>>32547467I think they pushed it just about as far as it could go on a show like Pokémon. As much as some of us would rather like to deny, Ash was never going anywhere, the show would continue with him as MC, and Serena would be shown the door at the end of the Generation 6 series. For all that to be true and for Serena to still be the defacto canon love interest for Ash is pretty remarkable in a show that absolutely loves the status quo.
There were a few things I'd have done differently. Some of them are related to Serena.
>Serena's early episodes were all pretty clustered together.XY5, 6, 7, and 8 (kind of, she is the one who's most interested in Jessica's job and she's currently looking for a dream to chase) are all clustered together, and 21 and 26 aren't that far apart, either. Maybe move the Furfrou episode later and bump Millefeui's debut to after the Korrina Arc and I feel like a lot of the complaints about her early pacing would be reduced.
Focusing more on Amour itself, I'd have found time for the following:
>A Tripokalon where Ash has to enter for some reason in drag, "Ashley" and Serena become friendly, Serena tells her about this boy she likes>A spotlight dance for the winners of the tag battle after Sylveon evolved (seriously, I still have blue balls over that and I don't even have balls)>You're my goalI'm not super-fond of this line, but it's probably because I'm a burger and it kinda sounds weird for her to be saying that, after saying her goal was to be Kalos Queen for so long (Not saying she can have more than one goal, but maybe they could have emphasized having two goals better? "After I become Kalos Queen, my next goal will be you, Satoshi!" or something)
>Ash and Serena with NoibatI know Hawlucha was supposed to be the Padre, but I'd have liked more of Ash and Serena raising baby Noibat (maybe with Bonnie making snarky commentary?)
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