List of major anime ships

Evidence

• Throughout their time together, Max has always shown great admiration for Ash. But he has also took pleasure out of taunting him for not knowing something.

• There's No Place Like Hoenn

Max was extremely excited to meet Ash, whom he recognized from watching the Silver Conference on television.

• Home is Where the Start is!

Max is so upset by Ash leaving that he runs off by himself. When Ash finds him, he reassures him that they will always be friends and promises to battle him someday after he becomes a Trainer. This makes Max happy leading him to accept the separation.

Name origins

• Alf comes from Max incorrectly referring to Ash by this name when they first met.

Evidence

• The Right Place and the Right Mime

Max is thoroughly impressed by Tracey's artistic skills and refers to him as sir. Tracey thanks him and says he could just call him by his first name. Max then imagines drawing Pokémon like he does. A bit later, Max asks Tracey if he could return the Bulbasaur, Charmander, and Squirtle that Professor Oak is giving to starting Trainers to their Poké Balls which Tracey lets him do. Later in the episode, Tracey updates Max's PokéNav with all the locations of the Battle Facilities.

Similarities

• Both wear a similar attire, including a green shirt and shorts. They are also the only male protagonists to wear shorts rather than pants.
• Both are the only main protagonists not to have an official in-game counterpart.

Trivia

• DebateShipping is also used for Tracey and Gilbert.

Evidence

• Pikachu Revolts

Misty is seen bandaging James's wounds after he and Jessie had lost their Pokémon to Butch and Cassidy.

• Forest Grumps

Misty gets separated from Ash and Brock and ends up with James and Meowth. Feeling sorry for the both of them, she gives some of her lunch to them. Later when everyone escapes the raging Ursaring, James and Misty are seen holding each other in happiness.

Alternate names

• AlternaShipping - Alternate name for James and Cassidy
• AlternateShipping - Alternate name for Butch and Cassidy
• OpressionShipping
• RomeoShipping
• TwerpyShipping
• WhinyShipping

Name origins

• Greeneye refers to James and Misty's eye colors.

Evidence

• Scare at the Litwick Mansion!

A group of Litwick and their Lampent leader open a mysterious vortex that nearly sucks in James, Jessie, and Meowth. Cilan is nearly sucked in as well after being hit by a Shadow Ball that knocks him off of his feet. He would have been sucked in completely but he is saved by James who grabs his arm. Earlier, James's life force had been drained by the Litwick who were accompanying him and his friends. Despite that and his feelings towards Ash and his friends, James decides to put his own safety aside and use what strength he has left to rescue Cilan. Some might argue, however, that he only rescued him as a return favor for Ash saving Jessie from the same fate. Others note that James chose to help who he may consider an enemy but did not attempt to try and save his friends before hand.

Name origins

• GundamSeiyuu refers to James and Cilan's voice actors, Shin'ichirō Miki and Mamoru Miyano, respectively, who both voiced characters in the Gundam anime franchise.

Evidence

• Normally, Zoey is rather composed when faced with someone who puts down her friends, but with Paul she became more flustered than she usually would. Dawn is seen having to physically restrain her. Many would say that this would disprove the ship, but fans see it as Zoey becoming more emotional about what Paul thinks as compared to other people.

Similarities

• Both were the main rivals of the main protagonists during the Diamond & Pearl series.
• Both own a Gastrodon.

Trivia

• Paul and Zoey have a few Pokémon that are considered counterparts of each other:
  • Paul owns a Honchkrow while Zoey owns a Mismagius. Both evolved from Generation II Pokémon with the Dusk Stone and became a Generation IV Pokémon. They are also exclusive to some games.
  • Paul owns a Froslass and Zoey owns a Gallade. Both species evolve from a Generation III Pokémon with the Dawn Stone as a part of a branched evolution.
  • Paul owns an East Sea Gastrodon and Zoey owns a West Sea Gastrodon.

Name origins

• Against comes from Paul and Zoey's nature as rivals: both are essentially against Ash and Dawn respectively, despite the bonds (or lack thereof) they have with each other.

Evidence

• A Connoisseur's Revenge!

Despite there being a long line of people waiting, Burgundy specifically calls on Ash to visit her shop. She also puts her hands on his shoulders several different times.

Similarities

• Both own or have owned an Oshawott.
• Both battled more than one of the Gym leaders at the Striaton Gym. In addition, they both used their Oshawott to battle Cilan.

Evidence

• An Egg Scramble!

Lyra admires Ash's courage and tells Khoury that he should be more like him.

• Gone With the Windworks!

While waiting to be rescued, Lyra wonders who she would most like to marry out of Ash, Khoury, and Brock. Lyra believes that Ash is the best candidate and then asks Dawn if she and Ash are a couple. This event can be interpreted two ways. Either she supports Ash and Dawn as a couple or she has a romantic interest in Ash and wonders if he has a girlfriend or not.

• A Rivalry to Gible On!

Lyra attempts to pair Dawn and Khoury together as a couple. Ash decides to go with Lyra to search for the Gible instead of going with Dawn.

Similarities

• Both own or have owned a Chikorita.

Evidence

• Reunion Battles In Nimbasa!

• Bianca instantly took a liking to Luke's Zorua and later admired Luke for having her. Throughout the entire Don Battle she'd often keep close proximity with Luke.

• The Club Battle Hearts of Fury: Emolga Versus Sawk!

• Luke trusts Bianca to film his battle with Cilan for him and when he finds out she missed the battle, filming Zorua instead, he shrugs it off pretty quickly.

• The Club Battle Finale: A Heroes Outcome!

• Bianca takes an interest in Luke's film work and eventually begins to help him, not being distracted by Zorua. The two leave the tournament together to work on the film.

Name origins

• Raimon Town is where Bianca and Luke originally met.

Evidence

• Emolga the Irresistible!

Bianca states that Cilan's food is delicious and that she gives it "five stars" to which Cilan is grateful for.

• Emolga and the New Volt Switch!

Bianca takes an interest in Cilan's catchphrases and begins to use them for herself. Later when Bianca leaves the group, Cilan promises to make her a meal the next time they meet.

• A Fishing Connoisseur in a Fishy Competition!

When the group decides they will enter a fishing competition, Cilan picks out a fishing rod for Bianca without even being asked to. A while later, Cilan briefly leaves the group to turn in his catch to the judges. When he exits the building, he sees Bianca struggling to hold on to something that she hooked. Immediately he runs to her side, even instructing Ash and Iris to move aside, and holds on to her fishing rod. While she was in charge of the reel, Cilan was the one to pull her catch, a Frillish, from the water.

• The Club Battle Hearts of Fury: Emolga Versus Sawk!

Bianca is clearly the most excited when Cilan announces "It's Tasting Time!" during his battle with Luke.

Evidence

• Iris and Excadrill Against the Dragon Buster!

Georgia calls for Cilan's attention before she leaves and demands that he make her a delicous meal the next time they met.

• The Club Battle Hearts of Fury: Emolga Versus Sawk!

When Burgundy begins to mock Cilan after his loss to Luke, Georgia is clearly annoyed by her behavior. She then remarks sarcastically to Burgundy that she has a "nice personality". Fans see this as Georgia's way of defending Cilan.

Evidence

• Cilan refers to Pansage as his "premium brand" Pokémon which means that he is his most trusted partner.

• Dreams by the Yard Full!

Cilan begins to gloat how perfectly compatible he is with Pansage while battling Ash and his Oshawott.

• Ash and Trip's Third Battle

Pansage tries to comfort Cilan after he inadvertently knocked over the pot of soup he was making for lunch caused by Ash and Iris's goofing off.

• Facing Fear with Eyes Wide Open!

Cilan is seen holding Pansage after he is poisoned by group of wild Foongus. He does not do the same for his Dwebble who is also poisoned.

Name origins

• Iwazaru refers to 言わ猿 meaning speak-not monkey referring to the three wise monkeys motif that the elemental monkeys are suspected to be based on. In relation, there is KikazaruShipping for Chili and his Pansear and MizaruShipping for Cress and his Panpour.

Evidence

• Emolga the Irresistible!

Oshawott is immediately smitten with Emolga upon first seeing her. Also, Oshawott interrupts her battle with Bianca's Minccino by jumping in front of the Attract meant for the other Pokémon.

Later on when Emolga is surrounded by a group of wild Swoobat, Oshawott lets himself out of his Poké Ball in order to protect her. He was hit by a Swoobat's Charge Beam forcing Ash to recall him to his Poké Ball.

• Emolga and the New Volt Switch!

When Emolga wanders off on her own while the others are sleeping, Oshawott and Axew follow after her. When they find her she lies to them in order to get some apples by telling them that she was ambushed by a group of wild Watchog. Angered, Oshawott fights valiantly in order to protect her and retrieves an apple for himself, Emolga, and Axew. Oshawott continues to protect Emolga even standing up to an enraged Simisear. However, he was easily defeated by the angry Pokémon.

Name origins

• LethalAttraction comes from the fact that Oshawott usually ends up getting hurt while trying to protect Emolga. It also could be from the fact that Water-types are weak against Electric attacks.

Trivia

• Oshawott and Emolga are both part of the Ground egg group and therefore can breed.

Evidence

• Sticking with Who You Know!

Pikachu and Piplup spent nearly the whole episode hugging each other with hearts in their eyes. Even when Dawn returns Piplup to his Poké Ball, he lets himself out and goes back to hugging Pikachu. Of course, this was all a result of Professor Kodama's affinity machine which made pure Electric and Water-types inseparable.

• Memories are Made of Bliss!

Piplup becomes emotional knowing that the group is going to go their separate ways. He was hoping that Dawn would go with Ash and Brock to Kanto so that he could stay with Pikachu. When she decides she's going to stay in Sinnoh, Piplup runs off into the forest alone. Fans also note that even though Pikachu is Buneary's object of affection, she did not appear upset at all over the news of Pikachu leaving unlike Piplup. Pikachu becomes concerned and runs off too to look for him. When he finds Piplup, he latches on to him and starts crying. This causes Pikachu to also start crying.

Later on when they accept that they are going to separate, Pikachu and Piplup high five each other before hugging again.

Similarities

• Both were unwilling to obey their Trainers at first, but became friends after saving them from a group of attacking Pokémon. Pikachu saved Ash from a flock of Spearow, while Piplup saved Dawn from a swarm of Ariados.
• Both are actively kept outside of their Poké Balls.
• Both have expressed reluctance to evolve and prefer to remain in their current forms.
  • Both have battled against their evolved forms.

Name origins

• LightningPearl comes from Pikachu being an Electric-type and Template:S, the ship involving their Trainers.

Evidence

• Excadrill's refusal to battle on Iris's command wasn't an act of disobedience but was more about shame and distrust. He refused to battle for Iris because he was afraid to lose again after the humiliating loss to Drayden years earlier. This differs from Ash's Charizard and Dawn's Mamoswine who simply wanted to do what they pleased.
• Iris and Excadrill Against the Dragon Buster!

Excadrill shows some reaction to Iris's crying after his loss to Langley's Beartic earlier. As such, he left the to the forest in order to work on Focus Blast and become stronger. Later, he agrees to rematch Beartic and listen to Iris's commands after regaining his confidence. After the second battle with Beartic, Iris hugs Excadrill and tells him that she loves him.

Name origins

• Taladradora is the Spanish word for drill.

Evidence

• Axew is never seen in a Poké Ball unlike Iris's other Pokémon an prefers to travel inside her hair showing a close bond. Axew also tends to impersonate some of her actions, such as backing her up when she refers to Ash as a kid.
• The Bloom Is on Axew!

When Iris becomes upset that she can't help Axew perfect Dragon Rage, he goes off and finds an apple for her to help her feel better. Later when Excadrill refuses to help Iris rescue Axew from a wild Scolipede, she takes it upon herself to save him without the aid of a Pokémon.

• The Dragon Master's Path!

After Axew uses Dragon Rage perfectly for the first time, Iris begins to smother him with affection.

Name origins

• TwinApples refers to how Axew uses his tusks to carry apples to Iris.

Evidence

• Marill is Tracey's most recurring Pokémon.
• In the Pink

Marill becomes frightened when called upon to battle the pink Nidoking and jumps into Tracey's arms for protection. In response, he hugs it back.

• The Power of One

While Tracey recalls Scyther and Venonat to their Poké Balls, he clenches Marill to his side during the storm that Maren's boat got caught in.

Name origins

• WatcherShipping is derived from Pokémon Watcher.