Dawn

Dawn

Dawn(ヒカリ Hikari)

Character information

Gender:

Female

Region:

Sinnoh

Debut:

Following A Maiden's Voyage!

Hometown:

Twinleaf Town

Family:

Johanna (mother)

Friends:

Leona

Kenny

Professor Rowan

Ash

Brock

Professor Oak

Nando

Zoey

Cynthia

Gary

Conway

Reggie

Kellyn

Solana

May

Angie

Barry

Looker

Delia

Iris

Cilan

Occupation:

Coordinator

Voice actor:

Megumi Toyoguchi (Japanese)

Emily Jenness (English)

Dawn is a young, blue-haired Pokémon Coordinator who traveled through the Sinnoh region along with Ash and Brock. Dawn started her journey at the age of 10, honing her skills as a Pokémon Trainer and focusing on becoming a Top Coordinator like her mother, Johanna.

She's notable for her confidence, even when things are not going well. She has learned a lot throughout her travels and battles and can get very emotional when it comes to winning or losing in a contest. Throughout her Sinnoh travels, she has developed rivalries with many coordinators such as Zoey (her main rival, albeit a friendly one), Nando, Jessie, Kenny, and Ursula. "

Appearance
Dawn's outfit appears to resemble a mini dress, consisting of a black V-neck top with a white undershirt with a short pink skirt and a red scarf. On her head, she wears a white beanie with a pink Poké-Ball print on it. She also wears gold hair clips that hold up her hair in front. She wears a bracelet on her right wrist and a Pokétch on her left. On her feet, she wears pink knee-high boots with black over-knee socks underneath. She also has a small yellow backpack with all her personal belongings. It is nearly identical to her game counterpart's with the exception of her scarf and bag.

Her contest outfit is a pink dress with a necklace which has a small red ribbon on it, dark pink horizontal and vertical accents, pink sash, and has her hair in a ponytail, however, it varies from contest to contest. Dawn's swimwear is a two-piece swimsuit colored peachy-orange and yellow. In the Grand Festival, she wore a cream-yellow mini-dress with an orange sash, pinkish-red ribbon in her hair and another identical one in her chest, long white gloves, a white petticoat, and low heel ballet pumps.

At night she is seen wearing pink pajama bottoms and a matching shirt with a yellow line going down them.

When Dawn returned, her Pokétch was replaced with a Xtransceiver.

Personality
Dawn is very confident in her abilities, though not to the same extent as Ash. She often gets emotional when she loses, and Ash and Brock often helped her to cope with that. When she lost two contests in a row, not managing to get through the first round of appeals, she became very depressed. However, she regained her confidence after she won the Wallace Cup, along with a new fund sense of maturity. She is also very sensitive and supportive of her friends. A clear example of that occurred when she worked on a cheerleading recital to help Ash feel better after he fell into depression following his humiliating defeat at the hands of his bitter rival Paul. She also appears to be quite quick-tempered sometimes.

Skills
Dawn can make an amazing poffins, which a lot of her Pokémon like also some of her friends Pokémon like it as well, she knows how to fish and she can design clothes very well, but she just lets her mother and Brock do the shewing for her. Dawn grown to be a good battler and a great performer in her contests.

Dawn has the ability to sense the feelings of Pokémon, shown when Mesprit chose to connect with her.

Biography
Diamond & Pearl

Dawn made her debut in Following A Maiden's Voyage! when she picked Piplup as her starter Pokémon. In the next episode, she met Ash's Pikachu after it had temporarily escaped from Team Rocket. Returning Pikachu to Ash was how she met him and Brock. Dawn traveled with Ash and Brock through Sinnoh until Ash and Brock left for home back in the Kanto region after the Sinnoh League.

Dawn returning her fainted Piplup back in his Poké Ball.

When she makes a mistake she will often quickly recover and strive to do better. Sometimes she can be a little overconfident though, and it may cause her to make a simple mistake, like when she had her newly evolved Ambipom use Swift. Despite this, Dawn is carefree, upbeat, cheerful and is always confident in her abilities, even from the beginning of her journey. Dawn's mother, Johanna, gave Dawn her very first ribbon in the first episode and now Dawn keeps it with her as a good-luck charm. Her old friends for some mysterious reason (which Dawn keeps trying to hide) call her "Dee Dee" (Diamond Dandruff). Dawn seems to be more fixated on her appearance than the other two main female characters Misty and May. In an episode, Dawn would refuse to show herself to Ash and Brock until she straightened out her bed hair.

In her first contest, Dawn made friends with a talented Coordinator named Zoey. Dawn loses her accessory just before the contest and thus loses the contest. Zoey talks to Dawn about how losing is just a lesson that you should learn from. Dawn promises that she will become just as good as Zoey one day. For a while, Dawn seemed to be on a losing streak, losing in the appeal round of her competitions two times in a row. However, her goal proceeded as she participated in her fourth Pokémon Contest in the episode Another One Gabites The Dust! where Dawn faced a rather mean and arrogant girl named Ursula. After insulting her, the two coordinators developed a fierce rivalry. Soon enough, the two girls faced each other at the finals, where Dawn's Pachirisu barely managed to beat Ursula's Gabite though, winning the battle. As she learns about the double appeals in the upcoming contest, Dawn is determined to create a new combination. At first she lacks of ideas, but soon develops an Ice-Fire combination idea consisting of Mamoswine and Cyndaquil.

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, Plusle and Minun. With her hair ruined, Kenny spread the word and soon she was teased by the nickname. Since her last win in Daybreak Town, she has been training hard for the upcoming Grand Festival and has come up with many new combinations such as the Pachirisu/Mamoswine combo and the Buneary/Cyndaquil combo.

In Last Call — First Round! the Grand Festival begins. Except Kenny, all of Dawn's rivals including Dawn make it to the Battle Round. Dawn battled Ursula once again and after 5 minutes of intense battling, Dawn defeats Ursula. After Ursula's defeat, she admitted that she is weaker than Dawn. Dawn managed to reach the semi-finals of the Grand Festival. There, she found herself against no one other than Jessilina. In the end, Dawn won and advanced to the finals to face Zoey, who has beaten Nando in the semi-finals.

Zoey and Dawn, they both showcase their skills as Top Coordinator; but as the time runs out, with only a few points difference, Zoey wins the title of Top Coordinator and the Sinnoh Ribbon Cup so she gets in the second place. She promises to her Pokémon that they will not stop trying until they reach the top.

Upon returning to Twinleaf Town, Johanna informs Dawn that Paris from Hearthome City wants Dawn to model Buneary and the outfits she designed. Although Dawn was originally going to leave with Ash and Brock to go to Kanto, she decides that she will remain in Sinnoh.

Black & White

Ash, Iris, and Cilan arrive at Cynthia's villa waiting to see who's waiting for Ash. Once they come in, Dawn sneaks behind Ash and pokes him, making him think someone's behind him. She's then introduced to Iris and Cilan and Ash tells Dawn about his new friend Meloetta. Dawn misunderstands what he's talking about and he decides to show her Ash's new Pokémon and Iris' and Cilan's as well. She introduces herself to them and brings out her own Pokémon, revealing her Cyndaquil evolved into Quilava which impresses Ash. Cilan decides to battle Dawn since Dawn is a coordinator and Cilan is a connoisseur. During the battle, Dawn showed everyone her contest moves and Cilan gave his evaluation which confused Dawn and embarrassed Iris. After the battle they decide to relax for a while and they hear Meloetta sing its song. Team Rocket records the song and reports it to Prof. Zager as they make preparations for the future. In Goodbye, Junior Cup - Hello Adventure!, she returned to the Johto region.

Pokémon
On hand

Piplup ♂

After having various Buneary attack her during her travels, Dawn came across another Buneary. Eager to add it to her team, she attempts to battle it and eventually succeeds and captures it. Buneary is female and appears to have a crush on Ash's Pikachu and knows many powerful attacks including Ice Beam. In the final episode, Buneary is chosen to model for a Pokémon Magazine, resulting in Dawn staying behind in Sinnoh while Ash and Brock return to Kanto.

Buneary ♀

During her travels, Dawn met up with a hyper Pachirisu. After several problems between Pachirisu and the group, Dawn eventually befriended the cute little squirrel. It is a loving Pokémon, that is known to shock Dawn whenever it is happy, causing Dawn a Bad Hair Day. However, it has some powerful attacks including Spark so it is able to hold its own in battle.

Pachirisu

After evolving from Piloswine, Mamoswine seems to be even more hot-headed and immediately charged at Ash & Co. With its powerful attacks such as Ancient Power and Ice Shard, Mamoswine is the major massive powerhouse of Dawn's team. After it evolved, it had trouble obeying Dawn until Dawn managed to convince it to obey when she took care of it when it was injured. When it's not in battle, it has a habit of sleeping.

Swinub → Piloswine → Mamoswine

While Dawn was helping Professor Rowan to get some runaway Pokémon back, Dawn & her Pokémon got captured by a swarm of Ariados. In order to help, Cyndaquil evolved into Quilava and managed to use its massively powerful attacks such as Eruption to defeat the Ariados and protect its trainer.

Egg → Cyndaquil → Quilava

After allowing a princess called Salvia to take her place in a Pokémon Contest, Salvia was kind enough to allow Dawn to have her Togekiss so that Togekiss can partake in Pokémon Contests, which Salvia herself is unable to do. Togekiss has many powerful attacks such as Aura Sphere that allow it to be able to be able to hold its own in battles as well as create dazzling appeals. On Normal Situations, it acts like the eldest Pokémon, just like a big sister to all of Dawn's other Pokémon.

Togekiss ♀

In training

Before evolving, Ambipom was originally Ash's Pokémon. However, since Ash met it, it has loved the idea of contests and not battling and was eventually traded to Dawn and evolved soon afterward. Through the training it received from Ash when it was an Aipom, Ambipom is one of the major powerhouses of Dawn's team, and with this and its love for Contests, it is likely to be used many times in Dawn's campaigns. After partaking in a Pokémon Ping-Pong Tournament, it learned its true calling and after much consideration, decided to leave Dawn and Ash to stay and train in Ping-Pong.

Aipom → Ambipom ♀

Traded away

After hooking it while fishing, the strong Buizel managed to take out Pikachu, Piplup and Zoey's Glameow. This made all three want to get it. After rescuing it from Team Rocket, Buizel allowed Dawn to battle it in order to capture it, which she did. Buizel is a rather strong and arrogant Pokémon, the strength of her team. However, due to its arrogance, it is not above disobeying orders. Buizel was more into battling than contests. This led Zoey to ask Dawn if it was right to be in her team. After a trial, Dawn decided to trade Buizel for Ash's Aipom.

Buizel ♂

Befriended

Dawn befriended Shaymin when it was trying to return to Gracidea. It also assisted her into stopping Zero from taking over the Reverse World.

Shaymin

Dawn first encountered Mesprit in its spirit form at Lake Verity. When Mesprit was captured by Team Galactic, Dawn and Piplup came and freed it from the Red Chain's power. Together with their hearts connected along with Ash, Azelf, Brock, and Uxie, Dawn and Mesprit worked together to calm Dialga and Palkia and save the Sinnoh region from destruction.

Mesprit

Temporary

When Pikachu got lost, Dawn encountered it and tried to catch it. When the Poké Ball failed to, she realized he belongs to someone and searched for his trainer and succeeded. She also tried to protect Pikachu from Team Rocket.

Pikachu ♂

After the heroes split up at the labyrinth, Dawn teamed up with Croagunk to come out of the maze.

Croagunk ♂

Dawn borrowed Ash's Staravia for one of her trainings.

Staravia ♂

Dawn borrowed Ash's Chimchar for one of her trainings.

Chimchar

During the first two days of the Pokémon Summer Academy, Dawn took care of the Grimer.

Grimer

Dawn used a Dodrio for the Pokémon Triathlon to ride it.

Dodrio

Dawn used a Sharpedo for the Pokémon Triathlon to cross the lake.

Sharpedo

Achievements
Ribbons

Ribbon	Additional Information

Floaroma Town Ribbon	In DP 27 Dawn's Piplup beat Kenny's Prinplup and she won her first ribbon.

Aqua Ribbon	In DP 77-79 the Wallace Cup took place. In DP 79 Dawn with her Piplup beat May's Glaceon in the final and finally broke her losing streak.

Celestic Town Ribbon	In DP 95 Dawn won her third Contest Ribbon by defeating Lila (Johanna's childhood friend) in the Celestic Pokémon Contest.

Chocovine Town Ribbon	In DP 114 Dawn beat her new rival Ursula and she won her fourth Ribbon.

Daybreak Town Ribbon	In DP 162 Dawn beat Ursula after defeating the latter's Ursula's Minun and Plusle and won her fifth and final Ribbon thus becoming eligible to participate in the Sinnoh Grand Festival.

Grand Festival Ranking

Dawn placed in the following Grand Festival competitions:

Sinnoh Grand Festival (Runner-up)

Wallace Cup (Winner)

Other Achievements

Dawn also earned the following achievements:

Hearthome Collection (Winner)

Hearthome Pokemon Tag Battle Tournament (Runner Up- With Conway)

Pokémon Summer School (Winner, with Ash and Brock)

World Tournament Junior Cup (Top 8)

Voice actresses
Dutch: Meghna Kumar

Italian: Tosawi Piovani (Season 10 - 11), Ludovica De Caro (Season 12 - 13)

Greek: Stella Bonatsou

Mandarin: Lin Meixiu

Czech: Rosita Erbanova

Danish: Annevig Schelde-Ebbe

Finnish: Mirjami Heikkinen

Norwegian: Eline Høyer

French: Alexandra Correa

Korean: Chong Mi-Suk

Hebrew: Talia Barkai

German: Jana Julie

Polish: Magdalena Krylik (Season 10), Beata Wyrabkiewicz (Season 11 - 13)

Brazilian Portuguese: Fernanda Bulara

Russian: Anastasia Fomicheva (Season 10 - 11), Olga Shorohova (Season 12 - 15)

Thai: Sansanee Watthananumomchan

Latin American Spanish: Gaby Ugarte (Season 10, 11 & 13), Leyla Rangel (Season 12)

Portuguese: Raquel Ferreira (Season 10), Joana Carvalho (Season 11 - 13)

European Spanish: Mar Bordallo

Swedish: Elina Raeder

Hindi: Neshma Chemburkar (Hungama dub)

Trivia
Dawn's bike was destroyed by Pikachu's Thunderbolt, a sort of ongoing gag that has been used with Misty and May, but wasn't angry at Ash or Pikachu for it due to unfavorable circumstances on their end. This ended with Iris, who started the gag of being shocked by Pikachu directly.

Dawn is the second character who got their starter Pokémon attacked by a wild Pokémon (in this case, Ariados attacked Piplup). The first time this happened was with Ash, where Pikachu got attacked by Spearow in Pokémon - I Choose You!.

Both Hikari and Dawn mean some type of light.

As revealed in DP161, Dawn's nickname Pikari/Dee Dee is tied with her fear of Plusle and Minun.

Dawn is the first main character other than Ash to see a Legendary Pokémon right at the beginning of her journey with her destined Pokémon. Ash saw Ho-Oh with Pikachu on his side while Dawn saw Mesprit after saving Piplup.

Dawn is the first of Ash's companions to have caught an Electric-type Pokémon, Pachirisu.

Dawn's personality reflects that of the emotion Pokémon, Mesprit.

Dawn is the first female protagonist to trade Pokémon with Ash.

Dawn is Ash's only companion who did not have a particular reason for traveling with Ash and Brock through a region.

Dawn is the second character besides May to travel to another region Ash has already been through. In Dawn's case, she traveled to Hoenn where Ash previously traveled, and May traveled to Johto where Ash was traveling before meeting her.

Dawn became famous for winning the Wallace Cup.

Dawn has battled two Gym Leaders in the anime: The first was Maylene and the second was Cilan.

Dawn is Ash's only female travelling companion who didn't use a new outfit during her return.

Dawn returned in BW series for nine episodes which is longer than Misty, who returned on two different occasions for a total of five, and May who returned to the show for five episodes total.

Dawn has met all three of Ash's rivals, having met Gary and Paul in Sinnoh and Trip (during her return in Unova).

Dawn is Ash's only travelling companion who lost to Jessie in an appeal round and to compete for the same ribbon twice.

Both Dawn and Zoey's Japanese names, "Hikari" and "Nozomi". They are both also the names of two Shinkansen "bullet train" lines. The Nozomi is faster than the Hikari, which resembles how Zoey goes further in her skills as a coordinator, than Dawn.

Dawn is the only female companion of Ash's that has battled against a member of the Elite Four. In this case, it is Lucian.

Despite the fact that she has a catchphrase "No need to worry", the situation she usually says it is not good at all.