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Review JN001: Pikachu is Born!

Like has been stated by others, I was really interested to see why Pikachu hates Poké Balls and how Professor Oak managed to capture it. Two questions that could have been answered here but ultimately didn't. The last few minutes were very sloppy, mainly having the reason Pichu left Kangaskhan because... it weighed too much? Unless this herd of Kangaskhan never stays in one place, Pichu leaving seemed a little drastic. But it all worked out in the end so can't complain too much about this.

Ash may has well not have been in this episode. The sleeping in gag was a little funny, but seeing him dash to Professor Oak's only to not make it there seemed odd. Did Oak take the kids to another city entirely (selection of wild Pokémon made me think around Fuchsia City)? Also, it seems like we are getting an entirely new professor AKA the new companion girl's father. I guess Magnolia wasn't able to be used for story reasons?

My favorite part of the episode was Mew. I'm excited to see it play a role in this new season of Pokémon. Hopefully we get instances of story-telling in regard to the Cinnabar Island experiments as well as Mewtwo being involved. But that might be getting my hopes a little too high.

I give this episode a 7 out of 10. The episode had a great premise but didn't do enough to capitalize off it. It felt rushed in several parts and just leaves me with more questions. But I've seen far worse episodes and this is one of the more interesting season premieres in a while. Can't wait for more!
 
Not particularly impressed by this episode, tbh.

It wasn't bad by all means, but it kinda didn't do much to introduce the series, particularly the Pichu bits. While I appreciate having some extra Pikachu backstory it honestly felt kinda out of place here, and even then it missed the biggest opportunity at all which was showing it developing it early series' sass, but this leaned more towards just "cute" when it could have been so much more. The Go and Koharu bits were nice, though. I'm excited to see them being introduced properly next week.

Aside from that, I have to agree that the music felt... off at times. It wasn't bad or anything, but it felt like it missed the tone of a lot of scenes and in a few it felt like it was trying too hard to take the spotlight, kinda ruining the atmosphere.

Overall, this was kinda meh for the first episode of an otherwise promising series. Next week feels more like the proper introduction, so I care more about how I feel about that in the end.
 
On an unrelated note, I’m pleased the anime finally decided to showcase just how disgustingly versatile Mew’s moveset can be.
I wonder if it just used Copycat or actually knew the same moves as Nidoking. I think those were Earth Power, Sludge Wave, and Fire Blast.
 
Watching the subbed version, 6 year old Go states and Oak backs up the fact that Farfetch'd doesn't evolve

Oh how I can't wait to see Go's expression when Farftech'd becomes Sirfetch'd
Interesting! Without the subs, I thought Go was saying it could evolve, only to be corrected by Oak whoxl may not have been aware of the Pokémon to the Galar region. This should prove to be a funny throwback indeed.
 
At first I was confused because I thought they rebooted the summer camp. But since it looks like Ash never had the chance to attend, it seems like a different field trip.

Also, it would have been nice if they told the audience how Oak caught Pikachu.

Overall, not a strong episode, but cute nonetheless.
 
Regardless of the way it was promoted, I liked the direction they went with for this episode. Pikachu's story was pretty cute and simple. Making it all retroactively tie into the anime's first episode means it would've been more convoluted. While I'm still interested on how Pikachu ended up with Oak, I never understood why fans have always wanted a reason for him to be disobedient towards Ash? I mean it's just natural behavior, Oak even says "he doesn't take to people very well because he's pretty shy". I'm perfectly fine if that's all there is to it.

Also, one would think Gou takes too much screentime just because we were told this was going to be focused on Pikachu and not him, but it didn't felt like he was out of place or taking up Pikachu's screntime, to be honest.

Something that stands out as a bit weird is that Oak was more... "frowny" in the original series, which showed in the flashbacks to EP001 near the end. He was his goofier self in the rest of the episode, so it makes you think why was he in such a mood when he gave Pikachu to Ash.

I did like the Hayashi's music, but he needs to go more easy on the acoustic guitars IMO. They were starting to get a bit repetitive at some point (as in, all the music tracks had them as the main instrument, not that the tracks themselves were too similar to each other). I'm more interested in his arrangements of game music than anything else though, which we haven't heard yet.

Speaking of game music, I was looking forward to listen to the ending Masuda composed, but having the opening theme to close this episode was a good choice, since this whole thing served as a "prequel" of sorts.
 
  • Was Pichu orphaned? :cry:
  • Go talkin' trash on Ash.
  • I didn't expect to see so much of Mew.
  • Love those scratchy outlines on Nidoking.
  • Ash and Serena were at a different summer camp session.
  • Oversleeping led to Ash meeting Serena, same as with Pikachu.
  • I'm glad they didn't go tragic with Kangaskhan, it wouldn't have fit with Pichu evolving from happiness.
  • I was hoping we'd get to see how Pikachu ended up at Oak's though.
  • I like the background music and the new OP.
 
It was a great start to the series and a way better episode than a vast majority of SM, but it was just downright upsetting that they only covered how Pikachu evolved and not the part of Pikachu's past that people were actually interested in. Why does he hate Pokeballs? Why did he distrust humans? You'd have thought something happened like Kangaskhan was caught or maybe poached. No story on how Oak came across him either...

Also, I loved finally getting to see a Nidoking again! Been so long...
 
The Episode was fine for what it was. Pikachu's backstory was sweet, but I expected a bit more.
It was funny how Gon portrayed Ash as careless and simple-minded. Hopefully they will refer to that statement in the future.
The evolution scene when Pichu becomes Pikachu was really nice, I liked how they used flashbacks with all the nice moments Pichu had with Kangaskhan. Pichu evolves in Pikachu when happiness is maxed out and that exactly happened because of the adventures with Kangaskhan.
 
The Episode was fine for what it was. Pikachu's backstory was sweet, but I expected a bit more.
It was funny how Gon portrayed Ash as careless and simple-minded. Hopefully they will refer to that statement in the future.
The evolution scene when Pichu becomes Pikachu was really nice, I liked how they used flashbacks with all the nice moments Pichu had with Kangaskhan. Pichu evolves in Pikachu when happiness is maxed out and that exactly happened because of the adventures with Kangaskhan.
i was hoping more to his background to see how he was captured by pro oak and made it be possbile to be reason he was upset to be human
 
Although that also makes the whole thing with Pikachu being scared of evolving into a Raichu a little ironic? I guess Raichu really messed poor Pikachu up... :cry:

I don't think he's scared as much as he was pissed off about Surge and Raichu acting all cocky about being bigger.

Raichu is also a stone evo so it's not the same as growing up for Pikachu like evolving from a Pichu unable to use his attacks without hurting himself was.
 
I don't think he's scared as much as he was pissed off about Surge and Raichu acting all cocky about being bigger.

Raichu is also a stone evo so it's not the same as growing up for Pikachu like evolving from a Pichu unable to use his attacks without hurting himself was.

Yeah I don't think stone evolutions should be compared to regular evolutions.
 
I don't think he's scared as much as he was pissed off about Surge and Raichu acting all cocky about being bigger.

Raichu is also a stone evo so it's not the same as growing up for Pikachu like evolving from a Pichu unable to use his attacks without hurting himself was.

When I was a kid I remember thinking it was weird that Pikachu seemed so excited about the concept of evolution in the episode with Caterpie but then changed its mind after the battle with Surge's Raichu. But then again Pichu didn't exist back then and Pikachu might just have been excited that Caterpie was going to be able to fly after evolving.
 
It's too bad that we didn't get to see how Pikachu ended up with Oak but I guess not everything needs to be shown. My prevailing headcanon is still that Oak caught Pikachu to keep the timeline intact:

tumblr_inline_pgicwzYTGO1sc78ye_540.gif

That would explain why he only gave out a Pikachu when Ash started his journey and not when other young Trainers do.
 
I did like the Hayashi's music, but he needs to go more easy on the acoustic guitars IMO. They were starting to get a bit repetitive at some point (as in, all the music tracks had them as the main instrument, not that the tracks themselves were too similar to each other). I'm more interested in his arrangements of game music than anything else though, which we haven't heard yet.

I thought it fit with the mostly relaxed vibe of this episode, but yeah, I hope it's not all acoustic guitar all the time.

My favorite track was the one that started around 3:40, it has a blues riff that sounds like "Moby Dick" by Led Zeppelin, also reminds me of some other song that I can't put my finger on.
 
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