Ice Cream Syndrome is a Pokeshipping Song???

pokeshipping.tumblr.com/post/2991614924/i-accidentally-messed-up-this-post-and-since-i

This Pokeshipping Tumblr blog has a list of Pokeshipping songs and Ice Cream Syndrome was on the list. Fortunately, they've only claimed it as an "UNRELATED SONG THAT MIGHT RELATE". Still, I thought it was a joke when I saw it.

But it wasn't a joke. If you look on our Ice Cream Syndrome analysis video, someone said in the comments that it's more likely to be a song referring to Misty instead of Dawn.

She says it might be referring to Misty because of this line:

In the show, Misty is apparently talking about love more often, more so than Dawn. She freely talks about love to Ash and Brock without any restraint or reluctance, thus the "you say it's easy to discuss" part.

There's even a scene where Ash and Misty are eating ice cream together:



Some might even say the "We’ve been acting it out for so many years" and the "The distant feeling is okay" lines imply that this is a friend that much further and older (traveling-wise) than Dawn.

---

However, that's where it all ends.

I've been searching far and wide for an official statement of who the song is about, but I've had no luck. But then I came across this:

www.pocketmonsters.net/articles/780

Apparently, the director requested that the song be a "medium tempo love song". This can immediately make some think "Yep, just a generic love song". But don't forget that it's the song writers, not the director, that decides if the song is generic. Many song writers take inspiration from the anime so I wouldn't be surprised if the Sukima Switch duo did too, even though it's not confirmed yet.

In fact, out of all four Pokémon DP movie ending themes, Ice Cream Syndrome is the only one with an anime related cover:

This is by far the best evidence we have that they did in fact write the song based on (or inspired by) Ash. Moreover, he is all by himself with Pikachu in his DP outfit - no Dawn of Brock to be seen. Also important is Celebi and Zorua in the cover; this pretty much confirms that this song is Movie 13 specific.

Now that we know it's a "love song" about Ash, the question is who he's referring to. One of the main reasons it is more likely to be about Dawn is that the songs scope is limited to DP and Movie 13. Knowing that this is the final Diamond and Pearl movie, they could have put in the "We’ve been together a long time, But nothing has changed, has it?" lyrics in retrospect of the entire DP saga. That right there is a perfect fit.

Since it's a DP movie, it shouldn't be about someone who's from OS and AG. Especially since it is the end of the movie where everyone is reflecting and retrospecting.

Also, these lyrics imply that the couple in question is still together at the moment. "We’ve been acting it out for so many years" also reflects this. Ash wouldn't be talking about someone he left 7+ years prior. He is reflecting on the journey that is about to end (since it is Movie 13), the many years of DP and not the years of OS.

The most important lyrics that show the song is more likely to be about Ash and Dawn is any of the lines that have to do with friendship:

Casted as best friends
The syndrome called “friendship”
Is a perpetual labyrinth without exit

Being casted as best friends is something that Ash and Dawn, not Ash and Misty, are notorious for. And here "friendship" is being treated as bad thing like it's a syndrome - why would it be a bad thing? Well it's because Ash knows that both the audience watching and his love interest "friendzone" him.

And about that love life lyric - Misty doesn't actually talk about her personal love life that often. She frequently talks about other's people or love as a general, but rarely does she bring up the topic herself without an outside influence. Even the Fiorello picture could be compared to Dawn and Wallace.

When Ash says "You say it's easy to discuss", what exactly is it? What's easy to discuss? I don't know how you all would interpret this, but I would say Ash is comparing his and Dawn's "love talk" compared to everything else in Dawn's life. Love life in this context refers to anything (contests, Pokémon, Poffins, etc.) that does not her relationship with Ash. (Anything not about their relationship would take away from it) With this definition of love life, it is now clear that the aspiring Dawn talks more about her love life than Misty, her love life that includes her contests and Pokémon. In any case though, the important point is that Ash wants Dawn to discuss their relationship together, not the fact that someone is talking about their love life.

In fact, this implies that Ash's girl is denser and understands less about love and that he is seeking it. Replace "You say it’s easy to discuss
But you’re always talking about your love life" with "You're talking about other things and people (your love life) instead of me and you (supposedly easy to discuss)". Now we can better see that is it likely to be Dawn he's referring to.

In the end this is what is most likely. It is not confirmed but I guess it is possible to ask them directly on Twitter for the answer. But one thing is for sure: Ice Cream Syndrome is not a Pokeshipping song.

---

One more thing, check out this Advanceshipping Ice Cream Syndrome fanart:

Lol even Advanceshippers want to stake a claim on the song! But we know that the song is most likely talking about Ash and Dawn.