News Pokémon: The Origin!

[Charmander4]

I find it hilarious that the Japanese hard-liners insist on re-writing history by bitching that the US referred to Pokémon Red and Blue as the first games, as if we played Pokémon Green here in the US and should just live with it because everything Japan says goes. It reminds me of the BS that goes on over at the Ash's Charizard article where he is clearly male, but because the Japanese version hasn't shown him whipping out a you know what, it's labeled as "unknown" despite it being painfully obvious.

I played Pokémon Red and Pokémon Blue as a kid. All of my friends played Pokémon Red and Blue. Red and Blue are all over the Pokémon websites, referred to in gaming magazines, and even referenced on the games themselves today when they say "not compatible with Red, Blue, Yellow, Gold, Silver, etc". Nobody outside of Japan other than hardcore fans even know about Green, and if the US promo had said Green, so much confusion would have ensued and it would've made the production team look like idiots getting the colors wrong.

As far as everyone outside of Japan is concerned, Blue is color. Green is not. Green was not released out of Japan. Blue was. Live with it.

 

[Dogasu]

I sure am glad they released Pokemon LeafGreen as "Pokemon Water Blue" in the U.S. Releasing the remake to Pokemon Blue under its Japanese title would have messed up the whole nostalgia angle they were going for with those games since everyone who played them grew up playing Red and Blue, not Red and Green. We really dodged a bullet there.

 

[Rex Kamex]

I'm kinda surprised the Japanese animators didn't edit things to make his jacket blue for non-Japanese audiences (with the worldwide release of X and Y, meaning released also in countries that started out with Red and Blue- also since Lenora's outfit was changed, which I can imagine would've taken more time to edit than changing the green to blue), but I'm not complaining.

I do wish that either the "Green-to-Blue" stuff was kept in Gens I and II and they had things as "Green" from Gen III on, or that they did what they're doing now yet released Water Blue and not Leaf Green in countries that got Blue instead of Green. Instead, we got neither result (although I would've preferred the first choice).

Other than that... I forgot if I've commented here before, but... Origins... I'm looking forward to this, although like that particular B2/W2 promo video, I think it'll be good for what it is, not a masterpiece.

I hope Red has a high, young-sounding voice, and that Blue's isn't much deeper. I wonder who will voice who.

Background-music wise... I hope it's good? Even though I don't like all of his background music, I have a bias for Shinji Miyazaki...

 

[Almonds]

I'm kinda surprised the Japanese animators didn't edit things to make his jacket blue for non-Japanese audiences

Why would they do anything for the non-Japanese audiences? The Japanese animators are creating it based on Red and Green, not Blue. They're not thinking of making things easier for international releases or anything - they're making stuff based on the first generation games IN JAPAN. They don't go around considering international fans or audiences. Even if there was indeed a Blue version, the first pokemon games to be released were Red and Green - and that's what the Origin is based on.

People thinking the versions released outside of Japan has anything to do with the creation process itself baffles me. I don't know who did the translation and what on earth happened during the narrating, but the creation of the anime itself is from RED AND GREEN.

 

[Dogasu]

They don't go around considering international fans or audiences.

The made-up language being used in the special (as seen in the VS screen and over the HP bars) says otherwise :/

And the Japanese animators have changed things for international audiences before (the aforementioned Aloe edit) so it's not entirely implausible that they'd do the same thing again.

 

[Almonds]

They don't go around considering international fans or audiences.

The made-up language being used in the special (as seen in the VS screen and over the HP bars) says otherwise :/

And the Japanese animators have changed things for international audiences before (the aforementioned Aloe edit) so it's not entirely implausible that they'd do the same thing again.

Then, I guess they are not done for every international audiences, cuz there hasn't been much changes or edits done in the TV anime in my dub version (excluding the occasional fixing of traditional Japanese clothing and/or buildings). They haven't announced the Origin yet here either, or maybe they have and I don't know about it. But anyways - I don't think they'd do that only for the Western audience, but meh, I guess I don't have that much knowledge regarding anime creating.

 

[Piplup]

You also never played those games in HD with full voice acting and orchestrated music, either.

And?... for the same reasons I expect them to call Charizard by that name and not "Lizardon" I expect the rival to called Blue - which apparently is the way they chose to do it and I think that was the right descision

More to the point, though, is that there is literally nobody who's old enough to feel any amount of nostalgia toward this special that doesn't know that "Pokemon Blue" was originally called "Pokemon Green" in Japan. It's one of gaming's most well-known facts.

Look at how the people in other fandoms have survived name changes over the years. Princess Toadstool to Princess Peach, Dr. Robotnik to Eggman, Dragon Warrior to Dragon Quest, Final Fantasy II to Final Fantasy IV...the list goes on. Hell, TPCI even did this by releasing the "Pokemon Blue" remake as "Pokemon Leaf Green" instead of, say, "Pokemon Water Blue." I think people could survive a name un-change in an animated special.

That has absolutely nothing to do with "nostalgia" or whatever... yeah, people would "survive" a name change... but why would they change it?
The gen 1 rival was always called Blue in the English version of Pokémon and I can't see any reason to randomly change that

 

[Charmander4]

I sure am glad they released Pokemon LeafGreen as "Pokemon Water Blue" in the U.S. Releasing the remake to Pokemon Blue under its Japanese title would have messed up the whole nostalgia angle they were going for with those games since everyone who played them grew up playing Red and Blue, not Red and Green. We really dodged a bullet there.

Straw man argument. The fact of that matter is that the original games, released in the US and everywhere outside of Japan, were Pokémon Red & Blue. Origins, in both JP and the US, isn't talking about the remakes, it's talking about the games the remakes are based on. The fact that LeafGreen was released as such in the US is completely irrelevant. The first games, where it all started, was Red & Blue internationally, and no amount of whining will ever change that.

 

[FANG-TAN]

So we all agree that Final Fantasy VI is actually the third Final Fantasy game, or that Fire Emblem: Sword of Flame is actually the first Fire Emblem game, because international name changes dictate all? Square Enix are a bunch of duds for not sticking to the former? Or is there a reason why Pokemon should be treated differently? Square Enix certainly didn't ruin the nostalgic mood during any of the FF anniversaries by referring to the early FF games by their proper names. If we really wanted to get technical with the international origins of Pokemon, we'd start by mentioning the anime first and foremost.

Last time, I quote:

Which is why I suggested they should have used other phrases to get the same point across if they wanted to avoid confusion. "The original 151 Pokemon", "Generation I", etc, would also extend to Yellow version, the first dub of the anime, any of the side games, etc. Again, I prefer correctness over marketability, and they could have done both and invoked nostalgia better.

Don't want to acknowledge the series' actual history by mentioning Red and Green instead of two reprogrammed Blue versions? Fine. That's dandy. Understandable. It would be confusing to whatever number of those fans ignorant to the series' history, because you know, it commonly happens especially in the international Pokemon fandom. So they could have done this then. It covers a wider range and is correct for all parts of the globe.

Back to discussion pertaining to the actual special, it bothers me that a good amount of people are simply expecting an animated walkthrough. Sounds like a rather disappointingly low standard. I, for one, have hopes that this will be a unique take on the games' canon in its own right. Want an anime/manga walkthrough? Read Pocket Monsters Zensho. Such a thing should stay out of this special episode, which I personally believe has potential to be at least a decent anime. People on certain other boards are saying this special will be worse than the current anime simply because of its length. Laughable. There are multitudes of short anime that beat the current Pokemon anime in terms of sheer quality, and much of its bulk are fillers anyway, so there isn't much competition.

My biggest hope is that this special is able to portray a story that does the Pokemon Tower story justice, something that all current canons have failed to do.

 

[funnycupcakes]

Yeah. The only reason it feels like its done for western ordinances because you can only see western people react to it. But im sure that every where else is just as excited as the westerners.
ps: DIABOLIK LOVERS ;D

 

[Dogasu]

You also never played those games in HD with full voice acting and orchestrated music, either.

And?...

And so when you watch Pokemon Origins then you're already watching something very, very different from the games you played when you were younger. This is an animated special made in the year 2013 and not a Game Boy game released in 1998. The character you grew up with known as "Blue" in the games suddenly being called "Green" in the animated special would have been one of the least jarring differences you'd notice.

That has absolutely nothing to do with "nostalgia" or whatever...

It absolutely has everything to do with nostalgia.

A ton of people struggled to rescue Princess Toadstool in the American version of Super Mario Bros. and yet they transitioned to "Princess Peach" fairly quickly despite the eleven years or so they were living with the former name. For many people, the game released in the U.S. as Final Fantasy II was their very first RPG and yet despite their nostalgia for the game they were still able to accept it when Squaresoft decided to revert back to the Japanese numbering. Dragon Quest went by the title Dragon Warrior for a full sixteen years before the name reverted back to the Japanese title. Do you really think that nobody had any sort of nostalgia toward the older titles built up during that decade and a half?

All of these are examples of things being localized one way for a number of years but then reverting back to the way things were done in Japan. And there was (still is) a certain amount of nostalgia for the older ways of doing things. And yet in every single one of those cases, the fans just rolled with it. Pokemon fans can do the same.



And Charmander4, I was going to respond to you but then you had to go and refer to our valid arguments as "whining" and so I've decided it's not worth the time and effort to bother with you.


Also, I mistakenly reported that this special is going to be streamed on the Nico Nico Live website when it isn't, and that's a pretty huge thing that I feel like needs to get out there.

 

[FANG-TAN]

Also, I mistakenly reported that this special is going to be streamed on the Nico Nico Live website when it isn't, and that's a pretty huge thing that I feel like needs to get out there.

I was rather disappointed by that, by the way. But I guess it's better than running into a glorified comments section on the very day of the broadcast and wondering what the hell happened.

 

[Piplup]

I still fail to see any reason at all for them to randomly change Blue's name... as far as the English version goes - he was always Blue, why change it now? Why does it matter what other games/shows did? I can't see any reason to ever randomly change a name of a character, that would be like the Chronicles dub randomly changing Jackson and Eusene to Vincent and Eugene... (except here it'd be to change to the character's original Japanese version's name - but why would that single character be the exception to the rule of following the English version names?...)
I'm sorry but it just doesn't make sense to me to expect them to call him Green when he always was Blue... it's not about "nostalgia" or "fans being able to accept it", it's about the fact there is absolutely no reason to randomly change his name

 

[xrick]

The only way I find to try to explain it to you is...
People have the tendency to accomodate to what they usually have in front of their eyes while others end up seeing a bigger picture and wish for it to be seen by everyone else...
You guys have grown up with Green being called Blue because of Red & Blue, and even now, despite knowing about Red & Green and that Blue was originally called Green, you guys prefer to accomodate to how things have been on your side while others believe it won't hurt for everyone to see things for how they originally were.
There's no changing Red & Blue to Red & Green anymore, that'd be stupid... And the english trailer mentioning Red & Blue, it's a message to those who played the first batch of games, internationally it started there, and no matter who comes claiming it started with Red & Green, that was only in Japan, it's kinda childish to be discussing all that because of a single goddamn phrase in a trailer...

The question about Green/Blue, I prefer to stick with Green, by the time I got to check on the net about the games, I could quite nicelly understand that fact and accept Green is Blue overseas, but I still call him Green and the Female PC Blue or Leaf.

But Red, Green, Blue & Silver not having names other than their color ones, like it happened from Generation3 onwards...
That's something I can't accomodate myself to... I treat them as Ash & Gary, as the first games had of names and the original anime initially reflected...

 

[Silktree]

But Red, Green, Blue & Silver not having names other than their color ones, like it happened from Generation3 onwards...
That's something I can't accomodate myself to... I treat them as Ash & Gary, as the first games had of names and the original anime initially reflected...

Promotional material for Pocket Monsters 2 indicates that Red's original canon name was Satoshi. But the games were delayed, and by the time Gold and Silver were released Game Freak had decided to use version names for the characters. Perhaps they wanted to separate Red from his anime counterpart.

 

[xrick]

Yeah, maybe... Unfortunately...

 

[Moe]

Did anyone not just pick Ash and Gary from the next option down when playing Red/Blue? I know I always thought of Gold as Hiro for that same reason - the first 'name' on the list.

 

[MetroLSD]

Just like the main anime, it seems Orgin also blows Pokemon height/sizes out of proportion.

 

[xrick]

Why do you say that? Remember that Red and Green are simply kids...
On Bulbapedia there's records of some of the PCs being around 1,50m tall, so that may be case with them too...

 

[Magmaster12]

I have to admit I always hated the idea of Red choosing Charmander being "cannon" it's just not a pokemon I've seen fit for him because I've always seen it as more intimidating then the other starters and more fitting for Blue. I guess they went with Charmander because his name is Red and Charizard is the most popular.