Which return did you like the best?

[UnovaMaster]

I think Serena accepted Goh and Ash make a cuter couple than her and Ash

That's what that long stare at the boat was, acceptance

 

[Kazuniya]

I'd myself pay to have an episode where Serena confesses she's fallen out of affection for Ash and needed the time alone to realize it, and then have a popularity poll conducted to see where the votes go. Let's be real, we all know where she got most of these votes and why.

Considering she left XY practically flawless and without fault, and then had an episode in JN where she was practically flawless and without fault, that's pretty much the only direction this character can go at this stage and still be original (and I'd argue it's a direction that should be taken anyway). She spent the "teach someone else the lessons she learned" credit in 105, so that's out; Yeah, Serena's return episode does wonders for Chloe, but strictly speaking nothing about Serena's career growth has ebbed or flowed - she went from a 9/10 in Showcases to apparently a 9/10 in Super Contests, **** May wishes she had this luck in Johto - and so I personally can't call it the "best" return.

I'd have to give the best return ep(s) to Iris, who experienced both personal and career growth from whence she came. Game canon mandates cheats here to get her where she needed to be, but the subtle changes in her personality were the button she needed to prove that growth. It's better than the time abyss Dawn's found herself in. Gary takes the silver medal just by dint of going in a new direction that we see firsthand; if we saw more of Paul, he'd be up there too.

This is 100% true. Thanks for speaking facts.

A lot of people love Serena mostly because of the Amourshipping aspect and because she idolizes the fanboys' self-insert (Ash). Remove Amourshipping and Serena's crush and just keep her Showcases storyline, and her popularity will plummet.

Now, don't get me wrong, I like Serena.

But I'm self-aware enough to realize for what reasons the character is so popular exactly.

 

[Pteranodonte]

I really liked May's... Oh, right.

 

[ash&charizardfan]

This is 100% true. Thanks for speaking facts.

A lot of people love Serena mostly because of the Amourshipping aspect and because she idolizes the fanboys' self-insert (Ash). Remove Amourshipping and Serena's crush and just keep her Showcases storyline, and her popularity will plummet.

Now, don't get me wrong, I like Serena.

But I'm self-aware enough to realize for what reasons the character is so popular exactly.

That's true 100%

I really liked May's... Oh, right.

Hey she did came back albeit for a second only in flashback.

 

[Septilefan]

I really liked May's... Oh, right.

At this point it's kind of jarring that May is the only female who hasn't gotten an episode in 14 years, even though we know why that is.

Misty returned for 4 eps in SM, and everyone else returned this series like Dawn, Iris, Serena and the SM cast. May is really the only one who hasn't appeared in a decade and a half.

I sometimes wonder what a May ORAS cameo would have been like in 2014, she could have inspired Serena at the time to find a goal in the first year of XY, we could have seen May with Mega Blaziken and actually wearing her ORAS clothes or the ORAS Contest outfit. And then a May Journey's cameo would have likely had her help Koharu like the others or had a battle between her and Dawn or whatever.

It's a real shame how May is the only female companion who can never show up again. What a waste of the shows history.

 

[Pteranodonte]

At this point it's kind of jarring that May is the only female who hasn't gotten an episode in 14 years, even though we know why that is.

Misty returned for 4 eps in SM, and everyone else returned this series like Dawn, Iris, Serena and the SM cast. May is really the only one who hasn't appeared in a decade and a half.

I sometimes wonder what a May ORAS cameo would have been like in 2014, she could have inspired Serena at the time to find a goal in the first year of XY, we could have seen May with Mega Blaziken and actually wearing her ORAS clothes or the ORAS Contest outfit. And then a May Journey's cameo would have likely had her help Koharu like the others or had a battle between her and Dawn or whatever.

It's a real shame how May is the only female companion who can never show up again. What a waste of the shows history.

Yeah, especially since she was the best girl companion Ash ever had.

 

[Sonic Boom]

I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Serena absorbed some of May’s character traits and aspirations and began going down a similar path to her shortly after it became clear that KAORI’s ailment would be a long term recovery process.

 

[DayQuil95]

Paul had the best return.

(Let's hope this post doesn't age poorly.)

Aged like wine

 

[janejane6178]

Paul was wonderful in his return and his face wasn’t corrupted thanksfully

 

[ash&charizardfan]

People can criticize journeys in terms of storyline and battle execution, but if there is one thing that journeys did best was they utilize return very well, the only return which i found totally lacklustre was that of alain, the rest of them were all well executed.

 

[janejane6178]

Out of poke lead girls : Serena’s return
Out of background characters- Lillie’s since they fixed her corrupted face from sm

 

[Septilefan]

I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Serena absorbed some of May’s character traits and aspirations and began going down a similar path to her shortly after it became clear that KAORI’s ailment would be a long term recovery process.

Yeah, but it's still strange. Unlike say Tracey who the writers can get away with never speaking and just standing at Oak's lab because he was a minor character.

May on the other hand is still to this day one of the longest lasting female companions of the series at 4 years and nearly 200 episodes. And being the very first new female companion, she made a much bigger impact at the time because it was before we had new characters every series. So to see her written out entirely just feels odd, even though we know her VA is unable to perform.

It just feels jarring to me because she wasn't a minor character.

 

[Spyro39]

And that’s bad. Because she should be with Ash. She shouldn’t be dependent on him, she still can function without him, but she needs him. They need each other. #Amourshipping

So you say Serena shouldn't depend on Ash, but she still needs him?

And cause Ash and Serena definitely did not become successful and could not stop thinking about each other after they parted ways.

Yeah, but it's still strange. Unlike say Tracey who the writers can get away with never speaking and just standing at Oak's lab because he was a minor character.

May on the other hand is still to this day one of the longest lasting female companions of the series at 4 years and nearly 200 episodes. And being the very first new female companion, she made a much bigger impact at the time because it was before we had new characters every series. So to see her written out entirely just feels odd, even though we know her VA is unable to perform.

It just feels jarring to me because she wasn't a minor character.

At this point, all they can do is give May nods and references by other characters. Serena referring to May by her title "Princess of Hoenn" shows that while she's hasn't appeared on-screen since DP, she's still making an impact with her career and is well-known in her region.

IMO, there was a probably a possibility that the staff wanted to bring May back in Journeys, but couldn't because of her VA, so references is all they can do.

 

[Ignition]

I liked Paul’s, Gary’s, Lillie’s, & Iris’ the most. I like Serena’s but wasn’t a fan of how contrived they made it so Ash didn’t see her until the very end of the episode. I don’t care about Amour but a bit jarring nonetheless. If this was a Chronicles type special I’d be ok with it. I really wish Dawns’ did more with her character though. She’s still my favorite companion but her returns felt lackluster outside of the Arceus specials.

 

[Septilefan]

I like Serena’s but wasn’t a fan of how contrived they made it so Ash didn’t see her until the very end of the episode. I don’t care about Amour but a bit jarring nonetheless. If this was a Chronicles type special I’d be ok with it.

I just really like how we saw Serena on her own outside of Ash for most of it. They really handled it perfectly and if Serena ever appears again in a future series maybe they'll have her interact more with Ash if she ever shows up again

 

[Sonic Boom]

Yeah, but it's still strange. Unlike say Tracey who the writers can get away with never speaking and just standing at Oak's lab because he was a minor character.

May on the other hand is still to this day one of the longest lasting female companions of the series at 4 years and nearly 200 episodes. And being the very first new female companion, she made a much bigger impact at the time because it was before we had new characters every series. So to see her written out entirely just feels odd, even though we know her VA is unable to perform.

It just feels jarring to me because she wasn't a minor character.

It’s unfortunately a massive consequence of her actress being out of commission like this. I’m sure they have or had ideas for cameos in the backlog - like hell they wouldn’t have done a big ORAS bit with her like they did BDSP and Legends now - but they just couldn’t get it done without offending acting culture by recasting her.

On an even more pessimistic note, at this point, May would be pretty redundant. Dawn’s got the regular contests covered (and she’s already suffering development because of that), and as I said, Serena has co-opted enough of May’s qualities that she basically is a refined May 2.0. There’s nothing for her to do now that couldn’t be done by these two other characters that are easier to get the voices for to begin with.

May would either have to be doing something completely new, which isn’t impossible but would require a lot of setup and followup to chart it out, and who knows if KAORI could endure it all. Or, she’d have to come and snatch her role back from Serena, and force her to regress in a few ways to how she was in XY, and that’s the last thing I would ever want.

 

[BobbbidyBob]

Best: Serena and Blondie siblings. Worst: Mewtwo.

 

[Ignition]

I still stand by what I said in that Serena’s return was good but far from perfect.

 

[Almighty Zard]

I still stand by what I said in that Serena’s return was good but far from perfect.

Agreed.

for me it's hard to pick cause there are some up there, others not so much.

 

[Sham]

While I can say that I wasn’t that fulfilled that much with Dawn’s first appearance (just goal wise), I think a part of it was because she did somewhat peak in her original run. Which isn’t a bad thing.

And in a way it’s just a testament to how much they cared about her overall goal and character. So yes updates and “progression” is important but she still left with having the best goal arc and development throughout the show and that triumphs a few cameos later down the line. PM could have done a better job exploring her outside of DP/BW but that doesn’t diminish that her story in DP still is timeless in terms of story telling