Pikachu in Pictures: A Pokémon Film Diary: Prologue

Last New Year’s Day, I began a weekly project to chronicle the Kingdom Hearts saga. When it ended half a year later, “Dispatch from the Dive” had hit over twenty chapters, thousands of words, and many highs and lows. It was tough, but I’m firmly invested in the idea of an annual weekly series. And after enough rest, it’s time to start another one.

But of what? The easiest thing would be to just do another series—the recommendation I got most was Like a Dragon, and for good reason—but I wasn’t sure. Part of it was concern over mainlining eight sandbox games in a row; after all, I had vastly underestimated the difficulty of Kingdom Hearts. But mostly, I wanted something different, maybe even something that didn’t involve playing a game. It’s what’s made the “Adaptation Fixation” series fun. Relishing my time with Pokémon Scarlet & Violet cemented this. I had to do something with the Pokémon anime.

But that leads to certain issues—namely, that I can’t very well watch the entirety of a twelve hundred-plus episode show. That’s insane. Instead, I’d need a small setlist. It’d have to cover a lot of ground, too, and that’s no less daunting. How do you organize it? By topic? By year? That could be dry. Thankfully, I’ve got twenty-five colorful anchor points: the theatrical films that brought Ash Ketchum and Pikachu to the big screen. They didn’t inform the show (as no anime movie does), but they are indicative of what it is. It’s not a perfect hook; the final four movies are set in a reboot continuity and don’t reflect the anime. But I intend to hold on tightly for our new series, “Pikachu in Pictures.”

Image: SyFy. Pokémon 3: The Movie is the one I’m most looking forward to, but I’m sure I’ll have a lot to say about all of them.

For each of the next twenty-four weeks, I will watch a movie from the Pokémon anime, five episodes that roughly correspond to where the anime was when the movie was made, and write up my thoughts. When I say “roughly correspond,” I mean they mostly first aired between the theatrical release of the film I watched last week and the one I’m watching this week. There are mild exceptions to this—the movies rarely align perfectly to the show’s regular cast changes and individual series, and I’ve shuffled a couple episodes around—but those better reflect the film.

I suspect I’ll have a lot to talk about. There’s how they work as adaptations of this huge and weird video game franchise. There’s how they work as just stories, the tales of this one boy and his pet mouse. There’s also my own genuinely lifelong relationship to this franchise and this TV show, though I’ll try to treat that more as seasoning than the meat of the essays. Pokémon is a fascinating part of the pop culture world. And it’s one I’ve spent a big chunk of my time in, so I’ll always have thoughts on the relationship I have with it.

The episodes were selected in the first week of December. It involved painstaking work as I scoured the internet, news sites, Source Gaming’s Discord, and fan communities like *shudder* Reddit and *shudder shudder* Pokemasters. Along with several recommendations of their own, my colleagues Cart Boy and Hamada have both given this list the seal Spheal of approval. It comprises some of the series’ best, worst, and most imaginative episodes. Some adapt plots from the game; others dive into the original characters. Action, comedy, and drama were all emphasized. I’ll include the next set at the end of each chapter, in case you’d like to watch with me. They’re almost all on Netflix.

To be clear, this is not an attempt on my part to heckle the show, nor to watch its most excruciating episodes as an exercise in self-harm. I’m not doing the one where Ash wears blackface; I’m not doing the one that gave hundreds of kids seizures. Everything on the list got an official localization and dub and is, if bad, at least not so bad that The Pokémon Company International banned or never aired it again (except for one I picked from the spin-off Pokémon Chronicles, but I think they just forgot Chronicles exists). It’s merely a way for me to see what this show is like and why it has endured—at least, beyond the power of the Pokémon brand. It all feels especially apropos with the recent news that after twenty-five years as its lead, Ash will be exiting the show. I didn’t plan for that, but it’s something close to kismet, ain’t it?

Image: Bulbapedia. The downside of my rules will be missing the bonus episodes TPCI didn’t deign worth localizing, like the time two of Ash’s companions hang out without ever knowing their mutual acquaintance.

As with “Dispatch from the Dive” I reserve the right to quit at any time, alter the ground rules, or take time off. But, just in case I want to go further, I also reserve the right to add to my plate. I know I’ll be covering Detective Pikachu (which isn’t part of the anime but is an actually good movie) at some point, and using that week to cover stuff I missed. There are things like that, TV specials, that I could watch for the same purpose if I get so inclined. If there’s an episode you’d like me to cover, please mention it in a comment or reply and I’ll try to include it if I do an extra week.

This week, I’ll be watching the boringly titled Pokémon: The First Movie. Unlike Kingdom Hearts, where I went in sort of blind, this is something I know. I watched the original run of the show when it first aired stateside. While I stopped around the time Ash got his first ignominious defeat in the Pokémon League—which we will cover here—I did eventually see the first eight movies. But other than them and scattered episodes from later years, I’ve gone no further. And whatever I’ve seen was years and years ago. This will be a genuinely new journey as I reconnect with my past, explore the unknown, and get reacquainted with a part of this franchise I love so much.

Well, see you in a week; I hope you’re as excited as I am! Join me if you’d like by watching on your own, or just wait for Chapter 1. Here’s what I’ll be reviewing on Sunday, January 8:

Our next movie: Pokémon: The First Movie – Mewtwo Strikes Back

Our next episodes (using Bulbapedia episode numbers, not their official English ones, but that should still help you find them on streaming services):

EP001: “Pokémon – I Choose You!”
EP011: “Charmander – The Stray Pokémon”
EP014: “Electric Shock Showdown”
EP020: “The Ghost of Maiden’s Peak”
EP043: “The March of the Exeggutor Squad”