I care about "shipping" a lot, actually. In the anime, I was hoping that, one day, Ash and Misty would finally admit their feelings for each other, but that never happened to my knowledge. Jessie and James seemed like they could have made a good couple. I don't see how they could have traveled together all those years and not gone on a single date. The same thing applies to Ash and his other female travel companions. Ash could have easily expressed some feelings for May, but then again, he seemed more like a brother to her. Ash and Dawn were similar, but this could have been something as well regarding a relationship. They definitely had the chemistry for a good couple. Ash and Iris had that "baby mama/baby daddy" type relationship, as if they were together before but had a bad breakup. If they had learned to tolerate each other's personalities, it could have worked out. Ash and Sareena definitely were the closet things we got. Ash could have shown the whole world how good he was with the women if he got both Lana and Mallow, but of course, that never happened. Another aspect of this that I considered is Brock. Brock hit on almost every woman in the series, but he hardly had any luck. Thus, I was very happy when he was able to get with Olivia. They seem like the perfect couple for each other. In the games, Brendan and May in the Hoenn games were perhaps the closest thing we had to romance between protagonists. Brendan always came off as a boy who was good with girls, in my opinion. May is definitely a girl that deserves some good romance. She looks cute in her Pokémon Contest attire, and she should definitely be allowed to show off her beauty to guys that appreciate it. As for who would make good couples, Cynthia and Lance could definitely work. Lance specializes in Dragon-type Pokémon and Cynthia's signature Pokémon, Garchomp, is a Dragon-type Pokémon. They also seem to have similar personalities. Hunter J from the anime could perhaps make a good partner for Giovanni, considering how evil they are. I wouldn't be surprised if they used to date already. Same-sex relationships are also a thing as well. I always thought of Gym Leader Erika as a lesbian for a few reasons. For one, she gives away the Rainbow Badge. Rainbows are a symbol of the LGBT community. Two, in the anime at least, she disallows males from entering her gym, and in the games, all her trainers are female. This proves that she enjoys the company of girls more than guys, which says a lot about her character. With that being said, perhaps she can enter a relationship with one of those girls in her gym. It would be a great way to represent LGBT characters in Pokémon.
