Preview SM036: Lychee's Grand Trial! The Hardest Pokemon Match!!

[Rath]

Since when battling has taken a backseat for Ash, though? He has always looked for some good challenges, ever since he was a rookie Trainer. So, the fact that battling, which is his passion as a Pokemon Trainer, has somehow become less important to Ash screams Out Of Character to me.

Besides, the whole Trial Challenge is one of the most relevant elements of the SM games, so this lackluster treatment in-anime doesn't give it any justice.

On the first two islands, yeah.

On the last two though, it takes a backseat to the plot.

Ula'Ula only has two trials, the main attraction there is Po Town.

And Poni Island only has one trial which isn't even a proper one.

 

[Alola]

Lol what a cruel slap in the face. We've all been upset at how long it has taken Ash & Co to reach Akala, but now they're speeding through all the Trials unapologetically. Do the writers no longer understand the concept of pacing?

 

[Rath]

Most likely USUM forced them to speed things up so they can cover new elements introduced in those games.

 

[RileyXY1]

Well, the Akala trials are rushed. I think that this is because they want to add plot elements from USUM into the anime. It's like what happened to BW after BW2 was released.

 

[Mikuri]

But Ash attending the main school is the main part of the series. The other things he does are probably less important to him.

That would be a convincing argument if Ash was shown doing school-related activities more often than goofing around with his friends. Not the case sadly.

 

[Nicolas721]

So it seems the totems will be glorified semi-filler episodes, and the Kahunas will be the ones to fill in for Gym Leaders. I agree that it makes the Pacing feel off, but I have faith that Aether/Skull focus and USUM elements will make up for it.

I also hope that if there is indeed a rematch battle it will be a 3 vs 3 battle with Rowlet taking a rest, have we ever seen Litten facing a trainer under Ash's ownership?

 

[marshiyanmisuta]

Most likely USUM forced them to speed things up so they can cover new elements introduced in those games.

USUM shouldn't be that much different from the current games.

 

[Islander Princess]

Do the writers no longer understand the concept of pacing?

I feel like they haven't had a good concept of pacing in a very, very long time.

This is pretty extreme. My only relief is that trials aren't all battles, because I would not be thrilled sitting through this many episodes of straight battling in a row. But I'm not really happy to see the writers messing around with pacing again.

 

[Likeitornot.]

I really do hope, if Ash loses in this match that the rematch is not immediately in the next episode but instead a few episodes later. All this trial commotion all at once seems very nauseatingly paced to me.

 

[Darkpika]

Everyone complains that saying it does not move forward and there when it moves fast its still

 

[Playerking]

Here is a new summary of the episode, which Dephender translated.

Spoiler

Ash has finally become able to challenge the Grand Trial of Olivia, Island Kahuna of Akala Island. The Grand Trial against Olivia is a double battle. Ash decides to take her on with Rowlet and Rockruff. Olivia uses Rock type Pokémon, and just toys around with him using tricky tactics and Lycanroc's overwhelming speed and power.

 

[Peppermint Phoenix]

I know going from zero to a hundred irritates people but the factor that in universe slowed them down was distance between towns. The fact that Kiawe commutes between islands for school completely trivialized the concept of distance as such they can basically have a trial whenever they want to. Like maybe he should prepare for them one at time off screen or something but it does make sense. Also gotta love speed.

 

[IncineROAR]

Good gosh, they seriously are going to rush through the Akala Trials in 3 episodes! With this and the previous title, I'm guessing either A. Marowak is supposed to be the Fire Totem or the fire trial just isn't happening, both of which would be awful. What on earth is the staff doing? Why are they running the entire Island Trial Challenge? They would never speed through 3 gyms in 3 episodes in this day and age, so why are they doing it with the brand new and far more interesting trials? I wanted Ash to start the Akala Trials for a while, but I sure as heck didn't want him to speed through them. I can't even get excited for these episodes knowing this. This entire execution of the Island Challenge has been a huge disappointment.

Well I'm glad that someone besides me is annoyed at how the anime is handling the island challenge.

To be fair, they may be having to speed things along for USUM...

But this is probably the reason why after 20 some odd episodes of filler as to why we speed through an entire island's challenges.

And Poni Island only has one trial which isn't even a proper one.

Unfortunately that "not even a proper one" trial fits right in with how the anime has been portraying the island challenges.

 

[Playerking]

Those episodes were not filler though, the entire series isn't about Ash doing those battles.

 

[Mikuri]

USUM shouldn't be that much different from the current games.

^ This.

Pokémon Ultra Sun and Pokémon Ultra Moon are being advertised as games that "have been powered up with new additions to the story and features of Pokémon Sun and Pokémon Moon!" These games aren't sequels, they're enhanced versions. They're more in line with Emerald and Platinum than Black 2 and White 2.

The people expecting USUM to offer a brand new story will be disappointed. The writers aren't being told to rush with the current ~plot~ (and I'm using the term loosely) to accommodate whatever small element is introduced in the next pair of games. B2W2 offered some drastic changes and the only thing Best Wishes! got out of it was the overnight overabundance of non-Unova Pokémon, some new Gyms, and a second attempt at introducing Team Plasma, nothing that shook the core of the writers' room and made them rush the hell out of Ash's journey.

Those episodes were not filler though, the entire series isn't about Ash doing those battles.

Oh my. Would you please stop trying to force your opinion on others? If we go by the actual definition of a filler episode, then the Pokémon anime has exactly zero fillers. The writers are not slowing things down and creating irrelevant stories while they wait for new manga chapters. Because you know what? The Pokémon anime is not based on a manga series!

The fans on this community have a very different understanding of what constitutes a filler. Usually, it means an episode that does not move the plot forward, and the Sun & Moon series is full of them. Even episodes that are somewhat important as they serve to introduce a major game character, such as SM027 which introduced us to Gladion, could be easily skipped and nothing would be lost.

Gladion didn't have any meaningful interaction with his sister Lillie, his relation with Team Skull wasn't brought up, and the only ~relevant~ thing he did was to have a battle with Ash which, like you said, isn't what makes an episode non-filler. There were people saying Gladion at least mentioned Olivia's grand trial to Ash, but Ash already knew about it from Kiawe and after the battle, Ash didn't travel to Akala right away. He didn't show a real interest in going there. In fact, Olivia had to go to Melemele to pick him up.

Most SM episodes can be skipped without compromising one's understanding of what happens in future episodes. And that, to a majority of this fandom, is the very definition of a filler episode. Now you may think otherwise, and that's fine, but let people have their say on what is a filler or not.

 

[Playerking]

Oh my. Would you please stop trying to force your opinion on others? If we go by the actual definition of a filler episode, then the Pokémon anime has exactly zero fillers. The writers are not slowing things down and creating irrelevant stories while they wait for new manga chapters. Because you know what? The Pokémon anime is not based on a manga series!

The fans on this community have a very different understanding of what constitutes a filler. Usually, it means an episode that does not move the plot forward, and the Sun & Moon series is full of them. Even episodes that are somewhat important as they serve to introduce a major game character, such as SM027 which introduced us to Gladion, could be easily skipped and nothing would be lost.

Gladion didn't have any meaningful interaction with his sister Lillie, his relation with Team Skull wasn't brought up, and the only ~relevant~ thing he did was to have a battle with Ash which, like you said, isn't what makes an episode non-filler. There were people saying Gladion at least mentioned Olivia's grand trial to Ash, but Ash already knew about it from Kiawe and after the battle, Ash didn't travel to Akala right away. He didn't show a real interest in going there. In fact, Olivia had to go to Melemele to pick him up.

Most SM episodes can be skipped without compromising one's understanding of what happens in future episodes. And that, to a majority of this fandom, is the very definition of a filler episode. Now you may think otherwise, and that's fine, but let people have their say on what is a filler or not.

Um...no? Because it's not an opinion. It's a fact. Lots of important things happened in those episodes and there is a clear definition of what is and what isn't a filler in anime. It's an when nothing important happens. No Pokemon get caught, no Pokemon learn new moves, no Pokemon are revealed to know new moves/an ability, a new main/recurring character is introduced, a person/Pokemon gets character development, a main character takes on an important battle, like a Gym battle.. If we don't think of fillers as episodes that have at least one important event that happens within it, then basically every episode of ever series is a filler episode, because Sun and Moon isn't doing anything different than any other series, except for a lack of travelling. People might like to think some episodes are filler-ish, but episodes like SM018, SM027 and SM033 aren't fillers. Episodes like SM028 and SM029 are fillers.

 

[ShadowZone1996]

I'm wondering if the reason they're speeding this along is because they have something big in mind for Ash from USUM, or maybe because the 7th gen is gonna be really short with the next generation in 2018?

 

[BigDocFan]

Just been sent this image


View: http://imgur.com/tAXKNKE


Interesting

 

[ii kanji]

Dainose!!!!!!! What a throwback to those DP days...

 

[RetroPokeFan]

I fear this series might fall down the unfortunate BW rabbit hole and be quite rushed by the looks of the series already running through the Trials quite fast.