Are game characters popularized by the anime?

[GameCodeTrainer]

Just like what all the others have said, yes. I wouldn't care about Cilan & Iris at all if they weren't given a main roll in the Anime.

 

[Cybersai]

Would it be the same for Misty/Brock if they weren't main characters in Kanto. People would think of them like they do Lt. Surge and Erika I suppose.

 

[FANG-TAN]

The main protagonists of the games? Sure. Gym Leaders that are part of the main cast? Of course. One-shot Gym Leaders? Oh god no. A group of the only interesting NPCs in the entire game franchise being turned into one boring character that changes masks every time Satoshi reaches a new Gym...

With a few exceptions, of course. But a timid character like Mikan getting a personality rehaul so generic that she's no different than the anime counterpart of Nagi and other female Gym Leaders... makes me facepalm. At least the anime versions of Kanto's Gym Leaders were mildly interesting. Any Gym Leader Jouto and beyond bores me to tears, with a few exceptions.

 

[SolgaleoGX]

God, if N appears in the anime...being a fan of him will get far worse then. >_>

 

[winstein]

If Cilan did not make the cut (and probably bring Brock back as some fans will hate), the Cilan will never take off as being popular, and we will miss his flamboyancy and fabulousness, which are powerful qualities of the character. What's more, Cilan will forever be known as a meek guy (he's like this in the games) and not the one we know, because game-to-anime roles rarely differ. So, I will agree that putting a character in the role of a main character boosts their popularity. I can get to Iris too, but let's not do that for now because it may be similar to the former reason.

Let's say Janine were to be in the anime as a main character during Johto. If she was there, not only does Janine become popular, you get to see more of Koga and family because of her presence. Not only that, Janine's character will be discovered, giving her a new light because most characters in games don't have too much character (and the fact that the manga isn't the common choice of story), so our understanding of the character is limited. Now if Janine makes regular appearances, people will be talking about Janine in the anime, and even ship her with anime characters like Ash!

Thanks for reading.

 

[Cybersai]

I honestly don't think I'd care about Cilan at all if it wasn't because of the anime. In the games I just see them as triplet brothers, nothing more.

Likewise Barry and Bianca were already good characters in the games, but became even funnier thanks to the anime.

 

[Caseydia]

Are game characters popularized by the anime?

I'd say no. Because I played the Pokemon White Game and finished it before I started watching the show and I like her better in the games. I picked Tepig so I got to battle Cress instead of Cilan so I liked him way better. The only one who I feel hasn't really changed is Bianca.

I liked Misty in the games but her personality on screen was horrible and I forgot about Brock once Advanced came on. So I don't think that the show always makes the characters popular by that reason alone. I think it's much more. Like about how long they stayed on and what shipping was more popular.

 

[J J M]

Well, technically yes. But there are game characters who are already popular even without appearing in the anime. *cough*N*cough* Though that's probably because they are pretty important in the games anyway. The anime did make "minor" characters like Misty/Brock/Cilan etc more popular.

 

[Cybersai]

The anime did make "minor" characters like Misty/Brock/Cilan etc more popular.

Indeed, imagine if Misty never joined the main cast in Kanto, and instead they chose Erika or something? lol.

 

[Kip]

I doubt I'd have a life-size Meowth plushy sitting in my room if it hadn't gotten so much exposure in the anime.

So yes. I think that the characters who appear more within the anime become more popular. I wouldn't care about Brock, Misty, Cilan, or Iris if they were just gym leaders and didn't travel around with Ash. Likewise, I agree that Brendan/Lucas would be much more popular if they appeared in the anime with more than just brief cameos.

Then. There is of course, the matter of Pikachu, who reached such high levels of popularity because it was Ash's first Pokemon and traveling companion. Without the anime, it wouldn't be nearly so popular. (And I might not necessarily have a plushy of it either. It's a small one though. But cute. .)

 

[Lugnut]

I really didn't care about Iris that much before I started watching the anime, now I am a little more interested in her. Same thing with Misty "back in the day". The anime helps make them more interesting by giving them a personality and expanding on what is only shown in the games.

 

[FANG-TAN]

I really didn't care about Iris that much before I started watching the anime, now I am a little more interested in her. Same thing with Misty "back in the day". The anime helps make them more interesting by giving them a personality and expanding on what is only shown in the games.

Unless of course they give them a personality that isn't like anything that was present in the games, as is the case with a lot of the Gym Leaders, giving them the generic "I are a smart and confident Gym Leader that is extremely friendly and stuff" that they almost always give to them in the anime. The game has much more variation for the Gym Leaders in terms of personality despite not expanding upon them, believe it or not. The expansion rests solely upon mediums like anime and manga, in which the manga is beating the anime by a mile.

Gym Leaders and the head bosses of antagonistic organizations are the only characters in the Pokemon games that come anywhere close to being interesting... and I hate how the anime handles them most of the time.

 

[bell02+]

I think most of us make up our minds on favorite Pokemon Pretty much from the games themselves, but people that watch the Anime more than games, and the Anime's Target audience is greatly influenced by Pokemon's Screen Time, especially if that Pokemon is given a lot of personality (So like Pochama, Togepi, Pikachu, Achamo, Starja, Mijumaru, Jigglypuff and Emonga for example, are popular due to the Anime's screen time and personality given)

 

[Cybersai]

I think its pretty interesting actually. A lot of people are bringing up Leaf and Hilda, who people like in the games, but they never became that popular because they're not featured in the anime. If Dawn wasn't a main character and went the route of Leaf and Hilda, I think it would be the same. Remember, Leaf was the first girl with a skirt, so its not what made Dawn stand out at first.

 

[FANG-TAN]

Yet they have more fanart than some characters that actually did appear in the anime. Mostly because of the games themselves and some of the manga that have characters based on them.

If we're talking about the general public, then sadly they would most likely recognize characters from the anime rather than their alternate versions from other parts of the franchise, but I'm pretty sure the fanbase is well aware of who these characters are and base their like on them according to sources other than the anime.

 

[The Outrage]

Satoshi simply looked it up in his Zukan. The pokemon itself didn't appear in the episode.

Anyway, I'd love to know what goes into the decision to feature certain characters and ignore others completely. Like, why was it decided to not have Chern in Best Wishes!? Why didn't Jun show up until relatively late in Diamond & Pearl? Why didn't any of the Rocket executives from HeartGold & SoulSilver appear? Why was Dent chosen to be Satoshi's traveling companion over Pod and Corn? Where's N?

Exactly. The question shouldn't be whether the anime popularizes certain characters, which it most clearly does. The question is why certain characters get chosen to be featured over others.

 

[Joshawott]

No one would know who the hell Misty was without her anime counterpart. Never mind obsess over her. Same with Brock.

Pikachu is the biggest example though. In the games themselves (aside from Yellow, which was based on the anime), Pikachu is hardly featured at all. However, since the writers chose to give Ash one, there is hardly a single item you can't find with Pikachu's face on it.

Satoshi simply looked it up in his Zukan. The pokemon itself didn't appear in the episode.

Anyway, I'd love to know what goes into the decision to feature certain characters and ignore others completely. Like, why was it decided to not have Chern in Best Wishes!? Why didn't Jun show up until relatively late in Diamond & Pearl? Why didn't any of the Rocket executives from HeartGold & SoulSilver appear? Why was Dent chosen to be Satoshi's traveling companion over Pod and Corn? Where's N?

Aye, and the Sinnoh Frontier Brains too. I would have loved an arc in DP dedicated to the new Rocket admins. Hell, would it have killed them to have the HGSS admins in the BW TR story? For example, Petrel could easily have replaced Zager, Proton could have replaced Pierce, and Ariana could have replaced the secretary...dunno about Archer though.

Although with N, I'd guess it was because he already got A LOT of focus in the games. I do wonder if the anime will feature him in the Team Plasma plot though, because without him...it'll be bland.

 

[Adamant]

No one would know who the hell Misty was without her anime counterpart. Never mind obsess over her.

I don't think you've seen Furo and Kamitsure's fanbases

 

[Joshawott]

I don't think you've seen Furo and Kamitsure's fanbases

That's mostly about their physical appearance though (No complaining there =3).

 

[The Outrage]

I don't think you've seen Furo and Kamitsure's fanbases

RBY Misty wasn't much of a looker.

And was like, ten.

GSC hardly had any art so fanboying over Misty's sprite then would be kind of hard, and nothing about her distinguishes her specifically from any other female member, and needless to say, her dialog about wanting to travel around was more or less inspired by the anime.