Preview SM035: A Beautiful Curry Battle! The Dance of Lalantes!!

[Morningstar]

Like i've been saying. It's setting him up to rush through the trials, then do nothing of story relevance for another 20 episodes before moving on to ula'ula.

That seems to be the formula for this show

I'm not really surprised. And as someone who watches Steven Universe, I'm similarly unsurprised comments like that pop up here.

The show has the problem of trying to adapt the games and compete with Yo-Kai Watch, the anime of which seems to be very heavy on the Slice of Life and the comedy.

With that said, there is also the matter of the obligatory villain subplot. Which only interfered with Ash's goal a total of...once, and by the time that happened the tournament was effectively over for him anyway (Blasted Blast Burns and Dragons ). It's possibly that the show decided to focus more on adapting the Aether Foundation and Ultra Beast subplot instead of being about Ash's trials (mirroring the importance of the trials to the overall narrative in the games ).

 

[GalacticRonpa]

I wonder how it's working now they're in another island. Is there the school, and everyone goes back to a single place to sleep? Doesn't look like an adventure style by those summaries.

Now, something I noticed, you add "ium" to the end of the Z crystal types. In Japanese it's a straightforward Grass Z, it's a different to call it "Grassium Z" instead.

 

[Playerking]

Like i've been saying. It's setting him up to rush through the trials, then do nothing of story relevance for another 20 episodes before moving on to ula'ula.

That seems to be the formula for this show

It's not screwing around, not more so than any other episode in any other series that wasn't a Gym or League battle episode. Plus, it seems Ash seems to be doing more training battles than in the last couple of series.

 

[Morningstar]

Now, something I noticed, you add "ium" to the end of the Z crystal types. In Japanese it's a straightforward Grass Z, it's a different to call it "Grassium Z" instead.

That is something. I wonder how they went with the more "Unique" Z crystals? Tapu Z? Raichu A Z? Pikashchu Z?

 

[marshiyanmisuta]

Okay, but that still doesn't discredit my theory. In fact it adds on to it.

If they're going back home to melemele, since ash already beat the grand trial there then they're almost definitely going to have 20 more episodes of screwing around.

The pacing is all out of wack for this series. And as of right now, they're setting it up to look like ash is going to go back to melemele for a while before progressing with the story.

It's basically a Gym quest with only four gyms. They could turn totems and trials into gym-like challengers, but apparently they decided against that.

That is something. I wonder how they went with the more "Unique" Z crystals? Tapu Z? Raichu A Z? Pikashchu Z?

Z-Crystal - Bulbapedia, the community-driven Pokémon encyclopedia
"Satopika Z" is my favourite.

 

[jonathan keller]

It's not screwing around, not more so than any other episode in any other series that wasn't a Gym or League battle episode.

Yes, but in other series, the " screwing around" episodes happened when ash was walking to the different cities before he challenged a gym.

So...in a sense those filler episodes were needed. In this series however, ash literally beat everything he needed to on melemele, yet he's still stuck there for 20 more episodes....why?

Was it because this series wants to live up to it's "slice of life" genre? Seriously, what was the purpose of having him on one island for so long?

And with the way things are going, with them rushing through the akala island trials like this, they're leading us to believe he's going to go BACK to melemele.

 

[Wishy-Washy]

It seems the Writers of this series feel that the Island Trial is secondary to the Slice of Life part of the show instead of previous series where the Slice of Life aspects where secondary to the Gym Battles.

 

[Rath]

It seems the Writers of this series feel that the Island Trial is secondary to the Slice of Life part of the show instead of previous series where the Slice of Life aspects where secondary to the Gym Battles.

This is true.

The Pokemon School is what they advertised before the series came out.

They promised a wacky slapstick series, now they have to up to their promise.

Then again, the game is also pretty light at first then starts getting more serious and plot-heavy towards the end.

So, just like the games, the Island Trials are the B Plot, and the wacky shenanigans of Ash and co. (and eventually the Aether/Ultra Beast stuff) is the A Plot.

 

[jonathan keller]

So, just like the games, the Island Trials are the B Plot, and the wacky shenanigans of Ash and co. (and eventually the Aether/Ultra Beast stuff) is the A Plot.

So...basically piss people off for 100+ episodes or however long it takes to get to the aether stuff and then decide to get good?Gotcha.

 

[Wishy-Washy]

So...basically piss people off for 100+ episodes or however long it takes to get to the aether stuff and then decide to get good?Gotcha.

No decide to take a complete different direction to keep things from getting completely stale and formulaic while also adding more viewers by appealing to a different type of people.

 

[jonathan keller]

No decide to take a complete different direction to keep things from getting completely stale and formulaic while also adding more viewers by appealing to a different type of people.

Keep things from getting stale? This point in pokemon is arguably the stalest it's ever been. What sun&moon is doing is basically ash beating a gym leader then spending 20 episodes in that same city.

Wouldn't you want him to move on and progress the story?

 

[Wishy-Washy]

I watch the episodes as separate from each other and enjoy them on a case by case bases I honestly couldn't care less about progressing the story its the same thing all the time he always wins the Gym Battles/Trials and will eventually lose the League while stopping the evil villains plot along the way the only thing I'm interested in is Lillie's relationship with Aether and how they will use the Ultra Beats.

 

[Rath]

So...basically piss people off for 100+ episodes or however long it takes to get to the aether stuff and then decide to get good?Gotcha.

It's not like pissing people off has ever hurt this show; the people they piss off aren't part of the intended demographic.

Keep things from getting stale? This point in pokemon is arguably the stalest it's ever been. What sun&moon is doing is basically ash beating a gym leader then spending 20 episodes in that same city.

Wouldn't you want him to move on and progress the story?

The pace of the story is dictated by the pace of the games themselves, as this anime is about first and foremost about advertising games and merchandise. We still have no clear idea of how long Gen 7 is going to last.

XY was also pretty slow-paced; then the writers found out they only had a year to finish it before Sun/Moon released, so they rebranded it as XYZ and rushed the hell out of it.

 

[Playerking]

So just because they're not walking from point A to point B it's screwing around? It's the same as every other series, except they're not travelling that often. Plus I still don't see how this is slice of life, just because the primary location is a school. Lots of the thing they do throughout the series doesn't seem very "Slice of Life". Is being attacked by a Pokemon slice of life? Is trying to catch a wild Pokemon slice of life? Is training with a Pokemon in order for the Pokemon to get stronger slice of life? Is trying to rescue a Pokemon from a villainous group slice of life? Sure, there are slice of life plots like SM024, SM026 and SM028, but besides that, I don't think are many or any more. In fact, take away the travelling aspect, and I'm sure you can find other slice of life episodes in other series.

So, just like the games, the Island Trials are the B Plot, and the wacky shenanigans of Ash and co. (and eventually the Aether/Ultra Beast stuff) is the A Plot.

It's not just wacky shenanigans though.

So...basically piss people off for 100+ episodes or however long it takes to get to the aether stuff and then decide to get good?Gotcha.

I wouldn't say it would annoy every one.

 

[jonathan keller]

The pace of the story is dictated by the pace of the games themselves, as this anime is about first and foremost abotu advertising games and merchandise

As an anime only watcher how am I supposed to know this?

It's not like pissing people off has ever hurt this show; the people they piss off aren't part of the intended demographic.

Actually, I just learned that XY&XYZ did poorly in japan. So, apparently pissing people off does affect the show. Otherwise they wouldn't have changed the show's formula

So just because they're not walking from point A to point B it's screwing around?

YES! EXACTLY! Let's say you're going to a grocery store from your house. The house is "point A" and the grocery store being "Point B" if you stop to go somewhere else along the way and don't go straight to the grocery store you're screwing around.

It's that simple. Story telling is getting from one point of the story to the other. Case and point.

 

[Rath]

As an anime only watcher how am I supposed to know this?

Anime-only Pokemon fans exist? I thought they were just an urban legend, like the Loch Ness Monster, or Bigfoot.

 

[Playerking]

YES! EXACTLY! Let's say you're going to a grocery store from your house. The house is "point A" and the grocery store being "Point B" if you stop to go somewhere else along the way and don't go straight to the grocery store you're screwing around.

It's that simple. Story telling is getting from one point of the story to the other. Case and point.

But, you do realise that stopping to go somewhere else while they were on the way to a different direction is basically what happened in about 80% of every filler episode in series like Johto and DP. They often came across a wild Pokemon or a person or a person with a Pokemon and helped them out or took part in something that they were doing or something like that. Plus it isn't screwing around because the school is the main part of the series, not the other thing. So every time Ash does those battles, that would be screwing around. If it wasn't, then why didn't Ash jump to go to Akala as soon as he heard about what was waiting for him there.

 

[ii kanji]

Let's say you're going to a grocery store from your house. The house is "point A" and the grocery store being "Point B" if you stop to go somewhere else along the way and don't go straight to the grocery store you're screwing around.

...? Jonny, do you even live? THIS is life. Point A is birth, Point B is death - why not stop and smell the roses along the way?

 

[Cresselia92]

Not sure about others, but the thing that annoys me the most about this series is precisely the lack of direction. Some people may say that this makes the series more unpredictable, but to me it seems more as if the staff doesn't even have a clear idea of what the plot of this series is (if there is one, that's it).

I don't really have problem with the gang hanging out in some places once in a while and taking their time for doing some stuff, like meeting Pokémon and doing some chores. It's perfectly normal, since even real life people can do some "sidequests" while still being focused on their main "quest". However, so far the series hasn't focused enough on the "quest" part of the story, so to speak. We basically get random activity after random activity, without knowing yet what the main point of the story is.

I'm glad that we are getting a bit further in the plot and that we are approaching the Akala Trials, but the fact that it seems they are going to rush through them pretty much confirms my expectations and fears: too much time wasted on mostly pointless and "funny" episodes equals too little time spent on plot-relevant episodes, forcing the writers to rush them to get the out of the way as quick as possible. Reminds me a lot BW...

Well, whatever. This episode seems to whisper "filler" so far, but it's too soon to tell. For now, though, it doesn't really inspire me. I can only hope that Mallow will get some decent focus here, since she is still as bland as ever, and she could use some good and meaningful development. So, I seriously pray that this episode will be the one to throw her a bone.

 

[Rath]

This is Totem Lurantis, so it's certainly not a filler.