Meggy's Bootcamp (SMG4 Bloopers)

Meggy's Bootcamp is the thirteenth episode of the ninth season by SMG4. This is the fifth episode of The Anime Arc. It was aired on April 13, 2019.

Synopsis
Meggy pushes Mario, Tari and Luigi to their limits as she puts them through intense, Splatoon style training.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) Meggy is depicted to be very unlikeable in this episode, since she almost puts the entire gang through a death filled obstacle course they clearly can barely do and yells at them for anytime they flip up.
 * 2) The title alone really stretches it, considering the word bootcamp, which is basically a military training camp for new recruits, with strict discipline, and it shows through Meggy's very strict actions with the others throughout part of the episode.
 * 3) In a way, Meggy is also somewhat out-of-character here. While it is known that she always pursued winning Splatfest, she is shown to be far more harsh and uncaring than her usual self (as mentioned in BQ #1). This is definitely a stark contrast to some of her other appearances, where she is at least shown to care about the needs of her friends, even with the desire to win Splatfest.
 * 4) * Considering she is also supposedly one of the more mature characters in the cast, it also doesn't do favors that she is far more immature than usual, throwing a fit about her friends not doing well in her training course. And this was before she was traumatized in the next half of the Anime Arc! (when she was nearly killed by Francis and later scarred witnessing Desti's death)
 * 5) It is never explained why Meggy's old teammates (Kenji and Sam) left. As such, this episode feels more like a plot excuse for some of the main chaarcters to take the spotlight alongside Meggy and just scrap the other characters.
 * 6) After everything doesn't exactly go way it's intended, the writers do a poor job at making the audience sympathize with Meggy. While she does realize the error of her ways (see GQ #3), she is forgiven way too easily in this episode by Mario, Luigi, and Tari. All she did was give a very weak apology after making them suffer through her obstacle course (which almost killed them) and throwing a fit about them not doing it right.
 * 7) * It doesn't exactly help that she would be depicted in a bad light again such as There's Something Up With Meggy..., Boys vs Girls, Food Wars, etc. Thus making her apology age very poorly and instead feels like she made it just to make an excuse for herself. Funny enough, she actually apologized before in If Mario was in... Splatoon 2, showing that she's willing to do this more than once.
 * 8) After the whole poorly executed apology, all of a sudden everything just goes incredibly well as if hardly anything beforehand happened, which comes off quite unrealistic in a way.
 * 9) This somewhat makes Meggy's statement at the ending to Mario's Lemonade Stand (two episodes ago, in the same arc) hypocritical as in that episode, she complains over how childish Francis and Jeeves are acting with the whole lemonade stand yet here she acts overly childish for a bunch of petty things, such as her desire to win Splatfest so badly.

Good Qualities

 * 1) After Meggy's apology with Mario and the others, the second half of the video isn't exactly too bad, albeit its flaws. If anything, the scenes involving Desti were pretty entertaining.
 * 2) Meggy felt remorse for what she did to her friends, even going as far as acknowledging she's "losing sight of herself" and calling herself a disappointment. While the buildup to this moment is rather poorly executed and practically contradicted (see BQ #5), the sad scene where Meggy breaks into tears is very heartbreaking.
 * 3) Mario, Luigi, and Tari are still likable characters.
 * 4) This video also shows that Meggy does care greatly for her friends, as she later admits that training means nothing if she losing her friends in the process. Alhough her actions throughout the video aren't enough to fully excuse her for being overly cruel, she does own up to her harshness and learns from her mistakes in the end.
 * 5) *Additionally, she made the training easier later on, and became much more relaxed and supportive again.
 * 6) While this is also out-of-character for him, Mario giving Meggy his spaghetti after she breaks down in tears can also be very heartwarming as well. This even more symbolizes that Mario deeply cares for his friends, as later on the Anime Arc, he would later express concern for Meggy's safety after being kidnapped, and would tell her that he would always have her back after she breaks down again during Desti's funeral.
 * 7) Despite BQ #5, in the season 11 episode Mario vs. YouTubers, it is revealed that Mario is scared of Meggy's training, when Meggy tries to train him for the YouTube tournament. This shows Mario still hasn't fully forgave her for her actions in this episode.
 * 8) The second part of the story, The Mario Showdown, is better-written and has more action.

Reception
While being nowhere as controversial as episodes like Mario Joins The Circus or Boys vs Girls, this episode did receive criticisms on Meggy's character being harsh, as well as her redemption and sadness being half-baked. This video is typically considered the weakest episode in The Anime Arc. It is also worth noting that while The Anime Arc did receive positive to mixed reception from fans, this video is one of the reasons opinions are swayed on the arc as a whole.

Trivia

 * The sound clip used when Meggy starts crying was also used in Doki Doki Mario Club when Saiko breaks down crying. The clip is taken from the Japanese dub of Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild when Princess Zelda breaks down crying in "Memory 16".