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Who's your favorite character in the anime?

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There have been countless characters featured in the anime over the years, both human and Pokémon. Seeing as there are so many, all with their own different personalities, I think it's interesting to see everyone's reasoning behind their favorites. So my question is, who are your all-time favorite characters from any saga, and most importantly why?

You can of course list multiple if you have more than one, and feel free to go into depth if you want! :bulbaWave:
 
oh man i love the anime charas so its gonna be hard to choose just one :,D

ig first i'll bring up the animes bets girl dawn!! i grew up with dp so theres some nostalgia attached for sure but she has such a cool character arc and a fun to watch personality!! how she starts as an overconfident girl relying on her relation with her top coordinator mother to carry her to victory and crying when it doesnt work out to a coordinator whos proud of her own strength and takes her grand festival loss with her head held high (DAWN WAS STILL ROBBED). her occasional witty and sarcastic moments are a nice contrast to mays more passive attitude and made for a really fun dynamic with ash and brock..... and we cant forget her trademark "no need to worry!" phrase. her team lineup is also one of my favorites!! just wished she kept ambipom instead of replacing her with a boring generic personality cyndaquil to promote hgss but i digress dawn is the best girl

and im not sure how obvious my icon makes this but i also love may as well :,) she has some super strong chara growth as well (stronger than dawns id like to say on some days) and its wholesome how she goes from not liking pokemon and not knowing what to do with herself to truly caring about her team and finding her goal. rewatching advanced generation for the past bit has made me really remember why shes awesome and her story of being the clueless underdog wraps up so nicely when she defeats drew (anything beyond kanto drew doesnt exist the way they ended the kanto grandfes was YUCKY). shes fun to watch with her little "mays adventures" quirk and shes super wholesome when she shows herself as a caring big sister (our girl almost forfeited her hoenn grand festival dream for max when he was lost thats so sweet)

speed round because i dont have an essay for him, but james!! he is cute. he is wholesome. he is funny. i want to give him a big hug
 
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Jigglypuff! I love Jigglypuff, and the one in the anime is so cute and funny!
Jigglypuff is adorable! probably the first thing I think of when I remember Jigglypuff is its appearance in Attack of the Prehistoric Pokemon when it made Aerodactyl (and everyone else) fall asleep and forget what they saw

oh man i love the anime charas so its gonna be hard to choose just one :,D

ig first i'll bring up the animes bets girl dawn!! i grew up with dp so theres some nostalgia attached for sure but she has such a cool character arc and a fun to watch personality!! how she starts as an overconfident girl relying on her relation with her top coordinator mother to carry her to victory and crying when it doesnt work out to a coordinator whos proud of her own strength and takes her grand festival loss with her head held high (DAWN WAS STILL ROBBED). her occasional witty and sarcastic moments are a nice contrast to mays more passive attitude and made for a really fun dynamic with ash and brock..... and we cant forget her trademark "no need to worry!" phrase. her team lineup is also one of my favorites!! just wished she kept ambipom instead of replacing her with a boring generic personality cyndaquil to promote hgss but i digress dawn is the best girl

and im not sure how obvious my icon makes this but i also love may as well :,) she has some super strong chara growth as well (stronger than dawns id like to say on some days) and its wholesome how she goes from not liking pokemon and not knowing what to do with herself to truly caring about her team and finding her goal. rewatching advanced generation for the past bit has made me really remember why shes awesome and her story of being the clueless underdog wraps up so nicely when she defeats drew (anything beyond kanto drew doesnt exist the way they ended the kanto grandfes was YUCKY). shes fun to watch with her little "mays adventures" quirk and shes super wholesome when she shows herself as a caring big sister (our girl almost forfeited her hoenn grand festival dream for max when he was lost thats so sweet)

speed round because i dont have an essay for him, but james!! he is cute. he is wholesome. he is funny. i want to give him a big hug
Oh, I completely agree about Dawn, she was one of the best parts of DP!! I think you said everything I could say about her already but I've also always really loved her team (Pachirisu in particular was one of my favorites when I was younger) and that confidence/bit of snark she has in her personality too. I always appreciated how she was essentially treated as a "co-protagonist" way before they started pushing that concept for real in JN.
I'm still only part way through my AG rewatch and my memory of it is hazier still so I'm less confident saying anything about May, but from what I remember and what I've seen again so far she really is super sweet! Plus her design is still one of the best even now, IMO.
(also yes james is very good too. he can do no wrong)

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I guess as thread starter I should probably give my own answer lol.

My favorite character in the anime is Gary Oak! I find his character arc of slowly changing himself for the better over time to be really great. I feel like most people probably think of his Indigo League appearances first, at the point where he's still a bit of a jerk (and it IS funny of course). But I think I'm a bit more fond of his Johto appearances, where over the course of the region he goes from being somewhat distant to eventually rekindling a friendship with Ash at the end. Obviously I was EXTREMELY excited to wake up to the news a while back that he was going to be in Journeys at some point, since I've wanted him to appear again for over a decade by this point and I wanna know what he's doing now. Fingers crossed that he'll be recurring again. c':

I also really love Ash an equal amount, but it's a bit harder for me to write a whole cohesive paragraph about him since he's clearly kind of all over the place. His OS iteration/personality will always be my favorite (my bias is showing...) but AG/DP/BW and JN are all pretty close in different ways. It evened out a bit over time but I just really like how moody and reckless he was in earlier series while still being kind at heart. He's always been a very good protagonist and I'm one of those people that just never wants him to be replaced, honestly.
 
Bea, Hau, Mallow, and Barry were my favorites in the games, but in the shows, I was dissapointed by them (but Bea in Twilight Wings was great). I really like Clemont's Chespin, Ash's Infernape, I like Sawyer the Treecko guy from XY, I like all of the gym leaders, Serena's Pancham, Lana's Pokemon, and some other ones I can't think of. Oh thats right, DAWNS PIPLUP
 
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Bea, Hau, Mallow, and Barry were my favorites in the games, but in the shows, I was dissapointed by them (but Bea in Twilight Wings was great). I really like Clemont's Chespin, Ash's Infernape, I like Sawyer the Treecko guy from XY, I like all of the gym leaders, Serena's Pancham, Lana's Pokemon, and some other ones I can't think of. Oh thats right, DAWNS PIPLUP
I also love Clemont's Chespin! (and every Gym Leader but I say that every day) Twilight Wings!Bea was incredible.
 
Hard to be sure, but I'll say Ash. His accomplishments over the course of the anime have been impressive, all things considered. He's really grown from the day he first left Pallet Town with a disobedient Pikachu. His Pokémon collection is another thing why I like him.
it's weird how his maturity is like a roller coaster, Kanto through Hoenn he was a bit child like, whereas in sinnoh-kalos, he was more mature. Dont even get me started on SaM... :cautious:
 
Today is Pokémon Anime's 24th anniversary, so I will mention first Ash. He is probably not as consistent in personality (like XY Ash being much more serious than any other iteration) or trainer skills (looking a BW) but the anime will not be the same without him.

Outside of Ash, I think Professor Kukui is probably my favorite character. The father-son relationship with Ash was one of the best things about SM, he has a fun personality and also Ash vs Kukui, which is arguibly the best (or second best) battle of the Pokémon Anime.
 
Jesse is definitely my favorite hands down. She is just an absolute queen. Her gender-bending in the OS with James was iconic, her entitled attitude is hilarious, her Wobbuffet is one of my favorite Pokémon in the show, and she just genuinely brings a smile to my face whenever she is onscreen.
 
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Oh, gosh.. having to pick favorites makes me feel so worried, like I'll hurt their feelings if I don't just list everyone! Everyone here has good taste though and I keep reading the posts and just nodding along, because you're right!! So much to love in the anime seriously.

If I'm really going to pick my ultimate favorite, though, I honestly think I'd have to say Ash!! There's more I could list absolutely, but I've just got such a big spot in my heart for him it's unbelievable. He's just such a fun, rambunctious and kind little guy and while I'm also partial to his OS personality, I'm just immensely fond of him all around! Also just incredibly delighted by how much he loves Pokemon and his friendship with Pikachu warms my heart... That's his funny little animal best friend and they care about each other... There's more I could say but I can't articulate well beyond saying, "Isn't he just the kindest little fella?!"
 
My favoruite Pokemon Characters from each series:

Kanto
1. Ash's Charizard (Isn't it obvious?)
2. Misty's Psyduck (Yes I'm a Psyduck fan)
3. Ash's Pikachu (Pikachu)
Johto
1. Ash's Heracross (Cool Bug)
2. Ash's Quilava (Wish it evoved)
3. Ash's Bayleef (I ship Bayleef with Ash because :wynaut:)
Hoenn
1. Ash's Sceptile (Badass Lizard)
2. May's Blaziken (Badass Chicken)
3. Ash's Swellow (Sorry Marshtomp)
Sinnoh
1. Ash's Infernape (BEST. ASH. MON)
2. Dawn's Piplup (Cute af)
3. Brock's Croagunk (His gag is really funny)
Unova
1. Ash's Krookodile (Cool Shades)
2. Ash's Oshawott (Not 1. Suprised?)
3. Ash's Leavanny (Cool Grass mon)
Kalos
1. Ash's Greninja (GEKKOGA)
2. Ash's Talonflame (Great Bird)
3. Ash's Hawlucha (THE LUCHADOR)
Alola
1. Ash's Rowlet (GOD)
2. Ash's Lycanroc (Best Doggo)
3. Ash's Incineroar (Best Kitty)
Galar
1. Goh's Grookey (First one that is on top that is not owned by Ash why didn't Grookey go to Ash Goh does not deserve it)
2. Ash's Sirfetch'd (I mean SIR KAMOON)
3. Goh's Raboot (Too bad it evolved)
Overall
1. Ash's Infernape
2. Ash's Greninja
3. Ash's Charizard
4. Ash's Sceptile
5. Ash's Krookodile
6. Ash's Rowlet
7. Goh's Grookey
8. Ash's Lycanroc
9. Dawn's Piplup
10. Ash's Incineroar
 
Maybe it's because I'm fresh off watching BW, or maybe it's because I like to root for the underdogs, but a part of me wants to say that at least right now it's probably Iris. She was FAR from perfect, but I think that's why I appreciate her character so much. Seeing her slowly warm up to Ash, while still maintaining a healthy amount of friction between the two was great. I loved that I could empathize with her frustration so much whenever Dent would start talking nonsense. I liked to explore her past and insecurities. Idk, I just really enjoyed her on BW, and I'm waiting eagerly to see her return.
 
James from Team Rocket. I totally love this character because he is so unique.

He is completely different from the "standards" of male anime characters. (He is a fabulous crossdresser, lets Jessie take charge (Jessie is the leader of the team it’s wonderful) , he does the household chores etc.)

He also breaks the standards of the traditional other villains in anime because he is really deeply sensitive , caring and particularly affectionate (like his voice actor Miki Shinichiro 'said in an interview). He seems proud during the Team Rocket speech in front of the twerps but is suffering of lack of self-confidence.

He often seems to be the most serious of the team but he is very naive and childish and it’s adorable.

Some people thinks that he is stupid but it’s absolutely wrong because he has a very elaborate language, he is a computer genius and a very good engineer. You would think him cowardly and fearful, but it’s wrong too, when he has to defend his friends he is incredible, a real « Cowardly Lion ».

He lives often in extreme poverty with his team and starves most of the time when he is in reality a son of millionaires.

He actually plays a permanent actor role, which makes him super complex and hard to understand at first glance. I love him so strongly, more that all the characters in the world
 
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