Sun & Moon will be switching timeslots to Sunday 6PM

[Remix2]

TLDR of what's going on:

Pocket Monsters Sun & Moon and Boruto will be moving from their Thursday primetime timeslots (which the Pokemon anime has been part of since 1998) into new Sunday primetime timeslots starting October. Boruto will be airing at 5:30PM and Sun & Moon at 6PM. It's unclear exactly what's going to replace them, but the two other TV Tokyo Thursday primetime anime shows Cocotama and Aikatsu are staying where they are.

This is rather troublesome, since the extremely popular family anime shows Chibi Maruko-chan and Sazae-san, both of which have always got WAY more viewers than Pokemon, are airing on Fuji TV in the 6PM-7PM timeslot. This specifically means that Pokemon will be directly competing for TV time with Chibi Maruko-chan, a competition that isn't going to go very well.

Exactly why this is being done is a bit unclear (there's an official statement about TV Tokyo wanting to strengthen their Sunday primetime family show lineup), but it does essentially mean the Pokemon anime is being moved from the rather good timeslot it's had for almost its entire existence into a death slot where a competing station is going to take a lot of viewers away from it.

So apparently they’re changing timeslot to Sunday after this arc.

Kinda weird honestly, is there a reason why there changing it?

 

[santiagus]

So apparently they’re changing timeslot to Sunday after this arc.

Kinda weird honestly, is there a reason why there changing it?

From what I have heard TVTOKYO wants to make Sunday a family day, I think BORUTO is also going in Sunday too, it will be weird watching this on Sundays.
I also expect this to be some kind of Season Finale so maybe the october episodes will be the begining of the new season Iwane was talking about

 

[Lucario At Service]

I am really worried about this "family orientated" part, in regarding to the Pokemon anime.
It makes me feel like we won't be getting any DP or XY orientated style of story telling anymore in the future.
Rather all Saga's from now on may follow the concept of SM Saga to make it light and fluffy type of story.

Well for me, from 7th October onwards have to see it on Sunday 2:30 PM.

 

[Akkipeddi]

I am really worried about this "family orientated" part, in regarding to the Pokemon anime.
It makes me feel like we won't be getting any DP or XY orientated style of story telling anymore in the future.
Rather all Saga's from now on may follow the concept of SM Saga to make it light and fluffy type of story.

Wonder if this could be hinting in some way towards a very basic and child friendly LGPE involved season. But yeah, even if not, while I'm not judging yet, the whole 'family oriented' part does raise some questions.

 

[DatsRight]

I am really worried about this "family orientated" part, in regarding to the Pokemon anime.
It makes me feel like we won't be getting any DP or XY orientated style of story telling anymore in the future.
Rather all Saga's from now on may follow the concept of SM Saga to make it light and fluffy type of story.

Well for me, from 7th October onwards have to see it on Sunday 2:30 PM.

Except if anything SM has utilised far heavier context than either of those series, such as limelighting the concept of death (natural death that isn't reversed) and having more character driven stories where the twerps aren't constantly carried along by the cosmic forces of the plot or old formulas like Team Rocket or COTDs.

The only sign of SM castrating the substance of the anime is how they botched the games story, and nearly every series does that. Otherwise it's mostly just superficial aesthetics like 'the characters aren't drawn dignified enough'.

 

[Remix2]

From what I have heard TVTOKYO wants to make Sunday a family day, I think BORUTO is also going in Sunday too, it will be weird watching this on Sundays.
I also expect this to be some kind of Season Finale so maybe the october episodes will be the begining of the new season Iwane was talking about

I’m starting to wonder if this move to Sunday is a way to complete against Fuji tv who have a big control in the Sunday block if TV Tokyo is making Sunday family day?

 

[dman_dustin]

Also, with the supposed reasoning to move Pokémon to Sundays, I do feel that we're going to see some changes in the series overall.

I really hope not, I really hope only the timeslot changes.

If the mature topics certain that have shown, or just the general way Pokemon handles itself is no longer allowed in Pokemon because of new "Family Friendly Guidelines" I personally will not be happy. There isn't a darn thing I could do about it but I will not be happy.

BUT, if this potentially means we will never get a needless break because of a sudden "TV special" then I guess that might help.

 

[TheWanderingMist]

I am really worried about this "family orientated" part, in regarding to the Pokemon anime.
It makes me feel like we won't be getting any DP or XY orientated style of story telling anymore in the future.
Rather all Saga's from now on may follow the concept of SM Saga to make it light and fluffy type of story.

Well for me, from 7th October onwards have to see it on Sunday 2:30 PM.

Pokémon has always been a family show though. And if the Porygon incident hadn't happened, we'd be watching the show on Tuesdays normally. I'd say family-oriented gives them more leeway when it comes to doing things. They've just been treating it as a kids show until now.

 

[lemoncatpower]

If Japan considers Boruto a "family" show, then we have nothing to worry about for them considering Pokemon is a "family" show. Boruto has not let down on the action or animation.

 

[Remix2]

I’ll hold off my judgement on the family oriented part since that could mean anything but here a question for tv tokyo, why on earth did you put Pokémon in the same timeslot as maruko chan? Was the other timeslot taken or something?

 

[ash&charizardfan]

I think its more to do with pokemon being a big brand, one piece and dragn ballz super are all aired on weekends not to mention fairy tail also having a new anime on saturday now with boruto and pokemon joining on weekends just mean they are iconic series and more people will watch it in weekends. I wont be too over worried about its new airing time. I just kind of wish they would have released a episode on 27 of september on my birthday. That would have been a treat.

 

[Xuxuba]

So apparently they’re changing timeslot to Sunday after this arc.

Kinda weird honestly, is there a reason why there changing it?

Sunday? You mean the day people want to do absolutely nothing aside from sleep?

 

[Dragalge]

Team Skull are supposed to be a joke anyway and weren’t the biggest focus in the games (that being the Aether Foundation) so I never expected them to get anything like Flare & Galactic in the anime

With that said, hopefully Guzma and Plumeria show up soon after this. Salazzle deserves a better showing and we need Golisopod to debut soon, heh

Sunday? You mean the day no one wants to do anything aside from sleeping and eating?

There are various popular programs that air on Sunday evenings. It’s fine.

 

[AuraChannelerChris]

Japan has strange standards for what they consider family friendly shows. The other country comparable to them is Mexico, which has programs that...shouldn't really air in the afternoon.

 

[ash&charizardfan]

Japan has strange standards for what they consider family friendly shows. The other country comparable to them is Mexico, which has programs that...shouldn't really air in the afternoon.

Well on sundays I think since most people are at home so airing in afternoon is not that bad either, besides prime time is generally in the night around 8-9 PM in weekdays in my country don't know about the others.

 

[mehmeh1]

the airing change and 2-week break make me think this will be the end of SM season 1, so we're pretty much due for "Pocket Monsters Sun and Moon insert subtitle here" any day now

 

[TheWanderingMist]

I'll just point out that movie ratings in America go from G (kid-friendly) to PG (family-friendly). And that if Toy Story 3 can get a G rating here (considering the US has pretty strict standards), the move to "family-friendly" shouldn't do anything too drastic to the show in general.

 

[Dephender]

There are various popular programs that air on Sunday evenings. It’s fine.

That's precisely why it's NOT fine. They're moving Pokemon and Boruto to the Sunday 6pm-7pm slot, the same timeslot where the ultra popular Chibi Maruko-chan and Sazae-san are airing on Fuji TV. This is such a ridiculous move that's going to hurt the viewership so immensely it's likely they're moving these shows there because they're underperforming and they just want to get rid of them by tossing them into a slot that people aren't really watching anyway.

I am really worried about this "family orientated" part, in regarding to the Pokemon anime.
It makes me feel like we won't be getting any DP or XY orientated style of story telling anymore in the future.
Rather all Saga's from now on may follow the concept of SM Saga to make it light and fluffy type of story.

As has been pointed out already, Pokemon is already airing in a family show timeslot. They're not changing the demographic any, so this isn't going to affect the writing (and if it HAD affected it, it'd be for the better, since "family shows" generally get to do stuff "children's shows" don't. Several shows have suffered from getting moved from family slots to children's slots).

 

[Deleted member 384931]

That's precisely why it's NOT fine. They're moving Pokemon and Boruto to the Sunday 6pm-7pm slot, the same timeslot where the ultra popular Chibi Maruko-chan and Sazae-san are airing on Fuji TV. This is such a ridiculous move that's going to hurt the viewership so immensely it's likely they're moving these shows there because they're underperforming and they just want to get rid of them by tossing them into a slot that people aren't really watching anyway.

This wont make the ratings any better. That is like showing a series at 11 pm (they do this in my country with Spongebob) What will they show Thursdays in place of pokémon and Burito?

 

[Dephender]

This wont make the ratings any better. That is like showing a series at 11 pm (they do this in my country with Spongebob) What will they show Thursdays in place of pokémon and Burito?

Don't think it's been announced what the replacements will be.
But yes, this is going to lead to a lot less viewers. As you aid, it's akin to tossing shows into late-night timeslots where less people are watching. It's done to free up whatever the show's old timeslot is.