"Greetings! Today, I would like to talk about a very divisive character in the Pokémon world."
Arceus gave a nod in Mew's direction, who was standing behind a slide projector, and a picture of Paul appeared on the screen behind the legendary critic. Arceus shook his head.
"Be that as it may, I'm referring to another divisive character."
"Ohh..." Mew replied in understanding, giving a nod. This time a picture of Iris popped up. Arceus sighed.
"No, I mean-" this was followed by a picture of Brock. This time the Alpha Pokémon grunted in anger.
"Just give it here, Mew," Arceus floated off screen, irately muttering.
"Wait; I got it this time, Arcy!" a picture of Drew quickly followed her declaration, before the sounds of slides clattering against the marble floor and a few objects getting knocked over, in addition to Mew's half-complaints, quickly following that. The image of Drew was then replaced by one of Arceus sunbathing on a beach, the top half of his normally white body having been turned slightly pink, wearing sunglasses and hovering a book in front of his face, the lower left corner bearing the caption 'Arcy's Vacation, 2014'.
This was quickly followed by Mew crying out in pain, and that slide being replaced with one of Arceus' eyes flashing, and then another one of Mew crashing into a wall. Arceus then floated back onscreen, flashing a look in the direction of the projector, and a picture of anime Serena appeared.
"Thank you. And yes, today we will be talking about Serena."
Arceus the Critic
Why is (Anime) Serena so divisive?
"This is fairly straightforward, I feel," Arceus began. "The Anime rendition of Serena seems to be quite controversial amongst many fans. Almost everyone liked Serena/Calem in the games, if only for the fact they were one of the few characters who actually got developed and did something, but her portrayal in the anime seems to be not as enthusiastically received."
The Alpha Pokémon hummed, glancing down at a few papers that were floating beneath him. "In fact, you could say that fans have almost been completely divided into two camps on her; those who can barely stand her most of the time, and those who think she's the best inclusion in the anime since sliced bread. But, rather than analyzing which side is right, today we're simply going to examine why," Arceus nodded, while Mew raised an eyebrow.
"Yes; why is Serena such a polarizing character? Well, why don't we take a look at the arguments of the former camp first?" Arceus titled his head in Mew's direction, and she quickly replaced the slide of Serena with one of a list. Arceus mentally lifted up a small baton and tapped the canvas behind him with it. "In essence, the gist of their complaints regarding Serena is that she's overly romantic, too girly to be little more than a flat character, whinny, a bit spoiled, and is a May/Dawn ripoff. And, many of their complaints are valid, some more than others."
The Alpha Pokémon's face scrunched up slightly in an attempt to frown. "Quite frankly, I think much of the animosity towards her arose simply from XY's pilot; in which she displayed most of those traits within the span of a few minutes by arguing with her mother and simply worrying about her hair when Ash was dangling from Prism Tower. And, while she has progressed a bit as a character throughout XY, these traits do tend to reassert themselves multiple times. Though she wants to go on a journey, she is completely uncomfortable with camping until forced to, and at first her only real reason for joining up with Ash is to return an item she had held of the childhood crush she knew for one week for an unspecified amount of years. Her repeated arguments with her mother did little to redeem her in the eyes of this side of the argument, and combined with the general dislike of Pokémon Showcases, which are seen as little more than lackluster Contests without anything that made them appealing in the first place, has solidified their distaste."
"Now, someone could point out that both Dawn and May had characteristic's that I've listed out. Dawn was probably the most girlish out of all Ash's companions, and May, though nowhere near Dawn's level, did indeed have her girly moments, in addition to a general reluctance to travel and a fear of most Pokémon when starting out," Arceus' gaze narrowed slightly. "The part where they differ from Serena, though, is that neither were particularly insufferable, and they managed to quickly adapt to their new settings. Dawn, ever the optimist-"
(Dawn: No need to worry!)
The equine Pokémon shot a glance at Mew, who only offered up a cheeky smile, before clearing his throat. "Rarely ever complained about their conditions, or anything for that matter, nor did she let her interests and few quarrels get in the way of their travels. May was perhaps closer to Serena in more respects; she was incredibly insecure starting out, unsure about herself and Pokémon, or even what she wanted to be, a bit whinny, and on multiple occasions let issues, including her appearance, sidetrack them. The difference is, though, those were not permanent fixtures of her personality, as they appear to be in Serena's. May quickly toughened up under Ash's tutelage -yes; this was back in the days of Pokémon anime when Ash was actually competent enough to mentor others- and though some aspects of her early character remained, the development brought it full circle."
"Now, that's not to say that Serena has had no development over the course of the anime, but the issue remains that, until quite recently, there have been no major shifts in her personality or outlook either, and to many on this side of the argument, it was too little, too late, and too abrupt, if they are even willing to recognize it. Perhaps the issue that drove home many fans irritation with Serena's character most, her romantic side in particular, is that her whole reason for joining Ash was, in a nutshell, because she had a crush on him and wanted to use the fact she had something of his as an opportunity to see him again," Mew looked up.
"Wasn't that the plot of an episode of Seinfeld?" Arceus ignored the comment.
"Misty, May and Dawn all had the fact that Ash destroyed their bikes as reason for traveling with him, while the latter two also viewed him as a mentor. And, at the very least, any romantics feelings they might have harbored for Ash developed after travelling with him for an extended period of time, instead of just arising because of a chance encounter as kids," the Alpha Pokémon took a glance downwards.
"So, to sum up this side of the argument; those who dislike Serena primarily dislike how rushed she feels as a character; from her overly-romantic nature, made only worse by the fact Ash has gotten denser in recent seasons, her fast-track reason for joining up with Ash and the underdeveloped backstory behind it, the lack of buildup to her development, and her general impatience as an actual character. And as a result, they have little patience for her," Arceus let out a contemplative hum.
"Now, in a strange twist of irony, one of the biggest issues that has angered some fans over Serena has actually made others like her; and that would be her obvious crush over Ash," the equine Pokémon nodded. "Yes; for a long time, many fans have been hoping that Ash would get together with someone, as strange as that might sound, and given that Serena is the most obvious about her admiration, many fans, old and new alike, have become Amourshippers to the point where it has been the fastest growing pairing since Advanceshipping; either believing it to be either an inevitability or the most plausible pairing, or just going along with it out of desperation. And, regardless of the extent of Ash's density on the matter, there is the underlying fact that the two do get along well together."
"Another reason why this side of the argument likes her, is, ironically, another reason why other doesn't; her reason for joining up with Ash," Arceus looked over at the screen for a second. "Yes, in addition to the fact that it plays back into the prior reason, it's also for the fact that there is a backstory to it to begin with. The Pokémon Anime has never done a spectacular job of linking it's past seasons together, usually saving any throwbacks for the return of the previous region's travelling partner, so the idea that Serena and Ash had already known each other since childhood, never mind it only being for a short-while and Ash, in his typical manner, quickly forgetting afterwards, excited many people because it did indeed add depth and credibility to their dynamic. There's also the matter than many prefer Serena (and Bonnie and Clemont) over Iris and Cilan, as well as pointing out that, compared to them, Serena has a much better motivation for following Ash around."
The legendary tilted his head to the side. "And they would be right in that respect; after all, Iris, for all intents and purposes, had no real reason for following Ash other than she felt like it. Pikachu only shocked her, being as she had no bike to fry, Iris tended to look down on him most of the time, and her only goal was to be a Dragon Master; something that not only had no intersecting goals or points with Ash unlike Contests or Showcases, but could have completely done on her own, and probably accomplished faster as well."
"Now, there's also perhaps one of the more basic facts; many new fans have most likely only watched the Unova and Kalos series, and possibly the tail end of Sinnoh or some of the original Kanto series, and simply prefer Serena," Arceus nodded.
"So, to sum up this side of the argument; those who like Serena primarily like her because she was the character that many fans have wanted for a long time, and appeared when they wanted her the most. The perfect storm, one might say. This is even reflected in the fandom, perhaps most prominently in FanaticLAGuy06's series The Road to be a Pokémon Master, which, apart from having Ash start out travelling with Serena, is really no different or better than the hundreds of near-identical anime rewrite fics out there, and had experienced a meteoric rise in popularity as a result," the pseudo-deity turned around and nodded to Mew, who powered down the slide projector.
"Yes; there's good reasons for both camps, and both have good points, and while I'm certain I've missed or overlooked a few on both sides, those are the basic, and most important, reasons behind the fan's opinions of Serena."
Arceus set aside his notes, let out a contemplative hum, and turned. "Another short chapter... Hopefully this won't become a habit..."
Before he could leave, though, Mew floated up to him. "So what is your opinion about her, Arcy?" The Alpha Pokémon only rolled his eyes and continued on his way.
"What does it matter? They're all ten."