What do you mean by amourshipping is canon and not canon at the same time?
Excellent question! And you know what I’m going to tag this because the war from both sides is going too far. So first things first. I neither ship Pokeshipping nor Amourshipping, I ship Negaishipping the like 5 of us that exist. So I’m going to talk about the kiss from a writing perspective and as a member of neither side. Just call me Switzerland
1) Why Amour is now canon:
A little history lesson if you will. Pokemon was originally planned to end after season 1 and Ash and Misty was going to be endgame. And so Misty was written as a typical 90′s tsundere with a crush on our main protagonist. What was going to happen is the show would have ended and flash forward to the future where they would have been together.
But something happened. Pokemon blew up, Pokemon went on. But that didn’t change anything, because Pokeshipping was still the original endgame. Other ships came and went but Pokeshipping held it’s spot. This was her ending, the handkerchief she gave him was her way of stating her feelings. She was the only main companion who had a crush on our protagonist and so Pokeshipping held it’s spot of “closest to canon.” Sure we had other girls on the cast, but none of them had a crush on him like Misty. And we had other girls not in the cast that crushed on him but that’s not the same as having feelings and being on the main cast. Therefore Pokeshipping stayed for almost 20 years.
Whatever you want to say about her writing, and trust me I said my fair share, she was in Misty’s spot now, a girl with a crush on Ash. An even more blatant crush than Misty’s. But would they take her crush anywhere? Would Pokeshipping lose it’s closest to canon status now that we had another girl or would the crush be lost as she developed. Let me just say first of all I was completely wrong on my prediction. I thought she’d lose it as she grew to get a new goal but it wasn’t and it grew stronger until we got our kiss.
-”But Jane!” You state, “Other girls kissed Ash too!”
They have. Melody and Latias (I will argue until the day I die that wasn’t Bianca) On the cheek. The fact they didn’t show this kiss tells me all I need to know; it was on the mouth. This was different than those. And even if it was on the cheek which I will argue wasn’t due to how it was presented this was the first time a main girl kissed him. That’s a big deal. And it’s not just the kiss it’s everything with the kiss. Yes, Ash reacted the exact same as the rest of the kisses, he got surprised. It’s certainly not two sided, but neither was Pokeshipping. Pokeshipping was only two sided when they thought it was going to end, and then they stopped. Just like Pokeshipping was set up to be endgame when it ended Amour is now set up to be endgame now that XY is over. That kiss especially in an airport is a romantic trope end of series trope. Just like Misty giving him her handkerchief is a romantic trope. Years later we fast forward and we see them as a couple, Had this been any other anime that would have sealed the deal. Her dialogue was deliberately written to be read both romantic and not romantic the closest to a confession the show ever got and was meant to read both ways. Making Amour the new endgame ship for Ash.
2) Why Amour is still not canon:
POKEMON DOESN’T END. Pokemon will end when we’re all dead and gone and even then it could still be going for all I know. That’s why Amourshipping is in the spot it’s in. It’s the new endgame in a never ending show. It’ll never be realized but Pokeshipping has had it’s spot taken from it after almost 20 years. And as Pokemon continues on I bet 20 years later we’ll have a new endgame and so on and so forth. There is one thing that can take Amour’s endgame status from it though and that’s if we see Serena again.
Here’s the thing, Misty giving Ash a handkerchief is really subtle so she can in fact show up again, compared to Serena’s not so subtle airport kiss. Meaning if Serena cameoes after her big damn finale and they act like nothing ever happened….it’s ruined. Amour loses its canon status. Because the way that trope works is the kiss will be the last thing you see of them. Until you see them in the future again it’s basically the only way you can endgame a onesided ship if you will. Bring her back it’s over the trope is no longer in effect Amour is back to not being endgame.
3) What this means for you:
Absolutely nothing. Both sides are right. Amourshippers do have a canon ship, but if you don’t ship it it’s not canon either, it’s in what I call ship limbo. If you do ship it though you better hope she doesn’t cameo because like I said it’s status will be gone. Which is ironic to me because if you hate the ship you need to hope she, the person you probably hate shows up again. And if you love the ship, you have to hope, she the person you love never shows up again. Shipping is such a funny thing that way.
Pokeshippers have now passed the crown. And that’s okay. Because truly no Ash ship will be canon, he’ll still be an eternal ten year old who will never age and continue on region to region. Years later it’s possible Amour will pass on it’s crown to whatever the new endgame ship will be and so on and so forth until Pokemon finally ends.
Pokeshippers I understand why you guys are salty as hell it sucks you have to pass on your crown, but it still means nothing to you continue to ship like you been have. But DON’T attack the Amourshippers and don’t hate on them be happy they get to feel what you felt so long ago. And yeah I get it you never got anything like this and you’ll be bitter forever I get it! My cast is the only cast to get a sucky goodbye and I’ll be bitter forever too but the adult thing to do is accept it and try to be happy for the other side. And remember it really doesn’t matter anyway, Pokemon will never end, no Ash ship will actually ever happen. Take solstice in that.
Amourshippers congratulations not giving up until the end paid off for you. But don’t rub it in the faces of other shippers either, especially Pokeshippers who are in a delicate spot right now. Almost 20 years they’ve been untouchable after all respect them. And remember that even though your ship is now canon no Ash ship truly ever happens either so calling your ship canon, while it’s true isn’t true at the same time. Continue to ship like normal, be adults but truthfully this isn’t a competition there is no winner okay?
Advanceshippers, Pearlshippers, Negaishippers, and soon to be the SM shippers hey. Nothing really changed for us we’ve never been in this “endgame in an anime that never ends spot”, just keep doing what you’re doing and have fun shipping.
