Quoted By:
hey just remember you asked for this asshole. I just did as you said and now I have all these fucking words
In short, basically everything we could have wanted and more. Those of us who were funposting for old times sake and had modest expectations were all fucking floored at how well they nailed everything.
How long did she get attacks from faggots who claimed she was nothing but shipbait? That shit doesn't win fans like amourshippers by itself. You need the kind of tone that XY strikes, which for some of its most effective scenes owes as much to the music as it does the writing staff. It's those downright wholesome and surprisingly well-written moments that win you over because of how endearingly earnest and straightforward it can be when it's going all george lucas.
Not sure if they could have picked a better scene to reference than the one they did with Ash inspiring Serena on the steps. We've all seen the tweet with the two scenes back-to-back. It's impossible to not feel proud for her as well as Ash for motivating her. And yeah, the amour moment here is a graceful way to start the fanservice. A bit blatant for my taste, but for the only semi-informed it will come across as something mild or not too significant, which is how I like my shiphints, so I give it a thumbs up. And this is emblematic of how solid their on-paper approach was when it came to addressing the fan response to Serena's characterization. A rock solid foundation, with a lot of good ideas. And for the most part all that paperwork translated well into the final episode, but some things of course will always be lacking in execution. Hell, some of the animation looked straight-up unfinished, what the fuck were they thinking releasing Serena's big moment like that? The great news is that they don't skimp on art quality when it comes to glorious close-ups and general kino.
