@Gliblord:
But the difference there is that Skypiea was actually good. Whereas this whole Elite 4 thing was underwhelming..
That's because yo're looking at it form the wrong angle.
The way I saw it, pretty much ALL of tha main characters battles were pretty mcuh part of a long training arc, before she could fight the big bad, Ragyo(I didn't know that was her name at the time, but I DID know, form when they first mentioend the family, that THEY were the big bads, not Statsuki.
That and. . .I saw Gurann lagann. It seems to me that the cretors have been developing the elite four with the intend of them teaming up with the main character
Look at the colors they wear. . .
If you know about the super sentai thing, then you'd know what I'm talking about
But yeah, obviously Satsuki didn't kill anyone, that was apparent from the begining, and its obvious that Satsuki wants to groom the main character in helping her take down the big bad.
As the main char has a Kamui - and can use it well. . .(better than Satsuki can) its obvious that Satsuki sees potential to help her in her cause against the big bads.
but of course, the main character is weak, unexperienced in battle and would just get wiped out if Satsuki told her who the main culprit was. . .as the main character would just charge at them and get destroyed.
So yes this is a training arc. . .not just for the main character but for the "elite four" as well.
I know you've noticed that Satsuki has been
a) lenient in not putting the elite four members "on the bus" - this has been mentioned many times by characters throughout the story.
b)constantly consulting with her reasearch depertment whenever there's a loss.
it's obvious that she wants eveyrone to get stronger. . .
So yeah, the elite four arc does have a purpose and is not filler. I can tell you its not filler because they didn't go through the rematch of the blind dude again, and instead put in a glimpse of the "big bads" that the story has been leading up to. . .I"m pretty sure someone has mentioned this in some form, as it is a predictable story structure, but predictable in a good way, as it leaves the door open to provide for creative "twists" in the story.
I think it would be a good idea if you just paid a little more attention to what is going on so that you can critisize the show for what it actually does wrong - there are a few things, they do wrong, that no one really has mentioned (and I'm not goinh to start here as it will take too long to type.)
But yeah, your critisicms aren't really valid in THIS aspect of the show. (especially since they've been spoonfeeding the above to the audience the whole time…which is part of the flaws I'm referring to)