>>58300672Because the ocean, and boats, are feminine. Languages with gendered nouns use feminine nouns to describe the sea. Even in English, sailors name boats after women and call the ocean "she".
Lugia's design can be traced back to a nordic ship Pokemon. Lugia's dorsal fins and fingers started as rudders and cockpits. Shudo wrote his "Pokemon X" story under the assumption that Lugia wouldn't appear in the games, so its association with water was purely thematic, not meant to parallel Ho-Oh.
Shudo wrote the character to be a literal personification of the sea, and as a literary device, it makes sense for Lugia to be feminine. But as the mascot for a shonen anime and video game, Nintendo and Creatures positioned Lugia as being cool, powerful, and the next big Psychic-type. Pokemon had broad appeal, but the branding was very boy-focused, especially overseas. That's probably why they never released Pink Version.
