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Review Pocket Monsters: The Origin

...You mean his Japanese anime voice?

It's probably because a different studio made this special so they don't have the same rights.... as they do over the regular anime, I am assuming.
OLM was involved with production too. The Origin was a collaboration between OLM, Production I.G., and Xebec. The latter two have helped with the regular anime before (though not as much as here). Not to mention, all official Pokemon-related products are internationally owned/licensed by TPCi, so it makes no sense for them to hand it to another company due to "lack of rights" when they own it. If this wasn't done in-house, they probably have another reason for leaving it to another company to handle the dubbing.

Also, I don't get why it matters if Red is voiced by a female or a male, especially since the former sex (more often than not) is viewed to suit the role of a young boy better due to common general pitch... unless it actually is a young boy doing the voice (Aaron Dismuke, voice of Alphonse in the English dub of Fullmetal Alchemist, when he was 12).

More possibly, time constraints. The VA are busy with doing the anime roles and they have to du then by one episode each week with a movie per year.

They sub-contracted this because maybe it's easier to them su-contracting an entire group than bringing an extra pay to the usual VA. And because this is non-profitable for TPCi and has no effect on the main anime, they decided to do with this route.
 
I think Pokemon The Origin is a welcome change and an intriguing way of looking at the Anime differently. I'm not saying that I want Ash to be replaced, because he simply belongs to that Anime, but I do think that the regular Anime (I'm only talking about the Unova episodes here) could learn something from that special, particularly when it comes to maturity.
Also, I guess it wouldn't hurt if the regular Anime included the famous HP bar, so we could actually see AND understand when and why a Pokemon is knocked out. Or do you think the Anime would get too technical and theoretical then? Hm, I don't know for sure but at least it would help make illogical or cheap battle a thing of the past.

Anyways, I'm looking forward to the next episode!
 
Pokemon get knocked out because they get the living hell beat out of them and are too tired to continue fighting? I don't see how that's so hard to understand nor why a HP bar is necessary, especially since the regular anime holds our hands by giving them the dizzy anime eyes whenever Pokemon faint. And remember, they could be just as cheap with an HP bar.

Example from a later Origin episode:

See Red's Lizardon smashing through Kamex's HP bar with just Fire-type attacks.

]More possibly, time constraints. The VA are busy with doing the anime roles and they have to du then by one episode each week with a movie per year.

Those English VAs have little work motivation, then. Yuki Aoi (seiyuu of Iris) worked on several different anime whilst voicing Iris in Pocket Monsters. Most notable would be the Madoka Magica movies, where she's cast in the lead role.

Most likely they were mimicking the Japanese version by having different voices from their regular series counterparts (Red isn't voiced by Rica Matsumoto, for example).

And because this is non-profitable for TPCi and has no effect on the main anime, they decided to do with this route.
How exactly is this unprofitable? The Japanese Pokemon Company obviously sees it otherwise by releasing it on Blu-Ray (and producing it to begin with).

TPCi would be stupid to think that it would be unprofitable if they wasted money dubbing it to begin with.
 
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How exactly is this unprofitable? The Japanese Pokemon Company obviously sees it otherwise by releasing it on Blu-Ray (and producing it to begin with).

TPCi would be stupid to think that it would be unprofitable if they wasted money dubbing it to begin with.
Well at the moment there's just online streaming on a site without advertising - with no DVD/Blu-Ray release/TV airing announced - so dubbing it would be 'unprofitable' right now.

Of course I'm sure they are aware of the fan interest that Origins got - so they get something out of showing it online, hopefully for them leading more people to buy copies of Red on eBay Pokemon X and Y who hadn't been interested in the series for a while.
 
Well at the moment there's just online streaming on a site without advertising - with no DVD/Blu-Ray release/TV airing announced - so dubbing it would be 'unprofitable' right now.

Then that would be their own fault then, if they dubbed this just for streaming alone. That would mean they made it unprofitable out of their own decision.
 
Well at the moment there's just online streaming on a site without advertising - with no DVD/Blu-Ray release/TV airing announced - so dubbing it would be 'unprofitable' right now.

Then that would be their own fault then, if they dubbed this just for streaming alone. That would mean they made it unprofitable out of their own decision.

The reason is that CN US doesn't want to air this. Is the same reason why the Pikachu short aeen't aired with he movies.

People who don't follow he Japanese version don't know of the promotion of the series. False eeturn, false ending, amomg other things.
 
Well at the moment there's just online streaming on a site without advertising - with no DVD/Blu-Ray release/TV airing announced - so dubbing it would be 'unprofitable' right now.

Then that would be their own fault then, if they dubbed this just for streaming alone. That would mean they made it unprofitable out of their own decision.

The reason is that CN US doesn't want to air this. Is the same reason why the Pikachu short aeen't aired with he movies.

People who don't follow he Japanese version don't know of the promotion of the series. False eeturn, false ending, amomg other things.


I'm sure they'll still put it up on DVD like they do everything else especially since they actually chose to dub. It may come out with a movie like the MasterMind special or they might sell it as a separate thing.

It could do very well. :)
 
Is that Cristina Vee voicing the nurse in Lavender Town? Reina was also obviously voiced by Christine Marie Cabanos.

Episode 2 was absolutely fantastic. Shame about Pokémon.com's video quality though. I really want to see this be released on DVD or hopefully, blu-ray.

EDIT:
Yup, I was right. Cristina Vee also voiced Cubone.
 
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Loved the Cubone's story. It's just great how many references from the games there are in these episodes. I especially loved that Blue's scream was just as epic as in the Japanese version! I also loved Marowak. It was just saying "Get out" to warn everyone about Team Rocket. Also nice to hear a lot of great voice actors in there; I recognized quite a few from Anime other than Pokemon~
 
Just saw part 2. It was great to see Cubone's story in an animated formatted, along with having actual references to death. Though, the people at the end mourning over their Pokémon was a bit...creepy. And lol at the white hand reference. My gosh, Blue being afraid of those ghosts was awesome and hilarious, not to mention his denying it at the end. And he wanted to rescue Mr. Fuji so he could be a hero of Lavender Town? Well that's not what I would've expected, but okay. Anyway, can't wait for part 3 and Giovanni.
 
The second part dubbed I liked as well as the first. The drama, music, I really felt it just like in the Japanese version. Tough not to tear up watching Marowak and Cubone reunite and also after Cubone lost its mother.

Interesting how the Marowak's ghost was speaking in English in ghost form while warding off others. It even did both English and cries when they were reunited. I guess that was for a more dramatic and creepy effect.

Blue sure was funny screaming and running away in fear.
 
Saw Part 3 today, and Jamieson Price was awesome as Giovanni. Sounded very much like his Yukio Oikawa from Digimon Adventure 02. Perfect casting on TPCi's part.
 
Sorry this is so long, but... lol, Origins.

So, File/Episode 2 was great. I love how they fleshed out the Marowak story, and I especially think having Cubone visit its mother's ghost to help rest her spirit was much better than how they handled that situation in the games. (I dunno, I just always found that battle in the Pokémon Tower awkward.) I also love the Fuji action that happened in this episode. I personally thought Fuji deserved a much larger role in the games, and I appreciate that they gave us at least a little bit more of his character and personality in this series compared to the games. In general, the characters' voices were cool; it took some getting used to since I was so used to the anime voices, but I really enjoyed them for the most part. And I know Origins and the anime are very different mediums, but it was still nice to see Red actually become the Champion, unlike poor Ashyboy over there. Also, although I hate the (over-?)Kantoization that has especially happened during the XY era, I always appreciate Game Freak and TPCi looking back to their roots and remembering where they came from... you know, if only they actually did that here.

Okay, so that last part was a bit extreme. But I'm rather disappointed that Origins seems much more FireRed-and-LeafGreen-like than it does Red-and-Green/Blue-like. With the way they advertised the series I really thought they would be sticking to the originals, and especially their designs, as much as possible. To see so many graphical updates from FRLG throughout Origins just really threw me off. I'm totally okay that they decided to use the remakes as their visual inspiration--I just wish they didn't then advertise Origins as going all the way back to the Game Boy when they only went as far back as the Game Boy Advance. I got too hyped up, haha.

Also, Origins seemed way more anime-like than I was anticipating, which was totally annoying. (Spoiler Alert: I'm still lulz-ing that Red's Charizard was able to knock out a similar-if-not-higher-levelled Blastoise at around ~75% HP using the combination of Fire Spin and Fire Blast.) The constant OHKO-ing of Red's Pokémon until he used Charmander/-meleon/-izard just really irritated me. Like, you've battled how many trainers prior to reaching Giovanni, and your Jolteon was OHKO'd by a Thunderbolt--from a RHYHORN?! Red's battle with Giovanni made it look like Red's Pokémon other than Charizard were at Lvl. 20 or something. Speaking of, did Red even care about his other Pokémon? Seriously, for him to say that he won the Cascade Badge despite being at a disadvantage, for example, seemed like a massive stretch in my opinion. Sure Misty had that strong-arm Starmie on her team, but with a team of Spearow, Rattata, Metapod, and (arguably) Nidorino, I feel like the use of the word "disadvantage" here is not correct. Especially since all of these Pokémon should have been stronger by that point, assuming he didn't only use his Charmander in battles and left the rest of his team to rot at Lvl. 10 or below. (Otherwise, of course he would be at a disadvantage!) Red was definitely more Ash-like than I wanted him to be, in my opinion.

TL;DR Origins was good (honestly, anything Pokémon-related is good) but I was barely mesmerized by it. Compared to people's reactions I've seen online, it seems like a lot of people really really enjoyed Origins, which means that I either missed something completely while watching the episodes, or my nostalgia for the Gen I games are clearly not as high as other people's.
 
Ah, my favorite part. It was amazing. OMG. Blue said "smell ya later". OMG, that was just perfect. Then he said the gym leader was no match for his genius. This dude is awesome. Wow, Giovanni had a much deeper voice than I expected and it was totally awesome. Red's Pokémon must have seriously under leveled to get totally obliterated so easily. It's too bad that once again Charizard did nearly most of the work, but it was awesome nonetheless. Though I wonder why Giovanni thought Red using a normal type was a good idea with Ryhorn being a rock-type. And trying to finish off Charizard with Horn Drill instead of starting with it? Whatever, that Seismic Toss was great! So excited to see the last part!
 
I really enjoyed it when it was first released. However...when the dub was released I was very disappointed. They completely trashed the Marowak death scene and the ghost scene. They removed the death scream and added some pitiful sounding grunts. As for the ghost scene, Marowak was actually saying something pretty easy to translate. As Cubone is running in: "My baby!" and then as she is hugging him she says: "Son.." Instead we got some garbled Muppet sounding growling.
 
I thought Giovanni was given a very fitting voice in the dub. It sounds how I would imagine a mafia/yakuza boss would sound like i.e. very business like.
 
I really enjoyed it when it was first released. However...when the dub was released I was very disappointed. They completely trashed the Marowak death scene and the ghost scene. They removed the death scream and added some pitiful sounding grunts. As for the ghost scene, Marowak was actually saying something pretty easy to translate. As Cubone is running in: "My baby!" and then as she is hugging him she says: "Son.." Instead we got some garbled Muppet sounding growling.
I agree they stuffed up Marowak, and the Dialogue between Red and Blue at the end of the episode wasn't as great.
 
I liked the idea and it was definitely good in places, but it rushed for me and should've been longer
 
Episode 3 was fantastic! We actually see the douche behavior from Blue that he shows in the games when he refused to take that woman to the police. Plus, Giovanni was completely badass. His voice was PERFECT! The way he just say his Pokemon's attacks so chill was incredibly awesome to me. I really wish this could have been a full series just so I could see more of him.
 
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