Pokemon Generations: Anime shorts series featuring game highlights from all generations

[jordanthejq12]

These are too damn short.

Amen.

I did love the ending. We finally see a player character (that seems to be Hilbert, the BW1 main, in BW2), N's speech is literally all the feels, and those are some awesome action sequences. Did I mention the feels? Pokemon is making me feel things. Send help.

 

[Pikachu315111]

Episode 15: The King Returns

(Watch Here)
1:33: Um... someone forgot to tell the animators that Ghetsis only has his left arm. And yeah, he could be wearing a prosthetic arm, but unless the Pokemon world has advanced its prosthetic technology to have one act like a real arm I don't think he'd be able to grip his cane or point as we later see him do in the episode.
4:31: HILBERT?! So the BW2 playable character isn't here but the missing BW is? Still, epic return.

Yeah, only two comments this time mainly because this is pretty much just what happened in the game except the BW2 player isn't there. If anything N takes the player's place, being the one to come in, threatened to be frozen, and then rescued. Nothing is more revealed about their character, the only interesting part is Kyurem capturing and fusing with Reshiram and Hilbert & Zekrom saving N.
Speaking of which, that makes me a bit disappointed they didn't do the same thing in the games. Like if you didn't use Memory Link they can have the story played out like it did, BUT if you did use Memory Link then after N had his dragon absorbed they can have your BW player character show up with their dragon after the player defeats Kyurem. Kyurem would prepare one last attack to freeze both the player and N but BW player and their dragon would swoop in with all its might, knock Kyurem back, and free N's dragon. Then you'd have a double battle against Ghetsis and maybe Zinzolin with both your BW2 and BW characters. The missed opportunities.

Personal Episode Rankings

1. The Chase
2. The Challenger
3. The Lake of Rage
4. The Scoop
5. The Old Chateau
6. The Legacy
7. The Cavern
8. The New World
9. The Uprising
10. The King Returns
11. The Frozen World
12. The Magma Stone
13. The Reawakening
14. The Adventure
15. The Vision

Taistelu:
Yeah, I know how you feel. The problem is the idea behind this series felt like it changed. At first it was about stuff that happened behind scenes, things the player wasn't there for. But as time went on it more became about alternate takes on events we saw in the games except with little to no involvement from the player. I went from thinking "what behind-the-scene event are they going to show this time!" to "I wonder what scene from the game they're going to rehash minus the player".

 

[VarunR]

I loved it. The music was amazing. Loved the inclusion of Ghetsis' and N's themes. Pretty solid feels too.

 

[WaffleTitan]

I like this. Ghetsis seems the way he was in the games, and I liked N's moment with Kyurem-W. Kyurem / Zekrom / Reshiram were as cool as they needed to be. I don't really think the ending is as stellar as the two above posts made it out to be.

I think in general I'm getting burned out on Generations. I really enjoyed this series when it came out and solidly did so until about the Gen 4 saga where I started caring less. A lot of these recent episodes seem inferior to the ones before. Looking at the final three episodes about Kalos, it's going to take a lot for me to care about them (as being episodes I want to watch, I'm going to watch them regardless) seeing as I'm holding these episodes to such a high standard now...and the source material for Kalos isn't the greatest. I could see something with Lysandre working and mabye something with Yveltal but honestly, I'm not expecting much now. The series seems to be declining in quality over all. The Cavern / The Scoop were the last episodes I felt I really enjoyed and got into...

These are too damn short.

I wouldn't say I'm getting burned out, it's quite the opposite in fact. Generations is just "too damn short" as you said. They wouldn't even have to be full length episodes in order for them to be significantly better, just 10 minutes would do. I feel like the generation 3 episodes (the cavern and the vision) were by far the best, but I don't think the series is necessarily in a decline, I'm fairly certain that they wrote and produced all these at approximately the same time, so I think that it's more of a "these few in a row happen to be better than these next few in a row" kinda thing. I'll still watch them because they're cool, but the fact that most episodes (obviously not all) end at the climax is annoying, although it can be hard for them to really do justice to an intense battle. The episode that was, in my opinion, the best- The Cavern, really did hit the nail on the head and completely got the climax perfect, so it would've been/would be nice to see them try and not just leave us right at a cliffhanger before a really cool fight scene a little more.

 

[cityscapes]

The main problem I have here in the Generation V ones is that we only got to see Reshiram, Zekrom, and Kyurem, but no other legendaries. We didn't see a trace of the Four Swords, the Weather Trio, Meloetta, Genesect, etc which bothers me because I really want to know their backstory. What happened with Meloetta? Was there some sort of Tornadus vs. Thundurus weather battle that went on at some point? Will we ever know?

But other than that, I liked this episode. The story stuff that happened was pretty cool. Something that confused me, though, was how thin White Kyurem's limbs were.

 

[Cresselia~~]

It was a nice episode, but it would have been slightly cooler if N was saved by the female Heroine for once.
The lack of female Heroines in this series is making me slightly unhappy.

 

[Fawfulmk-II]

I guess it's a reference to how the BW protagonist left Unova to try and find N.

Now, it seems we know they found him.

 

[Bull Of Heaven]

They probably just wanted to show all three dragons.

Weird that all three episodes are about Team Plasma, especially with two of them heavily featuring Kyurem. I guess they kind of tell a story between them, but you'd think we could have done without the Zinzolin one for the sake of a little more variety.

 

[meowmachine]

Honestly, I just want to see more of the non-cover legendaries.

 

[Kiga]

The issue is that they've only given themselves three episodes to a generation. It wasn't as large a problem in the beginning, but each generation has grown more deep and complex in its story and history. The stories of Generations V, VI, and VII are much deeper than those of Red and Blue or Gold and Silver ever tried to be, and it's hard to factor into short segmented episodes like this.

I'm really hoping that there's a point to this, aside from it being a simple anniversary thing, and that Generations is like a trial run for a larger series, or something. Don't tell me that they don't have the funding, especially after Sun and Moon just broke records. I know a lot of people who grew up with pokémon, who are tired of the kid-oriented Ash anime, and would pay for a more matured Pokémon anime such as this (just with the bugs worked out, first). I would just like to see more involvement from the main characters that just siluettes and the boys. I wouldn't mind the plot of the games becoming an anime in this style, even if each set of games was only a season of thirteen full episodes.

Still this a pretty good episode, despite it being a rehash of a scene was already in the games. The music was placed well, the DNA Splicer broke physics just by existing (and that's before they were used on Reshiram), and we got to see first hand the horror the taoism trio must face when we merge them together.

 

[Kurona]

The issue is that they've only given themselves three episodes to a generation. It wasn't as large a problem in the beginning, but each generation has grown more deep and complex in its story and history. The stories of Generations V, VI, and VII are much deeper than those of Red and Blue or Gold and Silver ever tried to be, and it's hard to factor into short segmented episodes like this.

I'm really hoping that there's a point to this, aside from it being a simple anniversary thing, and that Generations is like a trial run for a larger series, or something. Don't tell me that they don't have the funding, especially after Sun and Moon just broke records. I know a lot of people who grew up with pokémon, who are tired of the kid-oriented Ash anime, and would pay for a more matured Pokémon anime such as this (just with the bugs worked out, first). I would just like to see more involvement from the main characters that just siluettes and the boys. I wouldn't mind the plot of the games becoming an anime in this style, even if each set of games was only a season of thirteen full episodes.

Still this a pretty good episode, despite it being a rehash of a scene was already in the games. The music was placed well, the DNA Splicer broke physics just by existing (and that's before they were used on Reshiram), and we got to see first hand the horror the taoism trio must face when we merge them together.

Considering we got Origins at the start of Gen 6, I'm starting to think that maybe we'll keep getting one of these mini-series at the start of each new gen as a special thing.

 

[pika pal]

Just caught up on the most recent 3 episodes, some brief thoughts.

The Uprising

I think the Sages rising took a bit too much of the screentime, given that most of the stuff they said was just kind of philosophical "we're better than you" bragging, not to mention all the individual towers. The Gym Leader entrances were cool but something's kind of lost with the Sages just kind of sitting back and ordering the attack. Having the Leaders tear through grunts for their entry seems sensible, given that would be the first line of defense, but the ending shot is where I have an issue. It's them charging some of the grunts, but a bunch of others just kind of stand in the background watching. I think that last part should have been them vs the Sages, since the entrance already establishes they curbstomp the grunts and it would also play into the impression that the Sages are a different level, hence why the player needed back up for them in the game version as well. Barring that, maybe something like the Gym Leaders clear a path through the grunts so Bianca/Iris/Hilbert/etc can get into the castle to confront N, and the last shot is the Gym Leaders about to fight the Sages.

The Frozen World

I like this episode for its implications a bit more than its choice of premise and execution. Pokemon and the Generations shorts have been no stranger to the idea of huge scale danger and disasters from the Villains, but this is the first one that felt like actively endangering and targeting people rather than taking generic hostages or them being collateral damage. It really hammered home the idea that villainous teams like Plasma are, at their core, terrorists. That said, there isn't actually that much substance to this one. Plasma shows up, demands DNA Splicers, Drayden refuses, city gets frozen. There's spectacle, but not much we haven't seen already in terms of expanding on the event, and there's not really character development to speak of either.

The King Returns

Alright, this one I'm more forgiving of in terms of events because this scene's entire focus was character development. Even in the game, it was supposed to show how N had really been changed by the BW protagonist and he was ready to face the world again. I also think it makes the scene a bit more powerful to have N and Ghetsis bickering like this when Ghetsis is the one in control with Kyurem, compared to the game having more of this interaction after he's already lost. Hilbert's entrance with Zekrom also feels a bit out of place in the context of how the series runs overall, but in the short's story I personally think it's deserved and fits both motivation and the situation it ends on. Hilbert was looking for N for over 2 years, and I feel like hearing news of Plasma's resurgence would have sparked investigation. Even assuming he doesn't expect to find N there, confronting Ghetsis again seems like something they'd feel responsible for doing. In terms of the conflict, I like it because having the other dragon present gives the feel that they can fight back while still having an uphill battle, as Generations goes with the lore idea that Legendaries are typically a different class for anyone but the absolute most skilled trainers. And I won't lie, just seeing them make that entrance and reunite with N after those 2 years got me pretty pumped given BW were the first Pokemon games I played at an age where I could appreciate the games individually rather than "Is Pokemon, is good".

It does raise one question for me though: couldn't Ghetsis use the DNA splicers to make Kyurem absorb Zekrom as well and complete the original Dragon? Is that even something the lore says is possible, or is the separation irreversible (in that a Black+White Kyurem is not the same cohesive being as the original dragon)? I also was never clear on the nature of the fusion, but the closest I can equate it to is Cell from Dragon Ball Z, which begs the question if Kyurem is literally the original dragon (or what's left of it), or just a third being born out of the separation with its own thoughts (albeit having the reunion instinct).

This raises a question for me though. Are these events exploring realities where the PC just isn't there for that game's story at all, or just when they're occasionally not present for major events? The former raises an eyebrow for me since the BW protagonist and their dynamic with N is integral to how the plot unfolds, which begs the "how did we get here at all?" question, while the latter begs the question of their absence from this scene in particular, given they'd have the same importance elsewhere. The only series of shorts that has excluded the protagonist in an event they should be in has been Gen 4 and Gen 5, with Gen 4 fitting the first explanation (Cynthia confronting Cyrus makes sense) and Gen 5 the latter (just comparatively though), especially since Hilbert appears in the B2W2 short. But in that case, does that mean the shorts are all their own continuities, ergo the Uprising isn't technically the in the BW events that precede Hilbert's appearance in The King's Return? Maybe I'm thinking too deeply about these overall, but the inconsistency is raising questions when I really want to like these shorts more than I end up in some cases.


I'm interested to see where they take the Gen 6 shorts, because between AZ, Lysandre, and Zygarde in Kalos, they have some big plot threads to expand on.

 

[Mad Ram]

Well, we finally know what happened to the Japanese version of Generations.
https://twitter.com/bulbanewsnow/status/807030302354702336

 

[Pikachu315111]

Well, we finally know what happened to the Japanese version of Generations.
https://twitter.com/bulbanewsnow/status/807030302354702336

Well, it's nice they finally got/released it but what took them so long? One of the exciting things about Generation is that it was being released on a weekly basis weeks before Sun & Moon was released so it sort of was something to both hold us over and build up to a new generation of Pokemon. Releasing a whole bunch of episodes now feels like they're more trying to catch up. Both versions (and any other language they translated it into) really should have been released at the same time as each other like they did with new Sun & Moon info so everyone got the same/similar experience. Like I'm sure most Japanese fans have already seen episodes in English, the only benefit they're getting now is possibly a better voice cast.

Come on Pokemon Company, is it really that hard for an international company to plan stuff for global release (this includes the delay of Sun & Moon in Europe regions for no reason I can see other than spite for XY being leaked early; a crime whose punishment should have been focused on the leakers and not the whole continent)?

 

[Karxrida]

Episode 16: The Beauty Eternal

 

[Pikachu315111]

Episode 16: The Beauty Eternal

(Watch Here)
0:09: CG? Is this the first use of CG in Generations? If so, why now, and why for something you could easily animate?
0:27: Man, Apple's press meetings are getting more flashier and flashier.
1:23: *Insert iPhone joke here*
2:00: RED FLAGS! RED FLAGS! RED FLAGS! Hey, Lysandre, can you try not sound and act creepy when saying that?
2:15: *Insert iPhone joke here*
2:20: Well that's how you know this world is fictional. A company increasing production of a popular product that keeps selling out? What a joke.
2:35: Just to a single Pokemon Center? Not to the organization that runs all the Pokemon Centers? What and how much research is that single Pokemon Center doing it needs all the donation?
3:24: How did anyone even hear about "Project Y"? I can sort of see how his stockholders (I guess? I suppose they could also be a board of directors that don't know about his Team Flare dealings) getting wind of it but how did the press? I would think that would be something Lysandre would be keeping under heavy watch so that no one finds out.
3:28: I think that's how Donald Trump ends all his meetings.
3:50: Pft, lol, I don't think a saxophone is the instrument you wanted to use here. :P
4:27: Yes, it will not fade away as you use Yveltal's power to kill almost everything... wait... Are you sure this wasn't suppose to be Xerneas? You know, the Pokemon that gives eternal life thus part of Lysandre's plan to have just Team Flare the only ones living? I more imagine his thinking for using Yveltal would be about eliminating all those who are ruining the world.

OMA, an episode that's not a rehash of events we saw in the games! :O
I liked this episode, it's not exciting or anything but it does maybe flesh out Lysandre's character a bit more. In the games we're told about all the good that he did for Kalos but he never does anything to show us that. Here we see him introduce the Holo Caster, it becoming successful so he increases production, and donating money to a Pokemon Center for medical research (for Pokemon). And though there was a tiny rehash with Lysandre talking with Diantha about keeping things beautiful, it does show us how at least the writing team took the scene as Lysandre being a bit idealist (and creepy) and not the seriousness you gotten from the games (where his face is permanently in a frown). Also it was interesting to see that he does have people he has to answer to, even if they are just stockholders/board of directors so don't really have any more power over him.
Would have likes to see exactly where they found Yveltal's cocoon but this episode was more about how Lysandre had set up the events that led to Gen VI, specifically Y version.
Guessing next episode we're getting something with Xerneas?

Personal Episode Rankings

1. The Chase
2. The Challenger
3. The Lake of Rage
4. The Scoop
5. The Beauty Eternal
6. The Old Chateau
7. The Legacy
8. The Cavern
9. The New World
10. The Uprising
11. The King Returns
12. The Frozen World
13. The Magma Stone
14. The Reawakening
15. The Adventure
16. The Vision

 

[Taistelu]

I like this. It focuses on what we don't see rather than what we do see (which is what a lot of the bad / mediocre episodes do). We see a lot about Lysandre and Lysandre Labs including when Lysandre announces the HoloCaster and the stockholder scene. It's a shame this ends on yet another cliffhanger though. Either way, I liked what we saw.

These are still to short.

 

[Mova]

I appreciated the way this short elaborated on Lysandre's motives when he tried to avoid discussing Team Flare's true plans in Geosenge Town. This series may be able to compensate for the lack of world building Kalos had.

 

[jordanthejq12]

Great worldbuilding, especially expanding on Lysandre's motivations, but good God, Lysandre's VA. And this is your viewpoint character, too! Nor is it the first time a character with significant time in an episode has a grating voice, either.

 

[Karxrida]

These are still to short.

I think this episode actually used its time okay. It didn't feel incomplete to me even with the cliffhanger.

Great worldbuilding, especially expanding on Lysandre's motivations, but good God, Lysandre's VA. And this is your viewpoint character, too! Nor is it the first time a character with significant time in an episode has a grating voice, either.

I didn't mind Lysandre's voice. I was more distracted by Diantha's, plus her face looks weird in the Generations style. (Then again a number of characters have weird faces in this.)

Decent episode overall, I'd say. We got to see some new stuff and it made better use of Lysandre than the games did.

 

[Karxrida]

"The Adventure" and "The Chase" have been given HD uploads.

The Adventure

The Chase

 

[Karxrida]

Episode 17: The Investigation

 

[WaffleTitan]

These episodes are starting to piss me off. I need answers. These are now like watching the trailer for a movie, but never getting to see the movie. Ughhh

 

[Jibaku]

Is it bad that I laughed at the kick?

 

[Pikachu315111]

Episode 17: The Investigation

(Watch Here)
0:53: Oh s***! That didn't happen in the games!
1:27: They made Emma look older than I thought she was. I thought she was at most a young teen but here she looks in her mid-teens.
1:29: You know, after having to teach her how to read and write. What was wrong with him just wanting to give a homeless kid a place to stay?
2:25: Didn't this confrontation take place in an alleyway?
2:32: ... Okay, I think we might be changing the story here a tad bit.
3:15: Odd they held on that shot, was kind of expecting Xerosic's foot walking into frame last second.

To start: YEAH EMMA! F*** the main anime for not including the Looker Missions.
Back to analysis, while I'm glad they had a short focused on the Looker Missions... it's a bit disappointing. It's pretty much just the initial Essentia confrontation scene but now includes a chase and breaking Emma out of the suits control. Ignoring how this messes up the Looker Mission's story, once again this is another episode that suffers due to it just being a short. They want to have both high action and emotional weight but they don't have enough time to do both. So what we get is meh action and have to be plot dump Emma's importance to Looker. And even then, from this short alone, you don't really get how close Looker and Emma were. For one thing having Looker's reason for taking Emma in sort of makes you question was Emma really innocent. The reason Emma took the job of being part of Xerosic's experiment was because she was wanted to help pay back Looker for his kindness. Making Emma into Looker's assistant sort of removes that reasoning as she would be helping Looker thus no reason to look for a job. In addition having looker take Emma in as an assistant removes some of the emotional aspect as he's now just not taking her in from the kindness of his heart. Not to mention without the other missions to build on their relation it sort of makes the urgency this scene otherwise had feel low if not empty.
Maybe instead of this what they should have done was an episode focusing on how Emma got the job with Xerosic. You can start the episode with a younger looking Emma (one of the functions of the Expansion suit is shapeshifting so they could still make her a kid normally but Essentia the size of a young adult) looking for a job on a notice board. She thinks back to when Looker took her in, teaching her how to read and write, bonding with one another, and then her seeing bills stacking on Looker's desk. Back to the present, she gets discouraged when most of the fliers says experience is needed... until she finds one hidden in a corner that doesn't. The only option, she follows the direction (this will probably where a good chunk of the short will go to, Emma going down a alley where he finds a secret elevator and taken down to Xerosic's lab) and meets Xerosic. Xerosic is at first upset that the only person to answer his flier was a child but, after Emma pleads to be given the job, Xerosic relents and tells her what she needs to do. The short ends as Xerosic reveals to Emma the Expansion Suit.
Anyway, guessing the last episode will feature AZ, considering we don't know much about him maybe we'll actually get some behind the scene stuff.

Personal Episode Rankings

1. The Chase
2. The Challenger
3. The Lake of Rage
4. The Scoop
5. The Beauty Eternal
6. The Old Chateau
7. The Legacy
8. The Cavern
9. The New World
10. The Uprising
11. The King Returns
12. The Frozen World
13. The Magma Stone
14. The Investigation
15. The Reawakening
16. The Adventure
17. The Vision