• Hey Trainers! Be sure to check out Corsola Beach, our newest section on the forums, in partnership with our friends at Corsola Cove! At the Beach, you can discuss the competitive side of the games, post your favorite Pokemon memes, and connect with other Pokemon creators!
  • Due to the recent changes with Twitter's API, it is no longer possible for Bulbagarden forum users to login via their Twitter account. If you signed up to Bulbagarden via Twitter and do not have another way to login, please contact us here with your Twitter username so that we can get you sorted.

Anime & Manga General Discussion

Reader mode
PkmnTrainerV said:
Flying also fits his favourite battle style of favouring fast, agile Pokémon. Also, he tends to favour sky battles a lot in league matches whenever the opponent has a flying type.
Click to expand...
The Flying type is rank #1 when it comes to the speed stat, meaning that it is the fastest type of all of them.
 
I’m convinced that the Orange Islands is the most underrated part of the entire anime. It improves on the Indigo League in multiple aspects.

• Ash’s Charizard appears much more often, resulting in Charizard Chills having a lot more weight and being incredibly satisfying. If Charizard Chills still happened as-is, with Charizard barely appearing in the Orange Islands, it would just feel like they resolved a plotline for the sake of it. However, the fact that we saw Charizard’s disobediance throughout the Orange Islands arc makes it feel like Charizard is the first character with a complete character arc. That is what makes Ash’s Charizard my favorite Pokémon character of all time.

• Misty actually gets an episode focusing on her Water-type trainer goal, and Goldeen finally gets used in a battle. It’s also nice to see that Misty stops physically attacking Ash often from this point onwards.

• Victreebel and Lickitung appear much more than they did in Indigo League.

• Ash uses his whole team pretty often throughout the Orange Islands. It’s nice to have episodes that focus on his specific team members, like Bulbasaur in the mayor episode, Squirtle in the Wartortole episode, and Snorlax being dragged to a Pokémon Center.

• Team Rocket is very enjoyable in Orange Islands overall. Meowth Rules has to be one of the best filler episodes in all of Pokémon. Bound for Trouble is also a pretty unique premise for an episode, the most similar I can think of to it is XY071.

Overall, I would say that Orange Islands is the best part of the original series. It surprises me how little people talk about it, and I never fully gave it a chance before due to perceiving it as a filler arc. However, a lot of important events happen in these episodes, and the fillers are very enjoyable. I like it more than Indigo League overall.
 
Handy Man said:
I’m convinced that the Orange Islands is the most underrated part of the entire anime. It improves on the Indigo League in multiple aspects.

• Ash’s Charizard appears much more often, resulting in Charizard Chills having a lot more weight and being incredibly satisfying. If Charizard Chills still happened as-is, with Charizard barely appearing in the Orange Islands, it would just feel like they resolved a plotline for the sake of it. However, the fact that we saw Charizard’s disobediance throughout the Orange Islands arc makes it feel like Charizard is the first character with a complete character arc. That is what makes Ash’s Charizard my favorite Pokémon character of all time.

• Misty actually gets an episode focusing on her Water-type trainer goal, and Goldeen finally gets used in a battle. It’s also nice to see that Misty stops physically attacking Ash often from this point onwards.

• Victreebel and Lickitung appear much more than they did in Indigo League.

• Ash uses his whole team pretty often throughout the Orange Islands. It’s nice to have episodes that focus on his specific team members, like Bulbasaur in the mayor episode, Squirtle in the Wartortole episode, and Snorlax being dragged to a Pokémon Center.

• Team Rocket is very enjoyable in Orange Islands overall. Meowth Rules has to be one of the best filler episodes in all of Pokémon. Bound for Trouble is also a pretty unique premise for an episode, the most similar I can think of to it is XY071.

Overall, I would say that Orange Islands is the best part of the original series. It surprises me how little people talk about it, and I never fully gave it a chance before due to perceiving it as a filler arc. However, a lot of important events happen in these episodes, and the fillers are very enjoyable. I like it more than Indigo League overall.
Click to expand...
Orange Islands is an example of what I'd call a good filler arc. It certainly is filler, considering it was done to hold over until Johto was ready to begin, but that doesn't mean its bad though. We do see some important events happen like Ash capturing Snorlax, Charizard finally obeying Ash, and Ash winning in the Orange League. While the decision to exclude Brock took away some of the group dynamic, Tracey wasn't a terrible character. He wasn't the most interesting character, but he wasn't unbearable or anything. Overall, the Orange Island arc was still enjoyable and if the anime were to ever need a filler arc again, they should take a page from the Orange Islands book rather than Decalore Islands. Now that was how you don't do a filler arc.
 
A Wild Luxray said:
Orange Islands is an example of what I'd call a good filler arc. It certainly is filler, considering it was done to hold over until Johto was ready to begin, but that doesn't mean its bad though. We do see some important events happen like Ash capturing Snorlax, Charizard finally obeying Ash, and Ash winning in the Orange League. While the decision to exclude Brock took away some of the group dynamic, Tracey wasn't a terrible character. He wasn't the most interesting character, but he wasn't unbearable or anything. Overall, the Orange Island arc was still enjoyable and if the anime were to ever need a filler arc again, they should take a page from the Orange Islands book rather than Decalore Islands. Now that was how you don't do a filler arc.
Click to expand...
I actually think Tracey is a good character in his own way. I like how, when Ash first calls Professor Oak, Tracey is surprised and is too shy to say anything to Professor Oak. However, Tracey starts to interact with Professor Oak as Ash keeps calling him, with Tracey showing a high amount of interest in Professor Oak and sharing his knowledge with Professor Oak. This eases in nicely to Professor Oak warming up to the idea of Tracey eventually becoming his assistant, as well as Tracey overcoming his star-struckness and seeing Professor Oak more as a person. I also like how Tracey is interested in Ash and Misty's past, as he asks about things like the Squirtle Squad for example, as well as sees first-hand Charizard's disobedience. This helps with making Tracey care about helping Charizard in Charizard Chills, as he understands that Charizard was already disobedient, rather than being surprised about Charizard's behavior and helping out Ash simply because it's the right thing to do. Tracey also seems to get along with Ash and Misty just fine, as Tracey accompanies Ash when Rudy takes Misty out for dinner, and Tracey cares enough about Misty's Psyduck to look out for its best interests. I also thought it was interesting how they averted Brock's attraction to girls with Tracey, as Tracey draws full body shots of characters like Officer Jenny and Nurse Joy with their Pokémon included. This gives Tracey more of an admiration angle with his sketches, compared to Brock's more compulsive reactions. Overall, Tracey is a good character in his own right, and I find him to be really underrated. He has a simple story, with a simple resolution; to meet and work alongside his hero, Professor Oak. However, I feel like the simplicity is what lets him work as a character, and he never becomes something greater than himself. Tracey is a solid yet simple character, and that's all he really needs to be to be likeable.
 
Honestly I think the Orange Islands only count as filler in the most literal sense; that it was made because of GS being delayed. You couldn't just snip it out of the show and make everything still fit like you could with what are traditionally seen as filler episodes or arcs of shows.
 
Last edited:
Daren said:
Honestly I think the Orange Islands only count as filler in the most literal sense; that it was made because of GS being delayed. You couldn't just snip it out of the show and make everything still fit like you could with what are traditionally seen as filler episodes or arcs of shows.
Click to expand...
True. I'll personally count it as filler, but it's not fluffy filler.
 
I don't even know if you can properly call it filler since so many meaningful things happen in terms of character development and storylines. It certainly acted as a placeholder to fill the gap between Gen I and Gen II, but so much happened that I feel like calling it filler would misrepresent the story arc.
 
Last edited:
Orange Island is placeholder yes, filler by the literal definition, no. Bulbapedia itself has a definition for a Filler Arc and Orange Island doesn’t fit.

A filler arc is a storyline (often, though not always, shorter than the regular arcs) in which, over a number of episodes, an adventure is detailed that is unrelated, or tangential, to the main story arc(s); often, the filler arc adventure does not derive from the original source material.
Click to expand...

It is neither unrelated, nor tangential and is referenced to this day. It also doesn’t fit the TV Tropes characteristics of a filler arc.

Filler has a few defining aspects, but the biggest is lack of series momentum, meaning the episode can be safely ignored without the audience missing out on any important information to the series. And if there is any pertinent new info, it tends to be a single plot point that can be adequately summed up in a short sentence with zero elaboration (e.g., "Alice got a new power" or "Bob got a new costume" or "Charlie's first appearance") because the details are inconsequential.
Click to expand...

The single jpeg of the Orange Island trophy is referenced more than entire sagas sometimes.
 
IMO the best parts of the OS are the first 40ish episodes of the series and even later parts of Kanto were good albeit it started to become filler hell once they realized what a big hit Pokemon was. It was very off-beat and obviously not at all similar to the more standard formula that eventually took over when the franchise became a worldwide phenomena but the humor still holds up and it has some fantastic episodes. I always say it doesn't really fit the rest of the series because compared to later episodes, Ash winning his badges the way he does don't line up at all but just as a standalone, they were well written IMO. And the show is still hilarious. Ash, Misty, and Brock roasting each other ruthlessly is still hilarious and arrogant Ash had a lot of personality
 
Reader mode

Similar threads

TheCapsFan
  • Sticky
Legends Z-A Pokemon Legends Z-A General Speculation & Discussion
46 47 48
Replies
952
Views
45K
Greninjaman
Greninjaman
Princess Viola
Viola's Blog
Replies
10
Views
566
Princess Viola
Princess Viola
JollyYoshi
Mario Series General Discussion
2
Replies
30
Views
1K
Itsjustmudkipz
Itsjustmudkipz
lisianthus
  • Sticky
Rules The NEW Writers' Workshop Rules + Info Thread!
Replies
0
Views
762
lisianthus
lisianthus
Okido
  • Locked
  • Sticky
Notice Shipping Threads Directory (Updated Mar 15th)
Replies
0
Views
2K
Okido
Okido
Back
Top Bottom