All of Ash's Pokémon Love Interests, Ranked From Worst to Best (2024)

Over the years of the Pokémon anime, Ash has traveled with a lot of girls, and quite a few of them developed some feelings for him along the way. While many fans are likely to think back to the companion they saw with Ash first, it is an interesting question: which companion is the best match for Ash?

Looking at the major female characters from across the Pokémon anime, it's easy to decide which girls Ash had the best relationships with. While there's relatively little interest from Ash's end, these girls have been a little more open about their feelings towards him, and as a result, that makes up the main component of the rankings. Some of these relationships are more romantically coded than others, but all of them are among Ash's strongest friendships.

7 May - Ash's Good Friend

Appears in Pokémon: Advanced Generation

May was Ash's traveling companion during the third-generation series. She's originally from the Hoenn region (based on the female player character from Ruby and Sapphire) and had almost no experience with Pokémon prior to meeting Ash. As such, Ash was something of a mentor to May, not only teaching her about battles but about Pokémon in general and how to care for them. May became a Coordinator, a type of trainer who competes in Pokémon Contests.

Misty's goals couldn't be more different from Ash's, but the two always had a strong friendship, eager to help each other out. Compared to Misty who preceded her, May showed very little romantic interest in Ash, and has unfortunately had very few appearances after leaving the series.

6 Lillie - Looking Up to Ash

Appears in Pokémon Sun & Moon

Lillie is a member of Ash's Pokémon School class, based on the Lillie from the Sun and Moon video games. The daughter of Lusamine, she was heavily involved in the plot of Sun & Moon, and spent a fair amount of time with Ash as a result. Lillie is a sweet girl who was very afraid of Pokémon when she and Ash first met; Ash helped her to become more comfortable around Pokémon, up to the point where Lillie eventually got a Pokémon of her own--an Alolan Vulpix named Snowy. Lillie eventually worked her way up to becoming a competent battler, something which she felt was due to Ash's influence.

It's hard to say if Lillie has feelings for Ash, which is why she's ranked so low, but she certainly looks up to him, and it wouldn't be surprising if Lillie was revealed to have feelings for Pallet Town's favorite trainer.

5 Dawn - Like a Sister

Appears in Pokémon: Diamond & Pearl

Dawn is Ash's primary traveling companion throughout Sinnoh, based on the female player character for Pokémon Diamond and Pearl. It didn't take Dawn long to define herself as distinct from her Pokémon predecessors, Misty and May; Dawn was far more willing to let go of her anger when Ash's Pikachu destroyed her bike. Dawn also had her own goal right from the outset: to become a great Coordinator like her mother. Since Dawn and Ash both had such strong visions of their future, they got along remarkably well for the most part. Dawn would even occasionally wear a cheerleader outfit to cheer Ash on during his gym battles.

Dawn was often very concerned about her appearance when she traveled with Ash, which might suggest she was trying to look her best for him. In the end, though, Dawn and Ash almost had more of a sibling relationship than one with shades of romance.

4 Bianca - A Kiss to Seal the Deal

Appears in Pokémon Heroes: Latios & Latias

Bianca is an original character (not from the games) who primarily appears in the fifth film, . It's a little difficult to talk about Bianca's feelings towards Ash, because, at several points in the film, she is impersonated by a Latias, which also seems to have a bit of a crush on Ash. As such, it's hard to say how interested Bianca was, since it wasn't always clear who was doing what. Bianca and Ash worked together to protect Latias and save the city of Alto Mare from a pair of thieves, Annie and Oakley, who tried to seize control of the city's defense mechanism.

Bianca and Ash grew closer over the course of the adventure, and when the time came for them to part, Bianca raced to the docks andgave a very surprised Ash a kiss. Was it Bianca, or was it the Latias in disguise as Bianca?

3 Melody - Aggressively Interested

Appears in Pokémon the Movie 2000

Melody appeared in Pokémon the Movie 2000 as the maiden leading a great festival in her homeland of Pokémon's Orange Islands. She has a rebellious personality, not eager to take on the title of festival maiden that once belonged to her older sister. Her tune changed quite a bit when she met Ash, however, welcoming him to the island with a "traditional" welcome kiss. This puts her at odds with Misty immediately, and the two even talk about their interest in Ash, albeit obliquely.

As she came to realize the old legends of her home were true, Melody proved her courage by helping Ash to fulfill the prophecy and save the day. Melody is pretty explicit about her interest in Ash, and even calls out Misty's affection for him, positing herself as a rival. Alas, Melody doesn't appear again.

2 Misty - It's Complicated

Appears in Pokémon: The Beginnings and To Be A Pokémon Master

The OG Poké girl, Misty, has probably had the most screen time out of Ash's potential love interests. Misty makes it pretty clear throughout the series that she has some degree of romantic interest in Ash, although Ash's reciprocation is never all that clear. Misty tends to become jealous when other girls interact with Ash (for example, Melody, as noted above).

Elements of Misty's attraction to Ash were exaggerated a bit in the English dub of the anime, leaving Western fans with a much more "childhood romance" idea of their relationship. The soundtrack to the English dub even had an image song for Misty about her feelings towards Ash, making it far more explicit. Whatever Misty's feelings for Ash were meant to be, Ash has been pretty clueless about them, and despite Misty's return for the final episodes of the series, Ash and Misty's relationship wasn't really deepened in any meaningful way.

1 Serena - Nearly Official

Appears in Pokémon XY

Serena is Ash's companion throughout XY, but their relationship goes back much further than that. Serena and Ash actually met while she was at a summer camp hosted by Professor Oak, and Ash helped her when she became injured. Serena never forgot this, and was surprised to discover that Ash was that boy who had helped her long ago. Unlike most of the girls, Serena was obviously designed to be Ash's love interest. Ash's enthusiastic, never-give-up attitude encouraged her to chase her own dreams, instead of her mother's. And, when Ash fell into a depression after losing to the gym leader Wulfric, Serena was there for him.

Serena wound up giving Ash a kiss before they parted ways, with Serena heading off to the Hoenn region to give Pokémon Contests a try. As usual, Ash was a little oblivious to Serena's interest, but she at least made her feelings clear to him with that kiss.

While Serena certainly has the most evidence on her side to be Ash's greatest love interest, the fact of the matter is that Ash really isn't a character that was built for romance, and the series' habit of starting him over fresh in a new region meant that his relationships could never really escalate to a more permanent level. With Ash's time as the series lead now in the past, it's safe to say that Ash won't be getting together with anyone on screen, instead living free on a never-ending Pokémon adventure.

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Pokemon

Created by

Satoshi Taijiri , Ken Sugimori , Junichi Masuda

First Film

Pokemon: The First Movie

Latest Film

Pokémon the Movie: Secrets of the Jungle

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Pokémon (1997)

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April 1, 1997

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Pokémon (1997)

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Pokémon (1997)

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Pokemon Scarlet and Violet , Pokémon Legends: Arceus , Pokemon Snap , Pokémon GO