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. The name Joy is derived from the Japanese term for a female doctor (女医 joi?). All Nurse Joys are related to each other in a large family of completely identical women who are all named Joy and all work as Pokémon nurses. Their main job in the games and anime is to heal injured Pokémon and to operate the numerous Pokémon Centers throughout the Pokémon world.
In the video games
In the Pokémon video games, Nurse Joys can be found in all Pokémon Centers, healing Pokémon back to full health. In Pokémon Diamond and Pearl, Nurse Joys are also seen working at the Contest Hall in Hearthome City. 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.
In the 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. In the English dub of the Pokémon anime, all Nurse Joys are voiced by Megan Hollingshead, while in the Advanced series (Pokemon Advanced, Pokemon Advanced Challenge and Pokemon Advanced Battle), they are voiced by Bella Hudson. When The Pokémon Company took over the dubbing rights from 4Kids Entertainment starting with ninth (Battle Frontier) season, Michele Knotz became the voice of Nurse Joy. Nurse Joy was voiced by Diane Stillwell and Kayzie Rogers as Jamie Peacock in The Mastermind of Mirage Pokémon. Almost all Nurse Joys look identical, even if they have differering personalities and they are all related to each other. However, each Nurse Joy will have a different color cross on her hat that indicates which location she works at. 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). There are some notable Nurse Joys that are very different from the others: the muscle-bound kayak-riding Nurse Joy in the Orange Archipelago, for example. On top of that, all the Nurse Joys of the Orange Archipelago have a darker skin tone than the ones found in any other region, probably an effect of living in such sunny weather. Brock, one of Ash Ketchum's companions, is infatuated with all the Nurse Joys he meets, often having to be restrained by Misty (in Kanto and Johto), Max and his Bonsly (in Hoenn and the Battle Frontier), or his Croagunk (in Sinnoh). Brock is the only person who can tell all the Joys apart. Although there are many exceptions, Nurse Joy will generally have Chansey to assist her. In fact, Chansey's evolution added in Generation II, Blissey, appears physically similar to Nurse Joy. Further driving home the connection, Blissey's Japanese name can be taken to mean "Happy Nurse". It has also been shown that some Nurse Joys are very capable trainers,a Nurse Joy easily beat Ash's Pikachu with Chansey. In the Hoenn regions, all Pokémon Contests have at least one Nurse Joy on the judging panel. In addition, Nurse Joys give out Starter Pokémon to trainers in towns or cities without Pokémon Professors. Slateport City is one such town.
In the films
In Pokémon: The First Movie, the Nurse Joy of the town where Ash, Misty and Brock were stranded due to the storm created by Mewtwo had mysteriously vanished. It was later revealed that Mewtwo had teleported her to his fortress and taken control of her mind. He used her knowledge of Pokémon to help repair his cloning machine and was in essence an unwitting servant to him until her usefullness ended. Nurse Joys have appeared in other films, but they play very minor roles.
