AmourShipping

AmourShipping is the het ship between Ash and Serena from the Pokémon fandom.

Pre-Pokémon the Series: XY
Ash and Serena were childhood friends, first meeting at Professor Oak’s Summer Camp when very young. Serena lost herself in the forest and while searching a way out she got startled by a Poliwag and fell over, injuring her knee. Her crying and panicking for her situation got interrupted when the bushes tumbled again, this time turning it out to be Ash and not some other Pokémon.

He was looking for the same Poliwag that scared Serena and was very surprised to find the girl there, introducing himself and noticing her injury. Ash pulled out a handkerchief and wrapped it around Serena’s knee, trying to see if helped, but seeing her hesitation in getting up he performed a classic "Get better spell", to try to send away the pain. Once again to the verge of tears and feeling completely hopeless, Serena lamented that she couldn't do it. To help her, Ash got up and offered his hand with a smile, telling her to “don’t give up until the very end”, a line that would stick with her years from then.

Serena hesitantly reached out her own hand, being then grabbed decisively by him and getting pulled up on her feet while ending up in his embrace. After staying in the position for a moment, she blushed and pulled away a bit from him in surprise, as he grinned and encouraged that she made it after all. He then kept his hold onto her hand as he delicately escorted her out of the woods and back to the camp’s center. Ever since that encounter, she kept the handkerchief until she met Ash again in Kalos.

They did not meet again until years later, as Serena left Kanto to go back to her home region Kalos, once the camp was over.

Lumiose City Pursuit!
Serena never forgot Ash and his act of kindness towards her, keeping close to heart his motto and making it her own. Her wish to one day meet him again is helped when, after an hard Rhyhorn Racing training session, her mother calls her to watch the news report on a boy trying to calm a rampaging Garchomp on Prism Tower. Serena right away fall in awe at the guy's bravery and feel easily horrified when he jumps off the tower to rescue Pikachu. Her relief in seeing him safe and sound soon leaves space to surprise as the news camera finally focuses on the boy's face and a flashback of a younger Ash comes to her.

A Battle of Aerial Mobility!
Albeing unsecure on the path she wants to follow for her future, Serena decides to begin her journey after seeing Ash on television, hoping to meet up with him. Upon arriving at Professor Sycamore's laboratory, and before choosing her starter Pokémon, Serena tells Sycamore that she is looking for the boy who was on the news. Her eyes seem to light up considerably when Sycamore identifies him as Ash and confirms her suspicions.

A Blustery Santalune Gym Battle!
When Serena finally arrives in Santalune City, she thinks about how she cannot wait to see the look on Ash's face when he’s going to meet her. Then, she has a flashback of a young Ash extending his arm, as if he was offering her his hand. When the flashback ends, she is seen blushing slightly.

When she sees Ash battling Viola, she is so overcome with excitement that she runs toward the battlefield, seemingly planning on going directly on there to greet Ash without noticing that the battle is still in progress and being stopped by Alexa. Later, when Ash loses the battle, Serena is obviously saddened for him and attempts to speak to him, but is further saddened when he runs past her without noticing her, since he is concentrating on his injured Pokémon and her shyness prevents her from calling out for him. While Ash awaits his Pokémon to be treated and wonders how he is going to compensate for Viola's strategies, Serena nervously greets him, returning his backpack to him, since he left it at the gym. The two introduce to each other and to Clemont and Bonnie, and Ash thanks her and apologizes for not noticing her since he was so focused on the battle and its result. She tries to ask him something while blushing, only to be interrupted by the Pokémon Center bell.

Later, during training, Ash falls to the ground while catching Pikachu and Fletchling, worrying Serena, who goes at his aid once the tiredness catches up to him. The girl hands him a handkerchief to clean himself up from the dirt he got on him while training. As she does so, she nervously asks him if he remembers her.

Battling on Thin Ice!
After she asks Ash if he remembers her, Serena mentions that they met in Professor Oak's Pokémon Summer Camp in Pallet Town. While Ash remembers attending the camp, to which she is overjoyed, he can’t recall who Serena is. She is visibly disappointed by it and he apologies, but she right away cheers up to hide However, when he says that he does not remember her specifically. Serena is visibly sad ans he apologies, but instantly she cheers up, trying to hide any disappointment and showing understanding. She encourages Ash to keep training and think about remembering her later.When Ash says that his battle was a disaster, Serena says she thinks he was awesome and reminds him that he once told her to never give up till the end, and expresses that in her eyes he surely can’t have changed since they met. These words cheer up Ash a lot, as he continue his training in order to win the rematch against Viola. When the group is having dinner after the training session, Serena glances at Ash and smiles at him while he is eating. Since this is directly after him saying that he is sure to win the rematch, this strongly implies that she is admiring his determination and is impressed by it.

During the fight, Serena is the only one who never loses faith and tries to reassure her companions when things look rough. Even when Ash himself is starting to lose confidence after Pikachu is hit with Sleep Powder, she speaks up and encourages him loudly with their motto, making him regain his focus and determination. He then tells Viola that he is not going to lose because he will keep battling until the very end and Serena has a flashback of a younger Ash telling her those words.

Giving Chase at the Rhyhorn Race!
In the beginning of the episode, after Serena says she doesn't know what she is going to do, Ash asks her right away to travel with them, saying that it was because of her that he won the Bug Badge and adding that it would be nice if she stayed with them, while scratching his cheek nervously. Serena is moved by his request, plaicing an hand on her heart as he accepts, making him overjoyed.During their walk, Clemont asks Serena why she started her journey and to answer she pulls out the same handkerchief Ash used to bandage her knee, and shows it to Ash in a second attempt to get him to remember their past. As she explains we see a flashback of when Ash and Serena first met as children, with her being scared by a Poliwag and hurting her knee. Ash was searching the same Pokémon but found instead Serena and aided her by wrapping his handkerchief to her knee, chanting a good luck spell and encouraging her with his motto, to then pull her up on her feet and ending up in a hug. He then guided her outside the forest and Serena blushed, starting to fall for him. Ash finally remembers Serena as "the girl with the straw hat", showing that while he didn’t recognise her, he never forgot the event. She blushes as she says that she wanted to wash and give it back to him but didn’t get to. He wonders why she would go through all the trouble of returning the object to him and she pouts that she did it also because she wanted to see hima gain and reminding he didn’t recognize her right away. He apologize before the entire group start laughing.

After they learn about a Rhyhorn Race taking place in the zone, Ash wishes to join. Serena gives him some pointers on how to approach a Rhyhorn and he is impressed by her, saying she is amazing and trusting her advice. Ash learns that Serena took Rhyhorn racing lessons from her mother and asks her to train him so he can get good enough to participate. Hesitantly, due to her not so appreciated experience with the sport, she agrees to help and trains him. She compliments him on his training outfit, making him giggle and then shows him how to get on the Pokémon and how to ride it without falling. At the end of the day, his efforts and determination shows and she admires him, thinking that perhaps she misjudged that sport.He is very grateful for her help, telling Grace about Serena teaching him to ride a Rhyhorn, and making her very embarrassed. Later that night, we see everyone but Serena sleeping, who is baking the cookies that she gives him the following morning, to thank him for the help he gave her back then and to reward him for his efforts. He greatly enjoys them, diving into eating and getting choked in the process.

The Bamboozling Forest!
As the group is looking for Pangoro's bamboo leaf, there is a scene where Ash helps Serena cross a small river by holding her hand. The scene only shows Ash and Serena getting across and not the others.

Kindergarten Chaos!
In this episode, Serena shows signs of jealously for the first time, when a teacher named Penelope challenges Ash to a battle and states that if she wins, he would have to come with her. At that Serena freaks out and blush and becomes even more frantic when Ash loses the battle and indeed accepts to go with Penelope, since he promised. However, once Penelope takes the entire group to the kindergarten she works at and explains her intentions, Serena realizes with relief that she misunderstood the situation and sighs putting an hand over her heart.

A PokéVision of Things to Come!
Serena is visibly worried when Ash mentions that the video of Aria looks cute before he clarifies that he's talking about Aria's Fennekin. Once the clarification is made, Serena's expression softens.

After deciding to make her own video, Serena asks Ash specifically for help as Clemont and Bonnie already agreed to be part of it, but he declines, saying he’d like to train for his next match since it’s going to be a very hard battle. Serena is a little upset about it, but understands and encourages to make the video without him.

During the filming, Clemont tries to use one of his inventions, which starts going after Serena. Ash inititally thinks it’s all going well, but once he gets that Serena is being chased against her will he intervenes to help her with Pikachu, destroying the machine. However, it explodes and gets Serena and Fennekin all dirty, making the girl scold Ash, who is confused since he thought she was in trouble. Serena takes the occasion to change into her Fennekin outfit. Clemont, Bonnie and all the Pokémon admire her, while Ash is seen to be blankly staring, his face being even zoomed on (could be out of attraction, something unusual for him). Bonnie right away proposes again to Ash to help out with the video. He is doubtful as he says he is in the middle of training, but Serena eventually convinces him, giving the advice to take a break to be more productive later.

Once the video is finished and viewed by the gang, Clemont comments it’s “fairly well made”, to which Serena mutters he could have excluded the “fairly”, making her then ask Ash’s opinion blushing, who happily says it’s really good.

Going for the Gold!
After Ash notices that Serena seem nervous when starting fishing and learns she never tried, he offers to teach her. After seeing the golden Magikarp for real, Ash and SerenSeeing that Ash is eager to battle after they arrive in Cyllage City, Serena smiles and says he will win the Gym match.

Climbing the Walls!
When Ash is rock climbing in Cyllage Gym, the camera focuses on a worried Serena, who clasps her hands together. Another moment of focus on her anxiety is showed right before the start of Ash and Grant's battle, as she once again clasps her hands together, catching the attention of Bonnie and Clemont. Both comment on how tensed she seems, the young girl wondering why since it's Ash the one battling. Serena blushes, grabbing tight the railing ahead of her, and admits with emotion written in her face that she knows how hard battles are and that she has seen how much Ash and his Pokémon worked to face this battle, so she really hopes their efforts brings fruits.

More than once then during the battle she worries over him and his Pokémon.

A battle by Any Other Name!
When Serena shows her fresh-baked Poké Puffs to the group and offers one each to Fennekin and Pikachu, Ash takes one suddenly, assuming they’re good for humans too. Initally he doesn’t react, startling Serena, but then he compliments in pure bliss that he has never eaten a sweet as delicious as that. As he dives into the basket to take more puffs for himself, they are stolen from his hands by a Slurpuff. His trainer, Miette, offers Poké Puffs to the group as an apology and Serena is shown to be upset when Ash says he would like to eat them, refusing to accept the offer for herself. Later during the contest, Ash comments that Serena’s puffs which just came out of the oven, look already delicious. Then, as the moment of picking the finalists arrives, Bonnies asks the judge to take care of Clemont. Inspired by this, Miette asks Ash teasingly if he has a future bride in mind see how Serena would react, to which he answers he of course doesn’t. Serena is shown to be paying close attention from the corner of her eye with a frown, and then looks away and pretends indifference.

When Miette is announced as a finalist for the Poké Puff contest her and Serena entered, Ash initially gives Miette a congratulatory look but upon seeing her brag about it to Serena, Ash immediately gives Miette a disapproving glare. Upon hearing Serena is also a finalist in the Poké Puff competition, Ash immediately congratulates her. As the team goes out to the forest to looks for berries for the Poké Puff competition, Ash expresses concern for Serena when she runs off by herself and when the group hears Serena screaming from a distance, Ash calls out her name and runs after her. He helps her with the angry Pokémon and ask if she's all right, running close to her.

At the end of the episode, after Ash calls Serena's name, Miette teases her saying that if Serena doesn't hurry and confess then she will steal him. Serena blushes bright red, but doesn’t deny about the implications and walks away smiling.

In “Battles in the Sky!”, Ash and Serena are dressed in a Sky Trainer suit. Then, together they climb into a flight simulator, where they were the only ones to stay in the air while Clemont easily loses control and falls. Ash and Serena stay in the air together until another Sky Trainer appears wanting to challenge Ash. When Team Rocket steals all the Pokémon, Serena comes flying in her Sky Trainer suit and has her Fennekin destroy the Meowth balloon with Flamethrower, for which Ash is grateful.

When Ash gets lost in Reflection Cave in “The Cave of Mirrors!”, he calls out for Serena first. When Ash exits Reflection Cave and comes across Mirror Serena, he could immediately sense a difference between her and the real Serena by the way she spoke. After Mirror Clemont finishes telling Ash and the others about the alternative worlds, Ash tells them that the Clemont, Serena, and Bonnie standing before him are not the same people that he knows, and while telling the group this he mentions Serena specifically while looking directly at Mirror Serena. When the Mirror Dimension is splitting apart, Ash makes a great leap across the chasm and grabs on to Serena’s hand instead of calling upon one of his Pokémon or using Clemont’s Aipom arm.

In “Day Three Blockbusters!”, when Serena sees a perfect area to make the Pokévision, Ash calls after her in a worried tone when she runs off by herself. When Serena begins to fall down a cliff, Ash runs after her and grabs her hand to try to stop her from falling, but ends up falling down with her in the process. After they both fall down the cliff, Ash asks Serena if she is okay. Ash returns Serena’s hat to her, he nervously chuckles and scratches his nose. When Serena sees that Ash has twisted his ankle and blames herself, he keeps reassuring her that he is okay. Serena nurses Ash’s foot with a wet cloth, he thanks her. As Serena admires Pikachu’s will to save Ash, Ash tells her that they always work together to overcome difficult situations while he nervously scratches his nose.

Pokémon the Series: XY Kalos Quest
Ash praises Serena in “A Race for Home!”, saying it was thanks to her he learned how to ride a Rhyhorn. They Both find Grace, who hopes that her daughter has had training at the races. Suddenly, wheh Grace is talking to Clemont, she brings Ash and Serena together and they look at each other with embarrassment, maybe because Grace sees them looking cute when they are together.

In “Under the Pledging Tree!”, Ash and Serena leave their Pokémon in the care of Clemont and Bonnie and then go off alone to look for presents. As Ash and Serena walk away from Bonnie and Clemont, Serena’s thoughts are voiced over as she quickly comes to the conclusion that she is on a date with Ash. While walking, Serena blushes and attempts to hold Ash’s hand. Her hand is visibly shaking and has turned red, possibly out of nervousness, and she is unable to grab his hand. Ash and Serena went to ride the monorail. Serena sees Ash looking happily out the window; this makes her smile and blush. When Serena sees gifts in the shops windowsills, she is very happy and invites Ash to see them. In some point, Ash goes on his own to look for presents for his Pokémon and Serena is visibly disappointed at being left alone. Later, when reunited in the afternoon, Serena and Ash before going back on the monorail, Ash wins a blue ribbon for being a significant number rider on the Coumarine Monorail. When Serena tells Ash that his Pokémon would be happy with anything he gives them because all of his Pokémon are similar to him, Serena moves very close to Ash. At the end of the episode, he gives it to Serena as his way of saying thanks for her help, scratching his nose nervously.

Serena loses her first Pokémon Showcase in Coumarine City in “A Showcase Debut!”. She goes off alone regretting her defeat and therefore decides to cut her hair short and completely change her image. Later, when the group sees Serena’s new hairstyle for the first time, Ash is the only one who has a positive reaction. Clemont asks what happened and Bonnie complains that she preferred Serena’s long hair. Ash comments that the blue ribbon he gave Serena in the previous episode looked great on her.

When everyone is introduced to Frank in the “Lights! Camera! Pika!” special episode, Pikachu’s film director, Serena returns to sit next to Ash. Then, when everyone is standing, she tries to stand next to him as best she can. So Ash and Serena decide to work with Bonnie as the Pikachu voice actors. When they all manage to finish the script for the Pikachu movie, Serena decides to go with Ash to talk to Jean, Frank’s granddaughter for the night.

Ash appears to be more excited in “Performing with Fiery Charm!”, when Serena appears on the stage and later greatly cheers her when she shows confidence in not losing the Showcase. When Ash, Clemont, and Bonnie are voting for Serena, Ash noticeably raises his PokéLume higher than the others.

In “Over the Mountain of Snow!”, Ash happily picks Serena to ride with him in a Mamoswine. When Serena volunteered to switch spots with Ash, he had high hopes for her to get up the slope. While crossing the bridge in the snowy mountains, a blast of icy wind frightens Serena, Ash holds on to her shoulders and comforts her. He then praises her once they are safely across the bridge. When the group splits up to find the herbs needed, Ash again quickly picks Serena to be his partner. Ash compliments Serena when she finds the herb that they were looking for.

Pokémon the Series: XYZ
In “Battling at Full Volume!”, Ash trains Pikachu and Greninja on a river. Serena throws a towel to Ash in the hope of not catching a cold. He catches said towel, assuring her that he will be fine, and sneezes. The next day, Serena asks Bonnie to wake Ash up. He comes out of his tent, and tiredly walks towards Serena. When he gets close to her, Serena feels some romantic tensions, then Ash says “Iron Tail, Pikachu!” and falls down. Serena checks his forehead, and says to Clemont and Bonnie that he has a fever. Back in Ash’s tent, Serena tries to cool his temperature with a washcloth but does little to lower his fever. Clemont and Bonnie go out to find some medicine, leaving her and Pikachu to take care of the young trainer. Meanwhile, another trainer named Jimmy is searching for Ash. Serena borrows Ash’s clothes to battle the punk-rock trainer in his place. Midway through the battle, Team Rocket kidnap Ash’s Pikachu and Jimmy’s Pikachu Spike, and blows Serena’s cover. A recovered Ash commands Greninja to stop their truck. Jimmy sees Serena as a trainer equal in spirit as Ash.

In “The First Day of the Rest of Your Life!”, Serena ponders on her next move after her loss. She, Ash, Clemont, Bonnie then watch the news of the Prism Tower lighting up once again. The next day, Serena leads the three to a park somewhere in Lumiose City, where she and two other Master Class finalists (Shauna and Jessilee) do their Showcase Performance exhibition. Shortly after, everyone joined in dancing along with the performers. Back in Clemont and Bonnie’s father’s apartment, Ash and Clemont offered Serena help in making dinner. The next morning, Ash, Serena, and their friends see Serena’s mother off, where the latter offers them a visit anytime to her home. Then they part with Tierno, Shauna, Trevor, and Sawyer. Clemont and Bonnie were about to return to the Lumiose Gym, and Ash allows Serena to “stay with [him]”. They went to the airport, where Ash affirms that it will open soon. Next, they walk around Lumiose City and eat one of their famous foods. Ash and Serena then have a Pokémon battle on the same battlefield from the first episode of the XY series, the latter admitting that she never had a proper battle. Serena lets out Braixen, and Ash commands his Pikachu. The battle is called off, with Ash admiring her Pokémon that support her and “always cheering [her] on and on”. This motivates Serena to turn down her mentor’s offer and decide to go on a Performance training journey.

In “Till We Compete Again!”, Serena decides to go to Hoenn to try her luck as a Pokémon Coordinator in addition to her career as a Pokémon Performer. Serena thanks everyone and especially Ash for travelling on the adventures together. She then goes down the escalator, but in the midst of this, Serena plucks up her courage and makes Ash wait for “[o]ne more thing”. When Ash is waiting for something, to everyone’s surprise Serena kisses Ash, showing her deep interest in him. After Serena kisses Ash, he is seen standing at the top of the escalator, momentarily stunned in awe and his eyes glimmering, but smiles afterwards and waves her goodbye. Serena’s dialogue also suggests Ash knew what Serena was doing and allowed it.

While Ash is on his plane back to Kanto he is shown to be remembering his adventures in Kalos, when thinking about his friends in Kalos most of his thoughts were primarily focused on Serena alone opposed to Clemont and Bonnie were mostly present in group moments rather than individually. One of the memories include when Ash was falling into her arms while he was sick and collapsing while still holding her hand. Interesting about this particular memory, Ash specifically remembers only Serena calling out to him in worry after he collapses, while in the actual episode Clemont and Bonnie did as well. Also interesting about this memory that Ash was supposed to be delirious from being sick in the episode but he vividly remembers what happened.

Pokémon Journeys: The Series
Before Chloe, who is being sent off by Serena, leaves on the ship, Ash and Goh catch up to her. Serena recognizes Ash as he runs past her, and calls out his name. Ash turns around in surprise, and exclaims her name before asking how she was doing since they last met. Serena follows up by flaunting her new outfit and stating that she was doing good, adding that Pikachu looked good too.

Chloe questions how they knew each other, and Ash takes initiative to inform her on their adventure in Kalos. The ship horn suddenly blows, alerting of its departure. As the ship begins to sail away, they exchange their future plans to each other; Ash tells Serena of his goal to become the ‘best battler’, and Serena tells him about her goal to become the ‘best performer’. They tell each other to do their best, and that they would be cheering for one another.”

Serena waves him and the others off until the ship is gone. She wears a look of reminiscence on her face, looking in the direction of the ship, before she and her Sylveon run off. A narration finishes with “Ash and Serena are both giving everything they have to try and make their dreams come true. Maybe someday Chloe will find her own dream too.”

Diancie and the Cocoon of Destruction
In the trailer of the movie, Serena and Ash are seen on the ground battered and bruised after Yveltal's awekening. They're alone in this, with other characters nowhere to be seen.

During the night after Ash and Diancie make a wish on a star, it shows Serena awake in her tent gazing at Ash adoringly from a distance without him being aware. When Ash is separated from Diancie and the rest of his friends, Diancie expresses her worry for him, but Serena instantly speaks up, believing that he will be fine.

Sometime during the movie, Ash holds Serena's hand as they cross a log together even though the help was most likely unnecessary.

In the ending credits, after seeing a shooting star, Serena is making a wish and Ash is the only one who is looking at her while Clemont and Bonnie start sleeping.

Hoopa and the Clash of Ages
In the trailer, Serena becomes extremely worried about Ash and calls his name in fear when he becomes taken over by the Prison Bottle he caught.

Volcanion and the Mechanical Marvel
Serena is shown to be carrying Ash's backpack for him when he is unable to. After they reunite, Serena gives Ash new clothes she bought for him to replace his water-damaged outfit. When he wears the outfit, she says he looks great and he is shown to be excited about it, expressing that he really likes it

At night, when the group is camping, Serena is mending Ash's normal outfit. When she gives it back, Ash compliments and thanks her.

I Choose You!
During the credits, every travelling companion of Ash is seen, presumably from his point of view. When Serena is shown, her hat falls off, is caught from the camera's point of view, and handed to her. She takes it back and smiles.

Fanon
This ship is one of the most popular ships in the Pokémon anime. It is also one of the most popular ships between Ash and a female companion. The popularity of the shipping began even before the series actually started, when people caught info about her knowing Ash since childhood and catching hints of a possible canon crush, thanks to the official poster, some photos of a screening at a live exhibition in Japan and magazine articles. The populary furtherly grew after the crush was confirmed in the first episodes, even bringing some people who dropped the anime back for it.

Aside the constant hints between them and the moments they shared in the series, the kiss at the end of the second-last episode managed to keep fans attached to the ship and hopeful for its future. It's common belief between them that Ash has implied feelings/crush on Serena, which could eventually lead to them ending up together. Even with their brief encounter in Journeys, their fans refuse to believe that their feelings for each other are gone, also because of the anime cast members support towards it and Yajima's words in the interview after the show ended, where he said they are probably getting together in future (Note that while Yajima wasn't the director anymore after XYZ, he joined the anime Journeys again as member of the writing and directing cast)

One of the biggest reasons for fans to ship them is the trope of Childhood Friends Romance, which is the one that's pushed with Ash and Serena. Another big element fans like in the ship is Serena and Ash's chemistry and supporting relationship, with the absence of exaggerate teasing, mocking, or arguing. Serena and Ash only argued once in the series and because of Serena's wish to break him out of his self-damaging depression, to which he then apologized and then thanked her for, as it helped him snapping out of his condition and giving him the strength to face again the obstacles that blocked him. While with his other companions Ash often had bickering situations where he got also teased (Not with extreme malice) or bigger but also less important arguments, with Serena it's appreciated how serene is the air between them. They are usually on the same line and when not they talk about it nicely and helping each other improve and be encouraged.

It's very visible also how fans adore Ash's attitude towards Serena, which while is always a bit dense, still shows him treating her with a sweetness and carefulness he rarely showed in the previous series, going out of his way to help her when not necessary, complimenting her multiple times on her appearance or her actions, seeking her out first and sometimes only when in difficult situations and more often than not being encouraged only by her words.

Interestingly, Serena has a completely opposite personality to Ash. She is not interested in science and technology unlike him, as he is not overly interested in fashion. She can dance and cook well while Ash cannot. While she focuses more on the visual part of Pokémon abilities, he focuses more on the battles. Their fans think it is beautiful to be so different in this way and thus complement each other better, as it's also seen that despite their differences, they both show full support in things the other is interested into with genuine appreciation.

This ship is usually ranked as top tier 1st in Japan when it comes to Pokémon ships, because it usually generates trends around Serena and her pairing with Ash on Twitter. It's also always victorious in Japanese polls, usually with big distance from the second place.

In the West its popularity stays between the highest, but often shifts between being the favorite of the fans and getting surpassed by other rival ships by the number of concent. With AmourShipping being the closest ship to reach canonicity and having still chances, it's both the most loved ship but also the most disliked by multi-shippers whom ship actively the two with other characters, mostly Ash, including het, slash and friend relationships.

Some of the most popular ships with Ash, excluding Serena, are PokéShipping, AdvanceShipping, PearlShipping, AureliaShipping, and recently in Journeys, NegaiShipping and JourneyShipping. Other appreciated ships alternative to SatoSere with Ash are BoulderShipping (Ash x Brock), PalletShipping, CafeMochaShipping (Ash x Cilan), DiodeShipping (Ash x Clemont), Z-ringShipping, PoffleShipping (Ash x Miette), ImaginationShipping (Ash x Bianca (BW)), BloomBoltShipping (Ash x Chloe) and all that included Ash's traveling companions and rivals, mostly females.

It should be noted that from all of them, AmourShipping rivaled also other ships involving other girls having also a crush on Ash, like FireShipping (Ash x Macey), AbilityShipping (Ash x Anabel) and MorpheusShipping, (Ash x Angie), as well as GoggleShipping due to Giselle the only girl that Ash explicitly shown feelings towards her.

On Serena’s side, the most shipped alternative is GeekChicShipping, followed by KalosShipping (SerenaxCalem), LacewoodShipping (Serena x Professor Sycamore), KingsRockShipping (Serena x Lysandre), BoutiqueShipping (Serena x Shauna), and recently in Journeys, FemJourneyShipping (Serena x Chloe) and DreamGirlShipping (Serena x Lisia). Other options, but much rarer are LimoShipping (Serena x Meyer), VanivilleShipping (Serena × Trevor), LovelousShipping (Serena × Tierno) and XEvolutionShipping (Serena × Alain). It should be noted that despite Serena's variable personality between the games and anime and Ash not exisiting in the anime, AmourShipping still rivals the majority of ships involving members of rival ships both in games and anime.

Usually AmourShippers focus only on this pair, but when pairing up other Pokégirls and characters the choices are usually OrangeShipping, ContestShipping (May x Drew), PenguinShipping (Kenny x Dawn), WishfulShipping (Cilan x Iris), LaserbladeShipping (Clemont x Korrina) KalosRivalShipping (Tierno x Miette), TakenShipping (Hau x Lillie), NaheleAhiShipping (Kiawe x Mallow), SwordfishShipping (Gladion x Lana), VermillionShipping (Goh x Chloe) and others.

Finally, fans who are not content with AmourShipping still not being completely canon or don't like any of Serena or Ash's ships, think that Ash is never going to marry anyone because "Ash is a kid and kids can't marry", and also they prefer alternative Pokémon ships that are already fully canon, such as AccordShipping (Tonio x Alice), DivergentShipping (Joshua x Erica), EternalhoneymoonShipping (Kukui x Burnet), MeanBeanShipping (Mohn x Lusamine), BalanceShipping (Norman x Caroline), Brock'sHormonesShipping (Flint x Lola) as well as QuestShipping due to Jimmy and Marina being at least having explicit mutual feelings unlike Ash.

Fandom
FAN FICTION
 * Ash/Serena tag on FanFiction.net
 * Ash/Serena tag on FanFiction.net

DEVIANTART
 * on DeviantArt
 * on DeviantArt
 * on DeviantArt
 * on DeviantArt
 * on DeviantArt
 * on DeviantArt

PIXIV

REDDIT
 * r/AmourShipping on Reddit

WIKIS
 * AmourShipping on Bulbapedia

Behind the scenes - Cast's opinion

 * Tetsuo Yajima, the anime director for the series, declared ”They didn’t become a couple in the episode itself but the way I ended it is meant to understand that they’re going to become one later. Serena tells Ash that she is going to improve herself and then come back again to him. And then she does something absolutely incredible, she is meant to be kissing Ash in that scene but since the main audience of ye show are kids so I couldn’t show the actual kiss scene instead Serena’s feet is shown floating upwards.”
 * Ash's reaction the kiss is described as surprised awe and that any ambiguity the scene has was put so that they could show the kiss on TV in the first place, as the higher-ups didn't think showing a mouth kiss would be convenient in a non-romantic show with kids as main target. It's speculated so, that Ash's reaction was toned down too, but wasn't indifferent to the kiss.
 * Junichi Masuda, a Pokémon composer, has tweeted a picture of Ash and Serena as Pikachu, playing with one another. In the actual tweet, he tagged multiple AmourShipping accounts.
 * Ken Sugimori, an illustrator and concept designer tweeted a picture of Ash and Serena figurines in front of a microphone.
 * Kensho Ono, voice actor for Aaron and Alain tweeted of picture of himself with his script for Pokémon the Series: XY with all the other characters, aside Ash and Serena, blurred out. He also expressed surprise. Since he was holding the script for the last episode, it was probably a hint to the kiss.
 * Shoko Nakagawa, former host of Pokémon Sunday and composer of DreamDream, has tweeted illustrations of Ash and Serena that she drew and a picture of Ash and Serena sleeping while holding hands.
 * Rica Matsumoto, Ash's Japanese voice actor, a picture of Ash encouraging Serena to accept Aria's challenge for a double battle from "Battling with Elegance And a Big Smile!". However, in an interview from 2017, she said she doesn't see Ash having a romantic relationship with anyone, so she probably doesn't support the ship or any Ash's ships.
 * Mayuki Makiguchi, Serena's Japanese voice actor, although does not say anything of Ash's relationship with Serena, clarifies in an interview from 2022 that she is very happy to play her character again in Journeys, 6 years after the last episode of XYZ, which indicates that she probably supports the ship.
 * Yusuke Oshida, one of the animators, has tweeted a picture of Ash and Serena in their Journeys outfits with a blue ribbon in the background.

Trivia

 * The ship name comes from the word amour which means “love” in French. It is because Serena is originally from Kalos, a region based on France in Pokémon X and Pokémon Y, and she has a canonical crush on Ash since childhood.
 * On the promotional poster for the series Pokémon the Series XY: Kalos Quest, Serena is depicted blushing while looking at Ash.
 * On the first official character connection table, an arrow is shown from Serena to Ash with the phrase "I love ...?".
 * In the March 2014 issue of Onnanoko to Tame no Kuchikomi & Tōkō Magazine, there is a summary of Serena where among her character description it says that she has special feelings towards Ash. There is also another character connection table with an arrow from Serena to Ash that says "Very interested in".
 * The aforementioned magazine also includes a poster with Ash and Serena surrounded by Pokémon and balloons. Serena is holding a heart balloon while looking up at Ash. This is used by The Pokémon Company to celebrate the Valentine’s Day.Drink.jpg
 * There is another official poster from Animedia Magazine of only Serena and Ash sitting next to each other and holding drinks.Donuts.jpg
 * There is an official poster for the movie Hoopa and the Clash of Ages of Ash, Serena, Pikachu and Hoopa, in the poster Serena is seen feeding Pikachu, Clemont and Bonnie were noticeably absent.
 * On the official Pokémon movie website for Japan, there is a quiz where one question asks what the dialogue from Serena was at the end of Summer of Discovery! and one of the options is Serena saying, "My dream is, to become Satoshi's bride... AH! I am embarrassed!"
 * In an episode of Pokénchi, a side-show for games, commentaries and news sharing, a presentation for Serena's character was made and in the characteristics listed there was that "She is Ash's girlfriend."
 * At the last scene of "Till We Compete Again!" when Ash is shown entering his house, the white flowers in the foreground are Baby Breath flowers which symbolize everlasting love and are used in bride's bouquets. It's been confirmed that it's a hint from the writers that shows their content with the ending of XY&Z having Ash and Serena kiss and that it's a willing hidden message.
 * The flight Serena was going to board to head to Hoenn was H71 Latias. "H71" can be interpreted as the #071 in the Hoenn Pokédex in Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire (which was released after Pokémon X and Pokémon Y games), which is Mawile, or Kucheet (クチート) in Japanese. This can be read as a corruption of 口と, meaning "with the mouth", suggesting that Serena kissed Ash on the mouth. This has then been confirmed by some workers, the storyboard release and Yajima. (Not to be confused with the original games Pokémon Ruby, Sapphire and Emerald Pokédex, where Mawile is #069)
 * In Pokémon Journeys, episode 105, as Serena watches Ash's boat from a distance, the dock lights turn to green. This could be a reference to The Great Gatsby, in which a green light is symbolic of Gatsby's hope to rekindle his past love with Daisy. This could suggest that despite Ash and Serena's reunion being brief, with their paths still being separate, the two hope for a future together.
 * In the second opening of Pokémon the Series: XY (Mega V), Serena looks sad about something and Ash is the only one that notices and calls her to be with him to try to make Serena happy.
 * The first Pokemon XY ending theme only shows Ash and Serena's hats, Ash's Pokédex, Serena's guide book and makeup box.
 * At the end of the third Pokemon XY ending theme, DreamDream, while Serena is sleeping, Ash places a blanket over her.
 * Many fans are intrigued by the ending theme since there is a line that says "two people finding a new love" followed by the scene of Ash placing a blanket over Serena.
 * In the episode "Battling on Thin Ice!", when Serena and Ash manage to have a conversion some interesting details are added:
 * After Serena asks Ash if he remembers her, Ash's Pikachu and Fletchling run to Clemont and Bonnie in response, implying that the two Pokémon sense that this is a sensitive moment between Ash and Serena and that they should be left alone.Alexa ships it.PNG
 * As Serena and Ash talk, Alexa is seen smiling at the two of them, suggesting that she enjoys seeing the two of them together and even senses a spark between them. However, she could also be smiling as a response to Serena restoring Ash's motivation to train, by quoting a sentence he once said in his childhood, about "never giving up".
 * Before the start of the rematch between Ash and Viola, Alexa tells Serena when she heard Ash and her talking, he needed some inspiration, but she didn't think it would be from her. This sentence implies that Ash would not be as inspired and determined to win the battle if Serena had not appeared.


 * The Japanese title of "Under the Pledging Tree!" is "Satoshi and Serena's First Date!? The Vow Tree and the Present!!"
 * In this episode, Ash gives Serena a ribbon, which is one of the very few times Ash has ever given a gift to one of his female friends (he gave a Beedrill to Casey in The Bug Stops Here and a flower to Iris in "The Path That Leads to Goodbye!"). It can be noted that unlike when he gave those gifts to Casey and Iris, he gave Serena the ribbon without any advice from another person.
 * The NegaiShippers see this episode as a rival of Ash and Iris's "date" version in "Lost at the Stamp Rally!". While in Iris's version of her "date" with Ash they do many things such as watching an American Football match, playing tennis, going to the Musical Theater and even working together to find the trainer of a female Axew at Nimbasa City, Serena's version of her "date" only have them working together for finding the perfect gifts for their Pokémon before Ash leaves Serena at Coumarine City.
 * Ash and Serena tend to gravitate towards each other a lot during the series. (It could be due to Bonnie and Clemont being siblings, but it's also known that Bonnies is extremely close to Serena and they're often seen together and sleep in the same spaces, just like Clemont and Ash enjoy a lot spending time with each other. So these are still relevant hints.)
 * When Ash and his traveling companions split up to go look for something, he tends to partner up with Serena.
 * When something dangerous happens or they are worried they tend to scream each other's name first and leaving their friends and Pokémon as "others" (Ex: To Catch a Pokémon Smuggler!). Sometimes they are also the only one voicing concern in the first place. It also happened that they would check on each other first and then the others, or focus only and entirely on one another (ex: Mega-Mega Meowth Madness!)
 * They are more often than not sitting besides each other, mostly when eating.
 * So far in the series, four recurring female characters have noted Serena's crush on Ash: Miette, Bonnie, Shauna and Nini. Every time it has been openly discussed with her, rather than attempting to deny it, Serena instead blushes and acts embarrassed.
 * So far Serena is the only companion of Ash who never denied her feelings for him.
 * While she didn't outright confess, the end of the series those feelings are revealed also to Clemont, Pikachu, Dedenne and most importantly Ash, with the french kiss Serena gave him.
 * To date, Serena is the only female traveling companion to ever dress up as and impersonate Ash.
 * Serena is the only one of Ash’s female companions who has kissed him, specifically on the lips.
 * There are other girls that also kissed Ash, but in the cheeks, such as Melody and Bianca from Pokémon Heroes, who are not Ash's female companions.
 * Serena is the first female companion who hasn't either argued or fought with nor insulted or mocked Ash on a regular basis or be easily irritated by his actions.
 * The only time both Ash and Serena had a conflict, it was over something serious instead of childish; to snap Ash back to his senses.
 * The idea to have a romance subplot apparently came from producer Shukichi Kanda who came up with the idea of portraying things though a female lead’s admiration for Ash, which then led to the suggestion that they have a flash back to a childhood meeting with romantic implications.
 * Ash and Serena met each other when they were young at Professor Oak's Summer Camp in Pallet Town. This would make it the first time a traveling companion of Ash's knew him prior to the series.
 * Ash has always shown to be someone who wasn't very interested in shopping and clothing, sometimes showing to be quite inexperienced with his choices. Even in XY series, he expressed displease when accompanying Miette to choose her dress. However, he went shopping 2 times with Serena willingly, one of the two being his idea in the first place to cheer her up and showing genuine enthusiasm and drive when bringing her in front of the shops' windows. He also seems to appreciate both her choices in clothing for herself, and the ones she made for him too.
 * “SatoSere”, the most-common Japanese name for this pairing, has been trending in Japan on Twitter at various times.
 * Interestingly, in a Pikachu Short Meloetta's Moonlight Serenade, where there are no human Trainers, when Meowth imagines himself handing Melody Berries to Meloetta and falls in love with that Pokémon, the two strike a similar pose to when Ash gives Serena a blue ribbon. However, this short film was aired before the XY series and therefore, it could be said that they took reference from this short film.
 * In another Pikachu Short Eevee and Friends, a Sylveon appears as the first eeveevolution that appeared before its corresponding generation XY and is the Intertwining Pokémon that has a close relationship with Ash's Pikachu, 3 years before Serena gets her own one evolving Eevee. This is seen as another proof that the writers already had working in Serena and Ash's relationship taking Ash's Pikachu and the future Serena's Sylveon as a base.
 * In the lastest Pikachu Short Pikachu and the Pokémon Music Squad, Serena's Braixen is seen often in front of the squad, near Ash's Pikachu and even sometimes next to him.
 * Serena is seen wearing her blue ribbon around her left ankle when wearing her updated performance costume
 * Serena's cameo in Pokémon Journeys became a trending topic in Twitter (Japan)
 * Authors and Pokémon Company are most probably aware of fans' appreciation towards Serena and her relationship with Ash as many official polls told them so and they acted accordingly after them.
 * On the official Japanese site for Pokémon, a poll for the release of the movie "I choose you" was posted, asking fans who they preffered most of the characters aside Ash and would like to see again. Serena placed 2nd after Brock, with Misty placing 3rd by a huge gap. Some time later, Misty and Brock appeared in Sun&Moon.
 * Serena often placed in top 10/20 of the national characters popularity poll and being the highest scoring of the Pokémon characters. The most recent one she placed 17th.
 * The Pokémon Company International's English Twitter account tweeted the scene where Serena kissed Ash from XY140 on Valentine's Day of 2018 and 2020, and on May 31, 2021.
 * The kiss between Ash and Serena always ranked high among the kiss scenes in anime for Kiss Day in Japan.
 * In 2018 it placed 3rd.
 * In 2019 it placed 8th.
 * In 2020 it place 10th.
 * In 2021 it placed 18th.
 * In 2022 it placed 4th (gaining again popularity after her reappearing in Journeys).
 * SatoSere, since its existence, always placed first in the unofficial but very popular japanese polls about the best Pokémon ship. It similarly happens in the West, in unofficial polls in almost every social media, like Facebook, although sometimes is surpassed by at least one rival ship.
 * In an official Japanese magazine, Serena is also ranked the 14th most popular anime character, surpassing even Ash Ketchum and all other Pokémon characters, becoming the most popular Pokémon character until now.

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