Its been nearly 20 years since Misty was permanently written off the anime

[precita]

My my, how time flies. Sometimes it seems like only yesterday we first heard the news Misty was leaving the Pokemon anime, it's hard to believe that was a whopping 20 years ago now. Misty left in 2002 at the end of Johto, by 2022, she'll have been gone a full 20 years.

Misty's now in less than 20% of the animes total episodes. Nowadays the ENTIRE series is after Misty left, with 900+ episodes and multiple series. Misty stayed gone not only for Hoenn, but every single generation that came after. There's also a whopping 9+ female companions after Misty, which proves Misty could be replaced with any type of female lead and the show would continue on.

It's kinda funny when you remember how people tried to make a big deal out of Misty leaving, yet she really did stay gone for the end of Johto for the entire duration of the series anyway, and only got a few brief cameos in Hoenn and in SM. I guess a lot of people wrongly thought she would be more important to the show than she turned out.

[nalty.]

worst thing nintendogs ever did

[precita]

Well Nintendo doesn't have anything to do with the writing of the anime and Misty stayed gone because the majority of original fans didn't care and watched the show for two decades after she left. Between that and the millions of kids who grew up watching after she left, Misty's irrelevant to about 80% of the series now. What were people expecting? Misty to stay in the anime for all 20+ years? lol

[nalty.]

they've managed to keep luigi around for nearly 40 years they could've convinved the people at the top to keep misty around

[precita]

It's ironic when you stop to realize over 80% of the fanbase has grown up watching the show long after Misty is gone, hence why May, Dawn, etc. also became popular with the majority of original fans and convinced the writers not to bring Misty back to the cast in the early 2000's.

I honestly feel sorry for the people who wasted decades of their lives from the time they were young kids or teens (most are around 30 years old now), thinking Misty had to come back and she never did besides brief cameos.

Oh well I guess?