Does the Anime have an exposition problem?

[matt0044]

When watching this video:

I found myself agree with the whole "Brockatosis" claim. There is a problem with how a lot of battles tend to have side character interrupting the flow of the action itself in order to spell out the strategy at play or to point out the bloody obvious. My problem isn't that it exists so much as it is so ill placed. It should be afterwards or when there's a lull in the action like a stalemate in play.

Yeah, it's necessary in order to clarify things for those who aren't super savvy with the games but it feels like they never truly know how to implement them without it feeling so heavy-handed or way out of place.

 

[mehmeh1]

XY toned it down or at least tried to have the exposition while showing the battle, though SM has many interruptions just for talking, not even expositiion (though still nowhere as bad as many gen 3 fights, but still)

 

[Prof. SALTY]

I don't really think there is a way to implement it very well. Yu-Gi-Oh tries to do this by having the characters in the duel do most of the exposition but that just makes duels sound awkward and clunky since the action still stalls while they explain their strategy.

 

[Shadao]

I don't really think there is a way to implement it very well. Yu-Gi-Oh tries to do this by having the characters in the duel do most of the exposition but that just makes duels sound awkward and clunky since the action still stalls while they explain their strategy.

Exposition like that is like a chess player giving away his strategy to his opponent. It's either a boast of a magnificent bastard who knows he's going to win... or smug snake who doesn't know when to shut up.

Regardless, expositions work best when there's an audience commentating on the field like real sports commentators and spectators. It's really the only way to get away with exposition. The issue with Brock is that, while he is a Gym Leader, his speciality was never into Pokémon Battles. It was always about Pokémon Healthcare or Pokémon Breeding. As such, when he goes on about battle analysis, it feels like a shoehorn by the writers because they didn't write anyone who better fits the role of battle commentator. And as a result, he sticks out like a sore thumb compared to say, Clemont or Sorrel.

 

[Apslup]

Not really anymore, but it used to. I think the anime producers realised that the viewer can understand what's going on most of the time, since most people catch onto the type strengths and weaknesses pretty fast and most of the anime audience has played at least one Pokemon game in their life and it makes the viewer feel like a kid (I remember watching the show as a kid and feeling really annoyed when they kept cutting away from the exciting and interesting battle to hear Brock tell me exactly what just happened).

This is for the better really, since it really takes away from the intensity of a battle if you keep cutting to people in the crowd saying stuff like "Great move! Grass types are weak against Fire type attacks!", listing off the character achievements of the two combatants and talking about what great trainers they both are (especially since one of the main roles of the male travelling companions like Brock, Cilan and Clemont is to provide exposition in Every. Single. Battle).

Also Nux Taku makes sh!tty, clickbait videos (much like most Pokemon Youtubers).

 

[Kintaro]

The exposition in the DP saga especially is where it got crazy. Brock literally interupted every single one of Ash or Dawn's battles just to explain the battles to the audience...stuff we already knew. He did similar in AG but it wasn't anywhere as much.

Seriously just watch any of the big battles in DP, like after every attack or two the writers cut to Brock to explain boring battle exposition dialogue of stuff we just saw. Granted we know that was Brock's only role in DP, he barely had any purpose or character in the series at that point, so I guess that's all they used him for.

 

[LilligantLewis]

Seriously just watch any of the big battles in DP, like after every attack or two the writers cut to Brock to explain boring battle exposition dialogue of stuff we just saw.

Well I haven't watched the AshvPaul 3parter in a long time but now I have to wonder whether this was why it lasted 3 eps haha

 

[Ignition]

Well I haven't watched the AshvPaul 3parter in a long time but now I have to wonder whether this was why it lasted 3 eps haha

As much as I love this battle, Brock, and to a lesser extent Reggie, give too much exposition

 

[Kintaro]

Brock was dreadful in DP for this reason, not even counting his minimal roles in fillers or whatever. All that boring battle exposition dialogue he constantly gave in DP during any battle was crazy. I seriously don't remember him doing it that much in AG or the OS, but in DP he got offensively bad about it.

 

[AuraChannelerChris]

Stupid novice anime. Trying so hard to copy JoJo's several parts with their wannabe Speedwagons.

 

[matt0044]

I don't really think there is a way to implement it very well. Yu-Gi-Oh tries to do this by having the characters in the duel do most of the exposition but that just makes duels sound awkward and clunky since the action still stalls while they explain their strategy.

Yu Gi Oh is something of an exception since, well, it's often clunky in a bombastic sort of way that I can't help but enjoy.

 

[Akkipeddi]

XY and DP are supposed to be the 2 series with the best battles in the anime, though I always thought the former trumped the latter not just due to animation and the 3D, and now I know why after seeing this thread, exposition. Personally, I agree with most people here that in DP, even if the battles consisted of great choreography and strategies, Brock's constant exposition in the series was too much, and now I definitely feel that Brock, Reggie and even Cynthia's constant exposition led to the Ash vs Paul SL battle to be 3 episodes long. It is for this reason that XY battles just seemed to always 'flow' better (I don't have a better term), since interruptions to the battles were rare (and even if Clemont had to explain, it was rarely at the expense of interrupting the battle).

As for SM, there's a whole new problem right here. Rotom dex, despite being an annoying character, surprisingly doesn't give too much exposition during battles, but the battles this series are filled with characters talking too much during the battle. The most notable was during Olivia and Nanu's battles.

 

[Kintaro]

I think the reason battles were so exposition heavy in DP is as I said above, the writers had to justify Brock's existence in DP because that was his only role (besides the repetitive flirting gag). Brock always did exposition but it wasn't nearly as much in the OS or AG as in DP.

Brock had no real purpose in the series anymore by DP besides filling out the token male companion role, so the writers seemed to increase his exposition dialogue because he had nothing else to do all saga. After that the writers realized they could fill the male companion role with anyone else (as we've seen with Cilan, Clemont, Kiawe, etc), so they finally dropped him. Had they cut Brock from DP entirely you wouldn't even lose much exposition because kids don't need battles explained to them since the moves blatantly show what they do on-screen.

 

[Prof. SALTY]

Yu Gi Oh is something of an exception since, well, it's often clunky in a bombastic sort of way that I can't help but enjoy.

I mean, yeah no shade. Yu-Gi-Oh is one of my guilty pleasures. I'm working my way through Arc-V again (slowly).

 

[shoz999]

Yes. It's not just battles.
See that rock. "Look it's a rock!"
See the guys going into a cave. "Look those guys are going into a cave!"
See how Ash sees Paul everytime. "Hey! It's Paul!" to himself.

 

[LilligantLewis]

Nanu's battles.

they chose a horrible format for this battle in 1v3, there's no way it could have lasted the whole episode or even close to the whole episode without all those interruptions. A 1v3 battle inherently, is far shorter than a 3v3.

"Hey! It's Paul!" to himself.

Jokes aside, the anime really does do a horrible job of assuming its viewers won't remember recurring characters and doing exactly what you said here, trying to remind the audience who said recurring character is. If the recurring character is a minor one, like Angie in DP, then it makes sense because when she appeared in DP098 maybe people would have forgotten her since it's been a few months, and she's minor. But in general, for the major recurring characters who recur throughout the series, like Paul as you just mentioned, it's a bit silly that they keep saying "Hey! It's _____" every time. We know who he is. The writers really insult their audience in this way, even to the extent of sometimes having flashbacks to help "remind" the audience of who the character is. smh

 

[shoz999]

they chose a horrible format for this battle in 1v3, there's no way it could have lasted the whole episode or even close to the whole episode without all those interruptions. A 1v3 battle inherently, is far shorter than a 3v3.



Jokes aside, the anime really does do a horrible job of assuming its viewers won't remember recurring characters and doing exactly what you said here, trying to remind the audience who said recurring character is. If the recurring character is a minor one, like Angie in DP, then it makes sense because when she appeared in DP098 maybe people would have forgotten her since it's been a few months, and she's minor. But in general, for the major recurring characters who recur throughout the series, like Paul as you just mentioned, it's a bit silly that they keep saying "Hey! It's _____" every time. We know who he is. The writers really insult their audience in this way, even to the extent of sometimes having flashbacks to help "remind" the audience of who the character is. smh

You know the funny thing is about "Hey, it's Paul." That is literally the exact same sentence Ash use, word by word, whenever he sees Paul. That is some lazy writing.

 

[keepitsimple]

You know the funny thing is about "Hey, it's Paul." That is literally the exact same sentence Ash use, word by word, whenever he sees Paul. That is some lazy writing.

for some reason that made me think of this