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STOP IT. THIS IS NOT OKIE-DOKIE. "STOP IT. THIS IS NOT OKIE-DOKIE."

The Anime Arc is a highly controversial story arc among the SMG4 fanbase.

Reason: Divisive tone and outcome, Desti's death, and split opinions regarding Meggy and her redesign in the finale.

Mario and friends pay the ultimate price in a war waged against anime.

—Official Description

The Anime Arc is a science fiction action-adventure comedy-drama story arc on SMG4's channel. It is the third major story arc on SMG4's channel after The Waluigi Arc and The Rapper Bob Arc. It is a series of videos by SMG4 that are part of a story involving the Anime Crisis, which serves as the main storyline of the arc. The crisis involved two major events: Firstly, Peach's banning of all anime after Bob Bobowski destroys her castle and, secondly, a wide-scale kidnapping of Inklings orchestrated by Francis and the Anime Cartel.

The Arc is divided into two chapters. Some episodes of the arc also share some of its plots with a subplot involving Meggy Spletzer training for the Splatfest. It features the deaths of two major characters, those being Desti and Francis.

It is the only major story arc in Season 9 and 2019, though it is referenced by bloopers in the rest of Season 9 and in Season 10. Spanning 12 episodes across 3 months, it is tied in length with Genesis Arc, and the first arc to have two plots with two viewpoints, as well as the first arc to have two major antagonists. It is preceded by The Rapper Bob Arc and followed by the The YouTube Arc.

It was recapped intentionally poorly in SMG4: Mario's Magical TV. The Splatfest subplot was also fully resolved in the feature film Meggy's Destiny.

Warning! This article contains spoilers. Continue reading at your own risk. If you want to see the list of episodes, go here.

Synopsis[]

The first chapter has Peach declare a ban on anime after one of Mario and friends' shenanigans destroyed her castle and form the Anime Secret Service (A.S.S.) to crack down on weeb-related activities, therefore initiating the aforementioned Anime Crisis. SMG4 and his friends go to Japan and team up with manga artist, Axol, to lift the anime ban.

The second chapter is Meggy, along with thousands of other Inklings, getting kidnapped by Francis, the Anime Cartel, and Axol's anime creations, who also held Axol hostage. A battle was then started, and as a result, Desti was killed.

Plot[]

In the first part of the story, Princess Peach gets anime banned after the events of SMG4: Mario and the Anime Challenge. Mario, Saiko, Bob Bobowski, SMG4, Fishy Boopkins, Axol, and Francis have to work together and team up to get it back, but there is Chris, SwagMaster, and the entire A.S.S. agency (Anime Secret Service) against them. Meggy wasn't really helping at first, due to her hatred of anime and the fact that she’s too busy training for the Splatfest, but after learning that Saiko couldn't stay during the ban, she decides to help them.

After the anime ban is lifted and the A.S.S. are disbanded, the second part of the story begins, where SMG4 and the gang can now focus on their training for the Splatfest, but things go south when they discover that Meggy was kidnapped. To make matters worse, every other Inkling as well as Axol has been kidnapped as well. All the while, the kidnapper is revealed to be Francis and his Anime Cartel in which their main goal is for Francis to use the Inklings' ink to supercharge the Inkweaver to create a waifu paradise for himself. The SMG4 crew, knowing they were going to need help if they wanted to rescue Meggy from Anime Island, convinces Chris Gordman and Swagmaster69696969696 to order the last members of the A.S.S. to form a coalitionary force to storm Anime Island.

As a result, the Battle of Anime Island was initiated by A.S.S. agents opening fire on the shores of Anime Island and had caused many agents (and anime characters) to lose their lives in the fighting. Meanwhile, Meggy and Axol were saved by the allied forces, but Desti was killed due to being impaled by False Sephiroth's Masamune. Despite the SMG4 team's best efforts, they couldn't stop Francis from unleashing Super Saiyan God Goku. Seeing that her friends were overpowered and helpless, Meggy ordered Axol to re-activate The Ink Zuccer 2000 to drain all her ink to power the Inkweaver, despite Saiko's protests. With this, Axol summoned Ultra-Instinct Shaggy to destroy Super Saiyan God Goku while Saiko threw Francis in a mini ink zuccer and zucced him to his death. Shaggy saved the SMG4 team and the inklings from Super Saiyan God Goku exploding, destroying Anime Island and killing Francis and the rest of the Anime Cartel as well, before recovering Meggy, who was transformed into an human by The Ink Zuccer 2000.

With the Anime Crisis over, the SMG4 team, among other characters, visited Desti's funeral. As the attendees saluted to her, Meggy promised that she would win the Splatfest for her.

Episodes[]

Pre-Arc[]

  • SMG4: If Mario Was In... Splatoon minor
  • SMG4: AREA 64
  • SMG4: Mario waits for pizza minor
  • SMG4: If Mario Was In... Splatoon 2
  • SMG4: The Mario Carnival
  • SMG4: Mario Goes to the Fridge to Get a Glass Of Milk
  • SMG4: Mario's Prison Escape

Main Episodes[]

Part 1: The Anime Ban[]

No. In Arc or
Lore
Title Card Title Airdate
1 File:SMG4 Mario and the Anime Challenge Mario and the Anime Challenge March 16, 2019
Mario and friends have a contest on who can be the most weeb. Who do you think won?
2 File:SMG4 Mario's Illegal Operation Mario's Illegal Operation March 23, 2019
Anime has been banned in the Mushroom Kingdom! What will Mario and Boopkins do for that sweet 2D?
3 File:SMG4 Mario's Lemonade Stand Mario's Lemonade Stand March 30, 2019
Mario opens up a lemonade stand to make some money... only things don't go as planned.
4 File:SMG4 The Japan Trip The Japan Trip April 6, 2019
SMG4 and friends spend a day in Japan... but things don't go exactly as planned.
5 File:SMG4 Meggy's Bootcamp Meggy's Bootcamp April 13, 2019
Meggy pushes Mario, Tari and Luigi to their limits as she puts them through intense, Splatoon style training.
6 File:SMG4 The Mario Showdown The Mario Showdown April 20, 2019
Mario and friends team up to fight a growing threat. But... they may prove to be too strong for them!
7 File:SMG4 Mario Saves Anime Mario Saves Anime April 27, 2019
It's time... time to unban anime.

Part 2: The Missing Inklings and the Battle of Anime Island[]

8 File:SMG4 The Splatfest Incident The Splatfest Incident May 4, 2019
Finally, Splatfest day has come! But wait... things are... different?
9 File:SMG4 The Inkling Disappearances The Inkling Disappearances May 11, 2019
Meggy is missing. What lengths will Mario, SMG4 and friends go to find her?!
10 File:SMG4 Mario And The Experiment Mario and the Experiment May 25, 2019
Mario and friends are off to save Meggy. But what has happened to her?
11 File:SMG4-SMG4 World War Mario World War Mario June 1, 2019
Mario and friends storm Anime Island in an attempt to rescue Meggy & Desti.
12 File:SMG4 Final Hours Final Hours June 8, 2019
The grand finale to the anime arc. What a crazy journey this has all been. We sincerely hope you all enjoyed it. Back to regular videos next week.

Post-Arc[]

  • SMG4: Mario Does The Chores Post-Arc Beginning
  • SMG4: Mario Works at Mcdonalds
  • SMG4: Stupid Mario Maker 2
  • SMG4: There's Something Up With Meggy...
  • SMG4: A Day In The Life Of Everyone
  • SMG4: Treasure Hunt With The Bois
  • SMG4: Mario and The Lost City...
  • SMG4: The Day SMG4 Posted Cringe
  • SMG4: The Minecraft Plague
  • SMG4: The Grand Festival
  • SMG4: Mario School Club
  • SMG4: Bowser Loses Custody Of His Children
  • SMG4: Mario's Magical TV represented poorly
  • SMG4 Movie: Meggy's Destiny post-arc ending

Related[]

Trivia[]

  • This is the first arc on SMG4's channel:
    • To not to have a character's name in the title.
    • To follow two different viewpoints until SMG4: The Mario Showdown.
    • To have two parts, with the first about un-banning anime and the second about rescuing Meggy, Axol, Desti, and the Inklings from the Anime Cartel.
    • In which Bowser does not play a role. However, Bowser is present at Desti's funeral in SMG4: Final Hours, albeit without a speaking role.
    • To have a character or multiple characters officially killed, those being Desti, who was impaled to death by False Sephiroth's Masamune and Francis who was, at the end of the arc, in that same episode, absorbed by the Ink Zuccer 2000 and exploded from Super Saiyan God Goku's self-destruct which destroyed Anime Island along with everyone who was still on the island.
    • In which an antagonist is not redeemed, with Francis instead being killed in an explosion.
  • Hideo Kojima appeared in almost every single episode, usually briefly, most likely as a reference to him being born in Japan where anime is popular.
  • During the first two episodes of the arc, it was originally entitled the anime prohibition arc but was later renamed.
  • Also in the beginning of the arc, this was going to remove Saiko at first but was changed.
  • This arc did not have an episode on May 18 as this is due to the fact that SMG4 released his Collaboration Special special on May 18 to commemorate his channel having 3 million subscribers.
  • The anime ban in the arc is probably inspired by the Article 13 of the Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market, or the European Union's meme ban, which has tech firms responsible to take down any content posted without permission. Coincidentally, just like the anime ban, Article 13 failed.
  • After the events of SMG4: The Splatfest Incident, the channel banner had a hole where Meggy's face is.
    • After the events of SMG4: Final Hours, the channel banner was changed again to feature only Mario and SMG4.
      • Later, before the release of SMG4: A Day In The Life Of Everyone, the channel was renovated to be renamed SMG4 // Glitch Productions and the channel banner was updated yet again to feature the main cast on the left side (with Meta Runner characters on the right side and Luke Lerdwichagul, Kevin and the Glitch Productions logo in the center), including Human Meggy and Axol.
  • This is widely regarded as the second darkest arc in the series only behind the Genesis Arc, due to a genuinely serious villain, high stakes, the first permanent death and a bunch of scenes that are actually played for horror.
  • As of April 2023, this is currently the longest arc on the channel, with the foundations of it being set up in much earlier videos.
  • Much like The Waluigi Arc, it deals with a character being permanently altered from what they were before as a lasting consequence, with Waluigi retaining his new powers even after his reformation, and Meggy being drained completely of her ink, becoming an anime-esque human girl as a result, much to her horror.
  • This arc contains depressing, darkest, and traumatizing themes which also includes someone dying seriously at the end of the arc.
  • This is the first arc where a character (Meggy) gets redesigned at the finale episode. The second will be The Lawsuit Arc, also this is the last standalone arc until that said arc as the next arc will be a part of The SMG4 Cosmology Lore.
  • According to SMG4 and Kevin in the video About the Anime Arc, the arc was originally supposed to be focused on Fishy Boopkins. He was also supposed to be part of the Anime Cartel from the video SMG4: Mario's Illegal Operation.
  • The Anime Arc is the most prominent story arc in the series as there are numerous references in post-arc episodes, including in movies like Meggy's Destiny and Western Spaghetti. Events from the Waluigi Arc and The Rapper Bob Arc are barely mentioned again.
  • This is the first arc on SMG4's channel to end on a bittersweet note, considering the fact that, while Francis and the Anime Cartel were defeated and all the inklings were saved, everyone attended Desti's funeral. The second was Genesis Arc in which after Eldritch Ax0l/Niles was defeated (although it only caused him and SMG0 to be separated and made Niles latch on Melony while SMG0 was sent back into the depths of the God Box which started the Revelations Arc) and the universe was saved, Axol has been killed and died.
  • Technically speaking, Bob Bobowski was the one who started the arc in the first place, as his anime-inspired recklessness is what destroyed Peach's Castle and caused Peach to ban anime in the first place.
  • In a way, Boopkins was at fault for the second half of the Anime Arc, due to him mentioning the workings of Inkweaver to the Anime Cartel, who proceeded to kidnap all the Inklings and eventually led to the death of Desti.
  • According to 2019 Was The Biggest Year Of My Life, Luke said that originally, Axol was supposed to be the villain of the arc that involved the kidnapping of the Inklings but could not find a good reason for his motives. So he and Kevin eventually made Axol a hero and gave that idea to Francis instead. It was until the Genesis Arc where Axol played as a villain, albeit possessed by Niles/Eldritch SMGO.
  • Despite banning anime in the first place, Peach had very minimal screen time, appearing in only three episodes with SMG4: Mario Saves Anime being her only speaking appearance. She doesn’t even appear at Desti’s funeral.
  • This is the only official arc to not include a musical number of some kind, as the Waluigi Arc, Youtube Arc, Genesis Arc and the Lawsuit Arc had a rap battle during WOTFI, and The Rapper Bob Arc had the Ultimate Diss Track and Darkest Hour.
  • This is one of the only three arcs to not have a WOTFI as the finale, the other being The Rapper Bob Arc and Revelations Arc.
  • This is currently the only arc that did not end with an annual special episode since The Waluigi Arc, The YouTube Arc, The Genesis Arc and The Lawsuit Arc ended with a War of the Fat Italians episode, The Rapper Bob Arc ended with a Christmas Special and The Revelations Arc ended with a movie.
    • However, the final episode hold the record for the longest regular episode (that isn't part of an another series or isn't a movie).

Characters[]

Main Characters[]

Major Characters[]

Minor Characters[]

Gallery[]

Template:The Anime Arc

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