Characters / Pokémon: Clefairy Tales

Leaf and Her Team

Leaf (Aoi in English, Vera in French)

The main character of the story, who ends up being late to get her first Pokémon and has to settle for a Clefairy. The series centers on her Pokémon journey.

• Cute Clumsy Girl: She isn't very balletic at all, and particularly in the first season, it shows.

• Precision F-Strike: In chapter 4, when telling Camper Liam to just get on with it:
  Leaf: Save your jive crap for Pokémon coordination!
• Showgirl Skirt: She wears a Goldeen costume for her Gym battle against Misty in chapter 13.
• Spit Take: When she learns about the Gym in Pewter City.
• Tomboy and Girly Girl: Girly girl to Misty's tomboy.
• Walking Swimsuit Scene: Per Word of God, she'll spend much of the Cerulean City arc wearing her swimsuit, which she already wears under her regular clothes anyway.
• Whole Costume Reference: Her regular outfit is exactly like the one she wears in the Pokémon Craft DX manga and other promotional materials relating to Pokémon Red and Blue, and the Goldeen costume she wears in chapter 13 had previously appeared in "The March of the Exeggutor Squad".

Clefairy (Ana)

Leaf's starter Pokémon. She grows to like her trainer.

• Badass Adorable: Despite being rather feminine, she can hold her own in a battle.
• Cute Bruiser: Her base offensive attack is Pound.
• Every Proper Lady Should Curtsy: A warning sign that she's about to use Sing.
• Making a Splash: She knows Water Gun.
• Pink Heroine: Because all Clefairy are pink (at least, those that are not Shiny).

• Talking Pokémon: Along with Pikachu, she's the first of Leaf's Pokémon to speak human language.
• Tomboy and Girly Girl: Girly girl to Pikachu's tomboy.
• Verbal Tic: "-pippi".

Pikachu (Lita in English and French, Makoto in Japanese)

An electric Pokémon who Leaf catches in Viridian City. Along with Clefairy, she stays out of her Poké Ball most of the time and instead prefers walking out in the open.

• Action Girl: On par with Misty in that regard, even!
• Badass Adorable: She may look cute, but she's got electric attacks which by all rights should be downright lethal if this wasn't Pokémon.
• Badass in a Nice Suit: When taking on Misty's Pokémon in chapter 13.
• Gratuitous French: She likes to remind people that "impossible n'est pas Français-pika" from time to time (for example, as her Pre Ass Kicking One Liner against Brock's Onix in chapter 4).
• Precision F-Strike: In chapter 7, after encountering one Zubat too many, she echoes the sentiments of many a Red and Blue player:
  Pikachu: Arceus-damned Zubat!
• Ridiculously Cute Critter: As is par for the course for most portrayals of Pikachu.
• The Rival: To Spearow. No surprise, since Electric-types and Flying-types are traditionally enemies.
• Running Gag: Her feeling ticklish when it comes to Flying-type attacks such as Spearow's Peck.
  Pikachu: PI-KAHAHAHAHA! That tickles-pika!
• Shock and Awe: As can be expected of any Electric-type.
• Talking Pokémon: Along with Clefairy, she's the first of Leaf's Pokémon to speak human language.
• Tertiary Sexual Characteristics: As with all female Pikachu, she's got a heart-shaped tail.
• Tomboy and Girly Girl: Tomboy to Clefairy's girly girl.
• Tsundere: Particularly towards Spearow.
• Verbal Tic: "-pika".
• Whole Costume Reference: In chapter 13, she wears the same tuxedo Ash's Pikachu wears in "The March of the Exeggutor Squad".

Spearow (Terminator in English and French, Zatoichi in Japanese)

A tough guy type who Leaf catches in Route 22. Easily irritable, and kind of a jerk most of the time.

• Anime Hair: He styles his hair like this.
• Feathered Fiend: Plays up this trait every chance he gets. Of particular note is chapter 3, when he's a bit too eager to battle the resident Bug-types in Viridian Forest.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He may be belligerent towards his teammates, particularly Pikachu, and his fighting style may be overly aggressive, but at the end of the day, he cares very much about the whole team.
• The Rival: To Pikachu. No surprise, since Electric-types and Flying-types are traditionally enemies.
• Talking Pokémon: Like some of Leaf's Pokémon.
• Token Evil Teammate: Downplayed, but he's definitely more bloodthirsty than anyone else on his team.
• Verbal Tic: "-suzu".

Allies

Red (Aka in Japanese, Ross in French)

Another new Pokémon trainer going on a journey of his own. He and Leaf cross paths on multiple occasions.

• Adapted Out: Downplayed and, oddly enough, inverted considering the circumstances. As Red never appears in the games when Leaf is the player character, and as Leaf is the main character of this story, he's reduced to a supporting role compared to his role in Pokémon Origins.
• Friendly Rival: To Leaf, who he sometimes mentors and sometimes battles to test her skills.
• Playing with Fire: His Starter is a Charmander.

Professor Samuel Oak (Yukinari Orchid in Japanese, Samuel Chen in French)

The enigmatic yet kindly Pokémon Professor who gives Leaf, Red, and Blue their starter Pokémon.

• Absent-Minded Professor: Has shades of this.
• Cool Old Guy
• Mission Control: To Leaf, Red, and his grandson Blue.
• Nice Guy: In keeping with official characterizations of him.

Nurse Joy

Any in a huge family of nurses and Pokémon Inspectors.

• Friend to All Living Things: As can be expected of anyone of her profession.
• Gadgeteer Genius: The Viridian-based Nurse Joy is known to be good with technology.
• Inexplicably Identical Individuals: As is par for the course.
• The Medic
• Proper Tights with a Skirt
• Rose-Haired Sweetie
• Tomboy and Girly Girl: Girly girl to Officer Jenny's tomboy.
• Yamato Nadeshiko

Officer Jenny (Junsa in Japanese)

Any in a huge family of policewomen.

• Action Girl: Considering she's a police officer...
• Badass in a Nice Suit: One of them wears a pantsuit to the S.S. Anne party.
• Fair Cop
• Inexplicably Identical Individuals: As can be expected of them.
• Police Are Useless: Averted. When the Cerulean-based Officer Jenny finally lets Leaf enter the burglarized house, she's seen bringing in the ringleader of a Rocket recruitment scheme disguised as a Nugget Bridge challenge.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: She exercises her powers to the best of her capabilities and limits anywhere you can find her.
• Tomboy and Girly Girl: Tomboy to Nurse Joy's girly girl.

Gym Guide Clyde (Gaidoh in Japanese, Guido in French)

Any in a not-quite-so-huge family of advice givers, most of whom can be found in the Gyms.

• Cloud Cuckoolander: He can be quite strange sometimes.
• Inexplicably Identical Individuals: Which can be seen in the lobby of most Gyms.

Looker (Handsome in Japanese, Beladonis in French)

An agent for the Global Police who Leaf first meets during a party on the S.S. Anne. He's on the hunt for Team Rocket.

• Police Are Useless: Averted, if his appearances stay true to his character in the games as a very active police officer.

Gym Leaders

Brock Harrison (Takeshi Iwamoto in Japanese, Pierre Roquefort in French)

The Pewter Gym Leader, who Leaf battles for the Boulder Badge. He makes a few appearances afterwards.

• Dishing Out Dirt: Being a Rock-type specialist. He later expands his horizons, beginning with a Zubat he captures while digging for fossils on Mt. Moon.
• Early-Bird Cameo: Before he's revealed to be the Pewter Gym Leader, he gives Leaf some advice on how to raise her Pokémon.
• Eyes Always Shut: As is typical of him.
• Hold Your Hippogriffs: Retells an Aesop fable as "The Murkrow and the Pitcher".
• This Cannot Be!: Briefly stunned by Pikachu attempting to finish off his Onix with an Electric attack during the Gym Battle in episode 4.
• Walking Shirtless Scene: During Leaf's Gym Battle against him.

Misty Waterflower (Kasumi Mizuno in Japanese, Ondine Ste. Marie in French)

The Cerulean Gym Leader, who Leaf battles for the Cascade Badge. The youngest of four sisters, she inherited the Gym from her deceased father and is the most feared individual in Cerulean City, though she can be quite nice if you don't get on her bad side.

• Action Girl: The biggest one among the female Kanto Gym Leaders.
• Adaptational Modesty: She didn't wear pantyhose with her regular outfit, itself an example of this, in Pokémon: The Series.
• Berserk Button: Don't even think about assuming that just because she's a Squirtle Scout she goes door-to-door selling girl scout cookies. She in fact considers that to be an offensive stereotype of girl scout culture as a whole.
• Boyish Short Hair: Tied in a Tomboyish Ponytail.
• Disappeared Dad: Her father was murdered by a Team Rocket grunt, and a subplot of the first and second seasons shows her trying to avenge him on the one that did the deed.
• Early-Bird Cameo: In chapter 9, within a newspaper article on Team Rocket's attack on Cerulean City, during which she recounts her most recent personal encounter with Team Rocket.
• Evil Laugh: During the climactic battle between her Starmie and Leaf's Pikachu in chapter 13, as she points out how the latter's Thunderbolt barely did any real damage to her Starmie.
• Famed In-Story: In her first battle as a Gym Leader, an exhibition match, she beat her idol Lorelei, who is a stronger Pokémon trainer, which earned her a reputation as one not to be trifled with, to the point where even Team Rocket is afraid of her.
• Fiery Redhead: Ironic considering she's a Water-type specialist.
• Insult Backfire: At times, she's been known to take insults in stride. For example, in chapter 10:
  Leaf: What kind of idiot would wear pantyhose when swimming?
  Misty: The kind of idiot that likes her clothes waterproof.
• Irony: She's the least interested in the performing arts out of all the females in her family, and yet she knows some ballet, even earning a merit patch following a recent monthly skills test, and has learned a few parlor tricks from her older sister Lily.
• Little Miss Badass: There's a reason she made history as the youngest Gym Leader to date, being inaugurated some weeks before her 10th birthday.
• Making a Splash: She's a Water-type specialist, what did you expect?
• Noodle Incident: She once tangled with Mewtwo when Team Rocket used one of her friends as bait in an attempt to indirectly get rid of her.
• Nose Bleed: After some innuendo from Lass Ali in chapter 11 during the Nugget Bridge challenge.
  Misty: I wouldn't put it past those boys to say something that can be interpreted as naughty, but that really knocked the stuffing out of me!
• One-Gender School: She's a student at Riverside Private School for Girls.
• Pink Means Feminine: Word of God is that pink is her theme color.
• Precision F-Strike: In her Early-Bird Cameo, she refers to Cerulean Cave as a "hellhole".
• School Uniforms are the New Black: Downplayed. She's seen in casual clothes frequently enough (particularly her regular outfit) when not participating in regular Squirtle Scout activities, but for occasions such as the S.S. Anne party, you can expect her to show up wearing her Squirtle Scout uniform, which is implied (and later outright confirmed) early on to be her school uniform.
• Scout-Out: She's a Squirtle Scout.

• Tomboy and Girly Girl: Tomboy to Leaf's girly girl.

• Tomboyish Ponytail: As usual, her hair is normally styled like this.
• Tomboy with a Girly Streak: She's ironically more graceful and balletic than Leaf (to the point where she has a Dancing Merit Patch—it helps that she's been having ballet lessons ever since she joined the Squirtle Scouts), and in fact when we're introduced to her one episode after her Early-Bird Cameo, she's practicing gymnastics just outside of Cerulean Gym. In addition, she happens to enjoy Sailor Moon, though it's more a product of being a '90s girl than anything (per Word of God, the series was still being broadcast, and the comics still being written, at the time Clefairy Tales takes place).
• True Blue Femininity: As with other Squirtle Scouts, she wears a blue uniform.
• Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: As is her anime counterpart, she's an entomophobic. However, she does agree with Erika that Butterfree is pretty, for a Bug-type.
• You Killed My Father: Spoken to the plainclothes Rocket in chapter 11. But then, she was just taking her anger out on Team Rocket as a whole simply because someone in their ranks did the deed.

Lt. Mathias Surge (Major Bob Tesla in French)

The Vermilion Gym Leader, who Leaf battles for the Thunder Badge. He's an Army veteran who was originally from Unova.

• He Cleans Up Nicely: He wears his old military dress uniform for the S.S. Anne party, complete with the obligatory silver bar and gold epaulettes.
• Shock and Awe: Being an Electric-type specialist. In fact, as in the games, when he was fighting in the Middle East, his Pokémon saved his life on numerous occasions by electrocuting his foes.

Erika LaFleur (Erika Sakura in Japanese)

The Celadon Gym Leader, who Leaf battles for the Rainbow Badge.

• Ambiguously Lesbian: As is par for the course with fanon regarding the character being an alleged Lipstick Lesbian.
• Ballet: She's the prima ballerina in her class at Celadon Ballet Academy.
• Establishing Character Moment: Along with other Gym Leaders on the year-long world tour on the S.S. Anne, she introduces herself to the partygoers by showing off her best Pokémon... and she does so in a graceful fashion.
• Green Thumb: Being a Grass-type specialist.
• Noble Bigot: She retains her shades of this from the original games, but here she also gives a pass to those who can learn Grass-type moves, including Butterfree, which she describes during the S.S. Anne party as "the prettiest Bug-type you'll ever meet", a sentiment with which Misty, a known entomophobic, agrees.
• True Blue Femininity: Word of God is that blue is her theme color, and she even wears a blue dress to the S.S. Anne party.
• Whole Costume Reference: She wears Cinderella's butterfly-themed ballgown from Disney's 2015 film adaptation to the S.S. Anne party. In-universe, she mentions having gotten the idea for the dress from watching Disney's animated adaptation while designing a Butterfree-themed perfume.

Koga Fujita (Kyou Fujita in Japanese)

The Fuchsia Gym Leader, who Leaf battles for the Marsh Badge.

• He Cleans Up Nicely: During the S.S. Anne party, fellow Gym Leader Sabrina remarks on how he looks rather dashing in a tuxedo.

Sabrina D'Avalon (Natsume Hyouka in Japanese, Morgane Avalon in French)

The Saffron Gym Leader, who Leaf battles for the Soul Badge.

• Early-Bird Cameo: In the first season finale, during the second season teaser, when she uses her telepathy to alert the rest of Saffron City to Team Rocket's invasion.
• Last Episode, New Character: Appears in The Stinger at the end of the first season for a Sequel Hook promising that the second season will include the Silph Co. campaign from the original games.

Blaine Augustus Nashton (Katsura Hino in Japanese, Auguste Jules Cramer in French)

The Cinnabar Gym Leader, who Leaf battles for the Volcano Badge.

• Playing with Fire: Being a Fire-type specialist.

Enemies

Team Rocket

A notorious organized crime group, currently involved in operations in Mt. Moon and Cerulean City.

• Dark Is Evil: They wear black bosozoku-style uniforms.
• Evil Brit: At least one grunt is depicted as speaking with a Cockney accent rendered phonetically; Leaf even calls him a limey after defeating him.
• Mad Bomber: Some grunts use Molotov cocktails.

Other

Blue Oak (Midori Orchid in Japanese, Bleu Chen in French)

• The Rival: A straighter example.

Sakura Waterflower (Sakura Mizuno in Japanese, Sakura Ste. Marie in French)

• Dub Name Change: Averted due to the One-Steve Limit (Blue Oak already has an older sister named Daisy).
• Large Ham: Reinvented as one.
• Playboy Bunny: Whenever she introduces a performance act or a challenger for her younger sister Misty, she'll wear this costume without exception.
• Proper Tights with a Skirt: She usually wears this when not performing or doing hammy introductions.

Violet Waterflower (Ayame Mizuno in Japanese, Viola Ste. Marie in French)

• Pom-Pom Girl: She's on the Cerulean Cloysters' cheer squad per Word of God, and she often appears wearing her cheerleading uniform.
• True Blue Femininity

Lily Waterflower (Botan Mizuno in Japanese, Lillian Ste. Marie in French)

• Cold Ham: Much more subdued than her sister, but when she does her magic shows, she shows just how hammy she can be when the situation calls for it.

per Word of God.

• Pink Means Feminine: She has pink hair and often wears pink tights.
• Showgirl Skirt: She wears a Goldeen costume when performing as a Stage Magician.
• Silence Is Golden: Demonstrates this during her magic shows.
  She was so good at her magic act, she didn't need to say anything to demonstrate her proficiency as a magician, whether she was doing such simple tricks as pulling a rabbit out of a hat or summoning lily petals apparently out of nowhere or escaping from a full tank of water, Houdini-style.
• Stage Magician: Her chief talent as a performer.

Youngster Edison

• Expy: Of Joey, who happens to be his cousin.

Youngster Colton (Hisashi in Japanese, Piotr in French)

• Composite Character: He's Bug Catcher Colton with a new trainer class combined with the youth who takes you to Pewter Gym until you defeat Brock.

Youngster Calvin (Kazuki in Japanese)

• Real Men Wear Pink: He's a cheerleader.

Lass Sally (Mina in Japanese)

• Bifauxnen: She looks almost like a Youngster and even dresses like one, down to the Tomboyish Baseball Cap.
• I Am Very British: Demonstrated through her speech patterns.
• One of the Boys: Like the average Youngster, she uses a Rattata and a Nidoran(M) in battle.
• Tomboyish Baseball Cap
• Tomboyish Ponytail
• Tomboy with a Girly Streak: Even she's into Sailor Moon.

Magical Girl Iris (Naho in Japanese)

• Composite Character: She's Lass Iris and Lass Robin rolled into one magical package.
• Girlish Pigtails
• In the Name of the Moon: She says this verbatim to a Rocket who zips right by her.
• Modesty Shorts: Worn under her obviously Sailor Moon-influenced dress.
• Reused Character Design: She shares a few physical traits with Bunny Tsukino.
• Spectacular Spinning: A firm believer in this.

Super Nerd Miguel (Mitsuharu in Japanese, Michel in French)

• Berserk Button: Don't even think about stealing his fossils.
• Properly Paranoid: He mistakes Leaf for a plainclothes Rocket, and those who took the Nugget Bridge challenge in Pokémon Red and Blue should know that there is such a thing.

Picnicker Diana (Kozue in Japanese, Diane in French)

• Composite Character: She's merged with the Swimmer named Diana who appeared in Cerulean Gym in the Gen II games and their remakes.
• One-Gender School: Like her younger cousin Misty and other Squirtle Scouts, she goes to Riverside Private School for Girls.
• Scout-Out: As can be expected from a Picnicker.
• True Blue Femininity: Being a Squirtle Scout and all (considering they wear blue uniforms).
• Walking Swimsuit Scene: When battling Leaf.

Bill Grace (Masaki Sonezaki in Japanese, Léonard Matthes in French)

Todd Snap (Tohru in Japanese)

• Last Episode, New Character: Shows up after Leaf wins the Cascade Badge to take a group photo of her, Misty, the Sensational Sisters, the Gym Guide, and Nurse Joy.