SPOILERS! General Pokémon Anime Discussion

Of course I'm a biased Johto fan, but this was a good one. Liked the various ways that Pokemon were used in the performance. Liked the Totodile gag. Liked crying Gengar. Liked Lugia getting more emphasis and a bigger role in the story than usual.

By the way, I wasn't very surprised by that emphasis. There definitely was less Ho-Oh in this than I expected, but didn't the trailers mostly show Lugia?
I mostly remember the trailers just showing the show in motion. I think the part where the water & fire clash was in there, which could've been much of anything.
 

QuentinQuonce

formerly green_typhlosion
Kind of disappointed in this one, tbh. Visually it was stunning and I loved the way it showed how various Pokemon assisted with the show, but it was a pretty barebones retelling of the myth we've been told before. The focus on Lugia rather than Ho-Oh was nice but all the other episodes have dug a little deeper than this one.

It's funny that the addition HGSS made to Lugia's lore never gets expanded on, I'd like to know more about the history of the Whirl Islands.
 

ScraftyIsTheBest

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So I just got around to watching yesterday's episode.

Probably the strangest episode around, aside from what was mentioned in the post above me, Goh catching a Shedinja in the strangest way possible. Ash and Goh meet Allister by pure chance and try to give him his ticket, and end up riding a "Ghost Train". A strange series of events involving this train that carries Ghost-types start happening, chief of all when Ash and Goh knock down an Odd Keystone, causing Ash to become possessed by a spirit of a Spiritomb and start doing malicious things. The Spiritomb itself is angry that one of its spirits has escaped its cluster and starts rampaging and they have to work with Allister, whom they meet, to free Ash and get the spirit back in Spiritomb. The Spiritomb goes to the graveyard it wishes to be at peacefully, and Ash and Goh arrive at Stow-on-Side successfully.

But then the Ghost Train, along with Allister, disappear entirely! That certainly leaves a major cliffhanger as to what Allister's deal is.

Next episode will be all about Max Mushrooms and Allister helping Ash and Goh out in gathering Max Mushrooms in hopes that Ash's Gengar will be able to Gigantamax. Certainly something to look forward to.
 

Pikachu315111

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But then the Ghost Train, along with Allister, disappear entirely! That certainly leaves a major cliffhanger as to what Allister's deal is.
Even the games weren't quite clear what Allister's "deal" was. Okay, so we know from a young age he has the ability to track & connect with Ghost-types (for some reason), is shy and wears a mask to hide his face, and somehow he became the Gym Leader of the Ghost-type Gym Club in Galar. With most of the other Gym Leaders I sort of get what their deal is, but Allister is left mostly ambiguous and in doing so GF didn't really solidify his characterization. Like he seems like a good if timid kid in Twilight Wings and seemingly this episode, but aside from that he's pretty blank.
 
This ep was also the first appearance of Spiritomb from the DP ep that aired in 2008, and the first decent appearance of a Shedinja since the old Misty AG cameo back in 2003. It's times like this you realize how little certain pokemon actually appear in the anime, even ones from generations ago.
 
Watching these shorts really reminds you how few of the female protagonists from the games actually appear in the main anime. People used to talk for years how because of Ash we barely saw any of the male heroes from the games, but nowadays more than half of the female protagonists from the games never appeared in the main show either. It's odd because it always felt like more of them were in the show than there was.

Also I liked the 5 nugget trainers on the bridge, the first season also never made an episode about them. I like how these shorts are always more game accurate whereas the main anime tends to ignore or skip over a lot of this stuff
 

ScraftyIsTheBest

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Soooo...that's a wrap on Evolutions with the final episode. It seems as I suspected Kanto's episode was in Let's Go Pikachu and Eevee canon, and it's all about that Mewtwo in Cerulean Cave. For this episode we see Green and Trace competing to get Mewtwo, but Elaine got to it first, and we briefly get to see them battle like in the game proper. And then Professor Oak reveals that all of them together managed to help complete the Pokedex that Oak created...that is...until he found out about the existence of a strange metal Pokemon, definitely referring to Meltan and Melmetal.

It was a fun episode, although it would've been funny to see Green throwing Poke Balls at Elaine like she does in the game proper which was utterly hilarious imo.

Overall not my favorite episode per se, but it was a fun one to watch. Johto, Hoenn, and Unova are my top three favorites if you ask me out of all these shorts from Evolutions. This was a pretty fun series imo, and I enjoyed every episode.
 

Pikachu315111

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The final episode. It's very fun. "Mewtwo~"
0:07: Um, why is Green using a map based on the original Red & Blue Kanto? Shouldn't her map more look like it did in Let's Go, you know, where they replaced Cycling Road with Pokemon Road?
0:07: Anyway, wonder what those other circled locations are supposed to be. They're around Viridian City, Viridian Forest, Indigo Plateau, Celadon City, and Vermillion City (and of course Unknown Dungeon Cerulean Cave). I don't recall those locations having hints to Mewtwo (other than Viridian City & Celadon City involving Team Rocket stuff).
0:23: Forgot Green gives you both of Mewtwo's Mega Stones... where did she find those?
0:23: Also, I think this is the first time we've seen Revives in an animated series. There's also a Pokemon GO version of a Potion, I think the green bottle is Burn Heal, and the Let's Go version of the Silph Scope.
0:40: Hey, Trace actually looks decent now that he's not a squished chibi.
0:48: Did Professor Oak not tell Green that he brought on two other trainers to help in completing the Pokedex? She seems shocked Trace has the same research as she does.
0:53: Heh, that's cute. It's the Nugget Bridge Trainers though now the Pokemon they used in the Let's Go games are fully evolved.
1:04: Is that the Team Rocket recruiter? At this point isn't Team Rocket disbanded?
1:53: So, later me coming back to add this in, why is Mewtwo there? We see later in the episode that while Green & Trace are racing through the cave that Elaine would be battling & trying to catch it. Even if this is before Elaine engages it in proper battle, like, wouldn't Mewtwo's attention still be on Elaine since she's furthest into its lair? BTW I have nothing witty/observant to really say about the Green & Trace race so...

4:17: Did they forgot to add the background? Why is Elaine is a white void and not colored in?
4:37: Suddenly things got cartoony.
6:13: I don't like baths. KAMAHAMEHA!
6:17: That was a weird de-evolution; Fading back to the normal form.
7:00: Hey, you're supposed to throw several Poke Balls into their face, animators don't get lazy now.
7:00: Though Green's zaniness does give us one of the few rare (official) times we see Mewtwo without a serious face.

7:23: What do you mean? You saw Mewtwo, it should be registered in your Pokedex. Also is this implying Green has the Legendary Birds? Or does she still not know that Trace and Elaine are also helping Professor Oak with the Pokedex?
7:44: Green, you didn't figure that out from seeing Trace also having Oak's research? Also, didn't you receive your Starter around the same time as Red & Blue? Did you find another Charmander and Bulbasaur and raised them? And going back to the Legendary Birds, if you didn't catch them then someone else had to for them to be in the Pokedex, right? Your personality is quirky, not stupid.
7:56: I knew Blue was evil all along, just look at the way he's sitting in that chair, all he's missing in the wine glass!
7:59: Red is going to be so excited when they discover Mt. Silver so he doesn't have to stand around at the Pokemon League.
8:14: Did Elaine just pat Green's butt?
8:21: So guess Oak is talking with Willow about Meltan & Melmetal? Would have been a neater easter egg if Oak had actually said "Willow".
8:32: Yes Oak, there is, infact 100 more Pokemon can be found in the region to the left of Kanto that you share a Pokemon League with (I think it's called Jahta, Jehte, Jhiti, Jhutu...)! I have no clue how you didn't notice them before (or how Pokemon you have in your current Dex have further evolutions and pre-evolutions). I think Oak not remembering his grandson's name isn't the only thing his memory is failing him at doing...
8:40: Why is Pikachu making rodent noises? Pikachu literally says its name now, and starting with Let's Go so does Eevee.
8:42: Hey, it's the "Technology is amazing" guy!

EPISODE FINAL THOUGHTS: It was a fun episode and nice for them to focus on Green so she could stand more alongside Red & Blue. Kind of sad she isn't as quirky as she was in the games throughout the episode but she still had those moments (though they felt more included because she did it in the game rather then something this character would do naturally from what we saw of her at the beginning and race with Trace, though her swinging on the stalactites with Victreebel was a fun solution to her not having a Flying-type to keep up with Trace). Speaking of which I like we see that she's not only a strong trainer but also resourceful and quick thinking (dodging around the Graveler, helping Trace when he's being swarmed by Zubat). The Green & Elaine battle sadly wasn't that exciting (something I sort of notice with this series, unless they're a main focal point of the story the battles are pretty disappointing with them ending usually in one hit).
Though there were moments the episode threw me off. The cartoony interactions when Green first encounters Elaine, Green not realizing that others were also helping Professor Oak even though she saw Trace with the research notes. They didn't really detract from the episode and wouldn't knock points from it, it was just something that felt off. But overall a good episode, I'll give it an A if only to end the series on a good note. :bloblul:

SERIES FINAL THOUGHTS: Evolutions on the whole is great. Even if the episodes were hit or miss, it had gorgeous animation and even the "miss" episodes were just simply retellings of events that happened in the games which for some scenes never were animated so neat to see as such. I like the idea of focusing on a single notable character and essentially retelling at least part of the story through that character's perspective, sometimes giving us some new insights on them. I wouldn't mind them doing an Evolution 2, though I'm also curious what's the Pokemon Company next series of shorts will be. So a quick thought wrap-up of each episode

  • Favorite: The Plan (I'll admit bias here, but I don't think I'm wrong in thinking it's at least a great episode. We learn a bit more about what happened with both Ghetsis and N that the player wouldn't have seen & the battle between N & Alder was nicely done having both suspense and plot importance).:blobwizard:

  • Great: The Champion (Nice to see a side of Leon that isn't all smiles and there's a person behind that cape who gone through a humbling if not traumatic experience but is able to pull himself up with help from his partner Pokemon), The Show (While not exactly character focused and entirely a visual feast, it's the ton of neat small details such as the festival, dressing room clutter, and how Pokemon help with the special effects that really pushes it higher), The Discovery (Glad Green (and to an extent Trace) got an episode to shine and also Let's Go given a fair shake).:blobthumbsup:

  • Good But Faulty: The Eclipse (Happy to see a game accurate portrayal of Lillie's story and the battle between Lunala & Necrozma was unexpected and awesome; But it ended with very little bite as it ends with Necrozma absorbing Lunala leaving Lillie only able to scowl as Selene pretty much takes over), The Rival (It was certainly Barry's story from the games... and that's really all we got), The Wish (Another visual feast, but unlike The Wish there wasn't really anything lifting it above that it was just a more visual retelling of ORAS's Sky Pillar ascension, not even an official depiction of Aster).:psyglad:

  • Disappointing: The Visionary (PLEASE, can we move on from Lysandre? There's nothing left to tell about him. There was barely anything left to tell about him for Evolutions! Okay, fine, we got his freak out scene and blowing up the Ultimate Weapon, we're done. Though that said, even what was there was awkwardly done with the 1HKO battles and Lysandre having this weird calm pose before freaking out).:blobtriumph:
I enjoyed this episode and the series as a whole quite a bit...way more than the regular series and probably even more than Generations and Twilight Wings.
Hmm, where would I place Evolutions? Honestly I'd be more willing to rank episode by episode than deciding what series was better than the other since they're all episodic. But, gun to head, I'll say my top would still be Generations, then Evolutions, with Twilight Wings in third but all still very much neck-to-neck with one another (guess if we want to include them, PokeToons would be fourth though it's really episodic with each episode having a different style).

There's still those "Storyboard" videos I gotta look through. Nothing major, just neat to see if there was anything in them that was cut from the final for whatever reason. :blobuwu:
 

QuentinQuonce

formerly green_typhlosion
Wow, well that one had everything didn't it? Was not expecting that to be as stellar as it was. Beautifully drawn-out tension, moments of high drama, and a funny twist with Elaine/Pikachu's appearance. The sudden pivot to comedy was unexpected but hilarious and seeing Mewtwo's goofy face has made my day. The little shoutouts to Red, Blue, and Meltan at the end were appreciated too.

It's also really neat to see Mewtwo used in battle by just... a regular trainer. Not Giovanni controlling it or it operating alone, just acting like any other Pokemon.

Highly, highly recommend watching with headphones btw, the music in this one was superb.
 
I really enjoyed the fact this last episode took a bit off the "serious moments" from the previous ones, and had a bit of meme moments, all references to both gen 1 specific (like the Nugget Bridge) and general (looking at you Zubat swarms) moments.

It was a fun little ending.

Though I definitely agree with this
It was a fun episode, although it would've been funny to see Green throwing Poke Balls at Elaine like she does in the game proper which was utterly hilarious imo.
the Green flinging Pokeballs at me in Let's Go never stopped being hilarious for me, wish that was a thing in this episode as well.

I will say though they really gave justice to Green's quirky nature. All in all, as others mentioned, it was a pretty fun finale for this mini series.

Edit: also I cannot unsee this Mewtwo face, it was just glorious.
1640373566001.png
 
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Considering all these specials are always less than 10 minutes, it really makes you wonder what a full length series would be. I always assumed the reason we never had a full new pokemon anime is because it would inevitably compete with the main series with Ash and the staff don't want that, so any other anime that focuses on the games has to be less than 10 minute shorts like Evolutions, Twilight Rings, Generations, etc. Even Origins from 2013 was only 4 eps long despite being 22 minutes.

Theoretically there's no reason we can't have two full Pokemon anime series running side by side, like Ash's series continuing and a separate shorter series that runs only 13-26 episodes like regular anime. But again I assume they don't want any competition among themselves.
 

Yung Dramps

awesome gaming
Considering all these specials are always less than 10 minutes, it really makes you wonder what a full length series would be. I always assumed the reason we never had a full new pokemon anime is because it would inevitably compete with the main series with Ash and the staff don't want that, so any other anime that focuses on the games has to be less than 10 minute shorts like Evolutions, Twilight Rings, Generations, etc. Even Origins from 2013 was only 4 eps long despite being 22 minutes.
If this is the case I am going to be even more spiteful and bitter towards core Pokeani
 
8-10 shorts of 6-10 minutes in length produced every couple of years for a web original airing is probably significantly cheaper than a full series and can be significantly more focused and get to have the "good" animators/directors on hand. It's probably what got it the greenlight when they first started doing it, alongside "we can keep Brand Active by focusing on Brand Iconic Moments, animated"

I also don't think any series really does the "two entirely separate, full series running concurrently", probably because that fucks with time slots (because I highly doubt they'd put, like, a separate yearly 20minute 13-26 episode series on youtube every year) even before thinking of any other factors related to The Brand (TM). So easier to have smaller stuff running on youtube for easy shares.

e: Also I wonder if these things are more a TPCi initiative considering the english screenwriter and I believe they premiered in English before Japan. Or at least used ot.
 

ScraftyIsTheBest

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Okay on to another topic, I'm late but managed to watch yesterday's episode for Journeys, so here we go.

It's the second part of the two-part arc where Gengar gains the ability to G-Max. As it turns out, Allister is also the Stow-on-Side Gym Leader, and he and Bea share that position: we see Bea a few times in this episode even. Kind of interesting how they managed to implement that into the anime canon (since they are "version exclusive" Gym Leaders in SwSh itself). I do wonder if we'll see Gordie and Melony later on down the line and how their ownership of Circhester Gym works.

Anyway, it seems the gist is that Allister reveals that Gengar can't Gigantamax as is, but it will need to take Max Soup to G-Max, and three Max Mushrooms are needed, much like in SwSh's Isle of Armor...except they're hunting for Shrooms in the nearby woods of Stow-on-Side and not in the Isle of Armor. They manage to grab three of them, each surrounded by different Ghost-types: the first by Galarian Corsola traps and if one is stepped on, it will curse the person who touched it, but Goh managed to catch it before it could do anything. The second by an angry Trevenant (eh). And the third was a pillow used by Drakloak, who briefly was awoken by its little Dreepy slipping away, and Drakloak ended up taking Grookey on its head who kept smacking it with its little branch. A nice little shoutout to that detail of Drakloak and how it will find any small Pokemon to substitute for its missing Dreepy should it lose it. Drakloak ends up getting its Dreepy back though, and it was pretty cute in the end, same with the Dreepy. And in the end they manage to make Max Soup: Allister shows his ability to talk with Ghost-type Pokemon and knows that Gengar wishes to get stronger and continue to be by Ash's side. Gengar takes in the Max Soup and gains the ability to G-Max...which wraps things up here.

A lot is bound to happen in the upcoming episodes. Among them are the following:
  • In a few episodes from now, Cassidy and Biff (ahem, or shall I say, Cassidy and Butch) are finally making an appearance again after nearly 14 years of absence, having last appeared in one episode in DP and that's it. It seems like the Jessie/James and Butch/Cassidy rivalry will show up once again...I've missed Cassidy and Biff so, so much and I can't wait to see what they've been up to.
  • Piers and Marnie will make their anime debut! Piers is one of my favorite Galar Gym Leaders and he and Marnie are great, great brother/sister relationship and I do wonder how the Journeys anime will portray them.
  • It seems like Chloe will be exploring more and more paths down the line. She may give Contests a bit of a shot, though I don't think it will be a permanent goal for her, since she's all about really getting out of her shell and trying out different paths. It seems next year will have lots of Chloe.
Next year for this series is gonna be exciting. It seems like we're seeing more of old characters come back, can't wait to see what's in store there, and there's more Galar focus, which hopefully means we'll see more Galar characters down the line (maybe Hop? Bede? Milo, Nessa, and Kabu? Gordie and Melony? What about Mustard and Peony? Or Klara and Avery?), and we'll be seeing more Chloe and more of her character arc, and maybe Ash and Goh's paths will really get going too. Can't wait to see what's in store next for Journeys for 2022!
 

Pikachu315111

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I do wonder if we'll see Gordie and Melony later on down the line and how their ownership of Circhester Gym works.
If I had to come up with a scenario, the Circhester Stadium would be a family-controlled Gym and at the moment Melony and Gordie are in a power struggled on who should be in charge. Melony isn't ready to retire yet as well as feels Gordie's superstar attitude isn't quite befitting of a Gym Leader, meanwhile Gordie doesn't want to wait and has an inflated ego with a fan club cheering him on. So what ends up happening is that they essentially take "turns" on who controls the Gym via the other defeating the active Gym Leader and claiming the title... until they're defeated and the title switches back, etc., etc..

Though when we do get to that point would also be nice to see Melony's other children/Gordie's siblings get some presence, I can see thing family infighting causing stress on them and maybe that would be the point Ash & Goh get deeper involved with this family quarrel they'd otherwise have no reason to get in the middle of. Speaking of unseen siblings, they could also have Milo's little brother to appear and maybe give him a more "combative" attitude if only to maybe have something Milo can work off of. Also speaking of which...

Milo, Nessa, and Kabu?
Oh, wow, you're right, they completely skipped the first three. I wonder why. Okay, sure, Milo is a bit plain but Nessa is really popular and I can see some interesting things with Kabu.

Hop? (...) What about Mustard and Peony? Or Klara and Avery?
Considering how they handled Hau's role in the anime, I imagine Hop will be similar. Actually, I don't think he'll even be competing so he's not gonna be a pseudo rival like Hau. You know what, maybe do something different with Hop like have him training under Master Mustard. Just before the Top 10 have their big tournament battle, maybe Ash is recommended by Leon that he should visit his mentor, thus that's when we get some Isle of Armor stuff at least to have Mustard, Honey, and Hyde (and, as I suggested above, include Hop training there too).

Of course, what does this mean for Klara and Avery? I think they could just have those two doing their own thing. Maybe instead of having gone to the Master Dojo to better themselves to become Gym Leaders, they instead embarked on their own journey of preference and Ash & Goh encounter them and help them out. Would be a good way to get two filler episodes with a batch of Psychic and Poison-type Pokemon.

Considering this Mew Expedition thing I wouldn't be surprised if a trip to the Crowned Tundra isn't planned and that's where we'll meet an excited Peony and unenthused Peonia.

It seems like Chloe will be exploring more and more paths down the line. She may give Contests a bit of a shot, though I don't think it will be a permanent goal for her, since she's all about really getting out of her shell and trying out different paths. It seems next year will have lots of Chloe.
Depending on what they do with Hop, I can see them giving Hop's in-game story conclusion to Chloe instead. It'll basically break down to, while she likes doing all sorts of activities with Pokemon, she's more into just wanting to learn more about them and wanting to help people & Pokemon live together, thus she decides she'll become a Pokemon scientist like her parents (though I guess Breeder or nurse/doctor could work in that scenario).

They already blew their load with the Rose & Eternatus plot (um, writing team, why did you do that again? You kind of closed off a LOT of potential story opportunities doing that) so I have no clue what they would do with Bede. Since Bede started out as a Psychic specialist, maybe connect his story with Avery's; like, for the short time Avery was the Psychic Gym Leader before getting kicked out, Bede was also a member of the Gym and both constantly rubbed each other the wrong way until Avery kicked him out (maybe even have that be the straw which broke the Camerupt's back that made the Gym decide to demote Avery) and so Bede decides he's better striking it all on his own (and then at some point gets picked up by Opal).
 
The anime director confirmed all the Galar Gym leaders will appear eventually, so we'll see all of them. I don't think we'll see any of the DLC characters though, as the writers tend to ignore most post-game characters besides a few.
 

Pikachu315111

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Babe wake up new poketoon just dropped
0:13: Looks like Gen I doesn't have enough mascots, here's Let's Go Jigglypuff!
0:52: So, I guess at this point Jigglypuff is considered a sort of family "pet". Is it still considered a Wild Pokemon since it probably doesn't have a Poke Ball? Or is it considered domesticated/tamed now? If it wanted to could it just leave?
1:10: If these were the games this is when a rival battle would happen.
1:13: Don't like the spiky hair? Don't worry you can customize your Partner Jigglypuff's hair to be Bald, Fringe, Mohawk, or wearing an assortment of hats.
1:44: Eh, I prefer the Jigglypunk... WAIT, this isn't where this cartoon is leading, is it?
2:20: QUICK! SNAP THE PICTURE, SNAP THE PICTURE! That's an easy 1200 bonus points right there!
3:40: Ah, I see Anzu is a proud graduate of the Blue School of Jerk Rivals. You too can become so obnoxious to the main character that when they enter your name they'll want it to be an expletive.
4:17: That day Jigglypuff learned that it's voice may be different... but that's because it's the voice needed to summon its dark master from the other dimension!
4:31: OMG IT IS THE JIGGLYPUN...
4:34: Wait, no, this is something different.
4:57: I guess that's the Jigglyrock? We're now going to get a whole slew of Jigglypuff version of music genres, aren't we? Country, jazz, electric, whatever other genre they made a Chocobo theme with.
5:24: Um, wouldn't Anzu's too? Is a Jigglypuff making someone fall asleep with their song a suddenly unique trait? Or are they just confirming that, even though it sings differently, Momo's Jigglypuff's singing can still put people to sleep; they just didn't word it right?

Overall very cute. I actually thought they were going to use the Jigglypunk from Masters, though this other rock version of Jigglypuff's singing is nice too (still prefer the Jigglypunk). So, what Jigglypuff genre song are you waiting to hear next? Maybe they can tap Weird Al to do a Jigglypolka.
 

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