As far as gaming phenomenons go, Pokémon is by far one of the most impressive to come out of the last three decades of gaming. Not only does the series include video games, toys, and manga, but also anime. Fans of the brand have been playing and watching Pokémon adventures for decades. While kids grew up, they watched Ash be the ageless hero full of child-like wonder and love for his Pokémon.
Along the way, Ash has joined forces with a ton of other bright, young trainers. One of the most popular was May, a reluctant Pokémon trainer turned coordinator. The daughter of a gym leader, May was expected to be a great trainer, but she wanted to forge her own path. Also, she wasn’t even sure if that path would involve Pokémon.
Ultimately, May left her small town to see the world with Ash, and even traveled to Kanto with him, as well. Throughout that time she grew as a character and became a strong hero in her own right. However, not everything about May is as great as some fans say. After all, she didn’t even like Pokémon in a world infested with them!
Here are 25 Things That Don’t Make Sense About May.
May Not Liking Pokémon As A Kid
Though her father is a gym leader and her family has always lived side by side with Pokémon, May never really liked the creatures. Not only was she squeamish, but she didn’t want to have a life with them. Considering how ingrained Pokémon are ingrained into this world’s society, that’s a hard thing to do.
While it made sense for Misty to have a thing against Bug Pokémon, but like others, May’s indifference/dislike of all of them is a bit extreme. Even if she didn’t want to become a Pokémon trainer, she should have appreciated their friendship and usefulness from a young age.
Letting Max Travel With Her
May’s first big decisions in her adventures with Ash are to leave her family to join him and bring her little brother along. As a seven year old, Max is even younger than the average Pokémon adventurer (which is an uncomfortable 11-12, but that’s another problem.) In our world, Max would have barely started first grade before he left his family on a weird, wild adventure with a stranger.
Though May is there to keep an eye out for him, letting him come along is a bizarre idea. She’s already young an inexperienced enough. She has a lot to learn all on her own, without a kid brother to take care of.
Her Relationship With Ash
Like all lady Pokémon companions, their relationship with Ash always starts off a bit weirdly flirty and ambiguous. May’s in particular though is extra weird. The pair have moments that seem more romantic, others that are sibling-like, and others of a mentor and mentee. While the first dozen or so episodes move along, they are a confusing pair to watch.
Over time, the show eventually settles on brother/sister type relationship, but for a long time Ash and May’s relationship floats in a weird space. Considering how much he annoys her and their different life goals, it floated in a weird space for way too long.
May’s Wurmple Being Her Only Battle-Caught Pokémon
Throughout two whole regions, May and Max travel with Ash. Somehow, though, May only catches a single Pokémon in a traditional battle. All the rest of her Pokémon chose her, were given by professors, or met her in other weird circumstances. Wurmple, a little red goon of a bug Pokémon , is her only traditional catch.
For someone who traveled so far and encountered so many creatures, it’s absurd that Wurmple is the only one she caught. It’s especially strange since she caught him so early in her journey. For a top coordinator like her, she should have caught at least a few more Pokémon out in the wild.
Her Differing Parentage From Anime To Video Game
In the video game version of Hoenn, Pokémon Sapphire, Ruby, or Emerald, the rival character can be a boy named Brendan or May. Unlike other regions, this is the first time a rival is the same name as the Pokemon companion in the anime. However, video game May and anime May have very different backstories.
Anime May takes the player’s backstory, with Norman as her dad and a sweet mom who supports her dreams. In-game, though, she is the daughter of Professor Birch and she follows you around the map, learning about Pokemon and being your rival. With some name and personality overlap, May’s origin stories should have matched up a little more.
Weird Rival Coincidences
Throughout the Pokémon anime, Ash’s rival Gary Oak is legendary. He shows up to nag and annoy Ash at the perfect times to encourage him to become a better trainer. Despite not being the main hero, May has some rivals of her own. Three other strong coordinators keep her on her toes: Solidad, Harley, and Drew.
These three rivals have some interesting coincidences between them, though. For instance, both Harley and Drew have the same green and purple color palette. Moreover, all three coordinators have at least one bug Pokémon , like May. With three completely different personalities, their similarities are a bit weird.
She Can Be Embarrassed By Silly Childhood Stories
One time, Max tells a story about their mom mistaking May for a Tentacool and trying to catch her. Harley records this story, trying to embarrass May and throw her off her game. However, she wins anyway, even though she says she’s never been more embarrassed.
At best, though, the story is goofy and reflects poorly on her mom’s eyesight, not on May. Furthermore, she has definitely done more embarrassing things throughout her adventure with Ash, so it’s a pretty silly statement. Ash almost always gets himself into hijinks, one way or another.
Of all things to be her “most humiliating moment”, this one just doesn’t make sense.
Never Getting Better At Making Pokéblocks
During May’s time with Ash and Brock, she and the gang learn about Pokéblocks. These are little food squares that can increase certain stats in a Pokémon. Brock naturally took to them because he’s a great chef, but May even tried to create a few unique flavors of her own.
Initially, her efforts were poor. One of them was inedible, and the other only made her Munchlax happy. However, the show hasn’t made any indications that, despite now years of practice, she hasn’t gotten any better. At least her Munchlax enjoys her creations.
Her Parent’s Weird Relationship
Whether it’s the video game or the anime, Norman is a weird dude of a gym leader. Despite being the leader for the normal-type gym, he’s mysterious, secretive, and a bit stand-offish. Worse, it doesn’t matter if it’s a stranger or his own family. He treats them all that way.
Even Catherine, his own wife, gets the awkward silent treatment from him. When he was planning a romantic event for their anniversary, he ghosted her so much that she was sure he was stepping out on her.
Yet somehow the two are supposedly happily in love. It doesn’t make sense, but according to Pokémon it works.
Why May Gets So Angry About Food
Of all the Pokémon girls, May often gets cited as the most well fleshed-out and complex. She likes girly things like shopping and cute Pokémon, but she also loves her huge Venusuar and bravely traveling the world on her own. She may not be dainty, but she’s cute, strong, and independent.
One of her most bizarre traits, though, is her love of food. Or, perhaps, a better for it is rage. Whenever May gets hungry, she’s hangry. Though she’s normally pretty level-headed, hunger sends her to another head-space entirely.
Maybe a love for trying new food would fit a travel-loving girl, but her food-rage definitely could cause some trouble on long hikes.
Squirtle Abandoning Professor Oak For May
After Ash was done with the Hoenn region, May left a few of her Pokémon with her mother and traveled to Pallet Town with him. While there, they met up with Professor Oak, the most memed Poke-scientist ever. When May met his Pokemon, his Squirtle took an immediate liking to her. Ash and company didn’t stay there forever, though, and when they left Squirtle wanted to come with them.
Professor Oak handing over a Pokémon makes sense, but what doesn’t make sense is the Squirtle being so eager to go. In theory, Oak is a Pokémon specialist with years of training and May is a girl who only recently bonded with Pokémon.
Her Trouble With Mudkips
Even though she didn’t like Pokémon, May was quick to try to use Mudkip’s help in a dire situation. Unfortunately, though, something between Mudkips and May just don’t mesh. In other situations, they’ve spit water at her and avoided her presence. Until Squirtle, she has a pretty bad time with water starter Pokémon.
However, she is the daughter of a gym leader and a kind person. Even if she didn’t like Pokémon, she wasn’t cruel. The fact Mudkips don’t like her so much is part-way hilarious, part-way ludicrous.
Guess Torchic and her were always meant to be.
Why A Child Who Hates Pokémon Became A Pokémon Trainer
Despite her issues with the Pokémon lifestyle, May decides she wants to become a Pokémon Trainer. The second Ash swings into Petalburg, she’s eager to leave. However, there’s a single, big hitch: she doesn’t want to be a Pokémon Trainer. Not really, at least. May simply wants the excuse to travel the world.
While May eventually forms a bond with her Pokémon her initial plan made no sense. What if she never bonded with Pokémon? She’d just be dragging unwanted, unloved creatures along in her grand travelling adventure. She might as well have just gone on an adventure sans Pokémon.
Her Contest Outfits
When it comes to Pokémon coordinator contests, the aesthetic is just as important as the strength. Some of May’s strongest events used abilities that dazzled instead of worked functionally. Along with the moves, though, come the outfits.
Each coordinator has a unique look and style to their displays. In her original Pokémon run, May sticks to her functional, yet cute, jacket/skirt combo most of the time. By the time Dawn is the main heroine and she shows up as a rival coordinator, though, her outfit is much different. Most of the time, outfits reflect personality or heritage. With her vaguely Arabian style, May does neither. It’s a boggling choice.
May And Norman’s Differing Pokémon Styles
Family is really important in Pokémon, at least as far as Pokémon styles go. For example, Brock leans towards rock/ground types because that’s his family style. Similarly, Misty focuses on water Pokémon like her sisters. When it comes to May and Norman, though, this daughter doesn’t really stick to her father’s normal-type. While she does have Munchlax and Skitty, two normal Pokémon, she also has Blaziken, Wartortle, and Beautifly.
At most, this shows how absent Norman can be. However, it could have been cool to have normal-type Pokémon on display in May’s roster. They never get very much love. Instead, May just picks up a menagerie.
Ash As Her Mentor
Between being eleven years old and the winner of the most pity badges in the world, Ash is hardly the best Pokémon Trainer. Though he’s a decent kid and cares about his creature friends a lot, he still has a lot to learn. In theory, Brock knows more than he does when it comes to care and companionship with Pokémon. After all, he was a gym leader for awhile, took care of his entire family, is a Pokémon chef, and arguably the most “adult” friend he has.
However, May chooses Ash as her mentor. Though he’s not the best choice, at least they learned a lot throughout their adventures.
Her Mom Mistaking Her For A Pokémon
One of May’s most humiliating moments as a child was when her mother mistook her swimming in a blue cap for a Tentacool. Worse, though, her mom then tried to catch her with a Pokéball.
If there is any definitive moment that might explain why she doesn’t like Pokémon, it would be this. Especially if her parents, on a regular basis, confuse her or ignore her for Pokémon.
Otherwise, though, her parents confusing her for an actual creature doesn’t help their case. They really should be able to tell their daughter from a random Pokémon. That’s basic parenting.
May’s Kanto Egg Taking So Long To Hatch
Pokémon gets really weird about how long eggs take to hatch. Togepi felt like it spent a long while in an egg, but it was only there for 4 episodes. May’s Eevee, conversely, spent 7 episodes in it’s egg. After that? The Eeevee spent even longer not evolving. They didn’t evolve until after May left Ash and it became a Glaceon.
Though she isn’t the most natural Pokémon trainer, her egg shouldn’t have taken so long. Even if Pokémon is habitually great at breaking its own rules, it does slow down adventuring subplots by keeping Eevee in the egg.
Catching Munchlax Because It Liked Her Pokéblocks
When May and Muchlax met, the hungry Pokémon was hunting for her heavy Pokéblocks. Though none of her other Pokemon were interested in them, Munchlax adored them. For that simple reason alone, May was happy to accept Muchlax and call him her own.
Even though Munchlax eventually became one of May’s most beloved partners, her reasoning for keeping him was fairly weak. It’s basically a sad shrug of adventure companions. Pokémon deserve better love than just “why not” situation.
Between her terrible Pokéblocks and Munchlax deserving better, it’s a pretty disappointing catch.
May Leaving Pokémon With Her Mom
Before Ash, May, and crew leave Hoenn, she leaves a few Pokémon with her mom to keep her company. However, their house is already full of Pokémon because of her dad. Furthermore, May left some of her favorite Pokémon, like Beautifly, back at home. Though it makes sense to clear some space in her roster for a new place, these are creatures she really cares about. They’ve been on a deep, emotional journey together and she’s basically ditching some of them.
If anything, it makes more sense for May to leave Skitty, but for her to leave Beautifly? That pretty bug is one of her most iconic and beloved Pokémon. They should have stayed together.
