The J-Walker wait, but does that make it cannon? i mean,wouldn't the Japanese creators have to say she died? idk if they did or not, and I'm not trying to be a weaboo or some shit, just wondering, lol.
THe JApanese creators don't get much of a say in how the american version of hte show's canon comes out, since we've already completely cut so many things, and censored others in the early years of hte show. IT's essentially similar but separate canons back.
+TheBisness Definitely a movie that I would pay attention to. Seriously, Logan was one of the best X-Men movies, if not one of the best movies of this year so far.
Yozora Mikazuki Plus it feels like "the end" of Wolverine's story,After years of suffering,Loosing Loved Ones,Having to be treated like a Weapon,In the end Wolverine can finaly rest in piece and be with the ones he loved again
I'm kind of surprised that out of all the reviews I've seen online, no one brings up the very last line that the lead scientist says before biting the dust: "We set out to create the world's strongest Pokémon...and we succeeded." To this day I can remember that line. It had such a big impact on me for some reason.
He had a game shark. The dude in the Diamond Pearl anime with the Darkrai and Latios and God knows what else had an Action Replay. Gen 3 and back used a Game Shark, Gen 4 through present uses Action Replay. Either that, or they're separate cheating devices.
For those newbie humans too young to know what "Pikablue" is, take a seat and let old man Gage tell you a story of bravery and mysti- It's Marill. Pikablue is Marill. Before the age of the internet, when all human discovery was at the tips of your keystrokes, Gold and Silver editions released, but not everybody had played the games and knew everything about them. Ergo, Marill's appearance, to those that did not know what the pokemon actually was, caused the assumption/rumor to spread that it was some form of evolution of Pikachu, but blue. Hence "Pikablue".
Damn, I had to give some of my old co-workers on the history on Pikablue. Then to add, I remember hearing about that before the release of Gold and Silver. Its just like the old Sonic and Tails in Smash Bros. Melee.
gagejoseph91 I barely started playing Pokemon yellow this year for the first time ever. i never played growing up. Glad i missed out on the frustration! ✌️
I remember a rumor where you supposedly could find a Togepi in the bushes East from Vermilion. And like everyone else at that age I tried moving the goddamn truck next to S.S. Anne to get a Mew.
"I see now that the circumstances of one's birth are irrelevant. It is what you do with the gift of life that determines who you are." Is THE best part of the entire Pokemon franchise ☺ 💛
The Status Quo? Anime movies are rarely canon to the corresponding TV series anyway, hence the "Non-Canon Movie" trope. Thus, sweeping the plot under the rug even in work's context is indeed unnecessary.
I hate the Status Quo as much as the next person, but I meant specifically movies and TV shows that decide to make the characters forget something happened, making the events we just witnessed virtually pointless.
@@WeirdWonderful Mewtwo did it to try to protect himself and the clone pokemon, it's 'kinds' undone in a follow up special Mewtwo returns, which has Mewtwo and the clones being found by Team Rocket.
It is not Veronica Taylor's fault for that line "they mostly live in Minnesota", it is actually the scriptwriter's fault for making us stupid line to be existed in the first place.
While the movie has a lot of problems, it can honestly be considered much better if you watch it with the short "The uncut story of Mewtwo's origin", in which they show us how Mewtwo was created, and why he is the way he is. Doctor Fuji is a tragic figure - he attempts to clone his deceased daughter in the English Dub, and is nearly driven mad in his attempt to resurrect her. His wife leaves him, and ends up working with Team Rocket on the Mewtwo experiment, using the funding to revive his daughter on the side. The short focuses on a young Mewtwo in a test-tube, and has telepathic interactions with the other clones. It's a highly emotional and cereal experience, and unlike anything you'll find in the anime today. Mewtwo begins his life as curious and naive, very much like the Mew we see in the first film. When the other clones perish in the experiment, we get a taste of the ragging power within Mewtwo, possibly lowered when he was injected with a drug by the team. Without this short, his loathing for humanity and destruction of the scientists that created him makes him feel like a generic villain. But the short in a strange way humanizes him.
The hidden tragedy of the first movie is the dub itself. Takeshi Shudo, the head writer of the first season and first three movies, genuinely wanted this movie to be something kids could enjoy but also something teens and adults could still appreciate. Mewtwo originally was more confused about its existence and place in the world, Mew was actually kind of a dick about the clones being inferior imitations, there was no "I want to destroy the world to rebuild it" or "fighting is bad" tacked on moral. If ever a single Pokemon project deserved a redubbing, it'd be this one.
For the review itself... 1. Ground types are immune to electric attacks. Golem is a Rock and Ground type, so the point still stands, but a trainer cannot afford such folly. 2. The whole "not like this" gets derided a lot, and it is hokey as all get out, but what they MEAN is they should not be fighting to the death. The collapsing is showing them fatigued, fighting well beyond what any good trainer would let them, made all the more punctual with them fighting with physical attacks only-they're too fatigued to use their specials or, in game terms, they're out of PP. (Also, no Linkara going "Not like thiiiis!" ...Aww.) 3. ...Yeah, no arguments here. I never liked Ash. He was a snotty brat since he started his journey and he never truly grows throughout his adventures, despite the self discovery premise. The only thing he discovered was his interest in girls. On that note, why was Misty supposedly so attractive with her hair down but plain when her hair was in a side tail? That also brings up the question of when Jessie-*gets muted*
As much as he was being set up as a straw man, does anyone else think Linkara raised some valid points? Also, something tells me that the majority of this episode was written months ago, given its heavy reliance on Pokémon Go to represent modern Pokémon yet Sun and Moon wasn't mentioned once. Not that I'm saying sage should rush out episodes, I'm sure it takes a lot of work to produce his show. More than anything, this episode should encapsulate sage's own take on himself as a Pokémon fan: someone who loved it as a kid but who lost interest as he got older. Everything he shows and says reflects this.
Looking back on the movie and the prologues that come before the movie proper starts, right off the bat the movie opens with the subject of life, and I consider this a missed opportunity. In the prologue (Narrated by the scientist who told Mewtwo his purpose upon awakening), he mentions another use for the Mew fossil, mainly to help him unlock the secret of life itself. It wasn't until YEARS later that I came across a video that bridges the gap between the time the Mew fossil was found and the time Mewtwo woke up. For those of you in the know, the scientist from before tried to use part of the Mewtwo project to help bring back his daughter Amber. We also see a smaller, if not younger, Mewtwo, who befriends the consciousness of Amber (referred to as Ambertwo). She leaves Mewtwo with the message that life is wonderful (as well as referencing the myth about Pokemon tears), before her consciousness disappears. We also feel sympathy for scientist, who grieves that he will never see her again. This whole backstory, which the movie itself completely leaves out, is what would have given the movie more strength, seeing as the theme that is used here is the value of life. But sadly, the movie never does anything with it and instead goes for a moral that doesn't really make a lot of sense. And although some could argue the point of the Ambertwo subplot in regards to the overall storyline, I think the movie suffered without it. In fact, Mewtwo at the end makes a call back to the gift of life, which would've had a lot more weight if that was the moral the movie was building up to. It was a wasted opportunity, to say the least, but I argue that if the movie was built around the idea that life is sacred, it would have become closer to being a modern classic, both for Pokemon fans and for the audience as a whole.
I know I'll catch a bit of flak for this but the "Pokémon shouldn't fight like this" scene does actually make sense. Pokémon battles are a sport rather than real combat and it's shown many times that if a Pokémon doesn't want to battle it just won't. In that scene they are actually trying to do serious harm to one another. It's like the difference between a boxing match and a knife fight.
Exactly. Pokemon fighting is meant as more of "brotherly" thing eventhough it is glorified cockfighting. The scene even says "not LIKE this". Why is this is so confusing to many.
A lot of people don't seem to get that 1: Pokémon are capable of disobeying their trainers and 2: Pokémon LIKE battling as long as there are rules to protect them.
That series was specifically meant to be more "realistic" than the main series or games and writers always seem to equate realism with darker themes. What I said was in reference to the main series and games only.
I rationalized the "NOT LIKE THIS" fighting scene as normal fights being like boxing matches where nobody went too crazy and held back, while the Mewtwo fight was an actual fight where they were actually trying to really hurt each other.
Nurse Joy: "Pokemon are not meant to fight: not like this." Linkara: "Not like this!" Also does Sage know that 20 years later Ash finally goes to school?
Man I didn´t care for the anime for years, I just played the games, but when the hype around x and y started that Ash might win, I was back, we all know how that turned out. I actually watched a few episodes of the Sun and Moon anime, because of the new animation style, they really did a great job with it, but it just made me mad that DBS still looks like shit 90% of the time, it got better the last dozen or so episodes, but pacing and writing is still a huge issue, something the new Pokemon series also manages to do better.
@@rjd-kh8et and he also replaced the music saying, “We also rescored the entire movie with all new music that would better reflect what American kids would reflect to!”
5:49 "if there were other specimens before him, why isn't he called Mew 23?" Because he was the only clone of MEW. The other specimens were various other pokemon who weren't strong enough to survive.
Makes perfect sense why mewtwo would reach out to nurse joy of all people, she is a clone and he knew that. Can imagine a deleted scene where he takes her away and tries to convince her to help him. Still dumb that the movie has no idea what a clone is, mewtwo is obviously a hybrid. Also loved the reference to akira, thats probably what the moviemakers were thinking of too.
the most jarring part of that last joke (because honestly there are a bunch of titles he could have gone with) was the indication that Escaflowne is a children's show
Tom Tinker it's because pikachu is so insanely OP he shatters all logic.... Or Ash used cheatcodes to 1 hit K.O. all pokemon no matter what... or maybe it was glitched because Donphan is not a gen 1 pokemon, making him a Missingno. instead?
which makes about as much sense as anything. heck, i remember the joke in the first season when james is tested in battle with a rental pikachu and bases his experiences on what to do only to comically fail as they actually decided to put logic in it. XD
It's just anime BSing the heck out of gameplay mechanics for the sake of narrative convenience. Remember this movie was made around the time when the infamous 'Aim for the horn!' was a thing in the anime series.
Mewtwo's plan to end the world is reminding me of Ultimate Magneto's plan in the event comic Ultimatum. For more information check out Linkara's review of it, you won't be disappointed. Edit: Also the part of his plan to replace every Pokemon with clones in his new world because of his belief that clones are better, reminds me of the Jackal's plan in the Clone Saga. Spider-Man would most likely say to Mewtwo, "This is starting to sound like a bad comic book plot!"
I think the original Japanese dub said something like "It's wrong for Pokemon to fight to the death" rather than "fighting is bad, m'kay." But of course, kids movie, can't let the kiddies think death is a thing, so better to change the phrasing and make it incomprehensible and hypocritical rather than poignant.
Point of sad, sad order (in that I find it sad I still remember this): It actually comes up at at least one point that Brock is one of the only people in the entire world to be consistently able to tell Nurse Joys and Officer Jennys apart, both though minor appearance details (apparently), and their unique personality traits. The *only* person in the show who could make that "She looks familiar..." line and have it not seem absolutely moronic is actually Brock.
Hey sage, if you think Dragonite Is hard to explain as an evolution. Ask Darwin how a Remoraid (a fish) evolves into Octilery (a octopus). Cause I would love to hear that explanation.
The little-known direct sequel to this movie, the hour-long Mewtwo Returns special, is actually a lot better than this in my opinion. You should check it out someday.
Ah yes the last video(VHS) I ever brought, from Safeway which closed in my country only a few years later. It even came with 3 episodes from the TV show. Yeah that was really good, and wrapped up everything nicely.
That feeling you get when you've been watching this show since you were a teenager, and only now realize that Bennett The Sage is only 8 years older then you. :P
I know you don't review subbed versions of anime, but I was wondering if you had any thoughts/opinions on the movie's subbed version. I heard that it was more thoughtful/emotional and made more sense than the dubbed.
A couple things 1. Wasn't expecting Linkara in this review, nice touch. 2. The "Vikings in Minnesota" joke I actually got when I was a kid because we lived in MN at the time (glad I don't anymore) and the vikings are my dad's fav team 3. Am I the only person who thinks Pokemon 2000 and Pokemon the 3rd movie are vastly superior to this movie? 4. While I still like Pokemon (mostly the games, the show/movies are complicated), the older I get, the more I really fucking hate Ash.
For #4, I blame the writers more than anything else for flat out refusing to give Ash a win in Pokemon League. Making them close calls aren't really cutting it these days. And no, Orange Islands and Battle Frontier don't count as they aren't Pokemon League.
I absolutely despise Ash as a character. Or rather, because he doesn't have a character. Beyond "never give up!" and "friendship!" or "teamwork!" he really has no character, or at least didn't up through Diamond/Pearl (which is where I got fed up with him)
While you're correct Golem should have been immune to the Lightning attack, it's not because he's part Rock. It's because he's part Ground. Rock isn't inherently resistant to Lightning itself. Also, was that guy who challenged him part of Team Magma?
Mewtwo's birth gets weirder in the manga pokemon special In that he is an enhanced Human/mew/something else hybrid created by cinnabar island gymleader blaine who works for team rocket in that continuity, mewtwo has his dna... brings up some pretty disturbing questions....
@@simonkrayt1970 Well, Pokemon Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum all have a sequence in a library near the Steel Type Gym that talks about how there used to be no difference between human and pokemon and they even lived and married one another.
7:55 - Actually he built a name for himself for having lived countless adventures so far in the anime, not only fighting other trainers, but also solving real problems and situations from real people in the anime with or against Pokémon at times!...
this whole time i was thinking watch the japanese version it's much better, stupid but still a better script than the dub and fixes a lot of the problems the dub had
It's funny, really. Brock can actually tell each individual Nurse Joy and Officer Jenny apart, he could tell you what town they're from by looking at them. If he's met them, anyway, I remember it being mentioned in an episode at least once, where they're all confused at how he can tell them apart, then he goes on a rant about the 'obvious' differences between them, all of which he of course adores.
Wait, you show the "Not like this" line in your review, you have Linkara *guest-starring* in the review and you don't do the thing from that other thing? Shameful display.
good to know that i still remain the only human alive who will defend this movie's massage... people love to point out the hypocrasy in such a thing, but what they fail to understand from "Pokemon aren't meant to fight, not like this," is the keyphrase, *"Not Like This."* for humans and Pokemon, battles are just fun, friendly competition. sure, there are some who exploit Pokemon for their own gains, but those people tend to be classified as 'villains' in the narrative. ultimately Pokemon Battles are just friendly competition, that both humans and pokemon alike normally enjoy. But the thing is, Mewtwo did not want a Pokemon Battle, he wanted a Fight to the Death! an *_ACTUAL FIGHT to the LITERAL DEATH!!_* no "fight till you faint," he wanted them all to fight till they succumbed to genuine injury and actually For-Real, No-Pokemon-Center-can-fix-that *_DIED!!_* in case you forgot, he even used his powers to dampen the Pokemon's normal moves since he knew that pussy shit wouldn't do the deed of Actual Murder! (Pokemon moves can't be _that_ intense, otherwise Ash would be in the Hospital for the rest of his frigging life from all the times he was shocked and set on fire by Pikachu and Charizard alone!) Mewtwo's little Clone War was legit Bloodsport, something that contrary to popular belief, *_isn't AT ALL what Pokemon Battling is all about!!_*
You hit the nail on the head. It's a good message, but it was rather sloppily done for the dub, sadly. Might've been a bit too subtle for people to catch on, though.
Robbie Norris Dude, no one criticizes the massage. Those are wonderful. The message about fighting is just useless in Pokemon and gets across nothing given that it's a franchise about pitting the pocket monsters against each other in fights until one is unconscious.
Except it's not cockfighting. Cockfighting is the process of taking two roosters, who are naturally aggressive towards each other, are let loose at each other until one of them is either critically injured or killed. In Pokemon battles, trainers command their Pokemon in order to strategically attack their opponent until one of them is simply knocked out, and there's a level of care and understanding there, as well as the fact that after the battles, trainers heal their Pokemon. In the end, what Mewtwo made the Pokemon and clones do was a lot more like cockfighting than normal Pokemon battles. The difference is that one is a competition, and the other is a bloodsport
To be fair about the whole Dragonite evolutionary line thing...Gatomon's evolutionary line over in Digimon is completely nonsensical. She starts off as a Puppy digimon, then evolves into a cat, then an angel, then a fucking dragon. Admittedly, From Gatomon on she's considered a holy beast, but still. At least Dragonite is a dragon from beginning to end. Also, this has always bugged me: Why is Mewtwo the only psychic pokemon who can talk using telepathy? I get that he's supposed to be the most powerful Pokemon in the world, but Mew is just as strong so why can't he telepathically speak to people too?
Except he's very clearly intelligent. Not only does it just stand to reason that a PSYCHIC Pokemon would have a high Intelligence modifier, but a scene Bennett didn't show was Mew giving a speech to Mewtwo that Meowth translated to Jessie and James (And by proxy the audience) that was apparently pretty insightful. So yea, that ain't it. It was just another example of the writers not really thinking about important story elements.
I’m with sage, instead of a being a charizard clone dratini should become a large eastern dragon type with wings maybe, like that legendary green one but obviously less power
Finally, your going to review Escaflowne!!! Well, the movie anyway. While I'm sure we all agree the movie was a major disappointment, all I can ask is that you take a moment to also mention original series as well. Looking forward to that review.
"I get they're trying to make Mew cute and innocent..." Well, actually in the Subbed version, Mew straight up tells Mewtwo that he's "An abomination who should have never been born." And also that "It is his duty to destroy him." So yeah, Mew is pro-not-your-choice apparently.
WELL AAAAAAACTUALLY, that isn't true at all. Just a common myth. What Japanese Mew really said was just that he and the originals will prove that they're much stronger than their copies because they're the real ones, regardless of the fact that their clones are enhanced.
Given that it isn't exactly easily accessible due to a lack of an official English subtitled release, it's probably more due to poorly translated fansubs that led to this common misconception about Mew being so sort of racist (a clonesist?). But it's really just a matter of one side trying to prove their self-worth over the other, with both sides failing to understand that they're all living beings and don't need to prove which one is stronger and "more real" at the cost of their own lives.
Wrath's Turntable Time Machine Rocksmash Attack (AKA The Mysterious Reuploader, Ace-edo Mask!) Unfortunately that's not true. Golem has always been a rock/ground type. Which is why electric type attacks don't work on him or any of his evolutions in Red, Blue, and Yellow.
9:07 Golem part Rock, Part Ground. Rock is Resistant to Electricity whilst Ground insulates (or is immune from) Electricity. And yet Satoshi's Pikachu won't a"bide" by the chains of elemental types.
I will admit Iam part of the problem. I awwed at the mew windmill right before that joke was made. There's just some things that tug your heartstrings in a way that makes it hard to detatch those feelings formed as a child. For me its that adorable meow of mew.
Great to see you back Sage! And yeah, as an adult I can see Pokemon the first movie as a dumb movie but I will admit that this does have a very special place in my heart. My dad took me to see the first movie in theaters when it first came out here and I remember the theater being full of kids and me being excited to see the first Pokemon movie with my dad since he and I would collect the figures and cards and watch the anime all while my parents were going through a divorce. But yet, this and my dad taking me to go see movies(ex: Iron Giant, Toy Story 2, etc.) helped me not fear of losing my dad and he and I still share that bond and even now as an adult, I can still enjoy yes a stupid movie but have good memories too(also, the whole "Pokemon shouldn't fight" moral wasn't even the original Japanese dub, then again this is a 4Kids dub)
I lost it when you played the sad string music to the opening battle. Machoke dying to bubbles. His trainer screaming no. Honest to god, tears are falling.
ah Pokemon, probably the first anime I ever watched as a kid, even got to meet Veronica Taylor, the original Ash recently, and I still enjoy it to an extent.....Pity the anime has become repetitive poorly written crap. Also Sage Review Great Teacher Onizuka please.
Sorry Kinda of Botched....no, Ash loosing to Tobias was a botched ending, Ash losing to Cameron was a botched ending ....Ash losing to Alain in the Kalos league was a straight up fifty story neon MIDDLE FINGER, FUCK YOU to the fans. Probably the most poorly written and obvious showing of "Status Quo is God" I've seen in a while.
***** Pretty sure Critic talked about the other gen 1 one. TFS did a digimon movie abridged for the one with Omnimon as 2016's April Fools joke though.
To be fair, saying Ash is a terrible trainer for not winning any Pokemon League is like saying that a person who never won a national competitions (but won regional) is a terrible athlete.
If it makes a difference, this movie loses a lot in the translation to the English dub. They basically missed the whole point of the movie, which was about the validity of clones as their own separate life instead of just "copies" and Mewtwo's inferiority complex, NOT about "violence is bad". Yes, believe it or not, there was nuance in the Japanese version of this. A Pokemon movie. Also, the Japanese OST was better. Escaflowne? Awesome, I reviewed that some time back. Too bad you're reviewing the movie.
Oh, I believe they absolutely simplified the message of the movie, removing what little nuance it had so it would be more palatable to overprotective parents seeing it with their children.
I disagree on the OST being better. Not that the original is dramatically inferior or anything (and if I were to compare leitmotifs alone, I tend to favour the JPN version of Mewtwo's one). It just stumbles due to some cues being standard rearrangements of show material, and its themes not getting as much thematic development as the dub version's themes. Compare Tears of Life with Miracle Tears, with the former cleverly interweaving multiple motifs heard early on for a big climactic piece, whereas the latter just plays with the original Mew and the Satoshi/Trainer themes a little but is mostly an incidental piece. With that said, that's merely a comparison of their quality. From a moral standpoint, like with any anime replacement score, its existence wasn't necessary and was just there so 4kids could cash in on royalties with their own music. Even though it's well made (probably one of the very few replacement OSTs where I can say that), it doesn't really justify the change.
Indeed the english dumbed down the story to the point of breaking the original intent. Another point is Mewtwo's rage is because of his first and only friend dying in front of him (in the deleted extended opening) and the scientists wiping his memory of the event but failing to wipe the feeling of loss and hurt he had, him not being able to remember why made him that much more dangerous.
The bizarre thing about that deleted scene (which originated from the Perfect/Kanzenban edition of the movie) is that it was apparently KidsWB that removed it at the last minute, not 4kids writing it out or anything. Not hard to believe, since Mewtwo still says "This is not the same. Was everything before just a dream?" after waking up, obviously referencing the missing scenes. Japan got a bilingual release of the film in 2000 as well, and it contains the whole segment already dubbed long before the west saw in as an extra in that Mewtwo Returns DVD. I find it stupid how the Blu-ray release leaves it out. Now that KidsWB isn't on any company's asses, it should be perfectly fine to reinsert it into the movie.
What they mean by the line "Pokemon aren't meant to fight not like this" is that in the big battle Pokemon were literally fighting to the death which Pokemon aren't supposed to do.
I find peoples' childhood experiences with Pokémon fascinating. I started with the original games, but I was 17 at the time. Despite how into the franchise I am, my time with it during its beginning doesn't sit among my formative memories. And the people I played it with were mostly around my age. It's seeing stuff like this that reminds me "Oh yeah, kids liked this back then, and now they're adults."
Why do some people hate the 4kids dub of the movie to their very core? The English dub Soundtrack is better than the Japanese Soundtrack and the dub voices are awesome!
This review made me a little nostalgic, and I would like to share a story. It's not particularly exciting or really connected to the review, but the mood struck me, so I hope you'll forgive me. When I was 11 years old, I was already in full swing of Pokémon fever and had already beaten the first three games and collected most of the cards (back when there was only the Basic and newly released Jungle set). However, I was still missing a few, and to help me fill out my collection alongside booster packs, my parents took me out to places like garage sales, flea markets, and lawnside sellers to find these specific cards as well as doubles for me to use in combat. (I never played with my collection, only with 'doubles'.) On one seemingly ordinary day in September, my parents were going to a flea market, and they brought me along with them. I found a few Super Nintendo games people were practically throwing away, so it was worth the gamble of them working or not, and when I rounded the bend, that's when I saw it-the largest display of individual cards I had ever seen. There were five white cardboard bins as long as my arm and nearly as wide, filled close to the brim with Pokémon cards, and each and every one had a plastic sleeve. 11 year old me had just found the greatest place on Earth. As I was digging through the bin, I heard my mom come up behind me and ask "Is there any particular card you're looking for? I'll help you look." (Yes, she is awesome, thank you.) I said "Poliwhirl, Basic set." Out of nowhere, a girl about my age walks over to me, hands me a Poliwhirl with a smile, and then jogs back to her parents and out of the flea market. Besides yelling out a 'Thank you' to her, that was the end of the meeting, but I felt so taken aback by that random encounter that it opened my eyes to what a community Pokémon really is and how great its power is to connect people. To this day, I hold that card dear alongside my rarest cards, and it never fails to inspire me and keep me from being consumed by cynicism or despair whenever I look at it.
I'm the same age as Sage and was a Pokemon FANATIC from 1997 until about 2004. Then I took a little hiatus and came back to it around 2010 and have been there since. I saw this movie in theaters and loved it and...I was honestly terrified that Sage would rip it a new one like the Nostalgia Critic did. Thank god I was wrong. I find out that Sage is also a huge Pokemon nerd and I get a very objective review of a movie that...frankly I have been kind of viewing through tinted glasses all these years. Nostalgia is an amazing thing really. And yes my favorite scene in the movie was also probably Ash's death. And no Sage Ash has not won a single league since the Orange Islands...well unless you count the Battle Frontier but...no not going to. Nice review.
i know this is nostalgic for many of us, but GOD was this such a shit dub. i will say. the main games are still awesome. even if pokemon go is really overrated. i've been playing since gen 3 (though i watched the anime for far longer) the main series of games are great. you should totally get back into em sage. also. ashes only other major victory was winning the battle frontier in kanto. aside from that and the orange league, ash is just as much of a scrub as the day he left pallet. also the "other specimen" dr fuji was referring to weren't other clones of mew, but clones of bulbasaur, charmander, squirtle, and secretly his own (deceased) daughter amber, which was the whole reason he wanted to do this. mewtwo is the only clone of mew, hence, mewtwo.
Pokémon Go is enjoyable if you see it as a monument to human insanity. It's full of tiny little tidbits that just don't make sense. Like the fact that the combat system is completely different, but the stats are the one from the original games. But yet the way they are converted from Game Boy to Go randomly turns strong Pokémons into crap and viceversa, without logic. Or the fact that for some reasons female avatars are 20-something and male avatars are 15 Or the fact that every pokémon actually looks like a creepy balloon
Oh, and also... the deadliest juggernaut of doom in the game is Blissey. Yeah you heard me right. A Blissey defending a gym. Simply because that thing is so dam tanky it's incredibly hard to kill it in 90 s.
Honestly I think the whole thing about violence being good or bad is context. Think of it this way: We cheer as we watch two men in an arena punch each other senseless, but condemn the same thing if it happens in the street. People like to compare Pokemon to dog fighting, but I've always compared it more to boxing. It's made pretty clear that Pokemon are at least moderately intelligent, so it makes more sense to me that the relationship between Pokemon and trainers is more of a kid-friendly Mick and Rocky.
He's a Pokémon master There has to be a twist A Pokémon master got a supple wrist I got nothing other than kudos to Sage for the Pinball Wizard reference.
So, I know this will probably get buried within all the other comments. but, I wanted to share a little story and end it on a request. Years ago, i was in one hell of a bad head space, I had depression, I never got it diagnosed, but to be honest, I think everyone kind of knew it already. For months I felt like shit, I walked like an apathetic zombie through life, I couldn't motivate myself to do anything, and i just wanted to go to sleep again the moment I woke up. Then, I discovered three things, Sage, hajime no ippo, and rune soldier. I watched all three alot, they gave me something to look forward to at the end of the day, I'm not sure why I attached so strongly to these shows and yourself, but, even now, I still love all three passionately. So much so that I attribute them to my recovery, among a few other factors. In the end, I just wanted to say thank you Sage, for giving me years of entertainment, and for dragging me out of that hell hole. I also wanted to ask if it were possible for you to review either rune soldier, or hajime no ippo. They are a little bit better than your average anime, and seeing you enjoy watching a series is just as entertaining as watching it myself. Or if you shit all over both of them, I can laugh along with you on that to, because, regardless of what you've had to say on other titles, its always been a worth while watch, your one of the people who basically formed how i view things critically after all.
While I can absolutely get behind the nostalgia for the shows, I can't say I know anyone that actually misses 4Kids considering how they gutted and sanitized anything they didn't deem "kid friendly." Like the jelly-filled donuts in Pokemon.
I was nine when this movie came out, and I got the Sondheim reference at the time. Which is not to say I thought it was funny, but I got it. What can I say, I was a weird kid.
Funny thing is that early on in the anime after Ash lost to Brock, Ask hooked up Pikachu to a watermill to supercharge it so it can hurt ground types with electric moves, and it worked. So you can imagine that this really useful thing that only that Pikachu could do would be immediately forgotten and never mentioned again.
Funny thing... in the American directors' commentary, they acknowledge that Fearow girl never shows up again and decide that she does in fact die.
The J-Walker
Ha, that was funny in hindsight.
The J-Walker wait, but does that make it cannon? i mean,wouldn't the Japanese creators have to say she died? idk if they did or not, and I'm not trying to be a weaboo or some shit, just wondering, lol.
THe JApanese creators don't get much of a say in how the american version of hte show's canon comes out, since we've already completely cut so many things, and censored others in the early years of hte show. IT's essentially similar but separate canons back.
hmm, ok. that makes sense I guess.
The J-Walker Who's the Fearow girl?
Im not gonna lie, I got chills from what Mewtwo said at the end. That quote truly deserves a better movie.
Sage: "That quote needs to be in a better movie"
It was basically put into one line towards the end of LOGAN.
Mission accomplished!
I meant the "You don't have to be what they made you" line.
It got me good lol
+TheBisness Definitely a movie that I would pay attention to.
Seriously, Logan was one of the best X-Men movies, if not one of the best movies of this year so far.
Yozora Mikazuki Plus it feels like "the end" of Wolverine's story,After years of suffering,Loosing Loved Ones,Having to be treated like a Weapon,In the end Wolverine can finaly rest in piece and be with the ones he loved again
I'm kind of surprised that out of all the reviews I've seen online, no one brings up the very last line that the lead scientist says before biting the dust:
"We set out to create the world's strongest Pokémon...and we succeeded."
To this day I can remember that line. It had such a big impact on me for some reason.
They lost because Mewtwo had an action replay.
He had a game shark. The dude in the Diamond Pearl anime with the Darkrai and Latios and God knows what else had an Action Replay.
Gen 3 and back used a Game Shark, Gen 4 through present uses Action Replay. Either that, or they're separate cheating devices.
QuigoneQuin
So that's why he was permabanned.
Hunter Wilson that dude with the legendaries was the reason i stopped caring about the anime. that shit got me so angry
Hidden Masquerade
He's the only one, don't worry.
For those newbie humans too young to know what "Pikablue" is, take a seat and let old man Gage tell you a story of bravery and mysti- It's Marill. Pikablue is Marill. Before the age of the internet, when all human discovery was at the tips of your keystrokes, Gold and Silver editions released, but not everybody had played the games and knew everything about them. Ergo, Marill's appearance, to those that did not know what the pokemon actually was, caused the assumption/rumor to spread that it was some form of evolution of Pikachu, but blue. Hence "Pikablue".
I have an old Topps card where they actually say 'Pikablue' due to Marill not being known yet. Even official English merchandise fell for it.
Damn, I had to give some of my old co-workers on the history on Pikablue. Then to add, I remember hearing about that before the release of Gold and Silver. Its just like the old Sonic and Tails in Smash Bros. Melee.
gagejoseph91
A valuable asset
gagejoseph91 I barely started playing Pokemon yellow this year for the first time ever. i never played growing up. Glad i missed out on the frustration! ✌️
I remember a rumor where you supposedly could find a Togepi in the bushes East from Vermilion. And like everyone else at that age I tried moving the goddamn truck next to S.S. Anne to get a Mew.
"I see now that the circumstances of one's birth are irrelevant. It is what you do with the gift of life that determines who you are." Is THE best part of the entire Pokemon franchise ☺ 💛
I seriously hate when a movie makes the characters forget everything that happened in the movie.
Why was it even necessary to do that ?
The Status Quo?
Anime movies are rarely canon to the corresponding TV series anyway, hence the "Non-Canon Movie" trope.
Thus, sweeping the plot under the rug even in work's context is indeed unnecessary.
I hate the Status Quo as much as the next person, but I meant specifically movies and TV shows that decide to make the characters forget something happened, making the events we just witnessed virtually pointless.
@@WeirdWonderful Mewtwo did it to try to protect himself and the clone pokemon, it's 'kinds' undone in a follow up special Mewtwo returns, which has Mewtwo and the clones being found by Team Rocket.
It is not Veronica Taylor's fault for that line "they mostly live in Minnesota", it is actually the scriptwriter's fault for making us stupid line to be existed in the first place.
While the movie has a lot of problems, it can honestly be considered much better if you watch it with the short "The uncut story of Mewtwo's origin", in which they show us how Mewtwo was created, and why he is the way he is.
Doctor Fuji is a tragic figure - he attempts to clone his deceased daughter in the English Dub, and is nearly driven mad in his attempt to resurrect her. His wife leaves him, and ends up working with Team Rocket on the Mewtwo experiment, using the funding to revive his daughter on the side.
The short focuses on a young Mewtwo in a test-tube, and has telepathic interactions with the other clones.
It's a highly emotional and cereal experience, and unlike anything you'll find in the anime today.
Mewtwo begins his life as curious and naive, very much like the Mew we see in the first film. When the other clones perish in the experiment, we get a taste of the ragging power within Mewtwo, possibly lowered when he was injected with a drug by the team.
Without this short, his loathing for humanity and destruction of the scientists that created him makes him feel like a generic villain. But the short in a strange way humanizes him.
Too bad they had to screw him up. Twice.
You talking about the Genesect film?
The hidden tragedy of the first movie is the dub itself. Takeshi Shudo, the head writer of the first season and first three movies, genuinely wanted this movie to be something kids could enjoy but also something teens and adults could still appreciate. Mewtwo originally was more confused about its existence and place in the world, Mew was actually kind of a dick about the clones being inferior imitations, there was no "I want to destroy the world to rebuild it" or "fighting is bad" tacked on moral. If ever a single Pokemon project deserved a redubbing, it'd be this one.
But executive meddling prevented that.
For the review itself...
1. Ground types are immune to electric attacks. Golem is a Rock and Ground type, so the point still stands, but a trainer cannot afford such folly.
2. The whole "not like this" gets derided a lot, and it is hokey as all get out, but what they MEAN is they should not be fighting to the death. The collapsing is showing them fatigued, fighting well beyond what any good trainer would let them, made all the more punctual with them fighting with physical attacks only-they're too fatigued to use their specials or, in game terms, they're out of PP. (Also, no Linkara going "Not like thiiiis!" ...Aww.)
3. ...Yeah, no arguments here. I never liked Ash. He was a snotty brat since he started his journey and he never truly grows throughout his adventures, despite the self discovery premise. The only thing he discovered was his interest in girls. On that note, why was Misty supposedly so attractive with her hair down but plain when her hair was in a side tail? That also brings up the question of when Jessie-*gets muted*
Oh but sage, you forgot the most fantasy move in pokemon: Guillotine.
I know it hasn't aged gracefully, but this movie is a HUGE Nostalgia trip!! I love this movie!! Flaws and all!!
I think Sage agrees
As much as he was being set up as a straw man, does anyone else think Linkara raised some valid points? Also, something tells me that the majority of this episode was written months ago, given its heavy reliance on Pokémon Go to represent modern Pokémon yet Sun and Moon wasn't mentioned once. Not that I'm saying sage should rush out episodes, I'm sure it takes a lot of work to produce his show. More than anything, this episode should encapsulate sage's own take on himself as a Pokémon fan: someone who loved it as a kid but who lost interest as he got older. Everything he shows and says reflects this.
Evan Clark good point
Looking back on the movie and the prologues that come before the movie proper starts, right off the bat the movie opens with the subject of life, and I consider this a missed opportunity. In the prologue (Narrated by the scientist who told Mewtwo his purpose upon awakening), he mentions another use for the Mew fossil, mainly to help him unlock the secret of life itself. It wasn't until YEARS later that I came across a video that bridges the gap between the time the Mew fossil was found and the time Mewtwo woke up. For those of you in the know, the scientist from before tried to use part of the Mewtwo project to help bring back his daughter Amber. We also see a smaller, if not younger, Mewtwo, who befriends the consciousness of Amber (referred to as Ambertwo). She leaves Mewtwo with the message that life is wonderful (as well as referencing the myth about Pokemon tears), before her consciousness disappears. We also feel sympathy for scientist, who grieves that he will never see her again. This whole backstory, which the movie itself completely leaves out, is what would have given the movie more strength, seeing as the theme that is used here is the value of life. But sadly, the movie never does anything with it and instead goes for a moral that doesn't really make a lot of sense. And although some could argue the point of the Ambertwo subplot in regards to the overall storyline, I think the movie suffered without it. In fact, Mewtwo at the end makes a call back to the gift of life, which would've had a lot more weight if that was the moral the movie was building up to. It was a wasted opportunity, to say the least, but I argue that if the movie was built around the idea that life is sacred, it would have become closer to being a modern classic, both for Pokemon fans and for the audience as a whole.
2:34-3:30
He's a Pokemon wizard
There has to be a twist.
A Pokemon wizard's got such a supple wrist.
I know I'll catch a bit of flak for this but the "Pokémon shouldn't fight like this" scene does actually make sense. Pokémon battles are a sport rather than real combat and it's shown many times that if a Pokémon doesn't want to battle it just won't. In that scene they are actually trying to do serious harm to one another. It's like the difference between a boxing match and a knife fight.
Banchoking nope
Exactly. Pokemon fighting is meant as more of "brotherly" thing eventhough it is glorified cockfighting. The scene even says "not LIKE this". Why is this is so confusing to many.
A lot of people don't seem to get that 1: Pokémon are capable of disobeying their trainers and 2: Pokémon LIKE battling as long as there are rules to protect them.
tell that to get Charmander in that pokemon red miniseries
That series was specifically meant to be more "realistic" than the main series or games and writers always seem to equate realism with darker themes. What I said was in reference to the main series and games only.
I rationalized the "NOT LIKE THIS" fighting scene as normal fights being like boxing matches where nobody went too crazy and held back, while the Mewtwo fight was an actual fight where they were actually trying to really hurt each other.
Same here. I recall something in the Pokémon fiction stating that Pokémon view battles like playing.
Man having Linkara in this feels me with massive sadness, cause all I'm remembering is Jewario I miss you bro!
ToastierCarp Hey, Linkara's not THAT bad.
*reads rest of comment*
Oh, THAT's what you meant.
That misdirect at the end was perfect
Yeah, about that.....
Have you not heard of JW’s sins? But I guess being a fan of someone like him or spoony it’s okay to overlook them if you’re just a fan
Nurse Joy: "Pokemon are not meant to fight: not like this."
Linkara: "Not like this!"
Also does Sage know that 20 years later Ash finally goes to school?
He's won the battle frontier
and boy were people mad when he lost x and y leauge
like really pissed
People were also upset how he lost in Diamond and Pearl.
And rightly so. I mean, at some point it stops being about self improvements if Ash does not improve.
AussieDragoon o lord i hate how he lose in dp stupid op trainer
+kevin Fuck Tobias
Man I didn´t care for the anime for years, I just played the games, but when the hype around x and y started that Ash might win, I was back, we all know how that turned out. I actually watched a few episodes of the Sun and Moon anime, because of the new animation style, they really did a great job with it, but it just made me mad that DBS still looks like shit 90% of the time, it got better the last dozen or so episodes, but pacing and writing is still a huge issue, something the new Pokemon series also manages to do better.
Basically Sage, blame the writers.
Mostly blame Norman Grossfeld, who thought American kids couldn't understand the slightest moral ambiguity.
@@rjd-kh8et and he also replaced the music saying, “We also rescored the entire movie with all new music that would better reflect what American kids would reflect to!”
Me: I love Pokémon!
*Sees Sage's Video*
*Eager to see the awaiting evisceration*
yup
25:09 Difference is, Those Pokémon had a choice and now they're being forced to. Huge difference. Come on Sage, you have so much else to rip apart.
He's just pointing out how tone-deaf it is for something that's all about fighting to have a "violence is bad" moral.
It's like Superman At Earth's End: You can't have a moral that's undercut by the story you just told.
omg you made me google evisceration.... puke imminent
God, the first thing that I thought of when I saw the title was the late great JewWario. That video he did with Lewis and Suede is still brilliant.
5:49 "if there were other specimens before him, why isn't he called Mew 23?"
Because he was the only clone of MEW.
The other specimens were various other pokemon who weren't strong enough to survive.
Wow, 3 years later and I finally get some responses...and they're bot scams.
What I would like to know is: when, in the time frame of then and know, did Mewtwo learn to self Mega Evolve?
Makes perfect sense why mewtwo would reach out to nurse joy of all people, she is a clone and he knew that.
Can imagine a deleted scene where he takes her away and tries to convince her to help him.
Still dumb that the movie has no idea what a clone is, mewtwo is obviously a hybrid.
Also loved the reference to akira, thats probably what the moviemakers were thinking of too.
the most jarring part of that last joke (because honestly there are a bunch of titles he could have gone with) was the indication that Escaflowne is a children's show
Actually there was a point Fox Kids tried to push it as a kid's show. I am not kidding.
Following up on KidSnivy96's comment, that's probably the punchline to his "What?", and I think it's hilarious.
well actually... Golem is rock AND ground, electric attacks hits rocks but not ground
either way it makes no sense. anyone who saw the series learns why it happens at all, and if anyone wants to apply science it makes even less sense.
Tom Tinker it's because pikachu is so insanely OP he shatters all logic.... Or Ash used cheatcodes to 1 hit K.O. all pokemon no matter what... or maybe it was glitched because Donphan is not a gen 1 pokemon, making him a Missingno. instead?
which makes about as much sense as anything. heck, i remember the joke in the first season when james is tested in battle with a rental pikachu and bases his experiences on what to do only to comically fail as they actually decided to put logic in it. XD
It's just anime BSing the heck out of gameplay mechanics for the sake of narrative convenience. Remember this movie was made around the time when the infamous 'Aim for the horn!' was a thing in the anime series.
Tom Tinker I need to watch it again! It's been too long since I last saw it!
Mewtwo's plan to end the world is reminding me of Ultimate Magneto's plan in the event comic Ultimatum. For more information check out Linkara's review of it, you won't be disappointed.
Edit: Also the part of his plan to replace every Pokemon with clones in his new world because of his belief that clones are better, reminds me of the Jackal's plan in the Clone Saga. Spider-Man would most likely say to Mewtwo, "This is starting to sound like a bad comic book plot!"
I think the original Japanese dub said something like "It's wrong for Pokemon to fight to the death" rather than "fighting is bad, m'kay." But of course, kids movie, can't let the kiddies think death is a thing, so better to change the phrasing and make it incomprehensible and hypocritical rather than poignant.
I'm not touching the elephant in the room with 1000 foot pole.
Point of sad, sad order (in that I find it sad I still remember this): It actually comes up at at least one point that Brock is one of the only people in the entire world to be consistently able to tell Nurse Joys and Officer Jennys apart, both though minor appearance details (apparently), and their unique personality traits.
The *only* person in the show who could make that "She looks familiar..." line and have it not seem absolutely moronic is actually Brock.
Thaddeus Genhelm
Not to mention his dick is also a guy detector which makes it impossible for him to fall for a trap.
the pinball wizard joke at the beginning killed it for me man
Hey sage, if you think Dragonite Is hard to explain as an evolution.
Ask Darwin how a Remoraid (a fish) evolves into Octilery (a octopus).
Cause I would love to hear that explanation.
Watching this episode in celebration of Ash becoming the World Champion 🎉🎉🎉
The little-known direct sequel to this movie, the hour-long Mewtwo Returns special, is actually a lot better than this in my opinion. You should check it out someday.
Scott Becker Suede's review of it is one of my favourite online videos.
Ah yes the last video(VHS) I ever brought, from Safeway which closed in my country only a few years later. It even came with 3 episodes from the TV show.
Yeah that was really good, and wrapped up everything nicely.
Finally a real anime abandon episode!!
"Oooh a Weedle!"
Burn it with fire!
That feeling you get when you've been watching this show since you were a teenager, and only now realize that Bennett The Sage is only 8 years older then you. :P
I know you don't review subbed versions of anime, but I was wondering if you had any thoughts/opinions on the movie's subbed version. I heard that it was more thoughtful/emotional and made more sense than the dubbed.
A couple things
1. Wasn't expecting Linkara in this review, nice touch.
2. The "Vikings in Minnesota" joke I actually got when I was a kid because we lived in MN at the time (glad I don't anymore) and the vikings are my dad's fav team
3. Am I the only person who thinks Pokemon 2000 and Pokemon the 3rd movie are vastly superior to this movie?
4. While I still like Pokemon (mostly the games, the show/movies are complicated), the older I get, the more I really fucking hate Ash.
thank-you for explaining #2 because i had no clue back then and hearing it in my early adult life still had the same reaction since i didn't get it.
Have you seen the Animenia Pokemon reviews on Suede's channel?
For #4, I blame the writers more than anything else for flat out refusing to give Ash a win in Pokemon League. Making them close calls aren't really cutting it these days. And no, Orange Islands and Battle Frontier don't count as they aren't Pokemon League.
I absolutely despise Ash as a character. Or rather, because he doesn't have a character. Beyond "never give up!" and "friendship!" or "teamwork!" he really has no character, or at least didn't up through Diamond/Pearl (which is where I got fed up with him)
Pokemon 2000 was at the very least more watchable and its antagonist had clear motivation.
While you're correct Golem should have been immune to the Lightning attack, it's not because he's part Rock. It's because he's part Ground. Rock isn't inherently resistant to Lightning itself.
Also, was that guy who challenged him part of Team Magma?
JittersCaffeine pirate theme is Aqua my man.
16:29
...Is that... A Kyogre backpack? In gen 1? The design looks so similar for it to be a coincidence.
Klonoahedgehog true it does
Dragonite is adorable. That's the throughline.
Mewtwo's birth gets weirder in the manga pokemon special
In that he is an enhanced Human/mew/something else hybrid created by cinnabar island gymleader blaine who works for team rocket in that continuity, mewtwo has his dna... brings up some pretty disturbing questions....
Humans and pokemon can fuck and have kids
@@simonkrayt1970 Well, Pokemon Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum all have a sequence in a library near the Steel Type Gym that talks about how there used to be no difference between human and pokemon and they even lived and married one another.
@@arcspark4937 That does explain the humanoid looking pokemon. Maybe an ellectric type human met a humanoid rat and made pikachu
So, the whole joke in this review is "Sage, knowing/caring little about the franchise, isn't the right person to review Pokémon."
7:55 - Actually he built a name for himself for having lived countless adventures so far in the anime, not only fighting other trainers, but also solving real problems and situations from real people in the anime with or against Pokémon at times!...
this whole time i was thinking watch the japanese version it's much better, stupid but still a better script than the dub and fixes a lot of the problems the dub had
28:38-28:57
Somebody hasn't seen Pokemon Origins and Pokemon Generations.
It's funny, really. Brock can actually tell each individual Nurse Joy and Officer Jenny apart, he could tell you what town they're from by looking at them. If he's met them, anyway, I remember it being mentioned in an episode at least once, where they're all confused at how he can tell them apart, then he goes on a rant about the 'obvious' differences between them, all of which he of course adores.
Wait, you show the "Not like this" line in your review, you have Linkara *guest-starring* in the review and you don't do the thing from that other thing?
Shameful display.
good to know that i still remain the only human alive who will defend this movie's massage...
people love to point out the hypocrasy in such a thing, but what they fail to understand from "Pokemon aren't meant to fight, not like this," is the keyphrase, *"Not Like This."*
for humans and Pokemon, battles are just fun, friendly competition. sure, there are some who exploit Pokemon for their own gains, but those people tend to be classified as 'villains' in the narrative. ultimately Pokemon Battles are just friendly competition, that both humans and pokemon alike normally enjoy.
But the thing is, Mewtwo did not want a Pokemon Battle, he wanted a Fight to the Death! an *_ACTUAL FIGHT to the LITERAL DEATH!!_* no "fight till you faint," he wanted them all to fight till they succumbed to genuine injury and actually For-Real, No-Pokemon-Center-can-fix-that *_DIED!!_*
in case you forgot, he even used his powers to dampen the Pokemon's normal moves since he knew that pussy shit wouldn't do the deed of Actual Murder! (Pokemon moves can't be _that_ intense, otherwise Ash would be in the Hospital for the rest of his frigging life from all the times he was shocked and set on fire by Pikachu and Charizard alone!)
Mewtwo's little Clone War was legit Bloodsport, something that contrary to popular belief, *_isn't AT ALL what Pokemon Battling is all about!!_*
You hit the nail on the head. It's a good message, but it was rather sloppily done for the dub, sadly. Might've been a bit too subtle for people to catch on, though.
Robbie Norris
Dude, no one criticizes the massage. Those are wonderful.
The message about fighting is just useless in Pokemon and gets across nothing given that it's a franchise about pitting the pocket monsters against each other in fights until one is unconscious.
Robbie Norris pls stop with the hippy love and peace bullshit
Thank you. Not enough people realize this, most likely because it wasn't worded clearly enough
Except it's not cockfighting. Cockfighting is the process of taking two roosters, who are naturally aggressive towards each other, are let loose at each other until one of them is either critically injured or killed.
In Pokemon battles, trainers command their Pokemon in order to strategically attack their opponent until one of them is simply knocked out, and there's a level of care and understanding there, as well as the fact that after the battles, trainers heal their Pokemon.
In the end, what Mewtwo made the Pokemon and clones do was a lot more like cockfighting than normal Pokemon battles. The difference is that one is a competition, and the other is a bloodsport
To be fair about the whole Dragonite evolutionary line thing...Gatomon's evolutionary line over in Digimon is completely nonsensical. She starts off as a Puppy digimon, then evolves into a cat, then an angel, then a fucking dragon. Admittedly, From Gatomon on she's considered a holy beast, but still. At least Dragonite is a dragon from beginning to end.
Also, this has always bugged me: Why is Mewtwo the only psychic pokemon who can talk using telepathy? I get that he's supposed to be the most powerful Pokemon in the world, but Mew is just as strong so why can't he telepathically speak to people too?
Mew has the mental capacity of an infant and is basically a dumb beast with deity-like powers?
Best idea I can come up with.
Except he's very clearly intelligent. Not only does it just stand to reason that a PSYCHIC Pokemon would have a high Intelligence modifier, but a scene Bennett didn't show was Mew giving a speech to Mewtwo that Meowth translated to Jessie and James (And by proxy the audience) that was apparently pretty insightful. So yea, that ain't it. It was just another example of the writers not really thinking about important story elements.
I’m with sage, instead of a being a charizard clone dratini should become a large eastern dragon type with wings maybe, like that legendary green one but obviously less power
Because its hinted (somewhere) that he's 1/2 human.
All these years later, I'm suddenly struck that the beginning of the film proper kinda reminds me of the intro to The Guyver.
Finally, your going to review Escaflowne!!! Well, the movie anyway. While I'm sure we all agree the movie was a major disappointment, all I can ask is that you take a moment to also mention original series as well. Looking forward to that review.
"I get they're trying to make Mew cute and innocent..." Well, actually in the Subbed version, Mew straight up tells Mewtwo that he's "An abomination who should have never been born." And also that "It is his duty to destroy him." So yeah, Mew is pro-not-your-choice apparently.
What did we say about well-actually-ing?
WELL AAAAAAACTUALLY, that isn't true at all. Just a common myth. What Japanese Mew really said was just that he and the originals will prove that they're much stronger than their copies because they're the real ones, regardless of the fact that their clones are enhanced.
So people didn't actually watch it in Japanese I take it?
Given that it isn't exactly easily accessible due to a lack of an official English subtitled release, it's probably more due to poorly translated fansubs that led to this common misconception about Mew being so sort of racist (a clonesist?). But it's really just a matter of one side trying to prove their self-worth over the other, with both sides failing to understand that they're all living beings and don't need to prove which one is stronger and "more real" at the cost of their own lives.
That means Mew hates the Dittos as well.
I have never clicked to Anime Abandon video so fast in my life! Pokemon the First Movie was my shit! XD
Corrects trainer for calling Pidgeot Pidgeotto. Confuses Rock type for Ground type.
Wrath's Turntable Time Machine Rocksmash Attack (AKA The Mysterious Reuploader, Ace-edo Mask!) Unfortunately that's not true. Golem has always been a rock/ground type. Which is why electric type attacks don't work on him or any of his evolutions in Red, Blue, and Yellow.
Golem's both. So's Onix.
Mew-23?
... is that an X-23 reference, or just a really coincidental choice of number?
9:07 Golem part Rock, Part Ground. Rock is Resistant to Electricity whilst Ground insulates (or is immune from) Electricity.
And yet Satoshi's Pikachu won't a"bide" by the chains of elemental types.
6:59 Yeah Gary Motherfucking Oak
SSB&AnimeCrossover YOU CAN IGNORE HIS GIRTH!
I will admit Iam part of the problem. I awwed at the mew windmill right before that joke was made. There's just some things that tug your heartstrings in a way that makes it hard to detatch those feelings formed as a child. For me its that adorable meow of mew.
Great to see you back Sage! And yeah, as an adult I can see Pokemon the first movie as a dumb movie but I will admit that this does have a very special place in my heart. My dad took me to see the first movie in theaters when it first came out here and I remember the theater being full of kids and me being excited to see the first Pokemon movie with my dad since he and I would collect the figures and cards and watch the anime all while my parents were going through a divorce. But yet, this and my dad taking me to go see movies(ex: Iron Giant, Toy Story 2, etc.) helped me not fear of losing my dad and he and I still share that bond and even now as an adult, I can still enjoy yes a stupid movie but have good memories too(also, the whole "Pokemon shouldn't fight" moral wasn't even the original Japanese dub, then again this is a 4Kids dub)
11:37 Ah, but remember that Brock has the special ability to tell all the Jennies and Joys apart. Some kind of pervy magic, I believe.
Linkara, Doug Walker, & Linkara's girlfriend. Good.
Scsigs fiancee
her name is viga. i think she also does videos about comics but don't quote me on that.
I lost it when you played the sad string music to the opening battle. Machoke dying to bubbles. His trainer screaming no. Honest to god, tears are falling.
ah Pokemon, probably the first anime I ever watched as a kid, even got to meet Veronica Taylor, the original Ash recently, and I still enjoy it to an extent.....Pity the anime has become repetitive poorly written crap.
Also Sage Review Great Teacher Onizuka please.
The Fan Without a Face it was always repetitive poorly written crap. The only difference is that the first few seasons are nostalgic pieces of crap.
The X and Y series, while the ending was kinda botched, was actually pretty damn good. Better than the first series, even.
Sorry Kinda of Botched....no, Ash loosing to Tobias was a botched ending, Ash losing to Cameron was a botched ending
....Ash losing to Alain in the Kalos league was a straight up fifty story neon MIDDLE FINGER, FUCK YOU to the fans. Probably the most poorly written and obvious showing of "Status Quo is God" I've seen in a while.
JewWario :'(
"Animenia - Pokemon: The First Movie"
we all miss him
I don't.
Nieznajomy43 It's nice that sage keeps his hat around :,) I miss him too
Nieznajomy43 who is that?
+MetroidSigma You edgy bitch
Will there be a Digimon movie review?
That movie was one of my favorites.
W1se F0x
...which one? The one that Critic talked about at some point, or the one with Omnimon?
*****
Pretty sure Critic talked about the other gen 1 one. TFS did a digimon movie abridged for the one with Omnimon as 2016's April Fools joke though.
Princess Matrix the critic did the first digimon movie with JesuOtaku which was the one with Omnimon
He confirmed in his Ask.fm account that he will
I will admit, i still listen to the soundtrack even now.
I really love that Linkara cameo, also that Linkara OC Pony plushie in the background
Okay so you got Pokémon. Now when the FUCK will you get around to taking about ANY of the Gundam series and/or movies?
14 Land Before Time movies? I didn't even know there was a 2nd Land Before Time!
Pokemon 3 is the best Pokemon movie, with the best English dub of them all. It's nice watching anime movies in theaters.
I really enjoyed the animation and world building and music in the movies, the stories less so...
Also, WOOT! Escaflowne!
This Movie fell apart as a kid after Pikachu killed the Golem at the beginning with a lighting attack…
Holy shit, i never noticed the chick riding the Fearow.
To be fair, saying Ash is a terrible trainer for not winning any Pokemon League is like saying that a person who never won a national competitions (but won regional) is a terrible athlete.
This one was extra savage!!!
Sage is really improving his humor and production quality
Actually if you go back and look at each Jenny and Joy they do have something different about them. Hint: Check their hats.
If we're talking the movie, Brock specifically says he recognizes her face.
If it makes a difference, this movie loses a lot in the translation to
the English dub. They basically missed the whole point of the movie,
which was about the validity of clones as their own separate life
instead of just "copies" and Mewtwo's inferiority complex, NOT about
"violence is bad". Yes, believe it or not, there was nuance in the
Japanese version of this. A Pokemon movie. Also, the Japanese OST was
better.
Escaflowne? Awesome, I reviewed that some time back. Too bad you're reviewing the movie.
Oh, I believe they absolutely simplified the message of the movie, removing what little nuance it had so it would be more palatable to overprotective parents seeing it with their children.
I disagree on the OST being better. Not that the original is dramatically inferior or anything (and if I were to compare leitmotifs alone, I tend to favour the JPN version of Mewtwo's one). It just stumbles due to some cues being standard rearrangements of show material, and its themes not getting as much thematic development as the dub version's themes. Compare Tears of Life with Miracle Tears, with the former cleverly interweaving multiple motifs heard early on for a big climactic piece, whereas the latter just plays with the original Mew and the Satoshi/Trainer themes a little but is mostly an incidental piece.
With that said, that's merely a comparison of their quality. From a moral standpoint, like with any anime replacement score, its existence wasn't necessary and was just there so 4kids could cash in on royalties with their own music. Even though it's well made (probably one of the very few replacement OSTs where I can say that), it doesn't really justify the change.
Indeed the english dumbed down the story to the point of breaking the original intent.
Another point is Mewtwo's rage is because of his first and only friend dying in front of him (in the deleted extended opening) and the scientists wiping his memory of the event but failing to wipe the feeling of loss and hurt he had, him not being able to remember why made him that much more dangerous.
The bizarre thing about that deleted scene (which originated from the Perfect/Kanzenban edition of the movie) is that it was apparently KidsWB that removed it at the last minute, not 4kids writing it out or anything. Not hard to believe, since Mewtwo still says "This is not the same. Was everything before just a dream?" after waking up, obviously referencing the missing scenes. Japan got a bilingual release of the film in 2000 as well, and it contains the whole segment already dubbed long before the west saw in as an extra in that Mewtwo Returns DVD. I find it stupid how the Blu-ray release leaves it out. Now that KidsWB isn't on any company's asses, it should be perfectly fine to reinsert it into the movie.
The original was written by one of the writers of Legend Of Galactic Heroes...
What they mean by the line "Pokemon aren't meant to fight not like this" is that in the big battle Pokemon were literally fighting to the death which Pokemon aren't supposed to do.
I find peoples' childhood experiences with Pokémon fascinating. I started with the original games, but I was 17 at the time. Despite how into the franchise I am, my time with it during its beginning doesn't sit among my formative memories. And the people I played it with were mostly around my age.
It's seeing stuff like this that reminds me "Oh yeah, kids liked this back then, and now they're adults."
Why do some people hate the 4kids dub of the movie to their very core? The English dub Soundtrack is better than the Japanese Soundtrack and the dub voices are awesome!
Second most hyped up review since Elfen Lied😆😆
This review made me a little nostalgic, and I would like to share a story. It's not particularly exciting or really connected to the review, but the mood struck me, so I hope you'll forgive me.
When I was 11 years old, I was already in full swing of Pokémon fever and had already beaten the first three games and collected most of the cards (back when there was only the Basic and newly released Jungle set). However, I was still missing a few, and to help me fill out my collection alongside booster packs, my parents took me out to places like garage sales, flea markets, and lawnside sellers to find these specific cards as well as doubles for me to use in combat. (I never played with my collection, only with 'doubles'.)
On one seemingly ordinary day in September, my parents were going to a flea market, and they brought me along with them. I found a few Super Nintendo games people were practically throwing away, so it was worth the gamble of them working or not, and when I rounded the bend, that's when I saw it-the largest display of individual cards I had ever seen. There were five white cardboard bins as long as my arm and nearly as wide, filled close to the brim with Pokémon cards, and each and every one had a plastic sleeve. 11 year old me had just found the greatest place on Earth. As I was digging through the bin, I heard my mom come up behind me and ask "Is there any particular card you're looking for? I'll help you look." (Yes, she is awesome, thank you.) I said "Poliwhirl, Basic set." Out of nowhere, a girl about my age walks over to me, hands me a Poliwhirl with a smile, and then jogs back to her parents and out of the flea market. Besides yelling out a 'Thank you' to her, that was the end of the meeting, but I felt so taken aback by that random encounter that it opened my eyes to what a community Pokémon really is and how great its power is to connect people. To this day, I hold that card dear alongside my rarest cards, and it never fails to inspire me and keep me from being consumed by cynicism or despair whenever I look at it.
I'm the same age as Sage and was a Pokemon FANATIC from 1997 until about 2004. Then I took a little hiatus and came back to it around 2010 and have been there since. I saw this movie in theaters and loved it and...I was honestly terrified that Sage would rip it a new one like the Nostalgia Critic did.
Thank god I was wrong. I find out that Sage is also a huge Pokemon nerd and I get a very objective review of a movie that...frankly I have been kind of viewing through tinted glasses all these years. Nostalgia is an amazing thing really.
And yes my favorite scene in the movie was also probably Ash's death. And no Sage Ash has not won a single league since the Orange Islands...well unless you count the Battle Frontier but...no not going to.
Nice review.
i know this is nostalgic for many of us, but GOD was this such a shit dub.
i will say. the main games are still awesome. even if pokemon go is really overrated. i've been playing since gen 3 (though i watched the anime for far longer) the main series of games are great. you should totally get back into em sage.
also. ashes only other major victory was winning the battle frontier in kanto. aside from that and the orange league, ash is just as much of a scrub as the day he left pallet.
also the "other specimen" dr fuji was referring to weren't other clones of mew, but clones of bulbasaur, charmander, squirtle, and secretly his own (deceased) daughter amber, which was the whole reason he wanted to do this. mewtwo is the only clone of mew, hence, mewtwo.
Pokémon Go is enjoyable if you see it as a monument to human insanity.
It's full of tiny little tidbits that just don't make sense. Like the fact that the combat system is completely different, but the stats are the one from the original games. But yet the way they are converted from Game Boy to Go randomly turns strong Pokémons into crap and viceversa, without logic.
Or the fact that for some reasons female avatars are 20-something and male avatars are 15
Or the fact that every pokémon actually looks like a creepy balloon
Oh, and also... the deadliest juggernaut of doom in the game is Blissey.
Yeah you heard me right. A Blissey defending a gym.
Simply because that thing is so dam tanky it's incredibly hard to kill it in 90 s.
Also Linkara's stuck in a closet. Haha, I see what you did there.
MforZorro | Movesets SAVAGE
Honestly I think the whole thing about violence being good or bad is context. Think of it this way: We cheer as we watch two men in an arena punch each other senseless, but condemn the same thing if it happens in the street. People like to compare Pokemon to dog fighting, but I've always compared it more to boxing. It's made pretty clear that Pokemon are at least moderately intelligent, so it makes more sense to me that the relationship between Pokemon and trainers is more of a kid-friendly Mick and Rocky.
I had a tingle in my gut that told me to go to Bennet's channel, so happy I did.
Oh this is going to be priceless.
POKEMON YEAH!!!! :D
He's a Pokémon master
There has to be a twist
A Pokémon master got a supple
wrist
I got nothing other than kudos to Sage for the Pinball Wizard reference.
So, I know this will probably get buried within all the other comments. but, I wanted to share a little story and end it on a request.
Years ago, i was in one hell of a bad head space, I had depression, I never got it diagnosed, but to be honest, I think everyone kind of knew it already. For months I felt like shit, I walked like an apathetic zombie through life, I couldn't motivate myself to do anything, and i just wanted to go to sleep again the moment I woke up. Then, I discovered three things, Sage, hajime no ippo, and rune soldier. I watched all three alot, they gave me something to look forward to at the end of the day, I'm not sure why I attached so strongly to these shows and yourself, but, even now, I still love all three passionately. So much so that I attribute them to my recovery, among a few other factors.
In the end, I just wanted to say thank you Sage, for giving me years of entertainment, and for dragging me out of that hell hole. I also wanted to ask if it were possible for you to review either rune soldier, or hajime no ippo. They are a little bit better than your average anime, and seeing you enjoy watching a series is just as entertaining as watching it myself. Or if you shit all over both of them, I can laugh along with you on that to, because, regardless of what you've had to say on other titles, its always been a worth while watch, your one of the people who basically formed how i view things critically after all.
2:03 Same goes for me Sage. Man I miss Kids WB and 4kids :D
SSB&AnimeCrossover I don't miss what they did to one piece
Alden Grant Oh shoot
SSB&AnimeCrossover You actually miss 4kids?!
geardog24 I used to watch Kirby Right Back at ya!, Yu Gi Oh!, Sailor Moon, Mew Mew Power, and One Piece. Also Sonic X
While I can absolutely get behind the nostalgia for the shows, I can't say I know anyone that actually misses 4Kids considering how they gutted and sanitized anything they didn't deem "kid friendly." Like the jelly-filled donuts in Pokemon.
I was nine when this movie came out, and I got the Sondheim reference at the time. Which is not to say I thought it was funny, but I got it. What can I say, I was a weird kid.
Funny thing is that early on in the anime after Ash lost to Brock, Ask hooked up Pikachu to a watermill to supercharge it so it can hurt ground types with electric moves, and it worked. So you can imagine that this really useful thing that only that Pikachu could do would be immediately forgotten and never mentioned again.
2022 called. Ash won.