>>56449439>fanficIt's not like SM or JN were any less fanfic -ish with how they flanderized Ash's design and character, XY was the last series where the story felt at least somewhat cohesive with the whole Pokemon Master thing.
JN's ending of Ash defining the Pokemon Master title as the "friend of all Pokemon in the world" was one of the most fanfic retcons in the show since it contradicts what the show was about and even Ash would realize that he just doesn't have the time to befriend and meaningfully interact with EVERY Pokemon even in just the 8 regions he visited.
It's essentially just saying that there is no Pokemon Master as a tangible thing, it's more of a freedom lifestyle but Ash was like that from the first episode already like... That's not something worthy of a 1000+ episode saga finale.
Erika in JN was a totally different character than in ashnime canon
Even the Gen1 series by Shudo was arguably a very loose fan fiction based on the games
It doesn't make sense to call XY in particular a fanfic because all of those ashnime seasons have that fanfic vibe to them to be honest, so how is Serena being a Gen1 character any less valid than Brock or Misty? Yeah yeah Kanto nostalgia but even in Japanese magazine popularity polls Serena always ranks high. She's not some literally who in the context of the meta franchise
