Are episodic anime good? or should anime not be episodic for serious story?

In my opinion episodic Anime don't mix well with a serious story.  It makes it to predictable most of the time. That's no good for a serious story right? Well not all of the time. Usually episodic Anime work well with Comedy like in "My Ordinary Life".

By... "TheAwsome"

I personally get bored of episodic content. The main reason I watch anime over american TV. I've actually seen some decent episodic anime series in the past and I did enjoy them, but I found myself quickly getting bored.

One of the best examples is Case Closed which is an outstanding series but after a while into the series they stopped progressing plot and the series just became completely episodic. I made it around 90 episodes in hoping for some progressing but finally gave up knowing that 500+ episodes later he was still a kid.

Yeah, same. I get bored so easily. I dropped AIURA because of this. It's only 4 mins long, so I was thinking why not watch it? However, by the 8th episode, I thought why am I watching this? It's so boring.

I usually have to be in the mood for episodic anime and that is only when I can't find an anime that interests me. I also have to have nothing else to do.

I have very mixed feelings about this subject because like most of you say that those anime that do use episodic tend to fall flat on its face on story most of the time. Granted I still love some of those episodic anime like Cowboy Bebop and Mushishi. I just feel more compel to watch anime with more seriousness added to them than episodic. Although episodic do does something different than most anime and that is usually focusing on the world around the character. I could be wrong. 

Not sure I would consider Cowboy Bebop that episodic. Like many series each episode can stand alone but the story does progress with each episode as well through each of the character's individual stories. Mushishi tends to be a bit more episodic. That may be way I never really could get into it.

Really it just depends on how it's done. A series like Kino's Journey can be consider episodic but it's extremely well done, though short. You do get a sense of the character being more and more developed each episode. I would even go out to say an episodic anime with outstanding character progression could easily win over a series with a good plot but little to no character progression.

 I just wanted to say that I like that aspect. That if an episode can stand pretty much alone the Anime could be considered episodic. That's a nice way to look at it. But as you said not all episodic Anime are bad.

By... "TheAwsome"

I would still consider Cowboy Bebop episodic because it has the elements of episodic in it. For example in almost all of the episodes it focuses on the main characters catching a bounty. Furthermore,  the story kind of hangs on for awhile until many episode 5 where spike fights vicious and then later in episode 12-13 deals with vicisous again. Towards the end of it we finally understand spike past more. Although there was series of episodies in the anime that focused on one of the character's background but still focused on catching a bounty for the most part.

Anyway, I'm talking too much about Cowboy Bebop. It does bring up a good point about episodic anime and that they generally have some sort of gimmick in the series like for cowboy bebop it was catching a bounty in every episode. In Mushishi it was about collecting the mushi and discovering the problem of the mushi. In this sense most episodic anime don't really have a plot or drag on the plot for the most part. Sorry for the long ramble, I had to think for once. 

 Agreed. In animes like 'Sket Dance' episodic sections work well because it doesn't take you out of the immersion of the story. It really feels like just another episode since the entire show doesn't follow a consistent plot. But in any show which has a long continuous plotline, or even a semi-serious, shortone, it can actually break the immersion.

In a show like 'Bleach' most people just end up skipping it or waiting until the part is over. I feel that I lost release dates with episodes that did not matter one lick to the series. In some cases I stopped watching the show entirely and just waited a few months to pick it back up after hearing if it had anything to do with the storyline.

Then again it might have something to offer, even if it's just a reference, in something bigger. Take Haruhi for example. We all know the notorious time loop episodes. It's almost like starting a new character in DA:Origins and having to redo the mage tower. But, for me, having it referenced in the movie gave me some sort of commitment. As opposed to my friend who watched the first 5 episodes of the loop and gave up on the series, only to have me tell him that there was one or two episodes left in it. Regardless how I feel about it, my friend had given up on the series nonetheless.

So long, drawn out answer short, I feel in a serious anime this is a huge deal breaker for me. I'd rather have a recap episode than a filler episode.