character profile
Misty, known as Kasumi in Japan, is a fictional character who appears in several seasons of the Pokémon anime, the Pokémon manga series (Electric Tale of Pikachu) and the Ash & Pikachu manga. Misty also refers to a gym leader in the Pokémon video games, on whom the anime's character is based. Her English name derives obviously from "mist", which matches the meaning her of Japanese name (Kasumi means misty or hazy). Her French one is Ondine that refers to "onde" (wave) or to "ondine", a kind of mermaid. In mythology, Ondine is a beautiful water nymph. In the Japanese version of the anime, Misty is voiced by Mayumi Iizuka, and in the English version she's currently voiced by Rachael Lillis. However, in The Mastermind of Mirage Pokémon, her dub voice was provided by Jessica Calvello.
Although Misty is the leader of the Cerulean Gym in the games, she leaves the Gym to travel with Ash Ketchum in the animated series, leaving the care of the Gym to her three older sisters, Daisy, Lily and Violet. She wore a yellow tanktop and short shorts with suspenders for the first five seasons and currently wears similarly colored clothing without suspenders. Somewhat of a paradoxthough it maybe due to the bigger bust that may be due to fanservice to older fans, she likes many typical "girlish" and romantic things but is very much a tomboy and thus has a small complex about herself, especially due to the fact that her three sisters do not think much of her, claiming that there are only three Sensational Sisters (the name under which they perform synchronized swimming) and one brat. Although usually very kind and sensible, she has a wicked temper and is known for being impatient and stubborn. Misty, like many female anime characters, has access to Hammerspace, occasionally pulling a mallet or paper fan out of thin air to hit Ash, and sometimes Brock, over the head when they angered her, though this lessened later on in the series. She reins in Brock when he gets overamorous with cute girls, often pulling him away by the ear. She is also terrified of Bug Pokémon and dislikes carrots and peppers.
Misty wants to be a world-class Water-type Pokémon trainer despite her sisters' ridicule, and her Pokémon reflect this aspiration. She meets Ash after he borrows/steals her bicycle and is later charred to a crisp by a thunderbolt courtesy of Pikachu, a plot point that is reiterated throughout the series. She uses it as an excuse to become his friend. She and Ash have a slight rivalry as well, as they always argue with each other. Their arguments hardly are reasonable and are pointless to try to stop.
One use of potential humor, especially in the Shukan Pokémon Hosokyoku, is through shipping them - supporting/predicting a romantic relationship between them. Despite their intense rivalries, Misty has often shown romantic feelings for Ash, particularly when they were in the Orange Islands. She usually shows jealousy when one-time female characters fall for Ash. In the episode, "The Heartbreak of Brock", she even said that she and Ash will be married someday, but Ash apparently didn't realize she meant they would be married to each other. In addition, Misty sung a song entitled "Misty's Song" that was very sad. Some of the lyrics were "You look at me, I look away" and "I wanna tell you how I'm feeling but I don't know where to start" and ending with Misty's aside whisper of "I love you" to Ash. During the seasons when she was a part of the group, Ash was used to having Misty around; since she has left, however, he seems to have realized his feelings towards her, such as in this quote to Max: "Ever since my friend left, I miss her every day". Since leaving the show, where her feelings lie have been more debated by fans, while many believe that she has moved on to Tracey, others still believe that her feelings lie towards Ash.
The Misty that appears in the Electric Tail of Pikachu manga series is similar to the Misty in the anime, while the Misty in Pokémon Adventures is similar to the Misty in the video games. In Pokémon Adventures, Misty is still a stubborn tomboy who trains Water Pokémon but has no siblings and is apparently quite wealthy, living in a large mansion near her Gym. This version of Misty has a crush on Red.
