Serena (anime)

Serena is a Pokémon trainer of the Kalos region and one of Ash's traveling companions. Her goal is still unknown for the time being. She and Ash met before the start of the series, with Ash having helped her out. Having a crush on him, Serena always blushes when she looks at him or talks to him.

Appearance
Serena marks a return to basing Ash's female companion off of that generation's female player character. However, Serena is also the first to have undergone minor cosmetic changes for the transition to the anime, whereas May and Dawn remained the same. Among the cosmetic changes are:
 * She appears younger or shorter than her game counterpart.
 * The hair is a much darker shade, and seems slightly shorter.
 * Her skin tone is very faintly darker than her game counterpart.
 * Her fingernails are short and trimmed like most other characters on the show, rather than long like her game counterpart's.
 * Her fingernails are kept natural without any nail polish on, while her game counterpart wears a faint pink nail polish.
 * Her shirt collar is white instead of black.
 * The sunglasses on the hat are replaced by her tiny bow.
 * She doesn't have a Mega Ring.
 * Her eyes are blue despite the fact that her hair is not blonde like her game counterpart, where they should be grey, matching her current hair color. (Even her game counterpart's contacts can be changed to blue.)
 * Her hat appears larger, more curved, looking similar to a straw hat.
 * She wears shoes unlike her game counterpart, who wears sneakers; however they are in the same design.
 * The line going down from the top of her shoes, down to the soles, is one straight line, while on her game counterpart's sneakers, they are two separate lines.
 * She also does not have the purse that her game counterpart does, instead having a backpack.

Personality
Serena is a very kind and polite girl. She always seems concered about what her friends are doing. She also has a passion for fashion and clothes. She tries to find the prettiest clothes, and finds that whatever her mother picks out tends to be the less fashionable. Because of this, she hates getting dirty and being soaked in mud. She loves to bake for her friends. Her friends say that her treats are delicious.

Pre-Series
Despite the fact that Serena is Ash's newest female companion and has just started her journey, she met him when they were younger back in Pallet Town years ago at Professor Oak's Pokémon summer camp. Serena was lost in the woods while trying to look for the rest of her group but got herself wounded after getting startled by a Poliwag. But at that very same moment, Ash came to her rescue and escorted her out. Since that day, they have been together as childhood friends for a long time before Ash started his journey.

Main Series
Years later, Serena was always awakened by her mother's Fletchling and is always doing some morning training with her Rhyhorn. But despite her mother's attempts to help her daughter become a Rhyhorn racer, Serena would tend to complain on how much she hates it, even when her Rhyhorn knocked her off its back. Later that same evening, Serena and her mother were watching the news on TV about a Garchomp causing a rampage across Lumiose City. As they watched, they spot a boy accompanied by a Pikachu and a Froakie climbing on the Prism Tower to calm the Land Shark Pokémon. When Garchomp was successfully calmed, the ground beneath the boy's Pikachu gave way and the boy jumped off the tower, shocking many of the viewers, including Serena. But at the very last minute, the boy and his Pikachu were miraculously saved by a strange Pokémon which turned out the be a Mega Blaziken. Serena felt relieved that the boy was safe as well as Lumiose City. But when the camera zoomed a little closer, she realized that the boy was none other than her old childhood friend she met from Summer Camp in Pallet Town, Ash Ketchum.

The next morning, Serena decided to go to Lumiose City to see Professor Sycamore and get her very first Pokémon. When she got there, she finds out that Ash is heading to Santalune City for his first Gym Battle. Serena choose Fennekin as her starter Pokémon and together, they traveled to Santalune City. When Serena arrived at the gym, she finds Ash in the middle of a Gym Battle but witness him losing. She felt disappointed at his loss, but unfortunately for her, she finds that Ash left his backpack behind by accident. She later meets up with him and returns it to Ash. When Alexa decided to help Ash with his training, she reminded him the words he told her during their first encounter: "Don't give up 'til it's over!" Those words inspired Ash to continue his training and successfully managed to win his first Kalos League badge. After that, Ash offered Serena to come travel with him, Clemont, and Bonnie, which she happily accepted. Serena is somewhat skilled at Rhyhorn Racing. She showed Ash how to ride a Rhyhorn, which shows she knows a lot from her mother teaching her about them. In the episode it is revealed that Serena does not like Rhyhorn Races, but throughout the episode she grew to like them better than before. On the day before the Rhyhorn Races, she baked cookies for Ash, Clemont, and Bonnie in the middle of the night. The next day, the Rhyhorn Races began, but it was interrupted as Team Rocket disabled the cameras. Serena became worried that something terrible might have happened to Ash, so she came along with Clemont and Bonnie to see what was going on. When they found him, they discovered that he had been ambushed by Team Rocket and they find him trapped in a net while his Pikachu and the Rhyhorn were trapped in cages. As Clemont used his Bunnelby to trap Team Rocket in a ditch, Serena and Bonnie arrived to rescue Ash. Serena used her Fennekin to fight off Team Rocket and make them drop the remote. This indicated that this is her first Pokemon battle in her journey as a trainer. When Team Rocket was blasted off by the Rhyhorn they captured, she introduced her friends to her mother. She then tells her that she decided to travel with Ash and his friends. She thought her mother would disagree with her decision, but instead she said it would be a better experience for her. Afterwards, she gave her friends each a bag of cookies as a way of saying thank you to Ash for all he did for her.

Achievements

 * Poké Puff Contest: Top 3

Voice actresses

 * Japanese: Mayuki Makiguchi
 * English: Haven Paschall
 * Finnish: Alina Tomnikov
 * Greek: Afrothiti Antonaki
 * Italian: Deborah Morese
 * Brazilian Portuguese: Michelle Giudice
 * Spanish: Isacha Mengíbar

Trivia

 * Serena is Ash's first companion to have known him personally before the very start of the series.
 * Serena is the first companion to have a canonical crush on Ash.
 * Serena is the first female companion to take the longest time to officially join the main cast since the start of the series, which is seven episodes.
 * She is the second main character who's Japanese name is the same as her English name. The first is Iris.
 * She is also the second of Ash's female traveling companions to choose a Fire-type Starter Pokémon (her Fennekin). The first was May when she chose Torchic.
 * Serena was the first companion whom Ash asked directly to join the group.
 * Serena is the first female traveling partner to not get herself or her bike shocked by Pikachu at the start of the series.
 * Misty, May, and Dawn all had their bikes electrocuted, while Iris and Bonnie were directly shocked by Pikachu.
 * Serena is the only female companion who hasn't argued with Ash or be irritated by his actions yet. (Misty, May, Dawn & Iris have all been easily irritated by Ash's recklessness and have had many arguments with Ash during their travels with him)