Dawn (anime)
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| Dawn ヒカリ Hikari | |
 Art from Diamond/Pearl anime | |
| Age | 10 (as of debut) |
|---|---|
| Gender | Female |
| Eye color | Blue |
| Hair color | Blue |
| Hometown | Twinleaf Town |
| Region | Sinnoh |
| Relatives | Johanna (mother) |
| Class | Coordinator |
| First episode | Following a Maiden's Voyage! |
| English voice actor | Emily Jenness |
| Japanese voice actor | Megumi Toyoguchi |
Dawn (Japanese: ヒカリ Hikari) is a ten-year-old girl traveling through Sinnoh with Ash and Brock. Her goal is to become a great coordinator like her mother, Johanna. Her first Pokémon is a Piplup that she received from Professor Rowan in the first Diamond & Pearl episode. She is voiced by 豊口めぐみ Megumi Toyoguchi in the Japanese version, Emily Jenness in the English dub, by Fernanda Bulara in the Brazilian dub, and by Gaby Ugarte in the Latin American Spanish dub.
Contents |
In the anime
Character
Dawn is notable for her confidence, since she is always looking towards the future rather than dwelling on her mistakes. In the Japanese version, she often says, "Daijōbu!" Although not consistently translated in the English dub at first, she began to regularly use "No need to worry!".
Like Ash, she is lucky enough to have seen a legendary Pokémon, the projected soul of Mesprit in Following a Maiden's Voyage!.
She had a bicycle, but like Misty's and May's bikes, Ash's Pikachu destroyed it with its Thunderbolt. However, she did not mention this to Ash until over 30 episodes after it happened. Johanna gave Dawn one of her old ribbons from her days as a coordinator as a gift for luck. She also had a large suitcase full of dresses, but her mother made her leave it at home due to its impracticality.
Out of all of Ash's friends, Dawn is the only one so far to have her debut episode dedicated completely to herself. Unlike other debut episodes, Ash didn't even appear until the last 30 seconds. Additionally, she is the one of Ash's friends to get the most development.
She has a Contest Pass for the Sinnoh region. In Dawn's Early Night, when she competed in the Hearthome City Contest, she lost in the Appeal Round, making her the first of the main characters to drop out of a contest by losing the appeal round. In DP061, she lost the Appeal Round for second time in a row.
She has two childhood friends that appeared in the anime, Kenny and Yumomi, both of which call her sometimes Dee Dee (Japanese: ピカリ Pikari). Dawn has prevented them from telling Ash and Brock about the reason why she has this nickname. She seems to be closer to Yumomi than to Kenny.
Like May, she has her own ending theme song, titled 君のそばで 〜ヒカリのテーマ〜 By Your Side ~Hikari's Theme~. It is the first ending of the Diamond & Pearl anime. The song is performed by グリン Grin.
Pokémon
This listing is of Dawn's Pokémon as of the most recent Japanese episode:
On hand
 Piplup |  Buneary |  Pachirisu |  →  Aipom → Ambipom | ||
Traded
 Buizel (Traded for Aipom) |
Ribbons
Sinnoh ribbons
- Floaroma Town Ribbon
Achievements
- Unofficial contest in Borrowing on Bad Faith - Runner-Up
- Sinnoh Double Battle Tournament (Runner-up - with Conway)
Trivia
- May and Misty were girls who traveled with Ash Ketchum. Both of them have Japanese names including the katakana カ ka and dub names starting with M, so some fans believed Dawn would as well have a dub name starting with M, because she had カ in her name. However, this was revealed to be false when her English name was revealed to be Dawn, which appears to reference Pokémon Diamond as Paul references Pokémon Pearl. "Dawn" may also be a reference to "Hikari," which means "light"--dawn is essentially the day's first light.
- Just like Ash's Pikachu, her Piplup wasn't ready to obey her when they first met. Eventually, they became fast friends.
- She is the only female main character that doesn't have a sibling.
- Unlike Ash's other friends, Dawn has already crossed a lot of boundaries that have previously only been held by Ash.
- She saw a legendary Pokémon prior to meeting Ash.
- She's the first main character to capture an Electric-type Pokémon besides Ash.
- Having already captured Buneary, Pachirisu, and Buizel, Dawn has captured more Pokémon in her first 35 episodes that any of the other main characters aside from Ash. This isn't including the Pokémon they all started with.
- Misty captured Horsea and Psyduck before EP035.
- Brock captured Zubat and Vulpix before The Battling Eevee Brothers.
- Tracey captured Scyther before A Sappy Ending (by which point he wasn't even traveling with Ash any longer) and hasn't captured anything since.
- May captured Wurmple before Win, Lose or Drew.
- Comparatively, Ash captured Caterpie, Pidgeotto, Bulbasaur, Charmander, Squirtle, Krabby, Primeape, Muk, and all 30 of his Tauros before the end of EP035.
- She was the first main character other than Ash to battle a member of the Elite Four.
- Dawn is the second Coordinator that is voiced by Megumi Toyoguchi in Japanese, the first being Janet.
- She is one of two of Ash's friends who is not or part of a Gym Leader family. Tracey is probably the other. However, this is only presumed as no information is known about her father or Tracey's family.
- She is the only one of Ash's friends to lose the Appeal Round in a contest, which she has done twice.
- On the Pokémon Learning League website, her clothing has been altered so that her white undershirt has sleeves and she is wearing black stockings or tights.
- Dawn is the first Pokémon Trainer introduced as a novice to not have a Bug-type Pokémon be her first evolution, as Ash's first evolving Pokémon was Caterpie, and May's was Wurmple. Dawn's first evolving Pokémon was Aipom.
- She is the only main character aside from Ash to challenge an official Pokémon Gym, and the first of Ash's friends to compete in an official Gym Battle in the main series since Showdown at Pewter City and The Water Flowers of Cerulean City, where Brock battled Ash and Misty battled Ash respectively.
- Counting side-stories, the last time anyone besides Ash or his rivals were shown challenging a Gym Leader would be The Blue Badge of Courage, where Sakura fought Misty.
- Every Pokémon Dawn has captured or received has been in the Ground egg group.
- When Dawn had Buizel, she had two Water-types, while afterwards, with Aipom, then Ambipom, she has two Normal-types. These relate to Ash's previous two female traveling partners, as Misty is a Gym Leader who specializes in Water-types, while May's father Norman is a Gym Leader that specializes in Normal-types.
- All of Ash's female friends have a native Korean word as their name in Korean version (dew, spring and shine respectively). Such names were trendy in late 70s, now they are rare.
Names
| Language | Name | Origin |
|---|---|---|
| Japanese | ヒカリ Hikari | From 光, light. |
| English | Dawn | May be a reference to Hikari, as dawn is essentially the day's first light. |
| French | Aurore | Literally means dawn. |
| German | Lucia | A reference to lux lucis, latin for light. |
| Italian | Lucinda | From luce, Italian for light. |
| Spanish | Maya | |
| Korean | 나빛나 Na Bit-Na | When read as a sentence, it means I shine. |
| Chinese (Taiwan) | 小光 Xiǎo Guāng | From 光 hikari, light. Literally "small light". |
Related articles
External links
- Daijoubu!, the fanlisting for Dawn at The Anime Fanlistings Network
- Hikari's Profile on Pokeani (Japanese)
- Hikari's Pokémon on Pokeani (Japanese)
On Bulbagarden forums
| Dawn's Pokémon | ||
|---|---|---|
| On hand: | ||
| Traded: | ||
| Coordinators | |
|---|---|
| Kanto: | Daisy Oak** | Drew* | Harley* | Jessie* | May* | Solidad* |
| Johto: | Drew* | Harley* | May* | Solidad* |
| Hoenn: | Drew* | Harley* | Jessie* | Juan* | May* | Robert* | Ruby* | Wallace* |
| Sinnoh: | Dawn* | Fantina* | Jasmine* | Jessie* | Johanna** | Kenny* | Nando* | Zoey* | Wallace* | May* |
| Others: | Haruka* | Marina* |
| Anime characters | ||
|---|---|---|
| Protagonists | Antagonists | Rivals |
| Supporting cast | ||
