As I've said before, it's not about the quantity of time that matters. It's the quality of what you do with the limited time you have.
When Ash says goodbye to Misty, it was a simple wave goodbye while their Pokémon get more emotional of the farewells. Heck, even Brock's farewell to Misty is more engaging than Ash's. And with MPM being the end of our time with Ash, consider that we didn't really get a farewell between Ash and Dawn after the World Championship. Or that Iris was part of the Champion group that bid Ash farewell before the semi-finals. Or really any other companion that Ash waves goodbye to in Journeys. It's all casual goodbyes.
Serena's goodbye is that one that feels special because the time they actually have with each other is so limited that they have to make it the best and most memorable goodbye to each other. Declaring their goals and gazing at each other until the horizon separates them from sight.
That is how you know Amourshipping is still above the rest when it comes to the most canonical and most likely ship to happen in Ash's future.
Yes...but also no.
You're right, Serena's goodbye was poignant, and was a parallel to the elevator scene, except this time it was Ash being whisked away. It was framed as a moment of longing, especially with Serena waiting until the ship left the horizon. It would have been even better of a scene had the show portrayed Ash watching the dock until it too disappeared.
However, their interaction being considered special just because it was so limited...isn't a good thing? The fact that Serena got
1 episode after
5.5 years, and her only interaction with Ash was a measly
30 seconds, really shouldn't be viewed as a positive. The fact that she wasn't written to be present for the Masters 8,
the most important tournament of Ash's life, is rather bad, especially when Dawn was there instead.
With Misty and Dawn, they've met up with Ash multiple times now. They already had poignant goodbyes at the end of OS and DP. Nowadays, when they say goodbye, it's more of a "
see you in a few months" (or however time works in this universe), since that is actually the case.
Sooo with all that is said and done do you guys think that there is some regret on the writers' part when it comes to amourshipping judging how serena and her relationship with ash was portrayed and showcased post xy?
Not necessarily regret, because they know XY definitely revitalized the show, and Amourshipping was a popular aspect of XY. However, with SM and JN, they wanted to reiterate that Ash was/is still a 10-year-old boy, and romance isn't something that should be on his mind, nor as a focus.
I think they could have easily and elegantly done a 1-2 minute scene of the two of them talking about what happened, without needing to canonize anything. Serena should have reappeared more often, because how else can you continue to depict
why Ash would like her over anybody else. Oh well, it is what it is.
Amourshipping's best bet is now to hope for a
The Last: Naruto the Movie-esque movie with the two of them as teenagers where Ash 'realizes' his feelings.