"Watashi wa dare da?" — A Retrospective on Mewtwo Strikes Back [Part 2 Posted: "Mewtwo and Amber"]

[InfiniteBakuphoon]

"Watashi wa dare da?" — A Retrospective on Mewtwo Strikes Back
by InfiniteBakuphoon

The Birth of Mewtwo...​

So, 2019 has been proclaimed "The Year of Mewtwo", in no small part because a remake of the very first Pokémon movie, Mewtwo Strikes Back, is scheduled to be released this summer. The 20th anniversary of said movie — July 18th, 1998 — has long since past, but there is another relevant anniversary to celebrate. This day twenty years ago, on February 12th, 1999, an audio CD package entitled Sound Picture Box — The Birth of Mewtwo (pictured above) was released exclusively in the series' native Japan, containing three notable items:

1. A radio drama known as The Birth of Mewtwo, an expanded prologue to Mewtwo Strikes Back which explores themes and ideas that have rarely been explored in official Pokémon media before or since,
2. A 64-page "storybook" containing illustrations related to the above radio drama,
3. A comprehensive collection of music from the original Japanese score for Mewtwo Strikes Back, written by regular series composer Shinji Miyazaki.

Now, besides the fact that this release existed, why is this anniversary important? To be honest, it really isn't that important. It is, however, the perfect excuse to take a closer look at the movie that it's based on in advance of the release of its remake later this year... especially considering that I've recently had the opportunity to view the original Japanese version of Mewtwo Strikes Back for the first time! There are many questions to consider about it, namely: it is any good? How does it compare to all of the other Pokémon movies out there... is it one of the better ones, or possibly even the best? How does it compare to the infamous English dub? And perhaps most fundamentally of all: what did I personally think about the movie overall? Well, perhaps we should start from the beginning... my thoughts starting from the first scenes of the movie will begin in the post below.

A warning from here on out... if you haven't experienced Mewtwo Strikes Back, the radio drama The Birth of Mewtwo, or the animated prologue of the same name, please note that they will be discussed at length here, and that they will be spoiled here for you, if you care about that. Reader beware!

[A Retrospective on Mewtwo Strikes Back: Table of Contents]
Part 01: Maboroshi no Mew <The Mythical Mew> (02/12/2019)
Part 02: Inochi Aru Mono... Mewtwo no Ai <That Which Has Life... Mewtwo and Amber> (06/30/2019)

 

[InfiniteBakuphoon]

"Watashi wa dare da?" — A Retrospective on Mewtwo Strikes Back
[Part 1: Maboroshi no Mew]
<The Mythical Mew>

What a beautiful sight! But wait a minute... is that...!?​

Before I mention anything else, I would just like to say how wonderful it is to finally be able to watch this movie in widescreen as the original creators intended, as opposed to the "fullscreen" pan-and-scan versions that everyone was forced to endure back in the era of 4:3-ratio tube TVs. Even as a kid, I hated that; I'd take black bars on the top and bottom of the screen over pan-and-scan any day!

What's also wonderful is the opportunity to see this movie in high-definition, since it allows you to see certain fine details that are impossible to be captured on those old VHS and DVD copies. One interesting thing I could swear I saw in the first few scenes here was film grain, a relic of a bygone era when animation was finished on film, as opposed to everything being done digitally like it is now. The resolution is also so high that you can actually see artifacts and other imperfections (presumably dust, dirt, scratches, scruffs, and the like) on individual layers of animation, again a relic of a bygone era. I have to say, though, that even with the wonderful benefits of digital production to reduce — if not flat-out eliminate — those kinds of imperfections, a part of me can't help but actually miss those things a little bit; they're more immediately visible evidence of a human touch.

Where in the world is Mew? Oh... it's right behind you!​

Now I'll start talking about the story itself. How it actually begins will depend on the version you're watching, though. If you're more familiar with the dub version, then you'll remember the story beginning with Mewtwo's "birth" in the laboratory on New Island and all of the events that happen after that, forming a prologue of sorts to the movie as a whole. However, the original version has another prologue on top of that which covers events before said "birth", including an expedition to find the mysterious and elusive creature known as Mew.

Lots of talk is made about just how mysterious Mew is the original version. It has apparently eluded humans for quite possibly thousands of years, if the shrine dedicated to it in the ruins (pictured below) is any indication. What's kind of hilarious is that despite its reputation for being nearly impossible to find (to the point where some people think that it's extinct), it's actually literally right behind them the entire time! Something tells me that this isn't the first time that Mew followed humans like that; indeed, it'll do so again much later in the movie (and have a lot more fun with it that time as well).

Mew has been at this for a very long time...​

The dub version takes a quite different approach to the beginning, however. Dr. Fuji — a character that we'll get to know more about very shortly — provides a narration with some fairly valuable information, most notably Team Rocket's involvement in everything that's going on. If I had to summarize the difference between the two, I'd say that the original version is more about Mew and it alone, while the dub is more about Dr. Fuji and his connection to the search for Mew. While all of the exposition is kind of appreciated in the dub, I have to say that I prefer the original version's approach here. This scene was clearly originally intended to be about Mew and its legendary status, and while it's not really that informative as a result, it is more interesting, I think.

After years of searching, this is all humanity could find...​

Ultimately, the expedition does end up finding Mew... or rather, they find a fossil of a part of Mew, specifically an eyelash (better than nothing, right?). How do they find it, exactly? Maybe with the wonders of modern technology... some special imaging tech, perhaps? Well, apparently not. As far as the movie tells us, they seem to find it more or less by sheer chance. The fact that this is apparently the first concrete evidence of Mew's existence that's been found in possibly thousands of years speaks volumes about just how elusive it really is...

Peekaboo, I see you...​

Mew is watching all of this unfold from a distance... what's it thinking? Ever the enigma, one has to wonder why Mew, after ages of keeping itself hidden from humans, allowed such a major piece of itself to fall into human hands instead of, perhaps, teleporting it away or destroying it instantly with its mind or something like that. Setting aside the obvious answer that there wouldn't be a plot without the fossil being found, I couldn't help but put on my over-analyzing thinking cap on for this one. Is Mew aware of what humans are capable of doing with that fossil, and if so, does it even care? In fact, just how much agency does Mew have — or allow itself to have — anyway? Is it more of a passive observer to human affairs, watching but only rarely intervening? Or maybe it's more of a capricious creature, basically just doing whatever it wants, whenever it wants?

[to be continued...]​

Version 1.1 (06/22/2019)

Spoiler: Version History

Version 1.1 (06/22/2019)
Changed the formatting from unordered list style to standard paragraph style; added English translation of Japanese title; made minor grammatical changes.
Version 1.0 (02/12/2019)
Original release.

​

 

[Nicolas721]

I think Mew behaves like a child, is very curious and always does the opposite of what should be expected. Maybe the humans were about to give up on him being alive, but he gave them a hint so they could keep on believing. His curiosity is what probably leads him to find Mewtwo later, as it would be too much of a coincidence if he would find him just by playing.

 

[Silktree]

Just for the record, Mew had revealed itself to Miyamoto 18 years before the expedition happened. Chances are that it has had multiple encounters over the years.

Some fans have accused Mew of not saving Miyamoto. I guess that's a fair point, but maybe it didn't even grasp what was going on. Or it didn't care about someone who wanted to capture it.

 

[InfiniteBakuphoon]

@Nicolas721
That's true... it certainly does have a child-like side at the very least. But now that you mention Mewtwo, Mew's encounter with it does show that it can be deadly serious when necessary. For the first few moments of their battle near the end of the movie, Mew doesn't really take Mewtwo seriously at all, instead dodging its attacks like it's all little more than a game. It's only when one of those attacks actually hits Mew that it comes back with an attack of its own, and from that point on it treats Mewtwo like an actual threat and holds absolutely nothing back in the power department. I can only assume that side only comes out when it has to defend itself... even for Mew, you don't get to be a legendary Pokémon by being weak and passive in the face of danger, after all.

@Unown Seer
Ah yes; I forgot about that. Speaking of Mew and Miyamoto, though, this page does mention something that I found interesting: it makes the point that during their encounter, Mew only sticks around while Miyamoto talks about Jessie (and even responds to a picture of her), while it abandons her once she starts talking about things like money. That might mean a lot or mean nothing, given that this is Mew we're talking about, but assuming the former, I'll say this. While one could certainly point to a scene like that as evidence of some kind of coldness or even judgement on Mew's part, one could also just as easily say that Mew simply got bored with her after a certain point (which would fit well with the interpretation of it as a child-like being). Or maybe it simply became less cool with hanging around someone who says that it wants to capture it, like you already touched upon. Which one of these is more likely... or is it even just one? Who knows? I kind of like that ambiguous quality about Mew, though... it practically lives up to its mysterious reputation as much in real life as it does in the world of the anime itself.

 

[Silktree]

From Pokemon Gold: Apparently, it appears only to those people who are pure of heart and have a strong desire to see it.

Maybe Mew could sense Miyamoto's strong desire, but it had to be around her to judge her purity. She failed.

 

[InfiniteBakuphoon]

"Watashi wa dare da?" — A Retrospective on Mewtwo Strikes Back
[Part 2: Inochi Aru Mono... Mewtwo no Ai]
<That Which Has Life... Mewtwo and Amber>

The womb of the future...​


"Technology is incredible!" If only that infamous Pallet Town NPC knew just how right he was, especially in the anime universe where technology might as well be considered omnipotent compared to what the games have to offer (let alone the real world). Sure, you have the Poké Ball, near-instant healing, and the ability to teleport small objects anywhere in the world within seconds in both universes. In fact, they even both have cloning! But what other universe in the Pokémon world allows you to take the rarest Pokémon in existence and make a hyper-powerful clone of it with nothing more than an eyelash and the power of human science? Or better yet, what other universe allows you to make a clone of a human as well?

The story of this next part of the prologue is a tale of many births and many deaths. The first "birth" here is that of Mewtwo, who instead of being born from a mother's womb or from the warmth and safety of an egg, is instead "grown" in a glass tube. But before that can happen, it must first be "conceived", which is chronicled here in an ominous montage of flashing computer screens, beeping machines, and serious-looking scientists doing serious-looking work. And once again, all of this is made possible with simply Mew's eyelash. It's all certainly a crowning achievement for humanity in the Pokémon world; if anything, this, along with inventions like the Poké Ball, show just how much parity in power humans have achieved with powerful creatures who could otherwise rule the world completely unchallenged if they wanted to (even if controlling all of that power is a completely different story, as these scientists will learn the hard way later).

Equally ominous, meanwhile, is the music that plays during this sequence, which happens to be one of many songs that the movie will borrow from the main TV series soundtrack. In this case, it's The Final Road, a rather dark and dramatic orchestral arrangement of the theme that plays when you walk... well, the final road towards the Indigo Plateau in the games. Truth be told, I didn't even recognize this as an arrangement of an existing song at first, even if it does definitely resemble the original upon close listening. I'd argue that's because it happens to fit the arcane and arguably forbidden nature of what's happening on screen quite well, thanks to the dramatic flair of the arrangement and the already somewhat foreboding nature of the original composition.

Mewtwo can never catch a break from existential turmoil, even before it's been brought into the world...​

Not long after that, we see young Mewtwo growing in its glass tube, already beginning to ask itself the questions that will haunt it for the rest of the movie: Where am I? Who am I? Why am I here?

I suppose there's no better time than now for me to starting talking more in-depth about the Birth of Mewtwo radio drama, which this animated Birth of Mewtwo prologue is based on. Originally released in five parts airing on multiple Saturdays before the Japanese premiere of Mewtwo Strikes Back, the radio drama takes the opportunity to expand significantly on the movie that it was written to promote. Several events and stories that have become famous in the Pokémon fandom originate from here, including the sole appearance of Giovanni's mother Madame Boss, the humorous yet also tragic misadventures of Jessie's mother Miyamoto during her search for Mew, and the chronicles of Dr. Fuji — the man that was mentioned earlier in this blog — in his pursuit of a way to bring a certain loved one back to life.

Meanwhile, the only reason that we — and the rest of the English-speaking Pokémon fandom — are even able to discuss all of this right now is thanks to a certain translation of the radio drama, which was apparently written under a commission requested by a source known as Mondō. The exact circumstances of this commission — having obviously been made in the very early days of the fandom, at least — were rather difficult for me to pinpoint with much certainty; this page is the only record I could find that explains how the English translation of the radio drama came to be. Nonetheless, this one translation has been copied and posted on many, many fansites over the years (many of which have been around for nearly as long as the radio drama itself), and it also appears to be the only complete English translation of the radio drama in existence, as far as I'm aware.

All of that being said, I'll be referring to the radio drama several times in this and future chapters, where I'll usually call it simply "the radio drama" (or alternatively "the Mondō translation" when applicable).

As far as overall content goes, the radio drama covers pretty much everything that the animated prologue does. However, the radio drama also covers what the animated prologue does in much greater detail, and often with several changes present. Some of these changes are rather small, while other changes are much more significant, sometimes to the point of greatly altering some of the story's themes and presentation.

One of these differences, for instance, is young Mewtwo's voice. In the radio drama, it sounds like a young child or even a toddler, whereas in the animated prologue, it sounds more like an adolescent. I don't really think that this is reflective of Mewtwo's current "age" more so than it's simply reflective of which voice actors were willing or available to fulfill the role at the time, but in any case, I can say that I wasn't really expecting to hear a teenager's voice come out of the surprisingly cutesy and adorable-looking Mewtwo (even considering that I watched the animated prologue first). That's not necessarily a complaint, though; one could argue that the older-sounding voice manages to deliver stronger gravitas during a certain important scene. Still, the younger-sounding voice does sounds closer to what I would imagine a young Mewtwo to sound like overall (even if that means that it can sound slightly annoying at times).

Meanwhile, we soon learn that Mewtwo isn't the only clone that's been "born" here. Appearing next Mewtwo in a flash of brilliant red light, enter... the sweetest, strongest four-year-old girl ever, who will ultimately become Mewtwo's first and pretty much only friend.

Hello, Mewtwo!
​

For the uninitiated, this girl is Dr. Fuji's daughter, named Amber (or Ai in the original Japanese version, as she is often referred to even by the English-speaking fandom). Or rather, she's actually a clone of Dr. Fuji's daughter, dubbed Ambertwo (or Aitwo, again in the original Japanese version). The original Amber died tragically young in a car accident, leaving her father lonely and distraught. After Amber's death, Dr. Fuji turns to his expertise as a scientist to bring her back to life as a clone, all through the power of the anime universe's near-omnipotent human technology. However, all of his efforts are doomed to failure even with said technology, for human clones are unable to survive any longer than four years. This unfortunate reality is what drives Dr. Fuji to seek the mythical Pokémon Mew, which is said to possess an immortal life force that he believes holds the secret to life itself, including possibly the secret to permanently restoring Amber's life. This search, in turn, leads him to cross paths — rather ambiguously — with Team Rocket and its leader Giovanni, who themselves seek Mew for a much less savory purpose: to create the world's strongest Pokémon in their bid to take over the planet. A partnership forms between the two, resulting in the expedition to find Mew as explored earlier in this blog. And in the end, it all culminates in the creation of Mewtwo, the ultimate product of a father's pure love and desperation and a diabolical mastermind's pure evil and ambition.

Amber's death, then, is essentially the catalyst for everything that happens in the movie. If not for that single tragic accident, Amber and her family would all still be alive and together, Dr. Fuji would have never crossed paths with Team Rocket and helped accelerate their plans for world domination, and Mewtwo — or Mewtwo as we know it in the anime, at least — would have likely never even existed.

...although you would only know all of that if you listened to the radio drama, because the animated prologue doesn't include the vast majority of the above information (unless you're watching the dub version of said prologue, but more on that later). This won't be the last time that this happens, by the way, because in case it wasn't made clear above, there's a lot that's covered in the radio drama that is either changed, glossed over, or outright omitted in the animated prologue.

That said, I can't exactly blame the creators of the animated prologue from cutting out so much material from the radio drama. As disappointing as it is to not have an animated version of Madame Boss's appearance or Miyamoto's encounter with Mew, or to not have certain elements from the radio drama that I'd argue are superior implemented into the main movie's narrative, how much of that would've affected the pace of the movie as a whole, or have extended the beginning — which already goes on for over twenty minutes before we meet Ash or see the opening credits — to an even greater length? Different mediums require different approaches to narrative, and while a radio drama has all the time in the world to cover all kinds of material thanks to its episodic nature, a movie simply doesn't have the same luxury, being a single standalone experience for which proper pacing and editing is absolutely critical to capturing an audience's attention (and by extension, their hearts). And even if it may have been possible to adapt some of the radio drama's elements into the main movie anyway... well, at the very least, we can say that we have two very different and very interesting versions of the same basic premise to compare, as we'll explore more in-depth below.

(For a fun comparison, consider that Mewtwo Strikes Back — including the animated prologue — is about 85 minutes long, while the radio drama — which is basically an extended prologue itself — is alone almost an hour long. Or for even more fun: consider that the shortest episode of the radio drama — Episode 2 — is about as long as the entire animated prologue, or roughly ten minutes. Yeah... not everything was going to make it in there, unfortunately!)

Who could possibly dislike this girl?​

Now, back to Amber. As far as her personality and character goes, there's not really that much to her on the surface. She's a sweet and caring little girl and... well, that's pretty much it. That said, her lack of immediate depth doesn't really matter here because: 1) she manages to be adorable and endearing anyway, and: 2) she's more of a plot device for certain ideas and concepts than anything else. Basically, Amber exists in the story to:

• Demonstrate the pitfalls of cloning and provide a perspective on the value of life,
• Give Mewtwo a glimmer of happiness before it's cruelly taken away from him due to the above,
• Make us all very, very sad, also due to the above.

In the animated prologue, the existence of Ambertwo is much more abstract compared to her radio drama counterpart. Unlike Mewtwo and the clones of Bulbasaur, Squirtle, and Charmander who are also present here, she doesn't even have a body; instead, she's simply a glowing red light in a glass tube; or a holograph, in Dr. Fuji's words. This may reflect the recurring idea of Pokémon being the key to extending life; without it, a holograph is the only way that a human clone can exist, even with the extraordinarily advanced technology available in the Pokémon world.

Meanwhile, things get more interesting in the radio drama. Because there, Ambertwo does have a body, and more critically: she's actually able to speak to her father. This allows us to get a little more insight into her, particularly what she might actually be thinking about this whole cloning business. One of the more notable things that she says to Dr. Fuji is to "not do the impossible" in regards to his efforts to extend her life. That translation could arguably be misunderstood, though, as it doesn't quite capture the full meaning of what Ambertwo is trying to say without a little knowledge of the original Japanese vocabulary. The relevant words here are muri shinai de, an expression that essentially means "don't overdo it" or "don't overexert yourself". So basically, that means that Ambertwo is worried about her father pushing himself too hard for her sake (aww). However, that expression does also mean "don't overdo it" in the context of a difficult or "impossible" task or situation, so it's definitely not an inaccurate translation there; I'd just imagine that most people reading the translated script — as opposed to listening to the actual radio drama as a native Japanese speaker — could interpret "don't do the impossible" as simply: "don't bother trying if you know that it's not going to work" without the "I'm worried about you" context.

Sometimes a picture really does last longer...​

Speaking of worry, Dr. Fuji doesn't seem particularly worried about his daughter's concern for him, instead resolving to continue his research for as long as it takes. And given that human clones only last for four years — and that Dr. Fuji would've had to be working on this cloning project for at least that long in order to figure out that fact in the first place — that may take a very, very long time indeed... and it could have easily been a very, very long time already. How many clones of Amber must have been made over the years, and how many of them must have expressed the same worry for their father before being ignored and eventually dying? And how many more would've been made if the Mewtwo project failed, or if Dr. Fuji's expedition never found that Mew fossil in the first place? Apparently, as much as Dr. Fuji loves his daughter, he doesn't quite love her enough to completely listen to what she's saying to him, or to figure out that being subjected to the same inevitable tragedy over and over again is a pretty sad fate for poor Amber, arguably more so than her original death. "To be born and to live life is a wonderful thing," Dr. Fuji tells Ambertwo. But it is really, if said life is spent permanently in a glass tube, and only for four years? And while also knowing that you're one of many other clones who will almost certainly share the same fate?

Ambertwo's opinion about all of that seems to be somewhat mixed, but it ultimately leans towards the positive. On one hand, she's clearly aware of her status as a clone and what that means for her. She even points out to Mewtwo, in passing, several of the normal childhood things she can't do because she's a clone, such as drink milk or eat cake (because it's hard to drink milk and eat cake in a glass tube filled with water, naturally). But on the other hand, whenever anything bad happens or is mentioned in relation to her status as a clone, Ambertwo appears much more concerned about how all of those things affect those around her more so than they affect herself, not because those things don't affect her in some way, but rather because she's simply being the thoughtful and selfless girl that she is. And when it comes to the idea of living longer, she doesn't actually seem to be particularly interested in that in general, even without putting her concern for her father into consideration. And then there's this line from her:

Right. I don't care if I'm not real or whether I'm Aitwo, Aithree, or Aifour...I mean, we're all here! This is really great!

Yeah. So clearly, while Ambertwo certainly thinks about being a clone a lot, she's nowhere close to as angsty about it as Mewtwo will ultimately be. Instead, she just seems happy to be alive, even if only for a short time and with all of the limitations that come with being a human clone. Actually, not much seems to faze Amber in general when you think about it; even before becoming a clone, she accepts her original death in the radio drama with grace and dignity, even brightening up the situation ever-so-slightly by saying that she'll most likely become a star upon dying. This is all very much in the spirit of shikata ga nai — the expression that she utters in the original Japanese — and very much the opposite of her father's attitude about it all, which in a way ends up defining his character for the rest of the story: he's fighting the inevitable long after Amber herself has moved on, both literally and figuratively.

"It looks like it's almost time to say goodbye."​

But even the surprising emotional strength of a child isn't enough to overcome one inevitable, irrevocable fact about death: that even after all that's been said above, it still sucks... at least for a little while. And young Mewtwo, unfortunately, ends up learning that fact in the most sudden and heart-wrenching way possible, being forced to "say goodbye" to Ambertwo far sooner than either of them would've expected or wanted to.

In her very last moment alive, Ambertwo delivers her rather famous last words to Mewtwo, which, as popularized by the radio drama, are as follows:

Thank you for your tears. But Mewtwo, don't cry. You're going to live. And I'm sure that living is wonderful.

However, that line may have actually been somewhat creatively translated from the original script, which literally says:

……ありがとう。ミュウツーのナミダ……でも、ミュウツー。泣かないで……あなたは、生きるの。生きているって、ね、きっと楽しいことなんだから……
(…… Arigatō. Myuutsū no namida…… demo, myuutsū. Nakanaide…… anata wa, ikiru no. Ikite iru tte, ne, kitto tanoshī kotona ndakara……)

The key word here is tanoshī. Doing some basic research on the word, it's general meaning is "enjoyable", "pleasant", or (perhaps most in the spirit of the word) "fun". It's apparently a word that can be translated somewhat creatively, though; and indeed, I'd imagine that "wonderful" would be far from a terrible choice in context of what Ambertwo is saying. And as it so happens, I actually kind of prefer that word choice, at least in written form. So what's the big deal, then?

Well, it's honestly not really a big deal at all. That said, the word tanoshī — among many other twisted, confused versions of things that Ambertwo says — is repeated in later parts of the radio drama as an ironic echo of sorts, reflecting the not-particularly-fun nature of Mewtwo's life ("If someone asked me if my life is fun...", "I won't cry tears of either sadness nor pain", etc.) As such, I'd argue that the Mondō translation's "living is wonderful" somewhat loses out on fully projecting said echoes in English; oh well.

Meanwhile, arguably the most truly tragic part of this scene is that for all of Ambertwo's innocence and optimism — even in the face of her own demise — this is probably the one point in the movie where it all fails her... or rather, where it fails Mewtwo. You see, if you're watching this knowing how the rest of the movie plays out, then you'll know all too well that Mewtwo's life will be anything but "fun" or "wonderful"; the very nature of Mewtwo's existence tragically ensures that. After all, even considering Dr. Fuji's questionable sanity in his attempts to clone Amber, her clones are ultimately products of love, and love is almost certainly what would've defined the life of Ambertwo, had she survived. But Mewtwo, as nothing more than a product of desire and ambition, will never be given that kind of love itself. Once Ambertwo dies, the closest thing to love that Mewtwo will ever receive dies with her; all that Mewtwo will experience from this point forward is abuse and antagonism at worst (Giovanni) and apathy at best (Mew, at first). And in the middle of those two extremes will be defiance (Ash) and neglect (Dr. Fuji, which won't end very well for him). Unfortunately for Mewtwo, Ambertwo is wrong here... almost. It will obtain some measure of peace and happiness in its life eventually, but it'll find all of that from within, not from someone else (even if certain people's actions will help it get there).



Unfortunately, these tears can't bring anyone back...​

On the subject of music, the first two minutes of Inochi Aru Mono play here. This title is apparently rather difficult to translate, as several very different translations exist for it. Wikipedia translates the title (rather improbably) as "The Meaning of Life"; Bulbapedia and Dogasu translate it as "Thing(s) that Have Life"; PocketMonsters.net translates it as "That which is a Life"; and Toho Kingdom translates it as "All Forms of Life". That said, I'd argue that the most elegant-sounding translation — if not necessarily the most correct one, maybe — comes from PocketMonstersMusic, which translates Inochi Aru Mono as "That Which Has Life".


Because the animated prologue was an extension to the original movie released several months after the latter's initial release, this isn't the first time that Inochi Aru Mono has been used in the movie (and from the viewer's perspective, it won't be the last time that they'll hear it, either). Its original usage was during the scene where all of original and clone Pokémon fight each other, which is also the scene where the movie's overall moral — "all life is equal" — is at its most emphasized. Even the song's audio on the Sound Picture Box CD has one of the movie-characters-of-the-day say something along the lines of: "Whether they're originals or copies, they're both living beings!", driving the point home even further.

Going back to the prologue, it's obvious why the staff would've chosen a song like Inochi Aru Mono for this scene. It's a beautiful song — arguably one of the best songs of the movie's soundtrack, if not the entire anime — and it adds an extra gut-punch to what is already a very emotional scene.

Notably, the radio drama's version of this scene doesn't use Inochi Aru Mono, which is likely related to the radio drama having been released before the movie itself. Instead, it uses Tears, After the Cloudy Weather, the anime's go-to piece for emotional moments. It's indeed an appropriate song for the occasion (especially given the song's title), but having heard it so many times already — including its arguably most iconic appearance in the anime's very first episode — it doesn't quite have the same level of impact as it does the first or even the second time. Either that, or Inochi Aru Mono is simply the stronger composition of the two, although I'm not sure I'd argue that as confidently as the former (which is a simpler explanation, and probably a less controversial one, haha).

In one story: another failure. In the other: just another failure...​

After Ambertwo's death, Mewtwo is understandably very upset. Now, in the movie proper, Mewtwo being upset is typically a harbinger for death and destruction. We don't get to see if young Mewtwo is capable of all of that, though, because the scientists, seeing all of this as more of a harbinger for their project's imminent failure, ultimately give it a tranquilizer to calm it down.

Meanwhile, this sequence would me rather unremarkable for me to mention if it weren't for a rather major dialogue change in the dub version of the animated prologue. You see, in the radio drama, Dr. Fuji mentions, in passing, the possibility of making more clones of Amber while acknowledging the impossibility of doing the same for Mewtwo. And in the original version of the animated prologue, Dr. Fuji doesn't actually say anything about the subject at all. But in the dub version, Dr. Fuji solemnly declares that Amber is now "gone forever", obviously implying that it's actually not possible to make more clones of Amber in the animated prologue's version of the story.

Understandably, many fans have been somewhat skeptical and dismissive of that dialogue change, especially because it flies directly in the face of what the radio drama says. Plus, for all of its changes from the radio drama, nothing in the animated prologue explicitly says that it's impossible to make more clones of Amber there. However, I'd actually argue that the dub might be more correct there than people give it credit for (if only incidentally so). My argument for that? Well, earlier in the animated prologue, Dr. Fuji claims to not only have produced a holograph of Amber, but also to have been able to actually transfer her consciousness to said holograph. This might sound unremarkable at first — it could just simply be a way to refer to cloning, after all — until we get to later in the animated prologue, where Ambertwo shares her memories of "where she was born" with Mewtwo (referred to as her "Remember Place" in the dub version). If Ambertwo were simply a mere clone of the original, then she would have no reason to have these memories; she never actually lived them, after all. And yet, she does have them, whereas her radio drama counterpart never shows us an equivalent to the animated prologue's "Remember Place", nor does she give any suggestion that she remembers anything from either the original Amber's life or the lives of the potentially many clones that came before her (at least one of which has to exist, for the reasons that I mentioned earlier).

All of this suggests, perhaps, that the Ambertwo of the animated prologue might actually be the "real" Amber, restored from her original deceased body with all of her memories intact... somehow, anyway (technology is incredible, indeed). And if that's true, then there's a strong case to be made that when Ambertwo dies in the animated prologue, the "real" Amber — as in her consciousness, her spirit, her soul, or however else one could define someone's "real" self — dies with her, meaning that this time, she really is "gone forever".

That said, in the radio drama, we know that Amber is most certainly not "gone forever", even after basically dying (at least) twice. However, that all also largely depends on your definition of who "Amber" really is, and what "life" and "death" really mean in that context. Right after Ambertwo dies in the radio drama, Dr. Fuji remarks that he'll simply create another clone of Amber, and that he can do so as many times as he wants as long as he has her DNA as a base. Mewtwo, who can hear him, objects to that, saying that there's only one Amber and that you can't just make more of her (although we don't really get to hear much of a response from Dr. Fuji because, per the original script's notes, he can't actually hear Mewtwo himself).

The above, naturally, raises some pretty significant questions about the true nature of cloning, and exactly to what extent someone can be cloned before they cease to become "them". If Mewtwo is correct and there is only one Amber that can't simply be "copied" like a computer file or something in a factory, then that would technically mean that the "real" Amber has actually been "gone forever" for quite some time. And if that's case, then who is Ambertwo in the radio drama, truly? Or for that matter, what would a theoretical Amberthree, Amberfour, and so on "truly" be? Would they all be physical manifestations of a single "true" Amber, or would they all be completely different individuals who just happen to share the same DNA?

Rest up for now, Mewtwo. It's the only rest you'll get for a while...​


Mewtwo remains "asleep" in its glass tube for the remainder of this part of the prologue, having forgotten all about Ambertwo and what happened to her (most likely thanks to whatever was in that tranquilizer). On one hand, this was probably for the best — if only in the short-term — since it's clear that young Mewtwo couldn't cope well with losing its only friend so suddenly and tragically (although as we'll see later, it doesn't cope with anything else that well either). But on the other hand, would the future Mewtwo have done what it did if it remembered the kindness and innocence of a human like Amber? We'll never know for sure, but we do know that it'll take an entire movie's worth of death, destruction, and existential turmoil for Mewtwo to find another human who comes close to her ideal. And one of the first casualties of that struggle will be a certain other tragic figure...

[to be continued...]​

 

[QuietDragon]

I adore Shudo Takeshi's era of Pokemon so much and the Mewtwo film has always captivated me, even when I was a small child not yet into Pokemon, I loved the movie and felt so strongly Mewtwo's pain at being the only one of his kind--even from that early scene of him watching the scientists shake hands, we see his perspective of his own hands, grasping nothing... it might seem like only an expression of anger, but I always saw it as loneliness and desire for others like himself... he's like a Frankenstein's monster, in the book form, tragic and alone.

'Hateful day when I received life! [...] Accursed creator! Why did you form a monster so hideous that even you turned from me in disgust? [...] Satan had his companions, fellow devils, to admire and encourage him, but I am solitary and abhorred.'

He also reminds me of this description of Godzilla:
'Nature has a way sometimes of reminding Man of just how small he is. She occasionally throws up terrible offsprings of our pride and carelessness to remind us of how puny we really are in the face of a tornado, an earthquake, or a Godzilla. The reckless ambitions of Man are often dwarfed by their dangerous consequences. For now, Godzilla - that strangely innocent and tragic monster - has gone to earth. Whether he returns or not, or is never again seen by human eyes, the things he has taught us remain...'

Ai is a sweet little angel (well, she can still be a little girl and laughs at a lady scientist for eating cake because cake is for little kids, in Ai's eyes!) and one of my absolute favourite Pokemon characters. She's warm and maternal and doting, kind and supportive to Mewtwo even as she dies, frustrated with her father putting her through this endless cycle, but still worrying about him and how he keeps pushing himself, like you said... she was so young, I don't think she even knew the cost (do you think she knows who Giovanni is) ... but something that sticks with me, is she heard her parents fight. She heard the breakdown of their marriage... that might have added to the maturity she displays, aside from the fact her soul remembers all of these lives (from her speech and stature, I always imagined her an eight year old, in life, but given she died, then was brought back four years... then died again, and brought back this time, 8, 12, I think she'd be at least 16, since she's died at least twice before! ;_;

I hope you might continue this someday, because it's been a fascinating read!! ;_;

I adore the piece often called Tears After Cloudy Weather. Inori/Prayer also makes me sad. Meeting and a Parting at the end of an episode makes even farewells with one-time characters feel emotional... And that nostalgic little piece that plays when characters reflect on things, like Ai's "Remember Place" memories Unconditional Love also makes me feel emotional... but I'm someone who tears up easily at heartwarming scenes in the anime, so pretty much all of those get me easily. ^o^;; Miyazaki Shinji's score...