|
Romance
So... Ash and romance... it's true that he doesn't really have a clue about romance and he isn't really interested in it either, seeing as he is far more focused on his Pokémon training and becoming a Pokémon Master. The only time he has ever actually shown any obvious interest in a girl was all the way back in the ninth episode of the original series, just a few episodes after the show had begun, and he was attracted to Giselle. However, this was early days when the writers were still trying to figure out how they wanted the characters to be. Despite his utter cluelessness about love, he's still attracted the attention of a few girls. The Frontier Brain, Anabel, had a crush on him but he never did realise it. In Sinnoh, a girl named Angie was also attracted to him after he saved her life twice but of course he never twigged. Then there's the girl who kissed him at the end of the fifth movie... was she human, or Pokémon, for that matter? Most people assume it was Latias, but some will say it was actually Bianca. There's no real answer and we'll never actually know for sure. Speaking of Pokémon, Chikorita also had a major crush on Ash, which remained when she evolved into Bayleef. It led to her even being jealous of Pikachu for all the attention he gets (I know how she feels... sometimes I get pretty jealous of that rat too.) Aipom also crushed on Ash, even following him onto the ship when he left for Sinnoh instead of staying at Professor Oak's laboratory. I sincerely doubt Ash will ever consider a relationship with a Pokémon though... that's kind of... well, unlikely. And of course we can't have a page about Ash and romance without mentioning the girls that he's traveled with. First, there's Misty. People used to have crazy arguments about Pokéshipping, whether it was for or again, back in the day. A lot of hints for this pairing were actually added by 4Kids themselves. "Misty's Song" did not have a Japanese equivalent and the Pokémon Christmas Bash songs were all purely 4Kids as well. Misty's line to Ash about them getting married was also 4Kids added. But there were subtle hints that weren't added by 4Kids, so it's not like Pokéshipping was nothing more than the fabrication of evil dubbers. One thing is clear, they do care deeply for each other and Misty wasn't just traveling with him because of that bike. Are they in love? Not yet, but who knows what the future holds? And then there's May. Sure, she has a rival who likes giving her roses, but that just suggests he likes her. May can like whoever she wants. There are some hints for this, such as the ribbon that they split between themselves when winning an unofficial contest. Her half of the ribbon reminded her of Ash's encouragement and gave her confidence in Johto. Lastly, there's Dawn. Dawn is a lot like Ash, to the point where it's glaringly obvious. They have far too many things in common. Eh... I guess there might be a hint or two for this. I don't really pay much attention to Dawn... just don't like her much. Of course, I can't ignore the slash pairings. Firstly, Gary... they were formerly rivals as they both strived to become Pokémon Masters, but after Ash whooped his butt in the Silver Conference, he became a Pokémon Researcher instead. They grew up together in Pallet Town. Even when they were rivals, they still cared about each other sometimes, as was shown in the episode where Gary battled against Mewtwo and lost badly. Ash was deeply concerned about him when he found him lying unconscious on the floor. Gary helped him out by tackling Meowth and knocking the console out of his paws so that he couldn't blow up Ash's section of the battle floor. Now that they aren't rivals anymore, Gary is much friendlier with Ash than he used to be. Unfortunately, he never really appears anymore which is a shame. Darn those writers... Ash now has a rival named Paul. Paul is a jerk. Paul only loves himself. Paul always insults Ash and is basically a jerk. And did I mention he's a jerk? This doesn't stop people from shipping them. Nothing stops those crazy fanfic writers, I tell you! Oh wait.. I'm a crazy fanfic writer too. All the possibilities I've talked about are just scraping the surface. Ash has been paired with everyone imaginable in fanfiction and the like. And when I say everyone, I mean everyone. *shudder* |
