Pokemon Origins Review

What everyone wanted in the first place...

 WATCH - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lw7qHqm2t6U

It's weird to think that in this present day that Pokemon, A Nintendo prized gaming Gem and a popular kids animated T.V series is very much still around and is still popular. If you don't know, I am 20 years old, so pretty much I was one of those kids that was seriously into Pokemon when it started out; I played the games and even though looking back now it was bad, the T.V show was just one of those things I watched. Now admittedly, I never properly played the Red or Blue versions of Pokemon when they were first released due to the fact that my older brothers luckily got the chance to own them.I remember specifically the day my older brother got Pokemon Red and the rest of us would just watch him play it closely. I know it sounds a bit weird, but in a way, that's what Pokemon did to a lot of kids at the time I guess, it was something that was simple and creative; taking RPG (Role-Playing Game) elements similar to games like Final Fantasy and implementing it with a concept that ultimately works. Eventually, I later got Pokemon Silver all to my self, which even to this day, stands as one of my favourite, addicting games to play now and then and I thought was very clever in the fact that it very much links to the original games in that you can go back to the Kanto region, re-do all the badges and face off against Red A.K.A. the character you play as in the original games of Red and Blue. Besides the games obviously, we did have the T.V series which was inspired by the Manga series. Like I have said previously in a past Blog post, the majority of my childhood was pretty much watching cool animations like Batman, Animaniacs etc. but probably out of all the T.V shows that stand out to this day as being one of the best I've watched, it has to be Pokemon. Even though each episode was always structured the same, the appeal was very much there, and it built up the point where eventually we got the first of many Pokemon films - 'Mewtwo Strikes Back' which I did in fact watch at the cinemas with the family and even got a Pikachu Pokemon card.. I'm just saying, the best time I went to the cinemas ever. 

                                     The Nostalgia...
                           
As time went on however, Pokemon as a franchise didn't always have that spark like it did when it was new and the 'hip' thing. It's funny, While I do think that Pokemon is still popular for the younger audience with the games that are released almost every year, I do feel the animation which apparently to my research, still follows the journey of Ash Ketchum and his Pikachu travelling through the different regions, is a hit or miss for some people. While it does still appeal to the main core audience of children, it's understandable that if you are an adult who firstly grew up with Pokemon from the beginning and suddenly you notice that the main story of the animation is still going, then yes there is certainly a problem. By now for the grown ups who may still watch Pokemon, you would think that there would be at least a different anime series or at least an end to the story of Ash for good. It is certainly surprising that there hasn't been many spin-offs considering that Pokemon has been around for 15 odd years and is one of the leading names at Nintendo. However, while there hasn't been many cases of Pokemon spin-off series, it's not to say that there has been at least one series in particular which not only betters the original series with the animation style and the length, but it's something that a lot of people have wanted for a long time and can be a catalyst for other potential series, the show that I'm obviously talking about is of course Pokemon Origins.

Unlike the on-going series which follows the adventures of Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town with his Pikachu, Pokemon Origins is a direct adaptation of the original Pokemon games of Red and Blue (Green in Japan) and revolves around the Journey of Red who is destined to collect all 150 Pokemon and become the  Pokemon league champion. 'Origins' consists of only 4 episodes which for me is good and bad. The good-side of it is that it allows us, the audience, to view it straight on and it ultimately doesn't bog down in any specific part. Each of the 4 episodes have enough content within them to provide the entertainment. While it may be good to have 4 episodes, I do think that they could of easily stretched this series a bit longer. Being that the 4 episodes were all equally good as each other, for me it would of made more sense to actually make more episodes since the original games have a lot of memorable moments that could of been explored in Origins and that the mini-series overall felt fluid and didn't get bog down with nonsensical moments.

Getting back to point however, the 4 episodes consists of - 'Red' which consists of Red and Blue both getting their own Pokemon and having a rival battle and Red going up against Brock in his first Gym battle, 'Cubone' which not only focuses on Red's first encounter with Team Rocket in Lavender town, but also referencing the weird but creepy events that have surrounded Lavender town in the original game such as the 'White Ghost' theory and Marowak. The last two episodes are as follows - 'Giovanni' which places Red against Team Rocket at the Silph Company the showdowns of Red and Giovanni, the Team Rocket Leader, and lastly there is 'Charizard' in which we see Red beat the Elite 4 and Gary to become League Champion and the destined face-off between Red and the legendary Mewtwo.

So usually whenever I review a piece of work that is indeed an animation, it makes sense to firstly start talking about the animation itself; how it looks and in the case of this, whether if beats off it's counterpart. Without a doubt, Origins's animation is certainly refreshing and has nostalgia drawn all over it. The recreation of the different settings and Towns, especially Lavender town, look genuinely unique and original whilst embedding everything from the original games. The little animated nods towards the original games are as well kind of funny to see such as the intro sequences which they simply take the GameBoy selection screen and the Pokemon battles where they show the HP bar as the Pokemon are battling. Going into a little depth of the actual battles, I really like it how each Pokemon you see don't at all say their names out loud as they cry, instead they just make noises which again is a nice kind of a vague nod towards the original games. Probably the most hype battle you will watch in this mini-series is in fact the final battle between Red and Blue at the Pokemon League. Not only is the animation as gorgeous as ever when you see Charizard and Blastoise use their own moves that visually has a nice contrast to it, but the theme that is playing over the battle, is so well done. The way they take the original final battle theme from the original games and apply it to a kind of Rock genre variant, was certainly the right move to make. Originally, the theme in itself is a really retro and tense musical piece that get's you pumped for the last leg of the game anyway. But by simply making it into a Rock instrumental piece just ups the awesomeness. 

                                The Rocked-up remix of the Champion Battle...



As Far as characters go, the character of Red is a likeable, enthusiastic Protagonist who ultimately is rewarded deservingly unlike a certain someone who goes by the name of Ash. Red overall is a just a breath of fresh air in contrast to what people have seen in Ash over the years. While I honestly didn't mind the portrayal of Gary in the original Pokemon television series, I think the way the animators went about recreating Blue was spot on. The attitude and language that is used for Blue again is something that is very reminiscent of the games which is pleasing. I know I keep saying that it's pleasing to see these creators rely upon the original games content to use in their mini-series is satisfying, but it's true. This series honestly would of been terrible if they hadn't at least referred to the original games at least once. However I doubt they would of done that, espcailly since the first generation of Pokemon is still loved and and appreciated by those who played when it first came out. 

Would of been hilarious if this thing made an appearance

Obviously judging from what I have said so far, you can tell that I do appreciate this series a lot since it's appealing to those who grew up with Pokemon both from the games and the T.V series, however, that doesn't mean that I'm not going to mention the factors that really disappointed me. The 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.Going further down the rabbit hole and going into a SPOILER ZONE, I really detested the way the Mewtwo battle went. From my own memory of enduring the agony of facing Mewtwo and feeling like a god after you capture the brute, I wished in Origins they would of just gone down the intense battle route and grinded it out between Mewtwo and Re's Charizard. However this is not the case. Instead what we get is some promotion time ladies and gentleman. That's right, since this was a mini-series that came 10 days before the release of Pokemon X and Y, they of course had to use cheap propaganda tactics to basically say to children - 'Here's what you can do in OUR NEW GAME!!'. What I am getting is that in the last episode, instead of Red going ahead and capturing Mewtwo the old fashioned way, he luckily and randomly opts to capture Mewtwo with Mega-Charizard. So the new thing that came into Pokemon around the time Origins was released was the addition of Mega-Evolution which granted specific Pokemon to evolve even further and become killing machines. While I don't have a problem with this concept in the games since it does smartly add another dimension to the Pokemon games, in my honest opinion, I think the inclusion of Mega-Evolution in Origins was wrong to use. I honestly think this was a concept that was forced to be put in to promote X and Y. It's even more frustrating that Red had to use Mega-Evolution to beat and capture Mewtwo instead of doing it in 'the old fashioned way'. The fact that this happens just implies that capturing Mewtwo regularly is boring and not satisfying which we all know is totally non-sense to those who have done it over and over again. Another tid-bit that I think would of been funny to seen is at least a reference to Missingno. The addition of this glitch/cheat could of been a comedic device to have used for Red or another character. 

In conclusion then, despite my concerns and my nit-picking, I do think Origins shows some promise. The creators/animators should be proud of what they have done with this project. They clearly looked at the original source material and implemented the ideas in a near perfect state. What get's me more excited however is the possibility that they could easily make a sequel mini-series of this. Going into another SPOILER-ZONE again, Origins ended with Red determined to capture Mewtwo's offspring Mew. Now what Nintendo and some the people behind Origins should do is create a sequel that focuses on the games of Silver and Gold. Sure in those games you are a completely different trainer in a different region, but it's a good opportunity to not only make a series that is this time longer than Origins, but also it's a good wrap up to the story of Red since at the very end of Silver and Gold, you do indeed go up against Red in a battle that is filled with mystery at the end.

There are my thoughts on Pokemon Origins then everyone. As always if you have gone ahead and watched Origins, then please, feel free to comment down below and tell me what you think of the series. If your one of those people that played the original games and haven't watched this mini-series, then absolutely, I would recommend to you to go ahead and watch the 4 episodes.

If you have read everything and made it this far, high-five to You!! Thanks for reading and i'll see you soon..

Alex Rabbitte.

8.5/10