u/Moist_Speaker1842

For example Misty was the longest lasting female companion in episode count at 275 episodes due to how long the OS lasted.

But then when you consider how long Ash's series went on as a whole, (over 1,200 episodes), Misty retroactively wound up being in the anime a short time. For example in Japan the anime started in 1997 and by 2002 Misty was already leaving! Misty only had a short 5 year run in the show. She was basically written off the anime when the franchise as a whole was still practically in its infancy, which makes sense as the end of Johto was only Gen 2 and Ash's series went on to Gen 8. Can you believe the anime was only 5 years old as a whole when Misty left?

If you do the math, Misty is only in a little over 22% of the animes total episodes up to the end of Ash's series, and this is even including her cameos from AG, SM and MPM. Even with her cameos added she's still in less than 300 episodes overall (and this is over 20 years of time after Johto)

It's weird, the OS went on both a long time but compared to the length of Ash's run overall,it's a relatively short time. Obviously Brock stuck around two more gens so he did last a very long time comparably.

I know Horizons is far from over, but it feels like Roy's Lucario has "completed" its arc having obtained its second Mega, so I think it's safe to evaluate both now.

Ash got his Lucario as a Riolu from an egg, and used it in several battles in early JN leading to the Bea arc arc. It evolved during the Darkest Day finale, then Ash used it regularly against Volkner where it got its first major usage after evolving, than Bea round 3, Raihan, and then the Masters 8. It also had several fights against legendaries like Mewtwo, Articuno, etc. even if it lost them all. Ash got his Mega stone from Korrina's grandfather, although that ep was very underwhelming. It also got to learn to aura sync via Ash's Greninja and learn the giant aura sphere.

Roy's Lucario originally came with no backstory, was just on Roy's team in the timeskip. Then we got its backstory and well...it was kind of nothing special. Then Roy's Lucario started losing most of its battles as a Mega, including to Nemona twice, and several other characters even though it was initially hyped up. Then Mayonnaise gave it a second Mega from Z-A and it did decently into Horizon's first conclusion.

Personality wise...they both feel exactly the same. Just the standard stock stoic Lucario personality,so there's nothing much to say here. Ash's did have some personality as a Riolu though. Do you feel Ash's is better written?

InfamousTrainer on youtube recently had a poll removing your least favorite of the 4. Serena got the most likely due to shippers voting against her, but I'm disappointed May got the second most.

It's not so much the polling, but the comments. If you look at the replies/comments you see many people saying May was "boring," or "May had no development" or "May and Max were annoying/unbearable characters" (yes they group Max in with May for some reason)

I get the feeling a lot of people have either never watched AG or seen very little of it. Sometimes I honestly forget how many people really don't like May.