So...current thoughts on Serena?

[Masato]

It's very interesting how Fennekin's personality goes for a more aggressive, vain, and cocky turn in XY021, and these personality traits seems to stick in the following episode. I do hope in the future they address Fennekin's negative personality traits in order that it develops out of those traits. Perhaps these traits have been nurtured through Fennekin not battling and being treated as a pet as opposed to a Pokemon? In that case though much of the blame would have to fall on Serena and not on Fennekin then.

Also, it is puzzling how Fennekin can know all of these powerful moves (Hidden Power, Flamethrower) when it doesn't seem to be receiving any training. Perhaps it has an innate ability to battle which it hasn't realized yet?

I am hoping Fennekin undergoes some good character development in the future. It is quite annoying in its current state.

 

[Pokémon Spectrum]

I think it's a nice change of pace for Ash to have a traveling companion that he already knew. Though, I can't say I enjoy the amount of "Psychotically possessive Serena" memes I've been seeing...

 

[Alpha71689]

From what I can gather, Serena seems to have romantic feelings for Ash, but it seems to be one-sided. I am curious about how this will play out. Other than that, she's not annoying, like Iris was. Also, she doesn't try to hog the spotlight, as Bonnie usually does.

 

[Akari]

Ash is like most boys: too dense to figure out the pretty girl likes him. Come on boys!

 

[PockyAddict]

From what I can gather, Serena seems to have romantic feelings for Ash, but it seems to be one-sided. I am curious about how this will play out. Other than that, she's not annoying, like Iris was. Also, she doesn't try to hog the spotlight, as Bonnie usually does.

It would most likly stay one sided, and I would not be surprised that ash will prob never address it either.

And Yeah, she still is'nt impressing me.

 

[King Fissamé]

I think Serena is too worrisome, anyways she is a great character

 

[zhixun]

Serena's character is surely interesting in my opinion. The way that she does not battle very often makes her unique character. Personally I would like her to keep like that because I do not want another character just like Haruka/ Hikari with a different design. I like the way that Serena treat her Fokko as a pet.

 

[EvilChameleon]

Still waiting for her to get another Pokemon. What is the longest a main travelling companion of Ash has gone without a 2nd Pokemon? This has to be the record, yes?

 

[Alpha71689]

Still waiting for her to get another Pokemon. What is the longest a main travelling companion of Ash has gone without a 2nd Pokemon? This has to be the record, yes?

If my calculations are correct, Iris holds the record, at 22 episodes.

--Clemont: 3 episodes
--Dawn: 10 episodes
--May: 11 episodes
--Iris: 22 episodes

Serena is catching up to Iris, though. Currently, she's at 17 episodes.

 

[Alola]

Still waiting for her to get another Pokemon. What is the longest a main travelling companion of Ash has gone without a 2nd Pokemon? This has to be the record, yes?

If my calculations are correct, Iris holds the record, at 22 episodes.

--Dawn: 10 episodes
--May: 11 episodes
--Serena: 17 episodes, but still going
--Iris: 22 episodes

According to Bulbapedia, Serena currently holds the record. Also, keep in mind that the OP's comment regards obtaining a second Pokemon. When Iris met Ash, she already possessed two.

 

[Alpha71689]

Still waiting for her to get another Pokemon. What is the longest a main travelling companion of Ash has gone without a 2nd Pokemon? This has to be the record, yes?

If my calculations are correct, Iris holds the record, at 22 episodes.

--Dawn: 10 episodes
--May: 11 episodes
--Serena: 17 episodes, but still going
--Iris: 22 episodes

According to Bulbapedia, Serena currently holds the record. Also, keep in mind that the OP's comment regards obtaining a second Pokemon. When Iris met Ash, she already possessed two.

I know what he said. I just forgot about Axew. Admittedly, I had to go to Bulbapedia, to refresh my memory.

 

[Osprey]

Since she's got no major plans or future goals, and the options are pretty much limited to "trainer" at this point, I'm just going to make an extremely unlikely prediction: Much, much later on into the anime, Serena will be misled into helping Team Flare with one of their major goals. No, she doesn't join them, just helps. Of course, I have strong doubts Team Flare will even be a thing in this series, so we'll see.

Still, at this point, she's still a tabula rasa with a Fennekin. Any bets that her ultimate goal will be determined in one episode-long story arc, then pushed to the sidelines again?

 

[Shinneth]

I've had a hard time thinking about what real goal Serena can pursue since making Pokepuffs isn't exactly an exciting route to take exclusively. But then I remembered Team Flare and their goal in the games to rule the world with their (very bad) fashion. That's how I remembered it anyway. It might as well have been; I could never take Team Flare seriously in the games.

But Serena getting mixed up with them is the most awesome thing I can think of for her at this time. Whether it's getting misled by them, or declaring them her most despised adversaries because of their tacky outfits and her drive to show them with her own skills how crappy their fashion is, I think that'll be something worth watching. Then again, I think a lot of crazy and stupid things are worth watching. XD But since I'm pretty sure the anime isn't edgy enough to portray the core of the matter in the games (my interpretation: Sycamore and Lysandre's lovers' spat), that's the next best thing they can do.

Oh yeah, um, I actually do like Serena! Since I like the series in general and most aspects of it seem to be handled competently so far, I'm giving the staff the benefit of the doubt and just trusting that Serena's real role in the show will come in due time, like May's did. I can admit I like Clemont, Bonnie, and Ash more than her, but I still enjoy Serena's presence and all of her interactions within the group. I think it helps that she's not a rude loudmouth stick-in-the-mud who says the same thing every episode and so far has not been portrayed as some super special snowflake and does in fact come off like a fairly normal person. So the fact that Serena doesn't constantly annoy me also doesn't make me feel like rushing the series to do more stuff with her. She's already had some degree of character development that wasn't contrived and was very genuine, so I am optimistic, and not cautiously so, that they'll make full use of Serena's potential when the time is right.

I'm kinda overwhelmed by the awesomeness of the series in general right now, honestly; something I was feeling the opposite of last series. So if it feels like I'm being super lenient on Serena, that'd be the main reason, heh.

 

[Trainer Gabriel]

At this point, she's just become too stale for me, due to still not having a goal and only one Pokémon. I was okay that she's taking her time to decide on a course, but that can only go so far. I just don't see much potential in her searching for what she wants to do for the whole series - if that is indeed the plan - though if she tries a variety of things, I guess that would at least make what she does next unpredictable. I guess the only thing I can do is stay tuned to see how this will go. Really hope she decides what she wants to do, however (and catch a new Pokémon) - and soon.

Yes, it's possible that I may not like how her goal is written, or maybe even not like the idea of what she does at all, (I know Iris was on this same boat, too...) but at this point, I think it would be better to have a negative opinion on a character than no opinion at all.

 

[Hidden Mew]

I like the idea of Serena getting involved with Team Flare on some level. I don't know if the show would have the guts to pull something like that off, even if she was siding with the villains unknowingly, but that does sound potentially interesting at least.

Personally, I like Serena, but I feel like they aren't exploring her character as much as they could and her potential is being unexplored. It's still fairly early on in the series and she has had some bits of focus, so I'm not too worried. If we're still at this point after the first year's worth of episodes, then that would be a bit more cause for alarm. At least she does mix well with the group dynamic, has a cute friendship with Bonnie and still comes off fairly likable, so that's better than nothing for me. I'm still willing to wait and see what they have planned for Serena and hopefully it will lead to something good.

 

[Kelleo]

The only thing I like about Serena right now is that she looks a lot like me. Otherwise, she's rather boring and only seems to be there for the sake of Ash having a female companion around his age. And yet another love interest for him.

 

[MrMeowPuss]

I think her current goal is to be Ash's girlfriend, maybe she'll find something else later on

 

[vncredleader]

So how far do you guys think they will take this concept, i doubt they will have Ash in an accrual relationship ever. So what is the writers end game, i think it will be one of two things.
either she just kinda gives up on it or ash inadvertently turns her down or (there is a slim chance this will happen) in the upcoming movie or some big even , she kisses him or says she likes him and Ash shows he has no romantic feelings for her so she leaves or actually evolves as a character. Granted i think the show will have them blush every once and a while and it amount to nothing but a few filler episodes to help Serena grow.

 

[MrMeowPuss]

So how far do you guys think they will take this concept, i doubt they will have Ash in an accrual relationship ever. So what is the writers end game, i think it will be one of two things.
either she just kinda gives up on it or ash inadvertently turns her down or (there is a slim chance this will happen) in the upcoming movie or some big even , she kisses him or says she likes him and Ash shows he has no romantic feelings for her so she leaves or actually evolves as a character. Granted i think the show will have them blush every once and a while and it amount to nothing but a few filler episodes to help Serena grow.

It would kill me if ash rejected her and said there was a girl back in Kanto that is special to him since that would be a dream come true. At the same time there's something I like about Serena and I would hope she travels with him for longer than just Kalos. I like to hope the fact she hasn't got a goal/passion yet is because they're holding back and are going to build up to something big, but who knows.

 

[Team Gaara]

As of "A Battle by Any Other Name!" my dislike of Serena really can't go much higher. I never thought a character could exceed Iris in terms of assholery and childishness. It's only worse because Serena's even more of a brat and more petty than even Iris was.

Not only do we have a supposed lead female character who's greatest contributions to the group consist of reading a map, we have a supposed lead female character who isn't even trying to search for a goal. On top of that, even if she didn't know what she wanted her goal to be yet and is still searching, she has no excuse for not even training her Fennekin. There's nothing preventing her from training while she looks for a goal so that she can learn how to be a trainer, but she won't even do that. It's clear that her motives for leaving home were purely to see Ash and nothing else, making me question why she even needed Fennekin in the first place.

She's also incredibly petty and childish. Not only can she not take criticism, but she gets mad at other people just for being seen as doing something better than her. We have a PokeVision girl who Serena doesn't even know personally, yet she visibly holds angst towards her because Clemont, Ash, and Bonnie enjoyed her video. Then we have Miette, who just so happens to be a better cook than Serena (makes sense, as she is more experienced and does this as her passion, while Serena just so happened to make them one day and in no way truly has a passion for making Poke Puffs). Serena just ups and holds a grudge and starts a rivalry with the girl who did nothing to her, and hardly insulted her. She accuses Miette of having an attitude, when all the attitude was coming from Serena, and makes absurd accusations towards her just because she's that petty. There was no reason for such a rivalry to even develop and it was mostly one-sided from Serena because she can't handle her friends thinking she isn't the best at everything. She's also selfish. She doesn't try to hide the fact that she found fossils boring and unappealing and voiced this a few times, yet essentially forced Ash, Bonnie, and Clemont to work on her PokeVision video for her because it was something she wanted to do, despite Ash clearly having more important objectives.

Finally, Serena's an awful role model for young girls who watch the show. She only cares about her appearance and completely advocates that girls are always supposed to try to look pretty. Not to mention, she doesn't battle, furthering the idea that the males do the fighting while the girls stand around like damsels, which is really strange as the more recent females, Dawn and Iris, were nothing like this. She's like the definition of a prissy female stereotype in that she only cares about her appearance to the extent that she won't even go camping or step in a mud puddle without something essentially forcing her to do so. This is a terrible message to send to young girls, in my opinion.

So, at this point, Bonnie is more of the lead female in my eyes. There's just no other way to look at it when she gets more character development than Serena and it seems that they aren't doing anything any time soon to improve her character.