Pokémon: The Series
- Ash Ketchum. He's pretty much the nicest and sweetest character in that anime. Early on he had a more brash and immature personality but has mellowed out dramatically. Even flashbacks tend to portray him as the Nice Guy he became post-Character Development rather than the bratty Idiot Hero he was in Kanto.
- Tracey, who replaced Brock for one half-season, is the embodiment of this trope. He's so polite and mild-mannered that many viewers write him off as bland and uninteresting. He Lampshades it in one side episode — after being pressured by Misty's oldest sister to clean the Gym, he's seen with a push broom and a sad expression, saying "Sometimes it doesn't pay to be the nice guy." (Just don't insult Professor Oak in front of him.)
- Brock is no slouch, either. As Team Dad, he cooks and cares for his younger friends, provides help and encouragement with endless good-natured patience, and rarely loses his temper (when pretty girls aren't involved).
- There's also Ash's companion in Best Wishes: Cilan, who is always trying to settle things between characters that fight. Just don't piss him off... you really don't want to piss him off.
- And then there's Luke who is one of the nicest of Ash's rivals/friends who doesn't insult him. His nice guy attitude is how he's able to put up with Bianca's quirks but even he has his limits.
- Out of Ash's female companions, while all of them are overall nice and kind-hearted (as long as you don't make them angry), Serena definitely takes the cake as the most sweet-tempered and gentle. It says a lot that she's the only one who doesn't immediately get annoyed at him when he does something rash, and the one time she did snap at him, it was because he wasn't being himself, and she immediately felt horrible for doing it.
- Georgio from Pokémon Chronicles, who wants to date Misty. He cares about Misty and is even nice enough to give away some Electabuzz tickets to Casey even after her Elekid lost against Delcatty.
Rivals
- Ritchie from the original series was the first of these. He is an honest, humble and kind young boy. When he has to battle Ash in the league, he tells the referee to wait a while longer for Ash to arrive.
- Morrison from the Advanced Generation series may have appeared late but quickly established himself as a nice, abet competitive individual. He and Ash quickly hit it off seeing each other as rivals and the two are often seen hanging together during the Pokémon League. Morrison even goes out his way to help out Ash from Team Rocket whenever they are causing a problem. When it was announced that he had to go up against Ash in the Pokémon League, Morrison was devastated as he didn't want to fight against his friend and even started to hold back in battle. Ash was able to get Morrison out of this funk and the two battled as friendly and even rivals. Morrison took his loss to Ash well and continued to cheer on Ash in his next match.
- Barry from the Diamond & Pearl series is this as well. Barry is just as Hot-Blooded as Ash and, like with Morrison, hits it off with Ash the moment they first met and sees him as a Worthy Opponent. Although Barry is quite hotheaded and is prone to "fine" people that upset him, he always means well and is always eager to help out whenever he can. Barry was introduced specifically because Ash's main rival, Paul, is a major JerkAss and needed someone to help balance him out.
- Stephan from the Black & White series is another rival introduced for Ash to balance out the jerkness of his main one (in this case, it's Trip). Stephan and Ash are always on good terms despite the latter constantly getting the former's name wrong and Stephan is always eager to help train and battle Ash whenever he wants to. Stephan is also one of the most humble characters in the series taking his wins and losses all in good stride.
Professors and Researchers
- Professor Oak is one of the nicest professors in the entire series. Although he does often like to brag about Gary's accomplishments toward Ash at times, he is nonetheless always there to help out Ash when he needs him the most. It helps that Professor Oak does serve as one of Ash's main Parental Substitutes and is always there to cheer up Ash whenever he is down. He is also a friend to all living things and always tries to solve issues in calm and reasonable ways.
- Gary Oak is a very interesting case. When he was Ash's main rival of the original series, he was a major Jerkass that always belittled Ash whenever the two meet and his ego was through the roof due to being the grandson of Professor Oak. However, Gary evens out a bit and becomes more of a Jerk with a Heart of Gold by the Johto series while still occasionally teasing Ash but remaining more calm and civil with him. After losing to Ash in the Johto League, Gary later decided that he will follow in his grandfather's footsteps and become a Pokémon Researcher as well. It was then where Gary becomes much more mellowed out and nicer toward Ash. The two even decided to bury the hatchet in one episode and become full on friends due to their now different goals.
Gym Leaders, Elite Four Members, Champions, Kahunas, and Frontier Brains
- Advanced Generation' series
- Brawly is definitely this. Being a Surfer Dude, Brawly loves to surf as much he loves to battle. He is also extremely laidback and loves to have a good time. Even when Ash held the Jerkass Ball by constantly demanding Brawly to battle him and even calls him out for his laidback behavior, Brawly was incredibly patient with Ash even giving him advice that it isn't bad to relax every now and again. Even after Brawly curb-stomps Ash in battle, he doesn't brag or anything but just hopes Ash will take it easy and will be happy to battle him again anytime.
- Wattson from the same series counts as well. The man is always laughing and having a big smile on his face even toward his opponents. He only dropped this for a bit when Ash completely curb-stomped him in their gym match with Pikachu taking out all of his Pokémon with a single Thunderbolt. Wattson was in a pretty big funk for the majority of the episode even considering retiring from being a gym leader. However, it was thanks to befriending an Electrike and helping to stop Team Rocket that brought Wattson back to his carefree self. Ash explained what happened (Pikachu was overcharged from a mechanical Raikou earlier in the episode) and even offered to give Wattson back the badge. Wattson, however, allows Ash to keep the badge (even saying the Raikou *was* his invention after all) only wanting to have a friendly match with Ash again when they meet. They end up doing so and Wattson does pick up the win.
- Flannery is such a bright ball of sunshine who is full of energy and spirit. However, she does tend to overlook the gym's conditions at times due to be too carefree. In fact, it's because of this that her grandfather, the previous gym leader before her, stayed around and helped try to keep the gym in shape for her from a distance.
- Diamond and Pearl series
- Bluntness toward is son aside, Byron from is a very energetic man that loves having Pokémon Battles as much as he loves fossils. One of his catchphrases is how he says how he loves his Pokémon and even compliments others for digging good holes (even if it's Team Rocket who recently stole all of his fossils).
- Black & White series
- Roxy is definitely this. She is always in a good mood when playing in her band and is always eager to take on new opponents. During her battle with Ash, she allowed him to use a full team while she leaves herself with three and even when one of Ash's Pokémon gets poisoned, after one of her Pokémon takes it out in battle, she will give that Pokémon a Pecha Berry to heal it from the poison right away.
- Sun & Moon series
- Hala retains his Cool Old Guy status from the games always keeping a level head and making sure he can do his best to help out others. He was incredibly patient toward Guzma despite the latter storming out on he and Kukui years ago. Much later during the Pokémon League, when Guzma finally decided to stop running and fight seriously for once, even though he lost to Ash at the end, Hala still claps for Guzma with him and Kukui hoping he will return to the next Pokémon League.
- Olivia has a huge case of Adaptational Nice Girl in the anime where she is all smiles whenever she is relaxing. Though she is still serious when she battles at times, she doesn't let that stop her from having a good time when battling. She also loves to take care of people and Pokémon alike in her free time. She is also one of two people (alongside Lucy mentioned above) to not be freaked out by Brock's advances. Hell, many will say the two are perfect for each other as they're both Team Mom characters that love Rock-type Pokémon.
