How Serena and Dawn differ

This is more of an observation. The more I compare Dawn and Serena, especially with their interactions with Ash, the difference is clear. This isn't to argue which is better or not but a deeper understanding of Amourshipping vs Pearlshipping and how they overlap, conflict and even coexist together.

Everyone knows of the story arc where Dawn was depressed after her string of contest losses. Dawn gets depressed, Ash takes in her sorrow and pain and tries to console her. And then everyone knows the rest of the story. But the important part is that Ash acted as the emphatetic side in the relationship, he understood how she felt and wanted to help her.

After Ash's initial loss at the Snowbelle Gym, he went a depression phase similar to Dawn's string of contest defeats. Serena happened to find him sulking similar to Dawn's bout of depression. They get into an argument after Serena offers to console and help him. Keep in mind that Serena isn't a tsundere at all like Dawn was. She almost never acts angry, with the exception of strongly evoked jealousy or other emotions, such as Ash's stubbornness in refusing Serena's help. Serena is devoted to Ash that can seem strange, but Ash did really tick her off when he said he didn't need her help. After the fight, Ash came to his senses and started to act his self again.

This ties into the Sun, Moon and Eclipse theory. In Pearlshipping, Ash acted as the empathetic side when dealing with Dawn's depression. In Amourshipping, Serena acted as the empathetic side when witnessing Ash's depression. Dawn is the sun, Serena is the moon and Ash is the eclipse, being the moon to Dawn's solar nature and being the sun to Serena's lunar nature.



Serena represents the moon, the moon in astrology symbolizes one's innermost self, it's emotions and behavior. Serena is a yandere, someone kind and sweet on the outside and to almost everybody (especially Ash, her chosen love interest) but has strong emotions devoted to their chosen loved one. They also don't deny their feelings of their crush when asked of them. There are more darker examples of yandere characters but I'll leave it at that because they almost always involve violence or murder. Serena, being more in tune with the moon, is more empathetic and didn't have a clear set of goals in mind. It took a years worth of episodes for her to find her path (at least for XY). She also resents on being put on a strict regimen, preferring to do things her own way. It would also be rather out of character for her to leave Ash, because Ash's journey is the reason why she travels. In the event that Ash chooses to abandon her or reject her, if Pokémon were darker than it is, she would actually kill him after everything she has done for him. And her initial character design does scream like 'psychotic yandere'. But since the Pokémon world isn't full of these aspects, it's safe to say that Serena would likely remain with Ash for the next series.

Dawn represents the sun, the sun in astrology represents one's outside self, the face we show to the world, one's identity. Dawn is a tsundere, but since there are two kinds of tsunderes, Dawn is the type B or dere-type tsundere. This type is generally kind to everyone but whenever it involves the subject of the tsundere's love interest and sensitive topics within the love interest's earshot, they suddenly become tsuntsun, as in angry towards Ash for instance whenever they start their fights, how Ash asks about sensitive information (like her nickname) or Ash does something wrong. They also tend to deny they have a crush, like how Lyra asks if Ash is her boyfriend. Although Dawn is known to defend Ash even if she knows he is wrong. Serena is sort of like this too but with the way Serena threw snowballs at Ash when she knew he was wrong about being depressed, that's up to debate. Dawn like a sun-oriented person, had a clear identity and goals. She wanted to be like her mother and surpass her. Dawn can be independent and she did travel alone by herself, aside from having Piplup.

Serena is slightly more girlier than Dawn, but that's because the Sun is masculine and the Moon is feminine.

The trio of Gen IV represent the sun in some fashion, there was a scene where images of two of the trio were behind Ash and Dawn, with Palkia, ruler of space behind Dawn. The duo/trio of Gen VI represent the moon and its process over life and death because of the moon's effects on emotions and the ocean tides.

The emotion trio of Gen IV could be retconned to fit this theory.