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The wonderful world of fan fiction has only helped to strengthen my love for this ship. Such angst and drama! Some writers out there are simply phenomenal
Yes, Palletshipping fics are always a treat to read...but what also helped strengthen my initial love for the ship was all of the manga hints. Their manga counterparts are even closer.
The moonlight conversation was one of my favorite palletshipping moments! I especially like the part where Shigeru takes Satoshi's hand as he smiles and compliments Satoshi. It seems like the Silver Conference episodes were just *full* of great Palletshipping moments - besides the moonlight conversation, there was also Satoshi's line about him wanting to win the Silver Conference for both him and Shigeru, and , of course, the half of a pokeball that they each carry around with them. There was also that moment that Shigeru mentioned that he was going to quit training and become a researcher and Satoshi looked so sad and disappointed! Finally, there was that one scene where Prof. Oak and Delia have a short conversation about how important Satoshi and Shigeru are to each other, even if neither of which will openly admit it. I'm so glad I have all these episodes on tape!
*nods* Yep! Also, Shigeru stuck around to watch Satoshi battle Harrison. Satoshi wanted to win for Shigeru, and they made eye contact w/ smiles. Gosh, when you place all the hints in context it *is* rather slashy.
Come to think of it, Oak and Delia's convo. is pretty much the clincher. They *do* admit that Shigeru and Satoshi may not admit it, but they are the most important to one another. That's pretty powerful stuff.
You picked a great palletshipping hint... it's funny how on more than one occasion, the writers made it so that Satoshi's reaction to Shigeru mirrors Takeshi's reaction to a girl/girls he has the hots for. That happened in the episode you mentioned, but it also happened in the Dig Those Diglett episode. Seems like a subtle hint to me!
Another hint by mirroring is Contestshipping. While slightly different, Shuu and Haruka's relationship is very much like Palletshipping. I'm almost shocked they drew from the same plot well for that one...
I think it’s great that the writers haven’t forgotten how important Satoshi and Shigeru are to each other. Rivals or not, it’s obvious that Shigeru’s respect and recognition is very important to Satoshi, and Satoshi’s determination is partly a result of his need to prove himself to Shigeru. At least, it's obvious to me...
Wow, great new hint! "Cause I don't have time to stand around with you to wait"...obviously Shigeru is conflicted in what he's trying to convey to Satoshi.
Yes, Palletshipping fics are always a treat to read...but what also helped strengthen my initial love for the ship was all of the manga hints. Their manga counterparts are even closer.
That's what I've heard, too! I've never actually read/looked at the manga, but I imagine it's must be pretty different from the anime. I was never "into" Pokemon enough to pay attention to any of the manga, but the palletshipping hints alone might be reason enough for me to *start* paying attention!
*nods* Yep! Also, Shigeru stuck around to watch Satoshi battle Harrison. Satoshi wanted to win for Shigeru, and they made eye contact w/ smiles. Gosh, when you place all the hints in context it *is* rather slashy.
I just thought of another great palletshipping moment to go along with the moments we've been discussing: it was Shigeru's idea to have Satoshi carry the torch into the stadium. As Shigeru watches Satoshi finish the torch bearer's run, there's a smile across his face and he seems happy to have given Satoshi the honor to kick off the most important ceremony of the Silver Conference. Further evidence that Shigeru really doesn't hate Satoshi at all.
Another hint by mirroring is Contestshipping. While slightly different, Shuu and Haruka's relationship is very much like Palletshipping. I'm almost shocked they drew from the same plot well for that one...
Careful, ideas like that could cause of a wave of Contestshippers to come storming into this thread with pitchforks and torches. Seriously though, I have absolutely nothing against Contestshippers and I think out of all the Pokemon shippings, not only does their ship have the most evidence, but the fan base also seems very mature and respectful. I've seen people deny the parallels between Contestshipping and Palletshipping, but that's usually because those people don't believe there is a chance Satoshi and Shigeru could have feelings for each other. That's fine, but just as any good palletshipper could make a logical case for the validity of palletshipping, a good palletshipper can also use other ships to strengthen it. Obviously Shigeru never gave Satoshi a rose (unfortunately) like Shuu did for Haruka, but it's not like the anime writers *could* show something like that in an anime like this. That's why they had to be more subtle with palletshipping's hints. Nonetheless, it is possible to draw parallels between the two ships. Both Shuu and Shigeru started off emotionally distant from Haruka and Satoshi, and they also had a condescending attitude toward their rivals (Shigeru, more so). They both see themselves as the superior coordinator/trainer, and this never fails to rile up Haruka and Satoshi. Nonetheless, as the series progresses, both Shuu and Shigeru eventually begin to drop a compliment here and there for Haruka and Satoshi, usually after they do something to stand out in the eyes of their rivals. Nonetheless, that doesn’t stop Shuu and Shigeru from being critical of them. Also, whenever times of trouble arise, Shuu and Shigeru always come to the rescue/help Haruka and Satoshi, although I would say this point is more relevant for palletshipping’s case, especially since in early Kanto we are given the indication that Shigeru and Satoshi really do not like each other one bit. “The Battle of the Badge” disproves this, with both of them demonstrating how despite their rivalry, they do care for each other. Getting back to the parallels between Contestshipping/Palletshipping, if you look at the first Grand Festival and the Silver Conference episodes, the best evidence for both of these ships emerge. Perhaps most importantly, the evidence culminates in a very similar fashion. In both cases, Shuu and Haruka, and Shigeru and Satoshi, meet alongside a body of water at night, with the moon shining down on both of them. In both cases, each is cordial towards each other, and also in both cases, each compliments each other. Although Satoshi doesn’t blush like Haruka does, Shigeru does take Satoshi’s hands as he continues to smile/compliment him. In both cases, there are romantic overtones, only when it comes to two boys the writers have to be more subtle. Still, the similarities are there, and that’s why I feel Contestshipping can really help to validate Palletshipping.
Oh, and you just *know* if that had been Satoshi and some girl (coughKasumicough) holding hands/sitting near a lake at night and smiling at each other that it would be regularly and highly cited as a shippy moment. Yet because it’s between two boys and it’s yaoi, the scene often gets discarded quickly by people who don’t believe in Palletshipping. I’ve noticed that some (well, more than some) shippers have a double standard when it comes to palletshipping. What apparently works for pokeshipping/contestshipping supposedly cannot work for palletshipping, which is absolutely wrong. If they don’t want to support palletshipping, there’s nothing at all wrong with that, but don’t ignore logical arguments that do have strong and valid points to them.
Since we’re on the subject of contestshipping and palletshipping, I’m going to take it a step further and say that I honestly believe the relationship that exists between Satoshi and Shigeru is among the deepest and most well developed relationships ever handled in the Pokemon anime, second to only Haruka/Shuu (I bet that will raise quite a few eyebrows!). Here's why I feel this way:
If you think back to the Kanto/early Johto episodes, Satoshi was always rushing to catch up with Shigeru. It seemed like Shigeru always had more pokemon, badges, and more victories, and he always took pleasure in rubbing that in Satoshi's face. Clearly both Shigeru and Satoshi knew this, and even before they had their first pokemon, this competitive nature remained true as well (like I mentioned in my previous post about Delia/Professor Oak's discussion during the Silver Conference). During Kanto/Johto, there were certain episodes where Satoshi stood out in Shigeru's eyes (Battle of the Badge, the last Orange Islands episode, Power Play, Extreme Pokemon) in which Shigeru saw the potential Satoshi had to become powerful and skillful trainer (there's evidence in those episodes, although I can't think of Shigeru's lines at the moment since I haven‘t seen those episodes for awhile). Now fast forward to shortly after their Silver Conference battle to the point where Satoshi learns that Shigeru is giving up training. I'm sure you remember how shocked and disappointed Satoshi was. From his despondent expression, it's reasonable to conclude that Satoshi had just lost something very important to him. Not just a rival, but one of his reasons for training so hard. I can think of at least two good examples of this (Satoshi's line during the Silver Conference as he is in his battle against Harrison, in which he said something along the lines of "I'm going to win this one for both of us, Shigeru" and Professor Oak's line in the
AG episode with the postcard Shigeru sent in which he says, "In times like this, he's [Shigeru's] the best
medicine for Satoshi."). It was partly because of Shigeru that Satoshi won his final Battle Frontier match - a match that he had lost twice before already.
I’ve always felt there was evidence in the anime that demonstrated how Shigeru is the source of Satoshi's strength, determination, and motivation. Now, if you keep everything I've said in mind, ask yourself this: Is Shigeru more valuable to Satoshi as a rival or friend?
My answer would be rival, and that’s why I believe that even after the Silver Conference episodes, the writers have decided to keep Satoshi and Shigeru’s relationship on uneasy ground rather than having them be all "buddy-buddy". Shigeru realizes that his words have a great impact on Satoshi, and in order to maximize the effectiveness of his words, he delivers them in a way that he knows will rile Satoshi up. If he was all friendly towards Satoshi now like he was shortly after the Silver Conference, Satoshi wouldn't try as hard or have as good of a reason to become a better trainer. Shigeru continues to
raise the standard, and Satoshi continues to work hard to meet that new, higher standard just to prove to Shigeru he's as good as him (as *clearly* demonstrated in at least three occasions in the anime). So even though they aren't rival trainers anymore, they're still rivals in spirit. That would explain why Shigeru’s words seem to impact Satoshi more so than any other characters in the anime, and I really think that really says something about Satoshi.
The only time we ever really see Satoshi get so depressed is when pokemon (his or others) are in real danger, or when Shigeru talks down to him. It seems to really bother Satoshi, and he acts like it *really* hurts. Whenever someone else talks down to him/insults him, like say Kasumi or some arrogant trainer, or even Shigeru (before the events in the Silver Conference - and this is important), he generally responds with anger and yelling. However, if you notice, in the episode
where Shigeru sends Satoshi the postcard near the end of AG, and during their reunion in the last episode of AG, Satoshi responds *exactly* the same way to Shigeru's unfriendly remarks. He'll grow silent for a bit as he lowers his head, almost as if he's trying to *not* let anyone see how much Shigeru's words hurt, before pushing aside the pain and replacing it with the "I'll show Shigeru!" attitude.
It's very interesting because if you carefully compare how Satoshi reacts to Shigeru's unfriendly attitude before and after the Silver Conference, you'll notice the reactions are *almost* the exact opposite! I think that it's because after the Silver Conference, Satoshi felt that whatever went wrong between them before they got their first pokemon had been to put to rest, and now he expected them to be good friends again. Of course, the way Satoshi has been reacting as of late towards Shigeru's comments suggest that there might be something more going on in Satoshi's head (and maybe heart?) that we aren't aware of and the writers obviously can't show. I think it's a reasonable conclusion for reasons I've already stated, and *not* just wishful shipper thinking.
So really, even though Shigeru’s appearances in the anime have been infrequent, the writers have made very good use of his character and it’s really helped to give Satoshi some more depth. I also feel that, for all the reasons I’ve stated, the writers have put a great deal *more* effort into Satoshi and Shigeru’s dynamic relationship than nearly any other relationship on Pokemon (again, with the exception of Contestshipping).
This is all just my opinion though, and before anyone replies with the intent on countering these points, remember that I’m not citing any of this as fact. I’m just picking up on what I feel are clues/hints in the anime and putting them into a logical context.
Also, Shigeru stuck around to watch Satoshi battle Harrison. Satoshi wanted to win for Shigeru, and they made eye contact w/ smiles. Gosh, when you place all the hints in context it *is* rather slashy.