By the time of writing this, I have just watched the 1990s classic anime series The Slayers. For those unfamiliar of this classic of cel animation (its well-animated by Madhouse), its basically Fairy Tail made over a decade early.
Here's something I noticed. When you watch the first episode with you eyes closed you will encounter a scene where you will say to yourself "Is that Brock chatting up a pretty girl after rescuing her from danger .... again?"
And you should, because the scene in question is when the main protagonist Lina Inverse "one of the most powerful and feared sorceresses in all the land" is about to battle against a bunch of bandits when "expert" swordsman Gourry Gabriev the picture and slays the whole lot of them. He did so because he thought Lina (due to her short size) was a child. Cue Edward Elric-style reaction.
The reason for the mental picture of Brock in this scene? Simple. It's because, in the series English dub by Central Park Media, the voice actor who portrayed Gourry was Eric Stuart. And, if you look at his Filmography you will find that, apart from voicing Kaiba from Yu-Gi-Oh! and been the narrator in One Piece, he is also most noted for playing (until 2006, I'll explain in a future post) Brock in Pokémon (as well as James from Team Rocket, but that's not important).
As I watched this series my ear pieced up another familiar voice. A quick Wikipedia search later showed my ear was correct - the later regular character Amelia Wil Tesla Seyruun was voiced by one Veronica Taylor. And what is interesting is that, apart from voicing Nico Robin in One Piece and April O'Neil in post-2000 adaptions of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, she is most noted for been the original English voice of one Ash Ketchum.
Now, noting two poke-actors voicing characters in The Slayers is not enough to be subject to an act of cultural vandalism. What finally made me write this post is what happened in episode 17. In it the gang (Lina, Gourry, and Amelia) have to catch a ship without been ambushed by bounty hunters (someone placed a bounty on them for reasons that will spoil the series finale). To do so they have to disguise themselves. They disguises they choose - three female siblings. Yes, Gourry (the idiotic muscle-bound swordsman) was forced to dress as a girl. I have to admit, his long blonde hair helped in this endeavour. He really did become a Sailor Moon knock-off. Of course, Gourry didn't like the ordeal.
(I later found out that this cross-dressing is a regular joke in every series. Yeeaaae!)
And here comes the reason for this post. Remember when Ash Ketchum was forced to cross-dress? He was forcedtodoso in four episodes (as of 2017). If you factor in that Ash was voiced by the same person who voiced Amelia and that Brock is voiced by the former voice of Gourry I have come to a conclusion -
Brock is a reincarnation of Gourry.
And having Ash cross-dress is Gourry's revenge for been forced to wear woman's clothing back then.
While I was locked out of this blog I was not able to work on the Pokémon 20th anniversary special. "Part 1" was originally planned to be finished by 30th April. But that hasn't stopped me doing research, so while I was locked out I was occasionally looking about the internet for various things. And in July I found the most incredible work of art I have ever seen this year - The Pokemon Reset Theory by YouTuber Lockstin.
It is one of the most epic fan theory video I have ever seen. In fact, its THE most epic fan theory video I have ever seen (and that's a rare thing for me to say).
The jist of this theory is that the events of the then upcoming games Pokémon Sun and Moon will feature a plot that'll initiate a "reset" of the Pokémon universe, making it possible for the franchise to have a reboot.
To explain how this would happen Lockstin has delved into the subjects of alchemy, the bible, Hinduism, Norse mythology, the language of flowers ... and more. It is incredible that someone would go such lengths in research to prove a plausible theory about a video game franchise. To me this is not just a series of videos about a "crack-pot theory". It is a genuine work of art (In my sense of the word it is.).
But not everyone was convinced by the reboot idea. Why would a franchise making millions of dollars what to reboot it? One noted Pokémon theorist (ProtoMario) created this reaction to that first video, highlighting this....
Pokemon Theory: Sun and Moon IS THE CLIMACTIC ENDING - DEBUNKED?!
(September 2016)
But Lockstin couldn't take that lying down, and reacted to this argument with this video....
Does $$$ Mean No Pokemon Reboot? | Lockstin (September 2016)
It was no stopping him. Soon he was making many videos about and relating to the theory. What I have on this page just the main videos. For the rest, visit Lockstin's channel.
Part 2 (August 2016)
Part 2.5 (August 2016)
Part 3 (September 2016)
Part 3.5 (October 2016)
Part 3.8 (November 2016)
And for an encore, in November (when events proved not to be as he predicted) he proved a video that debunked his theory. Talk about meta!
As Pokémon Sun and Moonare about to be released (officially beginning the era of Gen 7) I thought it is a good time to do this post, documenting this piece of fandom history. This theory could only have been theorised in 2016. It was highly dependent on leaked info about the upcoming games. Info that only first came out from February 2016. I love this theory, even if it does prove to be wrong (probably). But I think future fans would love to see this work of art in the future, which is why this post exist. I hope no one forces these videos to go down, because if they do....
I am still working on "Part 2". I originally planned to have all this done by June (until the lockout happened). Because of this (and other events) I have pushed the final deadline for everything to April (to co-inside with the 20th anniversary of the TV anime debut).
The first episode aired on TV Tokyo at
7pm on Tuesday 1st April 1997 and began with the start screen we get when the
games are loaded - a battle between a Gengar and a Nidorino. This then transitions "live
action" revealing the battle is taking place in a stadium. This battle is
televised and is on in a TV in a small bedroom. In that bedroom we are
introduced to the 10-year-old Satoshi (or Ash Ketchum in the English dub (I explained
how he got his name back in the introduction.)). We know he is very
into Pokémon (in the same way the real Satoshi was into insects) just by
the fact his room is filled with Pokémon-themed stuff. He is fully-dressed
(gloves and everything) like he is ready to go... but his mother interrupts his monologue and reminds
him to go to bed. As he sleeps he dreams about himself been the owner of
one of the three starters. But in doing so, he throws his poke ball-shaped
alarm clock and breaks it. When he finally woke up (to the sound of the cockerel) he discovers he is late and runs
to Professor Oak's Lab (in his PJs). When he
arrives his rival Gary had just acquired his starter and was
about to head off (in a car?).
In the original games your rival (whoever he's called) is a bit of a
jerk. He has the relation with the Professor and he somehow always a few steps
ahead of you. So its no surprise that in the anime Okido Shigeru
(or Gary Oak as he is called in English) is
depicted as a cocky, privileged bastard (which is also why "Gary
F*&%in Oak" has become an internet meme).
Throughout the first few years of the series Gary was the bane of Ash's
existence. Been the grandson of the great Professor Oak, Gary naturally
developed some form of superior complex, making him think he is somewhat better
than other kids his age, including Ash. And his famous relation is something he
liked to boast about....
"It's good to have a grandfather in the Pokemon business, isn't it." - Gary Oak (from episode 1)
A brief note - according to the anime novelization by the show's main writer
at the time Takeshi Shudō, Gary Oak in the anime is not only
Prof Oak's grandson but also the grandnephew of the mayor of Pallet Town. His cheerleaders are in fact electoral
staff. So the next time you'll see Gary in this first series (the cheerleaders
disappear during the Orange Islands arc) or see a "Gary
F*&%in Oak" meme online, picture Freddy
Quimby from The Simpsons (another cartoon
mayor's nephew). Here's a visual aid I made to help you....
Back to the story. When finally faced with the choice of three poke
balls he discovers that they were all taken (Why were the empty poke balls
still on the table?). Ash was gutted, but Oak then remembered that he has
one Pokémon left, but was reserved about giving it to a new trainer....
"Think I should
warn you.There is a problem with this last one." - Prof Oak
"I have to have
a Pokemon." - Ash
Well... in that
case...." - Prof Oak (from episode 1)
Oak gave in and opened the poke ball.... resulting in a flashy-lightning
show that revealed the franchise's mascot - Pikachu. Their first meeting wasn't
harmonious (he shook him with a thunder-shock attack). A shockingly
funny start to the series.
Here's a thought. What if that alarm clock didn't get broken? What if
Ash woke up early and was able to select his first choice (Squirtle (Which Gary took)) instead of been lumbered with
Pikachu? It's an interesting thought. It's a question that is worth exploring
in revisionist fan-fiction. But its a question that get's more integrating when
you discover who Sam is in the fourth
movie. (I'm not going to tell you. Find out for yourself.)
After leaving the lab Ash is given a send off, where his mother
proceeded to embarrass him in front of a crowd (as all mothers do in such occasions).
After Pikachu refused to enter his poke ball and shocking the crowd after Ash's
mother described their relationship as "weird" (and the reminder to
wear clean "you-know-what" everyday), Ash's journey finally
began.....
And its here we are confronted with a truth our rosy retrospection cognitive bias has made us forget from
childhood - on his first day as a trainer Ash was a complete moron! He was
dragging a reluctant Pikachu along with him with a washing line. He didn't know
that Pokemon only spoke the syllables of their names (an anime-unique invention
- in the games the Pokemon speak with typical animal noises, which you might
have expected before watching the anime). And (because Pikachu refused to
listen to him) Ash's first ever attempt to catch a Pokemon (a Pidgey) was a disaster. It's very shocking,
compared to the Ash we know and love and travelling in Kalos in 2016. It will
even shock Ash himself if we were to show him a video of his first day as a
trainer.
But you have to remember that much of this early idiocy is because of
Gary "motherf*&^in" Oak. For a long time before their
journeys began Gary poked fun at Ash's "inferior" position, leading
to Ash to develop an inferiority complex and a will to beat Gary at his own
game. Also this is his first ever day as a trainer. He probably had little
experience before this catching and training Pokemon, so cut him some slack.
But we have to ask a few questions. If Ash was such a fan for Pokemon, how come
he didn't know about the language thing? Surely in this world they are
documentaries about Pokemon on TV (with a few where Professor Oak plays David Attenborough). I guess he didn't watch such
documentaries. I guess (knowing his nature) he preferred watching the battles.
But that's no excuse. He would have seen them in the wild outside his home (and
heard them speak). But all this is just speculation - created by the lack of
continuity. In the end of the day, Ash (on his first day as a trainer) was a
young idiot thrown into the deep end.
And (in the end) one final act of stupidity will change his fate forever
- when a rock he threw hit the head of a Spearow. That Spearow got mad (of course) and
because of their "jealousy toward's trained Pokemon" Spearow began
to target Pikachu. After Pikachu gave Spearow a shock, Spearow called out for
his/her friends and a chase ensues. Pikachu was attacked. Ash fended them off
to rescue him. He ran with Pikachu in his arms and jumped into a river,
where He was fished out by a red-haired girl.
Her name (in Japanese) is Kasumi. Her name comes form
"kasumisō" the name the Japanese give to the Gypsophila genus
of flowering plant. It's also a pun of the words "kasumi" (meaning
"mist") and "umi" (meaning "sea"), which is how
we get her English name - Misty. The name makes sense if you know these two
things about her - she loves the water (which is why she specialises in
water-types) and can get very angry very easily.
And we first saw this trait in her reaction to the state of Pikachu and
Ash's ignorance at that moment (which included a slap
in Ash's face, which 4Kids edited out in the English dub). After
suggesting getting Pikachu to a hospital, Ash (upon seeing the Spearow
flock approaching them) "borrows" her bicycle and rode into
the distance. But (as a thunderstorm began) they hit a bump and fall over. As
the flock come closer Ash begs Pikachu to return to his poke ball. But he still
refuses (despite his condition). What happens next has become legend. Ash stood
up and faced the flock to protect Pikachu and proclaims...
"Spearows, do you know who I am? I am Ash from the town of Pallet.I am destined to be the world's number one Pokemon Master. I can't be defeated by the likes of you. I'm going to capture and defeat you all! You hear me! ...... Come and get me!!!" - Ash Ketchum (to the Spearow flock, episode 1)
Inspired by his words, Pikachu leaped up into a bolt of lightning and
gave the flock a massive thunder-shock to remember. When the storm
cleared Ash and Pikachu looked at each other with loving eyes, and one of the
most iconic partnerships in history was made. Above them was a rainbow and
a golden bird that the Pokedex had "no
data" on. A cosmic blessing from the universe, most likely.... or a sign
that Ash has entered a coma.
In the next episode Ash runs into Viridian City with the still injured
Pikachu. As he entered Officer Jenny was announcing to citizens
through Tannoy on be on the look out for Pokemon
thieves. She mistakes Ash for said thief, until he provided his ID... and showed how bad Pikachu is. With the
help of Jenny's motorbike (which might need some work done, looking at its
exhaust) Ash is handbrake-turned into the Pokémon Center in front of Nurse Joy at the reception....
"We have a
driveway you know." - Nurse Joy (episode 2)
Pikachu was rushed into critical care. While he was getting treatment
Ash was in the waiting room thinking about his situation. He called his mother
to say he was okay. Although they say a lot at this exchange, the words that
sum up this conversation is these....
"Honey, you are growing up right before my eyes, spreading your wings and soaring like a Spearow." - Delia Ketchum
"I feel more like a fallen Pidgey." - Ash Ketchum (episode 2)
A minute later Prof Oak called Ash to confirm the news that he got to
Viridian City so soon after beginning his journey ... and that he lost
$1million to Gary for betting that Ash would catch a Pokemon by the time he
reached there. Right after Oak hung up Ash was confronted by an angry Misty and
her (now destroyed by the thunder-shock) bike. But she cooled down soon after
hearing of Pikachu's condition.
But as Pikachu was moved from critical care to a place to rest an
announcement was made on the public Tannoy.....
"Your attention please. Our Viridian City radar sensors have detected an aircraft belong to a gang of Pokemon thieves. If you have a Pokemon in your procession, you exercise extreme caution." - Officer Jenny (episode 2)
That said aircraft was a hot air balloon, and it was hovering over the
Pokemon Center. The thieves dropped two poke balls into the center through a
skylight, revealing an Ekens and and Koffing. A smoke screen engulfs the reception and
the thieves finally introduce themselves with their motto .... which we have
all heard a billion times since. I know they jazzed it up a bit a couple of
times over the years with new words and graphics, but its still the same
motto.But hay. It has become a habit that they have trouble breaking, after
doing it every week for the past 20 years. All they need is for someone to say
the trigger words "prepare" and "trouble."
Design-wise Jessie is a combination of an old girlfriend of Takeshi Shudōwhen he was at school
and Marjo from Time
Bokan, while James is a combination of Leonardo Medici Bundle from GoShogun(a
series Shudōhad written for previously) and Benten Kozō Kikunosuke from
the kabuki play Benten Kozō. There back stories are both
tragic and typical for villains. Jessie was the daughter of a high-ranking Team Rocket member, who disappeared when she was
about 5. Because of this most of her childhood was spent in a foster home that
was so financially poor that sometimes she had no choice but to eat snow. When she
was old enough she left home to study to be a nurse, before giving up because she
was no Chansey. James (on the other hand) was born
into a rich family, but had to run away when he discovered how Christian Grey she is. (Try to deny this
metaphor after watching this edition of PokeSins. I dare you.)
Both eventually meet as students
of Pokemon Tech (where they flunked) and
joined a bike gang, before (separately) joining Team Rocket. So with such devilish pedigree, you'll
imagine that these two are good at their job as Pokemon thieves ... and
you were right. They were terrorising Viridian City and had a cool
wanted poster ....
That was until that night when they encounter
Ash's Pikachu.
To begin with they didn't see him as anything
valuable.
"We're not interested in your electric rat." - Jessie (to Ash)
"We only seek rare and valuable Pokemon." - James (from
episode 2)
You heard them.
They didn't see Pikachu as a worthy prize back
then. So what changed their minds?
Well, we can assume that until that night they were undefeated crooks.
As the group try to defend the center's store of poke balls from
them (with embarrassing results), Ash takes Pikachu away from them
until the trio catch up with them at the reception. It was at this point a
dozen Pikachu (who were acting as the center's back-up generators) show up and
shock them - with Ash's Pikachu standing on top to proclaim his fine
health, asking Ash for "Pika Power." With the aid of the
dynamo on the ruins of Misty's bike, Pikachu got a power boost that increased
their hit power so much that Koffing began to release gas which ignited. The
building exploded. The trio were charred and frazzled floating away
dangling from their balloon as it glided across the moon.
"Great. A cat
losing to a mouse." - Jessie
"That Pikachu is
no ordinary Pikachu." - Meowth
"It's certainly
very rare. A perfect prize." - James
"Let's catch
it!" - Jessie
"Perhaps we
well." - Meowth (from episode 2)
And then their balloon develops a puncture and are "blasted
off" for the first time ever. And thus, the downfall of Team Rocket (and
the other crime syndicates) began. One imagines that Wile E. Coyote went through a similar moment
when he first saw the Road Runner. What would have happened to them if
they hadn't decided to hit the Viridian City Pokemon Center that night? Could
have they remained top agents, who didn't spend ever single penny on traps and
machines? Who knows.
For the next twoepisodes (in Viridian Forest) Ash catches his first wild
Pokemon (a Caterpie that later became a Butterfree) and Misty (after we find out
about her Entomophobia) witnesses a side to Ash that'll
become significant in the future - his selfless caring heart for his fellow
creatures. A side that'll later cause a lot of worry for his friends and loved
ones, looking at his record for risking his life.
By episode 5 Ash was in Pewter City to face his first ever gym leader. Called Takeshi in Japan (maybe
as a reference to chief show writer Takeshi Shudō), in English he is known as Brock - because he specialises in rock-types. Ash's first attempt to earn a gym
badge (as you may work out now) was a shambles. Brock's Onix proved too tough to beat for
Pikachu. When Onix was using bind on Pikachu, Ash (upon seeing his
extreme pain) couldn't bear it anymore and forfeited the match.
That night, feeling dejected, Ash meets a mysterious man named Flint, who decides to help him - by attaching
Pikachu to a small disused hydroelectric plant. The scheme was a surprising
success, when Pikachu overloaded the generator and lit the night sky with high
amounts of electric power. The next day Ash returns to the gym. Misty (been a
water-specialist) offered her Pokemon to use, but Ash refused the offer,
wanting the defeat Brock with his own team. The rematch began with Brock's Geodude knocking out Ash's Pidgeotto (which he caught in Viridian
Forest). Then Pikachu entered the ring. The charging session made sure that
Geodude was out, forcing Brock to call in Onix. Pikachu tries to shock Onix,
but it fails, damaging the gym instead. Onix binds Pikachu, but this time
Pikachu gave off a massive Thunderbolt attack, hurting Onix ... but it
wasn't enough to win. Pikachu was a bout to pass out. Brock offers to end the
match for his sake. Ash refuses. Then the sprinkler system was triggered (from
the previous attack) seriously hurting Onix (rock-types don't like
water).
And it is here we see for the first time a significant trait in Ash -
his sense of fairness. He recalls Pikachu. He had a lucky advantage with the
sprinklers, but he choose to stop the battle, because he wanted to earn his
badges by his own strength and strategy alone (much to Misty's disappointment).
That last bracket is a surprise, considering that a number of
badges Ash "earned" wasn't earned due to a battle with a gym leader.
A fact Misty would made light of in the early parts of the series. A
fact especially true when it came to Ash's second gym (two
episodes later) - the Cerulean City Gym, where we are confronted
by Misty's "sensational" sisters. Long
story short, the sisters were just giving away badges and were about to give
Ash one, until Misty entered the scene and challenged him for it (as she
was technically a gym leader of that gym). The battle
was interrupted by Team Rocket. Ash saved the day and was given
the badge as a thank you by Misty's sisters (to Misty's dismay!!!).
Back to Brock. Just as Ash was about the leave Pewter City, Brock ran to
him to give him the badge anyway - for his kindness towards Pokemon he showed
moments ago. Ash initially refuses it, but Brock's reason to do
so convinced him to take it. Afterwards Brock confesses his ambition to become
a Pokemon breeder - but
family commitments prevent him from leaving the gym. He gave him the
badge so that Ash can fulfil his dream. But then a development -
Flint appears to reveal that he is in fact Brock's dad. He had left the family
a while ago to become a trainer. While he was away, Brock's
Mum left for the same reason some time later (but in
the original English dub it was said that she died looking after the
family (a typical anime trope), but this decision by the dubbers would come
to embarrass them when (years later) she
appeared on screen pretty much alive and well. But some
English-speaking fans think that the woman on screen is Flint's new girlfriend
or second wife (to try to rationalise the error.)). Things didn't
turn out well for Flint, so that is why he is back. Now that Brock no
longer needed to stay home (to look after his nine younger siblings), he decided to travel
with Ash. And the classic trio we all love came to been.
A life of a gym leader is tough. According to one source gym leaders work on a "three
strike" system. Loss three matches in a row and your loss your gym leader
status.So imagine the stress that could cause. So its no surprise that
(according that same source) the stress is the reason
Misty and her sisters are running the gym (their parents ran away
because of the stress) and the reason Brock's mother
is regularly "on the game." That last bit is cited as the
cause of one of Brock's most noted character traits - he falls in love with
every pretty girl he sees (especially every Officer Jenny and Nurse Joy).
Despite the serious reasons for this, this trait has given us multiple bits of
comedy, usually ending with him been dragged away by Misty (initially).
For the next 200-odd episodes Ash (whether he liked it or not) had the
experienced hands of two gym leaders following him (although one of them may
had ulterior motives for doing so (guess which one)). Without Misty and Brock's
guidance, Ash may not have become the trainer we know him today and (according to this review) "probably still in
the forest throwing rocks at random monsters."
Of course they are some out there who are going to point out that this
is a kids TV show cliché and it reeks of the often mocked meme "friendship is magic." However, I have found
a piece of evidence that proves that this isn't unique to kids TV shows and
fairy tales involving creatures not from this world. It can be found in the
world of high-brow "modern" literature....
"When one is trying to do something beyond his known powers it is useless to seek the approval of friends. Friends are at their best in moments of defeat." - from Sexus by Henry Miller
Henry Miller could have written about Ash when he typewritten this back
in the 1940s. Who would have thought that it was possible to reference Henry
Miller in a blog post about Pokémon.
This review hits on something I think is important when talking about
the cultural impact of Pokémon. Ebert compared it to My
Neighbor Totoroand Kiki's Delivery Service, two noted works of the great
anime director Hayao Miyazaki. Although at the time Ebert
dismissed it as just part of a big marketing pitch (as, I imagine, many adults
also did at the time), what adults failed to notice at the time is the seeds
of curiosity the TV show and movies planted in their kids minds.
The Pokémon series can be credited to
introducing anime to a whole generation. When the kids who watched the show
learn of the show's Japanese origins, they instantly learn that animation isn't
a Walt Disney monopoly. In fact, just the
show's aesthetics alone show this show is from another world (let alone the plot).
Compared to most cartoons made in the US (like the works of Hanna-Barbera) the appearance of the human
characters look more comparative realistic. To me at the time that was incredible. It was like when Bob Dylan was converted from
gas to electric (I
know that sounds like an over-exaggeration, but that's
how revolutionary it was to the 11-year-old me, who was fed regularly
on Dick Dastardly and Muttley ...
and practised drawing them). The show had an exotic factor to it. Although other
shows that were made in Japan had been on US TV before Pokémon (Astro Boy, Gigantor, Battle of the Planets and Sailor Moon, to name a few), a number of them were highly
altered before it hit the airwaves (this was particularly true for Battle of the Planets, which began life on
its home turf as Gatchaman). Even though the Pokémon TV series was altered during
the English translation, the alterations were generally done well enough
to match the actions on screen with little need of scene removal, becoming a
bit of an exception when it came to 4Kids Entertainment'sreputation (but it hasn't stopped fans from
complaining!). Despite the alterations there was enough on screen for kids to
see that this show was not an American product, such as the presence of rice
balls (or "doughnuts" they were called in one early
dubbed episode), occasional signs of Japanese script, traditional clothes and architecture. This was from a different world. A
cartoon parallel universe, you could say. But the creators of the series (in
the beginning) didn't see it like that, so what happened next must have been a
surprise for them...
"Things like Japanese writing
appearing in the background on signboards or uniquely Japanese family settings
are a distraction for American kids, preventing them from really becoming
absorbed in the fictional world of the series." - Kubo
Masakazu, executive producer of the Pokémon TV series (quoted from
p85 of Pikachu's Global Adventure: The Rise and Fall of Pokémon (2004))
It was such an action-packed
visual delight that kids didn't want to miss an episode. So much so in fact
that many kids from this generation (including me) learnt how to program a VCR (These were the days before TiVo,
remember. and schedulers placed episodes (and other animes) in weird times,
like very early in the morning.).
But what happened next caused a
thunder shock attack throughout the whole anime industry. Those fans found out
that they were "lost episodes" (episodes 4Kids didn't bother to
translate because they thought it would be "too Japanese" for
American audiences, such as the "Beauty
and the Beach" episode). And when they did they began to demand
4Kids to air those episodes! And they did (eventually). this
had never happened before, a distributor receiving demands to air episodes they
initially thought would confuse audiences .... and giving in to those demands.
This never happened when Sailor Moon first aired on US TV half a
decade earlier (an endeavour well noted for its high level of censorship, which
led to whole episodes (and a whole season) been removed). So what changed?
Simple - the internet. Many kids were accessing the internet for the first time
in the late-1990s and one of the first things those kids tried to look up
was Pokémon. And in doing so found web pages
listing the episodes of the series and discovered the inconsistencies between
the list of episodes aired in Japan and whose aired in the US.... and felt
cheated. They wanted to see the whole story and felt that, by holding back
whole episodes, they were going to miss something important... or incredible.
So they took their anger online and started "The Lost Episodes Campaign,"
leading to 4Kids and Kids WB been bombarded with e-mails, letters, phone calls
and faxes demanding the airing of those "lost episodes."Another fan
campaign I can think of that was that successful (or even more so) was what
happened when NBC tried to cancel Star Trek.
Since then translators have made
less effort playing down the show's Japanese origins, as pretty much everyone
knows that fact now and attempts to do so look pathetic to viewers. Its like
the 2012 remake of Red Dawn. (Originally
the story involved the US been invaded by the Chinese, but worries that the
film won't sale in China (duh!) forced the producers (after filming everything)
to change every reference to China's army to change the invading force to North
Korea in the hopes not to offend Chinese cinema-goers. The film was panned by
critics (surprise, surprise).)
After enjoying the multiple sights
of Team Rocket been blasted off again, a number of these kids (including me)
began to wonder... What other cartoons like this exist? By then, Pokémon was getting competition, with the likes of Yu-Gi-Oh!, Digimon, and (later) Beyblade, so kids were confronted with a lot of evidence that Japan produced a
lot of cartoons.
As those kids got older and went
to high school they meet up, discuss the show with an air of nostalgia and
then... one of them discovers something one day that'll blow their minds. How
they uncover this truth is non-important. But what is, is its impact on
those kids. Those kids discover that Japan has a massive animation industry,
which crank out a lot of toons. But not only that, a great number of them (not all of them, as some people who have only seen the Hammer horror equivalents like to exaggerate) contain things that'll
make parents and teachers scream with horror - ninjas, Tarantino-style violence (including lots of
blood), character designs that arose the viewer and (for the pubescent young males (admit it)) glimpses of
girls underwear! To those kids, whose idea of a cartoon was,
basically, a risk-free sitcom with added slap-stick, this was a revelation.
There were cartoons out there that'll make South
Park look like the Teletubbies.
What I just said there is an exaggeration - based
on an actual truth. The kids who got interested in the Pokémon anime (and others at the
time) as a kid later found out (as they got older) the existence of more mature animes and (if it
was possible) watched them, becoming true anime fans. But this not only
happened to kids... it happened to grown-ups too, who watched the series with
their kids. The curiosity about anime generated in kids (and adults) by Pokémon can be observed by the
sky-rocketing attendances in anime conventions in the early-2000s.
The first Anime
Expo in Los Angeles in 1992 had only 1,750 attendances. By
1996 (the year the first Pokémon games were released in Japan)
attendances barely reached 3,000. In 1998 (when Pokémon was
introduced to the US) attendances nearly reached 5,000. In 1999, 6,400. In
2000, 9,700. In 2001... 13,000! In 2003, 17,000! In 2005, 33,000! That an
over-two-third increase in five years!
The Pokémon anime (and the games,
trading cards and other stuff) entered the Western world at a
decisive moment in cultural history - the founding years of the internet known
as the "dot-com bubble." As people began to log on
for the first time in their millions (while a high number of
tech-savvy entrepreneurs tried to work out how to make money off
them), many aspects of "nerd culture" were
gaining mass-popularity in the late-1990s - some of which was fuelled by
the internet itself, thanks to early-adopting "nerds" who
populated the forums before the coming of the great
unwashed. This was the time when the first truly commercially-successful MMORPGs appeared (such as Nexus andUltima Online). Fantasy
fiction received a boost in popularity when the first Harry Potter and Game of Thrones books were published (and would later get a bigger
boost when the former and Lord of the Rings were adapted to film
in epic fashion, pushing CGi to its limits). And it was a
defining/disastrous time to be a Star Wars fan too, for reasons I don't need to say.
“The changes that Pikachu wrought are only the
beginning of fascinating new trends in role-playing games, video games,
cartoons, and toys and the accelerated spread of such fads via the internet.” –
Ellen Seiter, author of Sold Separately; Children and Parents in Consumer Culture (from
the back cover of Pikachu’s Wild Adventure: The Rise and Fall of
Pokémon (2004))
18 years after Pokémon left its home shores to
conquer the world, Japanese cultural exports and memes are everywhere in the West
(and not just online on 4chan).
Manga (translated and natively made) can be bought in any high-street book store. Aesthetic
traits from anime and manga can be found in a lot of Western visual media since
1998, from The Matrix and Avatar: The Last Airbenderto the
video for 'Breaking the Habit' and Big Hero 6. In the 2010s a stand-alone anime
convention (and not a generalised comic con) could be found been held at least
once a year in any major city in the UK (Glasgow held one in March, which I attended). It
is impossible to ignore anime today. Although Akira is
widely credited for introducing anime to the West (despite the efforts of Astro Boy and Speed Racer), the Pokémon anime (the kid-friendly show
that was targeted at the pre-teen demographic) was the real bringer of change
to the world of animation. Many will say that computer-generated graphics was
the biggest thing to happen to the animation industry in the 2000s. But I think
the increasing awareness of anime was really the biggest thing to happen to
animation. It destroyed the American monopoly on the say what animation is and
what can be done in the medium, seriously challenging the once-wide-held relief
that animation is "just for kids" and its all slapstick comedy.
Although many creators had challenged this before (Ralph
Bakshi (for example) made the first X-rated animated film back in 1972) it
wasn't until the increasing interest in anime bought on by Pokémon (which sometimes did push
some barriers in the early episodes) that more people were exposed to the
counter-arguments. And with the help of DVDs (featuring the ability to switch
audio tracks to English dub) those people curious enough can buy/rent the works
of Miyazaki (and
others) and watch them in their own accord without any hindrance. And to me it
was a good thing. As people in the animation industry in the 2000s thought that
3D all the way was the future the latter half of the decade was plagued with a
lot of crap CGi films. If it wasn't for Pokémon koisking the West's interest
in anime, showing millions of people that 2D animation is awesomely expressive
(and proving that a good story can sell regardless of what tools were used to
animate it), we will have still been plagued by bad CG films... and 2D
animation will have been forced into the fringes.
Although Pokémon saved animation from the
"hi-tech is best" trap it also partly caused some of 2D animation's
downfall ... on TV.
In April 2016, Tom
Ruegger, the creator of 90s childhood animation staplesTiny Toon Adventures and Animaniacs,
revealed (in a Reddit AMA) that the Pokémon TV series was responsible
for the decline of Warner Brothers cartoons (the makers
of Tiny Toon Adventures and Animaniacs). So what
did Pikachu do to the WarnerBrothers...
and the Warner Sister? Well, 4Kids made a deal with The WB network,
which aired the Kids' WB programming block, which was where
the output of Warner Brothers animation was aired. The deal meant that the WB
bought the Pokémon TV series at a very cheap
price (compared to their in-house creations). You have to remember is that when
this deal was made (sometime before September 1998) no one in the US really
knew how popular this show was going to be. So when WB saw the show's massive
ratings it made the bosses of the WB to think "we can save a lot of money
by just airing these cartoons instead of making our own." This idea gained
more water as the 2000s continued .... and legislation was introduced to
restrict what can be advertised during kids programming. (It is this
legislation that is the main cause of the disappearance of cartoons from TV in
Saturday mornings. In trying to combat childhood obesity (the main reason for
the legislation) the do-gooders unintentionally destroyed a cherished
institution. I know that some of you will shout out "they got dedicated TV
channels now," but its not the same. The idea that grown-up TV decided to
dedicate a few hours of airtime a week to provide entertainment for kids at the
start of their weekend off school says to kids "I know been a kid is
tough, so here's some well-deserved effortless fun time." Its even more
powerful when that kid has no access to cable or satellite TV or a games
console (or was not interested in games at all... like I was). You can really
tell that I really miss the Saturday morning cartoon slot.) With legislation
eating away their advertising revenue the WB made the tragic decision to stop
making shows themselves. The last show Ruegger worked on for the WB was the
"highly educational" comedy that was Histeria! It
was a highly-ambitious production, which went way over-budget, leading to a
reduction of planned episodes and the use of recycled segments. The show first
aired on 14th September 1998 (one week after Pokémon's début). With these facts we can
easily say that the problems involving Histeria! were fresh in
the minds of the executives when they made that deal with 4Kids.
This deal may not be unique. From
2000 to 2010 anyone watching a kid's cartoon slot/channel on TV will have
noticed an increase in imported shows from Japan and an decrease in
natively-made shows. It's not cheap making an animated TV show, requiring
thousands of man-hours to create the "illusion of life." As advertising revenue
falls as the number of channels available increases (reducing the number of
eyes looking at that commercial) TV stations were increasingly tempted by the
"cheap" imports. And the fact many kids wanted to watch them made the
decision easier. Until the technology became so cheap one can start an
animation company in their bedroom (saving a lot of money for commissioning TV
companies), the local cartoon industry (outside America) experienced a sort of
decline in the 2000s, evident with the ending of a number of animation
divisions in the decade, which include Warner Bros. and (in my native UK) Cosgrove Hall Films (the makers of Danger Mouse). Although I may be wrong about
what I have just said in this paragraph the fact remains that during the 2000s
stuff created in Japan were becoming a staple in kids lives, from Yu-Gi-Oh! cards to Beyblades.
Many have said that Pokémon was the stimulus that made
Westerners (and their children) curious about (and want) Japanese cultural
stuff, such as fashions, product designs and... cartoons. But I disagree.
Thinking that Pokémon alone started all this
ignores the fact that long before the 1990s Westerners had been exposed to
and consumed some bits of Japanese culture since the Meiji period. Japanese woodblock prints and
traditional fashion and crafts picked up a lot of interest in many European artists in late-19th century. Monet alone had a collection of prints, and had a Japanese-inspired wooden bridge in his garden that he painted (on canvas) in his later life. He even
painted a portrait of his wife dressed in a kimono. But this craze kind of ended
with World War I and only truly picked up again in the 1950s, when Japan began
to export cars, motorbikes, toys and electronic devices. The country's "economic miracle" after World War II
sky-rocketed Japanese culture (classic and modern) in the late-20th century. By
the 1980s the average yuppie could
be seen reading business books about the Japanese style of management, eating
sushi and murdering classic tunes with a karaoke machine. At the same time,
kids were playing Pac-Man and (after the crash) games on the NES. The works of fashion designers
like Yohji Yamamoto and Rei Kawakubo were populating the
catwalks. And in Hollywood films George Lucas took inspiration from the
works of Akira Kurosawa in making Star Wars,
while Ridley Scott took modern Tokyo as inspiration
for his dystopian future Los Angeles in Blade
Runner.
If you want one artefact from this time that definitely proves this infusion of Japanese memes in the
West you can find no better example than the promo for the 1981 remix of
the Philip Lynott's single "Yellow Pearl" (British readers will know
this remix better as the theme tune to Top
of the Pops in the early-1980s). How more 1980s can you
get? And the song is about Japan's invasion of the West through their
technology. What a better fit can you find when talking about the importing of
Japanese stuff in the 1980s. Way better than "Turning
Japanese" by The
Vapors.
Phil Lynott "Yellow Pearl"
(1981 remix)
Let, most Westerners at the time
barely noticed this infiltration of Japanese culture. They will have noticed the increasing presence of
Sony Hi-Fis and Toyota cars and been worried by Japanese businesses taking away
local jobs (or giving them in local factories built to avoid
import tariffs), but almost all
their culture was local (with some servings of Americana). The main worry for
cultural commentators at the time was the invasion of American culture through
their TV screens, in the form of Dallas and Cheers.
Almost none of them noticed the imports of (then untranslated) manga volumes
and anime videos that were beginning to to be shipped in to specialist
boutiques in major cities. Japanese culture to most Westerners then was like
many still see their tea ceremonies - mostly high-brow stuff that
you had to acquire to appreciate, in the same way as opera and wine. The
closest thing the average Joe got to embracing Japanese culture then without
intimidation was rescuing Princess Peach.
But this changed in the 1990s. As
said earlier the success of Power Rangers proved that Western kids
will buy Japanese kids stuff in the same way they can buy into He-Man and Care
Bears. It can be argued that Power Rangers was the
real Malcolm Gladwell tipping point for the mass
consumption of Japanese cultural stuff by the West...
.... and Pokémon was the
heavy-weight Snorlax that sky-rocketed everything else
off into the stratosphere.
Sorry, we got a bit off topic
here. Back to the first movie. Despite what the critics said (who mostly didn't get
it), Pokémon the First Movie was a
huge success in the US, making over $10million on its first
day alone. It briefly held the record for the highest-grossing opening
weekend for a animated movie (which was quickly taken by Toy
Story 2 two weeks later). It was also (by default) the
highest-grossing anime film in the US at the time and the highest-grossing film
based on a video game in history (until Angelina
Jolie stole it off them when she played Lara
Croft in that Tomb Raider movie).
