If my rants on Misty has shown me anything, it's that Misty kind of is the West's prefect girl. She's not so masculine that you feel like a misoginist by liking her. She's not so feminine that you have to deal with how feminine characters tend not to get any narrative and just hang about waiting to be saved. Unlike pretty much all the Sailor Senshi, her mix of tomboy traits and feminine traits doesn't lean towards the feminine while still giving her power. Not only that but Misty's femininity come not in any of the looked down upon aspects of girlhood like an over interest in fashion (but of course they still give her a cute outfit) or anything else that shows that feminity is hard work but in romance which defines a lot of her actions. She can't just be annoyed because she liked her bike. No, she has to have fallen in love with Ash. The fact that Misty's arc has nothing to do with any progress as a trainer or anything else that may undermine Ash's spot light actually adds to Misty's character. In the west where being a tomboy is something that you're supposed to grow out of but we don't really admit that, a character like Misty has a lot of appeal. She grows out of it but not to get a man which might make us aware of our sexism, but because she wants to mother a baby pokemon. (Also Togepi totally should have gone to Meowth. He had some great tactics and even though he didn't win, seeing him get attached to a pokemon like that was just so cute. Just saying.) Having Misty progress from tomboyish to more girly doesn't feel like it's a sexist cliche if you don't outright say that you're being sexist. I find a lot of Misty's writing sexist. The dub added an air of 'being a tomboy at a young age is better' while Kasumi has an air of 'Kasumi doesn't understand that she's disliked for being masculine'. Actually I wouldn't say that they really got rid of that completely. There's still a few lines that imply that Ash is looking down on her due to her understanding of her gender. Not outright, but it's certainly there.
I like pokemon but I won't pretend that it doesn't have a real sexism problem.
I feel like if more anime came over to the west, Misty wouldn't be as popular. Like I've been watching this other anime, released a day after pokemon first aired and it's incredible just how in depth Japan is willing to explore gender. Yeah, there's a lot of bad takes as well. I think that's it's not just that it's more okay to say feminist stuff. It's that it's okay to say anything, even out right sexism.
When I think about great women and girls in my life, I don't tend to think of them in terms of how masculine they are. All of them are mixes between masculine and feminine traits. All of them. When I think about females in cartoons I don't really get that Misty even stands out all that much. Helga from Hey Arnold is certainly feminine and masculine and neither trait is shown as a bad thing other than her bullying which is bad. Indeed, I actually struggle to think of any tomboys that are actually shown as tomboys. Espcually all the way through the story.
If my dream comes true and they do replace Misty with another girl, who actually does stuff, it wouldn't shock me if the new girl is disliked. Even if they give the girl outright has a similar way of showing progression by collecting something like badges. Espcually if she has any feminine traits that make femininity look hard and worthwhile for boys as well.
I keep getting told that Misty is a popular character as though that changes how well written she is. Being popular isn't the same as being good. That she is a popular character just means that she's popular. Honestly I doubt she will ever leave the show, but I do wish that people would at least try to understand why I feel how I do. I know that pokemon is a kid's anime. I know that it doesn't really matter. Misty still annoys me because I like every other character in the show.
(c) Paulo Estrella