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

>3:15 length...

Come on...really? How are you supposed to do anything of substance with just over 3 minutes? This is pathetic. The others were short but at least used their time kind of well...but this? THIS? This is the worst episode yet imo.
 
Alright now, you do NOT just kick one of the single cutest pokemon ever in the face like that. It was seriously upsetting. >:(
However, now I just might go back to XY and actually complete Looker missions because, if this episode is of any indication, they seem pretty good. And I'm pretty sure there are many people out there who don't even know they're in the game since it's not "on your face" post-game content.
 
Alright now, you do NOT just kick one of the single cutest pokemon ever in the face like that. It was seriously upsetting. >:(
However, now I just might go back to XY and actually complete Looker missions because, if this episode is of any indication, they seem pretty good. And I'm pretty sure there are many people out there who don't even know they're in the game since it's not "on your face" post-game content.
The Looker missions are easily the best part of XY's story and arguably better than most game's stories. I don't know what's up with post-game Looker sidequests having incredible stories attached to them but it's a trend I'm enjoying quite a bit.
 
Three things:

1 - at 0:41, what is Chesnaught doing there? Are they seriously implying that it is the canon starter? No, I refuse to accept that.
2 - They couldn't even be bothered enough to actually animate the war, could they? Half those scenes are exactly like the ones from the games. Like, how lazy can you actually be.
3 - Chesnaught

But really, freaking Chestnaught of all things? Somebody please wake me up from this nightmare.
Worst episode ever.
 
Three things:

1 - at 0:41, what is Chesnaught doing there? Are they seriously implying that it is the canon starter? No, I refuse to accept that.
2 - They couldn't even be bothered enough to actually animate the war, could they? Half those scenes are exactly like the ones from the games. Like, how lazy can you actually be.
3 - Chesnaught

But really, freaking Chestnaught of all things? Somebody please wake me up from this nightmare.
Worst episode ever.
Chesnaught's great. It was nice to see they decided on a starter other than Greninja.

The way the war is depicted gives it a feeling of an ancient event or a storybook feel - ie, exactly how it's being depicted narratively. So the way it's shown visually makes sense.

All in all I feel this was one of the better episodes. It's nice that they ended the series on one of XY's most emotional notes.
 

Cresselia~~

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The Redemption is probably the most touching of all episodes.
I nearly cried twice during these short 3 minutes.

Nice to see that they are giving Chesnaught some love.
I love how Game Freak simply likes to revive underrated Pokemon, just to let them to shine for once in a while.

I think this might be my favorite episode.
 
I liked this tbh. I felt it was a nice note to go off on, even if it wasn't new or anything. Now that we're done I feel like putting them in order (by region, episode by episode is to hard).

1) Hoeen
Episode 8 and 9 are my favourite in the series. Episode 8 in particular just screams amazing with it showcasing Primal Kyogre in its full glory. Episode 9 had a decent set up and the battle in space was quite cool. Episode 7 was lackluster but I feel Episodes 8 and 9 redeem it enough.

2) Kanto
Episode 1 was a cool montage. Not amazing, but alright. Episode 2 is still among the best in the series. They focused on something new, unlike most episodes where it was a retelling without the Player Character (not that this is bad, see Episode 8). The third Episode was again, alright. We saw insight into Blue but this was one of the Episodes where you could feel the time limit limiting the Episode. Kanto is at No. 2 despite being average due to its lack of terrible episodes. They were all alright or above.

3) Sinnoh
Episode 10 was alright, but it felt too drawn out in places (such as the eating scene) which is kinda surprising given how most of these episodes are limited by time. Episode 11 was alright. Yeah, a lot of alrights in these episodes. It was decent but it was just an event minus the player. The Giratina bit was cool and the very end but other than that I find that episode to be average. Episode 12 was just obnoxious.

4) Johto
Episodes 5 and 6 were so talky that it just bored me. They barely revealed anything new so I just don't see the point. The only reason they're not further down is because of The Lake Of Rage, which was an actually good episode with Lance. Shame it's not good enough to save Johto overall.

4) Kalos
I had trouble deciding whether to place this above of below Johto so I'll just put it in the same place. The episode we just saw was a nice retelling and emotional in places, which was surprising since at this point the series had largely lost my interest. The Looker mission episode was- sorry I ran out of time to finish typing this sentence. The first Kalos episode was meh. We did atleast see something new, which is always nice and it made better use of Lysandre than the games did.

6) Unova
Gen 5 might be my favourite set of games but that doesn't save this lot of episodes at all. The Uprising was weird when I look back on it. The time constrains are real here. Nothing made sense. Episode 15 was alright. I don't mind it that much and the Kyurem Episode I think I gave a bit to much credit to at first. Being honest Unova is where I had the least interest in the series simply because I was burned out. Kalos being half decent revived it somewhat.

Note that Johto, Kalos and Unova are interchangeable here and I had a hard time deciding which was best for what position.
 
Chesnaught's great. It was nice to see they decided on a starter other than Greninja.

The way the war is depicted gives it a feeling of an ancient event or a storybook feel - ie, exactly how it's being depicted narratively. So the way it's shown visually makes sense.
I said that, but I'm not even surprised chesnaught is canon. It's always usually between the Grass or Fire starter anyway, I just don't like the pokemon lol.

And yeah, it does makes sense, however I've already seen that take on this story 3 years ago and mind you, it was done much better then than now by some random lady who suddently gets into a monologue in the middle of a loud crowd. Basically all I'm saying is that the games did it a lot better which makes this look bad to me, but to each their own.

Anyway, looking back it's interesting how they went specifically out of their way to exclude only the Sinnoh's MC from the series. sinnohconfirmed
 

Pikachu315111

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And thus, Pokemon Generations ends.

(Watch Here)
0:19: Um, excuse me Generations, I think you're missing some people up on that stage. The ceremony was not only to celebrate the player becoming Champion, but also to award the 5 trainers who SAVED KALOS AND THE WORLD. Where's Serena (assuming Calem is the Champion), Shauna, Trevor, and Tierno? Also wasn't Dexio and Sina up there as well? Heck, I think that's the reason why AZ showed up, it's not just because the player is the Champion but they were also the main one who helped stopped Lysandre from using the Ultimate Weapon. Speaking of which...
0:34: How do you know that, little girl that I think is suppose to look like Serena? Yeah, we then find out soon that her mother told her the story of AZ (which I thought wasn't known but whatever) but how did she figure out just from seeing AZ that he was the wandering king? He's not dressed like a king and I doubt his face would look the same after 3,000 years of wear and tear if she's comparing it to the portrait of AZ in Parfum Palace.
0:54: Um, shouldn't AZ not have the key to the Ultimate Weapon for obvious reasons?
2:33: You know the cartoony, 5 pointed stars kind of bring down the serious moment. And yes I know it was in the original images but those were still images, for some reason when they're animated it makes them feel out of place.
3:02: You know that part always bugged me. AZ's Floette just saw AZ annihilate humans and Pokemon on both sides of a war without remorse, yet what bothered it the most was all the Pokemon who had their life force drained to give it life. Which is also a horrible thing, but I'm just saying maybe Floette could have been horrified from both awful things that AZ had done instead of the one just pertaining to it.
4:12: This scene felt way more powerful in the games. Not only was it slower paced, but AZ falling to his knees I felt showed he was overcome by joy and sorrow. AZ stands over 8 feet tall, towering over most everyone. So for him to kneel down also is a humbling moment, a moment where he's no longer burdened by his past deeds and can let his guard down. Also I felt Professor Sycamore telling the player that his Pokemon waited for him had more weight than a little girl telling her mom that; I don't care about the little care, I care about the player and Sycamore.

But hey, there are worse ways they could have ended things on.
I have mixed feelings about this final episode. Now the topic they chose I approve of, AZ's history concerning the war, Floette's revival, and the Ultimate Weapon. I liked that they framed it within the XY end game ceremony, a time which AZ probably would be remembering what happened. And I like they went with the style of the storybook we saw in the games but animated.
BUT still we didn't learn anything new. It was just a retelling of what we knew what happened from the games and not any extra info that was revealed. I'm just going to cut to changes I would have made:
  1. Cut the girl and her mom. The story should be a flashback via AZ remembering it. There would be no narration but the scenes alone plus dialogue from characters would fill in the gaps of what is needed to be known. Also add the other missing characters onto the stage.
  2. It should start off with a child AZ receiving Floette from his mother and the next scene should show the mother passing away. That is why Floette is so important to AZ, it was a gift from his mother who passed away when he was young.
  3. Show exactly how Floette was drafted into the war. Floette didn't decide to join the war, it was forced to by one of the sides of the war. Exactly how did a foreign army draft a king's Pokemon, and why? That's a question I would like answered (not that I can't create my own, but would like to see an official explanation).
  4. Show Floette fighting and how it died. It doesn't need to be graphic, show Floette blasting enemy Pokemon with Moonblast/Dazzling Gleam when its then attacked and knocked down, then have a Pokemon come bearing down onto Floette, cutting the scene with Floette looking on in horror.
  5. Show a quick scene of AZ's men strapping the Pokemon onto the stone slabs and then having their life energy drained to revive Floette, leaving them petrified and fused to the stone slabs.
  6. Maybe do a quick POV shot from armies as the Ultimate Weapon's blast comes crashing down onto them.
  7. Finally have AZ fall to his knees when reuniting with Floette.
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 Redemption
13. The Frozen World
14. The Magma Stone
15. The Investigation
16. The Reawakening
17. The Adventure
18. The Vision


Maybe now its over I'll make a follow-up post explaining my rankings reasoning.

So final thoughts? Generations is a nice addition to the franchise, showing us behind the scenes stuff, animating memorable moments in the game, and "what if?"s. Did it live up to what I expected of it? Yes and no. I would rather have much rather seen a heavier focus on the behind the scenes stuff than the other two, and in the beginning it looked like is was doing that but as it got into later generations it more focused on animating memorable moments and "what if?"s. Generations, if canon, added a few things to the lore but could have done so much more. There was plenty of stories to tell not connected to events the player was there for but, as I said, during later generations they stuck to what the player was there to witness (whether they included the player or not) thus lessening the excitement of seeing something new.

So what will happen to Generations from here. Well, I would say it would be a crying shame if the Pokemon Company didn't put all of them on a DVD/Blu-ray/whatever collection this bonus material like creator commentary, how they decided to do Generations and what events to do an episode on, show concept art... and maybe some new shorts? I mean Sun & Moon is out, why shouldn't Alola get 3 shorts? I even thought of what they could focus on: The Escape (cuts back and forth between Gladion's and Lillie's escape from the Aether Paradise), The Ultra Space (shows us what Lusamine and Guzma did upon first stepping into Ultra Space), and The Ultra Beasts (a bit of a re-imaging, Anabel finds out about Looker's & Nanu's plan to distract her so she takes the initiative to hunt UB-05 by herself. Now Looker and Nanu have to race and save Anabel before she's eaten... maybe with assistance from the other Ultra Beasts they caught?).
 
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Karxrida

Death to the Undying Savage
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I think hide tags would prevent the embeds from crashing the page.

Boring finale. I wanted to see something new with Zygarde, not AZ's story again with no changes. Art style was nice at least.

Also, I call bullshit on the little girl being able to identify AZ immediately with no clues.
 

Xen

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The X/Y ending I thought was a good note to end the series on, and it makes sense due to how important the Kalos war is to the game's story (not just X/Y's, but ORAS and S/M as well.)

One minor thing about the episode that kinda bothers me is the little girl, who looks like a mirror image of a young Serena. It's made worse by the fact that only the male MC is on the stage with Sycamore and Diantha. Also, rip Trevor, Tierno, and Shauna.

Also, I call bullshit on the little girl being able to identify AZ immediately with no clues.
Well, we know from the games and the Kalos war story that the people of Kalos believe that AZ was still roaming the region in search of Floette, and I imagine the story is probably told to the children of Kalos through a picture book (especially considering how the games and this episode tell the story in a storybook fashion). It's not that surprising that she could put two and two together and believe he was the man in the story, kind of like how a modern kid can see an old bearded man and think he's Santa Clause.
 

Pikachu315111

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Well, we know from the games and the Kalos war story that the people of Kalos believe that AZ was still roaming the region in search of Floette, and I imagine the story is probably told to the children of Kalos through a picture book (especially considering how the games and this episode tell the story in a storybook fashion). It's not that surprising that she could put two and two together and believe he was the man in the story, kind of like how a modern kid can see an old bearded man and think he's Santa Clause.
So let's assume AZ's story is known and there's a picture book for little kids about it (what a lovely bed time story to read to your kids. There was once a war that forced a king's beloved Pokemon to be taken and killed. The king was so sad he sacrificed many Pokemon to bring his Pokemon back to life and used the machine that did it to kill both armies of the war. The king's Pokemon was horrified by all the lives the king took and so left the king. The king, now immortal, wanders the world hoping to find his Pokemon. The end, everyone is miserable). Now there is a portrait of AZ in Parfum Palace, so let's also assume the illustrator used that as a reference:

1. How many outfits would AZ go through after 3000 years? There's no way the clothes he wore when he began wandering would last up till now. Actually just look at the clothes he's wearing, they're modern design.
2. Even though he's immortal, AZ still continued to age. Maybe at a much slower pace, but he kept growing taller, his hair greyed, and his face probably began to sag. Also AZ is filthy looking, he looks like a hobo and you have to wonder exactly how much basic hygiene he does, if any. Point is, he wouldn't look like he did in the portrait when he was young and clean.

The only clue that could be AZ was the key around his neck... which he shouldn't have as Lysandre took it and used to turn on the Ultimate Weapon. There's no way to know that was AZ unless you already knew.
 
They still look similar, but it was probably just a young child being naive. The child probably doesn't know any similar looking people so, for a young child, it's a logical connection to make.
 

Xen

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So let's assume AZ's story is known and there's a picture book for little kids about it (what a lovely bed time story to read to your kids. There was once a war that forced a king's beloved Pokemon to be taken and killed. The king was so sad he sacrificed many Pokemon to bring his Pokemon back to life and used the machine that did it to kill both armies of the war. The king's Pokemon was horrified by all the lives the king took and so left the king. The king, now immortal, wanders the world hoping to find his Pokemon. The end, everyone is miserable). Now there is a portrait of AZ in Parfum Palace, so let's also assume the illustrator used that as a reference:

1. How many outfits would AZ go through after 3000 years? There's no way the clothes he wore when he began wandering would last up till now. Actually just look at the clothes he's wearing, they're modern design.
2. Even though he's immortal, AZ still continued to age. Maybe at a much slower pace, but he kept growing taller, his hair greyed, and his face probably began to sag. Also AZ is filthy looking, he looks like a hobo and you have to wonder exactly how much basic hygiene he does, if any. Point is, he wouldn't look like he did in the portrait when he was young and clean.

The only clue that could be AZ was the key around his neck... which he shouldn't have as Lysandre took it and used to turn on the Ultimate Weapon. There's no way to know that was AZ unless you already knew.
Well, I can't say anything about Kalos parents' choice for bedtime stories, but I think you're looking at the whole thing wrong. I doubt the kid saw him and immediately thought "hey, that's AZ!" She probably noticed they looked similar and thought it was him due to her naivety. AZ's story is definitely known in Kalos in some shape or form since there are NPCs that refrence it in the games, and the little girl in Generations knew the story due to her mother telling her about it. The Kalos war is a pretty big part of the region's history, so I'm sure Kalos kids have heard of it. And if people say that kids stories shouldn't be that dark, I invite them to watch The Secret of Nimh.

Take the Santa Clause example. Sure, clothes are different, and he has aged, but that doesn't mean he doesn't bear a resemblance to his past self at all. A different outfit doesn't stop a young kid from thinking an old man with a white beard is Santa. As for age, it's no different than someone looking at an old photo and recognizing them as a young grandparent or something; there's always a resemblance regardless of age.

As for the portrait in the Parfume Palace, that one is probably due to game/anime segregation more than anything, plus I doubt Game Freak really wanted to spend a lot of time making a portrait of a young AZ in the games, that most people probably wouldn't even notice (I didn't even know that post-game, the portrait is confirmed to be AZ till like, a few months ago). In Generations, the AZ in the story looks very similar to his old, modern counterpart.

Edit: Yeah, pretty much what Taistelu said in a nutshell.

Edit2: Another thing about the portrait, Game Freak could have intentionally made AZ look different in it so that players couldn't put two and two together and realize that AZ was the King before the big reveal in Lysandre Labs.
 
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Pikachu315111

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But a thing about a kid thinking a person looks like Santa is because Santa is a person a kid wants to remember. Santa gives them presents, he's a jolly guy who represents goodwill in the world.

But AZ is at best just a folktale figure. Is AZ's story the only folktale Kalos has? We have plenty of folktales. Like when a kid sees a guy with an ax do they think he's the woodsman from Little Red Riding Hood or Paul Bunyan? When they see an animal do they immediately relate it to an animal from a fairy tale (if it doesn't benefit them. Sure, a girl might think of the Frog Prince if they see a frog but would they think of the Three Little Pigs if they see three pigs)?

Also the fact he's really friggin' tall
But did people know that? AZ wasn't originally tall, he was tall because he kept aging which I would think is an unknown side effect of the Ultimate Weapon's immortality. So that wouldn't be part of the story.

As for the portrait in the Parfume Palace, that one is probably due to game/anime segregation more than anything, plus I doubt Game Freak really wanted to spend a lot of time making a portrait of a young AZ in the games, that most people probably wouldn't even notice (I didn't even know that post-game, the portrait is confirmed to be AZ till like, a few months ago). In Generations, the AZ in the story looks very similar to his old, modern counterpart.

Edit2: Another thing about the portrait, Game Freak could have intentionally made AZ look different in it so that players couldn't put two and two together and realize that AZ was the King before the big reveal in Lysandre Labs.
So where did the illustrator for the proposed child book come from? Did the illustrator just get lucky with how AZ looks? If the girl recognized AZ by appearance, how does the she know what he looks like? And how did the person she learned this from know how he looked like? The only picture of AZ is the portrait in Parfum Palace, it's why I brought it up.

Also the player didn't put it together because they didn't know who AZ was until Lysandre Labs, at most the player knew he was a very tall man and was being looked for by Team Flare. Then when the player learned who he was they... recognized... his portrait.

Okay, so maybe if the kid got a good look at AZ's face they might think its the wandering king if the player figured out the portrait was AZ. Still, I wouldn't think it be a first guess, at least let AZ say something to tip off because he just looks like a very tall hobo otherwise.

I think this is just a point we're going to have to disagree on. I don't think the little girl should have immediately been able to recognize AZ, some of you think it's reasonable. Fine, it doesn't really matter as I still think the little girl and her mom weren't needed.
 

Xen

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But a thing about a kid thinking a person looks like Santa is because Santa is a person a kid wants to remember. Santa gives them presents, he's a jolly guy who represents goodwill in the world.

But AZ is at best just a folktale figure. Is AZ's story the only folktale Kalos has? We have plenty of folktales. Like when a kid sees a guy with an ax do they think he's the woodsman from Little Red Riding Hood or Paul Bunyan? When they see an animal do they immediately relate it to an animal from a fairy tale (if it doesn't benefit them. Sure, a girl might think of the Frog Prince if they see a frog but would they think of the Three Little Pigs if they see three pigs)?
It's true that Santa is more memorable as a positive figure, but another reason why he's so memorable is due to how much of an integral part he is to our childhood. If folktales are an integral part of someone's childhood, then yeah, as a kid, they could see a lumberjack or 3 pigs and relate it to their stories. Considering how important AZ's story is to Kalos history, I'm sure many Kalos kids grew up/are growing up listening to the story of the Kalos war and the ultimate weapon.

So where did the illustrator for the proposed child book come from? Did the illustrator just get lucky with how AZ looks? If the girl recognized AZ by appearance, how does the she know what he looks like? And how did the person she learned this from know how he looked like? The only picture of AZ is the portrait in Parfum Palace, it's why I brought it up.
Considering AZ is a historical figure, and a very important one at that, I seriously doubt the portrait in Parfum Palace (whether it's an accurate depiction or not) is the only description of young AZ in existence; it's simply the only one that you as a player is made aware of. He was a revered king, so it's safe to assume that there are plenty of historical documents that describe him, as well as plenty more paintings that an illustrator could take inspiration from.

The root question really is, is there some sort of physical memo of the story that accurately depicts AZ, that the little girl could have possibly seen? Or is it just a bs plot hole? If we want to be honest, it's probably both (moreso the latter). But I imagine there is some sort of picturesque account of the story in a book considering how the story is told and portrayed in both the games and in the episode. But obviously, that isn't concrete evidence, so it's anyone's guess. I just think the existence of a physical memo of the story with pictures, and the girl naively, but rightly noticing that AZ is the guy from the story is plausible. Now whether or not the girl was necessary in the episode is an entirely different issue on it's own, and I don't disagree with that.

But alas, this is starting to go way off topic, so I'm going to loop it back. While I do think this episode was a fitting ending for the shorts, I do wish we could get 3 more episodes dedicated to Alola as well. It makes sense why they weren't included, seeing as how the games were still several months from release when the project kicked off, and I'm sure there are still plenty of people out there who haven't played the games yet (including many little kids that will get the games for Christmas), but it's still a little disappointing. I wonder if TPCI will eventually make a few more episodes for Gen VII in the future?
 
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I enjoyed Pokemon Generations up until the episode with Heatran. Completely forgot about Buck and from what he was like in the episode (characters constantly saying dude is very fellowkids) I forgot for a reason. After that I did not really care for any of the episodes. Lack of length is a big problem that skilled creators can mask, but they failed here. Recreating scenes from the games we already played and seen seems pointless also. Unlike Kalos, Alola actually has memorable characters so not getting anything there is disappointing too.
 

Cresselia~~

Junichi Masuda likes this!!
Well the last episode was ok to me. They had to introduce the audience to AZ somehow, and it didn't feel that lame to me.

But I was expecting more-- like an episode to wrap up all the episodes, or an introduction to Gen 7, something like that.
The ending was kind of abrupt to me.
 

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