Pokemon Anime Review

Quick Review

• Reviewer: Matt
• Review Date: 2000-09-28 (updated 2000-09-28)
• 3.5 stars out of 5 (?)

The kids love Pokemon, but anime fans are pretty evenly spread out on the 'like it, hate it' sides. Some complaints are that it's childish and dumb. Most complaints go to the syndication treatment such as overlays that cover Japanese writing with English writing, censoring ('natch), censoring/omission of religious implications and Japanese culture, and the dubbing. Do I agree with this? In short, no. The story is simple, but there's some continuity and it's still fun and quite imaginative. Many episodes also provide a good message for children. There are a few edits or dialogue alternations to deal with cultural differences or religious things, but enough is left intact that complaints are really nitpicking. The show is not technically impressive, and while the dub starts out rough it gains strength as it goes along and matches up reasonably well with the original voices. On the positive side, most of the background music is left in from the original, and many of the pokemon retain their original "Japanese" nonsense voices.

Pokemon is a great kids' show and a pretty good anime for the anime fan with a kid at heart, and the syndication treatment is awesome to boot.

Read the full-length review...

Full Review

• Reviewer: Matt
• Review Date: 2000-09-28 (updated 2000-09-28)
• 3.5 stars out of 5 (?)

What can I say? Those cute little Pokemon took over Japan and then set their sites on North America. Were they successful? Well, in case you've been living under a rock with your ears plugged, I'll say this. The first line of the second TV opening rings very true to North America: 'We all live in a Pokemon world.'

The kids love it, but anime fans are pretty evenly spread out on the 'like it, hate it' sides. Some complaints are that it's childish and dumb. Most complaints go to the syndication treatment such as overlays that cover Japanese writing with English writing, censoring ('natch), censoring/omission of religious implications and Japanese culture, and the dubbing. Do I agree with this? In short, no. What do I think of Pokemon? I like it. What do I think of the syndication treatment of Pokemon? I am wholeheartedly pleased with it and I support it 100%. I'll explain why throughout.

The main back story is continued throughout the series, but missing a few episodes every now and then probably won't throw you. There is some continuity in Pokemon, but most of the episodes are 90% contained. Lots of them have a basic, but good message for children, most are generally lighthearted and fun and some are important to character and plot development. The main story is a simple but original one. It's not exactly believable, but it's still fun and quite imaginative. One hundred and fifty Pokemon, each with it's own strengths and weaknesses, along with the stories behind some of them are impressive on a whole diversity level. There is a really basic formula to most of the episodes, and it does get very tiring and drags on.

The English adaption has preserved the plot fully, but then again, there isn't anything to really take out. This goes for editing. There is very little, due to a very small amount of objectionable content. I've only been able to spot a few cuts throughout all that I've seen and I've been very surprised with some of the things they've left in. There were some episodes that were taken away from the run, but some of them are making their way back as 'lost episodes'. The most notable one taken out was the infamous seizure episode. I won't describe it, you'll probably find an article that'll explain it a hundred times better then I could, but that is one we probably won't be seeing. Better safe then sorry.

People complain that Japanese and religious elements are taken out of the show. I certainly haven't seen any obvious omissions of these elements. A lot of Japanese culture is in the show from what I've seen (Jessie and James dressing in traditional clothing and white masks while doing their motto, Ash eating a traditional Japanese dinner and having Misty yell at him, etc). There's lots of Japanese culture that most North Americans, children to adults don't get, myself included. The only thing that comes to my mind was Brock referring to his rice balls as donuts. Most people, however, are referring to the overlays. In my opinion, they aren't all that noticeable and are usually used for translation purposes (Gary's writing on the sign saying Ash is a loser, etc). It doesn't really bother me, but I guess it depends on your preference.

Then there's the religious elements.. In all honesty, there probably is some covering up involved, but there's more in here then most syndicated anime. Such as the show with the maiden ghost and the characters sending off the ships with candles in them, or the Clefairy's praying to the Moonstone, etc. I feel people are really nitpicking. For most syndicated shows, they have good reason and I usually join them, but Pokemon is simply not one of them. They should focus on how well it's handled and give praise. Pokemon is a big influence for more anime coming to North America, and the treatment of Pokemon will influence the treatment of future anime.

The characters are all fun. The Pokemon really steal the show however. One Pokemon in particular: Pikachu. I can certainly see why: He's cute, expressive and very human-like. His relationship with Ash is generally well done. The human characters, while not perfect, are fun nonetheless. I'm actually rather impressed with the development of our main hero, Ash. His growth and maturity is very subtle and I didn't realize it until I thought about it. He's come a long way, but still has a ways to go yet. The other main characters are also handled this way to a slightly lesser extent. It's good for children to see characters they may very well idolize grow and mature. But what fun would it be if they didn't have their quirks? Ash can be reckless, Misty can be mean, and Brock has a weakness for pretty girls. And then there's Team Rocket... where can I begin? They make great villains. They're goofy, they screw up all the time, they fight with each other but they're never boring and often amusing. The fact that we see they aren't really all that bad is also good for children.

Technically, Pokemon is not particularly good, but not horribly and glaringly bad. Since this is a kids' show the animation is pretty simple. There may be a scene once in a blue moon where you'll say 'that looked kinda cool'. The Pokemon battles usually range from passable to good, but they sometimes have a very low frame rate and come off looking jerky (not the greatest term, I know). The character designs aren't quite as bad. They're somewhat original here and there. I do wish they were more faithful to the manga, though. The manga has really sharp, original and attractive designs. The Pokemon however, look unique, distinct and interesting.

The next thing to talk about is the dubbing. The dubbing is very good, but not without flaws. Addressing the flaws first, the acting at the beginning of the series was not all that good and the casting and acting on the extras (the people who were around for one show) was poor. However, as the series progressed, the acting kept getting better on the main characters. It's now reached a respectable level. The extras started getting cast a bit better and acted better as well, plus some extras were very good and were right up there with the main characters. But there was that generic voice used for way too many roles. Currently, he voices one of the main characters, Tracy. If you've seen enough of this show you'll know what I'm talking about. Since assuming the role of Tracy, he hasn't voiced anymore extras, thankfully. Pokemon features a lot of recognizable voices, if you're a dub fan and especially if you're a fan of The Slayers (Eric Stuart pulls a double bill as Brock and James and Lisa Ortiz makes an appearance every now and then). The casting started out very good, even if the acting wasn't.

I've downloaded a few three to five minute clips of the Japanese version, which isn't enough to give an opinion on it, but enough to say that the English cast, on the whole, sound a lot like the originals. As the show progressed the cast stayed the same (save for maybe one or two voice changes) though they changed their voices throughout, most notably Ash. The cast now seems to have decided on how they want to voice their character(s) and have stuck with it. In my opinion, they now sound even more like the Japanese cast. In terms of acting, it's not the best dub out there by far, but certainly not the worst, and the casting is right up there. That's just for the human characters.

The Pokemon are dubbed very well, but they feature something that syndicated anime has never done (except for the Dragon Ball Z movies broadcast on the Cartoon Network): Japanese voices. It's true, a large amount of the cast is the original Japanese cast. This is only in the Pokemon, of course. A lot of Pokemon kept their original names and therefore kept their original voices. Other Pokemon who made noises not relevant to their names were kept the same as well. I'm surprised I haven't seen this noted very often.

The most impressive and commendable thing about the dub is the writing. It's wonderful. The dialogue is more faithful to the Japanese version than any syndicated dub to date. Save for maybe one or two times, the writing makes perfect sense with what the characters are doing, what they want to do, or with what's happening in the background. Unlike Dragon Ball Z, we aren't missing much, if anything. Pokemon has been handled well in the translation department.

Now for the music, it remained mostly unchanged. Another element worthy of praise. The theme may be different (it's about as good as the Japanese one) and some songs have been added in, but the BGM is all there. Aside from, again, the broadcast of the Dragon Ball Z movies, syndicated dubs haven't broadcast the original Japanese score for our ears. This really is a treat.

So all in all, Pokemon is a great kids' show and a pretty good anime for the anime fan with a kid at heart and the syndication treatment is awesome to boot.

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