Why do fans like Serena so much?

[SinnohEevee]

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Maybe too quickly, considering what came out after that...

I'm not really sure that there is so much difference between disappointments of fans of different characters. I clearly remember that there is a big disappointment about Hikari's leaving the show. I think fans of Hikari were not vocally "strong" about their disappointment because they didn't want to look like the fans of a certain other character. I think people were more vocal about Kasumi and Serena's leaving the show because of most of their fandoms were also shippers. Shippers were always the most vocal parts of every fandom. Even Hikari's leaving the show was most vocally criticized by Pearlshipper part of her fandom. There is also other reasons that might help: People were obviously upset about Kalos League loss and SM's new art style, there was much less internet petitions back then in 2010, etc.

Were they wrong though? I think it's the main crust of the problem. When you think about it... it really makes no sense for Serena to leave the person she romantically interested, just to participate on a contest at Hoenn. We still don't know what happened to her. Did she give up being the Kalos Queen and now doing contest in Hoenn? Did she return to Kalos and doing chores for that creepy old woman? Did she go to Kanto and doing chores for Satoshi's mama? We'll never know! Same could be said for Hikari, she never gave a reason to not travel with Satoshi. Satoshi had no plan about the region he'll go next, yet Hikari said nothing about traveling with him again and part with him on pretext of a modelling job. Why is that? There is a implication that she is grown and no longer need Satoshi and Takeshi's help, so, she leave her friends because she no longer needs them? They're important for her as long as they're useful to her? The show never gave an answer for that. We were always too eager to belittle "BRING BACK MISTY/SERENA" part of fandom, yet aren't they were right to demand their favourite character back, or at least a better explanation for their no longer traveling with the person they supposed to attached? Maybe we were too quiet about Hikari's farewell to the show and should follow others' example?

These characters no longer promote everything.
If Hikari were to be a permanent member of a show with no end, she would become stale like Satoshi and Musashi-tachi.
Talking about the TRio, their fans keep insisting they appear every episode for ever, which makes the group boring. And Ash is losing his personality with time.
With that said, I would have liked if Hikari/Dawn stayed for more than one series, but that couldn't happen because she only promotes Gen IV (it seems only Gen I characters are allowed to last more than their generation).

 

[EscLucy]

Talking about the TRio, their fans keep insisting they appear every episode for ever, which makes the group boring. And Ash is losing his personality with time.

I actually really enjoy their taunts and dry, sarcastic humour. In the SM anime, I find them weirder (in a good way). I wouldn't mind to see them every episode (get to see more of Bewear too!!!).

 

[SinnohEevee]

I actually really enjoy their taunts and dry, sarcastic humour. In the SM anime, I find them weirder (in a good way). I wouldn't mind to see them every episode (get to see more of Bewear too!!!).

I get bored when they try to steal Pikachu and fail miserably over and over.

 

[EscLucy]

I get bored when they try to steal Pikachu and fail miserably over and over.

Fair enough - I like to see how they try to catch Pikachu differently each time but I see your point! It does get very predictable after a while.

 

[ii kanji]

Shipping, pure and simple.

I get bored when they try to steal Pikachu and fail miserably over and over.

In 72 SM episodes, please tell me how many times this has happened.

 

[SinnohEevee]

Shipping, pure and simple.


In 72 SM episodes, please tell me how many times this has happened.

I am talking about precprev series (save BW).

 

[ii kanji]

I am talking about precprev series (save BW).

Talking about the TRio, their fans keep insisting they appear every episode for ever, which makes the group boring.

I get bored when they try to steal Pikachu and fail miserably over and over.

I mean, it kind of sounds like you're talking in the present tense here, but sure.

 

[Mikuri]

It's more like I just didn't really see it as that big of a deal in the first place.

I have no idea how you did not notice that shipping was such a major part of what constitutes Serena.

Like I said in my previous post, Serena's crush on Ash is what set her in motion. This happened not once, when she started her journey, but also when she left the show, when she said that she was going to become much more attractive for him. Serena had absolutely nothing going for her during the first year of the XY series other than her feelings for Ash. The things she did do, like making a Pokévision video, were done to impress Ash. Serena only decided to make a video for herself after seeing how Ash was impressed by Aria's video.

Even after Serena found out about Pokémon Showcases and was given some purpose in life other than drool over Ash, this part of her character still made its way into her Showcase arc. Serena's rivalry with Miette is more about who is going to get into Ash's pants than anything else. Miette never taunted Serena for Showcase-related reasons, she was always saying she would steal Ash from Serena. Shauna has also commented on Serena's obvious crush on Ash.

Then there's the small things that show her infatuation, like Serena adding the blue ribbon Ash gave her to her new outfit, and the shippers working on or around the show, like Akemi Omode and Shoko Nakagawa.

I think that her determination to become Kalos Queen says a lot more about her character than just girl with crush on Ash does.

That's curious when Serena herself stated that Ash is her goal in life. Aiming for the Kalos Queen position is a thing she is doing in the meantime.

 

[Rath]

Ash isn't Serena's goal in life. The whole point of XY's final episode is that she decided to leave Ash behind to follow her dream.

 

[Silktree]

"You are my goal. And the next time we meet, I'll have become a much more charming woman."

It's pretty clear-cut, folks. I wouldn't say that becoming Kalos Queen is just a means to an end, but it is not her most important goal, either. The writers didn't even care about Showcases all that much or they would have done more with them.

 

[Antiyonder]

And again, I maintain that inserting the backstory of them meeting much sooner seems like it's done to give her weight as a love interest, namely because it means that even if she is the 5th female companion at the age of 10, she's retroactively the first girl Ash met.

I mean referring to my previous post it seems like most of XY could remain intact even if her introduction lacked that flashback.

 

[Insanish Danish]

God, I have such weird feelings about Serena...I absolutely loved her when she was first introduced, back when almost the whole fandom couldn't stand her, and yes, her crush on Ash was part of the reason why. I found it endearing, idk. I didn't think she was a fascinating character, but I thought she was super sweet and I really liked the little banter she had with going on with her mom.

Then the series went on and I just...got bored. She didn't become a bad character or anything, I just found myself losing interest in her for whatever reason and eventually I just kind of stopped caring altogether. I also started to get annoyed by her fixation with Ash (this was around the point where suddenly the whole fandom did a complete 180 and started loving both Serena and Amourshipping. Go figure). Again, I don't really know why, it just got old to me after a while. So I can't really say exactly why people like Serena so much, considering that she only became a really popular character AFTER I got bored with her, although the Amourshipping angle definitely plays a huge part.

 

[Almonds]

Another reason the shipping was so popular could be connected to fans hoping that Ash might achieve something big time in XY(&Z). During XY(&Z), it seemed that the series was going for a 'final season-ish' classic shounen-anime/sports-anime style story with all the cliche features: Ash finally having become the leader from the underdog, being the mentor of the group, the group members being inspired by him, and the one of the most popular trope in shounen-anime: the girl with the crush (on the protagonist). People liked Serena's crush because it seemed to mean something.

It looked like Ash could finally accomplish his goal and possibly achieve a happy ending with Serena like how it is done in most classic shounen-anime. Heck, I think this might be the most overused story set in history: the protagonist emerging victorious against all odds and achiving romance. Ash plays a huge part in Serena's popularity, imo, and Serena was also partially responsible for the fans hyping over Ash's possible league victory because the cliche traits were all pointing in that direction.

 

[Silktree]

If that's the case, then they shouldn't like Serena anymore.

 

[Hidden Mew]

Another reason the shipping was so popular could be connected to fans hoping that Ash might achieve something big time in XY(&Z). During XY(&Z), it seemed that the series was going for a 'final season-ish' classic shounen-anime/sports-anime style story with all the cliche features: Ash finally having become the leader from the underdog, being the mentor of the group, the group members being inspired by him, and the one of the most popular trope in shounen-anime: the girl with the crush (on the protagonist). People liked Serena's crush because it seemed to mean something.

It looked like Ash could finally accomplish his goal and possibly achieve a happy ending with Serena like how it is done in most classic shounen-anime. Heck, I think this might be the most overused story set in history: the protagonist emerging victorious against all odds and achiving romance. Ash plays a huge part in Serena's popularity, imo, and Serena was also partially responsible for the fans hyping over Ash's possible league victory because the cliche traits were all pointing in that direction.

I do remember people hoping for that to happen, which always seemed really strange to me. I understand why a lot of people thought that Ash could win the Kalos League for various reasons, but thinking that the series could end with Ash and Serena officially becoming a couple, riding off into the sunset or even a time skip where the two of them are married always sounded like a huge stretch to me. I know that is common with some classic shonen anime, but we're not talking about a classic shonen anime. We're talking about Pokemon and a pairing involving Ash. By the way the show is structured and how they handle Ash's character, the pairing couldn't possibly go anywhere meaningful like that at all. Ash is a forever ten year old boy completely oblivious to romance. Granted, I think you could see that Ash had feelings for Serena too based on his reaction to the kiss, but I don't think he'd be able to understand his feelings enough to want to become Serena's boyfriend afterwards.

Before the finale aired, I was positive that Serena would leave without any kind of confession. She may have wanted to, but I could have seen her just think to herself that she'll confess her feelings to Ash once she becomes Kalos Queen or something like that. Serena kissing Ash before she left was probably the most they could have done to appeal fans of the pairing. They couldn't have her travel to Alola because she wasn't a seventh generation character and I couldn't see them giving Ash or any of the main characters an actual boyfriend/girlfriend. It just wouldn't really fit with Pokemon to go that far with a pairing between main characters.

It sounds more like people thought that Ash could finally be replaced because he could win the Kalos League and have a girlfriend, but that ship sailed ages ago. Not to mention Ash already became a mentor figure back in both AG and DP, so XY wasn't new in that regard. It was the first time Ash got to the finals and I could see why people thought he was going to win for various reasons, but thinking that he was going to end up with Serena to some extent seemed more like wishful thinking rather than something that could have happened.

 

[Rath]

Also, Serena's popularity is really overstated. She's nowhere near as popular as previous main girls like Misty or Dawn, or even the current one, Lillie.

She's not anywhere near as popular as her fans make her out to be.

 

[Silktree]

She seems to be very popular in Japan. Probably due to the idol craze.

 

[Peppermint Phoenix]

Because cutting hair = character development. Meaning she has one character development and everyone else has zero. Ergo she is the character with the most development and thus objectively the best companion.

 

[Hidden Mew]

Also, Serena's popularity is really overstated. She's nowhere near as popular as previous main girls like Misty or Dawn, or even the current one, Lillie.

She's not anywhere near as popular as her fans make her out to be.

I thought that she was pretty popular. Part of that could be coming right after Iris, but from what I can tell, Serena was received fairly well. I don't think she'd be as popular as Misty or Dawn. Misty would have the most nostalgia factor going for her out of all of the female leads, while Dawn was a co-star of her series, but I don't think that means Serena isn't that popular.

I don't know how popular anime Lillie is though. It feels like a lot of her popularity is comes from video game Lillie rather than in her role in the show, especially with how the Aether Foundation arc kind of just threw in aspects of her video game storyline without really adapting it to fit anime Lillie. The best example of that was the whole Z-Powered Form line when Lillie changing outfits isn't a huge deal in the show like it was in the games.

 

[Fiamette]

I didn't like Serena at first because of her pointless crush on Ash (I mean c'mon, we all knew it wouldn't go anywhere) and she was kind of boring me, but then that changed. Besides the shipping scenes, I loved seeing Serena's characterization throughout the series. I didn't expect her to be like Misty or Dawn or whatever, I'm glad we got something different with her.