Pokemon: The Origin

Pokémon are marvelous creatures that come in a variety of types and sizes, with abilities, powers, and personalities as diverse as they are numerous. Doctor Yukinari Ookido has dedicated his life to studying these fascinating beings, that can be caught, trained, traded, and battled against each other. There's only so much he can do from his lab though. With this in mind, Ookido entrusts two young boys with a Pokémon of their own and a computerized encyclopedia to catalog them. One of them, Green, is brash, passionate, slightly arrogant, and Doctor Ookido's own nephew. The other boy, Red, is equally passionate, and filled with a wide-eyed, mildly naive sense of wonder.

Pokémon: The Origin follows Red in his journey through the region of Kanto in his attempt to complete his "Pokédex" by capturing and cataloging all the Pokémon that exist. Along the way he'll discover there's more to himself and his goals than he originally thought. Red will have to put both himself and his Pokémon to the test in special Gyms whose leaders are steps along the way to the Pokémon League, in order to challenge the Elite Four and become a Pokémon League Champion.

Aside from his goals to become a Champion, Red has other problems brewing. There are others who capture and train Pokémon for more sinister reasons, with the infamous criminal organization Team Rocket being one of them. If Red can defeat them, fellow trainers, his rival Green, and wild Pokémon all through Kanto, he just may fulfill his own dream, and Doctor Ookido's as well.

Red Main

Takeuchi, Junko Japanese

Ookido, Green Main

Eguchi, Takuya Japanese

Pikachu Supporting

Takeshi Supporting

Sugita, Tomokazu Japanese

Kasumi Supporting

Mewtwo Supporting

Eievui Supporting

Mew Supporting

Gengar Supporting

Fushigidane Supporting

Kuroki, Rui Producer

Katou, Hiroyuki Producer

Nishizawa, Masatomo Producer

Takahashi, Hideya Director, Storyboard

Reviews

Mar 30, 2025

LegionIscariot

Recommended

The only problem with this special is it's only 4 episodes.

Pokémon Origins is the original Pokémon game in anime form.
It follows the original protagonist that Ash is based on: Red. And his rival Blue (Green) that Gary is based on.

Having a spinoff that focuses on Red's journey would have been so great.
But unfortunately a lot of the key events are covered through narration.
Would have been great for those of us who've played the game to experience all these things in anime form: buying a Magikarp. Battling a nerd on Mt Moon. Defeating Team Rocket. Earning badges.
Even Charmander evolving into Charmeleon and Charizard ... is done through narration.

Red obtains a great variety of Pokémon.
His battle with Giovanni was very fun. Great action. Very thrilling.
This all cumulates into a battle between Red and Blue (Green) which really isn't all that interesting.
And Red becoming Pokémon Champion.

This special is just a giant tease for fans of the game. But also for fans of the comic who want to see Red's story in an anime.
What a waste.

I just dont think most people will get much out of this. Fans will appreciate the nostalgia but will be disappointed by how short and quick it is.
And non fans wont understand whats going on and wont be invested.

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Aug 27, 2015

Pilar_S

Mixed Feelings

[English and Spanish review]

[English]
Why you may want to watch it?
This is made for Pokemon game's fans. If you played Pokemon red or blue in your gameboy you will be very happy to watch the "real" story in these chapters. Nevertheless, they take just some events of the game's story (maybe not your favorites), so sometimes you will say: "Nooo, why they didn't show when..." and that's a little bit frustating.
But it has great things for the fans: same battle music, same dialogues with the other characters, real Team Rocket, etc.

Why I didn't like it that much?
I would prefer it maybe to be long enough ... to tell every part of the game. The main character "Red" lacks a little bit of personality. The battles are great, but, as a Pokemon fan I guess my expectations were higher!!

[Spanish]

Por qué podrías quere verlo?
Esta serie está hecha para los fanáticos de Pokemon el juego. Si jugaste Pokemon rojo o azul en tu Gameboy estarás muy feliz de ver la historia "real" en estos episodios. Sin embargo, solo toman algunos eventos de la historia del juego (quizás no sean tus favoritos), así que algunas veces dirás: "Nooo, por qué no mostraron cuando..." y eso es un poco frustrante.
Pero tiene cosas geniales para los fanáticos: la misma música de batalla, los mismos diálogos con los otros personajes, el equipo Rocket real, etc.

Por qué no me gustó tanto?
Creo que preferiría que fuera lo suficientemente larga para contar todo el juego. Al personaje principal "Red" le falta un poco de personalidad. Las batallas son geniales, pero, como una fanática de Pokemon, creo que mis expectativas eran mucho mayores!!

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Sep 23, 2020

Kaethar

Not Recommended

spoilers brehs! (though I'm just trying to convince you to not waste your time)
Pokemon, a multi-billion dollar media franchise (the highest grossing one ever in fact), apparently couldn't afford to give their fans a proper adaptation of their most iconic game. Instead, they settled with this 4 episode mess whose entire purpose is to answer the question: "What if mega evolution was a thing in gen 1 lol?". This would've been better answered in a quick cute drawing posted on twitter or a short animation on Youtube. However, this is what we got, so this is what I'm talking about.
Even if you haven't played the ... first Pokemon game (or its 2 remakes), you'll probably realize what's going on during the start of the second episode, where the MC has to narrate a bunch of things he did off-screen (about a fifth of the game). Yes, this adaptation fast forwards through most of its source material. Even worse, these fast forwards aren't interesting at all and can be summarized as "I went to gym X, beat gym leader Y and got gym badge Z". No effort put in, not even a joke about some of the game's dumber moments, no references to appeal to fans, nothing. The conversations that get shown are at a glacial pace, not allowing the few fights that are shown to have any breathing room.
They even dare to let the more important fights of the game happen off-screen. I shit you not, they skip the entire Elite Four and show only one sixth of the fight with the champion. After which we are delighted with our protagonist finishing his pokedex by catching Mewtwo thanks to his starter mega evolving. It has a somewhat serviceable art style, even the soundtrack is somewhat interesting at times, that's it though. It doesn't make everything else salvageable.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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	Poll: Pokemon: The Origin Episode 4 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 ) Yuzukko - Oct 2, 2013	177 replies	by Alvie48xi »» May 3, 7:13 AM
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