Post by satohika on Aug 22, 2016 21:31:30 GMT
In preparation for Sun and Moon, it seems evident that everything is lining into place. They've shown that Serena is a foil to Dawn in numerous instances.
For this to work, we line up equivalents for each character.
For undefeated rival for an event in which a main character was runner-up:
Dawn had Zoey/Nozomi, Serena had Aria/Elle, Ash had Alain. While in Ash's case you guys may argue that it's Paul, that might be true but Ash defeated Paul in the semifinals. But many of Ash's main rivals that he defeated have a Sh sound. Shinji, Hiroshi (he lost to him but would have won if his Charizard obeyed him) Shooty, Shouta, Shigeru, etc. But it was Alain who was the equivalent of Zoey and Aria.
Rivals with an infatuation:
This only applies to Dawn and Serena. Dawn had Conway as someone crushing on her, Serena had Tierno who was crushing on her. They both rejected them multiple times. Ash also had girls crushing on him, but he rejected them out of his density.
Shippers who tried or pretended to have an interest in Ash but ended up shipping the 'love rival' (in this case either Serena or Dawn) with Ash in the end:
Serena had Miette/Millefeuille, and successfully managed to dance with Ash in order to troll Serena. Serena did not deny her crush on Ash when asked. She ended up becoming an Amourshipper.
Dawn had Lyra, who tried to pair Dawn off with Khoury and Ash with herself but failed. Dawn denied her crush and went full tsundere on Ash. She eventually became a Pearlshipper.
It seems that if they really intend on bringing back old companions for Sun and Moon. But I'll take it with a grain of salt but there's more that they can surprise us with.
Dawn admires her mother and wanted to be a better coordinator than her. Serena was forced to practice rhyhorn racing and didn't like following in her mother's footsteps. Ash is closer to Dawn in this respect because his father and grandfather were Pokémon trainers just like him.
Dawn wanted to travel with Ash but decided to remain behind and eventually go on her own journey by herself. It remains to be seen whether or not Serena would leave Ash, but given her character, she would more likely travel with Ash than pursue her dream which she might not even really like. Besides the new arc could cement her bond with Ash.
I think Ash's loss in the Kalos league set up and completed the parallels for Sun and Moon. To make him a true equivalent of both Dawn and Serena.
The lake guardian trinity of Azelf, Mesprit and Uxie used to apply to Ash, Dawn and Brock respectively. But because of how Serena is related to the moon and has replaced Brock, it can be safe to say that Serena is in tune with Uxie.
So what are the benefits for having a three trainer protagonist group? For one, Alola is different and thus Pokedexes explain Pokémon facts to an audience.
Ash scans new Pokémon and Alolan forms
Dawn scans Pokémon from Unova and Kalos
Serena scans Pokémon she never encountered in Kalos
Another thing to consider is that each trainer gets an equal balance of new starters. While Ash could get two starters, this is possible, but for the sake of convenience, each gets a starter. Ash got a fire and grass starter in DP, evolved the fire starter in BW, evolved a water starter in XY and is likely to get a grass or fire starter and evolve it in SM. Dawn could box her Quilava and get a Litten or Rowlet in exchange. Serena seems to mesh well with Popplio, since she doesn't have water types and no grass type.
When it comes to goals, while it is likely that Serena would leave and that we'll never see Dawn or her Piplup again.... Consider that if Serena had won the Master showcase, she would have to stay in Kalos to defend her title. Serena pursuing her performer career and abandoning Ash can be seen as a mix of character development and character derailment. By choosing to abandon Ash, she loses a part of her character, as if it's an action completely out of character for her. If Serena were the same as Dawn she would have stayed, but Serena is the opposite of Dawn. And in doing so, she would do the opposite of what Dawn did at the end of DP. Serena isn't an independent person, she is rather dependent on Ash because she idolizes and admires him and his personality (obviously he got that from Dawn's influence rubbing off on him)
Now Dawn is very unlikely to return, but the hope of her returning hinges on the fact that he never said goodbye to her, he said that he'll see her later and how many have commented on the strong bond between Ash and Dawn. In XY22, in the response to Serena's comment about how Piplup are friendly, Ash mentions that he knows a Piplup who can get carried away. He specifically means Dawn's Piplup, so if Serena is coming with Ash, then both will see Dawn and her Piplup again. From a marketing standpoint, Piplup is still seen as a very cute Pokémon. Dawn out of all the former Pokegirl companions is therefore most likely to return. Her seiyuu had an interview a while back at the end of Dawn's cameo that she could return to the series. If she doesn't return in 2016, then something is wrong here.
Why are we not getting the names of the new protagonists? The male protagonist looks very similar to Ash and the female protagonist looks like a mix of Serena and the game version of Dawn.
As for Pearl vs Amour. My theory goes like this.
Serena can see Pearlshipping and noticed the respect Ash has for Dawn. Through Ash, Serena knows that Dawn is a good person at heart. Serena could also notice the way Dawn behaves around Ash, since she notices Dawn's tsundere behavior for Ash, and thus can deduce that Dawn likes Ash as well.
Dawn can see Amourshipping and noticed how much Serena has a crush on Ash, the fact that she idolizes and loves Ash's attitude and personality, which is of course similar to her own personality. Dawn like Ash is a good natured person who gets along with everyone well, including Serena.
When two potential best friends share the same interest, obviously they will help each other out. I think Serena tends to be more jealous at first at Ash and Dawn's bond, for the reasons above, they would likely ship each other with Ash in the end. Dawn is more like a Mirror Serena since she is a tsundere like her. Serena would also be shocked in how Dawn treats Ash in such a casual way if she were to see for example, getting Piplup to use Bubblebeam on Ash's face. This can also influence Serena to be more like Dawn and in the process become closer to Ash.
Ash asked Dawn to dance with him in the Croagunk Festival, though everyone was wearing casual clothes and it seemed to be a rather laid back casual event.
Serena wanted Ash to dance with her at the dance party even it seems more formal than casual and festive.
For this to work, we line up equivalents for each character.
For undefeated rival for an event in which a main character was runner-up:
Dawn had Zoey/Nozomi, Serena had Aria/Elle, Ash had Alain. While in Ash's case you guys may argue that it's Paul, that might be true but Ash defeated Paul in the semifinals. But many of Ash's main rivals that he defeated have a Sh sound. Shinji, Hiroshi (he lost to him but would have won if his Charizard obeyed him) Shooty, Shouta, Shigeru, etc. But it was Alain who was the equivalent of Zoey and Aria.
Rivals with an infatuation:
This only applies to Dawn and Serena. Dawn had Conway as someone crushing on her, Serena had Tierno who was crushing on her. They both rejected them multiple times. Ash also had girls crushing on him, but he rejected them out of his density.
Shippers who tried or pretended to have an interest in Ash but ended up shipping the 'love rival' (in this case either Serena or Dawn) with Ash in the end:
Serena had Miette/Millefeuille, and successfully managed to dance with Ash in order to troll Serena. Serena did not deny her crush on Ash when asked. She ended up becoming an Amourshipper.
Dawn had Lyra, who tried to pair Dawn off with Khoury and Ash with herself but failed. Dawn denied her crush and went full tsundere on Ash. She eventually became a Pearlshipper.
It seems that if they really intend on bringing back old companions for Sun and Moon. But I'll take it with a grain of salt but there's more that they can surprise us with.
Dawn admires her mother and wanted to be a better coordinator than her. Serena was forced to practice rhyhorn racing and didn't like following in her mother's footsteps. Ash is closer to Dawn in this respect because his father and grandfather were Pokémon trainers just like him.
Dawn wanted to travel with Ash but decided to remain behind and eventually go on her own journey by herself. It remains to be seen whether or not Serena would leave Ash, but given her character, she would more likely travel with Ash than pursue her dream which she might not even really like. Besides the new arc could cement her bond with Ash.
I think Ash's loss in the Kalos league set up and completed the parallels for Sun and Moon. To make him a true equivalent of both Dawn and Serena.
The lake guardian trinity of Azelf, Mesprit and Uxie used to apply to Ash, Dawn and Brock respectively. But because of how Serena is related to the moon and has replaced Brock, it can be safe to say that Serena is in tune with Uxie.
So what are the benefits for having a three trainer protagonist group? For one, Alola is different and thus Pokedexes explain Pokémon facts to an audience.
Ash scans new Pokémon and Alolan forms
Dawn scans Pokémon from Unova and Kalos
Serena scans Pokémon she never encountered in Kalos
Another thing to consider is that each trainer gets an equal balance of new starters. While Ash could get two starters, this is possible, but for the sake of convenience, each gets a starter. Ash got a fire and grass starter in DP, evolved the fire starter in BW, evolved a water starter in XY and is likely to get a grass or fire starter and evolve it in SM. Dawn could box her Quilava and get a Litten or Rowlet in exchange. Serena seems to mesh well with Popplio, since she doesn't have water types and no grass type.
When it comes to goals, while it is likely that Serena would leave and that we'll never see Dawn or her Piplup again.... Consider that if Serena had won the Master showcase, she would have to stay in Kalos to defend her title. Serena pursuing her performer career and abandoning Ash can be seen as a mix of character development and character derailment. By choosing to abandon Ash, she loses a part of her character, as if it's an action completely out of character for her. If Serena were the same as Dawn she would have stayed, but Serena is the opposite of Dawn. And in doing so, she would do the opposite of what Dawn did at the end of DP. Serena isn't an independent person, she is rather dependent on Ash because she idolizes and admires him and his personality (obviously he got that from Dawn's influence rubbing off on him)
Now Dawn is very unlikely to return, but the hope of her returning hinges on the fact that he never said goodbye to her, he said that he'll see her later and how many have commented on the strong bond between Ash and Dawn. In XY22, in the response to Serena's comment about how Piplup are friendly, Ash mentions that he knows a Piplup who can get carried away. He specifically means Dawn's Piplup, so if Serena is coming with Ash, then both will see Dawn and her Piplup again. From a marketing standpoint, Piplup is still seen as a very cute Pokémon. Dawn out of all the former Pokegirl companions is therefore most likely to return. Her seiyuu had an interview a while back at the end of Dawn's cameo that she could return to the series. If she doesn't return in 2016, then something is wrong here.
Why are we not getting the names of the new protagonists? The male protagonist looks very similar to Ash and the female protagonist looks like a mix of Serena and the game version of Dawn.
As for Pearl vs Amour. My theory goes like this.
Serena can see Pearlshipping and noticed the respect Ash has for Dawn. Through Ash, Serena knows that Dawn is a good person at heart. Serena could also notice the way Dawn behaves around Ash, since she notices Dawn's tsundere behavior for Ash, and thus can deduce that Dawn likes Ash as well.
Dawn can see Amourshipping and noticed how much Serena has a crush on Ash, the fact that she idolizes and loves Ash's attitude and personality, which is of course similar to her own personality. Dawn like Ash is a good natured person who gets along with everyone well, including Serena.
When two potential best friends share the same interest, obviously they will help each other out. I think Serena tends to be more jealous at first at Ash and Dawn's bond, for the reasons above, they would likely ship each other with Ash in the end. Dawn is more like a Mirror Serena since she is a tsundere like her. Serena would also be shocked in how Dawn treats Ash in such a casual way if she were to see for example, getting Piplup to use Bubblebeam on Ash's face. This can also influence Serena to be more like Dawn and in the process become closer to Ash.
Ash asked Dawn to dance with him in the Croagunk Festival, though everyone was wearing casual clothes and it seemed to be a rather laid back casual event.
Serena wanted Ash to dance with her at the dance party even it seems more formal than casual and festive.