Pokémon Origins

MY BACKGROUND: Firstly I should state my familiarity with the Pokémon franchise. As a child I followed the anime adventures of Ash Ketchum et al. from the start to Master Quest. My experience with the games was limited to half an hour on my friend's copy of Pokémon Yellow (I increased Pikachu by ten levels in that time, to his shock).

Knowing that Origins was based on the game Pokémon Red and had no relation to the main series, how did I fare?



THOUGHTS: To my delight, Origins was accessible to a newcomer to the Pokémon games like me. The first episode really goes at length to introduce the setting and characters, even explaining what the titular monsters are.

The animation was a marked improvement from the washed out show I was used to on standard definition analogue TV. Gorgeous crisp colours and details brought the settings and battles to life. What else is different? The main trainers Red and Green (analogous to Ash Ketchum and Gary Oak) are much less goofy. The tone is more serious with less humour and cuteness, and more intense fights. This interesting stylistic experiment had mixed results. I enjoyed the new energy and suspense in the battles which were more reminiscent of Digimon or Dragonball Z. However, the cute goofy humour was a trademark of the Pokémon series and I felt some comic relief should have been retained to balance the mood.

Fans of the original games would have gotten their humour in the form of references like the phrase "It's not every effective..." My friend and fellow audience member was giddy with the faithfulness to the original story like the game graphics and story events (e.g. a Magikarp salesman). While this worked well in his favour, it was also a disadvantage. The story of Pokémon Red was clearly too long to fit into four episodes and the vast majority was relegated to montage sequences. The narration was enough to make me understand what was going on, but it was obvious that only the older loyal fans were truly welcome.

The extremely rushed pace took a toll on the story and character development, as Misty only has a cameo appearance and we never focus on any Pokémon other than Red's Charmander. The story was torn between trying to relay Red's entire journey, and showing a coherent story in each episode. However, with this challenge the producers did surprisingly well.



WHAT WOULD I DO? Hypothetically, if I could change anything about Origins, what would it be?

Thinking of the bigger picture, I would not have made it at all. Basing it on Pokémon Red fundamentally restricted its audience share and relevance, and doomed it to be a short, one-off special. Its real benefits were a more serious and energetic style, adherence to the games, listening to fans' desires, a planned story resolution and appeal for older viewers, not anything specifically related to the original story.

Instead, I would have incorporated these elements into a much-needed reboot of the main series to clear away the 15+ years of continuity and make it easier for new fans to get into the Pokémon franchise. Tying the anime into the video game releases directly would allow for periodic refreshes. This would help to avoid the story getting repetitive and tired, and forces a deadline for the protagonist to achieve their goals and satisfy the viewer. Note that Red achieved more in two episodes than Ash Ketchum has in his entire run; children don't look up to perpetual failures! (I sure didn't)

At the same time, I would have kept some of the goofy humour that entertained me as a young child. The fun and length of the original anime seasons combined with the intensity and resolution of Origins would make a very engaging, attractive and popular series.



FINAL VERDICT:

Pokémon: Origins learned from the lessons of the main anime more than it ever did itself. It's just a shame it will remain a short side note.

7.5/10 (but only watch if you have some interest or background in Pokémon)

The story had the potential to carry the original story but they went more into motivation that the actual story. If you are a Pokémon fan then this is a much watch, though. It feels incomplete because only green ( blue ) and red do the fighting and doesn't even feel like a real thing. Leave games aside some elements like Police, guns should be added to the Giovanni part of the episode. Anime is just mid, nothing crazy. My review is unclear but this show isn't made well, they didn't put effort and added unnecessary stuff, like Mega Evolution in the last episode. This is so dumb, Battle with most of the gym leaders were like for a few seconds. This anime had the potential but became bad as they added unnecessary stuff.

I'll admit, I may be biased because I don't like the Pokemon anime in the least. However, the Pokemon Red Version was my first GameBoy game ever. I was only 7-8 years old, and I remember being very confused as to why the plot line for the show was so different from the game. I later got the Pokemon Yellow: Special Pikachu Edition game, which was marketed as having some touches that were intended to be more faithful to the show, but in reality, even the Yellow version has only little in common with the anime show.

(And yes, I do regard Pokemon Yellow as one of the greatest hand-held games of all time, with only two minor drawbacks. The first of these being the inclusion of the way-weird Jesse and James, and the second being that Pikachu's cry was altered to saying its name rather than the original cry that Pikachu has in Pokemon Red and Blue. I do very much like the other changes, such as improved artwork and the interaction with Pikachu.)

When I grew out of liking the show in a few years, my parents were kind of confused why I still played the games so much and never seemed to move past them. Little did they realize that comparing the Pokemon Games to the show is like comparing apples and oranges.

(And frankly, I really don't even like the word "Pokemon" as a title for the games and I wish the games were just called "Pocket Monsters," come on, that's not so hard to say. Partly because it's just a better sounding name in my opinion, but also partly because the games should be very distinguished from what aired on Kids WB on February 13th, 1999. And just in case you didn't know, yes, the games came before the television show. You probably already knew that if you're reading this review though.)

The Pokemon Origins TV Special is Pokemon Red and Green (Blue in the USA) adapted into an anime. The differences in plot are only minor and are probably only even there in the interest of making everything fit into four short episodes. Interestingly, each of the four episodes has a different director, and they all do a very good job. *Very Minor Spoiler Alert!* There also happens to be an ode to the newest generation towards the end.*End of Very Minor Spoiler*

Red is a likable enthusiastic protagonist (very unlike Ash) and seems to be a good representation of the eleven-year-old Pokemon league champion that we all remember, albeit now he finally talks. Green (the Rival) is very similar to how he was games, but maybe just a hair less obnoxious (which isn't saying much, but he doesn't say "Smell ya later").

The animation is top notch, the recreation of the towns and settings from the GameBoy games is superb, and they even went above and beyond with the cool intro sequences of a GameBoy selection screen, the HP bars as Pokemon are battling, and the fact that the Pokemon don't say their names out loud as their cry, but instead make noises like they do in the games. All of these things are to be commended. You are really given a sense of how different the characters and worlds of Red and "Ash" truly are.

The only depressing thing that keeps this from getting a perfect 10/10 score is the fact that it's only a television special, and not a full on anime series. Although this special does a fantastic job of summarizing the plot in four twenty-five minute episodes, this time constraint means they have to skip over a lot of parts of the games that would have been so fun to see. At the beginning of the second, third and fourth episodes, we see a brief summary of these events that those of us who grew up on the games are familiar with. Merely stating that such things happened just isn't quite enough, I would've loved to see these things played out, especially if it had been done with an equal amount of skill as the parts they did elaborate on. And worst of all, this results in there having to be a few minor plot changes from the games to make it fit the time block as I mentioned earlier.

But I won't let that stop me from being delighted. Who knows? This is the first review on IMDb, but maybe this will catch on. Could we possibly be treated to a similar special about the generation II games (Gold and Silver)? That would be fantastic!

In conclusion, may Red be known as the Pokemon League Champion, NOT Ash!

I have to say, this is a Pokémon anime that I never get bored of watching.

I occasionally watch shows to observe the relationships between characters.

For instance, Red meets a girl named Reina at Lavender Town, and it turns out that she is a volunteer for the Pokémon House. Long story short, when the townspeople send off Red, Mr. Fuji (the Founder of the Pokémon House), tells Red to come see him if he runs into any trouble. Right after that, Reina says "And come back again, ok?". What does that tell me? She enjoys being around Red.

In the fourth episode, Reina appears in a couple scenes. In the first scene, she tells Mr. Fuji about the rumours that surround a Cerulean Cave. Despite the nature of the conversation, Reina is very calm. In her next (and final scene), she is alarmed that Red is heading to the same cave. She asks Mr. Fuji if Red is going to be all right. She doesn't ask about Red's Pokémon. Just Red. That's something that speaks volumes. However, Mr. Fuji is able to calm down the young volunteer enough for her to show us a little smile on her face.

Now, I find it is very realistic in terms of the visual quality. The ONLY moment I found to be cartoonish was when Red and Blue started their Pokémon Battle at Route 1. One second, they are standing so close to each other, they could knock each other out, and the next second, they slide 10-15 feet backwards in a single slide. Again, that's the ONLY cartoonish moment. The rest is fairly realistic.

If you played Red and Blue versions, this anime is going to be a nice break from the regular anime.

And, yes. Koffee- I mean, Koffing, makes an appearance. Thanks, regular anime! I can't think of Koffing without thinking about coffee!

I've always been a fan of pokemon and I feel this is a good show. There are some strong points but on the other hand, I do feel it misses some points the original series had.

I've read some of the other reviews and some say they dislike pokemon saying their names. Honestly, I miss that. I don't know how it was for everyone but I did like pokemon saying their own names. It was what set pokemon apart from the other pocket monsters. I also felt like in a way, it gave the pokemon personally. I watched a bit of pokemon when the main character Dawn and it was fun watching Piplup and his struggles. Here, there is no development of pokemon or the characaters. They just seem to be the typical pokemon formula: having a rival who thinks he's better than you are. Then again, if we come from the perspective of just any person playing the game, it makes sense to have the bland character.

And it is better in some aspects: there is no team rocket and meowth. I always hated those parts. Ash was not great in the original series. He is quite annoying, and never seems to learn. Additionally, after the first season, pikachu becomes more and more boring. I didn't keep up with the original series but compared to that, this is pretty awesome.