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

[AuraChannelerChris]

To answer the thread's title, it's most likely because there was absolutely nothing for Serena to do as a believable quest for her in the region so they made things up as best (ha ha) as they could.

...And because Rhyhorn Racing was so not girly enough.

 

[SinnohEevee]

Director: We need to create a girl who has a crush on Ash.

Writers: Good idea.

*Later*

Writers: Now that we created her, what should we do with her?

Director: Hmm... I don't know yet.

 

[Mr. Guy]

Director: We need to create a girl who has a crush on Ash.

Writers: Good idea.

*Later*

Writers: Now that we created her, what should we do with her?

Director: Hmm... I don't know yet.

Pretty much this.

 

[Epicocity]

Jeez, it's almost like all of the traits and characters introduced over those first 40 episodes didn't play a role in the goal she decided upon. Aria was introduced in XY 21? No, that can't possibly be hinting at a thought-out arc for the character. It must only be shoehorned in.

Come on, you guys can't seriously believe this...

 

[satopi]

I think the idea of having the audience see through the eyes of another character who admires the protagonist sounded like a really appealing idea but they didn't think much of how to conceive the idea outside of crush and doing so with her character. I feel like Serena was given and implanted with a bunch of interesting ideas like her relationship with her mother, finding a goal, and even trying hard to develop herself in finding her own way but it felt half-assed. It definitely wasn't constructed well in my opinion. It would've been more much more appealing for her to slowly build up her crush on Ash or goal but seeing him on TV and hearing about her goal from Shauna was much easier and less time consuming. Though I think she was handled a lot better than Clemont whom really didn't change how he was from beginning to end. Dawn stayed true to herself but there's a big difference between that and what happened with Clemont. I don't believe Clemont really achieved his dream of becoming stronger and brave like Ash even with traveling and having to let go of Clembot, he was like Serena in a way of not really having much issues or conflicts which hindered him from developing whereas Serena jumped out of her comfort zone after a while and strived to improve what she lacks to become a more attractive woman.

 

[AuraChannelerChris]

Jeez, it's almost like all of the traits and characters introduced over those first 40 episodes didn't play a role in the goal she decided upon. Aria was introduced in XY 21? No, that can't possibly be hinting at a thought-out arc for the character. It must only be shoehorned in.

Come on, you guys can't seriously believe this...

Her delayed start certainly didn't help at all, whereas other goals were already taking off soon enough. I can't believe it took her like 60 episodes to finally catch a second Pokemon and she still ended up with...3 (Ash's small team was equally abysmal and had its share of issues). Her progress started waaaaaaaay too slow.

 

[Soniman]

Her delayed start certainly didn't help at all, whereas other goals were already taking off soon enough. I can't believe it took her like 60 episodes to finally catch a second Pokemon and she still ended up with...3 (Ash's small team was equally abysmal and had its share of issues). Her progress started waaaaaaaay too slow.

Ash's Kalos team is the norm for how many he catches per saga though

 

[Epicocity]

Her delayed start certainly didn't help at all, whereas other goals were already taking off soon enough. I can't believe it took her like 60 episodes to finally catch a second Pokemon and she still ended up with...3 (Ash's small team was equally abysmal and had its share of issues). Her progress started waaaaaaaay too slow.

Meh, that's just a different opinion one has. I mean, I found it refreshing, and relateable, to have a character that didn't know what she wanted to be 5 seconds after traveling (which, by the way, she caught Pancham in XY 47 not 60). And it's fine for an opinion.

But to say that the writers only conceived her goal later down the line because they only created her for shipping is pretty obviously untrue if you just look at the way the little things built up. Say what you want about XY, like it or not, it had a consistent vision from XY 1 all the way to XYZ 47 that never really wavered, Serena included.

 

[Mr. Guy]

Ash's Kalos team is the norm for how many he catches per saga though

He didn't even have a full team for most of the saga though.

Goodra was caught and released halfway through, then Ash caught Noivern and went through the region with just five Pokemon (really four since Noivern did jack) with Goodra only coming back for the league.

 

[Mr. Guy]

Meh, that's just a different opinion one has. I mean, I found it refreshing, and relateable, to have a character that didn't know what she wanted to be 5 seconds after traveling (which, by the way, she caught Pancham in XY 47 not 60). And it's fine for an opinion.

But to say that the writers only conceived her goal later down the line because they only created her for shipping is pretty obviously untrue if you just look at the way the little things built up. Say what you want about XY, like it or not, it had a consistent vision from XY 1 all the way to XYZ 47 that never really wavered, Serena included.

But what did Serena do while trying to figure what she wanted to do?

Pretty much nothing. She was just a useless background character for the first 40+ episodes. There's no denying that her start was badly handled.

If you compare her to say, Lillie, who's already been shown making progress in overcoming her fear, bonding with Shiron, and becoming more confident (and she and Shiron even did most of the work saving Ash and Litten from Palossand), Serena was extremely lacking.

 

[Pokegirl Fan~]

But what did Serena do while trying to figure what she wanted to do?

Pretty much nothing. She was just a useless background character for the first 40+ episodes. There's no denying that her start was badly handled.

This. They could have had her be at least more productive while looking for a goal, and like I said in the other thread I would have loved to see more episodes like the one where she races her mom where her character qualities shine.

 

[AuraChannelerChris]

Meh, that's just a different opinion one has. I mean, I found it refreshing, and relateable, to have a character that didn't know what she wanted to be 5 seconds after traveling (which, by the way, she caught Pancham in XY 47 not 60). And it's fine for an opinion.

There's a glaring difference here. It's fine and dandy you can relate to a fictional character.

But the real issue here is that we know you will be doing a lot in your life because you'll be around for a long time to show us, which is something Serena had a limit for herself by being locked into her region. You will fail but we'll see you will overcome your stretches. Serena will fail at the big thing and...disappear. And in this kind of anime, it's character suicide.

Ash's Kalos team is the norm for how many he catches per saga though

Previous sagas showed more team members than usual in one region, however.

 

[johno1995]

I don't think Serena had enough going for her to make her stand out from the rest...

She should've been a racer (not restricted to Rhyhorn) and taken part in action-packed racing. Girls can be involved in the action too...

 

[Jeal]

Her delayed start certainly didn't help at all, whereas other goals were already taking off soon enough. I can't believe it took her like 60 episodes to finally catch a second Pokemon and she still ended up with...3 (Ash's small team was equally abysmal and had its share of issues). Her progress started waaaaaaaay too slow.

Serena got her second pokemon in XY047. But I agree that Serena should have captured more pokemon, at least one more. Mudkip would be perfect, May and Dawn got another starters for remakes, Serena should have got one too. Writers should also have developed Pancham and Braixen.

I think the idea of having the audience see through the eyes of another character who admires the protagonist sounded like a really appealing idea but they didn't think much of how to conceive the idea outside of crush and doing so with her character. I feel like Serena was given and implanted with a bunch of interesting ideas like her relationship with her mother, finding a goal, and even trying hard to develop herself in finding her own way but it felt half-assed. It definitely wasn't constructed well in my opinion. .

Yeah, I agree. The first episodes should have focused on Serena unhappy for being forced by her mother to be a Rhyhorn racer and then her lack of goal (beyond the moments in XY006 and XY008). Then they should focus on her meeting her goal

 

[satopi]

I don't see why Serena should catch more Pokémon during her run or the maximum amount. I'm very happy with the amount of Pokémon she has now but I did want her to get an egg. Serena isn't really a battler so why should she need more? And she has a close and personal relationship with all her Pokémon she managed to catch. I kind of doubt she'll want her Pancham to evolve since it won't look cute anymore. Serena now has more room to grow her little family. Maybe when she catches another Pokémon, she'll switch her boring dumb technique she used like 3 times by now...

 

[AuraChannelerChris]

It's kind of really strange Eevee had more focus than even Braixen, or equally.

Pancham, I sometimes confused him for one of Clemont's team.

 

[DankOverlord]

Pancham, I sometimes confused him for one of Clemont's team.

I had that same problem I swear

 

[Jeal]

I don't see why Serena should catch more Pokémon during her run or the maximum amount. I'm very happy with the amount of Pokémon she has now but I did want her to get an egg. Serena isn't really a battler so why should she need more? And she has a close and personal relationship with all her Pokémon she managed to catch. I kind of doubt she'll want her Pancham to evolve since it won't look cute anymore. Serena now has more room to grow her little family. Maybe when she catches another Pokémon, she'll switch her boring dumb technique she used like 3 times by now...

I don't know. Maybe because pokemon are not just used for battles? For her to have different combinations of moves, since many complained that her performances were repetitive? Because all pokegirl had more than 3 pokemon, even if they did not battled a lot?

 

[AuraChannelerChris]

I don't know. Maybe because pokemon are not just used for battles? For her to have different combinations of moves, since many complained that her performances were repetitive? Because all pokegirl had more than 3 pokemon, even if they did not battled a lot?

It was all like FIYAH FIYAH FIYAH with her, I swear. That's why I didn't like her small pool of Pokemon. In a competition that fancied itself with flashy moves, this was a let down.

 

[TheWanderingMist]

I don't see why Serena should catch more Pokémon during her run or the maximum amount. I'm very happy with the amount of Pokémon she has now but I did want her to get an egg. Serena isn't really a battler so why should she need more? And she has a close and personal relationship with all her Pokémon she managed to catch. I kind of doubt she'll want her Pancham to evolve since it won't look cute anymore. Serena now has more room to grow her little family. Maybe when she catches another Pokémon, she'll switch her boring dumb technique she used like 3 times by now...

It's not like she can evolve Pancham anyway. I'd like to see her forced to adapt to having a Pangoro (how dare you say it's not cute?) though. Or they could just have Pangoro be as agile as Snorlax was today. She should have gotten Noibat is what I think. It would've given her an Egg, which was something of a tradition with PokeGirls until Iris (and brought back nicely with Lillie). And she would've had a Flying-type Pokemon to use in future Performances. Also, her getting Noibat would mean Ash would've either caught another Kalos Pokemon (maybe that Phantump, or heck, why not just give them each a Noibat, sibling Pokemon would be interesting to see) or use his reserves in the League.