Pearlshipping General Discussion - 3.0 *Spoiler Warning!*

[mew151]

My knowledge of the Japanese language may be limited but on the local SatoHika board I found this:

新シリーズの宣伝見たら胃が痛くなってきた・・・ 
サトシはイケメンだし、セレナは思わせぶりな感じなのが不安 
わざわざサトシの幼馴染にしたんだし、何か特有の絡みとかありそうだよね・・・

Now, this is how a pearlshipper should feel.

I never doubted the loyalty and dedication of Japanese pearlshippers. They truly are people of excellence. *salutes*

Uh, I might see this the wrong way, but from what I can get from the translation, does it say that they're worried that the next new coupling from the upcoming XY series might overthrow Pearlshipping?

The thing about XY is either it will become a vast improvement following the improvements of DP, or it will drag BW's BS and mess the series yet again. For now, I'll just wait on what it will deliver. See if it will impress me.

7 days left. *rubs hands*

 

[karczx]

I don't think anything is serious right now, I don't think Japanese Pearlshippers might be impressed by XY based on what I'm hearing, they've already been saying how much Serena resembles Dawn. I think it's a good cause of concern to be worried at this point, as many of them really wanted Dawn to come back and felt disheartened that they were hyped up the series only for it to be unimpressive.

What seems to be the main cause of worry is that Dawn might not come back for them, despite how much they were being teased last year. And Japanese are starting to believe in the headcanon that any character sent to Johto won't appear again.

Since what's on the horizon seems to be a 4-person entourage, I assume that the series would be more similar to AG.

As long as XY doesn't promote the duet-like thing they had in DP, then it might not have an effect. I'm pretty sure that they aren't going to go all out and have Rika Matsumoto and Mayuki Makaguchi (Serena's VA; and I don't think she is popular, especially compared to Megumi Toyoguchi, Hikari's seiyuu) sing a duet like they did with Matsumoto and Toyoguchi singing "High Touch!", with Pikachu and Fennekin doing some kind of duet, can they? That'll be too obvious.

Previously, the BBS has been inactive for some time. The increase of presence of active Pearlshippers over there lately seems to me that it's still active. Also, the main site on mint.45.kg has been down for at least two weeks, and it's unknown when the site will be back up. There's also a Facebook group on Pearlshipping that's also quite active. XY has yet to impress me at this point, and I doubt whether the first few weeks can match the ratings that DP and BW had. I would have to wait and test the waters.

On another slight positive note, there was a twitter post that surfaced sometime last week where there were Pikachu and Piplup lights in the studio where the anime is aired.

https://twitter.com/joujinakata123/status/378899651224551424

To Pearlshippers, mainly Japanese Pearlshippers, anything official promotion involving Piplup is a support for Dawn and by extension, Pearlshipping (if Pikachu is also shown together with Piplup).

 

[Eievui-Nymphia]

@karczx, Cilan will go to Hoenn.

I don't think anything is serious right now, I don't think Japanese Pearlshippers might be impressed by XY based on what I'm hearing, they've already been saying how much Serena resembles Dawn. I think it's a good cause of concern to be worried at this point, as many of them really wanted Dawn to come back and felt disheartened that they were hyped up the series only for it to be unimpressive.


What seems to be the main cause of worry is that Dawn might not come back for them, despite how much they were being teased last year. And Japanese are starting to believe in the headcanon that any character sent to Johto won't appear again.

Since what's on the horizon seems to be a 4-person entourage, I assume that the series would be more similar to AG.

As long as XY doesn't promote the duet-like thing they had in DP, then it might not have an effect. I'm pretty sure that they aren't going to go all out and have Rika Matsumoto and Mayuki Makaguchi (Serena's VA; and I don't think she is popular, especially compared to Megumi Toyoguchi, Hikari's seiyuu) sing a duet like they did with Matsumoto and Toyoguchi singing "High Touch!", with Pikachu and Fennekin doing some kind of duet, can they? That'll be too obvious.

Previously, the BBS has been inactive for some time. The increase of presence of active Pearlshippers over there lately seems to me that it's still active. Also, the main site on mint.45.kg has been down for at least two weeks, and it's unknown when the site will be back up. There's also a Facebook group on Pearlshipping that's also quite active. XY has yet to impress me at this point, and I doubt whether the first few weeks can match the ratings that DP and BW had. I would have to wait and test the waters.

On another slight positive note, there was a twitter post that surfaced sometime last week where there were Pikachu and Piplup lights in the studio where the anime is aired.

https://twitter.com/joujinakata123/status/378899651224551424

To Pearlshippers, mainly Japanese Pearlshippers, anything official promotion involving Piplup is a support for Dawn and by extension, Pearlshipping (if Pikachu is also shown together with Piplup).

First of all, what Serena is doing? Yeaterday questions were arised because it's nothing clear in the matter. There's also Kein /Silktree who not fully believes that Serena is a companion yet.

And one opinion of the cast: I think that the cast will last the amount of time to animate an episode. If the cast is unpracticable, Citron and Eureka won't past Christmas.

-For me, Clemont/Citron has a horrendous outfit for the anime. The Aipom arm is nothing but an annoying feature.

-Eureka is her sister. It's more cuter than Clemont but she has no pokemon... and apparently is playing with Dedenne, a pokemon that I DISLIKE (And XY hasn't started and they're already starting selling toys of Emolga). Seriously, Dedenne looks more like a clone of Raichu than Pichu looks like a clone of Pikachu.

And about the international airing of the sneak peek. I think that they will get a good numbers.. like a result of (example) of 8500 miles of $ for TPCi. I include the Genesect and Mewtwo movie. If they decided to air the Prologue, extra money of 2000 miles of $. If they decided to air the Piakchu Short, they'll win 800 miles of $

In relation profit/cost in %, this is what I expect from the airing.
United States 85% Canada 75% UK 80% France 70% Germany 80% Italy 60% Spain 45% Greece (if they decided to air) 35% Netherlands 65%, Australia (if applicable) 70% Total Around 75% of cost. And Japan and Korea, who is apart... Japan 110% Korea 90%

This is what TPCI expect from getting the international airing:
United States 112% Canada 105% UK 108% France 100% Germany 115% Italy 90% Spain 70% Netherlands 95% Australia (if applicable) 105% And for outside of TPCi, Japan 115% Korea 110%

And this will get a ratio of 105% of the cost by airing those episodes.

I imagine those ratios why I am almost sure that the franchise right now lose money on Spain, Italy, France and Australia, it could be either way in Germany, UK and Canada: And they are gaining in US and specially Japan (I imagine last year data)

And about the performances of the XY games, I think that they are getting at the end of the year.
Japan 4200000 US 2200000 Europe 1300000 Rest 600000

 

[karczx]

If the cast is unpractical, then why have Iris and Dent lasted till the end of their generation? Despite how much they were neglected and received an unsatisfying farewell at the end of BW. Or is it something else? And sending them to Johto is still a bad writing decision on their part, especially since the Japanese are starting to realize that if any character is sent to Johto, it means that the writers do not care for them and there are no plans made for them.

I doubt XY would have that much of an impact on the franchise despite how hyped up it is. But I do believe that they're taking a huge risk at this point, as Nintendo is looking desperate to recover from its losses, hence the Pokemon hype in general. The problem of the show is that is sticks too close to the games at times especially since BW, and this has created some stifling of any creativity within the anime producers and writers, to the point that they literally do not care what happens to the show as long as they follow Nintendo's directives. Even if the earthquake did not happen, it still would not make that much of a difference in terms of the show quality wise, because eventually, they are going to run out of ideas and they are getting tired of having to stick to the games.

I personally think that to some level, there is a conflict of interest between the anime staff and Nintendo. Nintendo is desperate to promote the games, and forces the anime staff to conform to its standards and expectations. The anime staff, on the other hand, prefer to see a return of Hikari and Pochama, or at least consistently keep Hikari and Pochama as recurring characters or regulars, as Pochama is still insanely popular in Japan. Keep in mind the anime staff have been the same production/writing team since DP, so they are more than capable of delivering a great show. But since BW, Nintendo has greater creative control over the show. Because of this, the anime staff since sometime in the middle of BW are intentionally trying to derail the show and force it to give it lower ratings somehow while still adhering to Nintendo's standards and expectations of anime production.

It remains to be seen as to what they have planned for XY. Personally I believe that Pokemon is in a steady decline but having Hikari and Pochama there would lessen or reduce the decline as they had in DP and in her cameos in BW.

I do not think the combined sales of the XY games worldwide would exceed that of DP or even RS. I also doubt that the initial ratings of XY show would even reach the previous high initial ratings of DP and BW, despite all the hype.

As for the Pearlshipping aspect, a lot of Japanese Pearlshippers expected Hikari to come back to the series, and they arguably felt disheartened when the XY cast was revealed. Again, if they do pull the same or even similar kinds of things they had with Hikari in DP for Serena in XY, I don't think they'll be amused to say the least, it might make them angrier especially since Serena's anime design is very close to Hikari's design

 

[mew151]

Pichu looks like a clone of Pikachu.

Isn't.... that kind of... the idea? Considering Pichu is a pre-evolved Pikachu?

Even with the news of an international airing (and I think we all know the handheld RPG Pokemon games will always sell very good) it will still depend on whether or not the series will be good. Enjoyable yes, but will it be something worthwhile to remember? The 2 revealed episodes of XY looked like it'll try to cram more than 2 different plots like how the 1st episode of BW crammed about 4 plots in itself (well 5, but it's about 5 seconds total). Still going to brace myself on XY's debut regardless. Let's see if it gives out a better impression.

It is disheartening to know Dawn won't be in the main cast of XY, especially since DP presented us 2 main characters on the journey instead of our 1 usual star. However to me, there's only 1 coupling in the show; Pearlshipping. Unlike the other female companions pre-XY, I feel more invested in Dawn's journey, along with Ash. The teamwork and their individual abilities started mishandled but as their trust in each other evolves, so do their techniques and coordination and quite a quick amount of time (then again, it is one of anime's logic). Diamond and Pearl is THE Pokemon series for me, and any newer series trying to succeed over it, bring it. DP and this coupling never failed to excite me even to this day unlike the others which I've grown bored of. XY can try to impress me.

 

[karczx]

I think with DP, what made it stand out was that it was a show about Dawn's journey as well as Ash's. Not only you had one main character, Ash, but two main characters Ash and Dawn together, and Dawn wasn't a side character, but a main character in her own right. I know a lot of people did complain about fillers in DP, but a good portion of the episodes are about Dawn's journey. And it seemed that the many of 'filler episodes' weren't really fillers at all to be somewhat honest. The official promotions throughout DP were almost exclusively related to Pearlshipping- or how Ash and Dawn made a great team together with Pikachu and Piplup. Piplup was almost a second mascot for the Pokemon series just like Pikachu is and still is to some extent. Just like you can't have Ash's Pikachu with Ash, you couldn't really have Dawn's Piplup without Dawn. The thing about post-DP shippings was that even if they did exist, they were all somewhat downplayed quite a lot, many of the Japanese OP/ED/Movie themes were mildly Dawn-related or Pearlshipping-related in BW. And much of the focus on shipping after DP was almost exclusively Pokemon-Pokemon shipping. And I think Pearlshipping really hit home amongst the Japanese fandom and won quite a lot of people over. I guess you can say almost the entirety of DP is about Pearlshipping, to be precise because it's about Ash on a journey together with Dawn, growing and developing their bonds as they travel and experience new things together. Even though I'm not that strong of a Pearlshipper, if Pokemon became a sappy romantic series, it would detract from its specifically shounen themes and it's be pretty unbearable to watch. I would much rather have a show where Ash and Dawn travel together and experience a lot of the aspects of the Pokemon world around them. Their relationship in that regard is unique and distinct from other shippings- because they both grow and help each other.

Honestly, I don't think they're going to try the same thing twice with any other female heroine besides Dawn. And XY really has to impress me a lot.

 

[Animefan145]

Yeah, Pearlshipping is why I started watching the anime every week again during the fourth generation. Not just how great Ash and Dawn were, but also how much focus most of their Pokemon got. It wasn't perfect, such as in terms of win-loss ratio, but I also found many of the fillers a lot more fun than normal. Or how even when it wasn't a gym or contest episode, they were working towards their next immediate goal. Such as how they were the first to trade Pokemon in-group, or Buneary's crush on Pikachu and how they occasionally borrowed or adapted strategies from each other. No offense to Misty, but Dawn's contest goal was far more concrete than just train water Pokemon. Well, the evil egg didn't help, but still. Although I didn't watch or remember most of Advanced, so not entirely sure about that, but stuff like the trading and Buneary's crush were firsts, I'm pretty sure.

We all miss Dawn, but still, after how BW was, I'm still hoping for a return to more DP style stories. I hope Pearlshipping remains the best, but... well, we'll see. It looks like the new girl, Serena, will be a lot more into fashion than Iris was, it would be nice for Ash to reference Dawn, but I'm not holding my breath for that.

 

[Cassafrass1999]

Man, I have to admit that I am starting to have second thoughts about Pearlshipping... Pokeshipping (or any other shipping even, such as Advanceshipping!) seems like it could be highly possible as well... I don't know. I KNOW this thread is about Pearlshipping of course, and everyone here believes in that, but is there anyone else you feels that Pokeshipping (mainly for me) could be better...? Or is it just me... I need some encouragement as to why you guys think this one, or one of the others (if you believe in that) is the best... thanks in advance.

 

[karczx]

I'll try to say this, but growing up watching OS and watching early AG on and off tells me one thing. I wasn't really invested into the shipping aspect of those shows back then, and I still roll my eyes whenever people bring up shippers and shipper wars in particular during that time. I wasn't too concerned with these things. I lost interest in the series soon afterward until sometime in 2006-2007, when it seemed that Pokemon was making a modest revival with 4th gen and DP. I watched parts of DP and for the first time in years, my enthusiasm is rekindled. Not only do I get to see Ash at the best of his abilities, but also I got to see Dawn, the first female protagonist the series actually had. Hikari was not a side character at all, but a costar on the show unlike the rest of the heroines.

Again, I have to admit that I am not a strong shipper nor have any specific shipping tendencies. Admittedly, shippers have many different reasons for shipping thir ships, whether that they think they look good together, enjoy their interactions, they can ship them together out of pure bias or spite just because it doesn't interfere with their main ship. I guess you can say if it weren't for Pearlshipping, I wouldn't be a Pearlshipper like I am today.

As for me, I liked their interactions throughout the series, to simply put it this way. And in a sense, they made a great team together. And I really enjoyed it as it brings out the best and sometimes, the worst in them, but in a delightfully satisfying way. And almost the entirety of DP, from start to finish is the story about Ash and Dawn on a journey together and their experiences, almost as if the entire season, generation was about Pearlshipping. And I wanted to hear more as their story progressed until it reached a conclusion.

Again, if you're on the fence and all, it's okay to ship whomever you want. And it's definitely okay to multiship. It's not as if you or anyone else for that matter, is being forced to choose sides. I mean, I think there are many of us who have shipped other characters before, and you have to start somewhere, right? There may be many other ships out there, but this one I feel that I can ship with great zeal and fervor.

As for the series in the future, I am not expecting much from them, because I am somewhat convinced that we won't be seeing something as spectacular as DP ever again.

Not sure if this answers your question, but this is how I feel about it and it's pretty much all I can say for now until something else comes up.

 

[Master Trainer Empoleon]

I have followed DP since the beginning and the Piplup line quickly became my favorite (hence my name). I admit, I stopped caring for Dawn's Piplup after after it refused to evolve but still enjoyed Pearlshipping a lot. That being said, even though I will always love Pearlshipping, I am already starting to move on to the next big thing. (Ash x Serena)

It's been a great 7 years (I remember in the beginning when everybody was saying Pearlshipping was just a new fad that couldn't top Poke or AdvancedShipping) and we all know what happened there.

Will Ash x Serena surpass PearlShipping? Maybe? Maybe Not? But as of right now, I see people from Poke, Advance, Pearl and even some Yaoi supporters uniting into one coalition in support of it. So we'll see what happens.

 

[karczx]

I have good news: Japanese Pearlshipping site is back online after more than two weeks of being down!

https://googledrive.com/host/0BxBdujPuPmVwNUFaVTNEU0RQeEU/index.html

 

[Cassafrass1999]

I'll try to say this, but growing up watching OS and watching early AG on and off tells me one thing. I wasn't really invested into the shipping aspect of those shows back then, and I still roll my eyes whenever people bring up shippers and shipper wars in particular during that time. I wasn't too concerned with these things. I lost interest in the series soon afterward until sometime in 2006-2007, when it seemed that Pokemon was making a modest revival with 4th gen and DP. I watched parts of DP and for the first time in years, my enthusiasm is rekindled. Not only do I get to see Ash at the best of his abilities, but also I got to see Dawn, the first female protagonist the series actually had. Hikari was not a side character at all, but a costar on the show unlike the rest of the heroines.

Again, I have to admit that I am not a strong shipper nor have any specific shipping tendencies. Admittedly, shippers have many different reasons for shipping thir ships, whether that they think they look good together, enjoy their interactions, they can ship them together out of pure bias or spite just because it doesn't interfere with their main ship. I guess you can say if it weren't for Pearlshipping, I wouldn't be a Pearlshipper like I am today.

As for me, I liked their interactions throughout the series, to simply put it this way. And in a sense, they made a great team together. And I really enjoyed it as it brings out the best and sometimes, the worst in them, but in a delightfully satisfying way. And almost the entirety of DP, from start to finish is the story about Ash and Dawn on a journey together and their experiences, almost as if the entire season, generation was about Pearlshipping. And I wanted to hear more as their story progressed until it reached a conclusion.

Again, if you're on the fence and all, it's okay to ship whomever you want. And it's definitely okay to multiship. It's not as if you or anyone else for that matter, is being forced to choose sides. I mean, I think there are many of us who have shipped other characters before, and you have to start somewhere, right? There may be many other ships out there, but this one I feel that I can ship with great zeal and fervor.

As for the series in the future, I am not expecting much from them, because I am somewhat convinced that we won't be seeing something as spectacular as DP ever again.

Not sure if this answers your question, but this is how I feel about it and it's pretty much all I can say for now until something else comes up.

Thank you for this. It helped me a lot... I think maybe someday I will turn out to not be a Pearlshipper anymore, but for now I am content with this... but that may change in the future. I don't necessarily like the idea of multi-shipping personally (just doesn't feel "right" to me), but hey, who knows what will happen, aha! XD

 

[SmellYaLater]

Found a real good fanpic of Dawn in serena's clothes along with Ash and Brock!
http://kurumierika.deviantart.com/art/CM-VIII-yxa4evr-398606189

Wish they didnt have serena added in the anime, it just damages Pearlshippings chance of happening, not like I think it will happen it most likely wont be still -__-

 

[karczx]

Still it would make no difference, there's always going to be bandwagon ships. Honestly, outside of Pearlshipping along with other subtle ships in the show, I would not trust Atsuhiro Tomioka with series composition. The only thing that can be worse is if they retconned High Touch or any DP duet for that matter. I don't blame them either because they're too hyped up about XY, a show that I'm really not hyped up about. I doubt XY will be as good as DP, they never really had to hype the first week episodes like that back then. I just think Nintendo and the producers of the show are really losing their touch. I just think they're playing on people's emotions after with what happened in BW. But I doubt that XY would be better than BW. I know I might get bashed for saying stuff like this, but people are just setting themselves up for disappointment. Which was why I'm generally not affected by the hype surrounding XY and Serena.

 

[PokemonJesus123]

Still it would make no difference, there's always going to be bandwagon ships. Honestly, outside of Pearlshipping along with other subtle ships in the show, I would not trust Atsuhiro Tomioka with series composition. The only thing that can be worse is if they retconned High Touch or any DP duet for that matter. I don't blame them either because they're too hyped up about XY, a show that I'm really not hyped up about. I doubt XY will be as good as DP, they never really had to hype the first week episodes like that back then. I just think Nintendo and the producers of the show are really losing their touch. I just think they're playing on people's emotions after with what happened in BW. But I doubt that XY would be better than BW. I know I might get bashed for saying stuff like this, but people are just setting themselves up for disappointment. Which was why I'm generally not affected by the hype surrounding XY and Serena.

I agree with you that people are OVERHYPING the XY anime too much to be a good (some even say best) series and bandwagon Ash X Serena shippers are already going to conclusions without even seeing a single episode yet! But let's just hope for the best and that they would make a good show out of this region...

 

[Encyclopika]

This thread is supposedly about Pearlshipping, right? How about we keep it that way and stop talking about X&Y? Thanks.

 

[Luthor]

Lets get back to pearlshipping here

When in different regions, do you think Dawn and Ahs keep an eye on how eachother are doing or do you think they focus on their own goals and try not to think about eachother too much?

 

[mew151]

When in different regions, do you think Dawn and Ash keep an eye on how each other are doing or do you think they focus on their own goals and try not to think about each other too much?

If you want my input, I'd love to see at least one mention these two are in contact. Even if it would be shown in say the ending credits, I'd be happy. If we're talking about what they think, I think we can establish that they won't.

Even with that crummy knowledge, we still have 1 day left to pass for this day to come.

 

[DarkIceBubbles]

Lets get back to pearlshipping here

When in different regions, do you think Dawn and Ahs keep an eye on how eachother are doing or do you think they focus on their own goals and try not to think about eachother too much?

I think dawn thinks about ash when she train and probaly if she bump into like Kenny or Barry or Paul or anyone who ash talk to she will think of him. Probaly she wants to call him but maybe she thinks like " what if he busy? Or forgot about me?" now Ash he will just focus to be a Chapion

 

[BlueDragonfangirl]

Well,in the Brock and Dento special they often thought about Ash when they Saw that Pikachu with that little girl so Dawn thinking of him a lot makes sense to me. At least he thought of Dawn in the last episode of BW, he cares that much about her

I still watch Pearlshipping videos and watch the D / P episodes, my favorite parts will always be the high five moments, was so cute