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How do you feel about the SM arcs?

  • Thread starter Deleted member 384931
  • Start date

Ignition

We are so back Zygardebros
that one emotional litten episode was one of the best episodes of the series overall - and the writers should have stuck with those kind of episodes instead of reverting back to their usual formula
I agree. It's still my favorite episode of SM
 

LilligantLewis

Bonnie stan
that one emotional litten episode was one of the best episodes of the series overall - and the writers should have stuck with those kind of episodes instead of reverting back to their usual formula
How would you say they've reverted back to their usual formula? Long continuous arcs of 7+ episodes like this, which would be the island arcs, AF, and I think Necrozma maybe(? I only watch the dub), have only happened before in the leagues at the end of each series, and are now happening regularly in SM, so I would not call this the regular formula.
 

DatsRight

Well-Known Member
Because having the odd gem within billions upon billions of interchangeable one sided beatings is apparently a much better structure.

I've just gotten apathetic towards the battle element of the show anyway, only the rare big battles aren't curb stomps or involve strategy in any way, and that dilution happened WAY before SM, just this series is the one they got the point that the twerps were BORING just committing one sided beatings for their quota every episode so has them do other things.

I mean BW tried to up the ante in terms of battling, with more tournaments and even more even handed Team Rocket face-offs and many people hated it. Battling doesn't make a series good by default.
 
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Zoruagible

Lover of underrated characters
I don't like how rushed they are. We finally get to another island and they just rushed right back to the most boring island of them all! Then the same happened to Ula'Ula, no Team Skull appearance during either arc....

I did enjoy how the Ula'Ula arc was just Ash though, I really hope that was experimenting for the future

Overall Ula'Ula > Necrozma > Akala > Aether
 

DatsRight

Well-Known Member
I don't like how rushed they are. We finally get to another island and they just rushed right back to the most boring island of them all! Then the same happened to Ula'Ula, no Team Skull appearance during either arc....

I did enjoy how the Ula'Ula arc was just Ash though, I really hope that was experimenting for the future

Overall Ula'Ula > Necrozma > Akala > Aether

This is generally a pattern with the show, one series experiments and then the next one refines and moderates.

I like the idea of more character rotation, though I wouldn't mind some Ash-less episodes that focused just on a companion as well.
 
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U.N. Owen

In Brightest Day, In Blackest Night ...
I like the idea of more character rotation, though I wouldn't mind some Ash-less episodes that focused just on a companion as well.

I like character rotation, but it only works if the marketing staff is willing to allow Ash to have a reduced role or not even appear at all. Heaven forbid Ash hijacks the climax of someone else's arc.
 

DatsRight

Well-Known Member
I like character rotation, but it only works if the marketing staff is willing to allow Ash to have a reduced role or not even appear at all. Heaven forbid Ash hijacks the climax of someone else's arc.

In fairness, the other characters usually get their moments when it IS their screen time. Ash is maybe in too many episodes, but they're good at moderating him as a supporting character.

Kiawe and Lana's episodes are sporadic but have definitely been primarily about THEIR achievements, with Ash helping in a humble method, and while Ash provides physical help for Sophocles and Lillie, that's because they aren't physically specialised and are useful in other ways. Mallow....hasn't really got to do anything noteworthy enough for Ash to steal thunder from.
 

blizzardblaze

Comp. Battler Who loves The Anime
Or the Z Moves are always there to one shot the opponent for you *cough cough Lusamine*
 

Spider-Phoenix

#ChespinGang
My issue is sometimes it feels the season didn't really make up its mind on what it wants to be.

Yes, they are sticking with the idea it's a comedic series but they just didn't figure out how they are going to handle the adventure and battling aspect that needs to be there.

Overall, I've found SM arcs to be absolutely boring. And I'm not comparing to XY - let's not make it a massacre - but to arcs from previous series. Their timing is off, there's a lack of feelings when stakes rise, not any challenge worthy remembering...

Because they try so hard to be "funny" and light-hearted when it's time to be serious, it just falls flat or it just ends up being uninteresting.

Ula'ula: I liked this arc the best since it was just Ash and Team Rocket, without any of the classmates, who I frankly just can't stand and find a massive waste of time.

While I don't really hate the classmates - and I think Lillie is a fine character even if I take issues with some characteristics of her arc - I agree with that.

I still find them better characters than the likes of misty and brock though. But that's not the place to go further into this.

I watched most of the episodes raw and only once, gave my impressions and moved on without much thought about them, but some scenes interested me in a way I'm watching them more than once.

You aren't alone. I tend to do that. And not just for Pokémon but other shows as well

XY was the only time - in a long while - where I've returned for scenes/moments during episodes.
 

Victorian Rush

Weather Manipulator
They’re okay. Definitely are not the best arc I’ve seen but they are not terrible. But still, there are a couple of them that I felt were really lackluster and could have been handled ten times better than they were in the series.

I would rate them like this: Akala, Necrozma, Ulu’ula, and Aether.

Akala: this is, by far the best arc I have seen in the SM anime so far. I was not a fan of the fact that Lana got a Z-Ring initially but I’m fully okay with that now. Ash’s battle with Totem Lurantis was okay, nothing really special if you ask me. The real thing that made this arc stand out to me is Ash’s battle with Olivia. That was, by far, the best battle I have seen in the SM anime. Such a great battle. Also the episode where Rockruff evolved into Dusk-form Lycanroc was great. Overall, this arc was great and was definitely the best one so far.

Necrozma: I’m not gonna lie, this arc was great but it also has a lot against it as well. I did like the conclusion to Poipole’s story and its farewell was the most heartbreaking farewell I have seen but the rest of it was extremely rushed. Plus, Team Rocket got so much buildup, only to do basically nothing. This arc could have been a lot better if it was a little longer.

Ula’ula: it was nice to see Ash go to the island without his classmates. I quite like Nanu & Acerola, Lycanroc’s battle with Tapu Bulu, and the battle Pikachu had with Mimikyu. That’s really about it. Team Rocket getting a Z-Ring was poorly handled, Rowlet learning Razor Leaf felt really underwhelming since it didn’t do anything. But the worst part was Ash’s battle with Nanu. The idea of having it be a 1 vs 3 battle but Ash falling for Nanu’s taunts really got on my nerves and the battle as a was really underwhelming.

Aether: this arc had the potential to be really good and it wasn’t. It was poorly executed, extremely rushed, and overall the worst arc I have seen in SM. I did like the concept of having Ash’s classmates do something by battling Lusamins’s Pokemon instead of following him around to do ultimately nothing. Lillie breaking Clefable out of Nihilego’s control came out of literally nowhere and felt out of place were all pretty bad but by far the worst part was how Ash got the Pikashium Z. All his Z-Ring was glow, the Electrium Z turned into the Pikashium Z, and then reverted back to Electrium Z. Like what? That made no sense and it was poorly handled. It would have been so better if Gladion would have been the one to use his Z-move to rescue Lusamine instead of Ash. Worst arc yet.
 

DatsRight

Well-Known Member
Overall, I've found SM arcs to be absolutely boring. And I'm not comparing to XY - let's not make it a massacre - but to arcs from previous series. Their timing is off, there's a lack of feelings when stakes rise, not any challenge worthy remembering...

Because they try so hard to be "funny" and light-hearted when it's time to be serious, it just falls flat or it just ends up being uninteresting.

In fairness, I often felt past arcs had a similar feel, just they over-tried to hype up false tension, rarely do I see a bad guy fight where the writers can resist turning it into a glorified curb stomp. Name one big bad guy arc that didn't end in the same basic formula:

1. The twerps discover bad guy and curb stomp them with barely much of a struggle.

2. The twerps discover bad guy, THEY get curb stomped until a legendary, a power boost, or other form of DEM saves them....and THEN they curb stomp them with barely much of a struggle.

Most of the villain teams tend to have a interchangeable 'evil scientist' motif about them as well, some generic device that controls or neutralises a legendary, sends them out of control. They're rarely developed foils for the twerps, just big bastions of hate for them to look like the big heroes against. If anything SM at least bothered to make that more of a secondary plot.

The arcs have always been about flash over being character driven.
 
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p96822

Evolve me please
Wouldn't be the same thing of Solgaleo and Lunala using there Z Moves against Necrozma be the same problem that you have.

Plus, the Legendary Pokemon wouldn't work for the evil team willingly so them using a machine to control or neutralizes them is the only way of the evil team to control the Pokemon I mean the games kind of do this as well like in Pokemon Black and White 2 where they used Kyurem's power for an ice cannon, X and Y where they used Xerenes or Yveltal for the Ultimate weapon andd Sun and Moon and their Ultra games used Cosmog to make Ultra Wormholes in Alola. So your points about the Legendary Pokemon not solid point if the game do the same thing
 

DatsRight

Well-Known Member
Wouldn't be the same thing of Solgaleo and Lunala using there Z Moves against Necrozma be the same problem that you have.

Plus, the Legendary Pokemon wouldn't work for the evil team willingly so them using a machine to control or neutralizes them is the only way of the evil team to control the Pokemon I mean the games kind of do this as well like in Pokemon Black and White 2 where they used Kyurem's power for an ice cannon, X and Y where they used Xerenes or Yveltal for the Ultimate weapon andd Sun and Moon and their Ultra games used Cosmog to make Ultra Wormholes in Alola. So your points about the Legendary Pokemon not solid point if the game do the same thing

I guess that's a case of gameplay/story segregation. It works in the games since the primary focus is on you doing all the hard work, and heaven knows you'll have to put up a solid effort and if you lose there's no DEM to save you. Such a format doesn't work as well in a cartoon where the primary focus is the story.

SM's arcs were just as predictable, but that's why I can't be too disappointed, since I'm used to that format, and at least in SM's case, they're not the big project that's supposed to hold the series together.
 

Remix2

Well-Known Member
I feel that sm arc fall into two categories ther either average at best(the Necorzma arc), or absolute trash(Aether arc).

Really i Think they should stop doing major arc this series since I feel like the current head writer and director don’t have experience to handle big arc.
 

AuraChannelerChris

Easygoing Luxray.
All bad.

1) They happen too soon at points they shouldn't.

2) They are burned through quickly and give no logical development to anyone else outside of the main lead. And even if your name isn't Ash, he will take your spotlight in the end. The same goes for Pikachu, who takes spotlight away from the other Pokemon.

3) Because SM has been heavily altered, the arcs all look weird and try so hard to be original.

4) Kukui is always left to take care of a small side issue. He or any other adult musn't be involved in the core of the problem during the climax (made more blatantly clear when only adults were drained out of their energy for...whatever the hell the reason was).

I really, really blame the slice of life episode format.
 

DatsRight

Well-Known Member
2) They are burned through quickly and give no logical development to anyone else outside of the main lead. And even if your name isn't Ash, he will take your spotlight in the end. The same goes for Pikachu, who takes spotlight away from the other Pokemon.

While I agree on rushed structure and superfluous alterations, I'd say Ash only stole the show in the Ula Ula arc and bits of the Aether one (and even then the Aether siblings played a heavy role in the latter). Akala spread development pretty evenly between Ash, Lana and Kiawe, just Ash's was placed at the end as the grand finale, while for the Necrozma arc, besides Poipole departing, Ash wasn't really much more prominent than the other Z Move users.

Odd things like Ash having Nebby instead of Lillie and Mallow getting nothing from the Grassium Z trial do stick out, but in the long term they didn't really do much for Ash either so it's difficult to say he stole their thunder there.

Also I wouldn't blame slice of life as much as the erratic pacing. If anything Nebby could have benefitted from a few slice of life stories placed within his arc to give him more development time.
 
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