>>34649944Puberty and age has nothing to do with it. It actually depends upon how ash's personality is structured. Ash has been inspired from Goku. Therefore he has all the same traits that goku has and this includes being oblivious to love. You can't consider age as an argument because drew from AG or tierno from XY both are the same age as ash but still know about romance.
Also, shounen protagonist are never allowed to be in a relationship onscreen when the plot is in function. It all happens behind the curtain or after a time skip. Serena is the one who is supposed to end up with him after his journey ends. But its all gonna happen offscreen