>>46112902The only other reason for kids anime to include shipping would be --
-- Plot progression : Pokemon premise has nothing to do with romance unlike Doraemon where Nobita and Shizuka's romance is part ot Doraemon's mission.
--- Competition : Basically the protagonist develop a crush on girl out of his reach and compete for her affection even when she is close to somebody better than the protagonist. Ash is too dense so I don't see him competing with anybody to make a girl like him. The only girl he had minor crush on was Giselle but even then he would not lower himself for her affection.
--- Comedy : This is the only way shipping could work in a kids anime like pokemon. So far, mainy Ash's dynamic with Misty and Dawn had actual comedy. There were other girls too like Angie & Duplica but they barely appears in the show. There was no humor in Ash's dynamic with Serena & Lillie which is why Amour & Aurelia was too boring.
So far only Bakugan tried to include romance for humor and it worked with first series until they decided to make more sequel and introduce more girl with affection toward Dan such as Mira and Fabia. It didn't help that Runo complete disappeared for two series, furthermore I realized growing up that Julie is the prettiest girl on Bakugan.
Sure anipoke could try something like giving Ash a harem and make those girl compete over him in a hilarious way while Ash remain oblivious. The anime will not outright confirm any girl as the winner to make people watch the show even more to find out which girl wins at the end..