Has Dawn been Forgotten About as DP has Progressed?

[Legacy]

I guess forgotten is the wrong word, let's say 'focused on less' than early on in DP.

I dunno if it's just me, but I've been feeling as though Dawn has been focused upon less than earlier in DP. Especially in recent episodes, it feels like we haven't seen as much focus on her.

I dunno, I know there still has been plenty of Dawn coverage, but it just seems like less. Maybe it's just because we've fully learned about Dawn's character by now, but I dunno.

What do you guys think?

 

[swampertuska]

I think we saw enough episodes focused on her. Just before with Ambipom, contest in Tatsunami. That's enough.

We will see contests and GF with her soon. Just after battle Ash VS Paul and maybe Galactic arc. For me it has been too much focus so far on Dawn in Diamond and Pearl.

 

[Piplup]

I'll copy-paste my posts from a similar thread on Serebii:

How can the number of a evolutions a character got have anything to do with the character's importance? that's just ridiculous
Dawn is still starring together with Ash and Piplup continue to be shown as equal to Pikachu
I think you're reading too much into this and try to find such things...
And even if Dawn was less focused on in the lastest episodes, it's simply that it's not so easy to focus equally on two characters on the same time - it's nothing new... the first and second years of DP also had some parts were it seemed like they focus more on Ash and other parts that it seemed like they focus more on Dawn

They still have some problems in handling two equal heroes but they sure learned from their mistakes with May
Dawn and Piplup are seriously the first characters ever to be shown as totally equal to Ash and Pikachu
I hope it'll continue to next gen... but even if they'll leave eventually, at least for DP - I think it's obvious Ash and Dawn (and Pikachu/Piplup) are starring together as equals
In the Japanese version they even bothered to edit the almost 10 years old text in the beginning of the opening song just to change "Ash's story" to "Ash and Dawn's story"
You can also see the current opening song that both Ash and Dawn's VAs sing together as their characters and the scenes and song itself also talk about their equality as the stars... you never saw May treated like that
Movie 10 also showcased them as totally equals... movie 11 I admit Ash got a little more than her but until the very end Dawn was totally equal to him... and even at the end she at least did SOMETHING (help with the ice attacks and catch Shaymin when it fall) unlike Brock who as usual was just stuck there like part of the background
A lot of merchandise like CD/DVD covers, posters and so on - also showcase them as equals

So even if at times it seems like one is getting more than the other - it'll even out eventually
Before some time I counted how many episodes each of them had in season 10 and season 11 - they had more or less the same amount of episodes...

Of the recent episodes I already remember a few Dawn epiosdes (Zoey's recent apperance is totally counted as Dawn-related... she's her rival and we found out a few things about her... there's also the Contest and Ambipom episodes and the Piplup epiosde and that's only by what I remember from the last few episodes, which proves you're exaggerating and she isn't "forgotten" at all

Just to prove how people randomly make up this stuff let's check out the latest episodes... let's count how many episodes Ash and Dawn got since season 12 began (that would be around 26 episodes, about the last half year)
1201 DP105 (Rotom) the episode didn't especially focus on any character
1202 DP106 (Piloswine->Mamoswine) obviously this is counted as a Dawn episode (her Pokémon learn a new attack, her Pokémon evolve, we learn where the next Contest is, we learn her rivals' amount of ribbons) so far: Ash 0 Dawn 1
1203 DP107 (Byron first ep) I'd be nice for Ash and count it just because it's a Gym Leader but the episode didn't focus on him at all... it's 1-1
1204 DP108 (Byron Gym Battle) obviously Gym=Ash so it's Ash-2/Dawn-1
1205 DP109 (Wailmer) the episode totally focused on Ash so Ash-3/Dawn-1
1206-1207 DP110-111 (Riley) as far as I remember that didn't focus on anyone especially
1208 DP112 (Pikachu/Piplup) focused equally on the two mascots which is something that emphasize their and their trainers equality... (doesn't count for anyone)
1209 DP113 (Phione) it was kind of before-the-Contest episode (Dawn revealed she's going to use Pachi and Bunny, she had them out almost the whole ep, her Buneary starred in the ep) so Ash-3/Dawn-2
1210 DP114 (Akebi Contest) obviously Contest=Dawn so it's 3/3
1211 DP115 (Chatot and Jenny) didn't focus on anyone
1212 DP116 (Froslass) didn't focus on anyone
1213 DP117 (Rocket) focus on TRio
1214 DP118 (Pokéringer) obviously this focused on Ash so Ash-4/Dawn-3
1215 DP119 (Mamoswine/Aggron) this is Dawn ep obviously... it's 4/4
(I assume DP120 the clip episode won't get dubbed, and anyway it won't add the count for either)
1216 DP121 (Snover) I think this was more of an Ash episode just because of Grotle so Ash 5 / Dawn 4
1217 DP 122 (Piplup) totally Dawn's ep! 5/5
1218 DP123 (Tatsunami Contest) Contest=Dawn so Ash 5 / Dawn 6
1219 DP124 (Ambipom) Dawn's Pokémon leave (I don't care it used to be Ash's, most of the episode obviously focused in its current trainer Dawn) so Ash 5 / Dawn 7
(notice how we got 3 Dawn episodes in a row)
1220 DP125 (Marilyn) that was Brock's ep... though I find it important to note that unlike the usual that Ash do something in Brock's eps, it was Dawn who did something (argued and battled against Marilyn) while Ash didn't do -anything-
1221 DP126 (Candice) While she's a Gym Leader, you have to admit this episode was much more Dawn-related then Ash... we got Dawn's rival and the Gym Leader was used to explain backstory about Dawn's rival... I'd count that for Dawn so Ash 5 / Dawn 8
1222 DP127 (Snowpoint Gym) obviously Ash... so Ash 6 / Dawn 8
1223 DP128 (Paul VS Brandon) obviously Ash... Ash 7 / Dawn 8
1224 DP129 (Regigigas) the ep didn't focus on any of the main characters especially

The upcoming Looker ep doesn't seem to focus on anyone either... and than there's Ash's 2 parter battle VS Paul
If to count that, Ash 9 / Dawn 8
See? there's no huge different in their amount of episodes
People seriously exaggerate
I think instead of complaining we should be happy the writers finally learned how to handle an equal star
They still need to improve a little but I think they really proved they learned from the past and did their best with Dawn

They're equals
No one is more important than the other
Both play the role of the stars of DP
I admit maybe Ash get a -little- more but it's really nothing serious... as I just proved

 

[Ethan]

See we can't miss the fact that Ash is the main character . I will give a huge party if they start focussing on Ash much much more ! The Ratio should be 20:1.

 

[Force Fire]

Didn't we just have that Ping Pong thing 6 episodes ago? seriously, Dawn, Ash and Brock gets their fair share on which episode focuses on who. Like Piplup said, They're all equal and noone is important than the other.

 

[Piplup]

See we can't miss the fact that Ash is the main character

Eh... that's not right at all
The star of "Pocket Monsters" was Ash
During "Pocket Monsters Advanced Generation" Ash continued to star and they tried to make an equal heroine to him but since that was the first try it wasn't perfect and May seemed more like most-important-after Ash
In "Pocket Monsters Diamond & Pearl" we have two equal stars: Ash and Dawn... they even changed the text that appear on the beginning of the OP just to change "Ash's story" to "Ash and Dawn's story" (I can't believe how people ignore this fact which is very important in my opinion)
Also, the current OP is a duet of Ash and Dawn - this is the first time ever a character other than Ash sing the OP... and the whole idea of duet + the scenes + song itself - all focus in the equality of them
In addition to that there are all the merchandise like CD/DVD covers, posters, etc...
AND there's movie 10 in which they totally starred as equals...
Movie 11 also had them as equals until the very end, I admit Ash got a little more but that was only at the very end... and even then Dawn did things (help with the ice attacks, catch Shaymin when it fall) while Brock continued to be stuck at the background doing no more than a random tree

seriously, Dawn, Ash and Brock gets their fair share on which episode focuses on who. Like Piplup said, They're all equal and noone is important than the other.

I said Ash and Dawn are equals
Brock is the sidekick to them - he's one of the main characters but he isn't in a starring role but a supporting role
The focus is clearly on Ash and Dawn (as my list just proved)

 

[ii kanji]

I know it's pointless to argue with Pip, so I won't.

But I do feel like she did more at the beginning, and is doing less now. But clearly they wanted to introduce her properly at the beginning, and now that that's done, Ash can get his spotlight back :-D

 

[Piplup]

I know it's pointless to argue with Pip, so I won't.

You're right, it's pointless to argue with facts
Seriously I just listed the last half years episodes and it proved Ash and Dawn get more-or-less equal amount of episodes while Brock/TRio are clearly played as minor characters compared to them
I really can't understand how people can argue with facts

Oh and the translated text from the OP by Bulbapedia:

この星の不思議な生き物 The mysterious creatures of this planet
ポケットモンスター・・・ Pocket Monsters...
ちぢめてポケモン！ "Pokémon" for short!
今、サトシとヒカリと Now, the story of Satoshi and Hikari,
ポケモンたちの and Pokémon,
出会いと冒険と戦いの Their meetings, adventures, and battles
物語がはじまる！ Is about to begin!

Until DP, it was ALWAYS "Ash's story"
Yet they felt the need to correct it to "Ash and Dawn" now...

 

[Kairyu]

Surely Dawn has taken a backseat ever since the end of Wallace Cup. After that she's just like May was...

Sure, one could say they were equals up to the Wallace cup, and I agree. But after that it's been much more Ash & Gyms intead of Dawn & contest (a'la May). What the text at the beginning of the OP says and what is on the merchandise doesn't matter. Merchandise =/= anime. They're not equals anymore.

 

[hopeandjoy]

Yup. In fact, when I first heard "The Diva's Lament" I thought, "Hikari? What are you doing in 'Spamalot'?"

 

[Piplup]

Surely Dawn has taken a backseat ever since the end of Wallace Cup. After that she's just like May was...

But I just PROVED they still get EQUAL amount of epiosdes!
It's crazy people insist on saying things like that even after being proven wrong
I also admitted maybe Ash gets a -little- more but it's not even close to the case of May... Dawn is and still is treated MUCH better than May ever was

 

[ii kanji]

Yeah, but it still doesn't make them equal!

Okay, so they've maybe got the same amount of focus eps. But in episodes where neither of them are particularly in the spotlight, the one who gets more involved is Satoshi, and the one who, more often than not, stand in the background with Takeshi is Hikari!

 

[Weedle Mchairybug]

Eh... that's not right at all
The star of "Pocket Monsters" was Ash

No, actually, he wasn't the "star" of Pocket Monsters, seeing how there were other Main Protagonists. Believe me, in what was my 9th Grade Literature class, They had taught me that the title Protagonist doesn't necessarily apply to the hero, which implies that it's not necessarily the star.

During "Pocket Monsters Advanced Generation" Ash continued to star and they tried to make an equal heroine to him but since that was the first try it wasn't perfect and May seemed more like most-important-after Ash

They did it before with Misty, it's nothing new. Heck, compared to Brock or Tracey, she actually DID seem most important compared to Ash, so she definitely wasn't a "sidekick character". Sure, she didn't seem like she had stardom compared to Ash, but then again, so did May, or, if you truly think about it, even Dawn to a certain extent.

As a matter of fact, I had intended to do a little Survey on my part on Bulbapedia where I determine from summaries, events in the episode, and other things to determine the "sreentime and equality" between the females and Ash, but Kenji-Girl decided to act biased towards Ash and shut down my survey and undo most of my work because she thinks that I "couldn't bear to see Misty being played as an unimportant trash character", even though those edits were determined by unbiased measures. Thanks to Kenji-Girl's actions, I wasn't able to do the May and Dawn episodes (and believe me, I did intend to do those.)

In "Pocket Monsters Diamond & Pearl" we have two equal stars: Ash and Dawn... they even changed the text that appear on the beginning of the OP just to change "Ash's story" to "Ash and Dawn's story" (I can't believe how people ignore this fact which is very important in my opinion)

I never buy that opening seeing how, despite the fact that Pikachu can't exist without Ash, nor he without Pikachu, they never list him as being the star in the opening.

Also, the current OP is a duet of Ash and Dawn - this is the first time ever a character other than Ash sing the OP...

No... the first time someone other than Ash (and ironically, someone who wasn't Ash) sang the OP was in Advance Adventure (It was sung by some male person who definitely wasn't Ash [different Voice Actor by even the gender].)

and the whole idea of duet + the scenes + song itself - all focus in the equality of them

Yeah, and Advance Adventure didn't have Ash singing it, so what's your point?

In addition to that there are all the merchandise like CD/DVD covers, posters, etc...

Sorry, but the merchandise I saw had the characters side by side. Only one I can think of that definitely wasn't treated equally is Tracey, as he was farther back, and in terms of merchandise, never appeared once.

I'll give you credit for not citing the sideshow where Dawn seemed to be the center of attention, since that's flimsy evidence, especially seeing how recently Brock got the center status in the sideshows.

AND there's movie 10 in which they totally starred as equals...

Actually, one can argue that Alice was the true star of that movie and that the only reason why Ash, Dawn, and Brock were even in that movie was so it would seem like a Pokemon Movie.

Movie 11 also had them as equals until the very end, I admit Ash got a little more but that was only at the very end... and even then Dawn did things (help with the ice attacks, catch Shaymin when it fall) while Brock continued to be stuck at the background doing no more than a random tree

In order for them to actually be "equal", Dawn must also be present in fighting Zero. So, basically, she has to team up with Ash, Shaymin, and Giratina in doing the action. even a "little more" proves they weren't equal at all.

I said Ash and Dawn are equals
Brock is the sidekick to them - he's one of the main characters but he isn't in a starring role but a supporting role
The focus is clearly on Ash and Dawn (as my list just proved)

No, if he was one of the main characters, he's one of the main protagonists, ie, STARS, as well. You can't be a star if you aren't the main character/main protagonist, and it's fairly obvious that they are more than one main character/Protagonist (the Main Character, the Main Protagonist and the Star, regardless of singularity or multiples, are the exact same thing.).

Another thing, according to Bulbapedia's episode focusing on characters categories for Ash and Dawn, Dawn has 25 episodes focusing on her, whileas Ash has only 9 DP-wise. In order for them to be equal in terms of role and screentime, they HAVE to have the exact same number of episodes focusing on them.

 

[Piplup]

No, actually, he wasn't the "star" of Pocket Monsters, seeing how there were other Main Protagonists. Believe me, in what was my 9th Grade Literature class, They had taught me that the title Protagonist doesn't necessarily apply to the hero, which implies that it's not necessarily the star.



They did it before with Misty, it's nothing new. Heck, compared to Brock or Tracey, she actually DID seem most important compared to Ash, so she definitely wasn't a "sidekick character". Sure, she didn't seem like she had stardom compared to Ash, but then again, so did May, or, if you truly think about it, even Dawn to a certain extent.

As a matter of fact, I had intended to do a little Survey on my part on Bulbapedia where I determine from summaries, events in the episode, and other things to determine the "sreentime and equality" between the females and Ash, but Kenji-Girl decided to act biased towards Ash and shut down my survey and undo most of my work because she thinks that I "couldn't bear to see Misty being played as an unimportant trash character", even though those edits were determined by unbiased measures. Thanks to Kenji-Girl's actions, I wasn't able to do the May and Dawn episodes (and believe me, I did intend to do those.)

You're simply in denial
Ash WAS the only starring character in the origianl series
Misty/Brock/Tracey are all just sidekicks
That doesn't mean they aren't important - they are important main characters that played a supporting role to that of THE star of the show
Ash was the one the show revolved around and focused on the most - you know that so stop your ridiculous posts trying to make Misty seem more important then she really was

I never buy that opening seeing how, despite the fact that Pikachu can't exist without Ash, nor he without Pikachu, they never list him as being the star in the opening.

Eh... while this is a show called "Pokémon", the focus is actually more on the human characters
We follow the journey of Ash and Dawn, not the journey of Pikachu and Piplup
If they were to include Pokémon there too, you can be sure Pika and Pip would be mentioned but as I said there was no reason to add them, they're part of Ash and Dawn's character

No... the first time someone other than Ash (and ironically, someone who wasn't Ash) sang the OP was in Advance Adventure (It was sung by some male person who definitely wasn't Ash [different Voice Actor by even the gender].)

Way to miss what I tried to say
That was a random singer - not a voice actor singing as his character (not even a VA singing not in character...)
The only ones of the main characters to sing the opening song were Ash and Dawn, no other main character ever sing the OP

Sorry, but the merchandise I saw had the characters side by side.

Most of the time it's just Ash and Dawn, without Brock
A great example is the CD/DVD covers I added to my posts

since that's flimsy evidence, especially seeing how recently Brock got the center status in the sideshows.

Actually, Brock only appeared in the center of the eyecatch ONCE in its only episode it got in the past half a year
All the other episodes have 1 Ash/Pikachu eyecatch and 1 Dawn/Piplup eyecatch
Even that's alone proves you wrong in saying Brock is equal to them... which is anyway one of the most ridiculous things one could say

Actually, one can argue that Alice was the true star of that movie and that the only reason why Ash, Dawn, and Brock were even in that movie was so it would seem like a Pokemon Movie.

Alice was one of the movie's important character
She wasn't one of the main cast of the anime
She didn't play the "save the day" scene, Ash and Dawn did and did it together as totally equals... while Brock was left behind as usual

In order for them to actually be "equal", Dawn must also be present in fighting Zero. So, basically, she has to team up with Ash, Shaymin, and Giratina in doing the action. even a "little more" proves they weren't equal at all.

Eh... they were equals in that movie too... up to the very end where I admitted Ash got a little more
And as I said while Ash did his thing at the end, Dawn also wasn't forgotten and she also did important things (help with the ice, catch Shaymin)
While Brock stand there doing nothing as usual
You can't honestly compare Brock to Ash/Dawn

No, if he was one of the main characters, he's one of the main protagonists, ie, STARS, as well. You can't be a star if you aren't the main character/main protagonist, and it's fairly obvious that they are more than one main character/Protagonist (the Main Character, the Main Protagonist and the Star, regardless of singularity or multiples, are the exact same thing.).

If you're serious here and aren't simply in denial about Misty's role then... you have a problem in understanding the meaning of the roles the characters play in shows/stories

Let's take another for example the typicall maho shoujo anime... a group of girls that transform and fight, you know... there is ALWAYS specific one that the show clearly focus on more than the others
Would you say in such case they're all equals despite how the show clearly focus on specific one as THE star?
It'd be ridiculous to say they're all equals when it's clearly not the case

It's the same with Pokémon... even more obvious since the sidekick in this case (Brock) barely gets any spotlight compared to the "sidekick" in other shows

Another thing, according to Bulbapedia's episode focusing on characters categories for Ash and Dawn, Dawn has 25 episodes focusing on her, whileas Ash has only 9 DP-wise. In order for them to be equal in terms of role and screentime, they HAVE to have the exact same number of episodes focusing on them.

STOP with this stupidity of relying on Bulbapedia (a fan made source isn't a source to go by blindly) do you seriously believe there were only 9 Ash focused episodes in DP? you really have problems if you believed that -_-

 

[ii kanji]

Piplup used Stubborn Attack!
It's not very effective...
Weedle's Stubborness greatly increased!

 

[Piplup]

Piplup used Stubborn Attack!
It's not very effective...
Weedle's Stubborness greatly increased!

XD
I think at least I insist on logical things rather than ridiculous ones... oh well, as usual nothing gets of these threads, everyone is stuck with their opinion and no one can convince anyone to understand the other...

 

[Insanish Danish]

Dawn has been less focused on lately.

Back at the beginning of DP she got more screentime and more episodes focusing on only her. But she's been more in the background lately. Aside from contest episodes, she hasn't been doing as much as she did in the beginning.

And no matter how much attention Dawn may have gotten, she's still a co-star. She's not Ash's equal.

 

[Weedle Mchairybug]

You're simply in denial
Ash WAS the only starring character in the origianl series
Misty/Brock/Tracey are all just sidekicks
That doesn't mean they aren't important - they are important main characters that played a supporting role to that of THE star of the show

Actually, the only one whose in denial is you. I noticed and analyzed the summaries and the events of the plots (Even IF bulbapedia is nothing more than a mere fansite, it still gave summaries of what happened in the episodes, along with Serebii.net, which is more complete, thus allowing me to actually determine whether the episode truly focuses on a character.)

And another thing, sidekicks, for the most part, are treated like complete trash in fiction, ranking even worse than minor characters. Luigi? Krillin? Flounder? they were treated like complete trash, and were considered far less important than even those who rarely appear in the scenes they appear in. Sky High even covered this. Granted, the "sidekicks" ended up becoming true heroes in the end, but throughout the main plotline, they were treated like complete trash, especially to the "hero" level.

Misty, on the other hand, wasn't actually treated like trash, at least, not to the extent that Brock, Tracey, or Max were. Even if she was, May and Dawn were treated like trash at times as well. Heck, even ii kanji mentioned how even Dawn, most of the time, was like Brock.

Ash was the one the show revolved around and focused on the most - you know that so stop your ridiculous posts trying to make Misty seem more important then she really was

Sure, he may be more important, even if it's slightly moreso, but that doesn't mean he's the sole star.

Eh... while this is a show called "Pokémon", the focus is actually more on the human characters
We follow the journey of Ash and Dawn, not the journey of Pikachu and Piplup
If they were to include Pokémon there too, you can be sure Pika and Pip would be mentioned but as I said there was no reason to add them, they're part of Ash and Dawn's character

Who cares? If they truly were the stars, they also deserve a mention, Human or Pokemon.

Way to miss what I tried to say
That was a random singer - not a voice actor singing as his character (not even a VA singing not in character...)
The only ones of the main characters to sing the opening song were Ash and Dawn, no other main character ever sing the OP

Does that really matter? the mere fact that they can hire a random singer to sing it proves that Ash isn't the focus. Besides, how would endings NOT count?!

Most of the time it's just Ash and Dawn, without Brock
A great example is the CD/DVD covers I added to my posts

The DVD covers had Misty and Brock on there at least once, without Ash at all, and in fact, had Misty being the larger of the focuses. The mere fact that they would have Misty be larger than Brock in that particular instance implies that she was a co-star to Ash. They would have made her the same height/perspective if they want to make absolutely clear that she was only a sidekick.

Face it, Misty was an actual co-star, not a sidekick.

Actually, Brock only appeared in the center of the eyecatch ONCE in its only episode it got in the past half a year
All the other episodes have 1 Ash/Pikachu eyecatch and 1 Dawn/Piplup eyecatch
Even that's alone proves you wrong in saying Brock is equal to them... which is anyway one of the most ridiculous things one could say

Did I say he's equal? No, All I said was that he's one of the main characters (there is no sole main character in this series, and hence, no sole star.)

Alice was one of the movie's important character
She wasn't one of the main cast of the anime
She didn't play the "save the day" scene, Ash and Dawn did and did it together as totally equals... while Brock was left behind as usual

As I haven't actually seen the movie, I'll be forced to abandon that point (Though I heard that Dawn was the one who actually activated the Oracion device and not Ash, and someone also claimed that he threw a fit.).

Eh... they were equals in that movie too... up to the very end where I admitted Ash got a little more
And as I said while Ash did his thing at the end, Dawn also wasn't forgotten and she also did important things (help with the ice, catch Shaymin)
While Brock stand there doing nothing as usual
You can't honestly compare Brock to Ash/Dawn

In order for things to be equal, they have to be exactly 50/50. Since that was 49/51, it's not equal.

If you're serious here and aren't simply in denial about Misty's role then... you have a problem in understanding the meaning of the roles the characters play in shows/stories

No, I have understanding in regards to the meaning of the roles of characters (Believe me, I would not have passed 9th Grade Literature class, which, BTW, covers character archetypes if I hadn't understood the roles of characters, and heck, at worst, would have flunked the class, and ultimately High School, if that was the case.). You're just in denial that there could be a main character other than Ash and Dawn (Whom, BTW, Dawn is treated like Brock several times, like ii kenji girl said.)

Let's take another for example the typicall maho shoujo anime... a group of girls that transform and fight, you know... there is ALWAYS specific one that the show clearly focus on more than the others
Would you say in such case they're all equals despite how the show clearly focus on specific one as THE star?
It'd be ridiculous to say they're all equals when it's clearly not the case

I'm well aware that they might not be equals, but the point is, they are considered stars since they are main characters/main protagonists. In order for there to be one star, the star has to get 100% of the focus, and the same main character has to be the sole main character, no sidekicks unless they are recurring. It's either they get all the focus, or they get absolutely none of the focus. THERE IS NO IN-BETWEEN FOR ONE STAR!

It's the same with Pokémon... even more obvious since the sidekick in this case (Brock) barely gets any spotlight compared to the "sidekick" in other shows

Fine, If it will make you happy, I'll make sure I'll move Brock to the Side Characters section of the anime characters template, seeing how he barely gets any focus anyways.

STOP with this stupidity of relying on Bulbapedia (a fan made source isn't a source to go by blindly) do you seriously believe there were only 9 Ash focused episodes in DP? you really have problems if you believed that -_-

Offical sources also aren't sources to go blindly by (especially sources like Pokemon.com, and certain episodes that make blatant errors in the plotline), yet you seem to follow them as blindly as one can go. And since you seem to clearly hate fansites, why are you even on here? If you don't like fansites, don't go to them.

Another thing, I had intended to do a similar survey to Ash and Dawn as I did to Ash and Misty (BTW, I had gotten 46 for Misty and 39 for Ash, and I did this purely on unbiased terms [I had to make sure that I assessed the situation carefully for each episode that Misty was a main character in].), but I was forced to abandon it as well as the May and Ash thing after Kenji-Girl ruined the survey.

 

[Piplup]

Dawn has been less focused on lately.

Back at the beginning of DP she got more screentime and more episodes focusing on only her. But she's been more in the background lately. Aside from contest episodes, she hasn't been doing as much as she did in the beginning.

And no matter how much attention Dawn may have gotten, she's still a co-star. She's not Ash's equal.

Can anyone please elaborate on this other than saying "Dawn is getting less screen time"?
I just proved she get more-or-less equal amount of episodes to Ash... I'd like others to explain too

And Weedle... I won't bother

 

[pokemon fan 132]

I wouldnt call being forgotten,thats little exaggerated but its certainly noticeable that as DP series are going further,Dawn is receiving less screentime than Ash does.Like someone already mentioned it may be that considering how there wasnt known much about Dawn earlier on she got more spotlight and after some things were been explained everything went back to old state of things.However Dawn is still receiving reasonable amount of spotlight,so there is no reason for complaints.

You're simply in denial
Ash WAS the only starring character in the origianl series
Misty/Brock/Tracey are all just sidekicks

And yet Misty out of this mentioned characters received more screentime than they had,battling more having more episodes centered around her.Dont believe me?Go episode by episode during Kanto,Orange and Johto,and its quite obvious who received more spotlight.
Nevertheless on every website Misty is listed under protagonist section,not sidekick one.

Sure compared to May or Dawn,Misty received less and while she maybe wasnt true female protagonist,she was definitely something more than sidekick.She has goal,there were plots centered around her and she cant be really put in the same boat like Max or Tracey for example.