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 and recognized him from television. Later, Ash seems to enjoy watching Torchic peck}ing Max.

• 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 that they will even battle someday. 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 Bulbasaur, Charmander, and Squirtle to their Poké Balls which Tracey let's 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.

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 up 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 - Shared with James and Cassidy
• AlternateShipping - Includes Butch and Cassidy

Name origins

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

Evidence

• BW029

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 into the vortex. 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

• 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. 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.

Name origins

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

Evidence

Bianca's hints

• Minccino-Neat and Tidy

Even before meeting him, Bianca accepted the errand to deliver Ash's badge case to him for Professor Juniper. When she finally met him, she was very excited. Bianca tries to give Ash his badge case but cannot find it in her cluttered bag. She looks distressed by it. When she finally gives it to Ash, she is interested to see the one badge he has.

A bit later, a wild Minccino, makes off with Ash's badge case. Bianca tells him not to worry about it and volunteers to get it back for him. When she fails to do so, Ash calls out Pikachu who is interrupted by Oshawott who wanted to battle instead. Bianca seemed excited that Ash's Pokémon come out by themselves and even said it was "darling".

Also during this episode, Bianca winks at Ash on several different occasions, a classical sign of showing affection.

Ash's hints

• Minccino-Neat and Tidy

After a Minccino escapes with his badge case, Ash decides he's going to get it back on his own. But Bianca begs him to let her help as she wanted to capture Minccino. He eventually agrees to it seeing how much she wanted it.

• BW027

Ash and Cilan find Bianca on the ground trying to catch her breath after chasing a wild Emolga. Ash asks her if she is okay and then offers her a helping hand. He also wishes for her to stop chasing Emolga so she won't get hurt by its Discharge.

Similarities

• Both own a member of the Tepig family.

Evidence

• BW027

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

• BW028

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.

Evidence

• BW027

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.

• BW028

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.