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

[Mrs. Oreo]

It's almost as if the writers in the room did not know that people liked well-written characters rather than shipping fodder and decided to last-minute an arc for her.

Well I dunno how successful the shipping aspect of Serena's character was, but judging by how popular that was among the fanbase, I'll assume that most fans were ok with how that was handled.

 

[DankOverlord]

Well I dunno how successful the shipping aspect of Serena's character was, but judging by how popular that was among the fanbase, I'll assume that most fans were ok with how that was handled.

Since her shipping is the reason most of her fanbase exists I'd say it was her crush which saved her from being an outright forgettable character (even if said crush was painfully one sided and "Amourshipping" went absolutely nowhere)

 

[AshxSatoshi]

Since her shipping is the reason most of her fanbase exists I'd say it was her crush which saved her from being an outright forgettable character (even if said crush was painfully one sided and "Amourshipping" went absolutely nowhere)

Well all girls have something that gives them a bit of slack

Misty was the first of a long line of pokegirls
May introduced contest into pokemon
Dawn got the best development and attention on the show
Iris got... nothing (at least in most viewers eyes)
And Serena got.... well a ship... sad but yeah

 

[Mr. Guy]

Yeah, kinda ironic how the girl with the canon crush on Ash is probably the one he has the weakest interactions with (on his side anyway).

 

[SinnohEevee]

Iris comes from BW and Serena comes from XY. Both of these sagas were poorly written.

 

[DatsRight]

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.

Also Lillie demonstrated more resourcefulness and improvisation in her FIRST EPISODE using her Pokemon than Serena did for most of the series. Lillie actually had an entertaining face off with Team Rocket, while Serena always needed them dumbed down to jobbers or pretty much neutralised for her (and XY REALLY needed more eventful TR face offs from how much more often they were used).

Serena just felt too much like a 'tell don't show' character in how she progressed through nearly everything, which made her rather boring to watch in action, which is a shame. Her last battle shown Braixen could have been a really fun battler.

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.

Until she evolved into Sylveon and lost pretty much all the personality and spotlight that made her loveable.

 

[satopi]

I wish they did give us more personality for Serena's Pokemon like we usually do. Fennekin didn't like getting dirty or having mud all over her but she still protected her Trainer and had that tough girl, cute girl image. Pancham just argues with Clermont's Chespin, and Eevee grew as she evolved into a Sylveon. I liked how Eevee turned out.

 

[DatsRight]

I wish they did give us more personality for Serena's Pokemon like we usually do. Fennekin didn't like getting dirty or having mud all over her but she still protected her Trainer and had that tough girl, cute girl image. Pancham just argues with Clermont's Chespin, and Eevee grew as she evolved into a Sylveon. I liked how Eevee turned out.

I don't like how Sylveon turned out though, which was kind of just......nothing. Way to make the best bit of development for Serena's team go completely to waste.

 

[U.N. Owen]

Evolution should be the beginning of an arc, not the end of one, especially if it only has two stages.

 

[Platinum fan.]

I wish they did give us more personality for Serena's Pokemon like we usually do. Fennekin didn't like getting dirty or having mud all over her but she still protected her Trainer and had that tough girl, cute girl image. Pancham just argues with Clermont's Chespin, and Eevee grew as she evolved into a Sylveon. I liked how Eevee turned out.

I thought they all had fine personalities. This is one complaint about Serena I don't quite understand. Don't know about Iris or any of the SM anime girls but Serena's Pokemon had more personality then most of Misty, May, and Dawn's...not named Piplup. Fennekin/Braixen and Pancham had some very entertaining interactions throughout the season. Whether they were fighting on Serena's shoulder or trying to fix Braixen's twig wand, these two had really good chemistry, which is rare for a female leads Pokemon. Eevee had a great story with it being shy. I do wish Eevee's shyness settled down more before becoming Sylveon instead of just using the evolution to get rid of it, but this is how I figured it would be by the end of her run anyway. It should not have stayed shy the entire show though.

 

[Rettan-Smogon]

My theory is, that their is not much to work with her. Sure. She had her own image and identity with the whole crush on Ash, but the writers never did something with that and all what was left for her was just another May/Dawn. What more can you do with a character where the writers do not want to use her biggest character trait at all?

With out the crush, Serena is nothing really outstanding as a character. She is just a nice, quiet, girl who does similar things to other girls before her.

 

[Captain Jigglypuff]

Serena seemed to be a last minute addition to the cast. Her connection to Ash was rather random and stupid and the only real reaso she joined him was because she recognized from some summer camp Ash seemed to have forgotten all about. That's it. She had no true motive and it was a good amount of time before she decided to be a Pokémon coordinator which is essentially a different name for a Contest Coordinator. Serena was rather bland and even her change in hair style was boring and only a reference to the customization in the games.

 

[satopi]

I thought they all had fine personalities. This is one complaint about Serena I don't quite understand. Don't know about Iris or any of the SM anime girls but Serena's Pokemon had more personality then most of Misty, May, and Dawn's...not named Piplup. Fennekin/Braixen and Pancham had some very entertaining interactions throughout the season. Whether they were fighting on Serena's shoulder or trying to fix Braixen's twig wand, these two had really good chemistry, which is rare for a female leads Pokemon. Eevee had a great story with it being shy. I do wish Eevee's shyness settled down more before becoming Sylveon instead of just using the evolution to get rid of it, but this is how I figured it would be by the end of her run anyway. It should not have stayed shy the entire show though.

I thought Iris' team had pretty nice personalities. Misty' s Psyduck wasn't too bad either.

 

[Lionel_B]

Having less attention in its development did not prevent Serena from being the most popular.

It must nevertheless be said that despite the Serena's development was discreet, it's successful.

We started with a girl who was only figurative and whose goal was to be with Ash. And it is true that it was because she was useless at first that I totally disinterested the character. But she had an evolution from the 2nd year. To be honest I found she interesting only 4 or 5 times in the series, but in the end its evolution is complete and one can be reassured for its future, she can be unraveled alone.

This is not the case with Dawn. Ok, she had a more intense development, but the problem is that she regressed much after her defeat at the Grand Festival. And when you see her in Best Wishes, you think that separated from Ash and Brock, she will not succeed any more in her life. In other words : To be interested in the character was useless.

Unlike May that did not have as much problem as Dawn on its course, but that has a good evolution from beginning to end. And none of that calls him into question.

 

[Everything12]

Not going to lie I'm pretty sure its Amourshipping that made her popular not her development considering nearly every Serena fan I've met is an Amourshipper and is more likely to talk about Amourshipping moments rather then her development, also they much rather talk about how shes going to Alola because shes meant to be with Ash than how she ended up going on her own.

 

[TheWanderingMist]

Not going to lie I'm pretty sure its Amourshipping that made her popular not her development considering nearly every Serena fan I've met is an Amourshipper and is more likely to talk about Amourshipping moments rather then her development, also they much rather talk about how shes going to Alola because shes meant to be with Ash than how she ended up going on her own.

It certainly helped her popularity but surely wasn't the only thing, especially outside of the internet. Since I watched the series from the first to the last in a long marathon over about 2 weeks, you can really watch her grow up as it goes on.

 

[U.N. Owen]

Not going to lie I'm pretty sure its Amourshipping that made her popular not her development considering nearly every Serena fan I've met is an Amourshipper and is more likely to talk about Amourshipping moments rather then her development, also they much rather talk about how shes going to Alola because shes meant to be with Ash than how she ended up going on her own.

I tend to stray from shipping seeing how it can become real toxic real fast.

It certainly helped her popularity but surely wasn't the only thing, especially outside of the internet. Since I watched the series from the first to the last in a long marathon over about 2 weeks, you can really watch her grow up as it goes on.

Then it leads into another question: did she develop enough?

 

[Pokegirl Fan~]

Not going to lie I'm pretty sure its Amourshipping that made her popular not her development considering nearly every Serena fan I've met is an Amourshipper and is more likely to talk about Amourshipping moments rather then her development, also they much rather talk about how shes going to Alola because shes meant to be with Ash than how she ended up going on her own.

I feel like the only one that cares more about her development over the shipping.

 

[Satomine Night]

I feel like the only one that cares more about her development over the shipping.

You're not the only one who cares more about Serena's development than Amourshipping. Amourshipping is cute, but that alone is not enough to get me interested in a character. I like Serena because of her character and her development, not just because of her crush on Ash.

 

[DankOverlord]

Not going to lie I'm pretty sure its Amourshipping that made her popular not her development considering nearly every Serena fan I've met is an Amourshipper and is more likely to talk about Amourshipping moments rather then her development, also they much rather talk about how shes going to Alola because shes meant to be with Ash than how she ended up going on her own.

This is so true it hurts