Thread: What ships do you consider canon?

Exactly what the title says. Not "in the future it could be" or anything like that, I mean what *is* canon right now/over the series' history?

Certainly one-sided ships count, so "Brock/every girl he's seen" is a big one, even though only one of them really bothered to return it and he wasn't even aware of that (Lucy, although...have there been others?).

For instance, do you consider Mars/Cyrus canon, or do you consider her attachment to him just part of her obsessive devotion? Does it vary from canon to canon? How about something like Rocketshipping, which is absolutely canon in Electric Tale but only played around with on the show? And so on.

Anime-wise I consider:
Pokeshipping
Abilityshipping
Morpheusshipping
Luckshipping
Orangeshipping
Penguinshipping
TeenCareshipping
Questshipping
Contestshipping

to be at least one-sided canon. YMMV which ones you ship/consider double-sided canon, of course.

Special-verse I consider one-sided canon:
MangaPokeshipping
ChosenShipping
Commonershipping
ChessShipping

Special-verse ships I consider double-sided canon:
Specialshipping
Franticshipping
Gracefulshipping

I typically consider ships where the couple is a confirmed couple, or married, to be canon. Basically, anything that was confirmed by the writers. There's a number of ships of that sort, so I don't think I'll bother listing them.

I don't consider one-sided ships to be canon though. Brock never stays 'in love' to one particular girl, and his 'love of the day' is always changing with pretty much each episode. That and, you never really can tell if the girl feels the same. One-sided ships are still debatable like any other ship.

But that's just my humble opinion.

I think Contestshipping is canon. I can totally see May and Drew being a couple during their adventures in johto, can't you? With no little brother around May would totally go for it!

The definition of canon is different per person. Some people consider one-sided or mutual crushes to be canon, even if said characters haven't officially become a couple.

For others, only actual couples if when a ship is canon.


So if we're speaking of actual couples in the anime, there are very few that don't consist of filler characters or parents (like Norman and Caroline), or so forth.

Franticshipping (Ruby/Sapphire) for sure. (I feel like a mutual confession makes it so.) And from my viewpoints, Contest.

Married couples like Norman/Caroline are kind of a given. If they didn't love each other, they wouldn't have been married, made two beautiful babies together, and stayed married.

Originally Posted by Blackjack Gabbiani

Exactly what the title says. Not "in the future it could be" or anything like that, I mean what *is* canon right now/over the series' history?

Are you asking us what is canon at this moment, or what was implied canon?

At the moment we are in Best Wishes. In this particular saga, I see no shipping. Cilan might admire Ash, but that's all.

If we're talking about past series, there were implied crushes, most of which went nowhere or were forgotten about. But since this is Pokemon, I don't think we would ever have a couple of any non-adult character in the series.

They wouldn't even have Brock finally get a girl before he left the show, something I always figured would have happened if Brock ever left for good. And this is why Holly should have returned before DP ended.

Erm.. My definition of canon is incredibly loose and unorthodox. I consider a ship canon if it has been hinted at, because at the very least it means that a writer has thought about the idea of two characters being involved with each other in.. whatever way, and is not entirely against it (and possibly they support it).

So I think Rocketshipping, Eldershipping, and Pokeshipping are canon.

I read somewhere that the writers were never planning for A and M to get together and were annoyed with 4kids for adding extra hints and implying that it was actually going to happen someday, but still, the in-show hints in the japanese originals mean that there was SOME kind of spark between Misty and Ash.

I also think Commandshipping was possibly canon in Takeshi Shudo's mind (he solely wrote MR if I'm not mistaken) because of various James Bond-referencing meta-hints, but that's dangerous territory.

I consider any ships where the characters like each other canon, likewise if it's only one-sided. Contestshipping is probably the most canon we've gotten, but there's also Pokeshipping (a close second), Questshipping, Luckshipping, Abilityshipping and Morpheusshipping. I consider all these canon, although Ability and Morpheus are one-sided.

Yeah Brock totally should have got a girlfriend, the poor guy never got anyone, that was just cruel. Poor Brock xD

Originally Posted by Giovanni Sakaki

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I read somewhere that the writers were never planning for A and M to get together and were annoyed with 4kids for adding extra hints and implying that it was actually going to happen someday, but still, the in-show hints in the japanese originals mean that there was SOME kind of spark between Misty and Ash.

Regardless of what 4kids did, it was obvious that Ash wasn't going to get together with Misty even if she never left to this day. They'd remain like they were in Johto. They could never have two characters as a couple traveling together when the show is about Pokemon and the battles.

This is pretty much the whole reason Pokeshipping was toned down in Johto. Orange went too far, so Johto "negated" everything and toned Misty's character down in general.

The only time Ash *might* wind up with someone, and even then it is entirely unlikely, is in a series finale type episode or a time skip of the future in the last ep. Other than that, no.

I kind of see Orangeshipping more canon now, just watch the specials and the episodes where Misty/Tracey appear again and you'll see what I mean. Contestshipping is another one I consider canon. Questshipping from just one special well. Whenever Ash learns about love and considers who he should be with, maybe than an Ash ship will become canon but the writers would be crazy to do that due to Ash ships being so popular.

Being based on hints i would consider this three ships as canon:
Pokeshipping-because of good chunk of hints coming from Misty side showing some romantic affection to Ash.It was one sided but still ignited some spark nonetheless.
Contestshipping-that much is obvious that Drew clearly felt something for May at times setting up ground for possible relationship
Rocketshipping-there were some hints from both Jessie and James side alright which were questionable to be only gestures of friendship and like its been mentioned this two became couple in manga.

Originally Posted by Gliscor'd

Regardless of what 4kids did, it was obvious that Ash wasn't going to get together with Misty even if she never left to this day. They'd remain like they were in Johto. They could never have two characters as a couple traveling together when the show is about Pokemon and the battles.
This is pretty much the whole reason Pokeshipping was toned down in Johto. Orange went too far, so Johto "negated" everything and toned Misty's character down in general.

Only aspect of Misty character which was toned down was her temper which is more because of character starting to mature than anything else.
She was instead more sarcastic in Johto still falling down for romance and cute things,being passionate about water types,stubborn etc being more friendly to Ash and Brock.

I agree that pokeshipping hints was definitely toned down in Johto but it wasnt completely stopped in tracks from what i noticed with Misty sometimes acting too overprotective when Ash was in danger or when he was around other girls which can be showed when she got very jealous about some like Macy or nurse Joy in Light Fantastic for example.
And of course that scene from 5th movie where Latios kissed Ash left her in complete shock from what i remember.

Originally Posted by Ashfangirl22

I kind of see Orangeshipping more canon now, just watch the specials and the episodes where Misty/Tracey appear again and you'll see what I mean.

I watched it and personally i didnt noticed anything more than friendship between those two.,Maybe im missing something but i didnt noticed any signs of romantic affection between Misty and Tracey.

It seems to me that the writers were playing around with the idea of Orangeshipping in the specials since at the time they were cementing Misty as a Gym leader and knew they weren't going to have her rejoin the main cast. So it seemed like a way for Misty to settle with a friend she met on a past journey with a new career she had.

The problem with Orangeshipping is well...Misty and Tracey have fallen off the face of the Earth. The last time they both appeared in the same episode was way back in 2005, over 6 years ago, so there was nothing to do on from there. We at least know Tracey gave Misty the offspring of his Marrill, which is where she got Azurill from.

Since said characters haven't had an appearance in over half a decade, and they probably won't appear again till who knows how long, the ships are at a standstill. Still it seemed like the writers wanted Misty and Tracey to become good friends, better than they were in the actual Orange Island saga, at any rate.

Originally Posted by Gliscor'd

It seems to me that the writers were playing around with the idea of Orangeshipping in the specials since at the time they were cementing Misty as a Gym leader and knew they weren't going to have her rejoin the main cast.
So it seemed like a way for Misty to settle with a friend she met on a past journey with a new career she had.

Not sure about that,way in which they written out Misty without giving any real closure to her story gave implication to many people at that time how writers kept door for Misty open enough to have her rejoin main cast in case new characters like May/Max doesnt end up accepted well like it was case with Tracey.

That explains why they left said character story open taking up gm out of obligation later on staying due to sisters incompetence as hosos showed never showing any particular interest to be gym leader viewing it more as job out of necessity.,
It seems writers purposely left loose ends going for her character leaving storyline like dream of becoming water master untied at standstill leaving everything undefined to have reasons for which they could return her later just picking up from where they stopped.

Since said characters haven't had an appearance in over half a decade, and they probably won't appear again till who knows how long, the ships are at a standstill. Still it seemed like the writers wanted Misty and Tracey to become good friends, better than they were in the actual Orange Island saga, at any rate.

Agreed,Misty and Tracey had some quality and great character interacting in chronicles becoming better friends being understandable considering how thy had more time to interact with Tracey often being sent by prof.Oak to do one task or another.

Not to say they werent good friends in Orange Islands because they had some memorable interactions there as well with chronicles simply allowing to expand more on their friendship giving more substance to it.
However i cant say i noticed any sign of romantic affection coming from either side seeming only like good friends to me.

If anything i found funny how Daisy dropped her eye on Tracey when inviting him to go on dinner with her though that was more sign of gratitude than anything else.