>>53093299Because it’s self-evident that keeping a beloved character with a fanbase is better than scrapping her for a new girl just to sell some games with a new gimmick? Supposedly Shudo was given the option to replace either Misty or TR, but they were all equally stale and remained so for years (just like Ash and Brock). Stop trying to pretend like AG and later series weren’t derivative retreads just because they got new regional girls and contests. Misty had been Ash’s companion since the first episode, and people were heavily invested in her even if she wasn’t actually doing much. It wasn’t just waifufags either. Do you really think it was mostly boys who wrote all those Ash x Misty fanfics or drew comics of Ash and Misty getting married back in the day? Misty is the favorite companion of the girl audience by far. By contrast, May had the worst waifufags of any companion up until Serena, since all they did was compare screenshots of her tits to judge how big they were. Almost none of them actually cared about May as a character. At least the Mistyfags actually liked her antics and gags pre-Togepi, and Dawnfags like her for her outfit and being a supportive and cute cheerleader counterpart of Ash.
