I think Clemont had some nice supporting roles sometimes, and was maybe the best of the XY lot to interact with ancillary characters in a natural way, but yeah they did have a long period they sorta stopped caring about him. I liked the tech guy hook to him, but it was kept to a running gag too often, and unlike Sophocles, none of his Pokemon were particularly connected to it (being his one Electric type on hand, you'd think Luxray could have gotten some agency there).
I feel like halfway between XY they shifted all investment from character dynamics/funny antics stuff to very linear arc focus, so if a character didn't have connection to a tournament or big event, they were kinda screwed. He at least got a small leapback near the tail end however, and ended the series with a nice enough special.
Serena got limelight later on but I think always had the issue of being the non-action girl in a very action focused series. Even by the Flare arc they're struggling to find a place for her. I feel like the reason Clemont got a special is because you can just do more stuff with his character, even if his potential wasn't used as much.
Agreed, although I wouldnt mind a character like Dawn who has flashy tournaments about her because I never really saw her fading into backgrounds when those episodes werent happening. She was very enjoyable enough on her own too and in filler episodes, a great chemistry with Ash and even in gym battles Ash had she could be of help. She to me was the perfect mix and part of the reason why shes my fav companion
In hindsight yeah. Maybe that's why Dawn comes off as such a strong personality, even in episodes she wasn't necessarily the star. She GOT her big arc, but she didn't NEED one.
The biggest shame is her ability to bounce off of everything didn't apply as well with Brock. It would have REALLY said something about Dawn as a character if she gained a better chemistry to actually salvage him.