>>40204545Yeah, it was mostly phased out by Johto, but you could definitely see a push for it across early stuff in PokeSpe, Zensho, Dengeki and the anime all giving her bigger roles and teasing with Satoshi/Red. Shudo goes on a freaking rant there about girls being shit, and tomboys being bland, and hating the fans praising him "for writing girls good" when he disliked the whole affair altogether. The fact that the kids actually picked up on the pushed pairing, despite Shudo not wanting it, is what ticked him off. Because looking at M2, it's certainly strange for him to be so surprised about the way fans would interpret it, rather than his "life's purpose" idea (4Kids changed different things about that movie altogether, so that's not on them).
(BTW, they similarly phased out the MC being officially named Satoshi in favor of "Red" around that time)
