Most overrated character of all time!

[PokemonBattleFanatic-]

And yet it at least accomplished more than Ash-Greninja. And alone.

Yeah eliminating Kefla from the tournament and besting Jiren are big accomplishments,better than beating a rookie trainer's Mega Sceptile

 

[AuraChannelerChris]

-snip-

Hey, I was only assuming he did beat Jiren. The other stuff is spoilers to me.

...Also, can we please not bring non-Pokemon protagonists into this.

 

[PokemonBattleFanatic-]

Hey, I was only assuming he did beat Jiren. The other stuff is spoilers to me.

...Also, can we please not bring non-Pokemon protagonists into this.

If you insist

 

[Leonhart]

It seems like Jun tends to get a lot of praise even though he was a rather poor rival who only defeated Satoshi once as far as I can recall. His personality might have something to do with it, but I was never all that impressed by his gag of constantly rushing everywhere.

 

[Lunanight]

To me, Serena is the most overrated character in the the entire anime. Amorshipping is the only thing going for her. Lets be completely honest here: If Misty, May, Dawn, or even Iris were as in love with Ash as Serena was and got an off-screen kiss with him, then Serena's gimmick wouldn't exist. When people say they like Serena, what they usually mean is that they like Amorshipping; they simply like the idea of Ash getting a love interest. Its obvious throughout XY that Serena was written as shipping-bait without actually giving her any real focus or character to her. While Serena can be described as several things, words like "independent", "skilled trainer", or "well-written character" do not come to mind.

Really, just look at Pokemon Showcases. They are watered-down, all-female versions of Pokemon Contests without any battling; its basically a goal for girl trainers who suck at Pokemon battles even moreso than even the average Pokemon Coordinators. Pokemon Contests at least had battles in them and had elements of skill to them whereas with Showcases, the writers somehow introduced an even more girly quest for the main female to do which is basically a popularity contest (and thus, not skill-based). Even if a third Coordinator sounds boring to many people, it would be miles better than Pokemon Showcases since Serena would be liked for reasons that don't involve Ash. Contests would have allowed Serena to develop her battling ability and exist for reasons that don't involve Ash.

My problem with Serena is that the entire reason people like her is because she's in love with Ash. Most notably, both May and Dawn had their own quests and sets of rivals, all of whom were competent or at least could pose a strong challenge to them. They actually grew and struggled over their journeys, and they were always fully independent of Ash. With Serena? People only like her because she's in love with Ash. The other Pokegirls never needed Ash to feel like complete characters nor did they need to love him; Serena needs Ash to even exist.

While its kinda true that in retrospect, Misty was primarily adored due to rose-tinted nostalgia of all things Kanto, she was still leagues better of a character than Serena ever was since the reasons people liked Misty had nothing to do with Ash. Misty was a gym leader, the only female companion to be one so far in the anime, and introduced the goal of being a master of a type. She didn't have rivals, but that makes Serena look even worse since Misty somehow had equal or more real battles than Serena despite the latter having 3 rivals (in addition to Aria) while Misty having zero rivals.

As said earlier, May and Dawn are both liked for reasons that have nothing to do with Ash at all; their growth, rivals, and the concept of Pokemon Contests are all much more interesting than Serena's non-Ash moments. Even Iris was a better written character than Serena IMO since Iris wasn't an object that existed as shipping-bait.

TL;DR: People only like Serena because she's shipping-bait. Showcases were terrible and Serena should have been a coordinator like May and Dawn. Serena is poorly written character and is far less interesting or developed as a character than any of the other Pokegirls.

 

[JustAStatistic]

Without a doubt, Origins Red. People brag he would wipe the floor with Ash, yet he showed less skill in battling than Unova Ash and his only notable Pokemon, Charizard and Mewtwo, are dumbed down and weaker versions of their main anime counterparts.

I feel people have a rose-tinted view of Brock. He was good in OS and Johto, but served almost no purpose in Hoenn and should definitely have been gone by Battle Frontier.

(Dis?)Honorable mentions: Misty, Gary, Dawn, Paul, Serena

 

[Sham]

To me, Serena is the most overrated character in the the entire anime. Amorshipping is the only thing going for her. Lets be completely honest here: If Misty, May, Dawn, or even Iris were as in love with Ash as Serena was and got an off-screen kiss with him, then Serena's gimmick wouldn't exist. When people say they like Serena, what they usually mean is that they like Amorshipping; they simply like the idea of Ash getting a love interest. Its obvious throughout XY that Serena was written as shipping-bait without actually giving her any real focus or character to her. While Serena can be described as several things, words like "independent", "skilled trainer", or "well-written character" do not come to mind.

Really, just look at Pokemon Showcases. They are watered-down, all-female versions of Pokemon Contests without any battling; its basically a goal for girl trainers who suck at Pokemon battles even moreso than even the average Pokemon Coordinators. Pokemon Contests at least had battles in them and had elements of skill to them whereas with Showcases, the writers somehow introduced an even more girly quest for the main female to do which is basically a popularity contest (and thus, not skill-based). Even if a third Coordinator sounds boring to many people, it would be miles better than Pokemon Showcases since Serena would be liked for reasons that don't involve Ash. Contests would have allowed Serena to develop her battling ability and exist for reasons that don't involve Ash.

My problem with Serena is that the entire reason people like her is because she's in love with Ash. Most notably, both May and Dawn had their own quests and sets of rivals, all of whom were competent or at least could pose a strong challenge to them. They actually grew and struggled over their journeys, and they were always fully independent of Ash. With Serena? People only like her because she's in love with Ash. The other Pokegirls never needed Ash to feel like complete characters nor did they need to love him; Serena needs Ash to even exist.

While its kinda true that in retrospect, Misty was primarily adored due to rose-tinted nostalgia of all things Kanto, she was still leagues better of a character than Serena ever was since the reasons people liked Misty had nothing to do with Ash. Misty was a gym leader, the only female companion to be one so far in the anime, and introduced the goal of being a master of a type. She didn't have rivals, but that makes Serena look even worse since Misty somehow had equal or more real battles than Serena despite the latter having 3 rivals (in addition to Aria) while Misty having zero rivals.

As said earlier, May and Dawn are both liked for reasons that have nothing to do with Ash at all; their growth, rivals, and the concept of Pokemon Contests are all much more interesting than Serena's non-Ash moments. Even Iris was a better written character than Serena IMO since Iris wasn't an object that existed as shipping-bait.

TL;DR: People only like Serena because she's shipping-bait. Showcases were terrible and Serena should have been a coordinator like May and Dawn. Serena is poorly written character and is far less interesting or developed as a character than any of the other Pokegirls.

Why would you say something so controversial yet so true?

 

[Kintaro]

Keep in mind overrated does not mean bad. All the most popular characters in the anime tend to be overrated, that's fine. Characters wouldn't get overrated if they didn't have fans to begin with.

You can think a character is overrated and still like them, or at least be indifferent to them. I think some people confuse overrated with dislike, it's not the same thing.

 

[AznKei]

Keep in mind overrated does not mean bad. All the most popular characters in the anime tend to be overrated, that's fine. Characters wouldn't get overrated if they didn't have fans to begin with.

You can think a character is overrated and still like them, or at least be indifferent to them. I think some people confuse overrated with dislike, it's not the same thing.

To me, I blame the confusion on stuffs like the Pokemon anime controversial memes at DeviantArt, where whenever they put an overrated character, they wrote things like "She's overrated because everyone is talking about that shipping and I'm sick of it along with that character" and then those who like that character are like "No she's not overrated. She's a good character, she deserves more".

TL;DR: People only like Serena because she's shipping-bait. Showcases were terrible and Serena should have been a coordinator like May and Dawn. Serena is poorly written character and is far less interesting or developed as a character than any of the other Pokegirls.

I like Serena for reasons outside of shipping, as I really don't care about Ash at all, so I rather see her than him. As for the comparisons to the past Pokegirls. I didn't watch the past series much nor I'm interested to watch their whole things, but I'm disappointed how the anime producers/writers handled her. Plus I rather see her together with the past Pokegirls than them fighting over Ash. But unlike Serena fans, I went to the fanfiction route and I had no regrets to the point that whatever the anime does to her in the future is not my concern. Would I deny that Serena is overrated? Probably not, but I rather write other things about her than shipping.

 

[horrahforyou]

Serena should start her Pokemon Contest journey at the time of ORAS games released and it's a good opportunity for May to return and teach Serena some techniques without fighting over who's a better waifu to Ash. Serena also receives a Mudkip as her addition to her team maybe evolving all the way to Swampert. But sadly it was wasted, the writers decided a much girly goal for Serena aka Showcases.

I hate the scene where Serena crying out loud like a spoiled kid then cuts her hair after her lost at her first Performance. After she had her haircut and changes her attire, she asks Ash blushing "How do I look?" it really looks stupid. I mean May and Dawn weren't like that when they lost at their first contest.

 

[Ignition]

With how many people who say Serena’s overrated, you’d think she’s underrated. She’s more controversial as the reception of her entire character is polarizing in pretty much any scenario

 

[Sham]

With how many people who say Serena’s overrated, you’d think she’s underrated. She’s more controversial as the reception of her entire character is polarizing in pretty much any scenario

I’d say that she isn’t underrated and simply controversial (like you said). For every Serena “hater” there’s an armour shipper/Serena lover. The opinion on her is pretty divided in the fandom.

 

[PokemonBattleFanatic-]

(Dis?)Honorable mentions: Misty, Gary, Dawn,Paul, Serena

 

[Zoruagible]

With how many people who say Serena’s overrated, you’d think she’s underrated. She’s more controversial as the reception of her entire character is polarizing in pretty much any scenario

On this site she's most definitely the opposite of overrated
But in general she is, nobody can touch the overratedness of a certain Alolan water specialist though

 

[Codebox]

Serena hands down. She's treated as this perfect messiah of the anime, but in my opinion she's the blandest, more uninteresting female companion with a "love at first sight" trope. Her entire character is identified by liking Ash, even down to their "first meeting" which just amounted to them meeting together once at a camp and he was nice to her. Outside of that though where's her personality? Aside from being girly, lacking confidence and liking Ash what other characteristic does she have? Even Misty the most underdeveloped female at least had an distinct personality. The fact I can remember characteristics from every female but Serena shows there's a problem. I even think Iris is better. I mean every female companion has some amount of character trait remembered about them, but Serena has the personality of a soggy pancake.

Amourshipping just makes it twice as bad. Not to discount every Amourshipper, just the specific ones who glorify the character and bash the other females (namely Misty who they classify as "overrated" despite Serena's status replacing Misty and Misty being more hated than liked nowadays I fail to see how she's overrated) just to build her up.

Showcases are also just diet contests without any of the appeal contests had. Since in contests it was actually about showing off Pokemon in different ways that didn't involving just battling, and when battling happened other factors applied under conditions. With showcases its just girls showcasing base level female attributes (they like to bake pastries and dress up) which further just adds to the female stereotype Serena is coupled with. As well as how showcases just exist to fit female stereotypes. Serena's rivals didn't feel like rivals at all considering Miette is just her rival through a "crush" on Ash and her and Shauna are more of friends than rivals. Aria is like her only legit rival, even then May and Dawn had more interesting rivals (even if I didn't like Zoey or Kenny in Dawn's case)

I also would say Kalos Ash too, I agree his more competent battle nature is certainly a step up from his Memetic Loser status given to him by the internet, but at the same time I feel he gets too much plot armor (AKA Ash-Greninja) and doesn't have the personality as well. Sinnoh Ash and by extension SM Ash do a better job balancing imo.

I hate to say it, but May is somewhat overrated as well. Don't get me wrong I love May she's one of my favs. But tbh even though I liked her development she did have most of her contest wins just completely handed to her and most wins were through sheer convenience. Not to mention being tricked by Harley more than once got annoying after the second attempt. Still I do feel bad because I generally do like May a lot.

Paul is also here. Sure is Paul the best rival? Sure, however I think he's put on a pedestal far more than he should be, even if I like his rivalry with Ash.

 

[J.Agera]

The entire Pokémon franchise is overrated. There ya go.

 

[J.Agera]

And yet it at least accomplished more than Ash-Greninja. And alone.

I mean of course, a godly power will accomplish more compared to a mere evolution power up, in comparison. That should be common sense.

 

[J.Agera]

Serena should start her Pokemon Contest journey at the time of ORAS games released and it's a good opportunity for May to return and teach Serena some techniques without fighting over who's a better waifu to Ash. Serena also receives a Mudkip as her addition to her team maybe evolving all the way to Swampert. But sadly it was wasted, the writers decided a much girly goal for Serena aka Showcases.

I hate the scene where Serena crying out loud like a spoiled kid then cuts her hair after her lost at her first Performance. After she had her haircut and changes her attire, she asks Ash blushing "How do I look?" it really looks stupid. I mean May and Dawn weren't like that when they lost at their first contest.

Looks stupid to you.
She wanted a restart.
Also, she had a crush on Ash, of course when you change looks you want the person whom you like to complement you.

 

[J.Agera]

Serena hands down. She's treated as this perfect messiah of the anime, but in my opinion she's the blandest, more uninteresting female companion with a "love at first sight" trope. Her entire character is identified by liking Ash, even down to their "first meeting" which just amounted to them meeting together once at a camp and he was nice to her. Outside of that though where's her personality? Aside from being girly, lacking confidence and liking Ash what other characteristic does she have? Even Misty the most underdeveloped female at least had an distinct personality. The fact I can remember characteristics from every female but Serena shows there's a problem. I even think Iris is better. I mean every female companion has some amount of character trait remembered about them, but Serena has the personality of a soggy pancake.

Amourshipping just makes it twice as bad. Not to discount every Amourshipper, just the specific ones who glorify the character and bash the other females (namely Misty who they classify as "overrated" despite Serena's status replacing Misty and Misty being more hated than liked nowadays I fail to see how she's overrated) just to build her up.

Showcases are also just diet contests without any of the appeal contests had. Since in contests it was actually about showing off Pokemon in different ways that didn't involving just battling, and when battling happened other factors applied under conditions. With showcases its just girls showcasing base level female attributes (they like to bake pastries and dress up) which further just adds to the female stereotype Serena is coupled with. As well as how showcases just exist to fit female stereotypes. Serena's rivals didn't feel like rivals at all considering Miette is just her rival through a "crush" on Ash and her and Shauna are more of friends than rivals. Aria is like her only legit rival, even then May and Dawn had more interesting rivals (even if I didn't like Zoey or Kenny in Dawn's case)

I also would say Kalos Ash too, I agree his more competent battle nature is certainly a step up from his Memetic Loser status given to him by the internet, but at the same time I feel he gets too much plot armor (AKA Ash-Greninja) and doesn't have the personality as well. Sinnoh Ash and by extension SM Ash do a better job balancing imo.

I hate to say it, but May is somewhat overrated as well. Don't get me wrong I love May she's one of my favs. But tbh even though I liked her development she did have most of her contest wins just completely handed to her and most wins were through sheer convenience. Not to mention being tricked by Harley more than once got annoying after the second attempt. Still I do feel bad because I generally do like May a lot.

Paul is also here. Sure is Paul the best rival? Sure, however I think he's put on a pedestal far more than he should be, even if I like his rivalry with Ash.

I disagree with the entirety of this text. But it's way too long.
Maybe some other time.

 

[PokemonBattleFanatic-]

Paul is also here. Sure is Paul the best rival? Sure, however I think he's put on a pedestal far more than he should be, even if I like his rivalry with Ash.

Oh Really now