Leaf (game)
- If you were looking for the character from Pokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee!, see Green (game).
- Leaf redirects here. For other uses, see Leaf (disambiguation).
Leaf リーフ Leaf | |
Art from Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen | |
Age | Unknown |
---|---|
Gender | Female |
Eye color | Brown |
Hair color | Brown |
Hometown | Pallet Town |
Region | Kanto |
Relatives | Mom, unnamed father |
Trainer class | Pokémon Trainer, player character |
Generation | III, VII, VIII, IX |
Counterpart(s) | Leaf (Masters) |
Games | FireRed, LeafGreen, Masters EX |
English voice actor | Michelle Marie[1] (Masters EX) |
Japanese voice actor | Yuka Ōtsubo[2] (Masters EX) |
Manga series | Pokémon Adventures Pokémon Ruby-Sapphire |
Counterpart(s) | Green, Blue |
Debut | Wartortle Wars (Adventures) We're a Family!! (Ruby-Sapphire) |
Leaf (Japanese: リーフ Leaf) is the female player character in Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen. Her male counterpart is Red. While Leaf shares many similarities with Green, it has not been officially confirmed whether Green is an incarnation of Leaf, a cross-canon counterpart, or a separate character entirely.
Terminology
In Pokémon FireRed, LeafGreen, and Emerald, Leaf (Japanese: リーフ Leaf) is her placeholder name, which is only in the internal game data and not seen in normal gameplay. In Pokémon LeafGreen, this is one of several possible names (in both English and Japanese) suggested for the player character (male or female) if the player leaves their name blank when starting a new game. In the E3 2004 trailer for FireRed and LeafGreen (which is in English), "Leaf" is used as the name of the female player character, in contrast to "Red" for the male player character.[3]
The name Leaf (English and Japanese versions) is officially used for her Kotobukiya ARTFX J figurine[4][5] and the Bandai Pokémon Scale World collection,[6] both of which were released in 2019 (fifteen years after her introduction in Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen). In 2020, she debuted in Pokémon Masters EX, using the same name.
In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, the female version of the character known only as "Pokémon Trainer" is based on Leaf.
In the Pokémon Adventures manga, the character Green (Japanese: ブルー Blue) serves as her counterpart; however, Green debuted in the Red, Green & Blue chapter, long before the release of Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen. In Pokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee!, a character with the same name appears, although it has not been confirmed whether Leaf and Green are the same character. If Leaf and Green are different characters, then Leaf remains unnamed in all core series games and their manuals.
The name "Leaf" has long been used by fans, even before it saw mainstream official use in merchandise and Pokémon Masters. Leaf is also sometimes referred to as フグリ (Fuguri) in the Japanese fandom, being derived from the katakana rendering of "LeafGreen" (リーフグリーン rīfugurīn).
In the core series games
Leaf's adventure begins after Professor Oak calls her to his lab and gives her a choice of Pokémon. Blue challenges Leaf to a Pokémon battle as soon as they get their Pokémon. Later, Professor Oak calls the two back, gives each of them a Pokédex, and sends them on a journey to fulfill their dream of capturing every kind of Pokémon.
Leaf travels all over Kanto, filling in the Pokédex and defeating the Gym Leaders. Her rival Blue constantly stays one step ahead, and shows up quite a few times to impede her progress. When Leaf eventually reaches the Elite Four, she finds that Blue has beaten her to a milestone yet again and has become the Indigo League Champion. Leaf defeats Blue in the final battle, and becomes the Champion herself. Her adventure continues even after that, with Leaf discovering new places, such as the Sevii Islands.
Leaf's main conflict in the games, aside from Blue, is Team Rocket, an infamous group of Pokémon thieves. Leaf clashes with Team Rocket many times in her quest. She defeats a group of grunts at Mt. Moon who are attempting to steal rare Pokémon Fossils, and defeats another group ahead at a bridge in Cerulean City. Leaf protects the Pokémon Tower and Mr. Fuji in Lavender Town and destroys their hold on the Game Corner. After she foils their plot to take over Silph Co., Leaf encounters Giovanni, the leader of Team Rocket, as the final Gym Leader in Viridian City. Upon defeating him, Leaf stops the group's world domination plots once and for all, though a few remaining grunts, many who appeared and were defeated by Leaf on Five Island in Generation III, would band together in Johto to try to revive the group.
Optional names
When starting a new game of Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen, if the player leaves the name writing screen without any written name, or with a name composed entirely of empty spaces, Professor Oak says "Right... So your name is <optional name>.", suggesting one of the 19 available names; there are 21 names in total, but there are two exclusive to FireRed and two exclusive to LeafGreen. The player may answer "Yes" to accept the suggested name, or "No" to return to the name writing screen.
Japanese | English | French | German | Italian | Spanish |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
グリーン GreenLG レッド RedFR リーフ LeafLG ファイア FireFR キヨミ Kiyomi サトコ Satoko チホ Chiho キョウコ Kyōko マキコ Makiko ミキコ Mikiko ミチコ Michiko ジュンコ Junko アヤコ Ayako リエ Rie セツコ Setsuko ユキコ Yukiko マミナ Mamina ノリエ Norie ヒサエ Hisae モモコ Momoko ミスズ Misuzu |
GREENLG REDFR LEAFLG FIREFR OMI JODI AMANDA HILLARY MAKEY MICHI PAULA JUNE CASSIE REY SEDA KIKO MINA NORIE SAI MOMO SUZI |
GREENLG REDFR LEAFLG FIREFR JOANNA LUCIE EDITH PAULINE EMMA AUDREY MARION SAYAKA INGRID LINDA FLO YUKI CARMEN NOLWEEN NADIA HELENE CARO |
GRÜNLG ROTFR BLATTLG FEUERFR MANDY ANDREA SINA MARTINA TANJA ELENA BIRGIT DIANA KATRIN SUSI UTE DANIELA SILKE SIMONE JAMIE PIA EVA |
VERDELG ROSSOFR GREENLG REDFR CINZIA LUISA AMANDA ROSSANA RITA LORENZA PAOLA GAIA OLGA WILMA IVANA MONIA LETIZIA LILIANA ILARIA ISOTTA VIVIANA |
VERTELG JOROFR JAHOLG GUEFOFR MENA CIRA MARÍA MINA NENA LUNA BRUNA CLAUDIA CASILDA RITA SELENA MATILDE NURIA MARINA SALIA MIRTA SUSA |
In the side series games
Pokémon Colosseum and XD: Gale of Darkness
Leaf makes an appearance in both Pokémon Colosseum and Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness. While she does not appear in the games' Story Mode, she is playable in the Battle Mode when a FireRed or LeafGreen cartridge is used, with a female player character chosen. She can take on Mt. Battle's 100-battle challenge, as well as compete in Colosseum battles.
Pokémon Battle Revolution
Leaf made a brief appearance in the debut trailer of Pokémon Battle Revolution, having a Double Battle against Red, using a Groudon and a Pikachu. Despite this, she didn't appear in the final cut of the game.
In the spin-off games
Pokémon Masters EX
- Main article: Leaf (Masters)
Leaf appears in as a supporting character in Pokémon Masters EX's story. She was later made available in the normal sync pair scout rotation, forming a sync pair with an Eevee. A Sygna Suit variant where she uses a Venusaur capable of Mega Evolution was also released in conjunction with the game's first anniversary, becoming one of the first characters with access to 6★ EX. To commemorate the game's fourth anniversary, she was given a Neo Champion outfit and a new Pokémon partner go with it in Moltres, as well as an additional sync pair with Clefable.
Super Smash Bros. series
Pokémon Trainer
- Main article: Pokémon Trainer (Super Smash Bros.)
Leaf appears as a playable character in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, as the female variant of "Pokémon Trainer" (of which Red is the default). She shares his team of Squirtle, Ivysaur, and Charizard.
Other references
From Super Smash Bros. Brawl onward, Leaf's hat appears as an alternate outfit worn by Jigglypuff, in parallel to Pikachu wearing Red's hat.
Pokémon GO
- Main article: Style (GO)
For Pokémon Day 2018, Leaf's outfit from Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen were released as free style options in Pokémon GO.
Quotes
- Main article: Leaf (game)/Quotes
Counterparts
In the manga
Pokémon Adventures
- Main article: Green (Adventures)
Green from Pokémon Adventures serves as Leaf's counterpart, taking on Leaf's appearance from the FireRed & LeafGreen arc onwards. She starts out as a mischievous thief and con artist, but later reforms her ways.
Pokémon Ruby-Sapphire
- Main article: Blue (Ruby-Sapphire)
Leaf also has a counterpart in Pokémon Ruby-Sapphire, who is named Blue.
Gallery
- For images on Green, see: Green (game)
Artwork
Standard
Artwork from FireRed and LeafGreen | Artwork depicting the usage of Fly, featuring Leaf with a Pidgey |
Merchandise
File:Leaf and Squirtle artwork.png |
Leaf and Squirtle concept artwork by Hitoshi Ariga for Kotobukiya ArtFx J figurines |
Other
Ken Sugimori artwork from a 2005 New Year's postcard |
Game assets
Sprites and models
In the core series
Sprite from FireRed, LeafGreen, and Emerald |
Intro sprite from FireRed and LeafGreen |
Credits sprite from FireRed and LeafGreen |
Back sprite from FireRed and LeafGreen |
Back sprite from Emerald |
Overworld sprite from FireRed and LeafGreen |
Overworld sprite from Emerald |
In other games
Model from Colosseum |
Model from XD: Gale of Darkness |
Unused sprite from Pokémon Ranger |
Trivia
- An artwork of an unnamed female character drawn by Ken Sugimori was released in Pokémon Red and Green's official strategy guide, released in April 1996.[7] This artwork also appears on the cover of a revised version of the guidebook that includes the Japanese Pokémon Blue as well.[8]
- According to Sugimori, she was not originally planned as a player character. He wanted to portray a trio of Trainers facing off against each other, hence designed the female character for the cover.[9]
- The female character was later adapted for the Pokémon Craft DX magazine drawn by Emiko Yoshino, as well as Green in Pokémon Adventures (released 11 months after the original artwork), Leaf in Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen (8 years after the original artwork), and Green in Pokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee! (22 years after the original artwork).
- Sugimori noted that he took the unnamed female character into consideration when he was designing the female protagonist for FireRed and LeafGreen. He also mentioned that the FireRed and LeafGreen female protagonist did not have a name at the time of his writing, in November 2012.[10]
- Leaf's hat somewhat resembles a Premier Ball.
- Leaf's FireRed and LeafGreen sprite shows her with blue eyes, although every other sprite and the official artwork shows her with brown eyes.
- The majority of her Japanese default names are shared with Dawn and Lyra. She also shares all of Kris's alternate Japanese names.
- Though she is neither playable nor an opponent in the handheld Generation IV games, Leaf made a brief cameo battling against Red in an early trailer for Pokémon Battle Revolution on the Wii.
- Leaf is the only non-rival female player character to have a counterpart who appeared in Pokémon Pocket Monsters.
- The French version for Green's Exploration mistakenly refers to the character as Leaf instead of Green. This inconsistency does not exist in the French version of Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's go, Eevee!
- Pokémon Craft DX gallery
Names
Language | Name | Origin |
---|---|---|
Japanese | リーフ Rīfu | From Pokémon LeafGreen |
English, German, French, Italian |
Leaf | From Pokémon LeafGreen |
Spanish | Hoja | From hoja (leaf) |
Korean | 리프 Ripeu | Transcription of her Japanese name |
Chinese (Mandarin) | 葉子 Yèzǐ | From 葉子 yèzi / yihpjí (leaf) |
Chinese (Cantonese) | 葉子 Yihpjí |
References
- ↑ Michelle Marie on Twitter
- ↑ Yuka Ōtsubo on Twitter
- ↑ E3 trailer of Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen Versions
- ↑ "ARTFX J Leaf with Squirtle" on Kotobukiya (Japanese)
- ↑ "Pokémon LEAF with ZENIGAME ARTFX STATUE" on Kotobukiya (English)
- ↑ "Pokémon Scale World - Kanto: Leaf & Clefairy & Gengar" on Bandai (Japanese)
- ↑ ポケットモンスター―任天堂公式ガイドブック - Amazon.co.jp (Japanese)
- ↑ ポケットモンスター 赤・緑・青全対応 - Amazon.co.jp (Japanese)
- ↑ Twitter - Sugimori on the origins of the unknown female character (Japanese)
- ↑ Twitter - Sugimori on designing the FRLG female protagonist (Japanese)
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This game character article is part of Project CharacterDex, a Bulbapedia project that aims to write comprehensive articles on each character found in the Pokémon games. |