Why the bond?

Is it strange that Pokeshipping still is reasonably popular in the west but Pearlshipping is still more popular in Japan? Not even the inclusion of Amourshipping could reduce the appeal of Dawn and Pearlshipping in Japan. Pokeshipping in the west is partly due to the 4kids dub. Yet it stagnated after the reveal of Serena. Japanese just really love Dawn and her Piplup so much. So is it not a surprise that the episodes of Dawn's cameo arc were rated higher than the episodes immediately before and after? XY is doing worse than BW, which is sad. I don't think they will make Amourshipping canon, Ash still cares more for Dawn than Serena, heck, he's acting like Dawn in XY! The message is clear, Dawn needs to come back. If she does, I'll buy the Sinnoh remakes and if Dawn is a main character in S+M, I'll buy one of its games.