What is your opinion on Episode N?

[P0KEM0N]

What was your opinion on Episode N? Did you like it or did you hate it, and why?

If a topic like this has been done before, then merge this topic with the correct one.

 

[Zexy]

It was another try of the writers to make a "serious" Team Plasma arc, this time with lots of episodes, since BW023-24 never aired.
For a 13-episode saga, it was okay, since that bit of rushing occurs everywhere when it comes to the Pokemon anime.

However, it will be easily forgettable. Next episode pops up and N and Team Plasma will be forgotten forever. Only Charizard will remind us that this once hapenned.

8/10.

 

[Jukain]

Obviously, they were trying to make up for the abandoned TR vs. TP two parter and the matter that they couldn't put TP into the Unova League saga proper. The way this came off, it makes it seem as if the villains are now the only thing the writers can take seriously. Unfortunately, whereas the main Unova arc actually made TR more interesting to me, this one got stuck in a repetitive loop. All this was about was TP's signal device and the gang foiling it over and over again. I will not deny each attempt raised the stakes until they gained control of Reshiram itself, but the device was foiled way too easily each time. Not to mention a score of other hiccups, such as TR's characterization being confused. The elements of classic TR are there, but they're still serious like in the League saga. This does not compute. I guess some amount of justification comes when they turn back to silly TR at the end, but it was all at once, so I won't count it. It was just poor planning and that's all there is to it. This could've been a good idea, but it was executed poorly. I do not blame them for putting all of their effort into the villains since they can be the most interesting part of the show, but the same effort in everything else would be appreciated. Compared to what we endured for the main Unova plot, this was somewhat improved, but not that much. The fillers, what few there were, were as bland as they come. They even went as far as to make the main cast into the purposeless part of one ep. What this saga tells to me is that the writers no longer know entirely what they're doing. Whether it was because they had to come up with this off the top of their heads or what, I don't know. Judging by DA, the only conclusion I can come up with is that even when they have good ideas, they can't do it right. The anime has a grim future if this is correct. The rating I gave back in the saga rating thread was 5.75, ranking higher than Johto, but less than Hoenn. (#5 overall, placing it in the exact center of the sagas. This included DA details)

 

[PockyAddict]

Started good but got a bit bland afterwards at the end. I did like the fact that n was in it tho.

 

[Almonds]

The story kinda relied on Colress too much XDD not complaining.

 

[CrackFox]

I found it really boring. I always find these types of things boring. Whenever we meet a new villain or are subjected to a three-parter consisting of villains or elite four members/champions, It just bores me like crazy. Technically it shouldn't but I'd honestly rather watch the Johto episode about Sunflora again, that's how dull they are to me xD

 

[Pokémon Master Ash]

I actually thought it was good, and it started off great, but it ended on an average and somewhat disappointing note.

I'd give BWS2: Episode N a 8/10. I'd give BWS1 a 9.5/10, and BWS2 a 6/10.

So, for me:

BWS1 (Excellent) > BWS2: Episode N (Good) > BWS2 (Awful)

 

[Karamazov]

The story kinda relied on Colress too much XDD not complaining.

Actually, yeah. While Colress did get a lot more attention than Ghetsis in the games, Colress's huge role in the anime made Ghetsis feel kind of pointless at times.

 

[Almonds]

The story kinda relied on Colress too much XDD not complaining.

Actually, yeah. While Colress did get a lot more attention than Ghetsis in the games, Colress's huge role in the anime made Ghetsis feel kind of pointless at times.

Exactly. The only time Ghetsis did do something was revive Reshiram and give it a few orders when it was under Plasma's control. Everything else was done by Colress. (Heck, Ghetsis himself relied on Colress 95% of the time until the last episode). Though, I'm pretty glad that Colress was really important in this saga XDD

My personal favorite screenshot

Spoiler

Colress looks like the leader of Team Plasma and the final boss XDDD

Also, I was a little disappointed that they didn't explain much on N and Ghetsis' relationship. They really do like keeping this vague, eh? ;_; Ghetsis raised N, but was he simply a guardian? Or a (foster) father like they said in the games? N called Ghetsis by his name, so Idk...


Another slight disappointment was Cheren. I enjoyed his episode, but his potential was wasted. They probably didn't feel the need to give him more than one episode as a gym leader, but Cheren in the games actually fights against Team Plasma in both BW and B2W2. It would've been nice if they gave him a bigger role or at least let him interact with N.

 

[Zexy]

Another slight disappointment was Cheren. I enjoyed his episode, but his potential was wasted. They probably didn't feel the need to give him more than one episode as a gym leader, but Cheren in the games actually fights against Team Plasma in both BW and B2W2. It would've been nice if they gave him a bigger role or at least let him interact with N.

Since Driftveil City was mentioned in BW114, I was expecting to see the Plasma Frigate scene they have perfectly animated in the B2W2 trailer, giving Cheren one more chance to shine. Too bad we haven't ever seen a giant ship. It would be cool!

 

[SammyW27]

Also, I was a little disappointed that they didn't explain much on N and Ghetsis' relationship. They really do like keeping this vague, eh? ;_; Ghetsis raised N, but was he simply a guardian? Or a (foster) father like they said in the games? N called Ghetsis by his name, so Idk...

Ah heck, a lot of us pretty much KNEW the producers wouldn't go there. N's backstory was just too complex & dark for them. Ya shoulda known they'd water it down/ignore it altogether!

 

[Zexy]

Also, I was a little disappointed that they didn't explain much on N and Ghetsis' relationship. They really do like keeping this vague, eh? ;_; Ghetsis raised N, but was he simply a guardian? Or a (foster) father like they said in the games? N called Ghetsis by his name, so Idk...

Ah heck, a lot of us pretty much KNEW the producers wouldn't go there. N's backstory was just too complex & dark for them. Ya shoulda known they'd water it down/ignore it altogether!

Especially since the arc was just too short. If it would last the whole summer, they shoulda definitely go on it some time.
Prolly that's the reason they decided to cut it short )

 

[Almonds]

Also, I was a little disappointed that they didn't explain much on N and Ghetsis' relationship. They really do like keeping this vague, eh? ;_; Ghetsis raised N, but was he simply a guardian? Or a (foster) father like they said in the games? N called Ghetsis by his name, so Idk...

Ah heck, a lot of us pretty much KNEW the producers wouldn't go there. N's backstory was just too complex & dark for them. Ya shoulda known they'd water it down/ignore it altogether!

Of course I KNEW they would tone down the backstory - and that isn't the point. I was only asking why they didn't simply make Ghetsis N's dad and leave it at that? ONE SIMPLE MENTION, a single line? Meh, the show's over, but that last sentence you said there is pretty interesting, especially expecting them to have IGNORED N's backstory altoghether.

IF they IGNORED N's backstory.... then Ghetsis would've been completely pointless in the show. Yeah, I know Ghetsis in B2W2 appeared near the end of the game and had a very brief appearance, but even during his short appearance, he had, at least, interactions with N with N calling him 'Father'. The word 'Ghetsis' depends heavily on the word 'N', and they couldn't have introduced Ghetsis without showing any connections to N. Ghetsis needs connections to N to appear and likewise N needs Ghetsis for some explanation on why he grew to dislike pokemon battles, and if they were going to IGNORE their backstory, then they might as well just ignore Ghetsis completely.

Thus, they NEEDED N and Ghetsis' backstory. Period. It can't be IGNORED. My only question was why they didn't make them father and son - just a single mention would've done it, and since it's pretty much half-true in the games as well, nobody would've objected to it.

 

[Zexy]

Also, I was a little disappointed that they didn't explain much on N and Ghetsis' relationship. They really do like keeping this vague, eh? ;_; Ghetsis raised N, but was he simply a guardian? Or a (foster) father like they said in the games? N called Ghetsis by his name, so Idk...

Ah heck, a lot of us pretty much KNEW the producers wouldn't go there. N's backstory was just too complex & dark for them. Ya shoulda known they'd water it down/ignore it altogether!

Of course I KNEW they would tone down the backstory - and that isn't the point. I was only asking why they didn't simply make Ghetsis N's dad and leave it at that? ONE SIMPLE MENTION, a single line? Meh, the show's over, but that last sentence you said there is pretty interesting, especially expecting them to have IGNORED N's backstory altoghether.

IF they IGNORED N's backstory.... then Ghetsis would've been completely pointless in the show. Yeah, I know Ghetsis in B2W2 appeared near the end of the game and had a very brief appearance, but even during his short appearance, he had, at least, interactions with N with N calling him 'Father'. The word 'Ghetsis' depends heavily on the word 'N', and they couldn't have introduced Ghetsis without showing any connections to N. Ghetsis needs connections to N to appear, and if they were going to IGNORE their backstory, then they might as well just ignore Ghetsis completely.

Agreed. What made Ghetsis important to the plot was BW1! BW2 had him only at the end, pretty much the like theBW2-based Ep N counterpart had him appear. In-game, Colress was the "hidden guy" pretty much like how N was in BW1, with Zinzolin being the supposed leader till we find out it's Ghetsis. Here, it had to be Colress in Zinzolin's place and N in Colress's, making Episode N neither BW1 or BW2, but something different. Whatever. It's over, I'm over it as well.

 

[Darth Darkrai]

I thought it was really good. It defiantly did Redeem the Unova League.

 

[Gabo2oo]

Even though I think this made up for the Unova League, I'm still dissapointed about the climax. Episodes taking place at morning, evening or, as in that case, night, are always a plus for me, but it didn't happened here. I was expecting to see more things that appeared in the Rocket-Dan vs. Plasma-Dan trailers, aside from the night thing we also didn't get to see Iris jumping here and there while rescuing an injured Pikachu, or massive bulding destroying, or Jessie's Woobat working with Team Plasma's Liepard, which was intriguing since both organisations were confronting each other.

And also, without thinking about the lost episodes, the end was, like always, very, very rushed. What is the matter with the writters? Are they prohibited from making four-part climax episodes? If they would have done that, not only they could have put in all the already mentioned things, but they could have done better farewells. Two minutes weren't enough. There were a lot of characters in Episode N, Looker just said a few words to Ash before jumping into his police car and he didn't thank Team Rocket for their help, Angie and Brad didn't even say one thing, Ghetsis... oh Ghetsis, he was supposed to lead all of this yet he remains shut all while Colress is excited of creating another machine. Anthea and Concordia didn't had one single line after Team Plasma got arrested.

So, Episode N was good overall, but the climax was really weird-paced, specially because BW121 was amazingly well handled, and then BW122 came up.

 

[Metan]

Ghetsis... oh Ghetsis, he was supposed to lead all of this yet he remains shut all while Colress is excited of creating another machine.

I like to think Colress was the Team Plasma main head, creating the machines, developing it to the point of controlling even legendaries Pokémon, while Ghetsis was the "go there and make it happen" boss.

 

[SammyW27]

I like to think Colress was the Team Plasma main head, creating the machines, developing it to the point of controlling even legendaries Pokémon, while Ghetsis was the "go there and make it happen" boss.

Here, here! I'd say they treated him about the same as the other Villain Team Bosses (for better or worse)

 

[Almonds]

Though, I want to know if Episode N had been a success commercially?

 

[Robo-Floatzel]

Episode N was basically one of the many attempts of the Pokemon anime to try a more serious story arc that doesn't revolve around collecting gym badges or some sort of tournament, and this attempt worked rather well when it began, but ultimately failed at the end when the writers exhibited their usual habit of rushing everything to the last minute just to go back to the status-quo of pointless and repetitive filler, as well as many other problems.

One of the real big problems was that it over-relied too much on Colress, with Ghetsis simply being there, sitting around and doing nothing at all while Corless did all the work, at least Giovanni and the other villain team leaders actually DID stuff. Speaking of Ghetsis, his relationship with N is almost completely ignored, like usual, the writers cannot handle characters with complex back stories and characterization, and instead simplify them to the point of in-name only. Actually, Team Plasma as a whole in the anime was almost at the point of in-name only, it was pretty much more like how Team Rocket usually acts outside of the TRio, simply going around making devices to steal/mind-control Pokemon, rather than "liberating" them for the purpose of "freeing" them when Ghetsis only wanted them for his own personal gain. To put it simply, Episode N's Team Plasma is basically Team Rocket wearing Team Plasma's uniforms, you could easily replace Ghetsis with Giovanni, Colress with Dr. Zager, and you wouldn't even be able to tell the difference.

The main problem with it (and probably the main problem with all the villains not named Jessie, James, or Meowth) is that the writers cannot seem to handle other antagonists than the Team Rocket Trio, mainly because the TRio has had so much prominence over the past few years (and in that time have gotten less threatening), it's been difficult for the writers to make a more threatening, serious villain. Yes there was Hunter J, but she only appeared rarely, and the villains in the movies don't count either.

Overall, while it did redeem from the disasters that were BW Season 2 and the Unova League, there was so much potential that simply went to waste. At this point, I think it was best that they should have just left Team Plasma out of the anime entirely, because what we got was what I feared would happen, that the team would be mis-handled and have little to nothing to do with their in-game counterparts.