It is trying to follow the games, though, so it really is filler when no visible progress is made.
I agree with you on what the definition of filler is in Pokémon. I'm saying that the definition is different in Naruto (and most anime).
Pokémon: nothing major contributing to the overall plot happens in this episode/you can skip this episode and not be confused on future episodes
other anime: this content did not come from the manga/it is anime-original content
Because of these two different definitions, I'm saying you can't really have the conversation y'all were having earlier this thread regarding filler percentages and stuff. You can't compare the two when the word filler means something totally different. Naruto having "more" filler than Pokémon means nothing when the word filler is talking about something totally different in Naruto.
Don't forget BW's Decolore Islands.
Anything after the BW League may count, since it was all awkwardly placed.
The villain team happening after the league isn't filler - Kalos did the same thing.
is the worst episode in the history of Pokémon.
This isn't even a filler. 3 key things happen in it. Aria debuts. Fennekin overcomes its fear of the mud. Fennekin learns Flamethrower.
Pacing issues aside, I did think that XY had good fillers in the beginning such as the Rocket-dan cosplay episode. That was one of XY's few comedic highlights for me.
I liked that Inkay kept dressing up as Pikachu multiple future times.
rush her goal so that she can stay as a background character once again, while they focus solely on Ash.
Rushing to finish the girl's goal to get to Ash is nothing new. Misty's Whirl Cup happened before Ash's 8th badge (actually
way before, as he only had 5), May's Grand Festival happened before Ash's 7th Frontier Symbol, Dawn's Grand Festival happened before Ash's 8th badge. Girls' stuff happening before Ash's 8th badge has been the norm more than it has not, actually. Only twice has it been otherwise: Iris vs. Drayden happened after Ash's 8th badge, and in Hoenn, May's 5th ribbon actually happened after Ash's 8th badge, which was a nice change actually, to have that whole section of episodes just focusing on May with her 5th ribbon and her Grand Festival back-to-back with no Ash interruption. But in general, to pretend this is a Serena-only problem is a joke.
Wow, after typing that last paragraph, I actually took a look at the series of Hoenn episodes I mentioned to make sure I was right, and even THEN there was an Ash-centric interruption between May's 5th ribbon and Grand Festival, even though they happened back-to-back, as he met Morrison between Pacifidlog Jam and The Ribbon Cup Caper. Wow, so even the one time I thought they actually focused on the girl for an extended time, even that had an Ash interruption. Wow. Anyway, clearly not a Serena-specific issue.
her focus started to diminish once serena started to get more active.
I disagree. Bonnie played a key role in XY&Z as the caretaker of Squishy, without which a lot of crucial plot elements from that season couldn't have happened. If anybody took a back seat in XY&Z it was Clemont, but even for him they tried to play up the Xerosic rivalry a little and even gave him a post-arc fight with him. You know, for all the hate XY&Z gets from SM lovers on this forum, it really actually made an attempt to have all our characters do things, compared to let's say, Johto Misty, Max for his entire existence, or DP Brock.