Pokemon

Pokémon are peculiar creatures with a vast array of different abilities and appearances; many people, known as Pokémon trainers, capture and train them, often with the intent of battling others. Young Satoshi has not only dreamed of becoming a Pokémon trainer but also a "Pokémon Master," and on the arrival of his 10th birthday, he finally has a chance to make that dream a reality. Unfortunately for him, all three Pokémon available to beginning trainers have already been claimed and only Pikachu, a rebellious Electric-type Pokémon, remains. However, this chance encounter would mark the start of a lifelong friendship and an epic adventure!

Setting off on a journey to become the very best, Satoshi and Pikachu travel across beautiful, sprawling regions with their friends Kasumi, a Water-type trainer, and Takeshi, a Rock-type trainer. But danger lurks around every corner. The infamous Team Rocket is always nearby, seeking to steal powerful Pokémon through nefarious schemes. It'll be up to Satoshi and his friends to thwart their efforts as he also strives to earn the eight Pokémon Gym Badges he'll need to challenge the Pokémon League, and eventually claim the title of Pokémon Master.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Satoshi Main

Matsumoto, Rica Japanese

Pikachu Main

Ootani, Ikue Japanese

Takeshi Main

Ueda, Yuuji Japanese

Kasumi Main

Iizuka, Mayumi Japanese

Togepi Main

Koorogi, Satomi Japanese

Kenji Main

Seki, Tomokazu Japanese

Kojirou Supporting

Miki, Shinichiro Japanese

Mewtwo Supporting

Musashi Supporting

Hayashibara, Megumi Japanese

Nyarth Supporting

Inuyama, Inuko Japanese

Haigney, Michael Producer, Script, ADR Director

Mori, Takemoto Producer

Yuyama, Kunihiko Director, Storyboard

Hidaka, Masamitsu Director, Episode Director, Storyboard

Reviews

Feb 17, 2025

Elyshion

Recommended

Pokémon is a real success, especially because the main character goes on an adventure to capture Pokémon without his parents. Despite the criticisms often heard, such as the fact that this series would be nothing more than a marketing product or that it would be only aimed at children, this did not prevent me from enjoying it, because these details are compensated for by many qualities. Let's start with the main protagonist:

He is the most emblematic character of the series. Although he is often perceived as lazy, he is in excellent physical shape, especially for someone his young age. He has regularly demonstrated impressive endurance, ... traveling kilometers in various environments. In addition, he shows great agility and remarkable reflexes, allowing him to dodge attacks or catch objects in free fall. His resistance is equally impressive, especially against the attacks of his companion. The fact that he goes on an adventure without his parents shows the blind trust that his family places in him, despite his young age. The antagonists, especially the rival team that appears throughout the story, serve as a sort of protective mechanism for these young adventurers. Coming back to the protagonist, his love for the Pokémon he meets creates a very strong bond of friendship, not only with them, but also with the other characters he meets. He continues to progress, becoming one of the few characters capable of defeating any opponent, no matter how powerful!

Ultimately, the greatest strength of this series lies in the adventure, exploration, and mystery surrounding the creatures he meets. I feel like I'm living alongside his friends and growing up with them. It's a unique experience. Despite a sometimes redundant plot, each adventure experienced by the protagonist and his group is exclusive and memorable. I think that's why the work endures and that those who criticize this aspect don't really understand the essence of the series. This follows the releases of video games, adapting to generational changes, both technologically and narratively.

Reviewer’s Rating: 10

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Mar 20, 2025

nurBeL_xelA

Mixed Feelings

Ok guys, can we take off the rose tinted glasses for a moment here and try to look at this as an actual show? I don’t wanna sound like I’m shitting on people’s childhoods here, because I also have a little bit of a soft spot for this show.

This show was my first ever exposure to anime that I can remember and I recall it playing every Saturday morning on Cartoon Network. Like every time I turned the TV on, they would be playing some random episode of Pokémon and since I didn’t have anything better to do, I would watch that episode…or I ... would change the channel to SpongeBob, one of the two.

Yeah I can’t really say I was the biggest Pokémon fan. I watched some of the anime when it was on TV, but I never really played any of the games. Even when Pokémon GO was at the peak of its popularity, I don’t think I played more than 1 minute of it. I did have a few trading cards however as kids at my school were using them and I wanted to get in on the action. But I quickly sold them all once people started to stop playing with them. I think Pokémon is a series that you’d really have to be a huge fan of if you grew up with it and I can’t really say that happened to me. While I never hated Pokémon as I thought it was kinda cool and I did respect it, I always felt neutral towards it. Idk there was something about it that just never completely appealed to me. The same could be said for how I felt about anime in general. While Pokémon was the first anime that I remember watching, it didn’t really get me into the medium at all. In fact it just made me assume that all anime were overdramatic and cringey. It wasn’t until years later when I became an adult where I finally accepted anime for what it was and became a fan of it.

So yeah, that’s pretty much my personal history with Pokémon and about a month ago I decided to watch this whole series, the one that I remember watching since I hadn’t watched a single episode of it in a really long time and I was curious in checking it out. And now that I’ve finished it, will I say that it was worth watching almost all of the 276 episodes?

Uh…no not really.

I think watching this show back in the day where they played individual episodes was more entertaining to me. Because watching almost every of this show like I did, I started to realize how repetitive and tedious this show actually is. Here is what a normal episode of Pokémon is like:

- Ash and his friends either find a new Pokémon or another person in need of help
- If Brock is around, he will usually become down bad for the random young girl
- Team Rocket shows up and causes trouble (they usually wanna kidnap Pikachu)
- Shenanigans ensue
- Team Rocket gets blasted off…AGAIN
- The new Pokémon either joins up with Ash and his friends or goes a separate way or the person’s problem is resolved

Now yeah there are obviously exceptions, like there are a few Pokémon tournament arcs sprinkled throughout and some episodes where Ash has to win a gym badge from a gym leader but for the most part, this is EVERY FUCKING EPISODE OF THE SHOW and GOD does it get old really fast! On one hand this formula is fine because this show is obviously made for kids first and foremost. And with that mindset, I think this formula works just fine, like I’m not expecting philosophical debates or moral ambiguity in Pokémon, but binge watching it as a grown-ass man was starting to drive me insane like I was becoming the Joker.

It also doesn’t help that there is quite a lot of filler and I watched a little bit of it, and they feel exactly like the normal episodes like wtf?!? If you ask me, 276 episodes is WAY too much and if you count the other shows that come after the OG series, there are more episodes than One Piece as of me posting this review which is just ridiculous. You would have to be the biggest Pokémon shill ever if you were to watch all those episodes which unfortunately, I am not.

Now I do think there are still positives to be said because this show is obviously very iconic. Like c’mon, the Pokémon theme song is a top 10 theme song of all time what can I say? I also like how they made every Pokémon as adorable as possible. I think Togepi alone might be the cutest Pokémon to ever exist, honestly making Pikachu look ugly af in comparison. I also think Ash Ketchum is definitely the best protagonist for this particular show. I think everyone likes this character even though he’s pretty simple to understand with a simple motivation to become a Pokémon master but again that’s really enough for this series. He may view the world with childlike wonder like any normal shounen anime protagonist but he’s never annoying and always values every Pokémon he meets, which I think makes him a good role model for kids. Also for a show that’s made for kids, it’s actually kinda funny. Like they make puns in this show all the time and idk it would sometimes get a few chuckles out of me.

But yeah, despite how culturally significant Pokémon is, I think this has to be easily the worst anime to binge watch ever. Which is a shame because this is a pretty charming series…if you watched a few episodes of it but watching almost every episode made me like it less and less. I wouldn’t say this is a bad show at all, but I can’t really say it made me a born again Pokémon fan.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Feb 2, 2024

Nezzuji

Not Recommended

We've all seen an episode of Pokémon when we were kids, or at least heard about the adventures of Ash and his Pikachu. That's why it hurts to give such a rating to this anime, but in all objectivity, it doesn't deserve more.

Since this review is in English, I'll use the English names of the series, as depending on where you grew up, you may not have known the characters or Pokémon by the same name. For example, in Japan, the heroes are called Satoshi, Takeshi, and Kasumi, while in France, my home country, they are named Sacha, Pierre, and Ondine. However, I will use ... the English names, namely Ash, Brock, and Misty!

Firstly, let's establish some basics. Pokémon is an anime aimed at a fairly young audience. Moreover, the anime was released during a complicated period in terms of censorship, especially in Europe, which restricts many things. Furthermore, the anime is intended to be a generic one, a TV show that children can watch out of order without feeling lost in a story. These are logical considerations given all these factors, but unfortunately, they diminish the experience of the work because the anime minimizes the connections between episodes. For someone wanting to watch all the episodes in order like me, it quickly becomes tiresome because there is no overarching storyline. The episodes generally follow the same format: Ash must win badges to qualify for a championship, so he has to face different gym leaders to earn their respective badges. The anime operates almost exclusively in this manner across its 276 episodes:

Ash arrives at a gym to face the gym leader and win a badge.
He wins the badge.
He continues the journey towards the next gym.
During the journey to the next gym, we get many generic episodes where Ash and his friends encounter a person or Pokémon with a problem, usually involving an intervention by Team Rocket, until they reach the next gym. This pattern repeats for 276 EPISODES!

It's a shame because Pokémon had a lot of potential to create fabulous stories, as evidenced by the movies! During the 276 episodes, five films were released, and you can see them in this chronology:

Movie 1: Between episodes 69 and 70
Movie 2: Between episodes 107 and 108
Movie 3: Between episodes 157 and 158
Movie 4: Between episodes 207 and 208
Movie 5: Between episodes 256 and 257
The movies contain what should have been in the series for it to be a masterpiece – incredible stories based on legendary Pokémon. Even if these Pokémon were not legendary, I would have loved to see stories spanning multiple episodes, as deep as those in the movies. The content of the movies across multiple episodes would have been incredible, and they could have explored certain points they didn't have time for in the films!

Pokémon doesn't delve into any theme, all due to its generic episode system. For example, in the early episodes, we are introduced to the Pokémon Eevee, being told it has only three evolutions: Vaporeon, Flareon, and Jolteon (1st generation). However, several hundred episodes later, we discover that Umbreon and Espeon (2nd generation) also exist, but no explanation is given. They are introduced as if nothing happened, and it's a shame. I expected to learn more, to understand why they hadn't been discovered until now, especially when it's as simple as exposing them to moon/sun radiation, and they evolve if they are ready.

I would also like to mention the uselessness of the trainers in the work. They are there because without them, the anime couldn't exist, but they almost exclusively state the attacks for their Pokémon, even though logically, a Pokémon knows its attacks and doesn't need its trainer to tell it. It would act more quickly following its instinct. Despite this, the trainer can have an impact, such as asking their water-type Pokémon falling to use its Water Gun attack on the ground to slow its fall. This is an example that proves trainers can have strategic ideas that a Pokémon wouldn't normally have. However, the anime almost never uses this aspect and mostly just has trainers say the names of the attacks. I also find the training aspect nearly nonexistent. I would have liked to see several episodes focused on the training of a particular Pokémon, how they go about it, and new skills appearing during their training. But no, evolutions almost always occur during battles against other Pokémon, and we have almost no training moments outside of combat.

Since the episodes are generic, they also have at least one appearance of the "villains" of the series, Team Rocket. I must say that I was worried at the beginning of the series, seeing how many episodes there were. I was afraid their attempts to capture Pikachu would all end up looking the same, but their interventions renew themselves well, even if some episodes are similar. Their interventions never bothered me!

I also appreciated the humor around Jigglypuff! The musicality is not bad at all, even if the openings were translated according to your listening language!

In summary, the Pokémon series had tremendous potential, an exceptional universe easily exploitable, but conditions forced it to become what we know now. If the series were to be released today as a seasonal anime, using the same type of content as in its movies but targeting a slightly older audience, this anime could be a true masterpiece. Unfortunately, this is very unlikely to happen.

(Togepi is the cutest Pokémon of all, I don't want to hear otherwise!)

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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