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Review Pocket Monsters: The Origin

The only thing that was less than perfect was the length, if this was 14 eps instead of 4 none of the complaints besides the animation style would be valid.
 
Yeah, the fact that they only had 4 episodes to cover the whole Kanto Arc was more than enough to weaken the story's quality.
Maybe things like the Abilities and the like from FrLg etc would have been taken into account, I don't know...
Despite all characters having the revamped art style for the Anime, the Pokédex is the Classic one!

But their idea of having different studios for each episode was a bad one, they should have tried to stick with OLM, in terms of both story & animation...
 
Finally got around to watching the special yesterday. Totally amazing.

Part 1
It was great, but I think my favorite part had to be the battle between Red and Blue. Charmander's screaming was hilarious. The battle against Brock was great too, but that giant Onix losing to Scratch of all moves kinda made it...I dunno a bit lamer. Charmander was so adorable throughout the whole part!

Part 2
Awsome. Nice to see the Cubone story incorporated into an anime. Marowak's death and reuniting with Cubone were really emotional. Blue being scared of the ghost and running to Red had to be the best part here.

Part 3
The battles against Giovanni were both amazing. Though the second battle with Ryhorn K.O.ing almost all of Red's team could have been a bit longer, so as not to have his other team members simply act as fodder. I guess it was also nice to see Ultra Balls in an anime as well.

Part 4
The last Red vs. Blue battle was nice. Sure the Charizard beating Blastoise thing has already been done in the regular anime, but I found this one impressive as well. Though maybe if the battle was a bit longer it could have been better. I also would have like to see more of the Elite Four battles, but what we got was nice. The Mewtwo fight was the best. Mega Charizard X totally killed.

I really enjoyed this special and all of the game references; from music, to text boxes, to save menus. I also loved how Red's team changed throughout his journey, similar to an actual player. I'm guessing that they focused on Charizard's physical strength as a reference to Mega Charizard X having a bossted attack stat. Honestly, I can't say that there is a single thing that I really disliked. Overall, this has to be one of my favorite Pokémon specials and I hope for more in the future.
 
Oh yeah, time to put these Japanese skills to use! Well, I can't read anything since the language is still make-believe, but, at least I could understand some stuff, which allows me to review this. So, let's review~

Report 1: Very nice. We got a swagg, techie, Oak speech and the classic Nidorino VS Gengar scene. It's nice and quickly paced, too. My favorite part would have to be Red's catching montage in which he's on some kind of Gotta Catch 'em All steroids and just catches everything, even...the opponents Pokemon...ok. Seriously, I bet that kid was like: "I'm younger than you and I know this." The Charmander and Squirtle fight was pretty badass. Just makes me wonder how awesome this special would make a Flabebe vs Joltik fight look.

From what I can understand, Brock basically tells Red he needs to learn about types (since, he almost got his Charmander killed) and so he goes to fight him. And the fight, though cool looking and seemingly underwhelming due to Red's team being one shoted the whole time, let's face it: it was a pretty accurate representation of Brock's fight, especially without Metal Claw; ALL of us Charmander owners have probably used half of our mons as fodder during that fight. Because of that, I can't really complain about it. Overall, a great opening.

Report 2: Before getting into it, I have to say, I loved the recap Red gave us at the beginning of this part, and it'll especially work well in the English version which is split into four parts. Since we aren't following him pace for pace, it's good to see what he gets done on his own, when...the game is playing itself, presumably. So here it is, the story everyone wanted to see: Karakara. I have to admit: Marowak's death was incredibly heart wrenching, especially Mama Marowak's cry. I mean, that was pretty brutal. It also gave us a look into how this Marowak was killed, electrocution of some sort, at least in this special. Since the Gen 1 Rocket's carried whips, I always assumed she was beaten to death, but...let's get off of that. Anyway, Fuji's gone, so everyone decides to send a random kid to get him back. And Green's awesome, so he wants to go, too. And speaking of:

Now, I originally disliked Green's deep ass, Japanese 11-year-old boy voice (I'll never understand why some boys have to sound so old/deep despite their ages in Japanese), but hearing his scream just made me love it. That may sound wrong, but never has a deep ass, Japanese 11-year-old boy voice been pulled off so well. Not to mention, this man inadvertently hugged Red. That was awesome. Though what was most heart warming was Mama's spirit being calmed after reuniting with her kid for one last time. Truly touching.

The one thing that disappointed me was replacing the White Hand girl with some White Hand woman. I mean, that fact that it was some random, creepy little girl was what made it so funny. Making it a woman just took away some of it's charm, to me. Also, I have to point out that this is also hilarious since Naruto is afraid of ghosts, too.


Report 3: VS. Giovanni. Two battles with Giovanni in this part. First of all, the Silph lady is a G. And a wuss, getting rescued by children...Secondly, maybe it's just me, but I kept hearing Giovanni say Nidoking, even though it was his Nidoqueen. Random point, I've noticed that Green is incredibly pompous when referring to himself, though, I probably should have assumed that. Anyway, I do have issues with the Gym fight. I mean, that Rhyhorn was way to OP. And for what? Because he only have two Pokemon? Also, I have no idea what Giovanni was rambling on about regarding his childhood and Lizardon, so that'll be something interesting to look forward to finding out. But anyway, Charizard Seismic Toss. That is all.

Report 4: Just before anything else: was anyone else creeped out by the weird regenerating wall? Anyone? No...? Well, let's back up a bit. So, the E4 was pretty shafted (probably for the whole Mewtwo thing) but at least we see that Red's pretty damn good to fight Onix with a Scyther. So the Champion Battle. My gosh, if I had known those opening quotes were so frickin' awesome, I wouldn't spam the A button so much. Well done, Green. So, this is kind sped through, too, but they do a good job with it, so, no complaints.

But it ain't over, cuz this man hasn't caught them all yet. What the hell happened to Green, though? Seriously, was it Mewtwo, something about his Pokedex and Blastoise? What?! And then Mega Stones. I'm real confused. But anyway, Mewtwo's just chillin', waitin' to kick some ass and Holy Miltank, that Articuno is small. Did Red seriously run to catch Charizard who I keep wanting to call Lizardon? But who cares: the MegaCharizardX vs Mewtwo was great, even though Charizard and Red probably should have drowned, it was awesome so I don't care. And now Red has to go catch Mew! Good luck getting that glitch to work! :D

In general: Part of what I love about this special is how they didn't stray away from the concept of the games. I enjoyed the text boxes appearing at certain times and saving after each part. They also did a good job of mixing up aspects of the original games and the remakes. For example, Pokemon not having abilities, and FRLG's trainer class designs and Red's recap every time he "starts". Also, I'm no Japanese Pokemon expert, but I'm pretty sure those weren't the Japanese cries of those Pokemon (like the BW2 trailer), which I really liked. It gives off more of a Monster feel, and really set this special apart from the anime in that aspect.

I also enjoyed the portrayal of Red and Green. Green because he wasn't overly douchey like people portray, and Red because he wasn't overly Shounen like people portray. They gave him his own unique team of rotating mons, so it didn't really bother me that only Charizard was any good. Most notably, not a Pikachu was seen until after the main game...or...whatever, which really made this Red stand apart from all the other portrayals of him (Ash included).

The music was excellent. I really didn't expect them to use the game music for everything, and they were great renditions of the game versions. And the animation was really well done. I loved it. Even though Giovanni's snake eyes were creepy as hell, I loved them.

Overall, a great special. I have nothing to complain about, so 150/150, honestly.
 
See this is what I don't get... this thing was faithful enough to Generation I to the point that it completely ignored current possible movesets and abilities (and I imagine it was using the Gen I type-chart) and then it went and used the Mega Evolutions?
Seemed to have been faithful to the original type chart, unless you want to count the "Ghost attacks work on Psychic-types", and presumably for super-effective damage, at the Saffron Gym, although I know we all figure that Ghost moves not affecting Psychics at all was a programing error in the original games. In fact, come to think of it, Red's Haunter appeared to have used Shadow Punch, a third generation move, against Sabrina's Alakazam. Perhaps that was either an oversight or just they were willing to make an exception, knowing that Ghost-type moves were limited in generation 1. *shrugs*

Well, I don't have much else to say about this special event, other than it was kind of neat to watch a mini-series adaptation of the original games.
 
Red is the trainer that we deserve, but not we need... or some sorta Batman reference. Anyways, finally saw all the episodes & I loved it. The battles were good, especially Mewtwo/Charizard & Nidoqueen/Charizard (in the building). When I heard that the Mega Evolution was gonna be in a Generation I based anime, I was like "oh, no", but when it came down to it, I didn't mind it very much & looked pretty cool. I hope they do a Gold/Silver mini series, just to see Red on Mt. Silver. And last but not least, anytime you can make a Growl attack look good, you got a fan with me.
 
Finally got around to watching this special, I liked it a lot, excluding a few general things. I'll be quick and just go over the general stuff I want to critique:

-Part 1: Like said before, generic beginning for the characters. I liked how they incorporated Brock into the storyline, but not much else to say. Also, I really have to question the Charmander/Squirtle scene, it's a bit too brutal.
-Part 2: My favorite part no questions, it took the original material and expanded on it. Cubone's storyline in particular just gets bonus points for being very touching and more developed then originally.
-Part 3: It's OK, I can't say much else.
-Part 4: I'm probably in the minority here, but this is my least favorite part. I felt the Green vs. Red battle was too short and Blastoise went down way too quickly, even compared to the other Pokémon battles. Mewtwo's battle was not much better for me, maybe it's because I watched this after Megacharizard X's debut, but it felt too much like an advertisement for me. I'll concede that the battle was better in terms of animation and length, but that's the extent I'd go.

As for the other overall issues, yeah Charizard was overused. I guess it can't be helped too much as he was the starter, but even so it did get a bit overdone with some battles. Similarly, the battles were too short overall and while granted, they can't be like the regular anime and have more time to them, it's still a flaw as they can't do much with them. However, I liked the use of the montage scenes as they managed to keep things abridged while still showing off aspects of the original game they can't get around to.

So overall, a good special, I'm glad I watched it.
 
A few more observations after re-watching it -

I liked how Red was joking with Green about how he was screaming like a girl (if I understand this right) and then ran right into his arms, added a bit of comic relief after all of the tension in that part of the special.

I liked how Surf was shown differently for Nidoqueen, it looked like a water punch instead of riding on a wave as seen previously.

Were Mewtwo's moves - Swift Barrier Psychic and Recover? Hard to tell if that was Barrier or Protect.

There seemed to be an implication of Giovanni having some sort of relation/connection to Red with all of the flashbacks and what was said. Though I may be thinking way too much into it and usually misunderstand things like that. ^^;

For some reason I had an easier time understanding dialog a bit better than with regular episodes, understanding the phrasing used. This surprised me a bit.

Actually Blue could keep the same line and the same meaning of not wanting to pick his starter over his name conveyed, because it's a lame reason. There's no reason to rewrite that part. Just make Oak say "I see. So Blue, does that mean you'll choose Squirtle since it's a Water-type Pokemon?" instead.

That's probably the most likely scenario. They could expand it to say "since it is a Water-type Pokemon that is blue which is your name." Something like that.
 
But then that changes the entire motivation for choosing the starter. Green chose Zenigame because it's a Water-Type and will therefore be strong against Red's Hitokage, and also because basing your decision on how closely it resembles your name the way Red did is lame. Blue's going to choose Squirtle because it fits his name.
 
"So you're going to choose Squirtle because your name is Blue? No! I'm choosing Squirtle because Water beats fire"
 
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It still changes the whole "Green looks down on Red for the way he chooses his starter" angle. In the dub it'll seem like Blue's just copying what Red's doing which, given how much better Green thinks he is than Red throughout the rest of this special, is quite out-of-character.


Also, @Pianoplaynfool, it looks like KidsStation will be rerunning the special on Saturday the 12th starting at noon.
 
It still changes the whole "Green looks down on Red for the way he chooses his starter" angle. In the dub it'll seem like Blue's just copying what Red's doing which, given how much better Green thinks he is than Red throughout the rest of this special, is quite out-of-character.

Not really, he would still look down for him for choosing his starter because of his name. He won't be copying Red at all because he would still be saying it's a lame reason, and the reason he would say for picking Squirtle would still be to have the advantage over Red, not because of his name. I don't know where you're getting the idea that it would be taken as him choosing Squirtle because of his name, despite telling Oak that it's a lame reason for Red. It's not exactly copying him, and I don't know how it's out-of-character for Blue to do something Red wants to do when he went into the tower.
 
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Following this topic and seeing all four episodes of the Special, I tried to see if the whole Kanto Arc had enough content for a full-fledged series... Excluding the Sevii Islands, it seems to have enough for a 2-cour series, I guess... This is just my idea, maybe someone else may have have a different one...
 
Well it was really good! Deep plot. It shows that pokemon is not all about jumping around catching pokemon. Beating gym leaders and moving cities. Good job.
 
It still changes the whole "Green looks down on Red for the way he chooses his starter" angle. In the dub it'll seem like Blue's just copying what Red's doing which, given how much better Green thinks he is than Red throughout the rest of this special, is quite out-of-character.

It can be done just the same way. Look at the examples that were given.

Red chose Charmander based on his name.

Oak can then ask Blue if he's gonna choose Squirtle because his name is Blue.

Blue can then say, "No, I'm picking it for the mere fact that Water beats Fire."

He's still looking down upon Red for his reason of choice and establishing that he's not copying Red as his choice was made to be able to beat Red, not because of his own name.
 
It's nonsensical how people assume that either Red or Ash are superior to the other and look down on the one they don't like despite the fact they are the exact same person.

Red and Ash are not the same character. People just assumed Red was the better trainer and GF wasn't doing anything to go against it. Still, this special isn't game canon but I can't say it's reasonable that Red started out an uber badass.

Is it me or is Blue more of a jerk in this special than he is in the games? I wish NOA hadn't kept his name as "Blue" in the HGSS remakes though.. This special really has it thick when it comes to his name, like his green apparel and Red asking him if he'll get a grass type because of his name.

I did find the reasoning behind Red's abnormal name cute..
 
Red and Ash are not the same character. People just assumed Red was the better trainer and GF wasn't doing anything to go against it. Still, this special isn't game canon but I can't say it's reasonable that Red started out an uber badass.

Is it me or is Blue more of a jerk in this special than he is in the games? I wish NOA hadn't kept his name as "Blue" in the HGSS remakes though.. This special really has it thick when it comes to his name, like his green apparel and Red asking him if he'll get a grass type because of his name.

I did find the reasoning behind Red's abnormal name cute..

They are the same character. The only thing separating them is the fact that they are cross canon counterparts.
 
Well, this special was alright I guess. I only really like the second part. Because the whole story with Cubone and his mother was so sad ;_; Think I literally let out some tears there. First part was okay, but surprisingly enough the last two parts were a bit boring to me.

My main complaint of this special would be the fast pace. This works good in some ways, but it also annoyed me because some parts of Red journey felt like if they went by in one second. Would've worked better if it was divided in more parts.

Red was okay as a character, in the first part he reminded me a lot of Ash. And even though he got stronger later on, he never got to be that extremely powerful Red and IMO also boring Red I personally dislike. So that's good. Red, infused with a little Ash. I felt the whole Mega Charizard X thing was a little out of place. Just promotion for XY... come on, this was supposed to be an hommage to the very first games. No need to put in some blatant promotion for XY. At least the Mega Stones, Mega Charizard X and one mention by Fuji of Kalos were the only things.

I'm not sure if I would watch it again, I mean it wasn't that entertainable to me, but I'm still going to see the dub anyway I think. Overall, I prefer the regular anime. To give a rating: this special wasn't that "special" to me, but giving a 6 feels too low, because it also did things right, especially the second part. So I'll give it a:

7
 
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