Dawn (Japanese: ヒカリ Hikari) is a ten-year-old girl travelling 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. She is voiced by 豊口めぐみ Megumi Toyoguchi in the Japanese version, Emily Jenness in the English dub and by Fernanda Bulara in the Brazilian dub.

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.

She has a Contest Pass for the Sinnoh region.

Like May, she has her own theme song, 君のそばで 〜ヒカリのテーマ〜 By Your Side ~Hikari's Theme~, the first ending of the Diamond & Pearl anime. The song is sung 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

Buizel

Trivia

• Her Japanese name means 光 Light.

• 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, Dawn's Piplup wasn't ready to obey her when they first met. Eventually, they became fast friends.
• Dawn is the only female main character that doesn't have a sibling.
• For Different Strokes for Different Blokes, Professor Oak's lecture is about Dawn. He writes this Pokémon senryū about her: ポケモンと　うつくしくあれ　コーディネーター Pokémon to utsukushiku are, Kōdinētā. "Being beautiful with Pokémon, that is a coordinator."
• Unlike Ash's other friends, Dawn has already crossed a lot of boundries that have since 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 in her first 35 episodes.
    • Brock captured Zubat and Vulpix.
    • Tracey only captured Scyther.
    • May captured only Wurmple.
  • She was the first main character other than Ash to battle a member of the Elite Four.
• She is one of two of Ash's friends who is not or part of a Gym Leader family. Tracey is presumably the other. However, this is only presumed as no information is known about her father.
• Out of all of Ash's friends, Dawn is the only one so far to have her debut episode dedicated completely to herself rather then partially focusing on Ash. Unlike other friend debuts, Ash didn't appear until the end.
• She is the first main character to lose an appeal round.

Names

Related articles

• Episodes focusing on Dawn

External links

• Shining Light!, the fanlisting for Dawn at The Anime Fanlistings Network
• Hikari's Profile on Pokeani (Japanese)
• Hikari's Pokémon on Pokeani (Japanese)

On Bulbagarden forums

• The Dawn Club

Dawn's Pokémon
On hand:	Piplup	Buneary	Pachirisu	Mamoswine	Quilava	Togekiss
In training:	Ambipom
Traded away:	Buizel
Released:	Oshawott
Temporary:	Pikachu	Croagunk	Chimchar	Staravia	Grimer	Dodrio
	Sharpedo