#ashmisty

1 - It has been 3 years, dub and sub, since Misty's last full anime appearance (SM103), in addition her silhouette also makes an appearance in the Journeys series - episode 18, 2 years ago. No matter how long it has been, Misty always tends to show up in every series in some shape or form, that longevity does indeed mean something regarding both her popularity and her appeal to fans and writers.

2 - I don't want to trample on Amourshipping, we've hit a period where the bitter wars you try to revitalise with this attempt to attack Pokéshippers has dwindled, people are respectful again. What I will say is, in my personal opinion, Amourshipping is not the 'better ship', that is purely a subjective matter. For me, Amourshipping was in fact hugely detrimental to Serena's character growth, and made her less of what she could've been in the series. Being someone Ash met in the past is a far cry to actual attachment, but I would never refute that Serena does have feelings for Ash - despite in my mind being incompatible with each other. When the kiss happened, many Amourshippers acted like it was a victory lap, and that Pokéshippers had gone quiet to acknowledge that. In truth, Pokéshippers like myself see it for what it actually is: Serena kisses Ash, then walks away. While this acts as a strong pro for the Amourshipping department it does not count as canonizing the relationship, if so then Ash will have then cheated on Melody and either Bianca or Latias who had also kissed him. We can dig deeper into such matters like Ash deciding not to follow up on that and simply going home and then to Alola without a care, or how it is never brought up since even when Ash and Serena crossed paths in the Journeys series, but that's a tiresome debate to be had that I'd rather not indulge. Conclusively on this point, Amourshipping is just as not-canon as Pokéshipping, we each have our receipts but at the end of the day Ash is not currently in a relationship.

3 - I wonder about that statement, because when Serena came back in Journeys I saw no such hints or 'pandering' for Amourshipping. However, if I asked an Amourshipper if they found ship hints in that episode I think they may disagree with my thoughts, in that same vein I disagree with your sentiment too. In the 3 SuMo episodes where Misty appears there are plenty of Pokéshipping moments, flashbacks and emotional moments - including a peaceful walk on the sunset beach where Ash talks about all the things he wants to show Misty around Alola. In terms of development she has had some in having acquired Mega Evolution, she has trained Psyduck to both learn how to swim and control his psychic powers, she has overtaken her sisters as the De Facto gym leader, and has enough status to be invited by Kukui as guest lecturers in his Pokémon School so she's still developing.

Brock and Olivia's romance was fun but it has no weight in this argument, no idea why you're trying to cite it as such. As for 'other ships growing at an exponential rate' what ship do you think you're talking to? Any new ship Journeys provides is no straw on our backs, and surely that applies to all past-companion ships.

In conclusion, your essay needs a lot of work. It lacks proper citation from unbiased sources, not to mention factual information. Your three points end up contradicting one another as if Amourshipping is exempt from the same things you feel Pokéshipping suffers, even though Serena's gap between XY and Journeys twice as long as Misty's last SuMo appearance and that, as you pointed out, other ships since ours have entered into existence. The Brock/Olivia strawman does not help your case either, nor does the choice of audience. So your essay has inevitably failed in its intention to make me 'give up' on a ship I love, but in all fairness this was never going to work.

I'm not quite sure if you do this to try and antagonize or try and get people to express why they love a ship by issuing conflict, but realistically there are better places you could focus your energy on. For the most part I do think you're after attention, and you want to see how long people will play your silly games, but if you really do believe in what you're saying I actually think you're scared, scared of 2 words and one big number: