Is this show episodic or serial?

[TheAnimatorOfficial 567]

In a way it's actually both. You can treat it as an episodic show with all the slice of life stories mixed in, but also serial since there is a continuing arc occurring.

[Prospekt 11,020]

I agree that it's both. There are clear slice of life stories, but there are also individual character arcs as well as a collective arc of the Mane 6.

[Steve Piranha 29,432]

Yeap, both. Is mostly slice of life, but there are episodes that wuild up to something there and there, and past events are constantly brought up 

[Marimo 555]

It's episodic. Serials has a continuous plot that continues episode-by-episode. Episodic is when each episode is pretty much its own story. That doesn't mean these episodes can't make use of continuity or build on something a previous episode did, but these are small instances in the grand scheme of the show's format. Like Star Trek The Next Generation was mainly episodic, even though it did have continuity and arcs.

[Lil Pip 775]

Episodic is good though, but I think a cereal series would be interesting in a new way.

[cmarston1 5,959]

I would say that it is mostly episodic.

[Thrond 3,263]

As much as I can dream about this show becoming more serialized, it's largely episodic and will likely continue to be until the very end. Every episode is a self-contained story even with the character arcs that we see here and there. The most serialized the show has ever been, as far as I remember, was between "Canterlot Boutique" and "Rarity Investigates!", and those episodes had almost nothing to do with each other. 

[TheAnimatorOfficial 567]

Really no cartoon except Samurai Jack and Gravity Falls is serialized anymore but shows like MLP and Adventure Time are more so than SpongeBob.

Edited August 7, 2016 by TheAnimatorOfficial

[Wind Chaser 4,768]

Mainly episodic. Most episodes are intended to have relatively self-contained plots and to be watched in virtually any order. Continuity is more often than not referenced in exposition dumps that enable viewers to know what's going on without having to watch the earlier episodes.

 

The show has tried serialized story arcs, however these are rare, with many unrelated episodes breaking them up, and definitely not as structurally sound as they could be because of the "any order" constraint.

Edited August 7, 2016 by Wind Chaser

[EquestriaGuy 1,074]

It's episerial. It used to be episodic, but 6 seasons of development has molded the show in a direction that each episode has the potential for measurable, serial progression.

[snowflame 189]

It is like Friends where episodes can both be viewed individually or as part of bigger storylines.