Pokemon Anime General Discussion

[Soniman]

I'm partial to the Ash pairings where the girl is blatant about her emotions, but is only around for a few episodes. Makes good fanfic material.

Angie and Anabel get top billing in that regard.

 

Ironically, in both of those cases he mistakes both of them for boys.

[buba]

This is the only girl Ash actually gave a shit about and it was only for some seconds.

 

[-blank-]

This is the only girl Ash actually gave a shit about and it was only for some seconds.

 

You know the one thing I remember about that episode? The fact that it's probably the only episode in the entire series that mentioned numbered levels. Yeah, I remember a few episodes making comments such as 'This battle can only take place between two very high level Pokemon', but that that girl in that particular episode actually stated at one point that Pikachu should have been at level 25 by that time.

 

Random rambling, but I find it funny how the early episodes introduced elements that were never spoken of ever again~

[Soniman]

That's what the tropers call "Early Installment Weirdness".

 

For instance, Dexter was actually a pretty snarky Pokedex before than was dropped entirely.

Edited January 8, 2013 by Soniman

[-blank-]

That's what the tropers call "Early Installment Weirdness".

 

For instance, Dexter was actually a pretty snarky Pokedex before than was dropped entirely.

And in 'Bulbasaur's Mysterious Village', we had Brock being shy towards the girl he obviously had a crush on - the complete opposite of how he acted every other time he saw a young woman. And does anyone remember in 'Mystery at the Light House' where it is so casually stated that Ash can exchange Pokemon using this white button in his Pokedex? They never bring that up ever again. Which is just as well, since it seems kind of random and shit.

Edited January 8, 2013 by Special Operative Blaire

[Soniman]

Not to mention I always make a smug face and laugh whenever anyone stated there were only 150 Pokemon that were discovered. Like, there are 100 completely new Pokemon literally right next door to them. Not to mention they apparently never seen Magmar, Electabuz, Jigglypuff, Clefariy, Jynx, or Pikachu ever lay an egg before (instead they compensated by just having miniature Pikachu).

 

 

Man, early Pokemon must have been a retconning nightmare.

Edited January 8, 2013 by Soniman

[-Robin-]

The anime wouldn't have needed to retcon itself if the original idea for the anime was left alone. The show was to go from Kanto, to the Orange Islands, to a Champion League. The End. But the popularity of Gen I and Gen II threw a wrench in that plan, obviously.

[Kuzu]

I'm partial to the Ash pairings where the girl is blatant about her emotions, but is only around for a few episodes. Makes good fanfic material.

Angie and Anabel get top billing in that regard.

 

 

Funnily enough, Anabel had a completely different character in the games.

 

Angie...Angie...I know who you're talkin about...I just can't remember the episode.

[-Robin-]

Angie is the girl from the Pokemon Summer School arc. She also appeared later on as the daughter of the owners of Sinnoh's Day Care Center.

Her parents even formulated wedding plans at the end of Angie's last episode, hilariously.

Edited January 8, 2013 by Obnoxious Celtic Guardian

[SenEDDtor Missile]

Funnily enough, Anabel had a completely different character in the games.

 

Angie...Angie...I know who you're talkin about...I just can't remember the episode.

That one tomboy in the Summer School Arc in the Sinnoh Saga. Where Team Rocket become a bunch of fatasses after the arc is over.

[Kuzu]

Ahh that was it. That was enjoyable. There are too many episodes of this series.

 

 

EDIT: Woah, hold everything. Is Ash blushing in that pic........but....how....why... what?

Edited January 8, 2013 by Ragna the Bloodedge

[-Robin-]

Out of embarrassment over something else.

Gotta love out-of-context pictures.

[Kuzu]

Out of embarrassment over something else.

Gotta love out-of-context pictures.

 

 

It's been a while since I've seen that episode(s)..imagine.

 

 

I notice, the only girls that seem to be the most blatant about their feelings are tomboys.....hmm.

Edited January 8, 2013 by Ragna the Bloodedge

[Soniman]

But like a tomboy, she was incredibly tsundere towards Ash at first.

[Kuzu]

Aren't they all...

[Ferno]

>

 

I, I can't even...what?

[Soniman]

I, I can't even...what?

 

 

This was before Pichu came about, which makes that picture 10x more hilarious.

[-Robin-]

Hey, it could be a Pikachu that had just evolved! :3

A better headscratcher would be this:

I blame clone genetics.

Edited January 8, 2013 by Obnoxious Celtic Guardian

[Kuzu]

Hey, it could be a Pikachu that had just evolved! :3

A better headscratcher would be this:

I blame clone genetics.

 

 

Baby Rhyhorns at least make sense given its the base form, I dunno what the eff is up with Nidoqueen.

[Soniman]

The theory is that since the parents are clones, the genetics got fucked up or something during birth and that's why we have a baby Nidoqueen and not a Nidoran.

Edited January 8, 2013 by Soniman

[-Robin-]

And then it gets wonkier when you realize that Nidoqueen have been unable to breed since the breeding mechanic was introduced.

[Soniman]

You know, I kind of forgot that I watched all the movies when I marathoned the series, so i might as well give my thoughts on those before the memories leave me.

 

The First Movie: A nostalgic but stupid movie. The Pikachu's Vacation short is actually more entertaining than the main event, seeing the gang's Pokemon just relaxing and being themselves was actually pretty nice to see. Still though, this is one of the only of the Pokemon movies that actually "feels" like I could see this in a theatre. It's very grand in its design with a very serious tone to it, and that's not even getting into the original Japanese version which takes it step further. Mewtwo's character is very depressing, obviously due to his upbringing as a clone of Mew, he believes clones are superior to the originals and wants to take over the world with his clone army. Clearly this sounds nothing like a Pokemon movie and more like something you'd hear out of Star Wars. The battle between the clones and the real thing is pretty cool (they don't use special powers or anything). Though It is here that I have to mention the glorious hypocrisy the characters are spouting about how Pokemon fighting is wrong, yeah the main hero characters that forcefully capture other Pokemon against their will and have them battling one another are clearly in the right, what a load of shit. Oh yeah, Ash's death was pretty ham fisted, ESPECIALLY the part where he gives revived by the Pokemon's tears, seriously who actually wrote that scene with a straight face? All I can say is that it's not a very smart movie, but it's still an enjoyable one when it's all sad and done.

 

 

Pokemon 2000: This right here is my favorite Pokemon movie, no questions asked. The scenery, atmosphere, and general mythos is  great. What I enjoyed about the Orange Islands was the whole tropical setting, and  2000 does well in showing that off....well until the bad shit happens. First off, this is probably one of the few times in Pokemon where I actually got the feeling where the entire world was at stake, you actually saw the affects of the cataclysm from different parts of the globe and it gave a better sense of scale moreso than other Pokemon movie that try to use that angle (which instead just opt for localized disasters. Lawerence the Third is an interesting villain and probably the one with the most swag (the man has a floating chapel for god's sake), though his motives are pretty muddy. This was also the first movie to start that fad a lot of other movies like Rise of Darkrai and Destiny Deoxys would follow (the general broad storks being legendary Pokemon beating this shit out of one another). Not to mention the soundtrack is fantastic, with the obvious standout being Lugia's theme that's played in a great sequence near the end.

 

Ash and the gang get a good amount of screen time, I especially enjoyed the affirmation of Ash and Misty's realationship. Meldoy was a fun character with a decent character arc as well as a somewhat consistent and major role through movie. Hahaha, poor Tracey though, the guy got barely any lines at all. Guess that happens when you're treated like the scrappy. Ash is the chosen one (obviously) and he does his best....it's a shame that he needs help every step of the way (his Pokemon, Lugia, and even Team fucking Rocket has to help him out), not really much of a Chosen One.

 

In the end though I still call it my favorite, I just love it to much to not list it as my favorite.

 

Pokemon 3: Another movie that made it into my Top 5. The main character here is Molly who is distraught due to her daddy vanishing into thin air. And so the Unown create a crystal palace of evil and it all snowballs from there. What surprises me the most is seeing Ash's Mom getting a good deal of focus as well as some introspective on her history (but STILL no info on Ash's dad, arrgh). Though yeah, the main focus is on Molly and her inner turmoil of losing her parents, with her developing a parental bond with Entei, it's actually pretty sad and kind of touching by the end, and it was nice to see the girl got a happy ending by the end of it. Ash and the gang seem just to be along for the ride, scaling up the tower in order to save Ash's mom, battling all of Molly's illusion Pokemon along the way. And as the main event of the movie we see Charizard come back and go head to head with Entei in a beam o' war, it's a really cool sequence, shame that he loses. Entei's sacrifice at the end was kind of bittersweet, he saved the day and brought Molly's dad back, but in the end he was just an illusion and so he faded away. Overall this is a pretty great movie that actually has genuine emotion behind it.

 

I have to mention that all these early Pokemon movies have really great credits sequences, it's basically just clips Ash and the gang traveling through various landscapes and what not, but it's all really....atmospheric in a way. Especially with the cheesy pop music playing in the background.

 

 

Guilty pleasures at its finest. And this was also the last time a Pokemon movie got a full american soundtrack.

 

 

4Ever:  Ash and the gang travel deep into the forest where they encounter a Celebi, and they find out that Celebi is being hunted by a high ranking Team Rocket member (The Iron Masked Marauder). The villain of this movie is probably one of the most threatening I've seen, he commands evil and stron Pokemon and he actually manages to gain control of Celebi for a good while. Celebi's death is pretty sad....until they undo it and Celebi come back to life in the end. Suicine was pretty wasted in this movie, he doesn't really do anything other than prance around, save Ash from his scheduled death, and clean up some dirty water. The real appeal of this movie the the character of Samuel his growing relationship with Ash. Samueal comes from the past and arrives at the future via Celebi express and he and Ash become good friends throughout the movie until he returns to his time. It is then revealed that Samuel was in fact THE Professor Oak and it comes as a huge twist. Proffesor Oak is one of my favorite characters in the show and him having  a bit of development in this movie was a real treat. Overall 4Ever is a nice movie, though not really my favorite.

 

 

 

Heroes: Just narrowly misses Top 5, but it's still an enjoyable romp. The location here is based on Venice and it shows. Anny and Oakley are enjoyable villains with a nice "Catwoman" element to them and they actually do prove to be rather competent villains until they eventually lose due to plot. Latios and Latias are enjoyable legendaries, especially Latias (who seems to have a thing for Ash). And while some people may find it creepy, I think  it's pretty adorable. This is one of the few times where a Pokemon actually dies and doesn't get revived in some silly way. And hey, this is one of the few times where Ash gets kissed by a FEMALE, so that's cool. This was also the final movie to feature the original gang, and in that sense I kind of wish Brock and Misty had a larger role than what they got here as they just seemed shoved aside for the most part. Overall, enjoyable movie, nothing else to say.

 

 

Jirachi Wishmaker: While the AG series had a great string of movies, it had to start off with a rather unimpressive first installment. The focus this time is on Jirachi and Max (ugh) and the relationship comes off as annoying and phoned in. The villain is kind of lame, not even being very evil or interesting enough to care bout his sympathetic qualities. Not to mention Groudon was spurned for a movie appearance and instead we get some lame ass evil Groudon clone. Though it was pretty interesting of it to act like a life sucking parasite and absorb all the living things around him, it was cool and creepy. I also have to mention the terribad CGI, sometimes it comes off as unnoticed, other times it's really apparent and really bad (when Diana raises the Jirachi egg, her hands are CG for some ungodly reason. Overall the film is just kind of a bore, nothing particularly interesting happens until Fake!Groudon starts wrecking shit and before that we have to deal with Jirachi and Max's relationship (which just I can't bring myself to care about in the slightest). But hey, we get a slightly reworked version of "Advanced Adventure" so that's something I guess (by the way "Make a Wish" is terrible).

 

 

Destiny Deoxsys: Can we say Top 5? Let me be the first to say that I love the look and design of Larousse City, all the future tech and devices are seriously cool to see, especially in the world of Pokemon. Anyways the main plot of the movie revolves around Deoxsys trying to find his friend after being injured during a fight with Raquayza, years after that fight he heads to his city where his friend resides, where he then proceeds to put the the entire city on lockdown in order to hunt his friend down. When Deoxsys takes control the city, it's actually very creepy because he sends soulless husks of himself to do the searching (as well as hunting those who get in his way), it's creepy to the point where it seems like the movie has turned into a survival horror, with is at least something different. Raquayza is a badass through and through, but I only think he exists just to give a sense of danger, of course that's all thrown out the wind when the city's AI system goes fucking bonkers and starts enveloping the city, which causes Rayquaza and Deoxsys to put their differences aside and try to protect one another. Tori's character is an interesting one, and in of the more developed "movie characters". His character arc revolves around trying to get over his crippling fear of Pokemon and it  takes nearly the entire movie for him to get used to Pokemon. Other than Tori we get a bunch of other minor side characters that don't really contribute a whole lot to the plot other than helping the city regain power. Ash and the co are the heroes I suppose, but they generally just stayed out of the way until they decide to power up the city and eventually stop the rampaging AI. Speaking of that, who the hell would build so many of those damn things? There's enough to cover the entire city in a sea of that crap. Destiny Deoxsys is a great movie in my opinion, mostly due to the locale, the feel good nature of the entire thing, as well as having goddamn Raquayza.

 

 

Lucario and the Mystery of Mew: Top 5 contender right here. This was a total breath of fresh air when it comes to a Pokemon movie. The mythos surrounding the history of Cameran Palace, the great war, Mew, Lucario and Sir Aaron is actually really interesting, I always appreciate when Pokemon takes the time and energy to actually establish its history. The actual present story revolves around Pikachu being "kidnapped" by Mew and Ash and Co head toward the Tree of Beginnings in order to find him, nothing to earth shattering, but there's a lot more to the story than that and it has everything to do with what happened in the past and to Lucario. Speaking of which, Lucario is a troubled soul, he starts the movie feeling scorned and betrayed by Sir Aaron's actions, and believe humans are all the same, it's not until his travels with Ash and company that he starts thinks differently, and when he realizes that Sir Aaron sacrificed himself for the greater good, Lucario does the same. Good development but jeez does every Movie Pokemon have to make a heroic sacrifices? Like Destiny Desoxsys it seems to take some survival horror elements, with the Tree of Beginning it seems to hunt down foreign objects with it's whit blood cells and almost seems to kill whatever they devour, it's actually pretty damn gruesome (I also like how the characters take the time to release all of their Pokemon before getting eaten).  Also, Ash is revealed to know the power of aura.....bet you didn't know that! Oh man and I have to mention the Regis. While they get the remedial job of guarding the tree, they actually make the most AWESOME cries I heard in the anime, seriously Regirock and Registeel sounds like mix masters/DJ and Regice goes from a high pitched squeal to a demonic growl, it's so awesome.

As for everything else, well the writing is pretty good, the pacing is fine, and the overall story is pretty interesting and will keep one watching. So yeah, good movie.

 

Manaphy and the Temple of the Sea: Also in my top 5. The Movie centers around May and her relationship with Manaphy, which is totally fine by me. The development between the two is actually really touching and several times more believable than May and Jirachi ever was. The villain is pretty fun as well as the Pokemon Ranger character who is pretty badass. The movie also looks friggin beautiful, the scenery porn we get from the underwater scenes and the design of the underwater temple as a whole is probably the best I've seen in a Pokemon movie. Just seeing all the water Pokemon they put into this movie is a treat to see, we even get to see Kyroge get a movie appearance, and that's a plus considering he's one of my favorite Pokemon (where's your actual movie appearance Groudon? Haw haw haw). Man, freaking Misty should have been in this movie, it's perfect for her!

 

 

Rise of Darkrai: Hey look guys, it's an exact retread of Pokemon 2000! Only less interesting, less exciting, and more of a drag. Moving on.

 

Giratina and the Sky Warrior: God this one was boring, I just don't know. Shayming was kind of a snarky shit, I guess it's a nice change of pace from the sickly sweet cute Pokemon we got in the past, and when he goes into his Sky Forme he can actually back up the trash his mouth talks. Giratina is pretty misunderstood in this film, just wanting to be left to his own devices but gets pissed when Dialga gets up in his crib yo. The villain is......villainous, I really can't say much else. Regiggias is in the movie...for some reason, and just to stop an iceberg. This is probably my second least favorite movie, there's just nothing that stands out to me.

 

 

Arceus and the Jewel of Life: Probably the least boring of the D&P Movie trilogy. It was really cool to see how the Pokemon world functioned in the past and see how they coexisted with humans. The plot line regarding Damos and his supposed betrayal was pretty interesting, as well as the villain who had the voice of Shadow, he was pretty cool. Dialga, Palkia,and Giratina join forces to beat the shit out of Arceus despite being his creations (something Arceus doesn't even seem to remember). Though it still doesn't rock my world as a whole, I think we've seen this premise for Pokemon about a dozen times before (crazy dangerous Pokemon on a rampage, try to stop him, etc) Also what the hell was up with Arceus' voice? I never expected the god of everything to have such a high pitched, almost whiny voice.

 

It's a decent movie and the best out of the D&P trilogy, not much else to say.

 

Oh yeah, It also has

 

(dawwww)

 

....Oh uh anyway, next movie.

 

Zoroark: Master of Illusions: Meh, it's okay. Nothing about this movie is the least bot remarkable. I just got the idea that they were just promoting shit. Zoroua and Zoroark were there to plug Black and White. Raikou, Entei, and Suicne were shiny for no other reason than to advertise the Gamestop promotion, etc. I......I just don't have much to say about this one. The villain is cartoony and silly, Celebi is in this movie because......anyway, the one thing that stands out to me is Zoroua's character, he/she is fairly entertaining to watch not to mention her/his morphing ability is pretty cool. Overall, it's an average movie.

 

Pokemon Movie Black and White: I think I'm just burnt out by this point. These Pokemon movies have stopped being remarkable since Manaphy to me and I can't figure out why. Im sick and tired of plot line regarding cute little Legendary Pokemon becoming friends with the main cast, it has been done to death by this point (Manaphy, Jirachu, Celebi, Shaymin) and they certainly don't do anything new with it here. The villian/side characters have a sympathetic backstory, though the characters themselves are pretty bland. The history of Victini is sad I guess, but again I don't feel any sort sympathy towards the Pokemon because I can't bring myself to care. Cilan and Iris almost have no role in this movie other than giving the occasional line, not to mention Zekrom and Reshiram's roles in the movie being wholly inconsequential to the main plot almost, blah.

 

The movie has its moments though, One cool scene I have to mention is the scene where the Sword Castle is hovering through Earth's atmosphere and Ash is slowly freezing to death and apologizing to Victini that he wouldn't be able to show him the sea, that was pretty somber and touching.

 

 

Otherwise, it's just a big pile of mediocrity.

[Kuzu]

Welp:

 

Ash lost....as everyone had predicted.

[Johnny Boy]

........... Wow. Just. Wow.

[canderson]

Yup he gets Top 8, which is worse than the previous region, Sinnoh, in which he got Top 4.

The battle between Lucario and Pikachu was pretty damn amazing, hell of a lot better than the BS battle with the guy with Dakrai and Latios.

 

Still the league overall was a major disappointment. Wasn't expecting Ash to lose to this guy who only had FIVE Pokemon.

Edited January 10, 2013 by canderson