Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 93 (click to see context) from:
** '''Chris and Swagmaster:''' [[Recap/SMG4MariosPrisonEscape Mario, Luigi, Boopkins, and Bob's escape from prison]] before the arc [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome actually cost the two their previous jobs. They're even reluctant to help the cast at all at first for the second half of the arc because the disbandment of the A.S.S. once again left them unemployed]].
to:
** '''Chris ''[[BumblingHenchmenDuo 'Chris and Swagmaster:''' Swagmaster:]]''' [[Recap/SMG4MariosPrisonEscape Mario, Luigi, Boopkins, and Bob's escape from prison]] before the arc [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome actually cost the two their previous jobs. They're even reluctant to help the cast at all at first for the second half of the arc because the disbandment of the A.S.S. once again left them unemployed]].
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
Removing all connections to the Cosmology Lore, since we got rid of them on the main recap page.
Changed line(s) 11,12 (click to see context) from:
The Anime Arc is the third major ''[[WebAnimation/Supermarioglitchy4sSuperMario64Bloopers SMG4]]'' StoryArc, and the third instalment in the [=SMG4=] Cosmology Lore. Its story encompasses two major events: Princess Peach banning all {{anime}} after Bob destroys her castle, and the wide-scale disappearance of [[VideoGame/{{Splatoon}} Inklings]] in Inkopolis just before the Splatfest.
to:
The Anime Arc is the third major ''[[WebAnimation/Supermarioglitchy4sSuperMario64Bloopers SMG4]]'' StoryArc, and the third instalment in the [=SMG4=] Cosmology Lore.StoryArc. Its story encompasses two major events: Princess Peach banning all {{anime}} after Bob destroys her castle, and the wide-scale disappearance of [[VideoGame/{{Splatoon}} Inklings]] in Inkopolis just before the Splatfest.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 11,12 (click to see context) from:
The Anime Arc is the third major ''[[WebAnimation/Supermarioglitchy4sSuperMario64Bloopers SMG4]]'' StoryArc. Its story encompasses two major events: Princess Peach banning all {{anime}} after Bob destroys her castle, and the wide-scale disappearance of [[VideoGame/{{Splatoon}} Inklings]] in Inkopolis just before the Splatfest.
to:
The Anime Arc is the third major ''[[WebAnimation/Supermarioglitchy4sSuperMario64Bloopers SMG4]]'' StoryArc.StoryArc, and the third instalment in the [=SMG4=] Cosmology Lore. Its story encompasses two major events: Princess Peach banning all {{anime}} after Bob destroys her castle, and the wide-scale disappearance of [[VideoGame/{{Splatoon}} Inklings]] in Inkopolis just before the Splatfest.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
MGttFtGaGoM is just as much a prologue as MPE is. The same way the latter sets up Swag and Chris for the A.S.S., the former sets up Jeeves for "Mario's Lemonade Stand".
Changed line(s) 19 (click to see context) from:
* Prologue: [[Recap/SMG4MariosPrisonEscape "Mario's Prison Escape"]]
to:
!!Prologues:
*Prologue: [[Recap/SMG4MarioGoesToTheFridgeToGetAGlassOfMilk "Mario Goes to the Fridge to Get a Glass Of Milk"]]
* [[Recap/SMG4MariosPrisonEscape "Mario's Prison Escape"]]
*
* [[Recap/SMG4MariosPrisonEscape "Mario's Prison Escape"]]
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
Moving recap page to fit correct name of work.
Added DiffLines:
%% Image selected per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=16693303200.02659000
%% Please do not replace or remove without starting a new thread.
%%
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/anime_3.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350: It's time to fight to save anime! [[TemptingFate Hopefully this won't have any serious consequences...]]]]
->"Mario and friends pay the ultimate price in a war waged against anime."
-->--Official description
Anime is banned, and the gang have to save the medium...[[CerebusSyndrome and each other]].
The Anime Arc is the third major ''[[WebAnimation/Supermarioglitchy4sSuperMario64Bloopers SMG4]]'' StoryArc. Its story encompasses two major events: Princess Peach banning all {{anime}} after Bob destroys her castle, and the wide-scale disappearance of [[VideoGame/{{Splatoon}} Inklings]] in Inkopolis just before the Splatfest.
The arc is told through several subplots and from multiple viewpoints. Spanning 12 episodes across 3 months, it is the series' [[LongRunner longest official standalone story arc]], not counting the two-arc Cosmology saga. [[TheMovie The series' first movie]], ''WebAnimation/MeggysDestinyAnSMG4Movie'', also serves as an epilogue to the arc's events.
The Anime Arc was the only major story arc in Season 9 and 2019, preceded by [[WebAnimation/SMG4TheRapperBobArc The Rapper Bob Arc]], and followed by [[WebAnimation/Supermarioglitchy4sSuperMario64BloopersTheYoutubeArc The [=YouTube=] Arc]].
----
!Main Episodes
[[index]]
* Prologue: [[Recap/SMG4MariosPrisonEscape "Mario's Prison Escape"]]
!!Part 1: The Anime Ban
* [[Recap/SMG4MarioAndTheAnimeChallenge "Mario and the Anime Challenge"]]
* [[Recap/SMG4MariosIllegalOperation "Mario's Illegal Operation"]]
* [[Recap/SMG4MariosLemonadeStand "Mario's Lemonade Stand"]]
* [[Recap/SMG4TheJapanTrip "The Japan Trip"]]
* [[Recap/SMG4MeggysBootcamp "Meggy's Bootcamp"]]
* [[Recap/SMG4TheMarioShowdown "The Mario Showdown"]]
* [[Recap/SMG4MarioSavesAnime "Mario Saves Anime"]]
!!Part 2: The Missing Inklings and the Battle of Anime Island
* [[Recap/SMG4TheSplatfestIncident "The Splatfest Incident"]]
* [[Recap/SMG4TheInklingDisappearances "The Inkling Disappearances"]]
* [[Recap/SMG4MarioAndTheExperiment "Mario And The Experiment"]]
* [[Recap/SMG4WorldWarMario "World War Mario"]]
* [[Recap/SMG4FinalHours "Final Hours"]]
[[/index]]
!!The Arc provides examples of:
* AbortedArc: Meggy's desire to finally win Splatfest would have to wait until "WebAnimation/MeggysDestinyAnSMG4Movie", thanks to Francis.
* AdaptationalVillainy: You thought Francis was bad in ''VideoGame/SuperPaperMario''? Wait 'til you see him ''here''!
* ArcVillain: ''Three''. Peach and Desti for part 1, the former issuing the anime ban and the latter wanting to win Splatfest. Francis serves as this for part 2, kidnapping Axol and using his Inkweaver to kidnap all of Inkopolis for the sake of his island filled with anime waifus.
* BaitAndSwitchBoss: After the ban is lifted, it seemed that all the heroes had to do was beat Desti at Splatfest before their lives could go back to normal. Oh, how wrong they were...
* BigBadEnsemble: Both Princess Peach and Desti serve as the villains of Part 1.
* BittersweetEnding: The Inkweaver is returned to Axol, all the Inklings are rescued, Francis meets his demise in his island's explosion, and the main cast make it out safely with Meggy thanks to [[ItMakesSenseInContext Ultra Instinct Shaggy.]] However, [[TheRival Desti]] [[KilledOffForReal is killed for her troubles]] (a funeral is even held for her) and [[HumanityEnsues Meggy is transformed into a human permanently,]] [[HeroicSacrifice due to her sacrificing her ink and taking a blast from Francis's Goku Blue Replica to save her friends]], and the Splatfest being ruined because of Francis.
* BrokenPedestal:
** Axol to Francis. Since Francis lives for anime, it's only natural he would fawn over Axol, who creates anime. But when it becomes clear that Axol wasn't going to make Francis any waifus, he decides to take matters into his own hands...
** Francis to Saiko. He originally did what his "anime queen" asked without question, and she trusted him well enough in return. But when he is revealed to be behind the Inkling kidnappings, all bets are off.
* CerebusSyndrome: See KilledOffForReal. You'll be more likely see this in later arcs from here on out.
* DarkerAndEdgier: Than even the Waluigi Arc, believe it or not. [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen Peach]] [[TookALevelInJerkass becomes even more hostile for the first part of the arc]], [[CompetitionFreak Meggy]] [[BrokenAce reveals her inferiority complex]] [[DeconstructedTrope and why she's obsessed with training for Splatfest,]] [[GuiltByAssociationGag Saiko]] [[FugitiveArc spends the entire first half of the arc trying to cope with her status as a]] PersonaNonGrata, [[BunnyEarsLawyer Axol]] [[DarkAndTroubledPast was bullied by Inklings as a kid for his love of anime,]] [[TheMobBossIsScarier and the gang is forced to work with the Anime Cartel to deal with the crisis]]. This is all before [[FromBadToWorse Part 2, by the way,]] which is a RescueArc and WarArc mixed into one and ends with two people KilledOffForReal.
* ADayInTheLimelight: Resident TokenEvilTeammate Saiko and ActionGirl Meggy both take center stage in this arc.
* DecoyProtagonist: You think [[IdiotHero Mario,]] [[ItsAllAboutMe Bob,]] [[GamerChick Tari,]] and [[{{Keet}} Fishy Boopkins,]] [[NiceJobBreakingItHero being the idiots who caused the mess to begin with,]] would be the heroes of this arc. Well, they're not USELESS, but the arc primarily focuses on Meggy and Saiko.
* DiscOneFinalBoss: Peach being convinced into unbanning anime just in time for Meggy to make it to Splatfest is what ends Part 1, and kickstarts Part 2--where things truly get intense.
* DisasterDominoes: An anime challenge gone wrong leads to Peach's castle once again being destroyed and an Anime craze to sweep across the kingdom, leading to the creation of A.S.S. and the Anime ban, which causes Francis to become leader of [[TheMobBossIsScarier the Anime Cartel]], who would later on cause the widespread kidnapping of most of Inkopolis, the cancelation of Splatfest, the [[KilledOffForReal death of Desti the Octoling]], and the [[HumanityEnsues permanent change of Meggy from Inkling to human.]]
* EnemyMine: In Part 1, the group joins forces with [[TheMobBossIsScarier the Anime Cartel led by Francis]] to counter Peach's ban and eventually save anime. [[DeconstructedTrope Unfortunately, this team-up later costs them and directly leads to Part 2.]]
** PlayedStraight in Part 2, where the heroes team-up with not only [[TheRival Desti,]] but the remnants of the A.S.S., led by Chris And Swagmaster. While the former [[KilledOffForReal unfortunately dies,]] [[HeelFaceTurn the latter two warm-up to the cast]] [[FireForgedFriends and by the end of the arc stay semi-good friends with the main cast.]]
* EveryoneHasStandards: You know the Anime Cartel is bad news when not even Tari, a sweetheart who sees the good in everyone, wants anything to do with them.
* EvilIsPetty: Why is Francis trying out his newest version of Ink Zuccer on Meggy?... She gave him a ReasonWhyYouSuckSpeech back in "Mario's Lemonade Stand". And '''''entire second part of Anime Arc''''' began just because Axol refuse to draw to him some anime waifus.
* FantasticRacism: In Part 1, Peach bans anime from the Mushroom Kingdom... including anime characters and anime-inspired Visual Novel characters like Saiko, due to Bob's KamehameHadoken destroying her castle, which causes more anime-induced acts of destruction called "The Anime Crisis". Saiko then has to flee for her life for much of Part 1 because of this.
** [[SubvertedTrope Axol subverts this.]] [[AllOfTheOtherReindeer Despite having plenty of reasons to detest the Inklings and use them as fuel for his pen,]] [[NiceGuy Axol]] doesn't seem to hold that much of a grudge for his childhood bullying.
*** Francis, meanwhile, has '''NO''' qualms kidnapping and draining the ink of half a species, potentially killing them, to fuel his lust for power and waifus, [[AMillionIsAStatistic writing them off as mere collateral.]]
* FireForgedFriends: This arc, in case you had doubts about [[VitriolicBestBuds Mario's friend group actually liking each other]], establishes that this RagtagBandOfMisfits can actually be a BadassCrew, even joined by former enemies for it.
* ForWantOfANail: The death of Desti and all of Part 2 can be attributed to this trope. With [[UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom Fishy Boopkins]] revealing how Inkweaver works to the Anime Cartel while unbanning Anime in the Mushroom Kingdom, its leader [[Videogame/SuperPaperMario Francis]] decides to kidnap all the Inklings, including [[ActionGirl Meggy]]. This leads to Desti finding that Meggy's team was too easy to defeat in the Splatfest competition, convincing her to help find Meggy. During the trip to Anime Island, she herself gets kidnapped and abducted there. In it, she and Meggy tried to break out but was seized by [[Franchise/DragonBall False Goku]]. Just as she assisted the gang in breaking free, she was killed by [[Franchise/FinalFantasy False Sephiroth]].
* FugitiveArc: Essentially sums up the cast's position for Part 1, especially [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold Saiko,]] since the Anime Ban has her [[PersonaNonGrata forced to flee the Mushroom Kingdom]].
* HeelFaceTurn: [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen Peach,]] having ordered the ban and formed the [[FunWithAcronyms Anime Secret Service]] to begin with to enforce the ban, [[TalkingTheMonstertoDeath is shown that anime isn't all bad,]] and peacefully removes the ban.
** [=SMG4=] himself starts the arc as a HeroAntagonist, having promised Peach to curb the group's shenanigans and joining the Anime Secret Service as part of this. However, when [[EtTuBrute Chris and Swagmaster betray him,]] [[ShootTheHostage he's taken hostage by Mario and Boopkins,]] [[EveryoneHasStandards and discovers Saiko's position as a]] PersonaNonGrata, [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere he almost immediately renounces the A.S.S. and joins the heroes.]]
** [[CanonImmigrant Chris and Swagmaster,]] first introduced properly to Mario and company as antagonists and having spent the first half of the arc as enforcers of the Anime Secret Service [[ContinuityNod partially out of revenge]] for the [[Recap/SMG4MariosPrisonEscape heroes costing them their original jobs,]] [[EnemyMine ultimately join forces with the heroes when anime characters go kidnapping Inklings and Octolings left and right,]] and [[FireForgedFriends later become friendlier to Mario and company because of it.]]
** Desti, [[TheRival Meggy's rival,]] also joins forces with the gang to rescue her rival. [[HeelFaceDoorSlam Unfortunately, we don't see her becoming a full-time hero since she dies in the second-to-last episode.]]
* HumanityEnsues: A combination of Meggy sacrificing all of her ink and getting hit by Replica Goku Blue's ki blast turns her into an anime girl.
* JerkWithAHeartOfJerk: Francis was shown to at least have some semi-decent moments in part 1, and mostly wanted anime unbanned like everyone else. Come part 2, he's far off the deep end.
* KilledOffForReal: Both Desti and Francis meet their ends permanently during "Final Hours". Desti dies from being backstabbed from Replica Sephiroth during "World War Mario", which is then confired at the end of the episode, while Francis is left for dead in one of his own Ink-Zucker machines as his Replica Goku Blue self-destructs and takes all of Anime Island with it.
* LackOfEmpathy: Francis was the first ArcVillain to have no remorse for anything he did.
* LampshadeHanging: Once anime is banned, Luigi wonders if the ban will have any major consequences and [[DisasterDominoes spark a series of huge events.]] Come the second part, [[ProperlyParanoid he ends up being right]].
-->'''Mario:''' Nah, it's probably nothing!
* NonActionBigBad: Peach was responsible for banning anime, but she lets the A.S.S. do all the work.
* NothingIsTheSameAnymore: Perhaps the biggest by far; Desti is KilledOffForReal and Meggy the Inkling has been turned into an anime girl.
* OnceMoreWithClarity: The first shot of "The Inkling Disappearances" (even before the Glitch Productions logo) is an ominous clip of Axol (who some of the characters theorized to be the culprit of the titular kidnappings in the previous episode) opening his eyes in what seems like a TraitorShot backed by DramaticWind. The end of the episode reveals that this was Axol waking up chained to a wall in the same prison as Meggy. {{Lampshaded|Trope}} by the episode's [[FunWithSubtitles captions]].
--> '''Start of episode''': "Wait, was it Axol that did it?"
--> '''End of episode''': "We see our main antagonist of this arc once more. Look at him, so evil, so diaboli-- wait what the!?!"
* PluckyComicRelief: Swag and Chris serve as this, as they’re the sources of most of the comedy during the darkest episodes of the arc.
* ProperlyParanoid: Tari's bad premonitions about the Anime Cartel in "Mario's Lemonade Stand" later prove to be 100% correct in the second part of the Arc.
* RescueArc: The second half of the Anime Arc is this played as straight as possible for the [=SMG4-=]Marioverse, with [[ActionGirl Meggy]] [[BadassInDistress being the victim.]]
* TraumaCongaLine: This arc was far from kind for any of our heroes, but [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold Saiko]] and [[BrokenAce Meggy]] got hit the hardest.
** Saiko had to [[YouCantGoHomeAgain flee the country for reasons beyond her control,]] discovered one of her friends was kidnapped, briefly consider someone who helped her get her citizenship back was [[BaitTheDog using her for his own plans,]] had to deal with being the OnlySaneWoman for most of the second half of the arc, watched as someone else she trusted turn out to be a [[MadScientist perverted, power-hungry monster,]] lost a potential friend who was not so different from her, and the first aforementioned friend nearly die and worried at the end that her efforts had been AllForNothing.
** Meanwhile, [[BrokenAce Meggy]] was blown off for nearly three episodes by Mario and Tari, fought a gang war just to save her TooDumbToLive companions, became a DrillSergeantNasty with TrainingFromHell in response to her insecurities of being unable to win, loses her weapons for an entire episode, is forced to donate some of her ink and time to save her AbsurdPhobia in order to help her friend Saiko end the anime ban, gets kidnapped and tortured for her ink to help fulfill the BigBad's fetish, watches her rival be murdered right in front of her, and endures one more round in the Ink Zuccer to defeat Francis and nearly died for her efforts. Hell, she has full-blown SurvivorsGuilt in later episodes, and [[HumanityEnsues even changed species,]] [[BoomerangBigot forced to live the rest of her life as an anime girl!]]
* TokenEvilTeammate: [[DeconstructedTrope Deconstructed like you wouldn't BELIEVE with Francis.]] Whenever the group [[TeethClenchedTeamwork was forced to work with Francis and the Anime Cartel,]] [[FromBadtoWorse the Otaku chameleon only escalated the problem of the week and did more harm than good.]] Furthermore, the arc would have ended with [[Recap/SMG4MarioSavesAnime "Mario Saves Anime"]] [[NiceJobBreakingItHero had Fishy Boopkins kept his mouth shut about Inkweaver around Francis.]] Later, Francis becomes the BigBad and [[FinalSolution nearly kills an entire species]] [[EvilIsPetty just for his anime fetish.]]
** Downplayed with Desti. She's more of a JerkWithAHeartOfGold, wanting to beat Meggy properly, which is why she teams up with the heroes to rescue her rival.
* TookALevelInKindness: This arc brings out the heroic side of Saiko. The same goes for Desti in the second half, [[RedemptionEqualsDeath even if she does end up getting killed]].
* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: Bob for the first part, thanks to his Kamehameha destroying Peach's castle and kick-starting a full-scale Anime Crisis and starting the Anime ban, and Boopkins for the second, telling how the Inkweaver works to the Anime Cartel while unbanning Anime in the Mushroom Kingdom causes their leader Francis to steal the Inkweaver, Axol and the Inklings to create an island of anime waifus.
* VillainHasAPoint: Surprisingly, almost every villain of this arc, at some point or another, actually DOES have a justified grievance.
** '''[[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen Peach:]]''' Peach instilled the ban, not just because [[NeverMyFault Bob]] [[KamehameHadouken blew up her castle]] and blamed [[Franchise/DragonBall Goku]] for it, but other folks inspired by Bob and Boopkins' Anime Challenge also caused chaos between episodes. As the ruler of the Mushroom Kingdom, she had to respond to the crisis caused by the idiots she lets hang out at her castle. [[EveryoneHasStandards She even is willing to let Boopkins, Mario, and Axol make a case when they approach her.]]
*** Peach also, [[RightForTheWrongReasons intentionally or not,]] was right about anime being a source of violence. Especially when, almost immediately after she steps down as BigBad, [[EvilPowerVacuum Francis slides in,]] [[DistressedDude snatches up Axol and Inkweaver,]] [[DoomedHometown abducts at least half of Inkopolis' population]] [[WouldHurtAChild including CHILDREN and teenagers]] ([[BadassInDistress Meggy being among them]]), and would subject the Inklings to ColdBloodedTorture [[FinalSolution and nearly kills them all to harness their ink...]] [[EvilIsPetty all to fulfill his anime fetishes.]] [[NotHelpingYourCase Not to mention that Francis has most of the anime characters he creates]] [[SociopathicSoldier act like incredibly violent soldiers.]]
** '''[[StarterVillain SMG4:]]''' Peach lets him use her Secret Slide Room in her castle as his editing room, so he needs to do better by her to keep his channel afloat and thus [[PunchClockVillain joins up with the Anime Secret Service]] to do so. Furthermore, stupid law or not, [[VillainProtagonist Mario and Boopkins]] were actually breaking the law [[SympatheticInspectorAntagonist he was trying to enforce]] by trying to smuggle anime.
** '''Chris and Swagmaster:''' [[Recap/SMG4MariosPrisonEscape Mario, Luigi, Boopkins, and Bob's escape from prison]] before the arc [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome actually cost the two their previous jobs. They're even reluctant to help the cast at all at first for the second half of the arc because the disbandment of the A.S.S. once again left them unemployed]].
** '''[[FillerVillain Jeeves:]]''' Mario and Tari set up a small, rival business venture [[FailedASpotCheck right in front of his Milk Emporium.]] Considering [[Recap/SMG4MarioGoesToTheFridgeToGetAGlassOfMilk the start of the 2019 season,]] Jeeves was being lenient with Mario's shenanigans and polite for ruining his previous milk venture by [[StatingTheSimpleSolution simply asking Mario to move his lemonade stand elsewhere.]] He only got violent when [[TooDumbToLive Mario refused,]] and [[TheDon Francis]] [[FromBadToWorse was the one who escalated the conflict to a gang war.]]
** '''[[TheMobBossIsScarier Francis:]]''' Due to [[NiceJobBreakingItHero Mario and Boopkins losing his shipment of products,]] [[HeroAntagonist SMG4 getting in the way,]] [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere and Bob fleeing with his merchandise]], [[YouHaveFailedMe all four of them are lucky that he just forces them to work for him to make up for the amount of money they cost him.]]
*** [[BrokenPedestal He also is justifiably angry that Axol]] [[ButNowIMustGo decides to just leave after saving Anime in the Mushroom Kingdom]]. [[AlternateCharacterInterpretation Whether Axol found his work was done]] or just finding Francis and the Anime Cartel [[StalkerWithoutACrush creepily obsessed with him]], just leaving immediately after [[HeelFaceTurn Peach changed her mind about anime]] was kind of a dick move. Axol also never gave Francis a reason as to WHY he couldn't just create a waifu or two for Francis, thus inspiring Francis to kidnap him, Meggy, and half of Inkopolis.
** '''[[TheRival Desti:]]''' [[CheatersNeverProsper As horrible as it is to sabotage Meggy's team in any way she can,]] Desti IS a fellow competitor against Meggy in the Splatfests, and she wants to keep a leg up on her as best as she could. [[ElephantInTheLivingRoom Not to mention that due to her status]] [[FantasticRacism as an Octoling,]] Desti was probably not going to be favored to win.
*** [[ProperlyParanoid She was also proved right to be concerned]] about [[BunnyEarsLawyer Axol,]] [[RightForTheWrongReasons but not specifically because of his]] [[DarkAndTroubledPast mistreatment by the inklings.]] [[SheepInSheepsClothing Axol's a sweetheart,]] it's just that [[ArtifactOfDoom Inkweaver in the wrong hands is dangerous.]] Those hands, of course, being [[BigBad Francis'.]]
* WarArc: The last two episodes of the arc are this mixed into the RescueArc. [[CharacterDeath And no war is without its casualties....]]
* YourPrincessIsInAnotherCastle: Ironically, it's the very princess this trope is named after who prompts this trope! Peach unbans anime just in time for Splatfest, where our heroes have unfinished business before they finally move on with their lives...or so they think.
%% Please do not replace or remove without starting a new thread.
%%
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/anime_3.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350: It's time to fight to save anime! [[TemptingFate Hopefully this won't have any serious consequences...]]]]
->"Mario and friends pay the ultimate price in a war waged against anime."
-->--Official description
Anime is banned, and the gang have to save the medium...[[CerebusSyndrome and each other]].
The Anime Arc is the third major ''[[WebAnimation/Supermarioglitchy4sSuperMario64Bloopers SMG4]]'' StoryArc. Its story encompasses two major events: Princess Peach banning all {{anime}} after Bob destroys her castle, and the wide-scale disappearance of [[VideoGame/{{Splatoon}} Inklings]] in Inkopolis just before the Splatfest.
The arc is told through several subplots and from multiple viewpoints. Spanning 12 episodes across 3 months, it is the series' [[LongRunner longest official standalone story arc]], not counting the two-arc Cosmology saga. [[TheMovie The series' first movie]], ''WebAnimation/MeggysDestinyAnSMG4Movie'', also serves as an epilogue to the arc's events.
The Anime Arc was the only major story arc in Season 9 and 2019, preceded by [[WebAnimation/SMG4TheRapperBobArc The Rapper Bob Arc]], and followed by [[WebAnimation/Supermarioglitchy4sSuperMario64BloopersTheYoutubeArc The [=YouTube=] Arc]].
----
!Main Episodes
[[index]]
* Prologue: [[Recap/SMG4MariosPrisonEscape "Mario's Prison Escape"]]
!!Part 1: The Anime Ban
* [[Recap/SMG4MarioAndTheAnimeChallenge "Mario and the Anime Challenge"]]
* [[Recap/SMG4MariosIllegalOperation "Mario's Illegal Operation"]]
* [[Recap/SMG4MariosLemonadeStand "Mario's Lemonade Stand"]]
* [[Recap/SMG4TheJapanTrip "The Japan Trip"]]
* [[Recap/SMG4MeggysBootcamp "Meggy's Bootcamp"]]
* [[Recap/SMG4TheMarioShowdown "The Mario Showdown"]]
* [[Recap/SMG4MarioSavesAnime "Mario Saves Anime"]]
!!Part 2: The Missing Inklings and the Battle of Anime Island
* [[Recap/SMG4TheSplatfestIncident "The Splatfest Incident"]]
* [[Recap/SMG4TheInklingDisappearances "The Inkling Disappearances"]]
* [[Recap/SMG4MarioAndTheExperiment "Mario And The Experiment"]]
* [[Recap/SMG4WorldWarMario "World War Mario"]]
* [[Recap/SMG4FinalHours "Final Hours"]]
[[/index]]
!!The Arc provides examples of:
* AbortedArc: Meggy's desire to finally win Splatfest would have to wait until "WebAnimation/MeggysDestinyAnSMG4Movie", thanks to Francis.
* AdaptationalVillainy: You thought Francis was bad in ''VideoGame/SuperPaperMario''? Wait 'til you see him ''here''!
* ArcVillain: ''Three''. Peach and Desti for part 1, the former issuing the anime ban and the latter wanting to win Splatfest. Francis serves as this for part 2, kidnapping Axol and using his Inkweaver to kidnap all of Inkopolis for the sake of his island filled with anime waifus.
* BaitAndSwitchBoss: After the ban is lifted, it seemed that all the heroes had to do was beat Desti at Splatfest before their lives could go back to normal. Oh, how wrong they were...
* BigBadEnsemble: Both Princess Peach and Desti serve as the villains of Part 1.
* BittersweetEnding: The Inkweaver is returned to Axol, all the Inklings are rescued, Francis meets his demise in his island's explosion, and the main cast make it out safely with Meggy thanks to [[ItMakesSenseInContext Ultra Instinct Shaggy.]] However, [[TheRival Desti]] [[KilledOffForReal is killed for her troubles]] (a funeral is even held for her) and [[HumanityEnsues Meggy is transformed into a human permanently,]] [[HeroicSacrifice due to her sacrificing her ink and taking a blast from Francis's Goku Blue Replica to save her friends]], and the Splatfest being ruined because of Francis.
* BrokenPedestal:
** Axol to Francis. Since Francis lives for anime, it's only natural he would fawn over Axol, who creates anime. But when it becomes clear that Axol wasn't going to make Francis any waifus, he decides to take matters into his own hands...
** Francis to Saiko. He originally did what his "anime queen" asked without question, and she trusted him well enough in return. But when he is revealed to be behind the Inkling kidnappings, all bets are off.
* CerebusSyndrome: See KilledOffForReal. You'll be more likely see this in later arcs from here on out.
* DarkerAndEdgier: Than even the Waluigi Arc, believe it or not. [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen Peach]] [[TookALevelInJerkass becomes even more hostile for the first part of the arc]], [[CompetitionFreak Meggy]] [[BrokenAce reveals her inferiority complex]] [[DeconstructedTrope and why she's obsessed with training for Splatfest,]] [[GuiltByAssociationGag Saiko]] [[FugitiveArc spends the entire first half of the arc trying to cope with her status as a]] PersonaNonGrata, [[BunnyEarsLawyer Axol]] [[DarkAndTroubledPast was bullied by Inklings as a kid for his love of anime,]] [[TheMobBossIsScarier and the gang is forced to work with the Anime Cartel to deal with the crisis]]. This is all before [[FromBadToWorse Part 2, by the way,]] which is a RescueArc and WarArc mixed into one and ends with two people KilledOffForReal.
* ADayInTheLimelight: Resident TokenEvilTeammate Saiko and ActionGirl Meggy both take center stage in this arc.
* DecoyProtagonist: You think [[IdiotHero Mario,]] [[ItsAllAboutMe Bob,]] [[GamerChick Tari,]] and [[{{Keet}} Fishy Boopkins,]] [[NiceJobBreakingItHero being the idiots who caused the mess to begin with,]] would be the heroes of this arc. Well, they're not USELESS, but the arc primarily focuses on Meggy and Saiko.
* DiscOneFinalBoss: Peach being convinced into unbanning anime just in time for Meggy to make it to Splatfest is what ends Part 1, and kickstarts Part 2--where things truly get intense.
* DisasterDominoes: An anime challenge gone wrong leads to Peach's castle once again being destroyed and an Anime craze to sweep across the kingdom, leading to the creation of A.S.S. and the Anime ban, which causes Francis to become leader of [[TheMobBossIsScarier the Anime Cartel]], who would later on cause the widespread kidnapping of most of Inkopolis, the cancelation of Splatfest, the [[KilledOffForReal death of Desti the Octoling]], and the [[HumanityEnsues permanent change of Meggy from Inkling to human.]]
* EnemyMine: In Part 1, the group joins forces with [[TheMobBossIsScarier the Anime Cartel led by Francis]] to counter Peach's ban and eventually save anime. [[DeconstructedTrope Unfortunately, this team-up later costs them and directly leads to Part 2.]]
** PlayedStraight in Part 2, where the heroes team-up with not only [[TheRival Desti,]] but the remnants of the A.S.S., led by Chris And Swagmaster. While the former [[KilledOffForReal unfortunately dies,]] [[HeelFaceTurn the latter two warm-up to the cast]] [[FireForgedFriends and by the end of the arc stay semi-good friends with the main cast.]]
* EveryoneHasStandards: You know the Anime Cartel is bad news when not even Tari, a sweetheart who sees the good in everyone, wants anything to do with them.
* EvilIsPetty: Why is Francis trying out his newest version of Ink Zuccer on Meggy?... She gave him a ReasonWhyYouSuckSpeech back in "Mario's Lemonade Stand". And '''''entire second part of Anime Arc''''' began just because Axol refuse to draw to him some anime waifus.
* FantasticRacism: In Part 1, Peach bans anime from the Mushroom Kingdom... including anime characters and anime-inspired Visual Novel characters like Saiko, due to Bob's KamehameHadoken destroying her castle, which causes more anime-induced acts of destruction called "The Anime Crisis". Saiko then has to flee for her life for much of Part 1 because of this.
** [[SubvertedTrope Axol subverts this.]] [[AllOfTheOtherReindeer Despite having plenty of reasons to detest the Inklings and use them as fuel for his pen,]] [[NiceGuy Axol]] doesn't seem to hold that much of a grudge for his childhood bullying.
*** Francis, meanwhile, has '''NO''' qualms kidnapping and draining the ink of half a species, potentially killing them, to fuel his lust for power and waifus, [[AMillionIsAStatistic writing them off as mere collateral.]]
* FireForgedFriends: This arc, in case you had doubts about [[VitriolicBestBuds Mario's friend group actually liking each other]], establishes that this RagtagBandOfMisfits can actually be a BadassCrew, even joined by former enemies for it.
* ForWantOfANail: The death of Desti and all of Part 2 can be attributed to this trope. With [[UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom Fishy Boopkins]] revealing how Inkweaver works to the Anime Cartel while unbanning Anime in the Mushroom Kingdom, its leader [[Videogame/SuperPaperMario Francis]] decides to kidnap all the Inklings, including [[ActionGirl Meggy]]. This leads to Desti finding that Meggy's team was too easy to defeat in the Splatfest competition, convincing her to help find Meggy. During the trip to Anime Island, she herself gets kidnapped and abducted there. In it, she and Meggy tried to break out but was seized by [[Franchise/DragonBall False Goku]]. Just as she assisted the gang in breaking free, she was killed by [[Franchise/FinalFantasy False Sephiroth]].
* FugitiveArc: Essentially sums up the cast's position for Part 1, especially [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold Saiko,]] since the Anime Ban has her [[PersonaNonGrata forced to flee the Mushroom Kingdom]].
* HeelFaceTurn: [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen Peach,]] having ordered the ban and formed the [[FunWithAcronyms Anime Secret Service]] to begin with to enforce the ban, [[TalkingTheMonstertoDeath is shown that anime isn't all bad,]] and peacefully removes the ban.
** [=SMG4=] himself starts the arc as a HeroAntagonist, having promised Peach to curb the group's shenanigans and joining the Anime Secret Service as part of this. However, when [[EtTuBrute Chris and Swagmaster betray him,]] [[ShootTheHostage he's taken hostage by Mario and Boopkins,]] [[EveryoneHasStandards and discovers Saiko's position as a]] PersonaNonGrata, [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere he almost immediately renounces the A.S.S. and joins the heroes.]]
** [[CanonImmigrant Chris and Swagmaster,]] first introduced properly to Mario and company as antagonists and having spent the first half of the arc as enforcers of the Anime Secret Service [[ContinuityNod partially out of revenge]] for the [[Recap/SMG4MariosPrisonEscape heroes costing them their original jobs,]] [[EnemyMine ultimately join forces with the heroes when anime characters go kidnapping Inklings and Octolings left and right,]] and [[FireForgedFriends later become friendlier to Mario and company because of it.]]
** Desti, [[TheRival Meggy's rival,]] also joins forces with the gang to rescue her rival. [[HeelFaceDoorSlam Unfortunately, we don't see her becoming a full-time hero since she dies in the second-to-last episode.]]
* HumanityEnsues: A combination of Meggy sacrificing all of her ink and getting hit by Replica Goku Blue's ki blast turns her into an anime girl.
* JerkWithAHeartOfJerk: Francis was shown to at least have some semi-decent moments in part 1, and mostly wanted anime unbanned like everyone else. Come part 2, he's far off the deep end.
* KilledOffForReal: Both Desti and Francis meet their ends permanently during "Final Hours". Desti dies from being backstabbed from Replica Sephiroth during "World War Mario", which is then confired at the end of the episode, while Francis is left for dead in one of his own Ink-Zucker machines as his Replica Goku Blue self-destructs and takes all of Anime Island with it.
* LackOfEmpathy: Francis was the first ArcVillain to have no remorse for anything he did.
* LampshadeHanging: Once anime is banned, Luigi wonders if the ban will have any major consequences and [[DisasterDominoes spark a series of huge events.]] Come the second part, [[ProperlyParanoid he ends up being right]].
-->'''Mario:''' Nah, it's probably nothing!
* NonActionBigBad: Peach was responsible for banning anime, but she lets the A.S.S. do all the work.
* NothingIsTheSameAnymore: Perhaps the biggest by far; Desti is KilledOffForReal and Meggy the Inkling has been turned into an anime girl.
* OnceMoreWithClarity: The first shot of "The Inkling Disappearances" (even before the Glitch Productions logo) is an ominous clip of Axol (who some of the characters theorized to be the culprit of the titular kidnappings in the previous episode) opening his eyes in what seems like a TraitorShot backed by DramaticWind. The end of the episode reveals that this was Axol waking up chained to a wall in the same prison as Meggy. {{Lampshaded|Trope}} by the episode's [[FunWithSubtitles captions]].
--> '''Start of episode''': "Wait, was it Axol that did it?"
--> '''End of episode''': "We see our main antagonist of this arc once more. Look at him, so evil, so diaboli-- wait what the!?!"
* PluckyComicRelief: Swag and Chris serve as this, as they’re the sources of most of the comedy during the darkest episodes of the arc.
* ProperlyParanoid: Tari's bad premonitions about the Anime Cartel in "Mario's Lemonade Stand" later prove to be 100% correct in the second part of the Arc.
* RescueArc: The second half of the Anime Arc is this played as straight as possible for the [=SMG4-=]Marioverse, with [[ActionGirl Meggy]] [[BadassInDistress being the victim.]]
* TraumaCongaLine: This arc was far from kind for any of our heroes, but [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold Saiko]] and [[BrokenAce Meggy]] got hit the hardest.
** Saiko had to [[YouCantGoHomeAgain flee the country for reasons beyond her control,]] discovered one of her friends was kidnapped, briefly consider someone who helped her get her citizenship back was [[BaitTheDog using her for his own plans,]] had to deal with being the OnlySaneWoman for most of the second half of the arc, watched as someone else she trusted turn out to be a [[MadScientist perverted, power-hungry monster,]] lost a potential friend who was not so different from her, and the first aforementioned friend nearly die and worried at the end that her efforts had been AllForNothing.
** Meanwhile, [[BrokenAce Meggy]] was blown off for nearly three episodes by Mario and Tari, fought a gang war just to save her TooDumbToLive companions, became a DrillSergeantNasty with TrainingFromHell in response to her insecurities of being unable to win, loses her weapons for an entire episode, is forced to donate some of her ink and time to save her AbsurdPhobia in order to help her friend Saiko end the anime ban, gets kidnapped and tortured for her ink to help fulfill the BigBad's fetish, watches her rival be murdered right in front of her, and endures one more round in the Ink Zuccer to defeat Francis and nearly died for her efforts. Hell, she has full-blown SurvivorsGuilt in later episodes, and [[HumanityEnsues even changed species,]] [[BoomerangBigot forced to live the rest of her life as an anime girl!]]
* TokenEvilTeammate: [[DeconstructedTrope Deconstructed like you wouldn't BELIEVE with Francis.]] Whenever the group [[TeethClenchedTeamwork was forced to work with Francis and the Anime Cartel,]] [[FromBadtoWorse the Otaku chameleon only escalated the problem of the week and did more harm than good.]] Furthermore, the arc would have ended with [[Recap/SMG4MarioSavesAnime "Mario Saves Anime"]] [[NiceJobBreakingItHero had Fishy Boopkins kept his mouth shut about Inkweaver around Francis.]] Later, Francis becomes the BigBad and [[FinalSolution nearly kills an entire species]] [[EvilIsPetty just for his anime fetish.]]
** Downplayed with Desti. She's more of a JerkWithAHeartOfGold, wanting to beat Meggy properly, which is why she teams up with the heroes to rescue her rival.
* TookALevelInKindness: This arc brings out the heroic side of Saiko. The same goes for Desti in the second half, [[RedemptionEqualsDeath even if she does end up getting killed]].
* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: Bob for the first part, thanks to his Kamehameha destroying Peach's castle and kick-starting a full-scale Anime Crisis and starting the Anime ban, and Boopkins for the second, telling how the Inkweaver works to the Anime Cartel while unbanning Anime in the Mushroom Kingdom causes their leader Francis to steal the Inkweaver, Axol and the Inklings to create an island of anime waifus.
* VillainHasAPoint: Surprisingly, almost every villain of this arc, at some point or another, actually DOES have a justified grievance.
** '''[[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen Peach:]]''' Peach instilled the ban, not just because [[NeverMyFault Bob]] [[KamehameHadouken blew up her castle]] and blamed [[Franchise/DragonBall Goku]] for it, but other folks inspired by Bob and Boopkins' Anime Challenge also caused chaos between episodes. As the ruler of the Mushroom Kingdom, she had to respond to the crisis caused by the idiots she lets hang out at her castle. [[EveryoneHasStandards She even is willing to let Boopkins, Mario, and Axol make a case when they approach her.]]
*** Peach also, [[RightForTheWrongReasons intentionally or not,]] was right about anime being a source of violence. Especially when, almost immediately after she steps down as BigBad, [[EvilPowerVacuum Francis slides in,]] [[DistressedDude snatches up Axol and Inkweaver,]] [[DoomedHometown abducts at least half of Inkopolis' population]] [[WouldHurtAChild including CHILDREN and teenagers]] ([[BadassInDistress Meggy being among them]]), and would subject the Inklings to ColdBloodedTorture [[FinalSolution and nearly kills them all to harness their ink...]] [[EvilIsPetty all to fulfill his anime fetishes.]] [[NotHelpingYourCase Not to mention that Francis has most of the anime characters he creates]] [[SociopathicSoldier act like incredibly violent soldiers.]]
** '''[[StarterVillain SMG4:]]''' Peach lets him use her Secret Slide Room in her castle as his editing room, so he needs to do better by her to keep his channel afloat and thus [[PunchClockVillain joins up with the Anime Secret Service]] to do so. Furthermore, stupid law or not, [[VillainProtagonist Mario and Boopkins]] were actually breaking the law [[SympatheticInspectorAntagonist he was trying to enforce]] by trying to smuggle anime.
** '''Chris and Swagmaster:''' [[Recap/SMG4MariosPrisonEscape Mario, Luigi, Boopkins, and Bob's escape from prison]] before the arc [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome actually cost the two their previous jobs. They're even reluctant to help the cast at all at first for the second half of the arc because the disbandment of the A.S.S. once again left them unemployed]].
** '''[[FillerVillain Jeeves:]]''' Mario and Tari set up a small, rival business venture [[FailedASpotCheck right in front of his Milk Emporium.]] Considering [[Recap/SMG4MarioGoesToTheFridgeToGetAGlassOfMilk the start of the 2019 season,]] Jeeves was being lenient with Mario's shenanigans and polite for ruining his previous milk venture by [[StatingTheSimpleSolution simply asking Mario to move his lemonade stand elsewhere.]] He only got violent when [[TooDumbToLive Mario refused,]] and [[TheDon Francis]] [[FromBadToWorse was the one who escalated the conflict to a gang war.]]
** '''[[TheMobBossIsScarier Francis:]]''' Due to [[NiceJobBreakingItHero Mario and Boopkins losing his shipment of products,]] [[HeroAntagonist SMG4 getting in the way,]] [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere and Bob fleeing with his merchandise]], [[YouHaveFailedMe all four of them are lucky that he just forces them to work for him to make up for the amount of money they cost him.]]
*** [[BrokenPedestal He also is justifiably angry that Axol]] [[ButNowIMustGo decides to just leave after saving Anime in the Mushroom Kingdom]]. [[AlternateCharacterInterpretation Whether Axol found his work was done]] or just finding Francis and the Anime Cartel [[StalkerWithoutACrush creepily obsessed with him]], just leaving immediately after [[HeelFaceTurn Peach changed her mind about anime]] was kind of a dick move. Axol also never gave Francis a reason as to WHY he couldn't just create a waifu or two for Francis, thus inspiring Francis to kidnap him, Meggy, and half of Inkopolis.
** '''[[TheRival Desti:]]''' [[CheatersNeverProsper As horrible as it is to sabotage Meggy's team in any way she can,]] Desti IS a fellow competitor against Meggy in the Splatfests, and she wants to keep a leg up on her as best as she could. [[ElephantInTheLivingRoom Not to mention that due to her status]] [[FantasticRacism as an Octoling,]] Desti was probably not going to be favored to win.
*** [[ProperlyParanoid She was also proved right to be concerned]] about [[BunnyEarsLawyer Axol,]] [[RightForTheWrongReasons but not specifically because of his]] [[DarkAndTroubledPast mistreatment by the inklings.]] [[SheepInSheepsClothing Axol's a sweetheart,]] it's just that [[ArtifactOfDoom Inkweaver in the wrong hands is dangerous.]] Those hands, of course, being [[BigBad Francis'.]]
* WarArc: The last two episodes of the arc are this mixed into the RescueArc. [[CharacterDeath And no war is without its casualties....]]
* YourPrincessIsInAnotherCastle: Ironically, it's the very princess this trope is named after who prompts this trope! Peach unbans anime just in time for Splatfest, where our heroes have unfinished business before they finally move on with their lives...or so they think.
