Why did the writers gave Serena so little focus compared to May and Dawn?

[Jeal]

May had a decent focus on the first episode of AG. We saw how she started her journey and how she chose her first pokemon. She had her first battle in AG005 and got her first pokemon in AG014. After that she had many episodes focused on her throughout AG.

Dawn had even more focus. The first episode of DP was totally focused on her. She had her first battle in DP004 and got her first pokemon in DP009. In the first 10 episodes of DP, 6 were focused on her. She was the only character besides Ash who had the name included in the opening text.

Serena barely appeared in the first episodes of XY. We saw a few seconds of her choosing Fennekin as her first pokemon. Her first battle was off-screen. She had one episode ''focused'' on her(XY007) and after that she stayed in the background for about 30 episodes.
After XY039 she began to have more episodes focused on her, but in the last 20 episodes of XY she stayed in the background again.

http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Category:Episodes_focusing_on_May
http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Category:Episodes_focusing_on_Dawn
http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Category:Episodes_focusing_on_Serena

Compare the number of episodes focused on May, Dawn and Serena. I know that XY was shorter tha AG and DP, but Serena was treated like Misty and Iris. She did not even complete her team.

 

[Pokegirl Fan~]

Because they were too busy overglorifying Ash, giving Bonnie too much focus and to overhype the shipping subplot which hardly did anything for her character.

 

[Jeal]

Because they were too busy overglorifying Ash, giving Bonnie too much focus and to overhype the shipping subplot which hardly did anything for her character.

They could have done all this and still give Serena enough focus. They could have used some of the first episode fillers to develop Serena. Why do not I write this anime? I would do a much better job.

 

[Akkipeddi]

May had a decent focus on the first episode of AG. We saw how she started her journey and how she chose her first pokemon. She had her first battle in AG005 and got her first pokemon in AG014. After that she had many episodes focused on her throughout AG.

Dawn had even more focus. The first episode of DP was totally focused on her. She had her first battle in DP004 and got her first pokemon in DP009. In the first 10 episodes of DP, 6 were focused on her. She was the only character besides Ash who had the name included in the opening text.

Serena barely appeared in the first episodes of XY. We saw a few seconds of her choosing Fennekin as her first pokemon. Her first battle was off-screen. She had one episode ''focused'' on her(XY007) and after that she stayed in the background for about 30 episodes.
After XY039 she began to have more episodes focused on her, but in the last 20 episodes of XY she stayed in the background again.

http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Category:Episodes_focusing_on_May
http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Category:Episodes_focusing_on_Dawn
http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Category:Episodes_focusing_on_Serena

Compare the number of episodes focused on May, Dawn and Serena. I know that XY was shorter tha AG and DP, but Serena was treated like Misty and Iris. She did not even complete her team.

Serena's focus felt shorter due to her being in the backseat for the first 40 episodes. But, after she found her goal, she developed rapidly. It's quality over quantity. Maybe she didn't have as many focus episodes as May or Dawn did in terms of sheer number of episodes, but her character itself showed a lot of progression and development, and was second to Dawn imo for the growth in her character. As for lack of full team, honestly it doesn't matter. Her main goal didn't involve battling, and what mattered was weather her pokemon got development, which Fennekin - Braixen and Eevee - Sylveon did.

And tbh the last 20 episodes of XY was expected that she, Clemont and Bonnie would be in the background, after her master class showcase. It was all about Ash, mastering Ash Greninja, Alain and Sawyer rivalry and the league. Even in DP for that matter, once Dawn's grand festival, she was mostly in the background during the period of Ash's 8th gym and once the league began.

 

[Akkipeddi]

Because they were too busy overglorifying Ash, giving Bonnie too much focus and to overhype the shipping subplot which hardly did anything for her character.

You may hate the shipping subplot, but you can't say it did nothing for her character. The whole reason she got her starter in the first place and started travelling was because she wanted to meet Ash when she saw him on TV. And I don't know why you keep saying Bonnie got more focus. It felt that way in the TF arc because she had Zygarde, but other than that, it definitely wasn't the case.

 

[DatsRight]

I just feel like XY was the point the writers were just about 'done' with the original formula and wanted to try new stuff and directions, hence Sun and Moon straight after.

Most of Serena's better moments were the times they were allowed to diverge from the usual Pokegirl formula, but of course they couldn't do that a lot during that point, so they were stuck trying to force in 'classic' development moments for her like a coordinator arc, the odd bit of onscreen training, and her evolving from struggling against Team Rocket to curb stomping them easily, etc, etc, most of which were done much more superficially and half heartedly than the previous Pokegirls (May and Dawn were given proper spotlight throughout the show improving from a novice, while Serena just sorta remained in the background until the transitional point when she was suddenly winning all the time). It felt like the writers were thinking 'We've already done this in full four times now, do we really have to show it again?'

 

[SinnohEevee]

I think the writers initially didn't know what to do with her other than AmourShipping.

 

[Jeal]

Serena's focus felt shorter due to her being in the backseat for the first 40 episodes. But, after she found her goal, she developed rapidly. It's quality over quantity. Maybe she didn't have as many focus episodes as May or Dawn did in terms of sheer number of episodes, but her character itself showed a lot of progression and development, and was second to Dawn imo for the growth in her character. As for lack of full team, honestly it doesn't matter. Her main goal didn't involve battling, and what mattered was weather her pokemon got development, which Fennekin - Braixen and Eevee - Sylveon did.

And tbh the last 20 episodes of XY was expected that she, Clemont and Bonnie would be in the background, after her master class showcase. It was all about Ash, mastering Ash Greninja, Alain and Sawyer rivalry and the league. Even in DP for that matter, once Dawn's grand festival, she was mostly in the background during the period of Ash's 8th gym and once the league began.

I know that she developed, But her development could have been much better had it started earlier. Until now there are still people who hate her, and say that her development was bad because was slow and the little focus she had. I know that her goal don't involve battling, but she could at least have strengthened herself a little to defend herself. Because of this she was overshadowed in the Team Flare's arc.

Dawn stayed in the backgroung at the end of DP, but she had a lot of focus in the beginning so it does not matter.

Serena was supposed to be a character who did not know what she wanted to be and discovered it during the journey, but it took so long. She should have decided to be a performer (or rather, be a coordinator) by episode 20 and participated in the first contest by episode 30.

 

[DatsRight]

I know that she developed, But her development could have been much better had it started earlier. Until now there are still people who hate her, and say that her development was bad because was slow and the little focus she had. I know that her goal don't involve battling, but she could at least have strengthened herself a little to defend herself. Because of this she was overshadowed in the Team Flare's arc.

Dawn stayed in the backgroung at the end of DP, but she had a lot of focus in the beginning so it does not matter.

I think the problem was lack of substance. I don't think the writers were really that focused on making Serena's team stronger, but still had to force her to look better at least superficially, hence her jobbing Team Rocket and other grunts constantly in the second half of XY despite having not gotten any better in strategy or power since the start of the series (and sometimes even those cases looked flimsy and plot armoured). They kept interrupting her official battles as well, it's like they couldn't really decide whether she was supposed to be battle capable or not. I think her fail during the Flare arc was them admitting they'd teetered so much that they just hadn't given her the necessary development to make her beating them look realistic, and gave her at least one halfway good display for her last episode as some small apology.

 

[Daniel31]

Serena was more of a SoL (Slice of Life) character. Her not being sure as what to do for goal for quite some time, having a crush, showing resolve at different times (the haircut, race with her mother, during Showcases, Master Class, etc..), going her own way by not taking Palermo's offer (which would've been the easy way out), choosing to make people smile, going to Hoenn to learn and grow more on her own, etc...she can be relatable to people (although she should've found her goal earlier imo). If one is to look at that aspect more (the SoL part of her), and compare to how she started out, to where she ended up by the end of the series...Serena did develope a lot. This is the main part of her character, which did receive quite a bit of focus.

 

[SinnohEevee]

As for her not having a full party, none of the main characters' not named Ash got one, except Dawn if I am correct.

 

[satopi]

Probably because Serena was finding her own way and focusing more on trying to hold Ash's hand at first. It's extremely hard to compare her to May & Dawn when they either knew what they wanted to do (or in May's case, had a vague idea using Pokémon Trainer as an easy escape from her home but not taking long to find a goal) as opposed to Iris' secret that lasted 7 episodes or so and had more conflicts to deal with.

As for her not having a full party, none of the main characters' not named Ash got one, except Dawn if I am correct.

Uh.... May? Iris? Misty? Sure they didn't get all 6 Pokémon but 5 Pokémon is close enough.

 

[Akkipeddi]

As for her not having a full party, none of the main characters' not named Ash got one, except Dawn if I am correct.

May had a full team. The other thing is, in Dawn and May's cases, they were given pokemon due to remakes in their generation as well. May got Eevee, Squirtle and Bulbasaur for FRLG and Dawn got a Cyndaquil for Hgss and a random free Togekiss in general. For Serena, she wasn't given any pokemon for ORAS promotion as that role was taken by Sawyer and Steven.

 

[SinnohEevee]

May had a full team. The other thing is, in Dawn and May's cases, they were given pokemon due to remakes in their generation as well. May got Eevee, Squirtle and Bulbasaur for FRLG and Dawn got a Cyndaquil for Hgss and a random free Togekiss in general. For Serena, she wasn't given any pokemon for ORAS promotion as that role was taken by Sawyer and Steven.

Maybe Serena should have been given an Absol, like in the games, and it's a Gen III Pokémon.

 

[Akkipeddi]

Maybe Serena should have been given an Absol, like in the games, and it's a Gen III Pokémon.

Yeah Ideally Absol would've been fine to match her game team even if Astrid had it. But the problem is Absol isn't really something you would think for a showcase (although could have been interesting to see how Serena could make it viable for showcases). That's why I really wish that if she ever comes to Alola, she gets a Brionne. It could really fit her.

 

[Nyter]

I liked how Serena was introduced actually. There was so much mystery to her when she was introduced. The fact that she knew Ash from time gone by... and how the very moment arrived where they met kept me at the edge of my seat. I do wish they would have touched up on their past more. With that said, Serena played Ash's "love interest" more than any other female lead has. I think the writers switched her up to be that instead of just ANOTHER contest contender or Specific type Aficionado (or is it Aficionada?) Anyways, Serena was given proper focus to me in me opinion. The saga was just too short to touch up on her more as compared to May or Iris.

 

[AshxSatoshi]

I didn't care about her "focus" on the show because she did get some it was just messy. My biggest problem was the misogyny written around this character. Yes I know it was not purposely done but let me explain. So she likes to bake and dress up her pokemon and wear pink nothing wrong with that. But when that's YOUR MAIN QUALITIES that's a problem. We never was given her likes and dislikes, (unless you count Miette or whatever teasting her about her crush) personality traits outside of being "girly" or even a backstory about her. We got outside of May liking shopping and cute Pokemon she's actually pretty guliable (believing Harley EVERY time) and outside Dawn loving to fix her hair and dress pretty she is WAY overconfident. So there's nothing wrong with being feminine per se but when that's your ENTIRE character that's an issue. And it's already too painful to watch her character because soon into watching the XY series you learn she was written to crush on the MC of the series. A another problem was showcases were terrible and not something for a main character and if they were going to make it that... make her team larger because "Pancham use dark pulse and Braxien use flamethrower" got old really quickly. She could of got a Swanna or something to flesh out her team. The only thing I thought was done well with Serena was her trying to be her coordinator because it's nice to see a MC try a different goal and her sisterly bond with Bonnie was nice but meh.

 

[AshxSatoshi]

May had a full team. The other thing is, in Dawn and May's cases, they were given pokemon due to remakes in their generation as well. May got Eevee, Squirtle and Bulbasaur for FRLG and Dawn got a Cyndaquil for Hgss and a random free Togekiss in general. For Serena, she wasn't given any pokemon for ORAS promotion as that role was taken by Sawyer and Steven.

Diamond and Pearl still had Lyra and Kory to represent HGSS and May caught bulbasuar in Hoenn if memory serves me right. They could of still gave Serena a mudkip or even a Azurill

 

[Nyter]

I didn't care about her "focus" on the show because she did get some it was just messy. My biggest problem was the misogyny written around this character. Yes I know it was not purposely done but let me explain. So she likes to bake and dress up her pokemon and wear pink nothing wrong with that. But when that's YOUR MAIN QUALITIES that's a problem. We never was given her likes and dislikes, (unless you count Miette or whatever teasting her about her crush) personality traits outside of being "girly" or even a backstory about her. We got outside of May liking shopping and cute Pokemon she's actually pretty guliable (believing Harley EVERY time) and outside Dawn loving to fix her hair and dress pretty she is WAY overconfident. So there's nothing wrong with being feminine per se but when that's your ENTIRE character that's an issue. And it's already too painful to watch her character because soon into watching the XY series you learn she was written to crush on the MC of the series. A another problem was showcases were terrible and not something for a main character and if they were going to make it that... make her team larger because "Pancham use dark pulse and Braxien use flamethrower" got old really quickly. She could of got a Swanna or something to flesh out her team. The only thing I thought was done well with Serena was her trying to be her coordinator because it's nice to see a MC try a different goal and her sisterly bond with Bonnie was nice but meh.

I get you are not pro-female lead being GAGA over MC But Serena was much more than that. I have to say her standing up against her mother for what she believed in was pretty nice to watch and something we can all relate to at times. Sometimes our parents want us to do what is right for us vs what we want to do because it makes us happy. Serena discovering herself and fighting the best she could for it was inspirational. She even went through a meltdown for goodness sakes. Serena is a girly girl and that's just that. But I think her trials and tribulations overshadow her "ditziness".

 

[AshxSatoshi]

I get you are not pro-female lead being GAGA over MC But Serena was much more than that. I have to say her standing up against her mother for what she believed in was pretty nice to watch and something we can all relate to at times. Sometimes our parents want us to do what is right for us vs what we want to do because it makes us happy. Serena discovering herself and fighting the best she could for it was inspirational. She even went through a meltdown for goodness sakes. Serena is a girly girl and that's just that. But I think her trials and tribulations overshadow her "ditziness".

Oh hahaha that's not what I wanted it to look like nor did I want it to appear I was being a Serena hater for her crush. I just felt her crush was to much apart of her character. It's sad to say but most Serena "fans" are amourshippers and that's because that's what she's more known for... her crush, it overshadowed her character development in my eyes. Yes her interactions with her mother concerning her goals was good development in my eyes (especially settling the disagreement with a race) but that and her crying scene or "meltdown" as you'd say just wasn't enough for me personally to see her as a fleshed out character