Dawn (anime)

Dawn (ヒカリ Hikari) is a young Pokémon Coordinator currently traveling 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. Dawn's character design is based off of the playable character of the same name from the Diamond, Pearl and Platinum games.

Biography
Dawn made her debut in the first episode of Pokémon: Diamond and Pearl, Following a Maiden's Voyage!. In this episode she met Ash's Pikachu after it had temporarily escaped from Team Rocket. Returning Pikachu to Ash would be how she met him and began to travel with him. Now Dawn, Ash and Brock travel together throughout the Sinnoh region in the Diamond and Pearl series.

Dawn is a very confident person, 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 mistake. Despite this, Dawn is carefree and is always confident in her abilities, even from the beginning of her journey. Dawn will usually say the phrase, "No need to worry", to which her Mother views this as a cause to worry more. 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.

Dawn seems to be more fixated on her appearance then 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. She will also brush her hair thoroughly before appearing on T.V.. Dawn also seems to have some talent in designing, as she designed a series of outfits for the Hearthome Collection and Buneary's outfit.

In her first contest, Dawn makes friends with a talented Coordinator called Zoey. Dawn loses her accessory just before the contest, and after much panicking and searching, it is revealed that she had dropped it and Zoey had picked it up. After returning it to Dawn, Zoey goes on to win the contest. Dawn cries at her loss and after a quick word of support from her Mother, 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, and at this a rivalry is formed between the two girls.

For a while, Dawn seemed to be on a losing streak, losing in the appeal round of her competitions two times in a row. Though learning that the Gym Leader Maylene had similar problems and confidence issues she agreed to battle her in the episode Crossing The Battle Line!. Though she lost this battle, it motivated her to train harder and she did. She eventually would go on to win the Wallace Cup, defeating May in the process. From here on Dawn currently has three ribbons and is strongly pursuing her goal.

Traded

 * Traded to Ash for his Aipom in the episode Throwing the Track Switch.

Voice Actresses

 * English: Emily Jenness
 * Japanese: Megumi Toyoguchi

Trivia

 * Dawn is an only child.
 * Dawn's bike was destroyed by Pikachu's Thunderbolt, a sort of on-going gag that has been used with the other two girls, Misty and May.
 * Dawn is the only person that has traveled with Ash that, so far, has not trained a Flying-Type Pokémon. (Excluding Max due to him being underage)
 * Both Hikari and Dawn mean some type of light.
 * Dawn is the only female character to travel with Ash and Brock to lose in the appeal round in a contest
 * Dawn is the only female traveling companion to always dress up for a contest.
 * She is the only character to lose to Jessie in an appeal round.