What are the most popular Yuri ships ?

[c la fet]

Any yuri experts here ?
I was wondering if there were many yuri Pokémon pairings (from the games) that had a decent amount of popularity, aside from the extremely popular ones like Moon/Lillie, Gloria/Marnie and Elesa/Skyla.

I remember that Contestqueenshipping and Glistenshipping used to be pretty popular but that's about it (there's also Ikebanashipping but I'm not sure about this one's popularity).

 

[Okido]

As far as the games go, FemmeGymShipping (Sabrina x Erika) has gotten some traction in recent years, potentially moreso than IkebanaShipping.
I remember BoutiqueShipping (Serena x Shauna) being a really big one back in the Gen 6 days, but I don't know if that's changed since then... ShiroShipping (Hilda x Bianca) was also popular for a while and I think it still has its fans.

 

[Insanish Danish]

There's AquaHeartshipping (Nessa x Sonia) too. I remember Tumblr EXPLODING with Nessa x Sonia fanart after Nessa's design was first revealed (and rightfully so, because this ship is lovely <3)

 

[c la fet]

As far as the games go, FemmeGymShipping (Sabrina x Erika) has gotten some traction in recent years, potentially moreso than IkebanaShipping.
I remember BoutiqueShipping (Serena x Shauna) being a really big one back in the Gen 6 days, but I don't know if that's changed since then... ShiroShipping (Hilda x Bianca) was also popular for a while and I think it still has its fans.

There's AquaHeartshipping (Nessa x Sonia) too. I remember Tumblr EXPLODING with Nessa x Sonia fanart after Nessa's design was first revealed (and rightfully so, because this ship is lovely <3)

That's right, there is a lot of Boutique/shiro/aquaheart content
I didn't really know about Femmegym's popularity, I thought the most popular Sabrina ship was the one with Misty (because of the card) but it looks like I guessed wrong.

Here's a few other yuri pairings that I think could be considered popular, feel free to correct me/to add some :
Cynthia/Caitlin
Juniper/Fennel
Courtney/Shelly
Serena/Emma (recently)
Mai/Arezu (not sure about this one)
Cyllene/Zisu
Dendra/Miriam
Rika/Geeta

I forgot about Girlpowershipping and Juliana/Rika (they're kinda sketchy) but they also have large fandoms.

 

[Welkamo]

Elesa/Skyla is THE yuri Pokémon ship, at least from I've seen. It was the first one I ever saw, at least.

Serena/Shauna and Lisia/May also seem to have a lot of shippers even today (at least in the circles I'm in).

 

[FelipePR]

I was wondering if there were many yuri Pokémon pairings (from the games) that had a decent amount of popularity, aside from the extremely popular ones like Moon/Lillie, Gloria/Marnie and Elesa/Skyla.

I don't really have an exact idea, It seems to me that, today, there are so many significant Yuri ships that it is quite difficult to know the most popular ones. I didn't even know Gloria/Marnie was so popular, for instance. On the flip side, I'm not as invested in the franchise, and especially in ships, as I was many years ago.

But as far as Yuri Ships is concerned, I have the impression that they have become a trend since the fourth generation. At least that's when I was most aware of them.

At the time, I remember Maylene and Candice as quite relevant and meaning ship in the gaming universe, and Dawn - Zoe/Cynthia as popular ships among the anime fans.

In Gen 5, there's a lot of hype around Eleza and Skyla, as well as a strong ship around them. However, I have the impression that, today, this ship has lost some traction. On the other hand, Sabrina x Erika, a gen 1 ship that I was initially unaware of, seems to have been favored by the passage of time and gained a lot of strength.

In Gen 6, Serena and Shauna seemed the most obvious and sincere to me, since that, in games, the friendly Kalos girl seems, regardless of gender, emotionally very attached to the protagonist.

In Gen 7, Moon/Lillie ship seems to me to have reached a proportion never seen before. I have the impression that it is/was the greatest Yuri Ship, although I don't quite understand why.

In Gen 8, I remember hearing about Nessa x Sonia, although that ship seemed to me so ill-fated given the fact that Sonia always seems to me emotionally very attached to Leon, although the opposite does not seem to be true. Now, it looks like Gloria/Marnie is a thing.

In Gen 9, I don't have the slightest idea. I don't know of any ships in this game. And personally, none of this generation aroused any Ship interest in me, whether yuri or not. But, if I were to risk one.... Tulip and Dendra?


OBS: Just stating facts, the greatest Yuri, Aoi, straight (Is it the correct word?) Pokémon ship is, and always will be, Oldrivalshipping.

 

[c la fet]

In Gen 9, I don't have the slightest idea. I don't know of any ships in this game. And personally, none of this generation aroused any Ship interest in me, whether yuri or not. But if I were to risk one.... Tulip and Dendra

I've seen a few ones :

Juliana/Nemona
Geeta/Rika
Juliana/Rika (mostly in Japan)
Nemona/Penny
Dendra/Miriam (and Dendra/Tulip)

And before the release of the games, I saw some Elesa/Iono too

 

[FelipePR]

And before the release of the games, I saw some Elesa/Iono too

Poor Elesa having to deal with that screwed up little girl.

 

[Emelie]

I think the most popular lesbian ship was Appealshipping (Zoey x Dawn) back in the day. People like rival ships and they have many scenes with Dawn blushing. They also have the prince and princess dynamic which was a popular trope in old yuri anime. It reminds me of Go x Ash which has the subtext but never results in anything so it's kind of vague but you can still tell there is something going on there.

Another one I can think of is Lillie x Mallow since they made a reference to Revolutionary Girl Utena in one episode which is one of the most popular yuri anime/movies. Not sure if people actually ship them or if they are just amazed that Pokémon would make such an obvious reference. Then there is the (accidental?) subtext Lillie has with both of the female protagonists in SM and Masters (Trainer Lodge).

When one character has subtext with three different girls one starts to wonder...

 

[c la fet]

I think the most popular lesbian ship was Appealshipping (Zoey x Dawn) back in the day. People like rival ships and they have many scenes with Dawn blushing. They also have the prince and princess dynamic which was a popular trope in old yuri anime. It reminds me of Go x Ash which has the subtext but never results in anything so it's kind of vague but you can still tell there is something going on there.

Another one I can think of is Lillie x Mallow since they made a reference to Revolutionary Girl Utena in one episode which is one of the most popular yuri anime/movies. Not sure if people actually ship them or if they are just amazed that Pokémon would make such an obvious reference. Then there is the (accidental?) subtext Lillie has with both of the female protagonists in SM and Masters (Trainer Lodge).

When one character has subtext with three different girls one starts to wonder...

I remember Jellowshipping (MallowxLillie)
But I feel like MallowxLana was more popular. I may be wrong though

 

[Teebs96]

Miakane (Jasmine and Whitney) felt pretty popular for a while. The Masters Christmas event for those two really ramped it up I think.

 

[Sheep40]

There was an inundation of gloria x marnie all over the interwebs prior to SS dropping.

 

[guzmania]

aside from the ones you listed:

• there are some other popular ones a couple of people said here like aquaheartshipping and boutiqueshipping... the former still has a decent amount of traction, even if it's died down some because swoshi just isn't talked about quite as much, and while i think boutiqueshipping was popular when the game first game out amourshipping has basically overridden it because ash x female sidekick ships tend to explode near immediately.
• jasmine x whitney has been popular in some circles, as teebs said i think masters is what helped that one bloom.
• funnily enough i actually think i've seen more dendra x tulip than dendra x miriam, but they're both very popular.
• i've seen a lot of julipen... that's what i believe i've heard it be called (juliana x penny). not as much as juliana x nemona but i would say it has a decently large fanbase in its own right.
• i am not very familiar with the anime but i know appealshipping was and maybe still is a very big thing. hell, even i like it from what i know about it.
• dawn x cynthia is also actually very large... i don't like it very much though, i'm pretty sure cynthia is a lot older.

 

[asiryn]

Considering that femslash (or yuri if you like, which I guess I'll use for this thread bc it's shorter than my usual preferred term XP) is my JAM, here are the cents that I have to add to this convo:

• I'd say that JellowShipping is (maybe was, been a while since I've been on tumblr, especially since the new gen's been out) the most popular gen 7 anime ship, especially for yuri; there was FAR more ship tease for them throughout SuMo than AquariumPlant (I haven't seen the league arc yet, but in all the rest of the eps, I can only think of two that AquariumPlant got more screentime in than Jellow). Over time, Lana started joining in more and more alongside Mallow in cheering on Lillie, and BlueLily itself (Lana/Lillie) got a few moments here and there (like, iirc, that one episode early on when Sophocles thought that he'd have to move away? pretty sure I remember BlueLily holding hands in that one, and being all eyes emoji), so along with those eps that upped the ante for AquariumPlant, the poly ship for all three, BlueDandelion, started gaining more traction. But if I had to pick just one gen 7 anime yuri ship as the most popular, it'd def be Jellow (game-wise, it was def all MoonLily)
• BoutiqueShipping was def the most popular yuri ship in gen 6, both for the anime and games, but I'd also shout out FondantShipping (Miette/Serena) in the anime; it's always a safe bet with rival ships that there'll be at least a small fanbase for them.
• on a similar note, PokeGirl/PokeGirl ships always have a bit of a following, especially if they interacted in the cameo episodes of a season; of those (and keeping in mind that I haven't seen Journeys yet), the ones that I can recall seeing a fair amount of support for are WaterWarriorShipping (Lana/Misty), SapphirePearlShipping (May/Dawn), and AnnemaeShipping (Dawn/Iris). Even tho they did interact, and maybe there was a bigger community for them back in the day before I entered the fandom, but I get the impression that ImageShipping (Misty/May) didn't get much attention for some reason, tho I suppose that could be due to how hard the show was pushing ContestShipping, with AdvanceShipping being the other biggest May ship, so there wasn't as much room left for Image. I'll also give a shout out to ChampsElyseeShipping (Misty/Serena); it is a PokeGirl yuri ship, but while they haven't met (to my knowledge), there was at least some ppl (including myself) who were drawn to this ship (personally, it was those Korrasami vibes that did it for me, especially as it was around in that time that Korrasami was breaking the internet by becoming canon, but idk if the other shippers' reasons matched mine XD). And idk if StockingsShipping (Dawn/Lyra) counts here, but I kinda think it does, as Lyra was treated in a similar way that the PokeGirls were in their cameo episodes.
• idk if it's been mentioned yet, but I'd also give a nod to SnowpointShipping (Zoey/Candice); while I think Appeal was more popular in yuri circles, I often see Snowpoint being the other big ship for Zoey, especially if Dawn's being held hostage by the bigger ships in het circles, Ikari, Pearl, Penguin, Twinleaf, Cavalier, and occasionally HeatTag (Dawn with Paul, Ash, Kenny, Barry, Gary, and Conway, respectively). Snowpoint gained a lot of points bc Zoey and Candice were revealed to canonically have a history together
• I remember PhaesporiaShipping (Cynthia/Diantha) always having a bit of a following; I've heard they've actually finally interacted in Journeys, but again, have been off tumblr since before that aired and haven't seen it yet, so idk the impact those interactions had on the shippers
• I don't think it's ever had a huge following, but I'd also shout out ScientificShipping (Juniper/Fennel); I always feel like I see that one floating around in various circles. Another couple of gen 5 ships in similar boats are SourGrapesShipping (Georgia/Burgundy) and FlarebusterShipping (Iris/Georgia); they have a little bit of traction in gen 5 circles, but I don't think they've ever hit any kind of mega-popularity, tho they do fit in the rival ships camp. Also, I've no idea how they stack against the het ships for her, but the yuri ships for Rosa that seem to get the most traction are WhitesquareShipping (Hilda/Rosa), LightPinkShipping (Rosa/Yancy), and AcousticGuitarShipping (Rosa/Roxie).
• speaking of gen 9 ships, I echo all the ones that have already been mentioned, but I'd also shout out Eri/Mela and Carmen/Eri; both are Team Star ships that I've seen get some love and had great in-game interactions, tho I'd say I've seen Eri/Mela around more (and particularly when the focus seems to be on pairing off all the Team Star leaders with each other, imo). I've also seen a few sprinkles of Tulip/Katy around, but it's def eclipsed by Tulip/Dendra. (btw, most of my gen 9 knowledge comes from reading fanfics on AO3, in case you were wondering XP)
• I know this isn't fully relevant to the thread topic, but I'd like to take a quick moment to lodge a formal complaint here, and say that CinnamonSugarShipping (Bonnie/Mimo) and especially Sada/Raifort are srsly being slept on, and deserve way more attention from the fandom. Thank you, carry on. XP

Okay, I think that's all I have to say, at least in regards to "popular" yuri ships; if this was a general discussion about just the ships themselves, I'm not sure y'all would've ever gotten me to shut up about them. ;P

 

[Teebs96]

augh fennelper was sooooo big when BW1/2 were new. i remember quite a bit of content about them on my tumblr timeline.

 

[Insanish Danish]

Scientificshipping is iconic.....Carly/Araragi-hakase (if you ever sign into the forums again, we're discussing your ship!!) got me as well as many others into the ship and it's just. It's great. I'm not anywhere near as invested in it as she is but they just look really good together and it genuinely makes sense, despite the fact that we don't get to see the two of them together a whole lot.