Dawn (anime): Difference between revisions

Dawn is notable for her confidence, since she is always looking towards the future rather than dwelling on her mistakes, although she has learned that this is not always enough. In the Japanese version, her catchphrase is, "{{tt|Daijōbu!|'It's fine!' or 'It'll be alright!'}}" Although not consistently translated in the English dub at first, she began to regularly use "No need to worry!" In stark contrast to {{an|May}}'s inexperience and self-doubt at the start of the {{series|Advanced Generation}}, Dawn was overly confident and assured in her own strength in the beginning.

She began her journey with her Piplup. Unlike {{an|May}}, she knew from the beginning that she wanted to be a {{pkmn|Coordinator}}. After meeting Ash and Brock, she decided to journey with them, as their experience would likely be helpful to her. Like Ash, she is lucky enough to have seen a [[legendary Pokémon]] at the start of her journey, the projected soul of {{p|Mesprit}} in ''[[DP001|Following A Maiden's Voyage!]]''. She lost her first {{pkmn|Contest}} in ''[[DP012|Arrival of a Rival!]]'' and ended up getting support from her mother who told her to rely on her friends. Eventually, in her [[DP027|second official Contest]], Dawn narrowly beat her childhood rival {{si|Kenny}} to gain her first [[ribbon]].  

In ''[[DP049|Dawn's Early Night!]]'', when she competed in the [[Hearthome City]] Contest, she lost in the Appeal Round, making her the first of the main characters to lose a Contest by losing the appeal round. In ''[[DP061|Team Shocker!]]'', she lost the Appeal Round for second time in a row. This marked a notable change in Dawn's character. Previously, she had only occasionally been seen {{pkmn|training}} for Contests. After the second blow to her self-esteem, she didn't know what to do and was still very upset throughout ''[[DP062|Tanks for the Memories!]]''. After this, she began to become more focused and regained her confidence after {{pkmn|battle|battling}} [[Maylene]] in ''[[DP067|Crossing the Battle Line!]]''. Dawn began to practice in earnest and eventually was able to break her losing streak in ''[[DP079|Strategy With a Smile!]]'' and was able to win the [[Wallace Cup]] after narrowly defeating {{an|May}} in the final round. Dawn has since maintained her newfound focus and humility. After learning of the next Contest in [[Celestic Town]], she became very dedicated in her training, and actually overworked her Pokémon in ''[[DP092|A Lean Mean Team Rocket Machine!]]''. Due to her hard work, she managed to win the Contest in ''[[DP095|Battling The Generation Gap!]]''. In ''[[DP106|A Breed Stampede!]]'', her {{TP|Dawn|Mamoswine}} began to disobey her after [[Evolution|evolving]]. Despite this, she is still eager to train it well.

[[File:Young Dawn.png|thumb|left|240px|Young Dawn]]

While she is the only female main character not to have a sibling, she has two childhood friends that appeared in the {{pkmn|anime}}, {{si|Kenny}} and [[Leona]], both of whom call her '''Dee Dee''' (Japanese: '''ピカリ''' ''Pikari'') sometimes.  

Dawn has prevented them from telling Ash and Brock about the reason why she has this nickname, but in [[DP161]] it was revealed that the reason for the name was due to her hair glittering (ピカピカ ''pikapika'') after being shocked by the class pets in her kindergarten, {{p|Plusle}} and {{p|Minun}}.  Due to the trauma from being teased by her entire class with the nickname, she is very reluctant to let others know the origin of the name. She seems to be closer to Leona than to Kenny. Kenny functions as a rival for Dawn alongside [[Zoey]]. Zoey also functions as a semi-mentor to Dawn and helped her recover from her [[DP061|second loss]]. All three are competing for their first time in the regional Contests. Leona, however, challenges [[Gym]]s. She also seemed to be childhood friends with {{an|Barry}} when she was little, and was very upset that he didn't remember who she was.

Dawn is much more different than any of Ash's {{ashfr|other friends}}. Dawn has more concern about her appearance, as she will not show herself to Ash or Brock until she feels that her appearance is perfect. That may be a reason why she decides to sleep inside a tent while the others sleep outside. However, she has recently been seen sleeping outside with the others, such as in ''[[DP053|Tears for Fears!]]''. Every time she's going to be on camera, she needs to take a moment to brush her hair before going on. In ''[[DP070|The Bells Are Singing!]]'', Dawn revealed that she was the one to design {{TP|Dawn|Buneary}}'s vest (but also admitted that her mother was the one to sew it). In ''[[DP086|Arriving in Style!]]'', she demonstrated her talent for designing again, sketching many different dresses for the [[Hearthome Collection]], though she rejected all of them.

[[File:Dawn Grand Festival.png|thumb|left|250px|Dawn in the Grand Festival]]

Also unlike Ash's other friends, Dawn has already crossed a lot of boundaries that have previously only been held by Ash. She saw the aforementioned [[legendary Pokémon]] prior to meeting Ash, and is the first main character to own an {{type2|Electric}} [[Dawn's Pachirisu|Pokémon]] besides Ash. Having caught {{TP|Dawn|Buneary}}, {{TP|Dawn|Pachirisu}}, and {{AP|Buizel}}, Dawn has captured more Pokémon in her first 35 episodes that any of the other main characters, aside from Ash. She is also the first main character besides Ash to have battled [[Lucian|a member]] of the [[Elite Four]], and the first of [[Ash's friends]] to have defeated a {{p|Phione|legendary Pokémon}} in battle.

She had a [[bicycle]], but like {{an|Misty}}'s and {{an|May}}'s bikes, [[Ash's Pikachu]] destroyed it with its {{m|Thunderbolt}}. However, she did not mention this to Ash until more than 30 episodes after it happened. Johanna gave Dawn one of her old [[ribbon]]s from her days as a Coordinator as a gift for luck. She also had a large suitcase full of dresses, but her mother made her leave it at home due to its impracticality. She also has a [[Contest Pass]] for the [[Sinnoh]] region, and her Contest cry is "Spotlight!" (English) or "Charm up!" (Japanese).

* Dawn's name is a reference to {{game3|Diamond and Pearl|Diamond|s}}, as [[Paul]] references {{game3|Diamond and Pearl|Pearl|s}}. "Dawn" may also be a reference to "Hikari," which means "light"--dawn is essentially the day's first light.

[[Image:Dawnpll.JPG|220px|thumb|right|Dawn in [[Pokémon Learning League]]]]

* Like [[I Won't Lose! ~Haruka's Theme~|May]], she has her own [[List of Japanese ending themes|ending theme song]], titled 君のそばで 〜ヒカリのテーマ〜 ''[[By Your Side ~Hikari's Theme~]]''. It is the first ending of the {{series|Diamond & Pearl}}. The song is performed by グリン ''Grin''.

* On the [[Pokémon Learning League]] website, [[List of clothing in the anime|her clothing]] has been altered so that her white undershirt has sleeves and she is wearing black stockings or tights.

=== Similarities to Ash ===

* Out of all of {{Ash}}'s {{ashfr|friends}}, Dawn is the only one so far to have her debut episode dedicated completely to herself. Unlike other debut episodes, Ash didn't appear until the last minute. Also in that episode, she saw {{p|Mesprit|a legendary Pokémon}} similar to how Ash did at the start of his journey.

* She is the only main character aside from Ash to challenge an official Pokémon Gym from the games, and the first of Ash's friends to compete in an official Gym Battle in the main series since ''[[EP005|Showdown at Pewter City]]'' and ''[[EP007|The Water Flowers of Cerulean City]]'', where Brock battled Ash and Misty battled Ash respectively.