You didn't read my post if this is your response.
Yes, I did read it.
I agree JN105 might have been disappointing, but I disagree with the take that it destroyed Amourshipping.
For example, if Serena had her blue ribbon or it was even shown, let alone explained what happened to it, this episode would have been an improvement for me. Like if Serena was actually wearing her ribbon or mentioned to Koharu that she had it, I would be calling this a great Serena episode and a great Amour episode. (Sidenote, people are using the blue bracelets in Serena's contest performance to claim that that was the ribbon and no, a back picture of it was shared and it looked nothing like her blue ribbon from XY. Lying to myself that hard isn't healthy). That didn't happen. It's not addressed. It's not shown and they even went as far as to avoid showing it in her flashback scenes. I don't want to take that as intentional, but how they treated Ash and Serena's that came up time and time again has me questioning that. The ribbon is a physical manifestation of Amour and Ash and Serena relationship. It represents Serena's love from him on her side and a care and appreciation from Ash that I consider unique to his relationship with her(Ash doesn't just give gifts unprompted and rub his nose while doing so to any Pokegirl folks). It's explicit, incredibly meaningful, and something that XY took great pains to show was important to Serena. She literally made a gift from Ash a part of her outfit change, one of the most defining parts of XY and especially her character. She would grasp at the ribbon whenever she was worried about Ash. It's evident to me that the narrative of XY was more than clear about how important the ribbon was. Her not wearing it is bad enough, not explaining what happened to it? This is legitimate big retcon territory for me and pretty much struck the episode as more than massive failure from an Amour perspective on my end. If people want to argue that the ribbon isn't as big of a deal as I'm making it out to be, we can have that conversation for sure. What's different about the portrayal of Serena here is that I easily think it could be easily argued the romantic implications of that relationship are stripped. The removal of the ribbon is indicative of that.
Honestly, I don't think much of the blue ribbon.
It's a small prize that Ash won by just happening to be the lucky winner at the monorail station. A ribbon that he literally had no use for, and gave to Serena because it fit her better and he couldn't think of any other gift. It wasn't something Ash went out of his way to obtain for her, or something that he truly valued that he gave away. I mean, the entire episode was one of the most hyped in XY, and ended up being quite underwhelming. Ash spent most of that "date" being by himself.
The ribbon was a nice touch on Serena's second outfit, but to say that it's some powerful physical manifestation of love, and Serena not having it on her new outfit is tantamount to Amourshipping being retconned is honestly just an......
overreaction.
The fact that Serena is referencing Ash's words to her, when trying to encourage Chloe, is much more of an indication of Amourshipping than whether or not she had the ribbon.
Serena at the end of the XY was decisive, confident in her overall goals, and really in her shoes in the end of XY just the way she is here in this episode. What's really powerful about the XY finale is that it was ingenious at making it indicative of her own character change from the beginning of XY in multiple different ways, doing justice to all parts of her character. She's able to leave for her contests in Hoenn of her own volition, something she wanted to do for herself a complete change from the beginning of XY where she left home with no real idea of what she wanted to do besides knowing that she didn't want to something else. Not only that though, she was also able to proudly assert her feelings for Ash and kiss him, a stark change from the character who blushed in embarrassment at Ash complimenting her or was unable to even try to hold his hand. Her blushing while thanking Ash as she went down the escalator was even a change from her normal blushing prior in the show which was characterized as shy and demure embarrassment to just like prideful blushing if that makes sense lol. It was the blushing of someone who was unashamed and unabashed of their feelings for someone, which given the scene is pretty obvious lol. I'm explaining this to say that what makes Serena's character and her relationship with Ash unique from other Pokegirls was not just the significant influence on her from Ash, but was also the undercurrent of romantic implications and feelings that came with it. It's why the kiss is not only great development for Serena, but also great development for Amour. It's why some of my favorite scenes between the two of them like the " Never give up " mantra or Ash telling her that nothing they do is pointless are also examples of my favorite Amour scenes. I think you could see it that way, sure, but you could also see it as the platonic care Serena has for a good friend who had a great amount of influence on her. People have mentioned this as being XY finale-like and that couldn't be further from the truth. This is budget XY finale. It's not even close to representing what the XY finale showed. It's a stripped down version of it, only comparable in directorial flourish and nowhere near in how it perfectly handled Serena's character. It's a worse retread. It does nothing for Serena's character that the XY finale didn't do and actively undermines it. And I think the positive reaction from people who never liked her character and never understood why the XY finale was so great, not just for Amour but for Serena as a character, validates that interpretation. They pick up on the comparatively stripped down signals it sends. Why do you think there was so much concern-trolling and baiting during speculation and after the episode aired? In the end, I'm actually glad some Amour fans liked the episode. I hope I'm wrong and the conclusion of the episode is actually some foreshadowing that the writers will deliver on, but I don't really have trust in the JN writers at all. To say that the scene wasn't strong and couldn't be argued as an Amour scene is wrong. Not to mention, they clearly treated Serena differently from other returns. None of the Dawn returns or Iris or the Alola girls(besides Lillie she hasn't come back) were handled with the amount of finesse that I think the final scene still has. Not even Gary's return.For me though? Personally, I'm once again thankful that XY is the most self-contained season of the series. The show isn't XY anymore. I don't think it will ever be like XY again.
None of this was retconned however. Serena
is much more confident, with a clear goal. She doesn't awkwardly stammer when Ash runs by, but immediately calls out to him. I guess she could have blushed at the very end, but she doesn't need to either. Ash knows how she feels about him.
It's why when I finally come to the final scene of her and Ash at the boat, I'm conflicted. It's a strong scene as they both tell each other their goals and the direction and visual cues as well as even the storytelling with Serena standing their at the dock as the sun sets before Sylveon looks at her in slight concern to see her smiling should be great Amour right?
It's supposed to be similar to the elevator scene, but this time, it's Ash who is being pulled away, quite literally on the boat, and metaphorically by fate itself. Just like Serena, he has to achieve his own goal first, before they can be together again.
the romantic subplot to their relationship was something never done before
It has been done before, in Orange Islands with Ash and Misty. Perhaps arguably more mutual between May and Drew.
Which is why it's a bit disappointing they didn't do more from Ash's side during XY, and why they've avoided addressing the elephant in the room post-XY. Don't get me wrong, I wanted more from JN105 too. I wanted both of them to have an actual conversation alone. Unfortunately, the writers just don't know how nor want to approach it post-kiss.
she barely even simped for ash in the first place I don't really get this perception that Serena's entire personality in xy revolved around ash
I'm well aware that it's an unfair label, but I'm just being honest. I bet if you poll most of the fandom, the first thought that would come to mind regarding Serena is the "
girl who likes Ash", not the "
girl who wants to be a Showcase Performer." That perception stuck because the narrative made it seem that Serena left home solely to give Ash back his cloth, and then she spends the first year of XY episodes not doing much relatively to prior Pokegirls, with her crush being the main shtick.
As in, they are comparing it as the case where "girl loves the boy, who is oblivious to it and remains as such but then develops feelings for her when he gets older"
Pretty much it.
I don’t think that’s going to happen. At this point it’s obvious to me that this last series is just Ash traveling and meeting different pokemon.
Watch the endgame be:
It's the final episode. There's a grand party in Pallet Town with all of Ash's friends and Pokemon. During the celebration, there's a 20 second scene where Ash and Serena lock eyes. Serena blushes, and Ash...blushes back.
Aaaannnndddd that's it.
I just know I prefer Ash being more to his own than trying to be standard shonen boy
