May (anime): Difference between revisions
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==Other achievements== | ==Other achievements== | ||
* [[Pokémon Orienteering]] - Runner-up (''[[Off the Unbeaten Path]]'') | * [[Pokémon Orienteering]] - Runner-up (''[[AG159|Off the Unbeaten Path]]'') | ||
* Unofficial {{to|Terracotta}} Contest - Co-Winner with | * Unofficial {{to|Terracotta}} Contest - Co-Winner with {{Ash}} (''[[AG192|Home is Where the Start Is]]'') | ||
* [[Wallace Cup]] - Runner-up (''[[Strategy with a Smile!]]'') | * [[Wallace Cup]] - Runner-up (''[[DP079|Strategy with a Smile!]]'') | ||
==Voice actors== | ==Voice actors== | ||
Revision as of 00:43, 8 November 2013
| May ハルカ Haruka | |
| File:MayDiamondPearl.png May in the Diamond & Pearl series | |
| Age | 10 (as of debut) |
|---|---|
| Gender | Female |
| Eye color | Blue |
| Hair color | Brown |
| Hometown | Petalburg City |
| Region | Hoenn |
| Relatives | Max (brother), Norman (father), Caroline (mother) |
| Trainer class | Coordinator |
| Game counterpart | May |
| Anime debut | Get the Show on the Road |
| English voice actor | Veronica Taylor (AG001-AG145) Michele Knotz (AG146-AG192, DP075-DP079, MoMP) |
| Japanese voice actor | KAORI |
May (Japanese: ハルカ Haruka) is a ten-year-old Pokémon Coordinator from the anime and a former traveling companion of Ash. Her goal is to compete in Pokémon Contests and win Ribbons, win the Grand Festivals of the different regions, and become a top Coordinator. She traveled through Hoenn and Kanto 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.
Character
May is generally a very sweet and optimistic girl. She enjoys feminine and cute things as well as shopping. In fact, she and Brock occasionally went on shopping trips together throughout the Advanced Generation series. May cares about her appearance, sometimes spending so much time in front of this mirror that it caused her traveling companions to become frustrated with her, such as in The Bicker the Better. May also is interested in helping other people with their romantic problems.
Though she is generally kind, she occasionally argues with her little brother, Max. The two had arguments since Max's debut episode, but one of their most notable was in Take This House and Shuppet. May's harsh words to Max made him declare that he hated May and he ran away for a portion of the episode. Even though she had been angry, May quickly felt guilty for hurting Max's feelings and became very worried that he would be hurt on his own. In a later episode, May revealed that she had promised her mother to always take care of Max on their journey. So even though the siblings had many quarrels, May deeply cares for her brother and would go to great lengths to protect him.
It was revealed early on in A Ruin with a View that May has a particular fondness for food. In fact, upon meeting Brock for the first time, she immediately asked if he could prepare food for her. If a person or a Pokémon were to steal her food she would become extremely angry, which was demonstrated numerous times throughout her time on the show. Because food was one of the few things May would become angry about, it was an important tool to show the dynamic sides of her character. When May returned for the Diamond and Pearl series, she expressed excitement over the chance to eat at the Seven Stars Restaurant, but having her meal stolen by made her enraged. She was later shown enjoying a large cookie, once again affirming her love of food and sweets.
When May began her Pokémon journey, she was very unsure of herself. This was clearly demonstrated in the Japanese version through her dialogue. May often said kamo at the end of sentences, which is a way to express uncertainly or doubt in ones own words. Also, when May first left her home, she was only interested in the traveling aspect of the Pokémon journey. This sparked one of May's most memorable quirks, "May's Expeditions". Occasionally, such as in A Mudkip Mission , May would make a camera lens with her fingers and pretend she was the host of a traveling show. This imaginary show was "May's Expeditions", which she continued for most of her time in Hoenn.
History
Advanced Generation series
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. Everyone expected her to become a Trainer, to follow in her Gym Leader father's footsteps. However, after seeing a Contest in All Things Bright and Beautifly!, 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 talented coordinator, with her skill being displayed in her Grand Festival rankings in the Hoenn and Kanto regions. Dawn once referred to her as the "Princess of Hoenn" when they met.
As a Coordinator, May was able to learn more about Pokémon. For her Contests, she was able to come up with different attack combinations. She was able to use these combinations in battle. An example of this would be using her Combusken's Fire Spin and her Squirtle's Bubble to create a combination of fire and water, dubbed Fire and Water Whirlwind by Lilian. This even got a rival of hers mad, thinking she thought he was not worthy of the move so May did not use it against him.
Also on her Coordinating journey she developed a love for making her own Pokéblocks with recipes that she thought up, including ones called "May's Purple Surprise" and "May's Pink Surprise" (Japanese: Haruka's Delicious and Haruka's Delicious 2). The only Pokémon who liked her Purple Surprise were her Munchlax and Jessie. "May's Pink Surprise" came from the recipe Professor Oak uses to make Ash's Snorlax's food. Thus, after May first fed it to her Munchlax, it was automatically made full. This Pokéblock was regularly used to feed Munchlax in order to prevent it from eating the food of others.
During her journey, she found a rival in Drew, a skilled and sometimes arrogant Coordinator who was one of her main inspirations to try harder to further her skills. At first, Drew had claimed that May had "no style" as a Coordinator, but by the end of the Advanced Generation, when May beat him in the Kanto Grand Festival, he recognized her growth and skill as a Coordinator. Another rival of hers, Harley, is a flamboyant man who goes to extremes to beat May. And example of Harley's depravity is when recorded Max telling him a story from May's childhood. May had been wearing a blue swimming cap in the ocean, and her mother mistaken her for a Tentacool from afar and attempted to catch her with one of her Poké Balls. Harley played the recording of this during a contest to embarrass May into losing, and May claims that she had never been more humiliated.
At the Kanto Grand Festival, May also competed against Solidad, an experienced Coordinator to whom she lost to in the semi-finals. At the end of the Advanced Generation series, she left to compete with Drew, Harley and Solidad in the Johto region, aiming to find her own style. May has Contest Passes to compete in Hoenn, Kanto and Johto.
Diamond & Pearl series
May reappeared from Our Cup Runneth Over! to Strategy With a Smile! to participate in the Wallace Cup alongside Ash, Dawn and Zoey. During this period, she wore the Emerald Version of her outfit. She also showed that many of her Pokémon from the Advanced Generation had evolved and that she had won three Johto ribbons. May made it all the way to the finals of the Wallace Cup, but narrowly lost to Dawn in the end.
May has a personal ending theme song, I Won't Lose! ~Haruka's Theme~, performed by KAORI. It was first used as background music in the episode Curbing the Crimson Tide and again in next episode, What I Did for Love. The theme was also used in the Appeals Round at the Wallace Cup for May's performance.
Best Wishes series
May appeared in one episode of the Best Wishes series during a flashback in BW142.
Pokémon
The Pokémon she acquired on the course of this journey appear to resemble Pokémon that Ash had obtained at some point at the beginning of his own journey. She prefers cute Pokémon, dazzling techniques, and has a tendency to rely on luck, often using her Skitty's Assist or her Munchlax's Metronome to win.
Currently in rotation
 Torchic → Combusken → Blaziken |
 Wurmple → Silcoon → Beautifly |
 Skitty ♀ |
 Bulbasaur → Ivysaur → Venusaur ♀ |
 Munchlax |
 Squirtle → Wartortle |
 Egg → Eevee → Glaceon |
Borrowed
| Debut | Pasta La Vista |
|---|
May borrowed Hitmonchan from Kyle Hamm after Master Hamm broke his back.
Hitmonchan's known moves are Comet Punch, Mach Punch, Agility, Focus Punch and Sky Uppercut.
Befriended
| Debut | Pokémon Ranger and the Temple of the Sea |
|---|---|
| Voice actors | |
| Japanese | Yuri Shiratori |
| English | M. Knotz |
- Main article: Manaphy (M09)
May befriended Manaphy after its Egg hatched. It speaks without the need for telepathy.
Ribbons
Hoenn
- Fallarbor Town Ribbon (Come What May!*)
- Verdanturf Town Ribbon (Disguise Da Limit*)
- Lilycove City Ribbon (Lessons in Lilycove!*)
- Izabe Island Ribbon (A Cacturne for the Worse*)
- Pacifidlog Town Ribbon (Pacifidlog Jam*)
Kanto
- Saffron City Ribbon (A Hurdle for Squirtle*)
- Silver Town Ribbon (Weekend Warrior*)
- Chrysanthemum Island Ribbon (Spontaneous Combusken!*)
- Gardenia Town Ribbon (What I Did for Love!*)
- Mulberry City Ribbon (Going for Choke!*)
Johto
- Three unknown Ribbons (prior to A Full Course Tag Battle!)
Grand Festival ranking
May placed in the following Grand Festival competitions:
Other achievements
- Pokémon Orienteering - Runner-up (Off the Unbeaten Path)
- Unofficial Terracotta Contest - Co-Winner with Ash (Home is Where the Start Is)
- Wallace Cup - Runner-up (Strategy with a Smile!)
Voice actors
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In the TCG
This listing is of cards mentioning or featuring May or her Pokémon in the Pokémon Trading Card Game.
| May's Pokémon Cards listed with a blue background are only legal to use in the current Expanded format. Cards listed with a green background are legal to use in both the current Standard and Expanded formats. | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Card | Type | English Expansion |
Rarity | # | Japanese Expansion |
Rarity | # |
| May's Torchic | 
|
ADV-P Promotional cards | 037/ADV-P | ||||
| May's Munchlax | 
|
Movie Commemoration VS Pack: Aura's Lucario | 008/020 | ||||
| May's Combusken |
|
Movie Commemoration VS Pack: Sea's Manaphy | 002/019 | ||||
Trivia
- May is the only female companion of Ash's not to have had a walking Pokémon.
- In addition, she is also the only female companion that did not have a Pokémon fully disobey her.
- May owns four starter Pokémon, the most of any of Ash's traveling companions.
- May's Contest cry is "Take the stage!" (US) and "Stage on!" (Japan). In the dub, she also uses variations, such as "On stage!"
- May has competed in at least one Contest in each region where Contests are held in the anime.
- All of May's major rivals have Bug-type Pokémon: Drew has Masquerain and Butterfree, Harley has Ariados, and Solidad has Butterfree.
- May is Ash's only female companion to have both parents appear.
Names
| Language | Name | Origin |
|---|---|---|
| Japanese | ハルカ Haruka |
From 春花 haruka, spring flower. May also be taken as 遥か haruka, far away, in relation to her father, Senri (千里), 1000 li. |
| English | May | Could be a reference to her Japanese name, as May is a month in spring. |
| French | Flora | Similar to fleur, flower. |
| German | Maike | From Mai, May. |
| Italian | Vera | From primavera, spring. |
| Spanish | Aura | From aura, a figure of speech that means "gentle breeze" and is commonly associated to spring, as in aura primaveral (spring breeze). |
| Swedish | Maj | From Maj, May. |
| Korean | 봄이 Bom'i | 봄 bom, spring. |
| Chinese (Mandarin) |
小遙 / 小遥 Xiǎo Yáo |
遙 (distant) is taken from 遥か haruka. |
| Chinese (Cantonese) |
小遙 Síu Yìuh |
Same as Mandarin name. |
| Thai | ฮารุกะ Haruka |
Same as her Japanese name. |
Related articles
External links
On Bulbagarden forums
- May Club on the Bulbagarden forums
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| Top Coordinators | ||
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This article is part of Project Anime, a Bulbapedia project that covers all aspects of Pokémon animation. |
