Pokemon

It's pretty unfabulous to have to review something you love when you know it's not very good.

Pokemon works with a re-use formula, the story is long, it is repetitive, it doesn't progress in any way because development doesn't really happen.

Art and sound is mediocre as it is a mass-produced anime. Production costs would have been sky-high if they spent any more money on it, and it shows.

The characters are pretty two-dimensional. They aren't deep, you don't go into their heads, and they're all about 11-15 years old but all act the same.

But why do I love this anime so much?? I ... was obsessed with it as a child, and it still has a warm place in my heart. I think it's a perfect anime for children because it teaches them some good lessons: try to be the best, do the right thing, and your friends and family are the most important people in your life.

Only unfabulously mean people hate on Pokemon. You know they all watched it and liked it as a child, but my, how uppity we have all become. If you're feeling nostalgic and want to go back to when anime was about adventure and friendship and silliness, then Pokemon is for you. It's also a harmless, fun anime for your kids, too. So I totally recommend it. Fabulous, it is.

Pokemon! We've all heard of the show, and most of us have watched and (probably) loved it as kids. So this means it's great, no? I mean, why else would kids all over the world love it? Well... kids often preceive things differently than the older demographic, and they find great what others think of as garbage. So... what about Pokemon? Is this the same? Let's see...

It starts out with a tiny step, like most other journeys. Our hero, Ash Ketchum, has high dreams of becoming the ultimate Pokemon trainer (I'll refrain from explaining that to you), and he starts out by sleeping in too ... late! before logn however, he's gotten his first (reluctant) Pokemon, everyone's favorite mouse Pikachu, and they're off on their epic journey!

The shows brings out an epic adventure of friendship, harsh battles and whatnot; everything you'd expect from a shonen that's aimed at the younger kids. It isn't that great however, as it gets very repetitive after a while; a Pokemon/person of the day formula with some kind of problem that always ends well. And that's what most of the episodes contain, with a small bit of getting further on their journey every now and then.

Animation-wise, the show doesn't feature anything boastable, with flat character designs, okay backgrounds and no spectacular special effects at all. Was it because of budget restrictions (it is a pretty long anime, after all), or was it because the producers knew the kids they were aiming the show at didn't care anyway? Well, whatever it was, the animation isn't anything to brag about.

The soundtrack is what you'd expect of such a show; adventurous opening themes, background music that's supposed to get you into the fighting/comedic mood, and a variety of sound effects to use for all the moves and whatnot you'll see. The voice acting is decent, but honestly - my unability to cope with dubs in anime pretty much wins over my nostalgia here, and that is the main reason I stopped watching the show some time ago.

The characters are, well, what you'd expect from a shonen. The rash, headstrong main character and his oh-so-arrogant rival, and the people he travels with; the older, more reasonable (mostly) fellow, and of course, the tomboyish girl with whome he argues a lot. Yup, that's shonen for ya. The main comedic relief of the series, the Team Rocket trio, is actually a pretty entertaining one. Despite constantly neglecting to look over their mistakes and realise that every one of their contraptions fail against Ash and company, they keep on trying, knowing thinking that their boss will reward them greatly of they bring him the Pikachu. I like their stupid enthusiasm a lot, and their scenes are often among amogn the better ones in the series.

So... Pokemon is basically a cliche-ridden shonen with no real thing to make it stand out. Wait... that can't be right? What about all the kids that love it? And what of all the others that love it? One of the things, I believe, is the adventurous feel of the series; who wouldn't want to experience such an epic adventure for themselves? (I know I want to, at least!) Not to mention, the great values of friendship, loyalty and trust which are presented to the viewers. That is one thing that makes Pokemon so great, and I'd try to get any kid into the show becasue of that reason alone. And that's what there is to say about Pokemon, actually.

Pokemon had many good qualities during its golden years (roughly 1998-2002). It became an unstoppable force in many countries, mainly the USA and Japan. It quickly became the most successful show based off a video game and it has the most episodes of any animated show ever shown in America.

The animation was great for its time, and the songs were very addictive. It was obvious that everybody that saw the show enjoyed it very much, myself included. And to this day, over 10 years after the debut of Pokemon, they are still able to sell merchandise.

But what created the downfall of the series was that ... it never ended! The show could've easily ended at the end of episode 84, with the end of the Pokemon League. They could've said "Since that day, Ash trained hard to be a master." and then show him as a master. But no, the episodes just keep coming and coming. Johto was cool because of showing new pokemon, but when they repeated the trend of "new pokemon lolz" it got old really quick. And not mention that Ash never matured. He had a birthday one episode and in the 3rd movie he exclaimed that he and Pikachu have been together for a year. But at the start of Diamond and Pearl Ash was mentioned to be 10 years old again. Inconsistency is bad if you want to keep your audience.

It still find myself rewatching the first few seasons of Pokemon and hugging my pikachu pillow. But the new episodes these days just don't have the same atmosphere as the old show and it is hard to watch it without booing the lack-luster effort that gets put into each episode. But Pokemon will always have an unforgettable place in my heart and (ignoring anything past the Johto season) for that I give it an 8/10.

Ok, so for the sake of creating the ultimate database for MAL on anime reviews, I have decided to create a review on an anime show that almost everyone in this community is familiar with - Pokemon. Have YOU caught them all?

As many people probably already know, Pokemon is the story of our young hero Ash (Satoshi) Ketchum and his dream of one day becoming a Pokemon Master. Of course, if that is your dream, one must defeat gym leaders, participate in the regional Pokemon tournaments and of course, must catch them all, as per the famous catch-phrase of the show. On ... Ash's journey, he meets up with many different friends who all have different dreams as well, but coincide with Ash's dream of being a Pokemon Master. While the story nowadays seems pretty cliche and straightforward, keep in mind that this show debuted in 1997, so let's give it that much.

The animation for Pokemon is something that gets better as the show goes on. In the first many episodes, the animation is not the greatest thing in the world, and many of the frames are repeated several times throughout the entire anime. But because of the huge improvement, I will give credit to the animators in keeping up with the times.

The one thing I really like about this show when I first watched it was the music. I totally fell in love with many of the scores used whenever Ash participated in a big battle against gym leaders or tough rivals. Many of these scores can be seen in the many games that have been created for it as well. Besides that however, a lot of the other music heard sounds kind of boring, which ironically, fits well with the pace of the story, which I'm sure we all are familiar with.

I feel that the characters in Pokemon are simply too perfect. I suppose that since this show was geared towards the younger age group, that may be the reason why, but each main characters we are presented with have either one or two obvious faults that the show always seems to dwell upon whenever there is a problem. Whether it be Ash's rash and stubborn nature or Brock's obvious love of Nurse Joy and Officer Jenny, it just becomes waaay too repetitive for it to be enjoyable anymore. Team Rocket anyone?

Which leads to the category of enjoyment. If Pokemon simply aired the important episodes (i.e. gym battles, Ash catching Pokemon, etc.), the show would be scores more enjoyable than what we are presented it. The insane amount of pointless episodes are so utterly boring, that calling them fillers would be an insult to the word "fillers." Whenever I turn on the television and find Pokemon airing, I would stay on that channel for however long it took me to deduce whether or not a gym battle was occurring. If not, the channel was flipped instantly.

Pokemon has tried to keep things fresh with introducing a whole new set of pocket monsters, but at this point, there are so many that its hard to keep track of them all.

Pokemon is the anime show which introduced many of us to the world of japanese animation. I believe that a lot of us grew up watching this show at some point in our lives and will always hold it in a special place in our hearts. However, now that we have become older and can compare this to other anime out there, we can see how Pokemon horribly fails as being an enjoyable show to watch. The fact that Ash almost never wins a regional tournament and relinquishes all of his Pokemon that he has worked so hard to evolve and train (cough* Pidgeot* cough) also gets on the nerves of many people as well. For argument's sake, I rated it a 4 (decent) because of the "used-to be" interesting gym battles. Even now, whenever I see Ash competing at the Orange Island final battle, its something I'll gladly stay tuned and watch again.

Today I look at an anime I have been putting off reviewing for some time. Pokemon! Although I had seen bits of anime before Pokemon, this was one of the first long running anime series I actually started following back in 1997. I don't pretend to be a great "pokemon master" since I haven't played one of the games since Crystal and I stopped watching the show around 2001. This is a review of the first 2 seasons: Kanto and the Orange Island League

The Pokemon games on gameboy revolutionized handheld RPGs and were brilliant, fun, addicting, and absolute masterpieces when they hit the US in ... 1996. I spent over 200 hours playing Silver and another 100 for crystal in order to get all 251. I also spent a LOT of time playing Yellow, while my brother had Pokemon Blue. However, Pokemon has never really been about plot and characters. It is about game mechanics and innovative game play. That is one reason the anime despite the nostalgia...really isn't that good.

The plot or lack thereof is about Ash Ketchum, a 10 year old wandering vagabond who captures animals and forces them to fight in contests. He has no source of income and seems to just walk the Earth like Caine in Kung Fu. Ash manages to win Pokemon badges by cheating and deus ex machina bullshit rather than actual talent or effort. Of the 8 badges in season 1, he only wins 3 by actually defeating the Gym leader. He wins one because the fire alarm went off, 2 because team Rocket showed up and he beat them, and he even "won" a badge because a wild pokemon that Ash didn't even capture made the Gym Leader laugh. Seriously! This fucking happens! The show is supposed to be about friendship and teamwork, but that message is difficult to sell when your show involves battling animals for sport. Cock fighting is NOT about friendship and teamwork! It is about bloodlust and money! The characters are bland, the episodes are formulaic to an extreme, and only in rare instances does something actually interesting happen.

You are probably now accusing me of being a grump and ruining childhoods. I will admit that there was 1 arc of Pokemon that wasn't actually that bad...relatively speaking. My favorite story arc in Pokemon was actually the Saffron City Gym Arc. The Gym Leader Sabrina is a telekinetic sociopath that uses a creepy doll to talk for her like something you would see in a Saw movie. Sabrina threatens to turn Ash and friends into dolls if Ash loses and actually follows up on that threat. She shrinks them down and puts them in a doll house as seen in an old Twilight Zone episode! I'm aware that there were a few fairly dark episodes in season 1 including one where the Safari dude had a gun, but those didn't make the US edit. The creepiest and darkest episode we got to see in the US was BY FAR the Saffron Arc. What I liked was that it didn't follow the formula used in nearly every other episode, Team Rocket doesn't freaking show up, it actually dares to be bold and challenge its young viewers, and it felt much more creative overall.

Art: 4/10

The art and animation is what you would expect from a 90s anime with 300 episodes. It sucks. At least this was before the advent of CG, so there isn't a plethora of cheap Cg effects to make things even worse!

Sound: 7/10

Although the soundtrack reused the same songs OVER and OVER again, it actually wasn't that bad. In fact, the soundtrack is probably the strongest element of the original Pokemon anime. The theme song was amazing and really sucked the viewers in, the battle themes were tense, and the emotional themes struck a chord with 10 year olds at the time. It is actually a well done soundtrack overall!

Overall: 4/10

Pokemon is a very nostalgic anime for me, so I can't actually bring myself to hate it. Having said that, it isn't a very good anime. The writing and plot isn't good, the characters are awful, the animation is bad, it is INSANELY repetitive, and the themes of friendship and determination kind of go out the window when you realize the plot is about capturing wild animals and forcing them to fight for your own amusement. Yes the Pokemon only "faint" and don't actually die, but still pretty bad. Amusingly, in the original Pokemon manga based off the games, the Pokemon really DO battle to the death! Of course the shitty Pokemon manga is a review for another day.

Pokémon is unique. Not so much in its presentation (though it does stand out easily in a crowd), but in its reception. To date, no other franchise—game, anime, cartoon, or otherwise—has become a worldwide phenomenon as Pokémon did, except perhaps the Super Mario Bros. series. The timing was somehow just right for Pokémon to make its entrance to the world, and nearly all of the children flocked to it like moths to a flame. Adults (most of them) were left scratching their heads at how it is something so simple could become so popular and so famous in such a short amount of time. What ... was written off as a fad has become one of the best-selling video game franchises in the world, and still going strong 18 years later.

And it's because of the anime—well, the anime helped play a big part in it. We all accuse anime of being nothing more than an advertisement for what it's trying to sell, and though it is true, the Pokémon anime is the positive aspect of it. Think about it: if it hadn't been for the anime, would the games have sold as well in the States, or anywhere else outside of Japan? Or would anime in general have made it anywhere else outside of Japan?

Story (7): Pokémon is your typical shounen title: a young out-going male protagonist goes on a journey with his friends, and they have adventures together as they battle bad guys and have character development (before it slows to a halt later on), and he wants to be the very best in whatever it is he wants to be. The thing is, most of his friends are creatures that can battle and call upon the powers of nature depending on their type. And these creatures fight for and alongside him to help him become the best trainer in the world: a Pokémon master. But in order to become a Pokémon master, he must learn the secrets of Pokémon, as well as have lots of battles with other trainers, specifically gym leaders who give out badges to victors so they can enter a world-renowned tournament.

All shounen titles start out the same, but they all go their own separate paths very early on, and develop their own identity. Pokémon succeeded in that it does stand out from other shounen titles. It may not be the best one out there, the story's simple enough as it is, but it definitely is one of the most famous. The show's created in such a way that one can come in at any given time and be able to quickly understand what is going on. A lot of Pokémon fans came into the anime a little bit later into its first run on television, but re-runs and word-of-mouth were commonplace (and later on the Internet), so everyone is able to catch up at some point if they put in the time.

What helped was also its eventual downfall (to older fans, anyway) in its formulaic pattern. Pokémon has been the same since day one: our leads, Ash Ketchum and his buddy Pikachu, travel the land to battle gym leaders, catch more Pokémon, fight off Team Rocket or the evil organization of the region, and compete in the big league. However, there have been differences along the way, some new things being added to help keep it from cloning itself with each new saga, such as switching out traveling companions, new Pokémon teammates, new environments, introducing Contests, new ways to train Pokémon, the list goes on. It's more noticeable after Johto, although the Orange Islands is notable in the original series for making the attempt to play its formula differently and in a shorter amount of time. It was also a controversy in that one of the main characters was “replaced” by another, but that's small potatoes these days (meanwhile, the female companions keep getting a lot of flack), and it somehow managed to succeed anyway before Johto dragged itself through the mud.

Needless to say, the story and formula is fit for a children's show. It's why Pokémon has lasted so long, and why it is people stop watching the show only for another batch of children to come into it every new generation. But let me point out that the very first episode of Pokémon is amazing. It sets up the entirety of the show nicely, its themes, its (main) characters, and captures the spirit of adventure, wonder, and optimism. Perhaps this is why we as children became hooked onto the show from the start?

Art/Animation (7): Like all art, cel animation can either become dated or stand the test of time depending on the quality and care given to it. While it's good for its time and still holds up, Pokémon is starting to show its age, even though the animation went digital around the final episodes of Johto. Quality did improve as the episodes went on, there's no doubt about it, so thus far it's the first season that's starting to suffer in that regard. It's not bad, of course, it has a special charm to it like a lot of cel-drawn animated cartoons. But it's the character models themselves that have started to become dated, even though a lot of people will remember the characters as they looked here. Pikachu probably has the most notable change of the cast, weight loss jokes aside.

Even so, while Pokémon's style reflects other anime of the time, it's certainly recognizable. The Pokémon themselves pop in having been brought to life (figuratively speaking) by the powers of animation from their sprite origins. We get to see how each Pokémon really differ from one-another instead of just being static images. Rarely do two of the same Pokémon act similar, even when sharing screen-time, and the animation reflects it. The battle animations showcase this very well, and some of the best moments in Pokémon's animation happens during the battles.

Pokémon as a whole is a colorful series, and though the cel animation gives it a slight muted look, it's not enough to take away from the color palette. The backgrounds in particular are beautiful to look at, I think most of it is either acrylic or oil painting. The Pokémon world is covered with greens and blues, and has a lot of mountains and forests regardless of region (the Orange Islands was different, but some of the islands still had some mountainous areas). Even the cities and towns can look beautiful, great detail is put into making a city look like a city, but most of the main focus in the backgrounds are nature-related.

Sound (9): The soundtrack is fantastic. Some of the songs are updated covers of music from the games, and they were done very well. Violins, flutes, various drums, horns, trumpets, piano, chimes, and xylophone (or is it the marimba?), with the occasional electric guitar, are played throughout the soundtrack. The orchestral approach gives it an enchanting feel while also being adventurous and epic. The more powerful the fanfare, the more victorious it sounds, and it fits the mood just perfectly when the scene calls for it.

That's the original Japanese soundtrack, which is kept in the 4KIDS dub. 4KIDS have made a few pieces of music for the show as well, but they're forgettable (unless you watched the first two movies or played Pokémon Puzzle League a lot—but it still varies). The album they made themselves, “2.B.A. Master”, is anything but forgettable. Cheesy, perhaps, but it's not easy to forget about the songs, though it does depend on what you think of the soundtrack as a whole. The rose-tinted glasses (...how would that work towards music?) are strong with the album, almost a guilty pleasure at times. But in the Johto saga, instrumental pieces of some of the music as well as some from “Totally Pokémon” were used, so there's at least that.

Of course, the most famous piece of the soundtrack is the English Pokémon theme, simply titled “Pokémon (Gotta Catch 'Em All!)”, with the PokéRap a close second. It may be a sign of the 90s, but 4KIDS knew how to catch the audience's attention, and what better way than to use rock 'n' roll. The other openings are excellent, but not as well-memorized (though it depends on the person's favorites). That isn't to say “Mezase Pokémon Master” as sung by Rica Matsumoto herself is bad, it is a great theme for the show, but a lot of Pokémon fans may have never heard the song before, so it slips under a lot of people's radars.

Also, the Team Rocket Motto is probably one of the most recognizable villain leitmotifs out there. Try to not recite the motto every time it plays, though I can guarantee the majority of you can't get Jessie, James, and Meowth out of your head.

Speaking of, the voices are what make this show. It is a near-unanimous agreement that the English cast of Pokémon is perfect, even though there are fans who will say the Japanese dub is better. Well, not everyone is able to watch the show subbed, though there's some people who don't want to bother with the sub. The banned episodes are the more easily-attainable subs, though if one wants to watch the entire show subbed, they have to do some digging around. While the Japanese cast is good, the English dub is well-loved regardless, and we have Veronica Taylor, Rachel Lillis, Eric Stuart, and Maddie Blaustein to thank for that (though Stuart Zagnit, Ted Lewis, and Jimmy Zoppi aren't far behind either). Is it any wonder that Pokémon is the highlight of their careers?

Special mention of course goes to Ikue Ohtani as Pikachu, for without her, who knows if Pikachu would have become as popular and loved (and hated in some circles) as he is now. Even Inuko Inuyama as the original voice of Meowth is memorable, and at times, I actually have a hard time figuring out which voice of Meowth I feel fits best.

Characters (8): Pokémon has a large cast of characters to the point it rivals The Simpsons and SpongeBob SquarePants. We typically only follow about six or seven main characters at a time, and some of them aren't even human. For starters, let's just focus on Ash Ketchum because despite all the criticism he's received over the years, he is a great role-model for children. He's energetic, he's positive, he has a goal, he never gives up, he learns quickly—yes, he's indeed like most other heroes out there, but he's a kid. He's a kid who's on an adventure away from home who, while he has people to support him, is independent and knows what he wants to be. He hasn't strayed from it to this day, he wants to be a Pokémon Master, he wants to be the very best like no one ever was. That's a big dream, and it's a long, arduous journey to accomplish that dream; and even then, someone's going to best him. But he's not afraid, he actually looks forward to those obstacles, because he knows there's a way to get over it, even though he does experience failure over and over again.

And that is an admirable trait for a protagonist to have.

The other characters are excellent in their own right. Regardless of how much they would suffer in later episodes, Misty and Brock are still well-loved to this day: Misty for her fiery (dare I say, tsundere?) temper, love for (nearly) all Water Pokémon, tomboyish nature while not estranged from her femininity—even becoming motherly later with Togepi, and her great chemistry with Ash; Brock for his sage advice, cooking, his desire to become a Pokémon Breeder, and girl-crazy attitude. Gary Oak, the grandson of Professor Oak, is Ash's rival, is always one step ahead of him, and he has a cocky attitude to go with it, but he does loosen up by the time Johto comes along, and soon he becomes friendlier and dedicated to become a researcher like his grandfather. Even Tracey Sketchit (when he's not being sneered at) has his fans for his quiet, well-reserved nature, is well-known for his quick sketching of Pokémon (and the occasional girl), and for being a Pokémon watcher. His character unfortunately doesn't get much attention and he's quickly left behind as Professor Oak's assistant—and he's content with it.

In the meantime, the Team Rocket trio, Jessie, James and Meowth, have to be some of the more popular characters of the show, at least during this time. Takeshi Shudo cared enough for these characters to give them sympathetic backstories and to show that while they do work for an evil organization that's pretty much running the world, they do have a good side to them. They are some of the more human characters of the show.

The COTDs (character-of-the-day) can range from memorable VIPs to forgettable nobodies. Each and every one of them are indeed different, and most of them have fans of their own, whether they've appeared in the show frequently or just the one time. Because it's such a large cast, and your mileage will vary with all of them, there's at least always someone to appeal to anyone.

Enjoyment (9): I made an attempt to not view Pokémon through rose-tinted glasses with various results. During my re-watch, I paid attention to the story, the writing, the artwork, the music, the dialogue, the characters, what 4KIDS did or did not edit, just about everything. And despite its flaws—and there are many of them—there are many good things about the show that I still adore to this day. It may have been 17 years since the first time I watched the first episode, and many things have happened along the way, but my love for Pokémon itself has never waned. At times I tried to let it go, but I would always return to the franchise, and it's not because it's my childhood. There's legitimately something about Pokémon that appeals to me, regardless of all that's happened that I personally am not fond of.

Even though they did many questionable things, in hindsight, 4KIDS took good care of Pokémon. It makes sense, as Pokémon was one of their first dubs, and they knew how to market the show alongside Kids' WB. Honestly, would Pokémon have been as well-loved, well-quoted, and well-remembered to this day if it had been anyone else but 4KIDS? Sure, there's that chance a company may have dubbed it better, but there's also that chance it could have been dubbed terribly. Pokémon is lucky enough to fit snug in the middle and prove that kids' shows can be good.

I don't think I would be here, let alone the same person I am today if it hadn't been for Pokémon. I love the games, and the games are (almost) always going to be superior, but the anime in particular holds a special place in my heart. And I will never forget how it impacted pop culture, because I had helped play a small part with its popularity along with millions of other children in the late 90s—one of who might be you reading this. In which case I want to thank you for helping Pokémon get to where it is today. If I could engage in a friendly battle with you, I would.

Until then, gotta catch you later.

Pokemon: Gotta Catch Em' All

Preface:

Let's take a quick poll. Raise your hand if you were born in the 90s. Put your hand down if you did none of the following:
1) played the Pokemon games
2) collected/traded Pokemon cards
3) watched the anime

Nobody? Alright, well, lets talk about what's probably the largest media phenomenon to come out of Japan in the 20th century, that TV show all the kids couldn't get enough of, and their parents have shelled out ~$50,180,000,000 dollars for since 1998. (stats via Famitsu from Pokemon Company data *link at the end).
...
Pokemon was an enormous part of my childhood (I have an original Mew from my Pokemon Yellow, suckaz.). I played endless hours of the collection of Pokemon games (owned RBY, GSC, RSE, and Pearl), watched from the beginning up through the end of the Johto series anime, and have several notebooks full of cards.

---------------Note-----------------
I don't hate Pokemon, nothing but love for it. However, as an adult, and a reviewer, I have to look at it not from a nostalgic standpoint, but that of a critical one.


Overview:

Enter Dash O. Ketchup, delinquent teenager in search of his father, who's been imprisoned by the fabulously evil duo Jackie and Jimbob and their pet flounder Erwin.
*whispers*
Wait, what? you mean this story isn't about Dash O. Ketchup? News to me.
*ahem*

Enter Ash Ketchum, newly minted 10 year old who's about to set out on an adventure to become the Pokemon Master, except that he's late. Ya boy shows up to the laboratory of the notoriously lazy and probably-not-actually-a-scientist Professor Oak, who immediately tasks Ash and his grandson Gary, our hero's arrogant, stuffy rival, with using his new invention, the Pokedex to gather info about Pokemon... since he hasn't been studying them for the last 50 years?

Ash is promptly booted from his home, becomes a vagrant, befriends a 30-something pervert, Brock, and meets up with a 10 year old young lass, Misty, who form The Crew (tm) for our adventures.

The World of Pokemon Awaits


Story: 3

If you're unfamiliar with how Pokemon works, i'ma break it down for you. It's just like middle school algebra- simple, formulaic, and easy. Episodic to the extreme.

Step 1: Ash and friends reach new town/forest/landmark/gym

Step 2: Ash and friends meet new person in need

Step 3: Ash catches a new Pokemon every other 5th episode (who's sure to abandon him/not participate later)
OR battles Trainer Of The Day

Step 4: Prepare for trouble, and make it double. Team Rocket, intent on stealing Ash and Friend's Pokemon with hairbrained schemes and finger guns show up to wreck the party. CONFLICT!

Step 5: WHO'S THAT POKEMON?!?
Step 6: IT'S PIKACHUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU
Step 7: It's Jigglypuff! *DAMMIT*

Step 8: Pikachu uses Thunderbolt, Team Rocket is blasting off again!

Step 9: Ash and friends return whatever Pokemon were stolen for 5 minutes of screen time/make things right with people

Step 10: Ash and friends go off into the sunset, facing a new day, and a new adventure.

Step 11: Pokemon Rap.

Bonus Round: Gym Battles.

Okay, here's where the show actually gets good. These are typically 3 episode arcs, Ash gets his butt handed to him against the Gym leader, then goes out in search of their weakness, comes back, and typically defeats them with some strange turn of events, or they just decide to give it to him for no reason other than his determination. Much more interesting.

Bonus Round 2: Pokemon League.

So the end of each region's journey, after Ash has had all the Gym badges handed to him out of pity, is the Pokemon League. Our wily hero can't be the VERY BEST LIKE NO ONE EVER WAS if he isn't the Pokemon Champion right?
Well, out of however many seasons of Pokemon there are, for every MLGxxxx420YoLoSk0pxxBl4z3Dxxx contests Ash enters... He loses all of them, every time. What a colossal failure. Well, there _is_ that one time, but it doesn't really count.

One episode that stands out to me 15 years removed is the Sabrina arc. It was creepy then, in a Chucky/Uncanny Valley way, and it's still creepy now. Also, Sabrina makes more than idle threats. She says she'll turn Ash, Brock, and Misty into dolls if Ash loses.. and when he inevitably does, she follows through.


Characters: 4

Ash, 10 year old Pokemon dunderhead. Snot nosed little brat, but through will, determination, heart of the cards, and a lot of charity/dumb luck, he prevails.

Pikachu: yellow mouse with electric powers. Incredibly OP and weaksauce at the same time.. the utter antithesis of MORE POWER!!

Brock: First gym leader, rock type expert, that Ash encounters, who later joins him. They tell me he's actually 15... but, still a wannabe Harem King MC with an infatuation for the endless twins of Officer Jenny, Nurse Joy, and basically every female who appears onscreen except Jessie.

Misty: Second Gym leader, water expert, and loli. Typically the voice of reason between the antics of dumb and perv.

Jessie/James/Meowth: Antagonists... and apparently about 3/7ths of the members of the nefarious crime syndicate Team Rocket. Utterly incapable of the most basic of criminal tasks, these guys are pure comedic relief in the form of getting blasted off, again. (And they ain't drinkin)


Art:2

Animation has come a long way since the 90s. 90's animation was obviously inferior compared to how it is now, but it was at least hand drawn. Pokemon is no example of the awesomeness animation can be, even for the time. It looks like crap. Lots of static/stillframe, rough around the edges, poorly animated garbage-visuals. The frog-face and other overreactions by the characters are often backgrounded by (literally) neon colored squiggles drawn in crayon, like what you'd see in the children's ward of a horribly outdated hospital from the 80s.


Sound: 6

Okay, who, under the age of 25, doesn't immediately start jamming when the first two beats of the Pokemon Theme hit? I WANNA BE THE VERY BEST! LIKE NO ONE EVER WAAAS!

If Pokemon is getting nostalgia points, it's here. The songs that went along with it were so saccharine and so cheesy, but so, so catchy. I still remember the words to them and can rap along with the ending to this day, about 15 years removed from my watching days. Scored with cheeseball 80s dramatic music, it fits the childishness going onscreen.

Voice acting is rough to my adult ears, but as a kid, it was just fine. Super overdone, Shatnerian voice acting- I'm willing to overlook it.


Enjoyment: 7

Nostalgia points showing up again. I watched this show faithfully every day after school for several years. If i factor in the enjoyment from the games, it'd be a perfect 10.

A couple of episodes of Pokemon got banned, mostly due to 4Kids Entertainment censoring them, but one for a very good reason.

Beauty and the Beach: EP18
James finally gives up the cross dressing and actually gets breasts, with which he wins a bikini contest. I'll leave that there.

Legend of Dratini: EP35
FINGER GUNS!!!
This episode contained firearms, and those are a no-no. bland. Also shows Ash catching his 29 Taurus, which is important later.

Electric Soldier Porygon: EP38
A literally seizure inducing episode that affected hundreds of children in Japan. The kids were sent to the hospital and treated, the episode was never aired anywhere else. (I watched part of it, and MYYY EEEEEEYYYYEEEEESSSSSSS... No clue why they did that.)

I'd encourage older (20s) readers to seek these out.. they're good for a nostalgia kick of something you remember fondly but never actually saw.



Overall: 4.4 = 4 (by MAL, "decent")

It was fun at the time, but my time for Pokemon has passed. It's onto the next generation, and hopefully they can have as much fun with it as I did, many moons ago. Pokemon is such an incredible phenomenon, and so instantly recognizable.. the brand will persist, and along with it, new generations of fans may have fun with it, but they'll never get to be the group that experienced it for the first time, in original form.





http://www.famitsu.com/news/201306/11034770.html

One word: Incredible. The story begins with young Ash Ketchum, who is beginning the journey that will change his life forever. He is paired up with the stubborn Pikachu, and the two get off to a rocky start, lol. They eventually form an unbreakable relationship, and travel around the world fighting battle after epic battle.

This is an incredible show, right up there with the likes of The Simpsons and Seinfeld. It will undoubtley go down in history as the greatest thing man-kind has ever made.

To even be able to watch this is an experience. The first time I ... saw this, I knew that Pokemon would be fukkin incredible. 9000/10

Pokemon gets a 10/10 for being my (and most people's) entire childhood. It was without a doubt my favorite show/game for a couple of years~

But seriously, what anime franchise (everything like games included) is as successful as Pokemon? Flashback 10 years, you'll remember that whether you were in high school, middle school, or elementary school, everybody had a gameboy to play Pokemon games - Pokemon Red, Blue and Yellow to Pokemon Silver and Gold, to Pokemon Fire-red and Leaf-green to Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire to whatever came after that up all the way to today. And they're still making new Pokemon Games and being top-sellers. ... Pokemon united kids together, because everybody wanted to trade with each other or battle each other; Pokemon had a positive effect on society itself. The original TV show itself was a mega-hit. I remember as a child having to watch it every time a new episode came out, I would have to watch it, there was no such thing as skipping new Pokemon episodes because I had to see what would happen next. Would Ash catch that Caterpie or Weedle?! What about that Pidgeotto?! WOAH is that an Onix?! Ash and Misty sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G? Will Ash ever evolve his Pikachu?! All he needs to find is a thunderstone! The show always had me drawn in, 100% attention into the Pokemon world. I was so into it that I remember my goal in life was becoming a Pokemon Master, and more than half the time I day-dreamed, I dreamed about being a Pokemon World and being the best trainer in the world with a team of Lugia, Ho-ho, Mew, Jirachi, Blissey and my favorite Pokemon ever - Squirtle! And this was all just from the show, if we include the Gameboy games of Pokemon, I was addicted. I played Pokemon every day for a couple hours, no exception. If my parents wouldn't let me I remember crying and annoying them until they finally let me play. Ah, that was the life.

The story should be obvious to everyone so... I'm not even gonna bother explaining even the basis of it, because if you don't know what Pokemon is about then I feel very bad for you. Where was your childhood? And if you're a child right now, you should probably interact with current popularity news and your other friends, because Pokemon was the hot stuff in my childhood days, and it's still one of the hot stuff in today's days. You know those awesome looking animated animal-like creatures from games? yeah those are from Pokemon (or ... YuGiOh, Digimon, and other stuff) but the cool ones are Pokemon.

The art is magnificant! Come on, who thought of all these designs for Pokemon; the classic ones that is. I've seen some newer Pokemons and they were pathetic. There was like an Ice-Cream Pokemon... Everyone know that Stunfisk Pokemon? That thing is just.. oh my goodness, the creativity in Pokemon and originality is unfortunately all gone. Well, that's not including Diamond and Pearl because although I never watched that show, there were some pretty neat loking legendaries such as Darkrai, Dialga and Palkia - I like their designs. Shaman is adorable as well. But the classic original Pokemon is better; it has the greatest designed Pokemon (creatures in general) ever. Remember Charmander - Bulbasaur - Squirtle? You have to admit those were some adorable Pokemon that evolved into some of the coolest animated "monsters" ever; Charzard - Venasaur - Blastoise. The legendary birds? Zaptos, Moltres, Articuno? And Ho-Oh & Lugia? They were some epic looking dragon-like birds. The designs of the "map", the "world" of Pokemon was somewhat similar to our reality, although not really. But nonetheless, I loved the forests, the waters, the caves, the mountains, the buildings, the streets, the haunted mansions, the skies, space - everything! I always imagined myself being in that beautiful Pokemon world... Imagine the sorrow that washed over me when I grew up to realize that going into the Pokemon world and actually physically having a Pokemon was impossible (unless you train you like train a cat to talk human language, walk like a human and scratch at command because then you'd have Meowth). The characters in Pokemon are all uniquely animated, and I believe the characters are perfect for kid's liking. But seriously how many Nurse Joys are there...? Well who cares about that, the more important matter is, why has Ash not aged a single year or matured a bit even though like 20 years went by since he started his Pokemon journey. Whatever, I firmly believe that Pokemon still is the best animated animation ever, purely because of it's entire cast of beautifully designed Pokemon.

Sound? The pesky annoying voice of Ash is just so annoying to listen to and it always rings in my head. But that's what made him so memorable and special to me. Pokemon truly was the highlight of my entire childhood, and in all honesty, it all started with the opening song; "Gotta Catch'em All". The lyrics to that song inspired me to become a Pokemon master. I'm gonna say something that some of you will understand, and haters will hate. But my favorite song ever is still the Pokemon opening song, "Gotta Catch'em All". I loved it to the point where today, I might tear up from time to time listening to the song, reminiscing about basically my entire childhood. The voicing of each character was memorable and all, I think... But a true memorable aspect of Pokemon besides my favorite song ever, the opening, is the voicing-or sound or whatever of each Pokemon. Pika-Pika = Kawaii. Each Pokemon had such a unique, and distinct sound from a different Pokemon (there are like what 1000 Pokemon?), that's an impressive feat.

The characters, ah yes the characters. Every single one is quite memorable. Ash Ketchum, my idol, my hero, my childhood dream character. Misty, Brock and all those other people like Professor Oak, and Gary. And most importantly out of all of them, Team Rocket - Jesse & James. How could I ever forget any of them, I will always have a place for them in my heart-childhood memories. All the Pokemons, I guarantee I could name more than 90% of the Pokemons before Diamond and Pearl despite not having played or watched Pokemon in a couple of years (planning to watch some again though, to relive my past).

Although sometimes it's good to grow up and act maturely, sometimes it's also good to re-live your childhood and remember the good times you had in your life as a child and reminisce them. The past may not be as important as your present, but it's what makes up your present, and what will make up your future. If you're an adult, you'll understand what I mean. If you're a teen, then enjoy your youth while you can, and if you're a child then go watch Pokemon, but also do it in an appropriate manner - Parent's permission. But remember kids, it's also healthy to play it without your parent's permission and rebel. Deceiving and arguing. Playing and watching Pokemon. What beautiful experiences they are~ Looking back on my childhood, Pokemon truly was something special. It's a part of my (& others, I'm sure) life forever~

To make things simple and why the first series of Pokemon have so many critical issues I will just divide the first series to its three main arcs:

The Kanto\Indigo League arc
The Kanto arc is notable as the best arcs in the Pokemon Long-series, for some points that makes this arc so much fantastic and memorable: the ep-format created in the Johto arc not yet to be introduced and even the filling episodes between the gyms battles more enjoyable than any Pokemon season, Ash (or Satoshi in the Japanese ver.) maybe stupid and clumsy but present every first Pokemon trainer to get out to the world ... so you will forgive his lack of knowledge and stupidity about Pokemon for his love for Pokemon, and that is actually the good thing about him, makes you want cheers for him.
Maybe the most boring parts of the show are the episodes between Ash's 6th gym battle and his 7th gym battle, which is the shortest filling-episodes between gym battles in the Pokemon long-series contains only but sure more enjoyable than the most episodes of the Johto arc, part of it is that Team Rocket can be endurable at those parts and even changes parts from time to time from evil to supporters in some episodes, and can be the comedy brakes from time to time.
Besides Team Rocket, Brock's is not that annoying like he is in the next arcs and seasons, his "sick of love" is appearing only late in the series and Misty is... well, she always a good character in the Pokemon anime.
The rivals of Ash though, except for the last one showing in the latest episodes, is only Gary and is shown for rarest times and his attitude is worst than Ash though since he is based on Green from the games it's not surprising, but the rivalry-friendship of Ash and Richi is much better and developed.

Story - 8
Character - 8

Orange Islands League arc
This arc is known as the "filler arc" of the Pokemon long-series, which means that this 40+ episodes arc is not based about the Pokemon games at all, and in some ways might be boring at times, especially since this season is existed only to take the time until the Johto games will be released, and in this arc even the "gym battles" episodes might be boring and not original and even kind of annoying.
But still, there are good parts of it that worth watching, one is that Ash Finally shows his knowledge from the Pokemon league in his pretty good Pokemon battles and 2 that this arc solves some issues that opened in the Kanto arc and not to talk about the GS ball that connecting between this arc to Johto arc that is necessary for whom who want to watch the Johto arc.
Tracy, the new mate-traveler of Ash, is the most annoying replacement for Brock, his "knowledge" seen too much hard to be like Brock. Team Rocket is still in their "Kanto annoyance" which is fine by me and the Gym Leaders of the Orange League is really not that interesting.
Story - 7
Character - 5

Johto League arc
This arc is known as the arc that created the formula of the Pokemon long-series annoying episodes, which in short is: "the gang finds a Pokemon and it's trainer, the trainer tells his story of him and his pokemon, Team Rocket wants that Pokemon, Team Rocket steal that Pokemon, Ash's Pikachu zapping Team Rocket and gets that Pokemon back", and this format is not only for one two or ten episodes but for almost 160 episodes.
If the Kanto arc was 82 episodes and Orange arc was 40+ episodes, the rest of the episodes is only the Johto arc, and it really-really-really long and annoying, in the Johto arc the seasons are divided by 4 long seasons, which the most epic episodes - the gym battles episodes - is only in the start and the end of the season, when Ash gets the last one is the start of Season 4, between them only episodes filled by the above format.
Here and there Ash gets to failing the real Team Rocket, by the Lake of Rage or by saving Lugia baby and hears the legend of Oh-Ho and the Legendary Beasts, though those episodes are interesting and worth watching, they are scattered all over the seasoned and can be count on one hand, few more episodes of Ash catching Pokemon, but the rest of the episodes are totally the same formula and useless.
Team Rocket is making records by their annoyance and the new-introduced characters every episode not that they even no interesting but reaching the same conclusion as every other character the gang meets.
And to make things worse, some of Ash's gym battles not even interesting and worth the watch of the filling eps, the only worthy battles are the league battles.
Though all that been said, one thing good about this arc is that as a child I really liked it, both the 2nd generation and the impression of the big world of Pokemon, but even though I'm adult now, I will say this - after watching the later series of Diamond and Pearl and XY, even if I was a kid this arc maybe was the worst for me, if so the only things good about Johto arc is the 2nd generation I considering one of the best generations.
Story - 5
Character - 5

Art - 7
Though the art is really ... lame, you can excuse the year and stuff, but even now the art of the first arc is enjoyable memorable and nostalgy, the problem is that though you will say "it will get better" in the Johto league the improvement is stuck 'till the art style is replaced.

Sound - 7
Though the score may be old school and reused, in the Pokemon series that adapted from the game not only I didn't expect much but also enjoying it.

Enjoyment + Overall 7/8
Though the Johto arc is maybe the worst arc in the Pokemon long-series and Orange might be slice better than it, the Kanto arc is what makes me so love the Pokemon anime and although the Johto series is filled with episodes of the same format. in times they are still enjoyable

Pokemon's story is honestly not the best. They could have ended the story after just one season, but instead, they made more. At first, it was okay, but they kept adding more and more into it that viewers got bored and tired. Instead of being excited for new evolutions and new Pokemons, it became boring. Travel, get Pokemon, fight the gym leaders, and stop the Team Rocket. After about 500 episodes, the Team Rocket still hasn't gotten a single Pokemon and keep it. I stopped watching Pokemon ever since Takeshi Shudo, the original writer, passed away. I feel like Pokemon went downhill ever since he ... died. However, Pokemon was my favorite anime, is my favorite anime, and will always be my favorite anime. Pokemon always gives me a nostalgic feeling. I still know the theme song and the Team Rocket motto by heart. Pokemon is my childhood.

The show stars Ash Ketchum, a 10 year old who starts his quests to become a Pokemon master. Along the way, he goes to Professor Oak and gets Pikachu as his starting Pokemon. Then he travels with Misty and Brock, and they fight against Jesse, James, and Meowth from the Team Rocket. After the characters were replaced, I lost my interest in this show. But like what I said, Pokemon is irreplaceable.

As a child, this anime opened a door to my imagination, wanting Pokemons to be real. I wanted to be like Ash. I wanted to catch Pokemons, take care of them, challenge gym leaders, and travel the world. It's a very interesting story with easy names to remember. Like other animes, Pokemon made me learn something. I learned to believe in myself, follow my dreams, and care for others. Kanto, Indigo, Hoenn, Sinnoh, and Johto will always be my favorite regions. Charmander will always be my favorite Pokemon. Ash, Misty, and Brock's relationship with each other and with each of their main Pokemon will always be my favorite. I remember waking up early every morning just to watch Pokemon. I also remember always being sad everytime Ash decides to leave his Pokemon behind. (Especially Lapras and Charizard). I remember staying up playing Firered, Sapphire, etc. on the Gameboy SD. I remember the difficulty of catching Moltres with 1 HP after 10 or more ultra balls. I remember collecting cards, although I did not really know how to play them. I remember collecting Pokemon stuffed toys. I got caught on the franchise, and I played the games.

A lot of people are complaining about how Ash never grew up, but to me, I think that is one of the best and most important things about Pokemon. Pokemon represents mine, and a lot of other people's childhood. I believe that Pokemon's writer did not make Ash grow up on purpose. Him being forever 10 years old represents our innocence and youth while we watched it.

It might be pretty silly of me to be THIS attached to the show. To me, Pokemon is my childhood and it is irreplaceable. Pokemon touches my heary very deeply, just as Ash thinks back how much he has traveled to come this far.

Here's the deal with Pokemon. Its a kids show that was created based on the lovable gameboy games, which have continued on into the Nintendo DS ages. This show has actually lasted as long as those devices had. That being said, I can no longer watch this show.

At first, you almost instantly fall in love with the show, mainly because of its overall premise, Pokemon, and the need to catch 'em all. Its that feeling of nostalgia, or for the sake of all the kids who are playing the games now, the feeling of being able to watch what you're doing while you also play ... your game. I had that same feeling too, all the way up to the episode where Sabrina, the Saffron City Psychic Pokemon gym leader, decided to turn Brock and Misty into dolls. After that I skipped through a couple of episodes because I felt boredom creep up.

The first episode has Ash Ketchum scrambling to wake up to get his new Pokemon and start out becoming a Pokemon trainer, but little do we know that the further this show goes on, the further we realize he is an extreme dumbass. Granted, he may be 10 years old and a newbie, but can, and I quote from an episode, "can this kid really be that dense?" But I digress, throughout the series he does gain an incredible amount of experience ad he does grow up to the point where he's not a complete idiot. But that still doesn't help out the entire series as a whole.

The story is simple: Catch Pokemon and train them. To further elaborate: Make sure to have an adventure in between and fight off two imbeciles who want to steal your Pokemon. That's it in a nutshell. And I know, this is a kids show, but honestly, I was hoping for a bit more considering that both the manga version and the actual videogames seem to have a better story. Its like every episode, there's always one person who needs help with something, and its usually an easy task, or if its a gym leader problem, he needs outside help to beat them. Either way, it became too repetitive for me. I will say though, one episode made me want to punch the computer screen because it was different, but it was designed to make little kids cry: Ash's loss of Butterfree.

The characters are usually one-dimensional. I wish that they would expand on these one-shot characters to have me actually care for them. Like Samurai. He's just there to further the plot and says he wants to battle Ash again after his failed attempt at battling him with a Metapod. Characters like these show up often, and it gets annoying. I hear that later episodes past season 2 they change, but I didn't feel like watching anymore to find out.

Since I watched the American Dub, and growing up with it, I like the music. Most of the background stuff remained the same as it was from the games, just not 8-bit sounding. And the 4kids songs, well....as I said, I grew up with them, so they still have a soft spot with me.

Now, as angry as I am about the show, its not to say it isn't enjoyable. There are times when you can crack a smile because of either how cute or how awesome it was to watch Ash actually do something without having a treat handed to him or being offered assistance, it can be fun. I liked the Sabrina episode til about halfway, because it became too predictable, Haunter was just funny. So, I give this show a solid 6. It could have been better, but it could have been a hell of a lot worse. At least it wasn't as bad, in my personal opinion, as Sailor Moon.

Hm.. how should I say this?... If you are 12+ I highly recommend not watching this series. It will clash with our society's laws, moral beliefs, and sometimes the laws of physics. I watched this anime when I was in 5th grade and enjoyed it for a while(I was young and innocent and didn't know how evil pokemon was). Now I looked back at it all I see are..

1.) A world in need of animal rights. E.g. trainers throwing balls, knocking pokemon out and imprisoning them. Though some of them doesn't seem quite right in the head, they willingly gave in to capturing, probably got ... hit too many times in the head by pokeballs.
2.) Owners using their pets in fights for personal gains <-- much like a dog/cock fight. Also the trainers use their own pokemon to beat the crap out of wild pokemon to "train" their own, tell me that's not abuse.
3.) No black people? What kind of world are they living in?
4.) Advanced technology are used for pokemon fights while our "heroes" has to walk around on foot, why can't they just use a car?
5.) Apparently no one bleeds in the anime. The pokemons after taking attacks such as Razor Leaf, Slash Attack, and Cut they don't get wounded! I don't know what kind of epidermis these animals have but I sure as hell would bleed from those kind of attacks.

The writing of this show is terrible. Dialogues are redundant and boring. Only few Brock's dialogues seem to be humourous, for example, "She can violate my rights". I think the writers have never played the games because they keep calling vine whip a special attack but it is a physical attack. There were many instances of characters saying dumb things. Each episode is the same, a new pokemon is introduced then team rocket tries to steal it then Ash saves it. The entire show feels like a filler to me. Many people consider the anime canon but to me, it is nothing compared to the ... games.

Animation and battles get better as the show progresses. But the initial battles are painfully boring. Many important battles are interrupted by the Team Rocket and their presence started to annoy me after a few episodes. Ash won most of his Indigo League badges without any good battle, brock and misty just handed him the badge without any fight. Brock and Misty are well known difficult gym leaders and ash won the badge without even fighting, that's some bad writing. The battles in Johto league were the best. They were some really solid fights and my favourite one is Bulbasaur vs. Meganium.

I think the best part of the show is the opening song from the Indigo League Arc.

People hate video game adaptation these days and they loved pokemon but pokemon is just like any other bad video game adaption which is not faithful to its source material.
They could've easily explored the lore and history of the pokemon universe but instead, they tried to capture every moment from the games and wrote small stories. None of these small stories ties together cohesively to make one good story. It worked in the game because that is how RPGs work.

Pokémon was a cornerstone of my childhood and even my early adolescence. I've watched almost all of the movies (prior to Gen V, that is) and I've completed every TV series up to and including Diamond & Pearl. On top of that, I've played all of the games and have been playing "competitively" since 2006. I think it's safe to say that I have a rather biased perception of Pokémon as a whole. Whilst most people I know either lampoon this series at every chance they get or overrate it to high heaven because of either old shame or nostalgia respectively, I have an opinion ... that's somewhere in the middle.

As far as my opinions on Pokémon go, well... I personally don't consider it to be anything more than shallow entertainment meant to entertain sugar-high children on Saturday mornings and it works just fine for that. I'm pretty sure we can all agree on that, especially given how Pokémon actually was broadcast in the USA as a show meant to entertain sugar-high children on Saturday mornings alongside programmes like Jackie Chan Adventures, Xiaolin Showdown, ¡Mucha Lucha!, and the 2003 reboot of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (all of which, I still do happen to like and enjoy to this day).

Don't get me wrong: I definitely understand where the vitriol toward Pokémon comes from. The world-building is absolutely atrocious, the story is repetitive, Ash/Satoshi is an incompetent fool who relies on Pikachu to do practically everything for him, the production values are fucking awful, etc. Had this show been played completely straight, odds are that I too would probably hate it. So why then do I still like and wholeheartedly enjoy the first four instalments of the anime? One simple reason: the dub (yep, you read that right).

Whilst I've certainly got a great deal of vitriol built up toward 4Kids as a whole, it's not like they didn't have any successes. Their dub of Pokémon is hands-down, their best dub to date. I'm sure that the blokes at 4Kids realised how stupid this show is in hindsight, so they just decided to make the entire thing self-aware to an extremely hilarious degree. This is especially notable whenever Team Rocket is actually in the frame. It's almost like 4Kids had a time machine, realised that Funimation would make a gag dub for Crayon Shin-chan and then they decided to beat them to the punch by making a gag dub of a kid's show but without all of the vulgarity that the former had.

Yeah, Pokémon definitely has problems and it's definitely not something I'd turn to if I want something of actual quality. At the same time though, the nostalgia draws me in and the dub keeps me around. I'm an overgrown man child, so letting go of things from my youth is pretty hard to do sometimes. Thankfully, shows like Pokémon have aged gracefully and give me something new to appreciate about them. Here's to hoping that some kids of today's age have access to Netflix so that they can watch the original series of Pokémon and realise what they've been missing out on. Anyway, that's all for now. Feedback's always welcome and with that, I'm out. Peace :]

***

How could I have forgotten the iconic 4Kids intro? The Japanese dub ain't got SHIT on this.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcfdoSuC6MI

Alright so when I tell you I was obsessed with Pokemon as a kid, I’m not kidding. I discovered the Pokemon anime when I was eight and it became my personality for the next year or so. I watched every single episode of the anime that was out at the time, though I kinda stopped at sun and moon, I didn’t grow up with a game boy so I only got to play the ds games with diamond and pearl still being one of my favorite games of all time, I used to to torture everyone I knew with my Pokemon knowledge. The anime was ... my favorite show for a while and since I finally got a gba sp recently and how I almost beat fire red, I thought I could revisit the anime with my mom bevause she also loves Pokemon. She’s never seen the anime but has played the games and plays Pokemon go anything we go somewhere. But is Pokemon good? Well…

Despite me giving it a 7/10, I honestly think it’s a great show (the first season that is, everything else I didn’t care for)

Yeah, Pokemon has problems. The animation is mediocre and reuses animation a lot (which I guess is the case for a lot of retro anime, but it is really noticeable in Pokemon), the characters are ok and can get pretty annoying, it’s repetitive and even though I don’t mind when shows are repetitive but in Pokemon, while the episodes are enjoyable, aren’t really interesting and are only really good when you want to watch the show out of boredom.
Despite that, it has a lot of pros
The characters are incredibly memorable and team rocket is easily the best and while I don’t think ash is a great character, his entire existence gives me so much nostalgia to when I would watch the show and think ash was the coolest thing ever. The soundtrack is great and I get the music stuck in my head a lot, and the Japanese version of the first opening goes hard and my god, anytime I hear the English opening, I basically die of nostalgia. Some episodes and arcs are great and my favorite episode is definitely the one where ash leaves pikachu, it did make my eyes feel watery, but I cry at everything so I don’t know if it’s a problem with me.


Is Pokemon a great masterpiece? No. But is it a good show that I hope kids love as time goes on? Yes. I rewatch Pokemon anytime I want to relive the days of when I wasn’t stressed out about anything and it’s one of the few shows I watched as a kid that really impacted my life. I do honestly recommend Pokemon if you haven’t seen it so you can get a taste of what true nostalgia is like. Not an amazing show, but a good one and it will always have a special place in my heart

Story: 2/10
Well...the story...one could argue that the anime contains no story whatsoever; just a bunch of episodes which barely connect to one another, if at all. It's not -ALL- bad, but almost every episode seems like a filler until the next gym battle, or until the next Pokemon is caught, or...whatever...the point is that I personally didn't like the episodes which had no effect on future episodes, which were numerous. Also, I hated the Team Rocket story repetition; you know that they're going to be disguised, NOT GET RECOGNIZED EVEN IF THE DISGUISES ARE TERRIBLE, try to catch some Pokemon, and get blasted off. ... So what's the point in watching? (Also, their annoying rhyming introduction...)

Art: 9/10
The art however is the best thing about Pokemon. It is drawn magnificently and the Pokemon's designs are great. What I can't get past are the completely dumb Pokemon designs (Looking at you Muk).

Sound: 8/10
The sound is quite good, the theme song was probably every person's favorite song when they were young.

Characters: 1/10
Well, besides the fact that there's no character development, the characters are just so annoying and painful to watch...

Enjoyment: 2/10
I won't give this series a flat 1 in this category because the FEW episodes that included gym battles or cup battles were actually not that bad.

Overall: 3/10
The anime is only so popular because of the amazing Pokemon games, which the series never lived up to.


End note: Okay, I know that this is an anime for kids and shouldn't be reviewed like this. But even as a kid, these facts annoyed me and I would watch every episode, eagerly hoping that the next gym battle would take place, and I was left disappointed most of the times. So I just wanted to get this off my chest, and hopefully find someone who agrees with me: The Pokemon anime is over-rated.

Pokemon was born out of Satoshi Tajiri’s love for catching bugs with a net, and has since become a massive world-wide phenomenon that reached every corner of the globe. It spread like a contagious disease making young kids (and even adults alike) cry out brilliant lines at their GameBoy screens like: “Pikachu, use Thunderbolt!” or memorizing very useful data like the Strength of a level 13 Bulbasaur. This fad was seemingly here to stay. Unfortunately, those happy times are long over, and those same kids who knew the evolution of a Psyduck, when they couldn’t even remember all 50 states of their own country, left ... Pokemon in the dust. However, the impact that it once had can still be felt on the still ongoing anime series that has more than 600 episodes.

With a surprisingly simplistic plot, this show captured the attention of kids all ages, which left many people scratching their heads. How can such a depth-less show such as Pokemon have so many fans with a superficial plot like that? Addiction? Loyalty to the games? Affinity to furry creatures? Perhaps, but the Pokemon anime had one thing going for it – enjoyable humor. With hilarious three-dimensional villains, a likeable cast of main heroes, a plot that was simple, but fun, exciting battles and a large ensemble of cute mascots and even a reference to Revolutionary Girl Utena in episode 28 named ‘Pokemon Fashion Flash’, this show seemed like a winner.

What went wrong then?

Its popularity, of course. Other anime have been ruined by it like Inuyasha, and Dragon Ball Z, but the complete destruction of an anime thanks to its fans was even more evident here. What used to be a fun kid’s show that didn’t underestimate the intelligence of its viewers, became boring drivel of pure yawn-inducing morals only fit for little children under five; its flawed, yet amiable characters, transformed into these bland cardboard cut-outs whose only purpose was to smile dully at the camera and shout needlessly at Team Rocket every time they saw them (in other words, every episode); the dumb, but funny jokes got even lamer, and the prominence of new Pokemon took the spotlight from the human characters, and turned this show into an utter slop. Game after game – season after season, Pokemon became an endless cycle of irrelevant side-plots that constituted of Ash, Misty and Brock helping vapid trainers who had the ‘Pokemon-of-the-day’.

Pokemon tried to bring all its former glory with the Advanced Season, where everything was fresh and new and included the addition of two new characters – May and Max to the main group. But after viewers endured hundreds of fillers, this was not the kind welcome its producers expected.

There are many character archetypes here: You have the reckless, but determined hero (Ash), the tomboyish, but sensitive girl (Misty), the perverted mentor (Brock), and the cute, stock mascot (Pikachu). You've seen them all in countless series, and are nothing special. But, for those who grew up watching this series, Pokemon's characters still hold a special place in one's heart because of their likeability.

The 'villains' here have more personality than the above (especially James - he's shamelessly flamboyant, loves art and dance, and has a great fashion sense), but they're not ground-breaking or entirely original. However, they breathe life into the show. There are many other characters in this show, but they're so unremarkable that they don't even deserve a mention.

I won't spare any words - Pokemon's animation is nothing short of terrible. It has reused backgrounds, repeated footage, unrefined character designs, and more still shots that you can choke at. The animation score is 'high' as it is (5) because the designs of the original 150 Pokemon are brimming with creativity, and they're still undeniable icons that even people who don't know about the show still recognize to this day.

While the dub is nothing outstanding (except for James' voice - he's hilarious), it's still bearable. As for the Japanese version, Ash - or Satoshi, if you will - has a female voice actress, Matsumoto Rika, who does an exceptional job. Though Misty's (Kasumi's) voice is shrill and annoying, and Team Rocket are nothing amazing, the original voices are quite good.

While you may not like the English openings (though you cannot deny that the first opening can stick to your mind for days on end), the Japanese ones are excellent: 'Mesaze Pokemon Master', 'Ok!' and 'Ready Go!' are all great.

For critics and fans of the show I have one thing to say - accept Pokemon for what it is. It's a childish, cheesy, and silly show full of exaggeratedly haughty morals with no concrete plot, and yet, a good anime for kids. It's also a classic - it was the first anime to launch the whole monster-capturing concept.

Just ignore the obvious money-making aim that the whole show has, instead of being solely an innocent children’s show.

You’ll like Pokemon more that way.

R.I.P. 1997-2001

Pokemon was my life as a kid. I know that's sad to say, but its true, and I know a lot of you were like me when this thing came to America in 1997. It hit like a nuclear bomb, the aftermath was huge. Pokemon had everything in terms of marketing. A show, games, action figures, shampoo! It was really a marketing genius.

But it was also more than that, now that I'm older and I've moved on to other things. As a kid, the concept of Pokemon was tangible. Imagine, leaving your home to go on an adventure with you're friends, growing up ... with them, learning new things, visiting new places. Pokemon wasn't just about the monsters, it was about the journey.
And following someones journey can always be an experience too. Watching Ash get Pikachu, then meet up with Misty, then Brock. Win his gym badges, its all a journey that we can be apart of.

Its sad to look at what Pokemon has become. I just watched an episode from the new series on cartoon network the other day. It seems all the fun of the franchise has been sucked out of it. The games rules are incorporated with the show. The feel of adventure is gone, its really upsetting. Younger audience should be able to experience the greatness that Pokemon was, but no longer is, and probably never will be.

The original Pokemon anime was an amazing, wholesome show with tons of charm and soul that paired perfectly with the video games, movies, and trading card game. It's hard to name any other single franchise that had as much reach as Pokemon did during its peak, and being a part of it at the time felt more like a major experience than just watching another cable TV show.

The show's characters are inspiring and their adventure was fun to watch. The progress that the main characters make throughout the series isn't always linear or predictable, meaning that there's always a reason to keep watching to see ... how things pan out. Additionally, their progress often comes with realistic moments of failure or other heartwrenching events that really drive home the idea of it being a proper adventure.