>>48425848Exactly, Misty was created with a high school swim club captain in mind, but the character had to be adapted to Ash's age for her anime version, this has been repeated with other characters such as Mallow, Kiawe, and Korrina.
But it is due to the popularity of the anime that the character was readapted into the games starting with Pokemon Yellow. This is most evident in the first manga and official arts of Japan.
