Pokemon Origins- Thoughts

So Pokemon Origins recently came out to America (and I assume everywhere else), I thought there could be a "go to
place to write any reviews.

Now mind you, for my review, I have only seen the first installment of the series (I watched about half of the second and none of the third. I've been CRAZY busy with homework and graduation stuff, but it all end in 2 1/2 weeks. Holler!).

So while I really love the overall idea and concept of the series, I have a few bones to pick. I LOVE how it is adapted and catered to those who started playing in the Red/Blue days. Defiantly makes it feel like Pokemon is reaching back to its former players and fans. However, I feel like Red is a little too naive and just doesn't get it. I pictured Red as an extremely focused individual who strived to be the best. While Red in the series is striving to be the best, it seems like he's learning as he goes…but more of in an annoying way. This is fine and all, but it's just not how I had pictured Red in the beginning.

My second bone to pick is how fast time goes. One minute, he is getting his first Pokemon, and three minutes later, he's been on his journey for five days. I hated from the beginning that it was only a four episode series, and was really hoping it would be an ongoing thing. I would love to see Red encounter all the Zubats in Mt. Moon, or his journey with the grumpy guests on the S.S. Anne. However, these parts are just mentioned and done. By the end of the first episode, we are already to about Lavender Town. It took me days when I was 7 years old playing Red version to get to Lavender Town. Could my anger of it only being a four episode series be swaying this? Probably. I just feel that if Nintendo wants to capture its previous players and fans, hire another team to make this an actual series, not just four episodes.

My final bone has to do with the ending. While I mentioned I only watched the first installment, I'm speaking from what I saw in the trailer. A Mega Charizard. Really? In the Red/Blue days, mega evolutions were only something you saw in Digimon. So why would you add a brand new concept in a series that you're using to bring back your former audience? This is something I knew would irritate me from the beginning, and I figured it was worth mentioning.

As a whole, I like the series, and can't wait for a homework break to catch up with the remaining episodes. I enjoy that it feels like Nintendo and The Pokemon Company is trying to bring back its former players and fans. Honestly, I think a big step in doing this is making a 3DS remake of Red/Blue. A 3D Pokemon game is something we only dreamed of back in '97, and now it can become a reality. However, Nintendo would have to not add the remaining Pokemon later in the game, they would have to keep it strictly to 151 Pokemon. For that reason, I know they won't do it; but hey, just a thought.

I think the biggest issue will definitely be the Charizard Mega Evo. They said it'd be based on the originals games, so, to go down memory lane with this miniseries and have it abruptly interrupted by Mega Evos is definitely strange. Not everyone likes the Mega Evos to begin with, and the series is promoted as kind of a reflection period on where the anime came from, so I think adding the Mega Charizard was a bad idea on many different realms, and just inappropriate. However, I'm sure some loved it. The whole pace of the series was too fast, yes, but once you get over that and take it as more of a brief trip down memory lane, it isn't so bad. And some things were added that weren't in the original games that were cool, too. Remember, Red is the character from the FIRST pokemon games, so yes he failed and learned a lot because he was YOU. When you first played Pokemon, I'll bet you didn't know much of anything at all and screwed up a lot. So maybe that's one way to approach the character in the miniseries. I thought Giovanni's character was amazing. Instead of just, "Oh, you beat me so i will shut down Team Rocket," there was more depth to why he shut them down and it gave greater emotion and purpose. All in all, I think it would have been far better without the Mega. That was a huge blemish and very unsettling imo, but other than that, the speed of the series being just a bit disappointing, it was pretty cool and I've watched it several times, subbed. I applaud the effort.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Psychic Kitteh

Remember, Red is the character from the FIRST pokemon games, so yes he failed and learned a lot because he was YOU. When you first played Pokemon, I'll bet you didn't know much of anything at all and screwed up a lot. So maybe that's one way to approach the character in the miniseries.

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Very true.

I saw all 4 episodes of this series, and I loved them a lot more than the current anime series

This thread is old as derp but I recently rewatched all 4 episodes and man. I love it. At first I was kind of astonished that Red, the character I first met in SoulSilver and had been scared of, was such a noob that he tried to catch a trainer's pokémon. Then I realized what's been said on here already - he's us, playing for the first time. (Though I'm kind of confused as to why it's not common sense even for non-trainers or soon-to-be-trainers to not try to steal pokémon)

I realize that the "..." message is kind of just a joke in the fandom, and yeah Red's a kid and they couldn't really make an interesting series with a character who has only one expression and doesn't speak a word. I was still surprised by how they represented him. I know Pokémon has this thing with heroic characters and is mainly addressed towards kids (At least that's how I view it, fight me over the topic through PM if you absolutely must) so they can't really do a super serious character, but I feel like Red was still a little too chipper maybe?

Outside of character design and presentation, I'm 100% backing up that 4 episodes was just not at all enough time to properly get through all the things that happened on Red's journey. It was really sad to see them just speeding through all the adventures and skipping days. I feel like they could've achieved so much more with ex. 10 episodes.

I wasn't a huge fan of the whole Mega Charizard thing either, but I didn't mind it much. Now I'm just waiting for my next chance to meet Red in game and see his Charizard go Mega! :D