>>53402639nta
I think google trends is like using twitter trends to gague how many people like morbius, you've reduced your sample size to people that regularly use the internet for media made for children, which demonstrably doesn't reflect real life.
If that number correlated with the number of people who watched the anime at its peak every single one of those numbers would be much much higher.
The only reason the shipping gtrend comparison is remarkable in the first place is because it's anomalous that "Ash and Misty" had a high score at all in the early internet.
This is isn't to say you're automatically wrong but moreso to say google trends likely represents what fans are googling. To get a comprehensive result you'd have to cross reference it with television ratings.
It's worth noting that google's algorithm prioritizes "Misty" the pokemon character over "misty" the adjective, while "Serena" the athlete comes before "Serena" the pokemon character.
This itself isn't indicative but the fact that "misty" is a more commonly used word than "Serena" and still is considered referential to the Pokemon character might be.
I still think its all bullshit but a fun brain exercise
