While Pokémon's Misty and Brock are perhaps the most popular companions after spending so much time in the anime alongside Ash, they unfortunately weren't presented with too many opportunities to grow as characters. That's a fate that some later companions of Ash managed to avoid, however, thanks to the addition of Pokémon Contests to the franchise.

Pokémon Contests first debuted in Ruby and Sapphire, as something of an alternative to the main gameplay of battling for badges. Contests offered a non-combat means of putting a Pokémon's skills to the test, something that appealed to a lot of potential players. Of course, players in the games did still need to battle for badges to progress through the story, but the mechanic had a surprising amount of depth to it, and collecting ribbons from Contests became a big thing for some fans. And, as a big new mechanic, it was immediately decided that it would take a big focus in the anime.

May and Dawn Shine As Pokémon Coordinators

In the anime, May (and later Dawn) became the vehicle for exploring the world of Pokémon Contests. It made sense since she was the new character and needed to have a goal of her own. Misty's goal had been to become a "Water-Type Master," while Brock's dream had been to become a Pokémon Breeder, but both of these goals were vague. It was difficult to show either of them making meaningful progress towards their individual goals, while Ash was consistently earning badges that acted as symbols of his progress. On the other hand, Pokémon Contests and their ribbon rewards made an excellent counterpart to Ash's badges and battling, and since the trainers (or Coordinators, as contest participants were called in the anime) would dress up alongside their Pokémon, it was also a great excuse to have these new characters try on special outfits.

Being able to show the progress that they were making was huge for May and Dawn's character development, and each also ended up with her own rivals and counterparts, just like Ash did. Suddenly these characters could easily carry not just an episode, but entire small arcs dedicated toward their own goals in a way that Misty and Brock never really could. The contests also had features that encouraged training as well, such as practicing showy moves or coordinating routines, giving them something to do even when a contest wasn't actually happening. Plus, it wasn't mutually exclusive with badge-collecting.

The End of Pokémon Contests

Unfortunately, Contests were removed from the games in Black and White, replaced by a "musical" mechanic that many fans felt was inferior. As a result, Ash's next female companion, future Pokémon Champion Iris, was given the goal of becoming a Dragon-type master, which didn't really work out too well for her and her character arc. Contests only recently made a return to the games, albeit in heavily modified form, in the remakes Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, but they never factored significantly into the anime again.

Regardless of how a fan might feel about Contests in the games, the Pokémon anime benefited greatly from their presence, and they made MAy and Dawn the most interesting companions Ash ever had.