LagomorphShipping

About

LagomorphShipping is the name given fan-based romantic or shipping relationship between Pokémon characters Pikachu and Buneary. The name comes from "Lagomorpha," the two living families of rabbits, the Leporidae (hares and rabbits) and the Ochotonidae (pikas).

Origin

Shipping speculation between Pikachu and Buneary began even before the episode introducing Buneary aired. On November 2nd, 2006, Bulbagarden^[3] user Habunake referred the shipping relationship of the two Pokémon as "LagomorphShipping." The post was in a thread about the manga adaptation of the Pokémon episode "Setting the World on Its Buneary."

Spread

Three days later, another thread on Serebii Forum^[4] user alecsdell100 posted:

"I decide to create this ship called
Lagomorphshipping
because I've heard that the
episode that hikari catches
Mimiroru. That Mimiroru
will have a crush on
pikachu."

On November 16th, 2006, the episode of Pokémon: Diamond and Pearl episode "Setting The World On Its Buneary" aired in Japan and introduced the titular Buneary.^[2] After an incident causes a potato to fly in the sky, Pikachu quickly jumps off Ash to catch it before doing multiple front flips in slow motion. This catches the eye of a wild female Buneary, and she instantly falls for him. After being caught by Dawn, she agrees to tag along, where Buneary would flirt or display affection to Pikachu for more episodes to come.

The episode aired in America on July 18th, 2007.

On July 22nd, 2007, DeviantArt ^[5] user Stump8 posted the earliest known post on the site. The post entitled "Fluffy love" (shown below, left) received more than 170 views in 10 years.

The following year, on June 28th, 2008, DeviantArt^[6] user cicuskamarichu posted a comic between Buneary and Pikachu entitled "Pika pika." The post (shown below, right) received more than 24,000 views in nine years.

On December 27th, 2016, YouTuber Sophirisu uploaded a supercut of pictures and video of the two Pokémon together. The video (shown below) received more than 6,000 views in less than a year.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References