Reviews

As a fan of Pokémon many of these short episodes make me quite happy. I've always found myself loving any Pokémon anime episodes, trailers or shorts that aren't part of the Ash Pokémon series and are more connected to the actual lore of the video games. This series definitely delivered. There are 8 episodes, 1 for each region and I like every one. This mini-series is not without its flaws however. Obviously these episodes rely heavily on fanservice. This series in particular REQUIRES you to have played the video games. I absolutely love Pokémon Origins and Pokémon Generations but I cannot deny that these series' rely on prior knowledge of the video games to enjoy. I especially appreciate the specific stories told here. The animation in all of these episodes is stunning to say the least and I really think the studio went all-out with the visuals here. This is Pokémon, one of the biggest video game franchises of all-time. It deserves this kind of medium in this way. People actually care about the world of Pokémon so a lot of this show will make many fans quite happy.

I do have some nitpicks however, but they are based mostly around my bias and opinion. Some episodes I wish focused more on the REAL canon of the Pokémon universe. One of my favourite episodes is the Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon episode with Lillie and the ultra wormhole entitled "The Eclipse". Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon have already been said in the past to be part of an alternate universe. Again, this is an extremely stupid thing for me to complain about but I do slightly wish they chose the original Sun and Moon to base their game around since USUM is technically not connected to the rest of the episodes in the same universe.

The last episode, entitled "The Discovery" is based off of the Pokémon Let's Go games. Again, this is my opinion, but I really, really wish that they based this final episode on either the original Red, Green and Blue games or FireRed and LeafGreen. These games are both considered canon and those games are actually good (opinion). Green is a fantasticly written character in this episode and is voiced by Cristina Vee, which I noticed quite quickly due to her distinct voice. BUT, I would of absolutely been in shock if they decided to go with the superior character "Leaf" instead. Green, to me, is so much better off being left in the manga. The Let's Go games are quite clearly set in a completely different universe, with different protagonists and a different rival "Trace" that is significantly worse than "Blue" who actually makes for a very compelling rival in the games story. It just seems for this episode the team wanted to promote their silly Gen 1 games.

My absolute favourite episode is the one entitled "The Plan" which is a story based around Generation 5. The Unova games have always been my favourite and this just makes me so much happier to of experienced. N and Ghetsis are some of Pokémon's best written characters. I do not think the Pokémon anime series do most characters justice or portray them in the right way. It's always been centered around Ash and quirky mishaps. So I love how the characters and the stories here are just straight from the games. I just love it when the video game protagonists get anime spotlight too.

So yes, personal stupid preferences aside, this is very great. I didn't have any problems with the animation, or the voice acting. All my problems are just based around my feelings toward the Pokémon franchise and its games/story.
Definitely check this out if you're a Pokémon fan.