Pocket Monsters 01

ポケットモンスター Ep. 01

NOTE! This is a review of the original, unedited Pocket Monster series and NOT that thing known as Pokémon by 4Kids. As such, the original Japanese character names will be used.

SPOILER Summary: Satoshi is a 10-year old boy from Masara Town. He's going to be a Pokémon trainer (Pokémon being short for "Pocket Monster") and tomorrow's a big day when he starts that journey. However, he cannot sleep and so his mother has him watch a training video and promise to go to bed shortly afterward. He dreams of the three beginner Pokémon he can choose from and when morning comes, he accidentally destroys the clock when he throws it, still dreaming of Pokémon.

Because he's late, he races in his pajamas to the place where he'd get his Pokémon. Outside, a crowd, complete with cheerleaders, are cheering for the rich Shigeru. When he sees Satoshi, sarcastically calls him "Satoshi-san," then "Satoshi-kun" as he makes fun of him for being late. When Satoshi calls him "Shigeru," Shigeru demands Satoshi call him "Satoshi-kun" to show some respect and decides that Satoshi will be his rival. He shows off his Monster Ball but won't tell Satoshi which Pokémon he chose as his first. As he drives off, Professor Orchid shows up and Satoshi asks for his Pokémon. Orchid asks why the "boy" (yep, that was the word used in the Japanese) Satoshi is still in his PJ's. Satoshi protests that he's not a boy, but a shounen.

In the lab, Satoshi discovers the thee basic Pokémon have been taken and Orchid only has one more Pokémon left, howbeit a problem one. The Monster Ball emerges and a Pikachu emerges. Satoshi is pleased because it is cute and when he hugs it, it gives him a huge electric shock. Orchid explains that Pikachu Pokémon don't like to be touched or hugged for the most part and hand Satoshi a Pokémon Guide and some Monster Balls. This results in both Satoshi and Orchid getting a jolt.

Outside, Satoshi's mother and neighbors are there to cheer him on and wonder about his Pokémon not being in a Monster Ball. Satoshi tries to get him in the ball but fails and ultimately ends up electrocuting the entire group. So Satoshi wears some rubber gloves and with rope tied around Pikachu, he drags the unwilling Pokémon as they travel. Satoshi soon learns that while most Pokémon have no trouble with a Monster Ball, some do and apparently Pikachu is one of those kind. Satoshi sets Pikachu free and it soon scampers up a nearby tree after Satoshi spots a bird Pokémon.

The guide ID's the Pokémon as Poppon and Satoshi decides to catch it on his own. He uses a Monster Ball and captures it, but it very quickly escapes. The guide explains that Pokémon normally have to be battled with to be captured. So he tries various means to catch Poppon, but fails. He tosses a rock at a bird Pokémon in the distance which turns out not to be a Poppon but a Onisuzume. Those battle not only other Pokémon, but their human trainers. So while Pikachu had found Satoshi's actions funny, Pikachu finds itself under attack and so counters with an electric jolt. The wounded Onisuzume summons a flock of his fellow Onisuzume, forcing Satoshi and Pikachu to flee.

Pikachu gets injured in the fight and so Satoshi takes him and is forced to jump off a waterfall where they fall into the river and are swept downstream. A girl, fishing downstream, catches them and chastizes Satoshi for not caring for his Pokémon. He borrows her bike to take Pikachu to a Pokémon hospital and to flee the Onisuzume. He tries to convince Pikachu to get into the Monster Ball so he can protect it, but instead, Pikachu manages to get off a powerful electric attack just as the Onisuzume arrive, defeating them. That out of the way, Satoshi carries Pikachu to the nearby town for treatment but not before spotting some unidentified Pokémon that flies overhead.

Thoughts: The question one might ask is, "Why would an adult be interested in watching a kids show?" Well for starters, back before I was into anime, I was well aware of Pokémon on TV and even watched a few episodes because I immediately recognized the art style as Japanese. Even before I knew of that "evil" entity known as 4Kids, Pokémon annoyed me somewhat because it was so kiddie and Ash's voice grated on me a bit.

After getting into anime, I became a fan of the seiyuu HAYASHIBARA Megumi. She plays a villain on the series (Jesse in the English) and so I caught an episode to hear her. Then I caught the banned episode that gave kids epilepsy. That would likely have been it, but an opportunity arose to see the first few episodes, so I decided, "What the heck."

As to the episode, yeah, it is kiddie but it made me laugh a couple of times and that surprised me as I don't remember laughing when I saw this in English.

Pocket Monsters 02

ポケットモンスター Ep. 02

SPOILER Summary: With Pokémon kidnappers reported to be in the area, Satoshi's arrival with the injured Pikachu sets off a female police officer's warning bell. She asks for ID, but Satoshi states he doesn't have any, but identifies himself to the officer. When she sees his Pokémon Guide, she shows him that his ID is built into that. With that, she offers to take Satoshi and Pikachu to the hospital in her bike, which they agree to. They are off at turbo speed, leaving a cloud of smoke on the young fishing girl from episode 1, with her damaged and burned bike to chase after them. Meanwhile overhead, a fishing hook takes a wanted poster off the wall to a waiting hot air balloon's occupants.

At the hospital, the nurse chastises Satoshi for making his Pokémon fight a tough battle to end up in its current condition but states that she can heal his Pikachu. The police officer leaves and with Pikachu taken in for treatment, Satoshi is left alone. He calls his mother, who's happy he made it to Tokiwa City in one day but demands that he work hard to become a good Pokémon Trainer like his father and grandfather. After repeatedly reminding him to brush his teeth, she hangs up. Another phone rings and it is Professor Orchid. Satoshi tells him of the unidentified Pokémon he saw, which matches the relief of one on the hospital wall. Orchid doesn't believe him since that's a legendary Pokémon which is extremely rare to be seen.

After his call, the angry girl arrives with her bike and demands some explanation and more from Satoshi. He apologizes, but it isn't enough for her. However, learning that his Pikachu is in treatment, she calms down. The nurse emerges with Pikachu still asleep on a bed and attached to some devices. The Pokémon Center (hospital) is invaded by the man and woman in the wanted poster when they send in their Dogas Pokémon (smoky, rock thing) and Arbo Pokémon (purple rattlesnake thing) to attack. They enter announce that they are Rocket-dan (Team Rocket) with the girl named Musashi and the guy named Kojiro (along with the talking cat Pokémon) and they are looking for rare Pokémon.

After the nurse protests there are no rare Pokémon in the facility, she, Satoshi with Pikachu in the bed, and the girl retreat to a room filled with Monster Balls. Arbo takes out the facilities power, so a large group of Pokémon are used to bring up the emergency power. The nurse contacts the Pokémon Center in Nibi City and begins transferring Monster Balls there. Dogas manages to take out the door leaving Satoshi to try to fight them. Unfortunately, the Monster Balls are either empty or contain very weak Pokémon.

The girl steps forward and introduces herself as Kasumi. She urges Satoshi to flee with Pikachu and brings out her own Monster Ball. However, her Pokémon is the fish Tosakinto, which is useless on land. Now it is time for a retreat with Rocket-dan in pursuit. Pikachu awakens and summons his fellow Pikachu, who pike on top of the wounded Pikachu. Together, they send a large electric shock to Rocket-dan and their Pokémon. Then before they can recover, Satoshi's Pikachu emerges uninjured and Satoshi manages to understand that Pikachu wants him to pedal the damaged bike. He does so and Pikachu sends another powerful bolt at Rocket-dan, destroying the facility and sending them fleeing on their balloon. Musashi and Kojiro wonder how an electric mouse could defeat them unless it was something special.

With that adventure over, Satoshi, Kasumi, and Pikachu head off for anther adventure where Satoshi is going to try to capture Caterpie -- a caterpillar Pokémon.

Thoughts: Ah, Megumi-chan makes her appearance as Musashi. Maybe its just me, but Musashi and Kojiro are more humorous than "Jessie" and "James" were.

Pocket Monsters 03

ポケットモンスター Ep. 03

SPOILER Summary: Satoshi launches his Monster Ball at a Caterpie and because it is a weak Pokémon, he's able to contain it in the Monster Ball without a fight. He's very happy about his first capture but Kasumi isn't so impressed since she can't stand bugs. So Satoshi decides to let Caterpie out of his Monster Ball to ride on his shoulder. However, Caterpie sees Kasumi and decides to give her some lovin'. Naturally this bothers Kasumi a great deal and causes Caterpie to be depressed. Still, after Satoshi leaves with his Pokémon, Kasumi follows, if only to get out of the Tokiwa Forrest.

That night at camp as Kasumi and Satoshi sleep, Pikachu and Caterpie have some sort of Pokémon conversation while gazing at the moon. The next morning, Kasumi awakens to find Caterpie sleeping with her, which causes her to scream. Caterpie decides to retreat to its Monster Ball having been rejected by Kasumi a 2nd time. Satoshi tells the Monster Ball that eventually they'll win Kasumi over before turning his attention over to a nearby Pidgeon Pokémon, which is an upgraded Poppon bird-type Pokémon. He cannot capture it with just the Monster Ball, so Satoshi summons Caterpie. However, Pidgeon easy outmatches Caterpie and Satoshi is forced to recall it and send Pikachu into the fray. Pikachu sends an electric attack which brings down the bird and allows Satoshi to capture it.

As Kasumi chastises Satoshi for being dumb for not knowing Caterpie had no chance against Pidgeon, Rocket-dan arrive with Musashi and Kojiro making their normal introduction and demanding Pikachu since it appears to be a special one. He refuses so they send their Pokémon Arbo and Dogas to battle Pikachu. Kojiro has Dogas send a Sludge attack to put out Pikachu. So Satoshi summons Pidgeon who does OK at first but is soon sent packing. Since his only other Pokémon is Caterpie, Satoshi has no choice but to use it. Initially it seems hopeless but then Caterpie uses a coccon-type attack to put out all of Rocket-dan's Pokémon by wrapping them in thread.

Defeated, Rocket-dan retreats and Satoshi celebrates his victory. Again, he tries to get Kasumi to accept this bug-type Pokémon and pet it but before she can, it begins spewing thread. Satoshi places it on the ground and Caterpie evolves into Trancel, an armored caterpillar. Apparently the Caterpie Pokémon evolves faster than any other type of Pokémon. Satoshi is excited to now have a Trancel now and wonders what the next evolution will be as Trancel observes a butterfly Pokémon.

Thoughts: Silly and certainly kiddie, but I had some fun watching this.

Pocket Monsters 04

ポケットモンスター Ep. 04

SPOILER Summary: Satoshi and Kasumi are still moving through Tokiwa Forest when Satoshi sees a caterpillar-type Pokémon called Beedle. Since Kasumi hates bug-type Pokémon, she clears the area while Satoshi tries to get Pikachu to fight, but Pikachu is in a bed apparently asleep. He summons Pidgeon to weaken Beedle so he can capture it. Kasumi runs into a boy dressed in Samurai attire and speaking in an old dialect used in the Samurai times. He's looking for Pokémon trainers from Masara Town to fight. As such, Kasumi rushes off to warn Satoshi. The Samurai Boy challenges Satoshi just as he's about to capture Beedle, thus allowing the Pokémon to escape.

Satoshi is annoyed at losing his prize and so accepts Samurai Boy's challenge. Samurai Boy summons Kairos (a monster-like Pokémon with horned pincher) and Satoshi re-summons Pidgeon. However, the bird is tired and in the battle, doesn't fare well. So Satoshi recalls him and summons Trancel. Kairos grips Trancel, but Trancel's hardened form damages Kairos' pincher, so Samurai Boy summons his own Trancel. There's not much two Trancel can do to each other since they really can't move (at least, not much). Despite this, neither Samurai Boy or Satoshi give up. However, the "fight" as such is brought to a halt when a swarm of Spear Pokémon arrive (being two-generations evolved from Beedle).

Pikachu jumps in and attacks, but the shock also hits Satoshi. Satoshi cannot recover Trancel since a Spear has grabbed it. Kasumi grabs Satoshi because they need to flee and they follow Samurai Boy. They eventually manage to lose the Spear, only to discover they are near a tree were a large number of Cocoon Pokémon are, which are the evolved state of Beedle just before they turn into Spear. Trancel is under the tree but before Satoshi can do anything, all of the Cocoon evolve and they have to flee again, this time to Samurai Boy's house. There, Satoshi learns that Samurai Boy had been recently defeated by three different Pokémon Trainers from Masara Town and thus his interest in defeating Satoshi.

The following morning, Satoshi sneaks out to where the Cocoon and Spear reside to try to retrieve Trancel. Nyarth, the Rocket-dan cat-like Pokémon that can speak, lands noisily on Satoshi's head. When Satoshi gets annoyed and calls Nyarth "Nyarth," Nyarth swipes him with his claw and demands to be addressed as "Nyarth-sama." Musashi and Kojiro also arrive and start to make their noisy into speech. Satoshi tries to get them to be quiet, but Musashi says they have to say the speech to set the proper mood. Their noise awaken the Spear, who attack. Satoshi manages to dodge the attack, leaving Rocket-dan in their path. They chase Rocket-dan while Satoshi apologizes to Trancel for being careless.

When another Spear comes to attack, Satoshi grabs the Pokémon and flees, but trips and falls. Trancel manages to move and with his hardened form, break the Double Needle attack of Spear, and thus evolve to Butterfree, the final stage for the Caterpie Pokémon. Butterfree uses its Sleep Attack to take out the entire swarm of Spear, Beedle, as well as Rocket-dan. They part company with Samurai Boy and leave Tokiwa Forest to head for Nibi City.

Thoughts: Well, another silly, kiddie, but fun episode. It has only been four episodes and we've been introduced to 16 different Pokémon. Granted a few are evolved forms, but still. Sheeze.

What I want to know is why didn't Satoshi grab a Spear Pokémon when he had a chance (unless he did off camera)?