Manga Hints



Here is where we look at Palletshipping hints from all the official mangas that have the characters Ash and Gary or some incarnation of them.

Ono's Pikachu series



This is the most popular manga, the one based on the anime. Of course, I first have to adress the fact that in this storyline, Ash supposedly has a crush on May, Gary's sister.

Well, ever heard of a psychological phenomenon called displacement? Ash really loves Gary, but he's in denial, so he transfers his affection for Gary onto his sister, May. It may sound a little odd, but there really is a lot of evidence to back this theory up.

For one thing, every single time he sees her, he asks her how Gary is doing. Really, if every time someone saw you, they asked you about your brother, wouldn't you start to suspect that maybe they liked your brother? Not only that, but at one point Ash has a dream about May, and even in his DREAM the first thing he says to her is, "So, how's Gary?" I mean really, what kind of guy fantasizes about asking a girl about her brother? Probably the kind that likes her brother!

Also, whenever Ash thinks of May, he rarely thinks of her by her name. It's always "Gary's sister" this and "Gary's sister" that. Ash's thoughts of her are always in terms of Gary. Even the picture that Ash carries around of May just happens to have Gary in the backgroud! It really seems that Ono is going out of his way here to make sure that every single aspect of Ash's "crush" on May focuses completely around Gary!


Notice too that Gary is acting pretty jealous!

Ash also seems to think about Gary a lot in other situations. At one point, he thinks of giving up on his quest, but the thought of Gary not respecting him if he did gives him the iniative to keep going. The thought of Gary also inspires him to try to catch a Clefairy.

Also, in this manga, Ash and Gary were friends before they were rivals. This is proven by an adorable "flashback" scene of them watching the "Super Ball" together, back when they were best friends.


The way Gary is looking at Ash here is adorable!

You've got to wonder why the two would just suddenly stop being friends for no apparent reason. Most Palletshippers support the theory that it was because they had feelings for each other and couldn't handle it.

Later, the two meet up at the Indigo Plateau. Gary actually congratulates Ash on winning his first round, and says he hopes that he and Ash get to battle each other. Ash seems really happy to see Gary and says he'll root for him, and Gary wishes Ash luck!


They're linking arms! CUTE!

A while later Ash is at a research center, which is full of a lot of special stuff that many people never get to see. Ash is supposed to be listening to Bill tell about some new discoveries, but as soon as he notices that Gary is there, he gets totally distracted and wanders away from Bill to talk to Gary. They end up having a little competition to see who can catch Team Rocket first.

At the very end of the whole seires, Gary and Ash become friends again end up traveling together- alone! The ending is pretty open- the two just head off into the sunset together towards new adventures.


I'm sorry, but what Ash is saying here sounds really suggestive!

Pokemon Adventures



This manga, called Pokemon Special in Japan, is based on the video games rather than the anime. The first arc stars Red (based on Ash), Blue (based on Gary), and a girl named Green. Note that in the Japanese version of this manga, Blue and Green's names are switched; the character based on Gary is called Green, and the female character is called Blue. However, here I will be referring to Gary's character as "Blue," and referring to the girl as "Green." The coupling of Red and Blue (Green in Japan) was originally called Rainbowshipping, but is now more commonly called Originalshipping or MangaPalletshipping. Anyways, this manga has a few pretty good hints for a relationship between Red and Blue. Interestingly, many of the original English-speaking Palletshippers (circa 1999) cited this manga series as the thing that first turned them on to Palletshipping.

The second time that Red and Blue meet up, Red goes to punch Blue, so Blue grabs his hand. However, he holds on a little longer than he really has to, and the two end up just standing there with thier fingers entertwined as they talk.


Their faces are pretty close together, too.

Later, when Red hears that Blue went to the Pokemon tower and didn't come back, he rushes off pretty quickly to try to save him. It turns out Blue has been possessed, and Red saves him.


Red is concerned for Blue.

After Blue is back to normal, they work together to beat Team Rocket. Red thinks to himself that Blue is good, but is too shy to actually say it out loud. After they succeed in defeating Team Rocket, Red even tells someone that he didn't really do anything; Blue deserves all the credit.


Red is looking after Blue a little wistfully.

When Red and Blue infiltrate the Team Rocket base together, Red falls down a hole and Blue reaches for him and they call each others' names. Maybe not exactly a hint, but at first Blue WAS determied to do this on his own without Red, and he could have just tried to leave Red for dead inside the compound like Green did.


Well it's cute, anyways.

Later, Blue is literally being suffocated by Koga's Muk, but during this time he's concerned for Red. Koga even says to him, "Do you really think you're in a position to be worrying about your friend?"


Blue thinks of Red.

When Red and Blue meet up at the Pokemon League, they're happy to see each other. They smile and greet each other, and Red winks at Blue!


Blue leaps down to talk to Red right after this panel.

Before they begin the battle that will determine the champion, they touch hands with each other.


I don't think anyone else did that...

During the battle, Professor Oak goes on a lot about how Red and Blue have taken each others' best traits and incorporated them into themselves...and not just battle strategies either, also thoughts and opinions. A theme here, which was also shown in the story where they infiltrated Team Rocket's hideout, seems to be that these two are much better together than they are separately.


"They know each other like the backs of thier own hands"....very nice.

When the battle is over, you'd think the loser would be kind of mad and that the winner might be gloating or something, but no, they just kind of look each other and smile and decide to head back home to Pallet- together.


The end of the R/B/G saga.

The next part of the story, the Yellow saga, picks up two years later. Red has gone missing and a person named Yellow has teamed up with Red's Pikachu to help find him. Blue gets word from Professor Oak that Red is missing.


Blue must stop his training to help Red.

Blue drops everything and goes to help look for Red. He meets up with Yellow and the two of them go off together to search for Red. As I have not read much of the Yellow arc, I can't comment further on any possible hints from this manga.

After the Yellow arc, the Gold/Silver/Crystal arc begins. In this arc, Red and Blue are no longer main characters. However, they do come back as main characters for the Fire Red/Leaf Green arc. In the FR/LG arc, Red and Blue work together to fight Team Rocket. In all following arcs, Red and Blue are again no longer main characters; however, they do make appearances. As I said, I haven't read past the beginning of the Yellow arc, so I can't discuss any possible hints beyond it. If you woukd like to donate scans that show hints for a Red/Blue relationship in the Yellow arc or beyond, please e-mail me.

Pokemon Zensho



This is an offical manga that was never translated into English. It follows the video games very closely, much more so than the Pokemon Adventures manga. The Pokemon Zensho manga has a lot of the standard hints, like Satoshi thinking about Shigeru a lot at random times, and the two fighting and trying to impress each other.

But the cool thing is that this is another manga where, at the end, the two become friends again and go off traveling alone together. The way it happens is, after Satoshi beats Shigeru for the title of Pokemon Master, a pillar starts to fall, and Satoshi dives to knock Shigeru out of the way and saves him. At that point they become good friends and go off together in search of Mewtwo.


Good ending!

Pokemon R/B/Y and G/S/C

Yeah, the video games. Maybe it sounds strange, but I even see a little evidence there. I mean, in RBY, Gary is always waiting around to battle Ash, his teases seem cutesy, and he sometimes even gives helpful advice or compliments. This at least proves that Gary was never meant to be a total enemy to Ash. I also noticed that in GSC, when you run into Gary, the first thing he does is start going on about Ash.

Now, things that happen in the manga and games don't nessesarily have any bearing on the anime, but Ash and Gary having something going on between them seems to be a theme throughout every incarnation of Pokemon in which they appear.