Pokémon today gets a lot of hate, and for good reason. What was once a respectable show is now a money hungry, grubby kids show aimed at innocent children with a repetitive formula.
But let me take you back to a time when this wasn’t the case. A time where Pokémon felt genuine, and the only reason it existed was to entertain and teach about the wonderful world of Pokémon!
Now I’m not speaking here as a man who’s watched this only as a kid. I’ve seen the entire original series (with and without friends) as a grown man, and let me tell you why it’s great!
STORY: the story is a pretty simple, somewhat of an original setup for its time, yet executes the hell out it! I won’t get into spoilers, but it has all the makings of a great anime
ART & ANIMATION: The animation is fluent and amazing, especially for its time. The characters, the scenery, and the Pokémon! are well drawn(although there is the typical anime cliche where all characters look similar in a certain fashion). The scenery may get repetitive, but you’ll never really ever notice, you’ll be too focused on the show!
SOUND & FX: Superb, 10/10. All the pokémon(even dubbed) sound great. This is undoubtedly one of the best dubbed anime ever
dubbed vs. subbed: Now before I continue, I must address the issue with the dubbing. A lot of people hate it, but a majority hate the wrong one. Confused? I’ll explain.
Before the Diamond and Pearl Series, the original company who owned the pokémon anime sold it’s rights to another company, who after the 8th season, replaced the entire staff from the dubbed Pokémon series. the reason for this is the typical reasoning of “kids know dick”, and thought all english speaking children wouldn’t even TELL the difference. Big mistake.
After that, Pokémon became a soulless cash cow recycling the same formula that made the original so perfect! Not just for the dub, but the original japanese version too.
Also, the dubbed version made numerous mistakes trying to be appealing to American/Canadian audiences. It worked as much as your grandpa or lame teacher trying to be “hip” with the youngsters’. -_-
FINAL THOUGHTS: I love the games, and maybe that’s the reason why I applaud the show so much, but it’s also the reason why I know the difference between an epic anime and a terrible show when it comes to Pokémon. The show is great for all audiences. The humor hit me like a brick, and I enjoyed every episode of the original series.
