May (Pokémon the Series)

May (Japanese: ハルカ Haruka) is a supporting character in the Pokémon anime series. 
She is a Pokémon Coordinator and Ash's former traveling companion in the Hoenn region.
May's 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 girly daughter of Norman and Caroline, and her starter Pokémon was a Torchic given to her by Professor Birch. She is based off the same-named playable character from the Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald games.
She is voiced by in the Japanese original version of the anime, and was originally voiced by Veronica Taylor in the 4Kids English dub before being replaced by Michele Knotz in the TPCi (then known as Pokémon USA) English version of the anime.
==Appearance==
===Pokémon the Series: Ruby and Sapphire===
May wears a red t-shirt with a dark blue circle around her neck, dark blue bike shorts, white miniskirt, red and yellow sneakers, a red bandanna with a white Poké Ball print, a yellow waist-pack, and dark-blue and white gloves.
===Pokémon the Series: Diamond and Pearl===
May is shown wearing a green bandanna, a sleeveless and short orange tunic with a black collar, black bike shorts, black socks, and red and white sneakers. She also carries a green waist-pack.
===Swimwear===
May is shown to wear different swimwear throughout her appearance in the anime:
*In "The Lotad Lowdown" and "Sharpedo Attack!", May's swimwear is a yellow hearts two-piece swimsuit with shorts.
*In "Sharpedo Attack!", May also wore a pink polka-dotted one-piece swimsuit.
*In the movies, May wore a pink bikini.
==Personality==
Despite her beauty, May is a sweet and very kind-hearted beautiful girl, who would love to eat desserts and would help people in need. Like Misty, May can get very furious and hot-tempered at times when disagreeing with Ash Ketchum or Max (May's younger brother), but May is able to overcome her fear of Bug-type Pokémon. However, she can get very sad, especially when she loses a Contest, but does her best to prevail. She is also shown to have a side for romance, though on rare occasions. She became furious at her Munchlax because it was eating food that belonged to someone else and ran off when she didn't keep an eye on it, she had Max give Munchlax "pink surprise" in order to stop Munchlax's appetite and prevent it from eating.
At the start of her journey, May didn't like Pokémon as she only wanted to start her journey just so she can travel and visit places. However, her encounter with Ash and Brock changed that and her love for Pokémon began to grow steadily.
==Overview==
On her tenth birthday after receiving her first starter Pokémon Torchic, May's bicycle got burned from Pikachu using Thunderbolt on it as Team Rocket was trying to capture Pikachu. Once Ash discovers Pikachu with May and Professor Birch, the two young kids talk and the Professor persuades them both to travel together. May agrees to join Ash on his journey along with May's seven year-old brother Max, who helps the gang with his knowledge of Pokémon. Originally, May hated Pokémon but over time she grew to love them so much she decided to become a Pokémon Contest Coordinator. She has a problem by her Munchlax's troubles of eating food from someone else.
==Pokémon==
On rotation:
* Torchic → Combusken → Blaziken ♂
* Wurmple → Silcoon → Beautifly ♀
* Skitty ♀
* Bulbasaur → Ivysaur → Venusaur ♀
* Munchlax
* Squirtle → Wartortle ♂
* Egg → Eevee → Glaceon
Befriended:
* Swablu
* Bonsly
Borrowed:
* Mudkip
* Hitmonchan ♂
Traveled with:
* Manaphy
==Trivia==
* May's main attire in Pokémon the Series: Diamond and Pearl is a reference to her game counterpart's attire in Pokémon Emerald.
*May is the second companion who used to have a bicycle until it was destroyed by Pikachu (which was an accident).
* In the Hoenn Grand Festival, Harley suspects that Drew and May have feelings for one another as Harley calls him "her annoying boyfriend"
* May is the first main character other than Ash to own a starter Pokémon.
* May is the only main character other than Ash to wear gloves as part of her character design.
** She is also the only main character other than Ash to leave a Pokémon at Professor Oak's Laboratory.
* May has competed in at least one Pokémon Contest in each region where they are known to be held in the anime, with the exception of the Unova region.
* May is the first of Ash's traveling companion to be based on a player character from the games.
* May is the only main character to, upon her introduction, introduce herself to the audience rather than be introduced by the narrator or first appear without an introduction at all.
* Both of May's unevolved Pokémon are Normal type.
* May was the first character to own a Generation IV Pokémon, with Munchlax.
* Not counting temporary Pokémon, May is the first main character to catch a Pokémon that Ash has also caught.
* May has not made any reappearances since Pokémon the Series: Diamond and Pearl, not counting flashbacks and non-speaking cameos. This could be because her Japanese voice actress, KAORI, came down with a variation of the debilitating disease focal dystonia called spasmotic dysphonia, as early as 2007 (a year before her reappearances in DP), and hitting its peak by May 2012. This forced her to retire and force the character herself to semi-retire from the anime. To date, a replacement has never been cast.
** Because of this, she is the only one of Ash's female companions who has not reunited with him during Pokémon Journeys: The Series, and the only one who has never met Goh.
==External links==
* 
* 
* May at Bulbapedia
==Navigation==
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