Striving to Be the Very Best - Pokémon: The Origin Review

In my younger days one franchise dominated everything. This was before I become obsessed with anime, comics, or anything else. When I was younger, everything was about Pokémon. Pokémon was my first video game on my first gaming device ever, my Gameboy Color. Pokémon Red and Pokémon Blue are two of the most legendary games of all time. I will always have fond memories of the obscene amount of hours that I put into that game. However, if there was always one grievance that I could make against Pokémon as a franchise, it was that the TV show didn't exactly match the high standard set by the games. I will always have fond, nostalgic memories of the TV since it was good in other ways, but it never felt true to the games. For one, Ash did not display any of the skill that your character did in the games and despite the show's claims of wanting to be "the very best", Ash still hasn't accomplished his goal of becoming a Pokémon master. Instead the show continues on and is an extremely poor product today which only serves as a platform to market each of the 800+ Pokémon that there is now. However, in October of last year, our prayers for a better Pokémon animated product were answered in the form of Pokémon: The Origin, a 4 episode miniseries that follows the story of the original Gameboy games. As it turns out, it's the Pokémon series that we've always wanted.

For anyone who has played the games before, this story should be pretty familiar. The Origin opens up in the familiar menus that we came to know so well over the years. A new game is selected and we're treated to a familiar scene where Professor Oak introduces us to the world of Pokémon. It should be noted here that this series takes place in the game universe and now the original series universe where Professor Oak bordered on insane doctor at times. We soon meet our protagonist Red, the character who we went on all those adventures while playing the original games. He and his rival Blue are brought to Oak's lab where he asks them to travel around the Kanto region and catch them all. He even gives them a starter Pokémon to boot. Red picks Charmander and Blue picks Squirtle, which is no surprise. After that the episodes play out in the same way that they did in the games. Red collects gym badges, catches new Pokémon, and we can feel the nostalgia coming back to us with every beautiful moment. There's this underlying feeling that this is the way the Pokémon TV series should have been from the start. The four episode run begins to feel like a constraint as many events are quickly run through. The four episodes each have one event to focus on (Red getting his first gym badge, Red in the Pokemon Tower in Lavender Town, Red facing Giovanni, and Red beating the Elite Four). While all of these events are awesome and seeing them play out in animation is even cooler, it just feels like a shame that so many events happen and aren't given their due. Wouldn't it have been awesome to see Red fight each gym leader? Or even one episode where Red just explores Kanto. As awesome as it is to see the memories from my childhood play out on screen I can't help but feel regret that the show didn't seize the opportunity to make even a 12 episode series out of this. That being said, the plot does move along at a good clip and certainly keeps you engaged. It does it's job of telling the whole storyline of the games and even pokes fun at itself in some instances. This is how a Pokémon series should be done. Even though I already knew how it would end, that didn't deter me from enjoying The Origin. In fact, my only grievance with the entire thing is that they included Mega Evolutions in the final episode, a game feature that didn't enter the Pokémon universe until the most recent generation which also came out this past October. When I played as Red that sort of thing didn't exist and doesn't belong in a series that is clearly meant for older Pokémon fans. If that was trying to sell me on Gen 6, it failed, badly.

This is the story of a boy and his Charmander

The question of what kind of character Red would be is a fair one since he was a silent protagonist in the games. I guess the best way to describe his character in The Origin would just be a better versing of Ash. There have been internet memes flying around for years about how much better Red is than Ash even before Red was even given animated form and personality, so he's coming in with an edge. Red represents everything that Pokémon is supposed to be about: fighting with heart, loving and respecting your Pokémon, and actually winning battles. These are all things that Ash, except for the maybe the first one, sort of failed at as a trainer. Red's awesome because he represents us, especially the version of us that was playing the game at the time. Blue, as the rival, is everything that he was in the games: cocky and snarky. It's cool to see him and Red actually interact rather than it just being a one way conversation.

Pokémon: The Origin is clearly meant for those Pokémon fans who played the games and who have been with the franchise for a really long time. It's really cool to see the whole world come alive and not the Kanto that we were shown in the original series. The Origin gives us the Kanto that we walked through and experienced. Even the nurses in the Pokémon Center give Red his Pokémon back with the familiar "Your Pokémon are now fighting fit! We hope to see you again!". Each episode ends with the game being saved, giving us a tally on how many badges and Pokémon Red has collected. It's a nostalgia trip for Pokémon fans and a damn good one at that.

Seeing the events unfold like they did in the games is a real treat for older fans

Being a massive nostalgia trip is no surprise that Nintendo went to great lengths to include all the original music from the games here. Of course it's all been remastered to fit an anime series and sounds phenomenal here. Red enters a Pokémon Center to the same music we heard in the games, battles have the same music, and you can recognize the music in the towns as well. Visually, the games come to life in vibrant colors as The Origin looks wonderful. The designs are clearly taken from the Gen III remakes of the games (FireRed and LeafGreen) and look great repurposed here. The battles look phenomenal as well and special notice should go to the animators for almost lampshading the ridiculousness of some of the locations of the battles that happen in the game (like inside an office building).

Pokémon: The Origin is meant for Pokémon fans who have played the games, it's that simple. Sure, one can enjoy this on the simple merit of it's awesomeness but they should be warned, it's not a superb anime. It's a little too short when it would have been better served extending out at least 5-7 more episodes. However, in the time it has, it turns into a wonderful trip down memory lane for any Pokémon fan. Watching this will make you want to "Catch em All!" all over again.

My Score: 4/5 (but a must watch for Pokémon fans)