Oh boy, was I pumped for this when the trailer was released. Was disappointed when I realized the animation team weren't making a full show, but daaaayuuuum, a completely new re-telling of when the biggest franchises known across the world in beautiful new animation! Bring. It. On!
Oh... Oh, well, hmm, OK then...
Story: What more can I say? This, despite the RPG genre being fairly new, was still really fresh in that you weren't a generic knight or wizard, you were just an ordinary kid who lived in a world with extraordinary creatures. I actually played the remakes, FireRed and LeafGreen as a kid, but Gen 1 is still a fan favourite and... Just, even if you're not an otaku, just a general fan, you know the story. 9/10.
Art: Of course, the biggest pull with this new short series was the complete revamp of the art in comparison to the older and much longer original pokemon series (yup, it's still going...) and, y'know what, it's brilliant. I mean, make of it what you will when you see the show, but I found it brilliant. Not stunning, but beautiful all the same. 9/10.
Sound: Right. Step 1. Click on your URL bar or search bar and type: www.youtube.com
Step 2: In the search bar, type: Pokemon FireRed OST
Step 3: Click on the first video.
Step 4: "Ya gotta go ten outta ten!"
10/10.
Character: Can't say much more than the characters were portrayed as they are in the games, only slightly "nicer" I think. Yeah, Giovanni, big team rocket boss. Loses - "ohmehgurd, pokemanz are not tools and shizz. Thy meh frendz. Hre derp-hat, badgeeezz, go face Elite Foouuur". I SAY NO. He was more of a badass in an 8-bit game! And Blue/Gary/AssHat/Actual-guy-in-real-life-you-hate.... What happened bro. You're a total knob in the game and older show. Now you're a slight pest, God, people might even like you! At least Prof. Oak is still an all right geezer. And Red's generic, so yay! Hmmm... The Pokemon were cool!
Overall: I enjoyed the show for what it was. Nintendo and me have a got thing going on... Recentley, we've both become extremely lazy. It shows here, in that they rush, skip even, some of the best parts of the game! Surely it wouldn't have cut too much into your budget to make a few more episodes, you could've maybe even got an 8 then! So, length is my main gripe with the series. Lip-synching could've been a tad better. However, loved the battles, very energetic and what the battles felt like a) the first time I played a pokemon game (ruby FYI), b) first time playing Y. Also, the little gameboy cameos. How it said dot-matrix on the border of the credits. How there was little 8-bit sounds at the start of the show. How Red constantly "saved". Nice 4th-wall-breaking there guys. Real nice. Overall, I'd say watch the show if you've got an hour and a half to waste, but you ain't missing anything if you don't. 7/10.
