>>53085815May and Dawn were specifically written to try to retain the female audience (and shill new games and gimmicks) without any sort of romantic foreshadowing with Ash (the main reason girls watched the OS).
>>53085820This. Serena is the male virgin/incel choice since they all dream of having a gf who is a demure obedient living doll who lives to please her bf. Misty is the female choice since girls irl actually act like Misty when they have a crush on a boy, and the way to keep the female audience hooked on a television series is to tease romantic possibilities between the main characters, but never quite confirm it. Serena was always open about being obsessed with Ash, and we even got to hear her inner monologue gushing with admiration for him. Literally the only reason why Ash didn't get with her is because he didn't reciprocate due to already having feelings for someone else (a person whose inner monologue the audience has never heard).
