Nurse Joy
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Nurse Joy (ジョーイさん Jōi-san?) is a minor recurring character in the Pokémon media franchise, most famous as being a predominant character in the Pokémon anime. All Nurse Joys are part of a large family of identical Pokémon nurses, all named Joy, with striking similarities to each other. Their main job in the games and anime is to heal injured Pokémon and to operate the numerous Pokémon Centers throughout the Pokémon world.
The name Joy is derived from the Japanese term for a female doctor (女医 joi?).
[edit] In the Pokémon video games
In the Pokémon videogames, Nurse Joys can be found in all Pokémon Centers, healing Pokémon back to full health. Despite never being referred to as "Nurse Joy" in the games, the character sprite models pink hair in a similar style, as well as a dress and hat, similar to that of the Nurse Joy anime design. The only games to date that does not feature Nurse Joy at Pokémon Centers is Pokémon Colosseum, which features a nurse with short grey hair instead of the traditional pink. Pokémon Red and Blue also featured generic women with orange hair at the Pokémon Centers, for these games were released before the anime.
[edit] In the Pokémon anime
The Pokémon anime series and films are a set of adventures separate from most other versions of Pokémon, featuring Ash Ketchum as the main character, and following his quest to become a Pokémon Master – though what constitutes a Master is somewhat ambiguous. Nurse Joys are seen across the Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, and Sinnoh regions, as well as the Orange Islands.
Brock, one of Ash Ketchum's companions, was infatuated with all the Nurse Joys he met, often having to be restrained by Misty, in the Hoenn region, Max, and later in the Sinnoh region, his Croagunk. Nurse Joys often have Chansey or Blissey nurses accompanying them. Almost all Nurse Joys look identical, even if they have differering personalities and they are all related to each other. Brock, however, has an uncanny ability to tell all the nurses apart. As a Nurse Joy grows older, her hair turns a faded brownish-pinkish-greyish color and her face becomes thin and wrinkled (as seen in Pokémon Chronicles).
In the Hoenn regions, all Pokémon Contests have at least one Nurse Joy on the judging panel, except for the final competition, in which three judge.
In the English dub of the Pokémon anime, all Nurse Joys are voiced by Megan Hollingshead,[1] (and occasionally by Lisa Oritz) while in the Advanced series (Pokemon Advanced, Pokemon Advanced Challenge and Pokemon Advanced Battle), they are voiced by Bella Hudson. When Pokémon USA took over the dubbing rights from 4Kids Entertainment starting with ninth (Battle Frontier) season, Kayzie Rogers became the voice of Nurse Joy.
[edit] Notes and References
- ^ Pokémon anime overview Pokémonpalace.com. URL Accessed May 26, 2006.
