misty more justice than people realize.

 

[pokemon fan 132]

All Misty had was just her arguments with Ash and how much better she always thought she was than him. She didn't provide anything for Ash so it was the right move to dump her off.

And what other girls provide for Ash?Their purpose and justification behind existence was in having their own story and plots which gave them purpose to be there.Misty had story too but writers screw it by never expanding much on it.

I think Misty purpose was in being supporting character who acted like Ash coach/mentor.She wasnt co-star but she did things providing humor and great chemistry between group,had several notable achievements(like winning Princess festival which was some sort of early contest,Seaking competition,being among top 8 in Whirl Cup, etc) and aside from battling did many other things which influenced plot in one way or another.From what i noticed she oftn played purpose of being heroine in classical sense saving people lives or getting others out of danger providing more to story than Brock,Max or Tracy ever did.Regardless of cooking serving like older care taker and mentor Brock always got shortest end of stick in focus even in original series.

She was one along with Brock who influenced Ash a lot helping him to grow in trainer he became later giving identity to this anime and group as a whole.
Her role in pokemon was also to provide humor and contribute to good character dynamic by acting like someone who would balance out Ash impulsiveness and naivety and Brocks obsession over girls with her spunky, and timid personality.

Naturally that wasnt big enough role or justification to warrant character further stay,but that was solely mr.Shudo fault.If he actually decided to do more with character story increasing Misty role such problem wouldnt occur.

As for Misty, look at it this way, the character was in the anime for 275 episodes. Out of those 275 episodes, only a fraction of it were "Misty-themed" episodes.

In Johto she had around 40 episodes which focused on her fully or partially.In comparison Brock got around 20(give or take).

It seemed to me that Misty's AG cameos were an attempt to give the development to her she didn't get in Johto. They evolved and got rid of Togepi, showed her as a Gym leader in the specials, and gave her a Gyarados.

Aside from Togepi and Gyarados nothing else in chronicles gave her development.Taking over gym was just used as plotline to get her of cast never being part of story and goal with writers making very clear at end of Johto and in chronicles how Misty desire isnt to be gym leader taking it over mostly because of incompetent sisters.

Cameos and chronicles didnt resolved plots of Misty story in any way or provided indication that further progress is being made toward them(like goal of becoming one type master,ambition to learn as much as she can about water types,what motivated her in deciding to become one type trainer etc)never coming to any significant realization how to accomplish her dreams nor getting over flaws which are standing in way of character going forward with things being left at standstill and undefined.

Funny thing is, Misty went through more character development in her few AG appearances than she did over the entire span of Johto. If anything AG did Misty more justice than people realize.

Ok this is clearly exaggeration because Misty did much more in Johto and received more development than she did in 4 hosos and 4 episode appearances.

When mr.Shudo stopped doing construction for original series in mid Johto it can be noticed how Misty received much better treatment becoming more active.Like expanding more on her goal than it was case before with Whirl Cup being created,capturing new pokemon Corsola,evolving Poliwhirl,battling more ,starting to explain why she likes water type so much in some episodes like "Some Like it Hot",gaining rivals in form of Sakura and Egan etc.
Misty started to receive better treatment after Shudo left and it strikes to me how other writers who took place after he left tried to redeem for some of his mistakes.

I agree how until Master Quest Misty wasnt going anywhere in Johto thanks to mr.Shudo neglect but from thre and onwards Misty character received some notable development not just goal wise but personality wise as well by other sides of her personality being showed more starting to gradually develop and mature.

This can be noticed in way she interacted with several other characters like Sakura,Egan,Dorian etc becoming mature enough to get over her complex of inferiority caused by sisters not being bothered much about it helping Sakura how to deal with her older siblings for example as well being over course of Johto willing to admit hr own mistakes and take criticism in much better manner compared to early days.Which is testament to character growth.

 

[randomspot555]

Team Rocket had agruably the most fleshed out characters out of any in the series. They had backstories and there was plenty of insight on their lives. This was partially because when Ash, Misty, and Brock were frolicking around the Pokemon world, helping others and conquering Gyms, Team Rocket was secluded by themselves in many scenes with just the three of them, which really fleshed out their characters. Shudo did an excellent job in making likable bad guys that we the viewers loved to see every episode. After the Original Series (post Master Quest), their roles really started to decline and they became more necessary than wanted. When Team Rocket showed up in an older episode, I became excited to see what would happen next (most of the time). Althought I rarely watch the show anymore, when I do, I just wanna turn away when the rear there faces into the screen (especially in Sinnoh). They became stale and more monotonous than ever.

They became stale and monotoneous about 40 or so episodes into Kanto,with a handful of exceptions since that time.

 

[JetshipperKekkaishi]

I agree with pokemon fan 132 on Misty. Even though Misty was getting stale I admit that she had a story that was unfinished. And the writers could have kept going with her story to be a water Pokemon Master. But the problem is that how could they do it. I mean what type of Water Pokemon can Misty catch. And trying to catch the evoultion would have been boring to do. I notice even since Takeshi Shudo leave they start to care more on Misty's goals. And have episodes that focus on her. I think why Brock was there for Ag and DP to prove that Ash can't take care of himself. So Brock was there to be like the big bro/father type to Ash and co. And TR was still there for the funny moments even though they were stale. Maybe the writers could not go with Tweam Aqua or Magma or Galatiac or Plasma because they weren't be no pursope for them to follow Ash. And them being a serious team would have be kind of boring all of the time. I think Team Rocket is still there to even out the bad guys so that the show can have a serious team instead of a joke of the teams.If that happen then Ash wouldn't be there since TR's drive was to keep following Ash until they steal Pikachu.

 

[pokemon fan 132]

I agree with pokemon fan 132 on Misty. Even though Misty was getting stale I admit that she had a story that was unfinished. And the writers could have kept going with her story to be a water Pokemon Master. But the problem is that how could they do it. I mean what type of Water Pokemon can Misty catch. And trying to catch the evoultion would have been boring to do. I notice even since Takeshi Shudo leave they start to care more on Misty's goals. And have episodes that focus on her.

Well like i mentioned there were several directions through which Misty story could have been taken.Like giving her some rivals(it certainly helps Cilan and Iris),develop her pokemon more.She only caught Corsola in whole Johto,Psyduck powers were never exploited and several of her pokemon were shafted which could definitely help to develop Misty skills as trainer more.

They could also introduce some benchmarks through which goal of water master could have been expanded more similar to how Whirl Cup was.It would give character more to do and serve as indication of story getting somewhere.Even Whirl Cup didnt happen until mr.Shudolft with other writers trying to do something with Misty goal by introducing tournaments through which Misty dream could be exploited more(which was step in right direction).However they couldnt do much when decision to remove Misty from cast was already made not having time to do character justice and flesh her out more(chronicles and cameos were just short appearances preventing them to do much with Misty anymore).However at least they tried unlike Takeshi Shudo who never cared to do much with Misty story before that viewing her mostly as token girl which "didnt had enough charm for girl to stay"going by his words(sexist much?).

Truth is she was great character with there existing window of opportunities to develop her more but since ex head writer didnt cared for her resulted in character being replaced with lot of potential being left untapped never receiving closure to story.
Because of never being given justice having room to do more she deserves to return to main cast again,but alas it probably wont happen.

Also i wouldnt say Misty got "stale"in Johto.She didn't get enough focus for a long saga like Johto was,but she still had personality having several achievements there.She actually received little more screen time in Johto than she did in Orange or Kanto.
In Johto we can still see Misty being full of competitive streak,sarcastic comments having tendency to tease Ash about his mistakes and temper side,we can still see her love for water types and fears(like fear from Gyarados and bugs),we can still see her caring side and stubbornness which were parts of her character both in Kanto and OI.Sh was still quirky,spunky and lively as character with only change being that she was less violent compared to kanto days.Which is because she started to mature becoming more level headed over time.

Further development can be noticed in chronicles and cameos when she became more self confident and responsible while still retaining her enjoyable older traits being quirky,sarcastic,witty,hotheaded,caring etc growing in nice mix of older and new Misty.

I see people saying how "Misty did nothing in Johto"but it can be clearly noticed how Brock took the biggest hit as character there.
Misty received more focus,battled more,had her own arc(like Whirl Cup) and had more involvement in group chemistry and interaction with characters which can b noticed with established relationship with several characters(like Sakura,Egan,Dorian,Andreas,Timmy etc) out there.

I dont think Misty was dull in Johto at all.Main problem was that she didnt received enough spotlight with there being too many unnecessary fillers there which prevented main characters to interact and be active due to taking backseat in several episodes which revolved around solving problems with COTD and their pokemon.Even Ash who is main star suffered because of this often not having chance to interact and display his personality with such type of fillers not advancing plot and character stories in any way falling in second plan.

Misty was enjoyable when sh did things in Johto having lot of personality in there,but lack of screen time taking often backseat prevented character from flourishing.

 

[JetshipperKekkaishi]

^ Yeah Misty had more moments than Brock in the OS. No one knew why Brock came back. For him to understand his goal of a doctor later on in the series. Brock found his purpose in the series even Ash understood his goal during DP. Misty's goal wasn't known since she left the series. The other charcaters understood their goals but Misty. The writers left a lot of questions unanswered. Even Gary had a goal after Johto. Misty started to get special treatment until mid Johto after that they seem like tthey could not go any further. Since they decided to add something new to the series,Misty had to leave. Pretty much Misty or TR were endangered of leaving,TR had no purpose in the series anymore but the writers decided to keep them around for a while making them the second main characters besides Ash to stick around in the series.

 

[pokemon fan 132]

Misty started to get special treatment until mid Johto after that they seem like tthey could not go any further. Since they decided to add something new to the series,Misty had to leave. Pretty much Misty or TR were endangered of leaving,TR had no purpose in the series anymore but the writers decided to keep them around for a while making them the second main characters besides Ash to stick around in the series.

I think you mixed things up though.Misty screen time didnt started to increase until Master Quest began and mr.Shudo stopped doing series construction.It seems to me other writers tried to redeem for ex head writer mistakes by finally starting to do something with Misty goal creating Whirl Cup along with giving her more battles and screen time in later Johto.However it happened too late and while there was left a lot more to be don,writers simply didnt had time since Misty had to leave.Shame really because many things were left unanswered and unexplored never receiving closure to story.

True,it seems at one point it was took in consideration that Jessie,James and Meowth leave show instead of Misty.However Takeshi Shudo clearly stated in his blogs how he had more preference toward rocket trio over Misty being in favor of their stay.

Regardless it seems TR suffered from lack of role and purpose too which put them in danger of getting axed,which explains why Jessie started to do contests from Hoenn and onwards(as well being given new mission in BW).They were given more of role in new regions mostly to justify their further stay.