>>56394812Cynthia doesn't really have a character arc desu. She is a supporting character in the original games and is seemingly perfect already. There's no hangups or character flaws that can be used to develop a story, other than maybe she's a kind of messy because of her research but that is shown to be more endearing or gap moe than a flaw and she has no relationship where it has shown to be a problem/doesn't strain any of her known friendships like Caitlin. It's why her story here is so weak it's just another generic "I want to battle someone stronger/becomes stronger" thing. Even now with the Volo mysterious stone story it's her wanting to become stronger.
In the anime they literally had to make up shit that she was getting old and wanting to retire, and are friends with Diantha, whom she confided, only to then take it back after being beaten by Ash. The only other thing is that she compared herself to Paul in the old days, where fans the extrapolate that she must've been super edgy no nonsense trainer before mellowing out.
Now, N, the cliffhanger in Pokemon BW and him searching for the player, in this case Hilbert, and his daddy issues with Ghetsis is just rife for stories. Masters went all the way with that one, even changed the music in the menu. It's understandable why it was number 1 and why many of the stories here are a bunch of trainers getting over their hangups and/or fulfilling their wishes from the original games.
