Ranked #3027

Pokemon Housoukyoku

Better known as "Pokemon Side Story" in Japan, I watched Chronicles to get away from the repetitive story lines the original run were so adept too. I wanted to see how Pokemon would fair without Satoshi, better known as Ash to the American audience. Memorable characters hit the scene with better face time and commanding roles our once heroine was primarily focused upon.

If you are gonna watch Chronicles, keep in mind that it's suppose to be a side story again. The story will gradually change as the series progresses, there's going to be times where Brock is the character of emphasis back in Pewter/where Tracey and Richie team up/where Casey makes her return in a more dominating role. Expect that here, some epds are better than others, but overall if you are looking for some variety in Pokemon instead of the usual "Team Rocket tries to capture Pikachu" ie then this would be of an idea.

The art was definietely in a step in the right direction this time around. Animations aren't at D/P level where at times it gets a bit 3-D like, but waaaay ahead Kanto's and probably Johto's time. The characters have better animators, the pokemon don't look as simplistic from the early days, etc. Stuff may look the same at first glance, but take a look back at Kanto's run and then compare it to now (or this chp of pokemon). You'll definitely see a difference. I'm sure the sound has improved too, but something not as noticeable as the animation. Old/Familiar tunes really hit home, ie Casey's cheering theme we saw in Johto.

Not everything is perfect, sadly. Since this is pretty much fan-based, some of people will question the point of even watching these Chronicles. They play no role towards the main story, some might even say that the lack of Ash just doesn't fit and is hard to watch. Not every one's favorite pokemon is going to be present here, sure you'll get some legendaries and this and that, but it's only 20 something epds so they can't fit in everything. I enjoy the "all pokemon" epds though. There was a Kanto Epd that was very unique in that it told pokemon playing lead roles, with no humans present.

To wrap this up, hell even I wanted to skip over this and was skeptical. I mean come on, no Ash? Right? Suppose to be bad? I didn't find it so. Some Chronicles Chps here are really just better than all that stuff they show in the original run. The useless traveling, dialogue, and pokemon/characters I just don't care for.



read more

Ok the enjoyment score is high, I'm a pokemon nut and I'm not ashamed. If you're reading a review for chronicles then you probably know what pokemon is and have a good idea about whether or not you'll like it. But here's the clincher; an entire series of pokemon with no ash/satoshi whatsoever! I know, great right? anyway that's why this series earns a respectable seven.