Pokemon! We've all heard of the show, and most of us have watched and (probably) loved it as kids. So this means it's great, no? I mean, why else would kid's all over the world love it? Well... kids often perceive things differently than the older demographic, and they find great what others think of as garbage. So... what about Pokemon? Is this the same? Let's see... (Don't lie you people still watch it or try to figure out what's going on in the current)

It starts out with a tiny step, like most other journeys. Our hero, Ash Ketchum, has high dreams of becoming the ultimate Pokemon trainer (I'll refrain from explaining that to you), and he starts out by sleeping in too late! before long however, he's gotten his first (reluctant) Pokemon, everyone's favorite mouse Pikachu, and they're off on their epic journey!

The shows brings out an epic adventure of friendship, harsh battles and whatnot; everything you'd expect from a shonen that's aimed at the younger kids. It isn't that great however, as it gets very repetitive after a while; a Pokemon/person of the day formula with some kind of problem that always ends well. And that's what most of the episodes contain, with a small bit of getting further on their journey every now and then.

Animation-wise, the show doesn't feature anything boastable, with flat character designs, okay backgrounds and no spectacular special effects at all. Was it because of budget restrictions (it is a pretty long anime, after all), or was it because the producers knew the kids they were aiming the show at didn't care anyway? Well, whatever it was, the animation isn't anything to brag about.

The soundtrack is what you'd expect of such a show; adventurous opening themes, background music that's supposed to get you into the fighting/comedic mood, and a variety of sound effects to use for all the moves and whatnot you'll see. The voice acting is decent, but honestly - my inability to cope with dubs in anime pretty much wins over my nostalgia here, and that is the main reason I stopped watching the show some time ago.

The characters are, well, what you'd expect from a shonen. The rash, headstrong main character and his oh-so-arrogant rival, and the people he travels with; the older, more reasonable (mostly) fellow, and of course, the tomboyish girl with whom he argues a lot. Yup, that's shonen for ya. The main comedic relief of the series, the Team Rocket trio, is actually a pretty entertaining one. Despite constantly neglecting to look over their mistakes and realise that every one of their contraptions fail against Ash and company, they keep on trying, knowing thinking that their boss will reward them greatly of they bring him the Pikachu. I like their stupid enthusiasm a lot, and their scenes are often among the better ones in the series.

So... Pokemon is basically a cliche-ridden shonen with no real thing to make it stand out. Wait... that can't be right? What about all the kids that love it? And what of all the others that love it? One of the things, I believe, is the adventurous feel of the series; who wouldn't want to experience such an epic adventure for themselves? (I know I want to, at least!) Not to mention, the great values of friendship, loyalty and trust which are presented to the viewers. That is one thing that makes Pokemon so great, and I'd try to get any kid into the show because of that reason alone. And that's what there is to say about Pokemon, actually. 6/10

Give me your opinion. Remember this is just one view point.

Recommended Anime:

Digimon (Why: It's not a rip off. It doesn't even cliche shounen character well sort of. Hell each monster/creature is different for Digimon. Better character development)

Brian Daniels wrote:

Don't give that look. Remember it's just my opinion.

Azumi Goto wrote:

Brian Daniels wrote:

Don't give that look. Remember it's just my opinion.