May (anime)

May (Japanese: ハルカ Haruka) is a ten-year-old Pokémon Coordinator from the anime and a traveling companion of Ash. Her goal is to compete in Pokémon Contests and win ribbons, win the Grand Festival, and become a top Coordinator. She traveled through Hoenn with Ash, Brock, and her little brother Max. She is the daughter of Norman and Caroline, and her starter Pokémon was a Torchic given to her by Professor Birch. Her Japanese voice actress is KAORI, but is credited as 鈴木カオリ Kaori Suzuki in her Diamond & Pearl appearances. She is voiced by Veronica Taylor (4Kids dub) and Michele Knotz (PUSA/TAJ dub) in the English-language dub, by Leyla Rangel in the Latin American Spanish dub, and by Tatiane Keplemaier in the Brazilian dub.

In the anime

Character

May is a materialistic young girl who loves shopping and eating treats. She has a particular fondness for food especially noodles. She is generally very sweet and optimistic, though she shows a tougher side sometimes, such as when she argues with her little brother, Max. Even though they argue a lot, she was shown to care for her brother very much.

She loves cute Pokémon and flashy techniques, and sometimes takes an interest in helping other people with romantic problems. She loves making her own Pokéblocks with recipes that she made, including ones called "May's Purple Surprise" and "May's Pink Surprise" (Japanese: Haruka's Delicious and Haruka's Delicious 2).

When May debuted in the anime, she did not like Pokémon at all and was only interested in becoming a Pokémon Trainer so she could travel. Though everyone expected her to challenge Pokémon Gyms, she decided to become a Pokémon Coordinator. Though she was initially shown to not know much about Pokémon or attacks, she gradually gained experience through her journey and soon became a good coordinator, as seen by her Grand Festival rankings in the Hoenn and Kanto regions.

During her journey, she gets a new rival in Drew who was one of her main inspirations to try harder to become a great coordinator. She also has another main rival in Harley. At the end of the Advanced Generation series, she leaves to compete with Drew and Harley in the Johto region. May has Contest Passes to compete in Hoenn, Kanto and Johto.

May will reappear from DP076 to DP080 to participate in the Wallace Cup alongside Ash, Dawn and Zoey, with her Wartortle. During this period, she will be wearing the Emerald Version of her outfit.

May has a personal ending theme song, I won't lose! ~May's theme~, performed by KAORI. It was first used as the background music in the episode Curbing the Crimson Tide and again in next episode, What I Did for Love.

Pokémon

This listing is of May's Pokémon as of DP076:

On hand

→ → Torchic → Combusken → Blaziken
File:DPEgg.png → → Egg → Eevee → Glaceon
→ → Wurmple → Silcoon → Beautifly
Munchlax	→ Squirtle → Wartortle
File:May's Bulbasaur.PNG → → Bulbasaur → Ivysaur → Venusaur

At home

Skitty

With Professor Oak

No Pokémon which belongs to May is under care from Oak now,but before her Bulbasaur was which is now a Venusaur.

Ribbons

Hoenn ribbons

• Fallarbor Town Ribbon
• Verdanturf Town Ribbon
• Lilycove City Ribbon
• Izabe Island Ribbon
• Pacifidlog Island Ribbon

Kanto ribbons

• Saffron City Ribbon
• Silver Town Ribbon
• Chrysanthemum Island Ribbon
• Gardenia Town Ribbon
• Mulberry Town Ribbon

Johto ribbons

• Three (Contest locations unknown)

Grand Festival ranking

May placed in the following Grand Festival competitions:

• Hoenn Grand Festival (Top 8)
• Kanto Grand Festival (Top 4)

Other achievements

• PokéRinger - Runner-up
• Pokémon Orienteering - Runner-up
• Unofficial Terracota Contest - Winner (Tied with Ash)

Trivia

• May was the first female video game protagonist to travel with Ash.
• May is the only main character who has two of the same Pokémon as Ash.
• She is the only one of Ash's friends to catch more than one starter Pokémon.
• She is the only one of Ash's friends who started off not liking Pokémon.
• She is the only beginner trainer that was not given an introduction by the Narrator in their first episode. Instead, she gave her own first person introduction.
• May was the second of Ash's friends to have a lead role in a Pokémon movie. Her brother Max was the first.
• May and Max are the only friends of Ash not to meet Ash's rival, Gary Oak, at one time or another.
• May and Max are two of three of Ash's friends who has had their father make an appearance in the anime. The other is Brock.
• All of Ash's female friends have a native Korean word as their name in Korean version (dew, spring and shine respectively). Such names were trendy in late 70s, now they are rare.
• When May reappears as a guest character, she appeared in five episodes, compared to the two episodes Misty appeared in for her guest appearance during the Hoenn saga. However, Misty also made a second guest appearence from The Scheme Team to A Real Cleffa Hanger, a further three episodes. Misty also appeared in four Pokémon Sunday/Chronicles specials, an option not available to May.

Names

Related articles

• Episodes focusing on May

External links

• Cherry Girl, the fanlisting for May at The Anime Fanlistings Network
• Haruka's Profile on Pokeani (Japanese)
• Haruka's Pokémon on Pokeani (Japanese)

On Bulbagarden forums

• May Club

May's Pokémon
In rotation:	Blaziken	Beautifly	Skitty	Venusaur	Munchlax	Wartortle
	Glaceon
Temporary:	Mudkip	Hitmonchan