Best Wishes
Welcome to the analysis on the first Japanese opening of the BW season. Now, obviously this isn’t part of the DP series, so wouldn’t be the first place we would look for Pearlshipping hints, but the connection to Dawn/Pearlshipping was first observed (and published) by the user karczx on serebii, so props to them for that, and it’s actually quite a convincing reference to Dawn, which is why we’re writing an analysis on this now. [1]
We’ll be starting from about halfway through the song (as the first part is mostly about Ash starting a new adventure etc etc) This song is sung by Rica Matsumoto, Ash’s voice actress, and just as High Touch is sung by Rica Matsumoto and Megumi Toyoguchi and are very much from their characters’ viewpoints, this is from Ash’s viewpoint.
If I listen closely, I hear a nostalgic voice
A voice from the future
It's always praying for me
"You'll be all right!
Somehow it'll be all right!
Everyone will be all right!"
Now, the verse above is a HUGE reference to Dawn and to those of you who are at least slightly hardcore Pearlshippers you will know why. Firstly, we have references to the past with “nostalgic”, which, in terms of past Pokegirls, would be referring to Misty, May or Dawn, and then references to the future, suggesting that this person mentioned isn’t completely erased from the face of the show yet! But why do we think it’s Dawn? Well, the “all right” translates from “Daijoubu” in Japanese!
Dawn’s catchphrase is used three times in a row after mentions of a “nostalgic voice” or basically “voice from the past”. Now, you could say this was a coincidence, but Dawn’s catchphrase was used so often, throughout the original version and from Dimension onwards in the dub. Also, remember Ash’s last words to Dawn when they parted in the last episode of DP?
An endless road
A journey of endless encounters, mm...
But what I want to have end
Is this flurrying anxiety!
Even so, I wonder
If we've somehow realized
That's right, it's the beginning of a friendship!
This is frequently said
At first was a forced smile somewhere......
But soon it will be full of genuine smiles!
These two verses are just about Ash’s journey carrying on etc etc, and it’s just here for completion’s sake. But we do catch an element of canon in this, “at first a forced smile” very much resonates with how Iris and Ash didn’t get on when they first met.
Wind, carry my voice
Carry my feelings
To that person in a distant town
"I'll be all right!
I'll be totally all right!
I'm not alone, I have my friends, so I'll be all right!
Now, this part is INTERESTING. We have the mention of “wind”. So what? Well, this has been referenced, first in Where the Lost Ones Go,- “I’m going where the wind blows” (Dawn accepting that she’ll go the way of Ash’s past companions) and then we have it in ONE “Wind, please don’t take him away, Ah, to somewhere beyond time” (Dawn’s withdrawal of acceptance after becoming closer with Ash, and the justification as to why Where the Lost Ones Go isn’t a depressing song for us) [2]
Then we have the wind carrying Ash’s voice (remember the “unusually serious voice” from Ice Cream Syndrome about his feelings as well?) and his feelings to “that person in a distant town” Again, could be anyone Ash is close to and far away from. The mention of “feelings” generally has a romantic connotation and why do we think it’s Dawn again? Well, it’s just like a puzzle being put together. We have mentions of a person from the past, then Dawn’s catchphrase again, three times in a row. EXACTLY the same format as the verse at the beginning of this analysis.
Yeah-he-he-hey, let's start walking!
Yeah-he-he-hey, should we run?
Yeah-he-he-hey, what we're aiming for
Yeah-he-he-hey, is always shining!
The throbbing of my heart instantly changes
To a pounding excitement!
There's just no way I can calm down!
So we have the chorus and the last part of the song above. To summarise,
1.We have this song, Best Wishes, as a canon song from Ash’s viewpoint. (Rica Matsumoto is the artist)
2.Mentions of someone from the past and feelings
3.Dawn’s catchphrase straight after any mention of this. If this were a reference to Misty, May or even the remote chance of Serena, this would be counterproductive.
4. Not one, but three resonations of past songs that are to do with Pearlshipping. (Wind from Where the Lost Ones Go and ONE, and voices and feelings from Ice Cream Syndrome) Since Where the Lost Ones Go and ONE are from Dawn’s viewpoint and Ice Cream Syndrome and this song are from Ash’s viewpoint, this makes for a nice balance.
We can conclude that this song is quite a powerful tool for proving Pearlshipping wasn’t “nothing” or just something to be discarded after DP. As Ash says in this song, we’ll be totally all right.
Daijoubu!
Footnotes:
[1]I’d read this article ages ago but that was way before Project Pearl started and Nova dug it up for us
[2]Re visit the analysis to these songs to get a clearer picture if necessary.
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