Originally posted by Rei_Zero
I don't think you tried your hardest to distinguish them Mew2too. I noticed that from your descriptions Haruka is a lot more gentler and more of the stereotypical girl than Misty. Misty was a confident girl with a very tough outside that tried to hide its inside even though its insides occasionally revealed itself. Haruka just seems to be a nice girl who isn't very tough at all and is very unconfident. She easily admires peoples and comments it without hiding it. Misty commented it but never acted like she meant it.
Well, she's not a rip-off of the Misty we were introduced to. She is probably most likely the softened teen mother Misty of later seasons. That's kind of the kicker. They're not ripping themselves off frame-by-frame.

Also, Misty is only nervous on things that get to her in the bones, ex. Ash, trauma event, etc. That means she barely ever has nervousness. Haruka seems to have a nervousness for everything that gets to her skin because she has less tolerance and confidence and so forth. Misty was completely pissed and rough and ready to kill about the bike but Haruka just seems to be pissed and angry. She held less of a grudge and easily forgave him in the situation. Misty was pissed at Ash even after knowing the situation and getting a clear picture of it in a very similar situation. In total sum it is not the possession of the attitude that counts. It is the degree of the attitude. This is what makes a person different
Did I say Haruka was nervous? She seems a lttle unsure of herself, but I can name some times that Misty was a little unsure. (Like in "The Misty Mermaid!" I believe she was a little uneasy about performing.)

Haruka is nervous about the same sort of things Misty was. She seems to be pretty good with Pokemon, though. I know she's supposed to be kind of wet behind the ears, but not that I rewatched the show I really can't say that as much. After all, Misty was no rookie because she was nervous around Gyarados. Maybe that Mudkip more or less assaulted Haruka because it was just sort of unruly. Bulbasaur tackled Misty- it didn't mean Misty's training skills sucked.

Also, Haruka probably started liking Ash much quicker than Misty. She nearly popped into his room on the first eppie. Misty didn't show any obvious signs until like 20 eppies later.
Excuse me? That whole thing with the room was her going in to reem Ash out. She looked like she wanted to bash his brains in at first. Then, she saw Ash asleep on the emergency room table with Pikachu. When Misty saw Ash coddling Pikachu on the emergency room table, she softened in much the same way Haruka did. It didn't mean all was forgiven or forgetten, just the Misty couldn't go too hard on Ash. It was the exact same way with Haruka. She start makin' hot sweaty monkey love to him, she just walked out of the room looking all pensive.

Originally posted by AKA Pokemon Fan
I'm almost certain the writers simply want to have Ash have to do without Misty's guidance, as well as set up for an inevitable confrontation between Misty and Haruka.
Ya know, I hate hearing about this "inevitable confrontation." I don't think the writers are going to get into AAHL. I don't think they'd dare. Of course, they might, and it would cause the fans to picket in front of TV Tokyo 24/7 with nasty signs and flaming torches.

In all seriousness, I dont see why they should have to start AAHL if they know Misty will be back eventually. After seeing how the Misty special ended, I'm afraid that they're not planning on bringing her back at all. In that case, my theory of "Haruka is Misty" theory might not be literally true, but sort of portrays the cold hard fact of it - they don't want us to notice Misty's gone, so they've recycled her into Haruka! I don't know about the rest of you, but I just don't care for that sort of thing going on. I know it's a show meant for kids, but isn't there any value placed on characters at all?

If that is so, then consider this: They should dump Pikachu. He's been around far too long, and he's a really dusty character. To make things fresher, they should get one of those Houen + and - Pichu things to be Ash's new Pokemon. We don't have to notice Pikachu is gone. The two look enough alike people really shouldn't care. Plus, we could recycle Pika's personality and make the Pichu thing not far off from Pikachu. Meanwhile, it would have enough uniqueness so we could actually get a more fresh story out of it. Is there anything wrong with doing that?

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No, that question was not rhetorical. I'm waiting for responses.