May

May
Original appearance	Pokémon Ruby Pokémon Sapphire
Information
Hometown	Littleroot Town, Hoenn
Birthday	November 21 16 (Year 1)
Gender	Female
Affinity	Fire Fighting
Relatives	Professor Birch (father)

May is an outgoing girl with a wildly enthusiastic nature. She is most notable for playing multiple supporting roles in various character routes in Pokémon Academy Life. She is the daughter of Professor Birch. She is the girlfriend of Brendan (one of the player character's possible roommates) and the two of them were dating prior to the beginning of the story. She is also the roommate of Leaf, the main heroine of the story.

May is an aspiring Pokémon Coordinator and later co-leads the Kobukan Academy Coordinator Club alongside Brendan.

First glance

May is a sweet girl of average height. Her looks and demeanor make her seem younger than how she appears, but it does not concern her at all. Her love for Fire-type Pokémon (she confirms the Torchic evolutionary line is her favorite) shows from her predominantly red-colored wardrobe, ranging from her tanktop to the bandanna she ties over her head.

Outgoing and incredibly friendly, May has no issue befriending other girls her age. More often than not, she dons a contagious smile on her face and does not hesitate to engage others in conversation. She and Brendan are two of the most social students coming into their first year at Kobukan Academy and immediately they form a network of friends. As a result, if Red (the player character) befriends May early on in the story, she often acts like a catalyst for introducing new characters.

She is shown to be quite fond of randomness and chance, as she claims life is more fun when you don't know what to expect. The earliest instance she shows this side of her is during the prologue, when she intentionally sets herself up for a random roommate match.

May also has a strong passion for fashion, which is one of the main reasons why she was able to get along with Leaf despite the two of them getting randomly matched as roommates.

Plot

May's story is intertwined with Brendan's. Right at the start of the story, both of them are established as active, friendly, and amiable characters to everyone. Naturally sociable, they both do their best to get along with everyone they meet at the academy. Together, the two of them are devoted to kickstarting their own Pokémon Contest routines, rather than training for the Pokémon League.

Artwork

Original sprite early in development.	Current sprite design by dmjh93.

Trivia

• Her birthday is a reference to the original Japanese release of Pokémon Ruby and Pokémon Sapphire versions.
• May is the first female character design to be completed by lead artist dmjh93.
• In a public popularity poll hosted by the development team in January 2016, Pokémon fans ranked May number one by an overwhelming margin on a list of their top female characters based on over 300 tallies.
  • In another poll conducted in February 2017, she dropped to the second spot behind Leaf from 835 total tallies.
• Originally, along with Serena, May was one of the shortest female characters. This was because there were few height references for dmjh93 to work with early in development. While the development team kept the size differential as defining characteristics early on, later the two received revisions and were no longer as petite.