Serena (Pokémon)
Serena got different opinions about her appearance in the Pokémon X and Y video games. Writers like Tom Hoggins from The Telegraph and Griffin McElroy from Polygon said that the main characters in X and Y seemed "stiff, flat, and predictable" because they followed the usual storyline from previous Pokémon video games. They pointed out that there wasn't much background information and clear reasons for why the main characters suddenly agreed to become Pokémon Trainers. Jose Otero from IGN mentioned that Serena represented girls and Calem represented boys, and they were actually more interesting as rival characters for players. In the X and Y video games, Nintendo and Game Freak focused more on showing friendship than intense competition. Similar to Otero, Randolph Ramsay from GameSpot stated that the main characters in X and Y had a unique charm even though the game's storyline wasn't very captivating. Meanwhile, Victoria McNally from The Mary Sue liked the character Serena in X and Y because she represented female players and gave them choices to change her hairstyle and clothing style.