(If you already have read this in my rant book, ignore this, literally the exact same thing)

If you're not an Amourshipper and don't feel like you want to listen to me rant about it, ignore this part. This is just for me to get my frustration out because I'm being an extreme fangirl right now.

WARNING--- EXCESSIVE RANTING AND PROOF WHY AMOURSHIPPING IS SO CLOSE TO CANON.

Okay here we go.

First, I want to start with the basics that Serena's crush on Ash and it's very much canon. Serena is much different than the other female companions, she's displayed more and she's seen with Ash in most cases.

Posters, official teasers, episodes, trailers, movies, and even online quizzes have shown us proof enough.

Even through Ash's crush on Serena is not canon, we do see much more affection to her than all of the different female companions. He is constantly cheering her ow, helping her, and is most of the time seen standing next to her rather than Clemont and Bonnie.

On top of this, it has gotten to the point where other reoccurring characters have noticed this too, and have said something that impacted the whole community.

For starters, I am going to list off only the basic canon proof that Pokémon Company International have released directly and shown proof that it's canon.

• I'll start with the fact that there was an official teaser that had character connection charts. Serena's arrow to Ash shows "In love...?" when on another one it says the same with an arrow from Ash to Serena that says "Interested in..."
•There was a poster released for Valentine's Day with Ash and Serena exclusively, with Serena shown looking up with Ash blushing. The characters were surrounded by hearts and Serena holding one herself.
•On a official episode quiz, one of the answers were (from Serena's quote) "My dream is to become Satoshi's bride... Ah! I am embarrassed!"
•Two other posters released from Pokémon had Ash and Serena exclusively.
-The Hoopa movie poster, with Serena smiling and Ash kind of a curious look.
-A poster released in CoroCoro with Ash and Serena sitting next to each other (again, no Bonnie or Clemont) with drinks.

How about the fact that Masuda (creator of Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, and many other Pokémon games) posted a picture on Twitter of Ash and Serena playing together as Pikachu, and tagged multiple Amourshipping accounts with it. This is the creator of most Pokémon games we're talking about, and he's most likely an Amourshipper.

Altogether, Ash and Serena are the biggest characters in Pokémon and are the two that are shown next to each other most.

I'm going to move on to the next section--- How different Serena and Ash's connections are to the other Ash ships.

Ash is constantly cheering Serena on and encouraging her, helping her. Serena is always looking up to Ash for help when she needs it, quoting him, and even recalling from when they were little.

Serena and Ash are mainly known as a ship because of the huge flashback that all of the other female companions lacked and never had anything this good.

The flashback consisted of Serena and Ash in a Summer Camp when they were the ages 7-8, and Ash and Serena holding hands while Ash was helping her get out of her fears.

A lot of anti-Amourshippers think this is dumb, and it was put in for no reason.

That's very much wrong. If you haven't noticed yet, there is always a reason for something in Pokémon. They wouldn't just put this in for no reason, just to get shippers hyped and going "OMG SHIP SHIP SHIP." There has got to be a reason they showed this.

I'm assuming this could possibly mean three things:

1) This was to show how deep Ash and Serena's connections were and give them a reason to like each other.

2) There will be later flashbacks in the series, showing deeper connections in this summer camp.

3) This is a reason for them to like each other.

It wasn't just put in for no apparent reason.

For people who say Ash does not give out any hints to liking Serena, you are wrong. There have been many cases where Ash is shown to have some kind of interest in Serena and may have a crush.

Ash has been seen staring at Serena in admiration multiple times, and he's also given her a ribbon---

A lot of people say that the ribbon was just an extra thing that Pokémon threw in. Again, wrong.

Ash has only given three other things to other female companions directly.

The ribbon happens to be the only thing he gave without the help of another person and on his own decision (like giving the flower to Iris back in Best Wishes was with the help of Cilan).

Although other female companions have given him things, this is one of the first times he has given the ribbon to someone else.

Not to mention, for those that hadn't noticed it, the title of the episode that he gave the ribbon to Serena was 59 and had this exact title.

"Satoshi and Serena's first date? The tree of promises and presents?"

The word first really gets me going. This means there could be possibly more dates in the future, as if the Amourshippers didn't hype about this enough.

We will just have to wait to get it.

On to the topic of reoccurring characters, we have seen three give out hints that they know about Serena's crush on Ash.

The first to notice it was Miette.

Most of the Amourshippers assumed that Miette wouldn't come back after 26, because her voice actor left. However, some of us still held the hope because this was her last line before she left:

English:

"If you don't tell Ash you you feel about him, then I'll tell him how I feel about him."

Japanese:

"If you don't get your head out of the clouds, I might just steal Ash away from you."

In this episode (A Battle by Any Other Name!) Miette also had other lines relating like when she referenced to Ash having a bride, then looking at Serena with mischief.

Most of us thought that Miette wouldn't come back after that.

Well, we were wrong.

Miette's voice actor was replaced and she reoccured in episode 79 at a showcase. Now, Miette is recognized as a reoccurring character because she's a performer. She came back in 79 for a performance with her Slurpuff and Meowstic.

Through this whole episode, Miette kept threatening Serena about her crush on Ash, with three big lines that really set off the whole community.

After Miette had noticed Serena had cut her hair, the English dub had the lines:

"Hmm, you cut your hair. Was there a big change in your life?"

After this line, Serena looked back at Ash with a blush, stuttering no.

The next was---

"Maybe I'll have that little chat with Ash I was talking about."

I personally believe this was a reference to her lines at the end of 26.

At the way end, her last line said:

"I haven't given up on our other competition yet."

This, of course, was a reference to Ash, and them fighting through it.

Fans can make the inference that Miette will be back once again soon.

In this same episode, Bonnie had a line that told us she was the second reoccurring character (main, in my opinion) to realize Serena had a crush on Ash.

When Miette had just run off and left Serena blushing and talking to Ash, bonnie turns to Clemont and makes the remark of:

"Ash is so dense."

After she said that, Clemont responded with the lines, "Bonnie, what are you talking about?"

Bonnie replied with the response:

"Bro, you're dense too."

At this point Clemont's eyes widen and he acts like he realized something or/was figuring out something.

Bonnie has shown no further evidence.

The third character that realized this was Shauna, who actually got Serena to blush quite a bit and caught Ash's attention.

Her lines were somewhere around this:

"Ash is very energetic. That's why you like him, isn't it?"

Their lines went so fast it was hard to tell at that point.

Serena had a line that replied somewhere around this:

"Well, I feel like I should emulate his positivity, and---"

Serena was actually cut off by Ash asking what they were talking about, which Serena stands up, slams her hands on the table, and remarks "It was nothing!"

Most people didn't actually notice another hint that Shauna gave out, which was all the way back in the Summer Camp arc.

At the end of the day, Shauna had this line in English dub:

"That Ash sure is an interesting guy."

Again, the lines were interrupted by Ash.

The last character that is closest to realizing Serena's crush is Clemont.

Clemon't assumption that Serena likes Ash isn't yet confirmed, there is yet more to come.

The only thing that can give us hints were when:

-Clemont's eyes widened after Bonnie called him dense and he had a surprised look on his face as if he had figured something out.

-Clemon't face during episode 88 when he gave a kind of tired look whenever Ash ran after Serena.

We are still waiting for hints to come from Clemont that he knows.

There is much more evidence on Amourshipping that is straight through showing it's almost canon, but I'll only cover the main hints that really set the Amourshippers off.

-Serena often blushes when Ash compliments her.
-Ash often stares when Serena does something amazing.
-Serena looks up to Ash for guidance and help.
-In episode 59 (Under The Pledging Tree!) Serena has the lines of '"It's almost like Ash and I... Are on a date!"
- In the same moment, Serena attempts to grab Ash's hand but gets to nervous and fails.
-This shot, her hand is visibly red.
-Ash and Serena fell down into a cliff when Ash's foot was hurt in the Summer Camp Arc, Serena blurts out that "Wow... You're such an amazing person!"
-Another hint that really got Amourshippers setting off was at the end of the second ending, where Ash places a blanket over Serena when Bonnie would be the most expected to do this.
-The line in this ending was at the end, recalling something about maybe two people will find love.
-In two episodes close together, Ash compliments Serena twice (79 and 83) about her outfits and how it looked good on her.
-Ash had the only positive reaction when Serena had cut her hair and put her ribbon on that he gave her.
-Ash and Serena are commonly displayed standing next to each other in most cases.
-In the "Getta Ban Ban" theme (Mad Paced Getter) Serena is shown giving kind of curious glance at Ash during the lines "I can feel our passion overheating."
-Serena often looks up to Ash in inspiration and help.
-Ash has the best connection with Serena, unlike the other characters.
-It was noticed that Serena was the first female companion to be invited into the group by Ash.
-Serena was the first female companion to not get shocked by Pikachu.
-Ash and Serena have never gotten into an argument over anything, and when it was the closest, Serena blushed when Ash gave her a compliment in the same situation.

The last subject I will go over before I'm done is how the really get along well. Unlike the other female companions, Serena as never fought with Ash.

The two closest times they have gotten close to fighting were these:

1) In a early episode when Serena was trying to make a Pokevision video and Clemont's robot was chasing Serena and Ash tried to help. However, Serena got covered in soot, but didn't deem too mad, which Ash apologized quickly and it was all over.

2) In 52, where Ash had said that he'd started out on a Rhyhorn while beginners usually start on Skidoo. Serena snapped at him after this, saying that he was fiery and insisted that he must compete in the Rhyhorn racing competition. At this point, Ash complimented her saying that he did it because she was such a great teacher, which Serena blushed and replied with telling him that he did it too.

Serena's attitude is also much different than it is around her mother, where she's fiery and rebellious. Around Ash, she's calm and sweet.

Also noted that Serena purely left on her journey to meet Ash.

The next (I promise, I'm almost done) subject I want to go over is that Serena had recognized Ash after many years from the Summer Camp in Pallet Town, and still wanted to give his cloth back to him.

Okay I think I'll wrap up this extremely long rant with the fact that there's a writer specifically that writes Amourshipping episodes. She has written most of the largest (52, 29, 60, 79, 88, 89, 90, 100) Amourshipping episodes and is the person who is in charge of Serena's character design. Purely, she has come back for all the big nones and her latest will be episode 100, starting next week.

Where the future of Amourshipping will go, we don't know. The ship is the closest ever to becoming canon in Pokémon. Some people expect it to be at the way end where Serena keeps traveling with Ash, or some people expect it to be with Team Flare where Serena blurts out for Ash's safety.

Being the community we are, we will keep watching and wait.

Because we are the Amourshipping community, and we are strong.