ヒカリ ✖ ❐  - 
A shrine with info for Dawn and a exploration of her character.
Dawn is the main character in Pokemon anime: Diamond & Pearl season, having the role of co-protagonist alongside Ash. She is based on the Diamond & Pearl game player characters, but her personality for the anime is unique to it (like most of the game characters adpated onto it).

The following article is going to be taking the original japanese anime as reference to avoid confusion as the dub sometimes will change small things (or even big things). I'll be using mostly english terminology, but if the need arises, I will be using japanese terms with a hover in translation.

Achievements

Region Ribbons Grand Festival placement
Sinnoh A pixel image featuring all the ribbons Dawn got in DPanime. From left to right, it shows Floaroma's ribbon, Aqua Ribbon, Celestic Ribbon, Chocovine and finally Daybreak Ribbon. Those are made by Ayafeneres Runner-up

Personality and traits

The most remarkable character trait of Dawn is her optimism, with her catchphrase even being her iconic "Daijobu". However, her tendency of always seeing the bright sides of things and avoiding worrying those around her can sometimes end with her hurting herself, as it can bee seen in plenty of episodes of DPani.

Dawn starts the anime pretty much like Ash, dreaming of getting her first pokemon and wondering which one she will be choosing. However, unlike him, she wakes up in time. However, just like him, she doesnt seem to fully grasp the work that goes into being a trainer.

That will become even more obvious once she starts her contest circuit.

When she fails in her first contest, Dawn's first move is to call her mother and cry to her about it. A clear showcase of her immaturity. But is also a showcase of her need for validation from those she cares for.

Episodes such as DP019 {Twice Smitten, Once Shy!} show us how insecure Dawn can be. With how she doesn't feel confident in her own abilities to raise a troublemaker of a pokemon like Pachirisu, how she even mentions how she shouldn't keep a pokemon that causes trouble to people around her.

How this comes back time and time again, such as in DP049 {Dawn's Early Night!}, where Dawn makes a comment about how she wants Zoey and Ash and everyone that helped in her training be proud (something sadly missing from the dub); or in DP066 {Lost Leader Strategy!}, where Dawn confides to Maylene about how she feels that she is putting Ash down in his own goal with her own.

Dawn very clearly wants people's approval. And that could even tie back to her childhood, how she has an amazing coordinator for a mother, but at the same time has peers of her age make fun of her for smaller things (such as the origin of her nickname, bad decisions she made when younger, etc).

Despite all of that, she is always optimistic (or tries to be).

Why I adore her

Dawn is a character I love deeply because she wants to be great, but more than any obstacle in her way, she has to fight her own insecurities to achieve that.

Is rare seeing a female character be written with as much love as Dawn and you just got to appreciate when that happens.

And she is SO SILLY and funny and full of personality? Like, even for anime standarts, Dawn makes faces you never expect from a "pretty girl" and I adore her so much.

On top of all that, her design appeals to me so much??? I love her color palette, I love her silly scarf and pink petal skirt, I love her blue hair and hairstyle. Dawn walked so Miku could run. There, I said it.