Review PK27: Pikachu and the Pokémon Music Squad

[Ryu Taylor]

View: https://twitter.com/Pokemon/status/679049779549069312


Dub of "Pikachu and the Pokémon Band", airing on Pokemon TV for what is most likely a limited amount of time. Discuss here.

 

[Kirby4ever]

I didn't think that they would never dub this short, but it looks like they did a good job on it and made it fun to watch! It's funny that Pancham and Chespin managed to mess up while the other Pokemon are signing. XD

 

[Ryu Taylor]

Now that I've seen it, here's my review of it:

At last, they finally found a good way to utilize the narrator. I still look forward to the day we get another Pikachu short without narration, but many props to this one for making the narrator have some actual involvement in it all.

All the Pokemon have great a cappella singing voices. Even Hawlucha, who ought not have been making such a big deal over it after all.

And needless to say, the music was catchy. I'd watch it again just for that.

It was a marvelous short overall.

 

[Daren]

I didn't think this would get dubbed and certainly not this soon.

This is actually the first new thing for the anime I've watched outside short clips or GIFs in several years (I am planning to use the official streaming to watch some episodes but I don't plan to go through the whole series anymore). I've been watching musicals with my brother this year so I was hoping this would get an english release, so I'm pleased on that front.

It was fun and cute, so I enjoyed it. The singing worked better than I expected.

My disappointment is that the poster made me think Meowth would conduct and get an epic bowtie.

 

[Ryu Taylor]

I didn't think this would get dubbed and certainly not this soon.

This is actually the first new thing for the anime I've watched outside short clips or GIFs in several years (I am planning to use the official streaming to watch some episodes but I don't plan to go through the whole series anymore). I've been watching musicals with my brother this year so I was hoping this would get an english release, so I'm pleased on that front.

It was fun and cute, so I enjoyed it. The singing worked better than I expected.

My disappointment is that the poster made me think Meowth would conduct and get an epic bowtie.

I don't think anyone (except for me) thought this would get dubbed. A friend of mine on another board noticed that both of Luxray's voices could be heard in this. I don't know where since they sound so much alike, but I think I did hear Braixen's other voice as well. Can anyone verify that?

 

[sc190191]

Why is the Torchic apart of the main group?

 

[Garren]

So, this is basically the closest we'll come to a dubbed version of Gao-Gao Monsters.

 

[Ryu Taylor]

So, this is basically the closest we'll come to a dubbed version of Gao-Gao Monsters.

I suppose so. The credits got a new song, but the main song featured in the short (that's "Roaring All-Stars", right?) remained the same.

 

[Alola]

The only semblance of Roaring All-Stars I got was from Pikachu (because they keep its Japanese VA) who explicitly sang the tune. Everyone else sounded like a jumbled mess of distorted Pokemon dubbed cries; Braixen sounded like a woman holding a note, rather than a Pokemon attempting to sing.

 

[Ryu Taylor]

The only semblance of Roaring All-Stars I got was from Pikachu (because they keep its Japanese VA) who explicitly sang the tune. Everyone else sounded like a jumbled mess of distorted Pokemon dubbed cries; Braixen sounded like a woman holding a note, rather than a Pokemon attempting to sing.

I still am not certain of this, but there may be some parts where Braixen's other voice was kept. Maybe that was where she sounded like someone holding a note.

EDIT: A friend of mine on another board showed the original song to me, so now my guess is confirmed; both Luxray and Braixen have two voices in the dub. I didn't notice Luxray's case of that until it was pointed out, but I suspected Braixen's case of that when I heard her saying "na" (from her Japanese name Tairenar) during the song at a few points.

 

[charizardmaster125]

I found the dub of this short to be pretty harmless. Like many, I'm surprised that TPCi decided to dub this in the first place. It was actually nice to watch the dub with actual background silence for a change. The ending theme "Join the Band" is quite catchy and I think that Haven Paschall has a nice singing voice. I don't think she should have any problem singing in character should Serena have to sing for any of her future showcases in the main series. I wouldn't be too surprised if the dub end up having to re-use this song for that purpose since the range of Haven's voice in this song was pretty close to how Serena sounds.

 

[LuxrayOfTheWild]

I thought this short was pretty cute. I loved seeing the Pokemon singing! Out of all of them, I think Luxray could really make a great beat. Also Pancham and Chespin never disappoint me. Their antics are always hilarious and they're so cute when they're ACTUALLY getting along. That little high five was adorable! It was a very nice short and the music was nice!

 

[Treacle]

It's a shame they changed the song (Roaring All-Stars is just better than whatever this one is called...)

The little throwback to the first Pikachu short with Chespin and Pancham was really cute though

 

[Idon'tcare]

The dub was okay, definitely better than the dub of the Hoopa movie as there was no background music for them to replace. My biggest problem with the dub was them mixing up Luxray's voice with Rentorar's (same Pokémon) voice from the Japanese version. You know those "beats" you hear every time Luxray is beat-boxing? That's from Rentorar and the reason why it bothers me is because in the dub it sounds like someone is banging on something while Luxray does his thing, which completely ruins the point of this Pokémon band as it's all supposed to be acapella.

I mean, yeah, Rentorar's beat-boxing was professionally done, the voice actor did a great job, Luxray's VA, however, doesn't seem to have that same talent, so I could see why TPCI wanted to keep the former in. But I would have been fine with Luxray's not-as-grand beat-boxing on its own because at least we won't have the above problem. So yeah, in the dub Luxray doesn't have a great beat, while in the original, Rentorar does.