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I read a fun 2ch thread that was making the rounds about shipping wars, thought it would be fun here. Most of this is going to be paraphrased but I'll just focus on the main points.
For context, in the Japanese community, the biggest ships were Ash/Misty, Ash/May and Ash/Dawn.
>Misty is the first heroine of the series and the biggest culprit in the shipfag wars on the pokemon board. Of all the companions, her ship is probably the most canon, but this is probably because Ash's personality was different back then and he wasn't the pokemon battle machine as yet. Out of all the girls she had the most extreme fans, which is probably why she has the most antis. She is often paired with Tracy (mainly by antis).
>May is a lively and energetic girl, she is considered the least annoying so that's why she has the least antis. There are no hints between her and Ash as by this point he had become the pokemon battle machine, but there was a nice scene where she cheers for him and doesn't want him to lose. She is frequently paired with Drew (mainly by antis).
>Dawn, the first other protagonist of the series. She debuted when the pokemon anime was very popular too, so these factors are probably why she's the most popular girl. She and Ash act very alike. Ash is a pokemon battle machine, so there's no ship bait, but they had a nice duet song together and the BW theme song references her. She is often paired with Kenny (mainly by antis)
>Iris is not a heroine. She was a prayer by the studio to stop the shipfag war so she's pretty much Mother Theresa. However, she is black.
Latias, Anabel, Melody and Serena are also mentioned. Serena was basically described as a nuclear bomb by the company to get the shipfags to shut up because it didn't stop even after Iris was gone. Ash became less of a pokemon battle machine and more human again even though he did not notice her feelings.
Someone also asked where Bayleef was on this list lel.
