Pokémon

[eternity]

Why is there not a thread for this? -_-

I just checked the four pages of this forum, and I didn't see a thread devoted to the ENTIRE Pokemon show, but something called "Pokemon Specials/Adventures", so I think that's different.

So, discuss Pokémon. The Anime version. Did you like it when you were a kid? Do you still like it? Which character did you find annoying? ANYTHING. Poast.

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[ChouToshio]

There's 1 defining factor in making any great anime: The amount of money you spend per episode to make it.

Frankly, the vast majority of episodes have intellectual/artistic content on par with Barney the Dinosaur. What do you expect though-- it's a children's TV show after all. The time/energy/resources to make said episodes is reflected in the crappy content.

That being said, most of the movies are surprisingly good (with a few very disappointing exceptions). When you are going out of your way to make a 2 hour big-picture commercial for pokemon merchandise, you have a lot more money to spend-- and the results are actually quite good.

While the plot lines are not the most interesting (and you get a lot less in battle sequences), I have to give them credit for some beautiful animation, music and overall composition. My favorites were movies 3-5 (entei, serebi, lati@s). Movies 7 and onward depend a little bit too much on Computer Graphics for my taste, but if that is your cup of coffee by all means-- and the background artists are as fantastic as ever (if not even better!).

If you like pretty animation, life nature-themed stories, and don't mind simple predictable plot-lines, I'd definitely recommend checking out the movies.

. . . except movie 2, which was crap, and movie 11 which had my ears bleeding from Shaymin's annoying speech pattern. No, I'm not thankful to you, deshu.

[roxasabridged]

I just checked the four pages of this forum, and I didn't see a thread devoted to the ENTIRE Pokemon show, but something called "Pokemon Specials/Adventures", so I think that's different.

That's the superior Manga version :(

[Kochiha]

The show was indeed absolute crap, but there were some neat points, even if they didn't make sense. It was their rendition of Sabrina that first turned me on to the Psychic Pokemon I still use to this day.

Some of the movies were nice, but for the most part were just as stupid as the show, as well as having that ever-present curse that most animated works have of taking a moral or environmental message and just assaulting the viewers with it. (See also: Ferngulley, Captain Turne--I mean, Planet.) This problem makes the first movie an especially mixed bag; it's not the kind of movie you want to watch to the end, because you lose the aphrodisiac you had when it started. That said, the first twenty minutes of that first Pokemon movie are some of the most kickass in all of anime. Mewtwo doesn't just command the laws of time and space to do his bidding, he commands the attention of his audience, and quickly teleported to the top of my Favorite Pokemon of All Time list, bested only by Gardevoir for a few years, but I think he's close enough to share that position with her now. He's also voiced by Dan Green, since that might mean something to the people on these forums.
Second movie: liked it. Lugia again gives Psychics a good name, and is again voiced by Dan Green. Lawrence III's...giant flying doughnutmobile thingy was a little over the top, but it gave a bit of intimidating presence as well as something to blow up and wreck. The Orange Islands were for the most part an absolutely worthless facet of the series, but the second movie made them (sort of) worth something. Also presented a problem based on an oddball plot device, not some environmental or moral crap.
Third movie: I don't know about you guys, but this thing freaked me the fuck out. Entei wasn't intimidating so much as creepy, the whole thing with the Unown was a little overplayed, and those landscapes were just whacked out. One of the reasons I don't like kids very much is the stuff that they can dream up, and this movie only reinforced that notion. Rockets broke the 4th wall way too much. Small orphaned child was damn ugly. And why they'd try to give the worst of the legendary dogs his own movie is beyond me.
Despite the fourth movie's bad pun of a title, it was a significant improvement. Wasn't as good as one or two, but better than three. Still not very good, though, because of the ever-present environmentalism and attempts made to improve the Rockets' image way too late in the series. Celebi's time-traveling motif was underplayed and uncapitalized on, and Celebi itself was downright annoying. Still, the presence of Suicune is always welcome, even if I do think that it's a bit overrated.
OH MY GOD THE FIFTH MOVIE WAS AMAZING. The Latis were well-liked by me from when I first laid eyes on them, but this movie reinforced that, even if the voices got a little annoying. The biggest part of this movie isn't the story, which is a little thin despite having more structure than its predecessors and too reliant on the sob factor, but the setting. Tajiri actually shipped off to Venice for a bit of loation scouting, and the design of Altomare that resulted was just as gorgeous and mysterious as the original Queen of the Sea herself. (I totally recommend traveling to Venice, by the way.) Additionally, it was pretty creative to milk Latias' ability to transform to the degree that they did; I was legitimately confused as to which one was which in terms of Latias and that other girl for a moment. That, and being able to keep the statement that Ash will never make it with a human girl standing was nice of them.
Sixth movie: I didn't see it too much. All I know was that it was pretty meh. Circuses aren't very impressive unless they're from Canada and lacking in animals (my favorite production of which makes up my blurb), and Jirachi wasn't designed very well. Not like I ever liked it that much in the first place. With the exception of the trio from 4th gen, the fairy legendaries always seem to rub me the wrong way, particularly that pink Chaos spawn that makes Magcargo look appealing. I forgot to mention this in my bit on the first movie, but while it gave me one of my big favorites, it also gave me the Pokemon I enjoy the least, and I'm ashamed that it's a Psychic and ashamed that Mewtwo was developed from something as stupid and annoying as it.
Seventh movie: Moderately attractive at first, but the way they mispronounce Rayquaza (with a long "a") rubs me exactly the wrong way. It also doesn't help that the pronounciation was "officialized", making for a bunch of thick-heads running around pulling a cheese grater across my ears every time I hear it pronounced like that. Deoxys wasn't as lame as it should've been, but it didn't kick enough ass. Story was worse than most of the rest of them.
After the seventh movie, I more or less dropped out of caring about the Pokemon anime entirely and focused more on things like NetBattle and my alternate universe work, "Pokemon: Saffron", intended to turn Pokemon's remaining weakesses of storyline and character design into great strengths, whilst revamping some other things to seem more believable in its own universe. My dislike for the anime was dramatically increased when they had the gall to bring that pink Chaos spawn I was talking about earlier back and put it alongside my second least favorite Pokemon, Lucario. That thing is an insult to Psychic Pokemon in how it's a Fighting/Steel type trying its hardest to be Psychic and looking absolutely stupid while doing so. The least they could have it do was either talk through a means other than telepathy or just have it shut up, but CLAMP fucking damn it, it pisses me off that they would create such a thing.

So my overall advice is to just leave these movies behind and play the games. Except for the allmighty 5th one and the first 20 minutes of the first one. Mewtwo will render you senseless, and Altomare is a nice little preview of what you might experience when next you find yourself in wondrous Venice.
As for the anime itself...why are you even still considering that at this point?

[SirFluffykins]

That's the superior Manga version :(

*Edit* Ooops, what I said (now in spoiler tags) was Electric Pikachu not Adventure (either of which I can't find anywhere)
...because it has 12 year old girls with big breasts and/or naked with everyone perving on them every second issue? (If that's the one I'm thinking of, where 'Ash' finds Pikachu eating the house power cables)

At least in the anime the humans risk their lives every now and again -plus I hear they now have some Team Rocket villians who actually try to kill the main characters. XD

[roxasabridged]

If you haven't read the Special/Adventure version, I'd reccomend you do so. OneManga has fantranslations up to ch.104 and Mangafox has all the releases so far, I think (Although the pages and chapter orders are kinda screwed up >.>) and the releases from Kanto to Johto are all Viz translations, which aren't quite as good as the fan made ones.

The manga's kinda like the games. There's levels for the Pokemon (Although the levels don't mean a whole lot) and the characters are named aftr the games (Except Yellow, she's original) and the Pokemon can actually kill you if they wanted.

[ChouToshio]

@Kochiha-- What's at the very heart of the Pokemon Story is not battling or incredible powers, but a discovery of nature. Tajiri-san too, has commented on how he was inspired to create pokemon by his adventures bug-collecting as a child. That's what pokemon really is-- glorified bug collecting. Here in Japan, it's a really big deal. You can find aisles of books dedicated to it at any book store, and jelly based "bug food" as well as all sorts of other bug merchandise at most pet stores. Whether it's capturing Semi (Cicadas) in the summer, or collecting Kabuto Mushi (Stag beatles), it's really big-- there's even a "World Martial Arts Beetle Tournament" here.

That is to say that what is truly at the heart of the story is a love of nature-- it's the story of one boy's adventure exploring nature and meeting the creatures of this world. That beautiful and pure-hearted concept is what is at the heart of pokemon. Above all else too, it's a story for children-- trying to pass on/kindle that same appreciation for the world in the next generation (and make a lot of money doing it of course).

In America it may have been just a fad, but here in Japan, it's something like a Sesame Street or Barney-- shows for kids just don't die. Pokemon is more popular now than ever.

Because of that, it makes perfect sense for the pokemon movies to take on those overtones. Especially in these times where man-kind continues to harm nature and the planet. In the pokemon movies, humanity witnesses the repercussions of their own deeds, and realizes the importance of living with nature. I think this is very important to instill.

Even for those who don't consider themselves "tree huggers," humans really need to protect nature for the sake of humanity itself. Fact is, we could set off all the nukes tomorrow, wipe out 90% of all life on the surface of the planet including all of us-- and in half a billion years, the planet would once more be covered with life, just as diverse as it ever was. According to calculations of researchers, all the nukes combined have only the tiniest fraction of the power that the meteor that killed the dinosaurs had. Moral of the story is, compared to nature and life as a whole-- humanity is really weak. We need to learn to live with nature, because it is us ourselves who will be destroyed if we don't. The planet as a whole, could care less if all the hairless monkeys roasted tomorrow.

I think pokemon's stories are well in line with those sentiments.

That's why I really liked the 4th movie about Celebi, even if it was a shameless rip off of Mononoke Hime in so many ways. It was beautifully illustrated, and had though a simple story, it was well told.


Also, like any anime, I definitely recommend people try checking out the Japanese version before making any judgements. I find Satoshi much easier to stomach on that side. For those studying Japanese, I'd recommend it even more-- since it's a children's movie, it's relatively easy to understand. I think those even with only a year or two of study could get by without subtitles for the most part.

[roxasabridged]

Lucario. That thing is an insult to Psychic Pokemon in how it's a Fighting/Steel type trying its hardest to be Psychic and looking absolutely stupid while doing so. The least they could have it do was either talk through a means other than telepathy or just have it shut up, but CLAMP fucking damn it, it pisses me off that they would create such a thing.

Aura =/= Psychic.

[ChouToshio]

Though technically Lucario is a "wave" pokemon, that is vibrations.

[Iloveabridged]

Lugia is the best !!!!!!!!!

[lover]

No mewtwo.arceus.darkrai and rayquaza are

[roxasabridged]

No, Lucario, Charizard, Plusle and Minun are.