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Preview SM029: Are You Going to Have a Nap-masyu in the Nemasyu Forest Too?

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Fair enough.

But I've had a look at the usual writers of the series and most started writing near the beginning, which they had to, because despite the fact that they were new, if new writers can't write an important episode, then who could have written EP001? But anyway, that's not to say that SM028 or this episode can't be fillers, they can, it just depends on what the writers want to do with each episode.

And a few people liked my comment about you not saying that there was a break, probably because they thought you were going to notify them as well. But that's alright. It's just you usually tell us, I guess they were just used to it.
I do? I don't remember ever telling people about breaks at all, but it I did, then I'm sorry. If I post another thread of an episode that airs before or after a break, I'll mention it, but since I don't remember ever having done that, nor do I think that it was necessary, I didn't do it with this thread or SM029's thread.

So, basically having 1% of relevance in an episode makes it non-filler? That would be like saying that a single leaf of lettuce in a cheeseburger makes it a vegetable product.

You can't simply justify the fluff and filler stuff of a whole episode just because the beginning and/or the ending have some minimum of importance. Otherwise, you may as well consider stuff like the "Axew is Missing" episode in BW an important episode just because Scraggy defeats an opponent and Ash wins a League match, which I'm pretty sure many people would disagree with.

While, yes, having a plot-relevant event in an otherwise completely irrelevant episode gives it a bit more of importance, it doesn't mean that it can be excused and considered a must-see. This is why I don't like to label this kind of episode "filler" or "must-see", but rather "fillerish": remove all the meat and cheese from the cheeseburger and you got your veggie burger, in a sense.

However, so far the premise of this episode gives me "haunted place" vibes, and considering how little relevance previous episodes of this kind had on the overall plots of the past series, it wouldn't surprise me if this episode followed suit and was the standard horror one-shot. Though, I admit it's a bit too soon to fully judge this episode before it even airs, but I simply don't expect anything important to happen here. That's all.

Well, no, because what people consider a vegetarianism and what most people consider a filler are two different things. Of course a cheeseburger isn't a vegetable, because it has meat (unless it's a meat substitute). But a filler is an episode that be skipped, if there is of nothing important in it. Just because the creators of the episode monopolised most of SM013 with filler-ish content, it doesn't make most of the episode a filler. It's not a "majority rules" case when it comes to fillers. If it wasn't for the redundant recap at the beginning of SM014, which lots of episodes seem to have now, if they are followed by a big event that happened in the previous episode, people would be asking when the white egg hatched into an Alolan Vulpix and why Lillie named the egg "Shiron".

With that logic, most episodes where Pokemon evolve are fillers then, because the evolution sequences don't last that long and then for the rest of the episode, nothing else happens, which would make the majority of the episode, a filler. Look at the episode that Swadloon evolves, nothing of importance happened other than Swadloon evolving. Sure, it might not seem fair to classify an episode where nothing important happens for all but one scene as a non-filler, but it does fit the description, because people would be confused, if there was no recap at the beginning of the next episode, but SM013 did show it off first.
 
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Hate to agree but like you said because of the recap that shows exactly the same scene as episode 13 it can be ignored easily and their will be no information lost while if an evolution episode is skipped we know they evolved but we don't know why they evolved.
 
Recaps happen all the time though, so that would make multiple episodes filler. We can see a Pokemon evolving in a recap, which I'm sure has happened before and why a Pokemon evolves isn't necessary information. We know they evolve from experience in battling and/or because they are put in a tough situation and the pressure/adrenaline helps them to evolve.
 
Yes the recaps show a limited version of why they evolved but with episode 13 the only thing that would prevent it from being filler is the last minute which shows the egg hatching and unlike with evolution episodes the recap showed all the information that minute had making episode 13 completely unnecessary to watch.
 
But other recaps always show the important and/or relevant bits as well, which XY had a lot of, especially near the end of the series. And if a single episode can show 5-7 episodes worth of important events, then what is the point in watching those 7 episodes? Plus, I think the fact that the important episodes that are shown in the recaps had these events take place there first, that they should be treated as non-fillers. I mean, if an important were to happen like, Ash learns about "___" at the end of the episode, then it is recapped at the start of the next episode, then what episode really counts at the one that Ash learned about "___"?
 
Yes but those recaps only give a brief summarization of what happened they can't be long enough to give all the details, but with episode 13 the only non-filler bit was less than 1 minute of the egg hatching with all of that information being retold in the next episode you could easily get rid of episode 13 and you wouldn't miss any information what so ever while getting rid of other non-filler episode they would have their information briefly explained in the recaps and would be missing details that the recap wouldn't have time to cover.
 
With that logic, most episodes where Pokemon evolve are fillers then, because the evolution sequences don't last that long and then for the rest of the episode, nothing else happens, which would make the majority of the episode, a filler.
Evolution episodes usually focus on the pokemon that evolves.
 
Yeah, except they didn't. A main event happening in episode, no matter how short, still makes it important enough so that you can't skip it. And it was clearly a copy of what happened in SM013, where it was first shown. Also, lots of episode have had recaps of important events at the start, so does that make all the episodes in those recaps fillers to? No.

You're free to feel and believe what you want, but I don't see how you can stand by the argument for this case. Other than that 30 seconds at the end, nothing of any importance happened whatsoever in that episode that had any impact on the story, characters, or adventure at all. The 30 seconds, in fact, felt so out of place and like a tack on.

Also your argument for recaps doesn't work here because if you started episode 14 and didn't know you missed episode 13, you'd literally have no idea anything happened in that episode. It doesn't even feel like a recap, but feels more like they took the scene from 14 and shoved it at the end of 13 to say, "HEY SORRY WE WASTED YOUR TIME BUT THIS HAPPENS NOW"

As said, you're free to view it how you like. But you shouldn't get upset at people who'd rather not sit through nonsense to get anything of substance at the very end.

See, I wouldn't have had a problem if they just separated the two and didn't try to pretend 13 wasn't filler. All Pokemon series have fillers but the problem at this point, more than episode 13 really, is that there's just no sense of purpose with this series right now.
 
I think it ha a purpose, to entertain and as far as I'm concerned its doing that quite well entertaining me with like three exceptions.
 
Maybe Lana. She did make that joke about Kyogre in SM005 after all.
Omg I'd love that!
Other than that 30 seconds at the end, nothing of any importance happened whatsoever in that episode that had any impact on the story, characters, or adventure at all.
I'm not going to disagree about the tacked on evo being stupid, but actually the pancake race was referenced at least twice after the event:
1. The impact losing it had on Musashi (followed by her buying those doughnuts for Kiteruguma)
2. The footage taken as a result of Alola Ookido winning it was used as evidence by Rotom in its trial of Kaki for stealing Satoshi's Z crystal (or something like that)

Plus it was a fun episode which I'm certain brought joy to many a viewer.
 
Hmmm...any indication we'll a special during the break?o_O
 
I completely understand if people enjoyed episode 13. Again, there's nothing wrong with fillers existing for the sake of entertainment and comedy. My problem is when something is sold as something it's not. Think about it. The majority of fillers in previous series never tried to tell us they weren't completely useless to the plot. They played them up for all they're worth.

Take the infamous James becomes a Moltress episode way back in Johto (one of the few Johto fillers I actually remember being fun.) Even though Cassidy and Butch came back in that episode, literally nothing of any importance happened and the show never tried to tell me otherwise. And I still enjoyed it. Another good example would be the random as hell mirror world filler in X&Y which was like a strange Pokemon acid trip that did use a game location but otherwise had no affect on the series.

To me I get the feeling that S&M anime really has no plans for an overarching story but is in an awkward place with the fandom now with things being split on really liking the change or really not liking the change. That and the ratio of filler to anything really related to Satoshi's goals or the Alola region is very unbalanced.
 
Except, again, it is not a filler. Just because the majority didn't have anything important happening throughout it, the simple fact that something important first took place makes it important. Lots of episodes have small important events, with the rest of it being irrelevant. Look at episodes where Pokemon get caught, the events where the Pokemon actually get caught don't last that long, but with the majority of the episode not involving a Pokemon being caught, does that also make it a filler? What about EP027, where Misty accidentally caught Psyduck? Nothing important happened throughout the episode until the very end, Psyduck didn't even bond with Misty before it was caught, nor did it show any sign that it was going to be caught, yet, if you skip that episode, you'd be wondering why Misty has a Psyduck. The recap at the beginning of SM014 does make SM013's place as a non-filler a bit shaky, but as I've said before, lots of episodes include recaps at the start and it's not like the one at the start of SM014 was any different except for the fact that it was short and didn't have any narration, like they usually do. It wasn't even drawn drawn and animated differently.
 
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Why are people debating about weather or not an episode is "classified" as "filler" or not? It seems like in most people's eyes, any episode that doesn't involve Ash and his friends catching a Pokemon, Pokemon belong to Ash and his friends evolving or learning a new move, and Ash battling are "classified" as a "filler" episode, while episodes that does have these are counted as a never miss must see episode, and if it's just Ash having an important battle, then it's a super important episode that is a must see. Then those people just skip most the episode unless it's an episode of Ash battling for an important reason and wondering how and where Ash get [insert Pokemon Ash will get in the future here] from, I'm sure that those same people are skipping episode involving Team Skull and the crazy stuff going to happen at the Aether Foundation.

It gets annoying to read that as soon as an episode is announced, people scream "OMG IT'S ANOTHER ONE OF THOSE F***ING FILLER EPISODES, T'M SOOOOOOOOOOOO SKIPPING IT SINCE IT'S HAS NO PLOT AND I WANT ASH TO MOVE ON ALREADY AND STOP BEING OMFG LAZY!!!!!!" Just chill and wait until the episode airs and you actually watch the episode before even start calling the episode a filler.....

"B-but isn't episode 20 a filler even though we called it already???? What a hypocrite....."
That one doesn't count since we don't need to be reminded about how strong Ash and Pikachu's bond is.

Can we just speculate on what's going to happen in the episode without slapping a filler label all over it?
 
Is it really a crime that those of us who liked the engaging story in the games want Satoshi to stop dicking around after 20 plus episodes and get into the meat of what Alola can really offer?
 
@GoldenUmi the issue I have is why do episodes have to be separated out into "filler" and "plot"? The only reason I can imagine as to why this would matter is if you are someone who would choose to watch an episode or not solely based on it covering a major plot poin. Personally I prefer the way that SM is approaching this - the plot is moving slowly forward every episode rather than being totally static and then suffering a stepwise change every time a major event occurs.
 
@GoldenUmi the issue I have is why do episodes have to be separated out into "filler" and "plot"? The only reason I can imagine as to why this would matter is if you are someone who would choose to watch an episode or not solely based on it covering a major plot poin. Personally I prefer the way that SM is approaching this - the plot is moving slowly forward every episode rather than being totally static and then suffering a stepwise change every time a major event occurs.

It's merely a classification. Not saying that a filler can't be entertaining or must be avoided, mind you.

I really have nothing against episodes which don't progress the plot in any way, but I'm seriously tired of waiting for some more progress to be made. Sure, we are going to get the Gladion episode and the Sophocles one may expand on his character a bit, and I'm really glad about that, but for now it all feels like adding for the sake of adding. It's almost like adding salt to a pot with boiling water: you add the spice, but postpone the boiling point.

And I really disagree regarding the pacing and plot progression of SM. Things are feeling much more static now that they have ever been in any other series, with the characters fooling around all days by doing the most random activities all the times.

At least in past series we actually knew that the characters where going from point A to point B, with some mid-stops along the way. Here, we don't even know if and when they will go to the next island!

When are they going to truly develop the characters? They took all those episodes to tackle Sophocles who has been crying for something relevant happening to him since we met his family, and Lillie is the only human character who has truly shown actual character development. The others only got additions after additions, but the characters stayed mostly the same they have been since they were introduced. I don't want them to become all Cilan clones (even though I really liked Cilan, but even I wish he got more than what BW gave him).

The only relevant thing that I could see happening in this episode is Mallow getting a Morelull and/or solving the situation, since she should be a Grass-type specialist. At least she would get some kind of role in this episode, I suppose.

The point is that the main cast is already big and unbalanced, so I'd rather have the writers working actively on all of them than wasting time and money for an episode with little to no importance. Use that time and money to actually develop the characters instead. The later this issue is tackled, the more glaring the unbalance will become and the harder it will be to fix things up, leading to sloppy and cheap quick fixes coupled with rushed pacing and questionable decisions along the way.

Now more than ever there is actually a lesser need of fillers, since there is so much stuff that needs to be looked on. Basically, they bit more than they could chew, and now they have troubles swallowing.
 
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I'd really hate to annoy ye all but filler or not, important episode or dull as dishwater episode Ash will probably stay stuck on Melemele Island forever... and by forever it'll probably be all 40 something eps which means the whole first season until Ash can take the boat and leave for the next island for the next season, and all of you are probably confused reading all that!
 
As much as I also want the actual plot to get moving, I'm intrigued by this episode, mainly because of the whole memory loss situation. I think it can turn out quite interesting especially if they use this as a way to further give details into Lillie's memory loss issues.
 
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