Pokémon Sword and Shield are out this coming Friday, and you can look forward to some in-depth coverage here on MoeGamer once we’re done with Bullet Girls Phantasia.

I’ve not been huge on Pokémon over the years, but one thing I’ve always appreciated about it is its character designs. And particularly the wide variety of very lovely female characters who appear in the various installments, both as player avatars and characters that you encounter in your various adventures.

So, then, following on from Pokégirls Vol. 1, I present to you a second collection of Pokémon cuties, as selected by friends and acquaintances who know more about this sort of thing than I do!

Serena

Pokémon Y was the first Pokémon game I’d tried since the original Gold back on Game Boy Color. For one reason or another I didn’t beat it; I didn’t hate the experience or anything, but I also didn’t find myself particularly drawn to finishing it.

I did, however, very much appreciate the default character design for the female player character Serena, because it is full of aspects that I find immensely appealing. Cheerful expression? Yep. Big floofy hair? Uh-huh. Thigh-highs? Yessir. Attractive wrists? (Don’t ask, it’s a thing I’ve noticed ever since playing Soldam) Indeedy.

As with most Pokémon characters, she looks quite a bit younger in the anime series, at least on her initial appearances; later in the XY and XYZ arcs of the show, she cuts her hair (boo) and sports a much more mature-looking ensemble to reflect her aspirations to “become a remarkable lady for Ash”, since she is depicted as developing romantic feelings for the longstanding protagonist.

Misty

Misty (known as Kasumi in Japan) is a classic who has been present since the very beginning of Pokémon, and I’m pretty sure there are quite a few gentlemen of a certain age out there who will happily admit that she represented something of a sexual awakening for them in their younger days. But I digress hastily.

Misty originally appeared as the Cerulean City gym leader in the first Pokémon games, but took on a much larger role in the anime, where her earliest incarnations present some of the most iconic and quintessential examples of “’90s anime girl”.

Over the years, she’s been a fixture in the franchise and has taken on numerous different appearances according to what has been going on, with her most mature-looking incarnation being in Heart Gold and Soul Silver for Nintendo DS. She’s most recognisable in her original shorts and braces-clad incarnation, however, and remains a popular subject for fanartists and cosplayers alike to this day.

Cynthia

Every time I so much as think about writing about Pokémon ladies someone is always yelling “Cynthia!” at me within a matter of seconds. So fine. Here’s Cynthia.

Cynthia first appeared in Pokémon Diamond, Pearl and Platinum as a recurring character and the champion of the Sinnoh region. She’s put in guest appearances in several other games since that time, and is one of the most frequently seen champions in the anime.

Cynthia is fascinated with Pokémon mythology and history, and plays a key role in Pokémon Platinum’s narrative as the player explores the Distortion World in an attempt to track down Giratina and put a stop to the machinations of Team Galactic.

Lusamine

Lusamine appeared for the first time in Pokémon Sun and Moon, and was an immediate hit for reasons that are probably obvious. She was particularly appealing for the interesting sense of moral ambiguity and slight menace she carried about her throughout those games’ narratives; it wasn’t until towards the end of the game’s main story that you really got a feel for whether she was a “good” or a “bad” person.

Even then, it’s not entirely clear, because — spoiler, I guess — although she behaves in a distinctly unhinged manner, going so far as to merge with the Ultra Beast Nihilego in one of Sun and Moon’s climactic confrontations, she is shown to have ample reason to do so as a result of her husband’s disappearance.

The fact that she is the mother of Sun and Moon’s perpetual companion character Lillie also puts an interesting twist on things, particularly as Lillie herself is so incredibly wholesome. Lusamine exhibits what appears to be jealousy towards Lillie’s purity following the latter’s friendship with the player, but once freed from Nihilego’s influence, she comes to recognise her daughter’s true beauty and strength.

Dawn

Dawn is the female protagonist of Pokémon Diamond, Pearl and Platinum, though has some differences in her appearance between the former two and the latter; her Platinum appearance (seen above) is much more “wintry” in theme.

Much like most other Pokémon games, Dawn appears as a recurring non-playable character throughout the game if you happen to pick the male protagonist Lucas instead. She also puts in an appearance in the anime throughout the Diamond and Pearl arc, but eventually departs to seek fame and fortune in the Wallace Cup in Johto.

Dawn is an interesting character not just because she has an appealing design, but because Diamond, Pearl and Platinum have some of the highest stakes in the entire Pokémon series. Recurring villains Team Galactic are not just interested in causing mischief in the world; they want to remake the entire universe using the power of Legendary Pokémon. This makes Dawn (and Lucas, I guess) some of the most “JRPG” leads in the whole series, given the disaster they end up averting!

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Thanks for reading; I hope you enjoyed this article. I’ve been writing about games in one form or another since the days of the old Atari computers, with work published in Page 6/New Atari User, PC Zone, the UK Official Nintendo Magazine, GamePro, IGN, USgamer, Glixel and more over the years, and I love what I do.

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