Dogasu's Backpack Discussion

[PockyAddict]

I have loved Shokotan since the pikachu color pichu. And that book passage solidfies my fangirl for her even more.

 

[FANG-TAN]

I was away from the fandom during DP, so I had no idea western fans disliked Shokotan that much. I was surprised when I read that, because every other anime fandom really loves her to death.

Pokemon fans. You are a strange bunch.

 

[Silktree]

Regarding the latest feature... It's okay, I guess? I could see why someone who is a fan of Shokotan or highly dislikes her might benefit from the review, but to those of us who don't hold any bias, hardly anything stands out about the book. There are many Japanese Pokémon books out there that are far more informative for obvious reasons.

 

[Dr. Buni]

I didn't even know who exactly Nakagawa Shoko was. I only knew her before because she was responsible for some TTGL songs. I can't say I understand why one would hate her. On other hand, I also don't understand why some other people glorify her.

 

[Dogasu]

I wonder if Pokemon would've been as popular if the encounter rate was as high as that book claims it originally was? I mean, even the current amount of encounters in, say, Chargestone Cave in BW is already a bit ridiculous. Then again, tons of classic old-school RPGs had pretty crazy and unforgiving encounter rates, so maybe not.

Well, Red & Green came out in February 1996, and that early build of the game Mr. Ishihara was talking about would have been even earlier than that. During the mid-90s RPGs were going from that old school "let's have an insanely unforgiving encounter rate" to rates closer to what we're familiar with today, and the development of Red & Green would have been right in the middle of all that.

Wrong year.

Thanks! Should be fixed now.

Hey, you finally like Shokotan now?

I wouldn't go that far She's...alright, and I don't find her as annoying as I used to, but I wouldn't go as far as to call myself a fan or anything

The Giza-Mimi Pichu stuff *was* obnoxious as hell, though, you have to at least give me that.

I can't say I understand why one would hate her. On other hand, I also don't understand why some other people glorify her.

Basically. It's cool that she has a job where she gets to geek out about something this book makes clear she's passionate about, but at the same time "nerd celeberties" are kind of a dime a dozen these days.

 

[Adamant]

The Giza-Mimi Pichu stuff *was* obnoxious as hell, though, you have to at least give me that.

I thought the song was cute.
But yeah, no, I'm not going to sit here and claim her "acting" in that role was anything but ear torture. I didn't have an issue with her work in the earlier movies, but her Pichu was just plain, inarguably bad.

 

[Lil Brother]

As someone who was largely apathetic due to lack of knowledge but vaguely curious about Shokotan (as well as Sunday/Smash in general), I appreciate the book write-up. It looks like a cute book to be sure, and that title sure is a great one. Thanks for taking the time for educating us about it. Your write-up and the Kotaku article definitely made me feel a rush of affection for her. I'd always be curious as to how she and the rest of the Smash cast thought about the franchise in general and what past associations they had had with it.

I thought the song was cute.

The song and its videos were cute, although that damn "She cries because she's a girl!" line ruins the whole thing for me.

 

[Dogasu]

Nakagawa Shouko's Pichu voice sucked, but at least she wasn't as bad as Rola was in last year's movie. Now that is ear torture.

Also, yeah, Japanese media tends to be pretty fucking sexist.

 

[Pokemaster Justin]

Dogasu can you please finish up Kanto...I always wondered what they changed in Princess Verus Princess and especially the Pokémon League Series.

Can you throw us a bone and go old school and maybe finish some up?

 

[Dogasu]

I do have an old Kanto comparison coming up soon, believe it or not. Won't be up until next week at the very earliest (I'm leaving town for a few days), but there is one in the works.

 

[MizuTaipu]

Yay, another Kanto comparison! I'm guessing you're trying to update the old comparisons that used those annoying icons?

BTW, you should advertise your photos of that Pocket Monsters Special event you went to the other day.

 

[PockyAddict]

Yay, another Kanto comparison! I'm guessing you're trying to update the old comparisons that used those annoying icons?

BTW, you should advertise your photos of that Pocket Monsters Special event you went to the other day.

I remember those, those are from the really early era of the site.

 

[Iteru]

Found the write up on the Shoko book quite interesting. Have to agree about the whole "I'm enjoying the scenery in Pokémon" bit; her mum should have smashed her gameboy.

Have you got a plan/schedule for the comparisons? Already rather liked the comparisons on the newer stuff myself so was wondering if you had any plans to do XY ones soon after the dub airs.

 

[Silktree]

The numbers are in for The Extreme Speed Genosect and the Awakening of Myuutwo's sixth week in theaters. I would have thought that the revelation that the "awakened Myuutwo" in this movie is really a "Mega Evolution" would have helped boost sales a bit (and I'm sure the marketing people probably thought the same), but I guess everyone who wants to see this movie has already done so by now.

It's a good thing that most people aren't as stupid as the marketing division and you would have thought. The movie did absolutely nothing to promote Mega Evolution, going as far as to refer to Mega Mewtwo as "Awakened Form". The only reason that Mega Evolution was such a big scoop is that the movie went out of its way not to foreshadow the revelation.

There's also a tendency for the Pocket Monsters movies to kind of bounce back a bit at the end of August due to summer vacation ending, so here's hoping the same thing will happen again as we head into September.

The numbers for the seventh week had already been released by the time you made the update. The movie has fallen to 10th place and its gross-to-date is now just 2,872,239,200 yen (meaning that its weekly gross has been halved compared to previous weeks). Color me very surprised if a miracle happens in the final week before the return to school.

As I've said before, the last movies in a series tend to do the worse than their predecessors, so this movie not doing so great isn't shocking.

The fact that the last movies tend to do worse than their predecessors doesn't explain the reason why that keeps happening. The end of a generation is supposed to be an exciting period given the anticipation of a new generation. Besides, the real problem here is that Movie 16 will no doubt end up being the second lowest-grossing movie, with Movie 5 being the lowest. In fact, the Best Wishes movies as a whole did worse than their counterparts in previous generations (with the exception of Movie 16 compared to Movie 5).

Let's list some of the possible reasons for the movie's relatively lackluster numbers. Mind you, I'm just echoing what the Japanese fans are saying:

1. The movie focuses on Genesect, which isn't as popular as Mewtwo is.
2. The distributions weren't rewarding as Genesect was previously available via two Wi-Fi events, and Mewtwo can be caught in previous games in addition to having a Wi-Fi promotion in late 2011.
3. The replacement of the original Mewtwo. The marketing relied on Movie 1's success, going as far as to leave Mewtwo's identity vague, but it was just a trick which led to disappointment.
4. The lack of connection between the movie and Episode N. Again, the initial marketing was misleading.
5. The lack of new Pokémon aside from Sylveon (in the short) and Mega Mewtwo (which isn't brand new and wasn't properly promoted).
6. The Eevee short detracted from the movie's appeal.
7. In general, people are tired of watching the movies in theaters every year, especially when they can later rent the DVD or watch the TV Tokyo airing a year later.

 

[SammyW27]

The fact that the last movies tend to do worse than their predecessors doesn't explain the reason why that keeps happening.

It's because, unfortunately, the last movies in a Gen suffer from a fatal flaw.

Movie 5?
Latios & Latias were underwhelming and it was too short.

Movie 9?
Despite being on of the more lively entries, suffered several problems. Too long, Manaphy was nigh- useless, Kyogre was overhyped, and at the end things just got weird.

Movie 13?
When the title Pokémon ends up being a supporting character, you know things are spectacularly uneven... (and the whole Pokémon boccers thing was just a red herring. Not sure if many people were happy to see Damselbi again either.)

The end of a generation is supposed to be an exciting period given the anticipation of a new generation.

Actually, that's more or less how it is on the Show. The Movies are a different story (both literally & figuratively), being done as obligatory busy work to promote distribution events & new/upcoming games. (Being caught between generations can't be very helpful either)

7. In general, people are tired of watching the movies in theaters every year, especially when they can later rent the DVD or watch the TV Tokyo airing a year later.

Not to mention how they air on American TV a few months later (I'm already expecting Movie 16 to air on Cartoon Network anytime now )

 

[Silktree]

Not to mention how they air on American TV a few months later (I'm already expecting Movie 16 to air on Cartoon Network anytime now )

Yes, but I was referring to Japanese viewers, who I doubt care for the dub (and can only watch it illegally).

 

[AtoMan]

Actually, that's more or less how it is on the Show. The Movies are a different story (both literally & figuratively), being done as obligatory busy work to promote distribution events & new/upcoming games. (Being caught between generations can't be very helpful either)

Not really. Franchise popularity, as well as anime viewership skyrockets once new generation starts. Right now the anime is in the "boring filler before new gen" phase, so lower viewership is pretty normal.

 

[Silktree]

Not really. Franchise popularity, as well as anime viewership skyrockets once new generation starts. Right now the anime is in the "boring filler before new gen" phase, so lower viewership is pretty normal.

The movies don't really depend on anime viewership (you can easily watch one without the other), which is why the connection is so thin even in this movie's case. The previous series didn't end on a boring note, either.

This may be the end of Generation V, but we're only three years into it. By this time in the previous two generations, the movies were doing just fine. If anything, the fact that Generation VI is approaching should have a positive influence.

 

[Nymphia]

It's a good thing that most people aren't as stupid as the marketing division and you would have thought. The movie did absolutely nothing to promote Mega Evolution, going as far as to refer to Mega Mewtwo as "Awakened Form". The only reason that Mega Evolution was such a big scoop is that the movie went out of its way not to foreshadow the revelation.

There's also a tendency for the Pocket Monsters movies to kind of bounce back a bit at the end of August due to summer vacation ending, so here's hoping the same thing will happen again as we head into September.

The numbers for the seventh week had already been released by the time you made the update. The movie has fallen to 10th place and its gross-to-date is now just 2,872,239,200 yen (meaning that its weekly gross has been halved compared to previous weeks). Color me very surprised if a miracle happens in the final week before the return to school.

As I've said before, the last movies in a series tend to do the worse than their predecessors, so this movie not doing so great isn't shocking.

The fact that the last movies tend to do worse than their predecessors doesn't explain the reason why that keeps happening. The end of a generation is supposed to be an exciting period given the anticipation of a new generation. Besides, the real problem here is that Movie 16 will no doubt end up being the second lowest-grossing movie, with Movie 5 being the lowest. In fact, the Best Wishes movies as a whole did worse than their counterparts in previous generations (with the exception of Movie 16 compared to Movie 5).

Let's list some of the possible reasons for the movie's relatively lackluster numbers. Mind you, I'm just echoing what the Japanese fans are saying:

1. The movie focuses on Genesect, which isn't as popular as Mewtwo is.
2. The distributions weren't rewarding as Genesect was previously available via two Wi-Fi events, and Mewtwo can be caught in previous games in addition to having a Wi-Fi promotion in late 2011.
3. The replacement of the original Mewtwo. The marketing relied on Movie 1's success, going as far as to leave Mewtwo's identity vague, but it was just a trick which led to disappointment.
4. The lack of connection between the movie and Episode N. Again, the initial marketing was misleading.
5. The lack of new Pokémon aside from Sylveon (in the short) and Mega Mewtwo (which isn't brand new and wasn't properly promoted).
6. The Eevee short detracted from the movie's appeal.
7. In general, people are tired of watching the movies in theaters every year, especially when they can later rent the DVD or watch the TV Tokyo airing a year later.

And 8. Many viewers are not watching the Pokemon series because the series is airing Decolora Adventure right now. Yeah, the same series where Noivern gets 2.7, Rotom gets 2.8, Jirachi gets 3.2, and Clair gets 3.3. And the averages is only 3.7, which is depressing. This could be a big option.
9. People, like amny of Bulbagarden members, are dissapointed with the Best Wishes series, which for some is a nightmare.

Given past trends, this week the movie would get 200000 more viewers an after that, the movie will got 160000. Between 3.2 and 3.3, still lower than the Manaphy movie. and compard with the Arceus movie, it's ridiculous (has 4,8 billion yen) specially when Japan's GDP drop a 7% in 2009.

 

[Silktree]

Between 3.2 and 3.3,

The final number may be lower than 3.2.

and compard with the Arceus movie, it's ridiculous (has 4,8 billion yen) specially when Japan's GDP drop a 7% in 2009.

You're thinking of the Giratina movie; the Arceus one garnered 4.67 billion yen. Here's a list of the numbers for anyone who is interested. Note that Movie 14 was barely more successful than Movie 13; it would have done worse if it hadn't been for the dual release gimmick.