My pro-Misty essay from a topic a few weeks ago:
Once again, it's time for me to say why I prefer Misty to May! The greatest of all reasons is the fact that Misty's been in the anime since the first episode, and May is such a poor replacement for someone that I've grown to know in the five years she was on the anime. How much more do we know about Misty's aspirations, desires, and personality than we do about May's? I'll tell you—a great deal more. She's so much richer in backstory and personality than May. May, for the thirty or so episodes we've seen her, hasn't done much. All I've seen her do is add on to comments made by Ash and Brock, nothing more. Her personality is so bland it bores me to watch her. Misty is very vivid: we all know (and hopefully most of appreciate the fact) that she is a fiery, independent tomboy who is adventurous, intelligent, and a dedicated, specialized trainer. May is bland—just a simple tween girl with simple thoughts—all she wants to do is follow Ash. Besides, there's no romance between Ash and May...at least we had a lot of great AAML hints in the first five seasons...I loved that they would hint to it but never reveal anything. May has no emotion, least of all love. Also, I think May is horribly generic, the dull personality aside. She's the female rival from R/S, with the generic pokemon trainer outfit to boot. At least Misty had her own outfit, her own style, all that...we've seen her with her hair down, in a kimono, as a mermaid, in several different outfits, all tailored to her and her personality. May never changes, she never does anything special. Misty never lost her personality in Johto—it was taken away from her. As the good episodes spiraled down into filler episodes, everyone lost their personality. Misty became the peanut gallery, Brock became cheap comic relief, Ash was...well...Ash. When the writers' lost their creativity, they forgot what everyone was like, then after bringing Misty back to what she used to be they cut her unceremoniously, like they did with Brock before the Orange Islands arc. Misty adds so much to the show—one might say that May does as well, but I think she doesn't add anything, but replaces what Misty had, or more like it, detracts from what Misty had. May isn't at all vibrant as Misty was, but just a poor replacement who does nothing and adds nothing to the show. Misty is the original, she's what I grew up seeing, and May could never replace what Misty brought me in my younger years.
Just thought that little writing would come in handy here again :P