“Pokemon hit the United States with unbridled success as children all over the world began to tune in to Ash Misty and Brock's adventures all over the world. It captured a raw, childlike enjoyment of seeing cute animals violenting engage in battles for the sake of a young child master everyone could relate too. But with the engagement of the morality of Pokémon capture being questioned on the daily, it was clear to Gamefreak it was time to change things up. With the late turn of the century and the debut of Pokemon Diamond and Pearl and the fourth generation of the series, Satoshi and his team took a great risk, taking the series in unheard of directions and culminating with the release of a more mature and adutlt film based on the series on July 15, 2005 as Lucario and the Mystery of Mew. This huge risk paid off and the fourth generation of the series became known by fans as one of the most groundbreaking and memorable entries, pushing the series into years of sucess, leading up to today with the series still going strong!
What makes Lucario and the Mystery of Mew so strong and allows it to stand the test of time is that it presents its titular lead, Lucario, with perhaps one of most empathetic stories in the entire series. Lucario didn’t fight for his human friend Aaron, he wasn’t capture by Aaron in a Pokeball. No, Lucario and Aaron went through a literal war together and became buddies. This is without a doubt one of the most badas* feats in the Pokémon series so far, and the tragic fate that befalls these two friends says so much about this seemingly “perfect” childlike world. The fact that such empathetic and truly free characters met inch a hard fate is one of the most subversive statements I’ve ever seen an anime make.”
