u/LynxImpressive4248

Ever since EP009 and Giselle, the writers did not really allow Ash to have visual infatuation or a true crush on a girl. Doing this kept has the show as a whole about Pokemon and not the humans, and side characters like Brock can get away with romance because they're not connected to the main protagonist. In fact Takeshi Shudo, the head writer for the first 5 years, confirmed this reasoning himself:

>___ has no romantic feelings for Satoshi. If ___'s romantic feelings for Satoshi were to become one of the themes of "Pokemon," the entire structure of the "Pokemon" series would be destroyed.

>Even if a childish love affair with Satoshi were to develop in ___, if it were depicted, "Pokemon" would have another built-in theme, and the basic theme would not only be complicated but also diluted.

The writers set this up early on and Ash's denseness/nonromanticness wasn't just invented by the DP writers to downplay Pearlshipping. This goes as far back as the Original Series and continued into the Advance era (anyone remember Anabel's "Guess you can’t sense feelings yet..."??).

With Ash's denseness and romantic limitation as the premise, one might think the writers clearly don't want any "ship" to happen. However, we've seen characters in-universe as well as the writers themselves bringing up the topics of "Ash becoming boyfriend/girlfriend" and "becoming a couple in future" in a way that is more serious and less of a gag (see the Lyra question and the Serena kiss Yajima interview). We've also seen certain visual and even lyrical (High Touch) touches that go beyond Ash loving everyone equally in the long-run. It's clear that based off what the writers actually decided to do, the writers actually adore the shipping/bond aspect when it comes to Ash's companions and want to seriously build something up for a ship, rather than merely insert romance as a one-time gag or joke (e.g. Ash x Lana in SM). And out of the Ash ships, the "seriously build up/setup something" inclination of the writers most notably and seriously favors Pearlshipping, especially after JN.

In short these are two premises/assumptions to keep in mind:

1. Ash is dense, will not canonically like anyone romantically in OS-JN (If they bring Ash back, who know what will happen lol)
2. The writers do in fact have an interest in seriously building up a "shipping foundation" for Ash for the long-run (Shown by my prior reasoning of in-universe characters+writer interviews)

When you have these two ideas combined as the starting point, Pearlshipping becomes less about the 'siblings/besties' energy that some think they have, and more about what the writers are trying to setup (and not tear down) with the limits they have.

Ash's denseness makes any subtext, off-screen lore, and framing much more meaningful - something Pearlshipping has a lot of

People think that visual and on-screen declarations and indicators are all that matter for a ship. If the writers were allowed to give Ash romantic feelings then visual and on-screen declarations would definitely be what matter most - there would be way more on-screen hints for all the ships. But that's not the case. Remember that we established Ash must stay dense but the writers are invested in building a "shipping" foundation. This means the writers would have to be a lot more hidden and subtle and pour in more effort/hints (while keeping it subtle) where there's less public eyes and scrutiny, and that's exactly how we saw it play out.

There are plenty of examples but High Touch is the most significant example of this - it features Ash singling out Dawn by saying his other companions aren't as easily understood, even Pikachu isn't enough sometimes, and Dawn's smile specifically being with him no matter how many regions he goes to. This shows Dawn is not a generic friend but a special one - one that has received statements, sentiments, and placements only an actual romantic girlfriend would receive. This is exclusive to Dawn because it was only ever done with Dawn, not letting others get the same treatment points to exclusivity. In other words, this is framing from the writers on who's the best choice for Ash's girlfriend, without actually needing to give Ash a canon crush. High Touch is so significant that the staff even decided to quote the song in 2023 as a final nod before Ash left the series for good. (while barely giving nods to other Ash ships)

All Ash ships are considered one-sided canon at best
Even the most popular Ash ships can only have Ash reciprocating as headcanon, Pearlshipping included. From both an enjoyment and canon standpoint, Pearlshipping does not falter as much here because its power is from their special tier of friendship/partnership and life integration (and also both of them being dense/clueless together at times!), whereas other Ash ships get their power from the crush-coded visual and spoken moments and confirmations that can become more of a dead-end due to Ash's denseness. It's hard to pull a significant lead over Pearlshipping no matter how canon the crush, thanks to Ash's denseness.

The JN writers brought up Ash's denseness using Dawn, and didn't bring it up for the other girls
Dialogue from Chloe and Dawn's official conversation about the topic did more than just bring up Ash's denseness by itself. The writers had Dawn saying Ash's denseness as connected to Buneary's crush on Pikachu and 'Pokemon and trainers start resembling each other'. Dawn worries Pikachu is dense, but the funny part about this is Pikachu isn't actually as dense as Ash - if you go back to DP137 both Pikachu and Dawn react to Ash's denseness in the same way! Pikachu and Dawn might be a little dense but definitely not as dense as Ash, as DP137 showed. This supports the idea that Pikachu being dense wasn't a serious claim - it was more about the writers finding an excuse to connect Pikachu x Buneary to Ash x Dawn.

One could claim this is an anti-feat (let's not get into other ships anti-feats but I digress) that "proves" they're never meant to be romantic, after all Ash's denseness isn't brought up with the other girls with canon crushes. The logic could be "denseness was never brought up with ___, therefore _____ is romantically coded for Ash and Dawn is not."

However, in JN94 the writers brought up Ash being dense on-screen with the Heracross and Pinsir love story. This highlights that Ash's denseness wasn't a one-time moment to downplay Pearlshipping since they're willing to bring up Ash's denseness at other points in JN. I would say the most important reason is that the easiest thing to do is not bring up Ash's denseness at all - this was a deliberate choice. The writers chose and wanted to bring it up the very moment Dawn entered the picture. Keep in mind Dawn continued to get Pearlshipping moments in JN after that denseness conversation - Ash never rejects Dawn outright, so Ash being dense not a "no" but a "not yet" from the perspective of the writers' framing.

Conclusion

With Ash being dense, the question is less about 'who Ash likes the most' or 'who likes Ash the most' in-universe. The question becomes 'who did the writers most likely setup being together down the line, if they had to choose one girl for Ash'.

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"Clueless" image from Inse: https://x.com/Inse_on_x/status/2071219343698891244

It's time to answer this question. This will be a fun discussion on the JN writers' point of view and who they wrote to be a pearlshipper just like us!

First off what does the question mean? I consider modern to be someone introduced in SM+JN, because SM was a soft reboot similar to BW (also SM and JN feel most connected/similar). Characters like Lyra, Piplup, Cynthia, Cilan, Iris, Serena etc are not considered modern because they're from before SM. And a Pearlshipper is anyone who knowingly supports Ash and Dawn getting together romantically, we're looking at characters in-universe who could support Pearlshipping.

We also have to introduce some premises and assumptions about the JN anime:

1. Ash in JN is dense and does not like anyone romantically
2. The writers are still interested in setting up shipping hints for future romance, even for Ash and even in JN.
3. If the writers have a preferred Ash ship, they will show it by being more subtle/hidden to reduce risk and keep the show about Pokemon - the writers will not make an Ash ship canon in JN. Same goes with a characters in-universe supporting a ship, that would be another instigation worth holding back.

These premises mean that "greatest modern Pearlshipper" is simply the biggest modern Pearlshipper we've got a case for in my opinion, and that it's mainly the writers themselves who are the real Pearlshippers since they have to be cautious about the in-universe JN moments but also get the chance to write who Chloe is. But that's the biggest Pearlshipping idea of JN anyway - not that our characters are explicit about their human romance but that the writers are back on our side.

With that said, here are the reasons why the writers setup Chloe to be a Pearlshipper:

JN57 - Where Chloe's excited interest in shipping was first shown (JN57, Love is Koduck episode)
Unlike Ash, Goh and Chloe were not written to be as dense. In fact, Chloe gets intrigued about others' romantic stories. Chloe saw a framed picture at Chrysa's house of Chrysa and a Psyduck trainer guy and immediately thinks there's something romantic going on and starts rooting for Chrysa. She herself took the initiative to ask Chrysa instead of keeping to herself. It isn't just a one-time line of dialogue either. Chloe then spent a major portion of the episode supporting "the ship" and went to great lengths to ensure Chrysa and the Psyduck trainer met up again. Even though Chrysa only wanted to see Psyduck at the end, Chloe showed herself as a shipper.

It's interesting how this episode was aired close to before Dawn's return - there's a chance they knew about Dawn's return when this was written.

Chloe is a confirmed Lagomorphshipper (Pikachu x Buneary) - from the Chloe and Dawn's official phone call dialogue for the JN74 giveaway
In this giveaway phone call, the writers had Chloe (with the real JP VA saying it) say "Go for it, Buneary!!" (ganbare) not once, but twice in regards to Buneary's crush on Pikachu. She's prefaces the first time with "Wow! I hope it works out for her" - this shows her thoughtfulness and how much a discussion like this means to her.

This is the closest tie to Pearlshipping directly. In the same conversation, Dawn says both "Pokémon and their Trainers start to resemble each other" and "Oh, but Pikachu's Trainer is super dense, so Pikachu might not have noticed how Buneary feels...". Dawn chose to bring up both points herself unprompted - she is actively telling the audience to think about her and Ash in relation to Pikachu x Buneary. It's not a one-way "pokemon can only resemble trainers and buneary's crush was before capture" because Dawn specifically makes it a two-way thing. And it's more implied that calling Ash dense is not an isolated detail but one Dawn is personally affected by due to her "resemble each other" setup earlier. With "Ash in JN is dense and does not like anyone romantically" being the premise, this is as close as they can get to showing their supporting and setup for an Ash ship in JN - they can cleverly get away with this because a promotional phone call conversation is a lot more hidden with less public scruntiny.

Apparently, Chloe's second 'ganbare' for Buneary is immediately after Dawn calls Ash dense and, most importantly, seems to have more emphasis and the emotion than the first one. Whether the Chloe is fully aware of what Dawn meant is not as much of a factor - the more interesting point is that the writers had Chloe say an even more notable 'ganbare' the moment Dawn indirectly related the Pikachu x Buneary situation with her and Ash.

Chloe's discussions and expressions in JN75

Chloe and Dawn affectionately talked about Ash together as a Pokemon fanatic in the episode:

>Hikari: "The other one, well, he's always thinking about nothing but Pokémon, you could say he's a Pokémon fanatic?"
Koharu: "I have a friend like that too."
Satoshi: "Achoo!"

>The story continues after Satoshi joins them.
Koharu: "You know, the Pokémon fanatic you were talking about earlier..."
Hikari: "That's right, Satoshi."

Also, the face when Chloe says "You know, the Pokémon fanatic you were talking about earlier...", is more of a teasing smirk rather than a calm normal reaction. There's also the surprised face Chloe makes when Goh needs Ash and Dawn to "settle down" during their reunion (who knows what they were about to do).

What does this have to do with Chloe being a Pearlshipper? First of all, this shows she's definitely not written to be an anti-pearlshipper against Ash x Dawn - otherwise the writers would have wrote something in showing her disgust. Also the expressions she makes are more of a wink and nudge rather Chloe seeing it as uninteresting. This also visually shows Chloe once again taking initiative to be the first to ask Dawn about Ash, similar to how Chloe was the first to ask Chyrsa about the Psyduck trainer in JN57.

In the dialogue, Chloe specifically says "I knew it!" in response to Dawn - it hints that Chloe has been thinking about Ash and Dawn not shallowly, but seriously and deeply the moment Ash and Dawn reunited. And that same deep thought can carry over to their future "off-screen" conversations Dawn and Chloe have.

Chloe and Dawn actually exchanged contacts at the end of JN75, confirming how they talk to each other off-screen

From 'After the story' on the official anipoke_PR social media: https://x.com/anipoke_PR/status/1421712297219661828

The Japanese satohika website described it like this:

>It's great that Hikari and Koharu have become friends and are keeping in touch, making Hikari a more relatable character in the new anime.
Any fantasies (daydreams) about Satohika feel real! They could meet anytime they wanted!

Combined with the setup in JN57 and the official giveaway call, the writers are showing that "shipping" and "Ash" are major topics that Chloe and Dawn could and would be talking about a lot off-screen.

JN94 continues showing Chloe's romance awareness

She points out that Pinsir has a 'rival in love'. It's interesting that this episode is aired around the same time as JN89/90 + The Arceus Chronicles which are Dawn's next two appearances.

Ash vs Leon - Chloe and Dawn watching Ash

There was no good reason or time to really visually show Chloe being a Pearlshipper here (focus should be on Ash vs Leon finals battle), so the biggest part of all this is the potential fuel it gives Chloe. Chloe seeing Dawn fly all the way for Ash at the biggest moment of his life carries a lot of weight, a weight that Chloe will really be thinking a lot about. By this point in the series, the writers definitely setup Dawn and Chloe's friendship so that you can imagine the shipping-coded discussions happening while they're watching Ash from the audience, waiting room, etc.

As for whether Chloe's "Pearlshipping" brought Dawn there, there's the potential that Chloe off-screen helped to influence Dawn to see Ash, but it's equally possible Dawn was motivated all on her own. This is left up to the imagination of the audience.

Is there anyone close to matching Chloe as a modern (SM+JN) Pearlshipper?

Goh actually points how similar Dawn is to Ash in JN89/90, and was kinda rooting for his Pinsir's love in JN94 so there's potential for him to get started being a Pearlshipper. Professor Cerise (Chloe's dad) already knows about Dawn living in Sinnoh in JN89 (further showing Chloe and Dawn's off-screen connection and how Dawn's not just a one-off) and asks because Ash was going to fly to Sinnoh just her. But it doesn't come close to Chloe being a Lagormorphshipper and saying "Yeah, I can see that!" to Ash/Dawn and their Pokemon resembling each other and saying 'ganbare' not once but twice (once explicitly for lagomorph, once for implied for pearl). If there's any other candidates feel free to let me know.

Conclusion

The writers could not outright show "Chloe supports Ash and Dawn getting together romantically". They couldn't just say Chloe is a Pearlshipper directly themselves. But through setup, subtext, and less visible official dialogue, the writers wanted to hint and show that Chloe is not only a Pearlshipper, but the greatest modern Pearlshipper.

Original screenshot

Lyra's question isn't just a cute teasing moment - it's the writers confirming how they actually see Ash and Dawn, before any canon relationship is ever revealed. Here's why this moment supports Pearlshipping rather than works against it:

Lyra frames them as boyfriend/girlfriend energy, not siblings or besties. This isn't subtle - it's basically the writers themselves telling the audience how they see this dynamic. Plenty of girls get teased in-universe as Ash's girlfriend, even Lana in SM but that's her toddler sisters doing the teasing so Ash x Lana isn’t seen as an in-depth of a dynamic. Being in the "girlfriend" conversation isn't unique to Dawn, but once you're in that conversation, some pokegirls pull ahead of others for different reasons. And with Lyra's added emphasis and contrasting here, this scene becomes one of the reasons Dawn does (compared to Lana for example).

One major contrast Lyra frames: Brock gets acknowledged but dismissed instantly - Ash doesn't. Having Lyra shift to Ash as the boyfriend so abruptly is the writers putting Ash and Dawn in the "potential couple" category boldly and directly, which makes it harder to wave Dawn off as "just a platonic bestie" based on appearances alone.

Dawn's denial is a "not yet," not a "no." If the writers wanted to shut this down, this was the moment to do it - let her calmly say "we're just friends" and move on. Instead they made her flustered and surprised, and had her say she's never thought about it. In Japanese, Dawn's response is "Chigau wa yo!!" (違うわよ！！) - a flustered denial, not a calm correction. No blush needed - and it's worth noting blushing isn't actually the tell people think it is. Lana blushes plenty after being teased as Ash's girlfriend, and the writers never take Ash and Lana seriously as a dynamic. It's possible to be flustered about something you see purely platonically, but that's not the choice the writers made here. And that "not yet, but maybe someday" framing gets paralleled right alongside it - Lyra and Khoury are shown just starting to get closer and travel together in this same stretch of episodes.

Lyra brings up marriage before she even asks the question. Not death, not starving - which would've made more sense for a "trapped forever" setup. Marriage was brought up instead. That's a much more shoehorned, out-of-the-way idea to drop into a "trapped" situation, and it means the writers had "these two, married" in their heads enough to write Lyra's thoughts around it. DP is a season that leans forward-thinking in general, so it tracks that this forward-thinking shows up here too.

Dawn "not having thought of it" reads like the writers giving her permission to start. Dawn is a lot like Ash - focused on her goals, not thinking about romance yet. This scene doesn't close that door, it opens it. It sets up a future question rather than answering it.

Lyra doesn't let it go easily, and that's a choice too. She follows up by calling Ash a catch and keeps pushing rather than dropping it after one line. Most Pokémon boyfriend-teasing jokes are quick and forgettable - this one gets stretched out. Sure, they could've had Dawn deny it more convincingly, or even made the ship canon outright, but that's obviously not what the show is. What they did do was make sure "I've never thought about it" carries real weight as its own answer - a "not yet," not a "no."

We owe Lyra credit here - she's the one who says the obvious part out loud. This is easily the clearest moment in the whole series where the "boyfriend and girlfriend" framing gets put on the table directly. And with High Touch as this season's opening, it tracks that the writers would use this scene to mark exactly where Ash and Dawn stand with each other - and where they could be headed.

Make sure to check out these two discussions about this Lyra arc too (the rest of the arc could be a post of its own):

• https://pearlshipping-datacore.webnode.page/news/february-2014/
• https://www.reddit.com/r/pearlshippers/comments/1tv33g1/lyras_arc_with_the_shiptease_might_be_a_message/

>[ From pocketmonsters.net ] On December 4th, 2021, the official Japanese Twitter account posted a Production Secrets post to promote the two DP specials.
https://x.com/anipoke_PR/status/1467010780185128963

Anipoke Production Secrets [Part 3]
In episode 89, Hikari's Pokémon, Shirona, Hikari and Satoshi from another world, the Rocket Gang, and many other characters appeared!
Here are some of the most memorable scenes from character designer Shuhei Yasuda.
The croquette that Satoshi bought looked delicious!

アニポケ 制作秘話[その3]
第89話では、ヒカリのポケモンたちやシロナ、別の世界のヒカリやサトシ、ロケット団など、様々なキャラクターが登場しました
そこで、キャラクターデザイン・安田周平 さんの、思い入れのあるシーンをご紹介 サトシが買ってきたコロッケ、美味しそうでしたね

In episode 89, "Dialga & Palkia! The Space-time Cataclysm!!", there is a scene that is particularly dear to my heart...
Satoshi is cheering up Hikari, who is depressed because Pochama has been kidnapped!
Character design, Shuhei Yasuda

第89話「ディアルガふパルキア！時空大異変！！」で 特に思い入れのあるシーンは…。
ポッチヤマがさらわれてしまって落ち込んでいるヒカリ を、サトシが元気づけているところです！
キャラクターデザイン，安田周平

Cool to see that a lead staff acknowledged how the scene was dear to his heart. If it resonated with the Yasuda the chief animation director/character designer, it could be that the writer(s)/creative staff were also happy to introduce/implement this scenario since Yasuda's view shows how meaningful the moment actually is. If they wanted show another female companion on Dawn's level for receiving special treatment from Ash, JN was the perfect time to do so. Fact is, it's rare to see Ash do gestures like that and the staff gave the green light and blessing for the recipient of this to be Dawn (out of all his companions in JN).

Fun fact: this is from 2010 McDonald's Pokémon Calendar which got a Guiness World Record for the most calendars sold in one year

Dawn says "You should've told me you were coming!". In the dub she then says "You surprised me", but the original is a little stronger where she says 'Don't surprise me like that' further emphasizing how she wants Ash to tell her he is coming. It's almost as if her reaction shows how much Ash means to her - a normal friend wouldn't make her that sensitive.

One could say that Ash would have told Dawn ahead of time if they were really close. However I'd say it confirms the opposite - this reiterates and continues what was established in JN89 with Ash and Dawn having each other's phone numbers and keeping in close contact. Plus they really spent a good amount of pause reflecting on how surprised they were and treating the surprise aspect more seriously than most would. This means the writer chose to make them reuniting a surprise on purpose. The "You should've told me" is a detail that didn't have to be put in but was, and it's a great detail that helps emphasize how close and connected Ash and Dawn currently are via phone (even when they're not physically next to each other).

Also, they have Pikachu and Piplup immediately high five when seeing each other (foreshadowing the high touch to come). That's definitely a parallel to the extremely close friendship of Ash and Dawn and how much weight it has.

And lastly, the background music. the Arceus special intro with just the Pokemon starts off with Ash theme. Then when Ash and Goh reunite with Dawn, Dawn's theme is playing in the background. That right there was a nice touch, playing Ash's then Dawn's theme side by side.

Fun fact: Ash has never lost a battle when Dawn was cheering for him in that outfit.

For fun, the actual battle could go like this:

• Darkrai vs Heracross
• Heracross falls asleep; Ash switches out to Sceptile to play it safe
• Sceptile defeats Darkrai
• Latios defeats Sceptile
• Gible is sent out and almost beats Latios by managing to bite down on Latios holding on tight, then uses Draco Meteor and a final Dragon Pulse after dodging before it uses Light Screen
• Gible is switched out to Heracross because of Light Screen and catches Tobias off guard with Sleep Talk Megahorn
• Entei defeats Heracross
• Swellow defeats Entei using the spin dodge technique from Dawn
• Zapdos defeats Swellow
• Zapdos defeats Torkoal (but Torkoal gets some damage in, fire countershield)
• Gible defeats Zapdos
• Tobias sends out Lucario
• Lucario defeats Gible, but Gible is able to do some damage
• Pikachu quickly defeats Lucario
• Tobias's final Pokémon is Victini (to hint at the next region, Unova)
• Pikachu defeats Victini after a hard battle

If Ash never came back ever again, it is an absolute win for Pearlshipping. For a series that heavily implied Ash (and the show) needed to stay about Pokemon not romance, it doesn't get better than what we got with Dawn at Ash vs Leon. It's still surreal that Pearlshipping got the comeback that it did.

But if they brought back Ash for a special/movie (e.g. 30th or 35th anniversary of the Pokemon anime) there's risk of Pearlshipping in Journeys being forgotten, downplayed, or even retconned.

On the other hand, making aged-up Ash and Dawn canon would be awesome (and would give a reason to bring back the popular mascot Piplup for merch/marketing reasons). They would just need the guts to finish what Pokemon Journeys setup for Ash x Dawn.

Thoughts?

I like to think strongest as which moments make Pearlshipping stronger and more exclusive than the other Ash pairs. Because there are canon crushes on Ash, the strongest hints/moments in my opinion are ones that either highlight Ash himself treating Dawn as special, or the writers treating Ash x Dawn as more exclusive/romantic coded.

I think it's definitely Dawn at Ash vs Leon as the greatest Pearlshipping moment ever and there's still so much of that moment to talk about. But for fun here's my top 10 list:

#10 Hold the Phione!: Ash and Dawn being drawn watching the Luvdisc with not Pikachu and Piplup, but Pikachu and Buneary. I for sure don't think this was an accident. (funny how Phione is doing in this episode what Kenny would later do for Dawn) I'm confident that because they chose Buneary specifically to be next to Pikachu for this the writers are also aware of the Luvdisc pokedex entry from DP: "It lives in warm seas. It is said that a couple finding this Pokémon will be blessed with eternal love.". Also their submarine window scene is kinda like an aquarium (classic romcom date setting).

Ash and May also have their Luvdisc scene which is way better and more stunning but I think that makes this Ash x Dawn one even stronger because not only is Luvdisc no longer unique to Ash and May, Ash and Dawn's scene also has an additional pairing Pikachu x Buneary to make it an even bigger wink. If they didn't want to hint at Ash x Dawn romantically or take away from Ash and May they didn't have to draw Luvdisc there.

I think it's very interesting that Dawn's first Pokemon Piplup representing Ash and Dawn's best friendship and Dawn's second Pokemon Buneary representing that there's also a romantic inclination to Ash and Dawn and it's not just platonic forever. First and second meaning most integral to representing Dawn (in relation to Ash / Pikachu) - cute way to hint at the writers' framing of Ash and Dawn themselves.

#9 Expedition to Onix Island!: Ash being completely unfazed by Iris calling him a kid but gets very shocked and sad about Dawn joining in (this get paralleled by Cilan being sad because of Iris but not Dawn in the next episode)

#8 Lyra (Dressed for Jess Success!): Lyra and Brock showing that Ash and Dawn are both clueless/dense. This shows the writers' point of view very clearly: I see it as "Ash and Dawn have to stay dense for the plot to keep the show about Pokemon, but they have not rejected each other romantically and absolutely have romantic potential"

#7 Conway: Conway calling Ash the enemy romantically for Dawn by saying "no matter how you look at it" implying that there's more than one way to look at it. Frames the Ash and Dawn as romantically coded and an actual romantic threat (unlike the platonic siblings/best friends idea some have, otherwise Conway wouldn't need to call Ash the enemy)

#6 Kenny (Four Roads Diverged in a Pokémon Port!): Also frames the Ash and Dawn as romantically coded and an actual romantic threat, but to the max. They didn't have to go this far but they did. Kenny beat Ash with the goal of traveling with Dawn, and still got rejected by her. Shows how huge "traveling with" means to the writers symbolically, because in the final DP episode Dawn is briefly considering the option to travel with Ash to Kanto just like how Kenny wanted to travel with Dawn. And no Kenny didn't get called handsome that was dub only. This shows that even though they have to keep Ash and Dawn dense, the writers can get around that through the characters surrounding Ash and Dawn like Lyra and Zoey.

#5 Memories are Made of Bliss!: The final DP High Touch (cements their high touch as special and not just generic celebration) plus confirming that Dawn could have continued traveling with Ash to Kanto and briefly considered it as an option. Kenny wasn't even brought up despite the "promising" goodbye letter Dawn wrote. (Bonus fact: as of JN74 Dawn still hasn't done any Kanto contests and Kanto is Ash's home). Also has Ash wanting to win "Champion League" to which Dawn says "your ultimate dream, satoshi!" - this end of DP dialogue exchange trying to set up the future is why Dawn being there for Ash vs Leon is so fitting.

#4 Movie 12 opening: Ash endearingly glancing at Dawn then splashing her right after. And Pikachu is suspiciously having alone time with Buneary specifically (and not Piplup). Most importantly they play High Touch for the tag battle and they chose the special last verse about Ash and Dawn's smile to be played (rather than the middle verse with Pikachu and Piplup). And of course their high five to celebrate their victory.

#3 The Gates of Warp (JN89): Confirms Ash and Dawn have each other's phone numbers and they're close enough to where Dawn can call Ash on a whim without texting, and Ash decides to drop everything and go all the way to Sinnoh for her (before even having the extra reason from the Professor to go)

#2 High Touch: Ash and Dawn's duet. The last verse is very special and exclusive, stating each other's smile will always be there, no matter how long their journeys go for (time) and no matter where they go (space). Matches Dialga being time and Palkia being space. This same song would be mentioned by anipoke's official twitter when reflecting on what defined DP. Also has "Companions in this journey...I pretend to understand those things" lyric as well as pikachu one that explicitly stops the "well Ash would say the same things about his other companions" retort.

#1 A Flood of Torrential Gains (Ash vs Leon, JN129): The writers fulfilling the "transcend time and space" promises of High Touch and making Dawn the sole past companion there in-person for Ash vs Leon and making almost everyone else a mere cameo. Plus the counter shield and cheerleading outfit callback (which had nothing to do with BDSP marketing).

Lots of honorable mentions for sure!

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Luap's video on Ash and Dawn had this list which I think is very good as well:

#9 When Pokemon Worlds Collide
#8 O’er the Rampardos We Watched
#7 Tag! We’re It
#6 Throwing the Track Switch
#5 The Gates of Warp
#4 Gone with the Windwork
#3 A Grand Fight for Winning
#2 Memories are Made of Bliss!
#1 A Flood of Torrential Gains

The same art posted to X two months apart (one is from yesterday) and all those likes on both posts; it's really on a generational run. Hopefully it's not bots. Let me know if you find an even more liked fanart!

This made even non-pearlshippers acknowledge the pair and their defining JN moment - talking about Dawn at Ash's biggest moment will never get old.

Source/Original - pcerise
https://www.tumblr.com/pcerise/749222299324071936/just-the-sillies-being-silly
https://www.deviantart.com/pcerise/art/Biggest-Fan-1047413218
https://x.com/pktricia_/status/1785442529833373726

Post from this sub: https://www.reddit.com/r/pearlshippers/comments/1u2pvq1/reaching_out_for_each_others_heart/

The recent X posts that blew up:
https://x.com/sandro21L/status/2094327606548038135
https://x.com/rpearlshippers/status/2065216741211275579

Other posts of this art:

10K on FB: https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=979218670903222&set=a.559221559569604
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=668687109206990
https://www.tiktok.com/@tdz055/video/7565465036802510100
https://www.reddit.com/r/pokemonanime/comments/1oyooak/the_flustered_cheerleaders/
870K views + 7.5K likes on YT: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/r5Ge9HrAEew
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/m1lgZqzxJSU
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/28640147624300433/
https://x.com/GasterAsh202x/status/1956148842011017471

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Bonus: The "Fun fact: Ash has never lost a battle when Dawn was cheering for him in this outfit" was also posted at least twice this year with lots of likes on both
https://x.com/TShraid/status/2037369291520053407
https://x.com/pokemon_psts/status/2048261793810633173

Yes this was a real book lol