DP and BW, Parallel Pairs Part 1
Pearlshipping has quite the history of parallel pairs. In Movie 10, we had Tonio and Alice, and in Galactic Battles we had Lyra and Khoury. The parallelism between the pairs and positioning of them has been executed in a way that basically assumes that they are pairs. And in the this analysis, I will look into a third couple that parallels Ash and Dawn: Iris and Cilan. While Best Wishes disappointed many fans, there were also connections that definitely made Dawn's cameo worthwhile and memorable. To me, this parallel is one of those. The first similarity involves Ash and Cilan’s ‘feelings’ for Dawn and Iris respectively. While both events are because of the girls’ teasing, they definitely make a great parallel for the guys. As you may know, Iris has always called Ash a kid. In the episode Expedition to Onix Island, Iris calls Ash kid again. Ash is usually affected and tells Iris to knock it off. But for some reason, he doesn’t react to Iris’s initial remark this time. However, when Dawn makes the teasing comment, “I sure hope he doesn’t go overboard”, Ash’s head snaps hard! He turns to face her and is very disappointed; Ash obviously seeks Dawn’s approval much more than Iris’s. Ash's seeking of Dawn approval can lead to the inference of Ash's feelings for her. Ash reacts to Dawn, but not Iris:
In parallel to Ash’s occurrence, Cilan does exactly the same thing but with Iris instead in the episode Mystery of the Missing Cubchoo. After Cilan ‘fails’ his detective work while still happy, Dawn makes the remark “Well I’ll never hire you”. Cilan doesn’t move and remains unshaken. However, when Iris makes the comment, “But when it comes to pains, you rule!” Cilan becomes extremely disappointed, even more than Ash. There is even more proof that Cilan specifically cares about Iris from the exact words that he uses. “A pain she says, a pain.” Cilan is sad directly because of Iris’s comment because he repeats pain, the term Iris uses. Furthermore, Cilan says she, so he is definitely emphasizing Iris. Just as Ash seeks Dawn’s approval, Cilan seeks Iris’s approval. Cilan reacts to Iris, but not Dawn:
This next similarity also involves Cilan and Ash for Iris and Dawn. This scene takes place in the episode Expedition to Onix Island. On Onix Island, Ash and Cilan get separated from Dawn and Iris. Now this is no ordinary one minute separation. The girls and the boys are basically separated for most of the episode! Anyways, when they finally get back together, Ash and Cilan are the first ones to immediately feel relieved by seeing their ‘girl’ again. You can guess who I’m talking about here. Upon seeing them, Cilan says “Iris!” and Ash says “It’s Dawn!” What else can I say? Ash is obviously happy to see Dawn and Cilan is obviously happy to see Iris. This shows that it’s them specifically they care about! To top it off, Ash and Cilan did this at the same time; there is definitely parallelism between the boys’ hints here. Ash sees Dawn and Cilan sees Iris:
Now if you watch what the girls say, it’s different. Iris says, “It’s Cilan and Ash” and Dawn hugs Piplup. But I don’t think this means Dawn doesn’t like Ash. Besides, Ash would have done the same thing with Pikachu. I think the hints from Ash’s side matter most since most of rival pairings are a change of female with Ash. Any girl can like Ash. But Ash’s feelings for a girl really mean something else. It’s even better when the writers notice two couples together, which I think they did in Dawn’s cameo. And when you can watch both Ash and Cilan showing particular concern and relief for their specific girl at the same time, that's great.
Ash Encourages Cilan and Dawn Encourages Iris In the episode Battling Authority Once Again, Dawn and Cilan lose their respective battles in the Pokémon World Tournament Junior Cup. Despite this, it’s actually as if Iris and Cilan both lost; Dragonite didn’t follow Iris after all and Iris becomes sad again. Fortunately, there’s always Ash and Dawn to encourage them, and they do it in a parallel way. Cilan’s Crustle lost bad to Trip’s Serperior, and Cilan feels beat. He tells Ash he got “pureed” since he makes culinary referneces after all. But remember, Ash is very encouraging. Ash first tells Cilan that he battled great out there. He then goes into how strong Serperior was, and this is to show that Cilan did the best he could against the powerful Pokémon. The most important part is how Cilan is after this. Cilan says “always upbeat” about Ash’s encouraging words. Ash has definitely encouraged Cilan here. One might point out how Cilan encourages Ash afterwards, but the point is that it's Ash who is the encouraging and upbeat one.
Ash Encourages Cilan
Now I just said how Ash was the encouraging and upbeat one of the guys' side. In the same way, Dawn is the encouraging and upbeat one of the girls' side. Here’s where it gets interesting. Just as Ash encouraged Cilan, Dawn encouraged Iris when Iris was saddened about Dragonite not listening. Dawn talks about how she had a hard time with Mamoswine’s obedience just like with Dragonite. Ash talks about Serperior and Dawn talks about Mamoswine. Both Ash and Dawn talked about the Pokémon Cilan and Iris “lost” to. After telling Iris that Dragonite and Iris will become friends eventually, Dawn ends her signature “No need to worry”. As with Cilan, the most important part is how Iris feels after her encouragement. Iris says “I feel like everything is going to be just fine now”. Iris feels “just fine” because of Dawn just as Cilan is feels encouraged by Ash that he did great. See the parallel? Ash and Dawn supported both Cilan and Iris after their ‘losses’. (Iris still feels like she lost because of Dragonite.) Dawn Encourages Iris:
The point is not that Dawn likes Iris just as Ash likes Cilan. Rather, Cilan and Iris were the ones that needed support and Ash and Dawn were doing the supporting. And as we know, Ash and Dawn have been supportive like this to each other in the past. After all, supportiveness is in Ash and Dawn’s character!
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