Do the running gags pre-SM feel forced?

[Nebbygetinthebag]

Sadly yes, it become really stale and repetitive. Brock and Bonnie gag's are especially forced.

 

[Leonhart]

Brock doesn't need to fell in love with every girl.

And technically he didn't since there were several girls throughout his tenure on the show that he didn't hit on. He tended to ignore girls who were slightly younger than him at least, which made his gag less creepy than it could've been.

 

[Twilight-Kun]

Brock's gag makes a little more sense when you realize the reason Shudo included it in the first place was because he's looking for someone to help him look after his siblings

Something I don't blame him for because Brock's parents are exceptionally not suited for raising kids

Also, Bonnie looking for someone to look after her brother is exactly something someone who cares about family would do and I found it more endearing than exasperating

 

[LilligantLewis]

Bonnie's however was forced, especially when they made a big deal about her actually losing her brother...... and then she tries to marry him off once that's dealt with rather than giving her actual development.

I actually think this made perfect sense. She's just a little girl who doesn't fully understand the concept of marriage but is nevertheless excited by it, and it doesn't hit her what the consequences might be (even though those were blown out of proportion humorously as well by her young and misunderstanding brain) until there was a chance it might happen. I actually thought that was actual development in her relationship with Clemont and showed how much she cared for him. From a little girl perspective, this gag made perfect sense to me. It also didn't happen frequently enough for me to get annoyed by it. It wasn't like Brock. It was maybe once every few episodes (4-5)

On the other hand BW onwards also added onto the repetition by making their region mottos nearly all the same animation and slowly whittling all their funny chemistry with the twerps so nearly every face off played exactly the same (it at least made sense in BW when they were usually a serious threat and did have some funny banter when comical again, but in XY onwards it's just a case of blandness).

The difference is that you actually care about TR whereas I don't -- if they totally left the show forever, it would be the best change in the history of the anime IMO. As a result, just the fact that there are any episodes without them makes those episodes multiple orders of magnitude better than episodes with them. I can agree with you about how they are used now BUT at least there are episodes without them, which far outweighs negatives of episodes with them IMO.

I'd apply the law of diminishing marginal returns to running gags: the more they occur, the less satisfaction you receive.

But ironically, the less they occur, they less likely they are to even be considered running gags!!

 

[DatsRight]

The difference is that you actually care about TR whereas I don't -- if they totally left the show forever, it would be the best change in the history of the anime IMO. As a result, just the fact that there are any episodes without them makes those episodes multiple orders of magnitude better than episodes with them. I can agree with you about how they are used now BUT at least there are episodes without them, which far outweighs negatives of episodes with them IMO.

The thing is I owe TRio's lingering presence and formula as much down to the protagonists' shortcomings as their own. Mallow and her Tsareena proven completely hopeless standing out so far, so what better to try and hide that by giving her episodes constant conveniently dumbed down dilemmas like Trio at their most repetitive. Any time she's given an opportunity for a more unique non-TRio adventure she doesn't take it, she's too bland. The others have more star appeal, so don't need TRio all the time or at their most repetitive non-stop, so they appear as a tumour in their limelight far less often.

The same thing happened in XY, you could tell why they dumbed down and overused Trio again because sometimes the writing was extremely lazy. Seriously, having Team Rocket behind the Florges arc all along made so sense outside to make the climax much more simplified.

 

[Redstar45]

Nope if anything is made me love the classic main pre-sm anime even more !
But i do wish less tr gangs and writers stop reset Ash/ Satoshi 's characters and more called back to the classic pocket monsters anime elements that i love !

 

[Satomine Night]

I'd apply the law of diminishing marginal returns to running gags: the more they occur, the less satisfaction you receive.

I agree. Running gags are funny the first few times, but the more they occur, the less satisfaction you receive. I was never a huge fan of Brock's constantly flirting with girls, even when the anime was still new and the gag was still fresh. It got stale really quickly, and was probably one of the few things about Brock's character that I didn't like. I might have been fine with it if it didn't happen as frequently as it did.

Bonnie's trying to find Clemont a wife was charming at first, but after awhile, it got repetitive. I thought it would end once Bonnie met a girl who actually was interested in Clemont. It was clear she didn't really understand what she was asking of those girls, and once she realized that Clemont getting married would mean she would lose her brother, I thought she learned her lesson, but nope, she went right back to asking girls to marry her brother. That was when the gag overstayed its welcome, IMHO.

Nothing feels as forced as when Team Rocket had to be in very episode. I'm glad BW+ stopped forcing them into everything.

This right here.

 

[LilligantLewis]

This right here.

Lol. I fully agree with you but based on our current discussion in the SM058 thread, @Bguy7 would adamantly oppose you on this!

 

[NPT]

Brock and Bonnie's running gags don't bother me as much as SM's constant slapstick gags and memefaces.

 

[Deleted member 384931]

Brock and Bonnie's running gags don't bother me as much as SM's constant slapstick gags and memefaces.

Oh God I feel you

 

[Sceptile Leaf Blade]

How are Brock and Bonnie's gags not slapstick exactly? They're just overly repetitive slapstick.

 

[Darthlord7]

How are Brock and Bonnie's gags not slapstick exactly? They're just overly repetitive slapstick.

I'm starting to believe that most people who complain about this actually believe that slapstick is only all about physical harm and funny faces...

 

[Mega Altaria]

I'm starting to believe that most people who complain about this actually believe that slapstick is only all about physical harm and funny faces...

I mean if your face was burnt to ashes with your hair curled out of shape like Clemont's invention gags, how can that not be slapstick? Clearly that would be exaggerated to the point it should be considered to be slapstick.

 

[Deleted member 384931]

I mean if your face was burnt to ashes with your hair curled out of shape like Clemont's invention gags, how can that not be slapstick? Clearly that would be exaggerated to the point it should be considered to be slapstick.

Yeah....

 

[Mega Altaria]

Although to be honest I enjoyed that one at first because of how ironic it was when his inventions exploded and it seemed he was a great inventor in the first place. But you know what happened when they started to use it every time Clemont used an invention...

 

[DatsRight]

Clemont and Brock's gag getting spammed more and more probably had a lot to do with the fact they slowly found less and less proper things for them to do besides it. For a long duration later on that was usually the only memorable role they got.

SM isn't void of this either (eg. Samson Oak's puns, Tsareena castrating Rowlet or anything else that comes near her with her petals) but I think it also has a fair helping of running gags that haven't completely taken over the character yet. Sure Ash is reckless and takes a lot of slapstick and silly humour, but he still gets developed roles in a large amount of episodes.

 

[Mega Altaria]

We've haven't seen Samson Oak for a while so we don't get as exposed to his gags, which really helps. I don't think Rowlaunch was used too often, which also helps. So personally I found these gags not as annoying, especially with the gags in SM overall. Definitely these ones have been used less than the ones before Sun and Moon.

 

[NPT]

IMO Clemont's invention gag has both pros and cons:

Pros:
- Kalos Route 4 music
- Bonnie's comments about the inventions
- Some inventions were actually useful, and some of them did NOT blow up in their faces.
Cons:
- 85% of his inventions go BOOM!
- SCIENCE IS SO AMAZING got old after the first few times.

 

[Mega Altaria]

IMO Clemont's invention gag has both pros and cons:

Pros:
- Kalos Route 4 music
- Bonnie's comments about the inventions
- Some inventions did NOT blow up
Cons:
- 85% of his inventions go BOOM!
- SCIENCE IS SO AMAZING go old after the first few times.

I guess one con could be the names that Clemont gives to his inventions, which shows that Clemont isn't that creative with names. I found the names cringy but at least it was good for Bonnie to remark how uncreative her older brother is sometimes.

 

[DatsRight]

I'll give credit that Clemont's inventions at least often did something useful before they blown up, giving him some degree of character agency.