Pokémon Sun and Moon Anime Ep. 1-3-Animated Critic Short #3

"Presenting the series you all wanted to see. The official anime adaptation of Pokemon Academy Life."

Hello my name is Evan A.K.A. The Animated Critic. Today I get another chance to talk about my one true obsession. Pokémon. I already reviewed an episode of the anime, and I made a post celebrating the 10 year anniversary of my first Pokémon game, Pokémon Diamond and Pearl. I really should talk about it more often though. Pokémon is not just my favorite game series of all time, but my favorite franchise of all time. I collect the cards, the plush toys, just anything I can get my grubby little hands on. One aspect of the series I've never been a huge fan of though is the anime. I liked it a lot as a kid and watched it whenever I could (it was alway on super early on saturdays, when I prefer to sleep, so I had to wait until episodes went on demand or for the occasional moment where I either woke up super early or it aired outside of its normal time.) up until about halfway through the Sinnoh arc. Since then I've caught a few episodes of the Black and White and X and Y show. Those episodes were pretty bad. I'm trying to get back into the show though. I've rewatched some episodes from the Kanto Arc which were enjoyable (including Tower of Terror which I reviewed) and I plan on watching the Johto, Hoenn, and Sinnoh Arcs soon. I'll also probably watch X and Y and Black and White, even though those few episodes I saw left a bad taste in my mouth. But now let's talk about the games. I finally got around to beating Pokémon Sun and I absolutely loved it. In fact I loved it so much I was thinking of just reviewing that. Pokémon Sun has become my favorite Pokémon game of all time and a good contender for one of my favorite games in general. The story is the best one yet, the gameplay takes everything that makes Pokémon Pokémon, but makes it much better (for example the ride pager replacing HMs). Plus despite being a bit of a rework of the original formula it still works as a great 20th anniversary celebration. It really feels like a big send up towards everything that Pokémon has accomplished in the last 2 decades. It brings back some old characters, references previous generations pretty frequently, and it really just got me nostalgic for when I picked up my DS and popped my copy of Pokémon Diamond in for the first time. The Alola region is beautiful, and even though I think I still prefer the aesthetics and Pokémon available in Sinnoh, Alola is still the most pretty region we've seen yet and has a ton of awesome Pokémon available. Pyukumuku probably being my favorite of the gen 7 Pokémon. And in case you're wondering who I picked as a starter I went with the most hated one, Popplio. Honestly I don't get the hate. I guess I can understand the hate for Brionne's design, as it's honestly not my favorite, but Popplio is a cute little guy and Primarina is absolutely beautiful. Yes I know it's a rather feminine design for a Pokémon that ends up mostly being male, but honestly I've never been bothered by that. Anyway I was really disappointed when the game ended. Don't get me wrong, I loved the ending, but the game was over. All the characters I loved would be stuck as boring, motionless NPCs. The epic storyline was over. What do I do now? Catch an Ultra Beast? Laaaaame. (JK the Ultra Beast are pretty cool). But I really missed everything i was doing during my journey. That partially lead to my decision to watch the Sun and Moon anime. I figured it'd be fun to relive the Alolan experience in anime form. That and the story of the game was so good. Really if they just did that, but with Ash Ketchum you would've had a hit in my book. They didn't do that though. Ok, makes sense. The Pokémon anime rarely follows the storyline from the games. Is it good at least. Well let's dig into the first 3 episodes of Pokémon Sun and Moon and find out.

Episode 1, Alola to New Adventure, begins with Ash and his mother on vacation at the Alola region. Ash and Pikachu are testing out a Sharpedo ride Pokémon and run into Lana. Also Pyukumuku is in this scene which is only noteworthy to me as I find Pyukumuku to be one of my personal favorite Pokémon. So I may of had a bit of a fanboy moment during this scene. No matter how bad the anime may get, it's always going to be awesome seeing your favorite pocket monsters in anime form. Back to Lana. Lana is the water type Trial Captain (pretty much Alola's version of Gym Leaders). We'll meet some more Trial Captains later, but for now Ash goes to meet up with his mother. Is it just me or do others also keep forgetting she has a Mr. Mime. Mr. Mime apparently won this vacation for them from some sort of lottery. Weird, you'd think Pokémon would not be allowed to participate in a lottery like event, let alone a Psychic type who could use his powers to cheat. They go out to buy some exotic berries, but Ash sees a Grubbin and in true Ash spirit is excited by this never before seen Pokémon. So he runs off without telling his mother to chase the Grubbin into the forest. Seems like a lot of work for a Grubbin. I mean I know Vikavolt is awesome, but Grubbin in the Alola region is common as dirt. I understand though that Ash has never seen this Pokémon before and as such is excited. So excited he runs into the forest and doesn't even notice until it's too late. He's lost. Ash is kind of an idiot in this show. I mean I know he's supposed to be rash and quick acting, but there's a thin line between that and idoiocy. He eventually stumbles upon the Pokémon trainers school. Which is way cooler looking than the one in the games. There he almost gets trampled by some Tauros racers, remeets Lana and also meets some other students. Mallow, who in the games was the grass type Trial Captain. Sophocles, the electric Trial Captain. As well as Lillie.
 I love Lillie in the games. She starts off as this timid, reclusive girl with a bit of mystery behind her. You always end up helping her out in some way. She later develops into a more independent, stronger character. The mystery is also pretty great. She has a rare, unknown Pokémon which she calls Nebby, but it's actually called Cosmog. There's a whole mystery behind him as well that's she's trying to find out. Also Nebby doesn't like to stay inside her bag which leads to antics. By antics I mean you almost die trying to rescue it. Thanks buddy.
So is Nebby in the anime I hear you thinking in your head, cause if you were saying it out loud that'd be kind of weird. Nope. Not in sight. There's not even a Cosmog. Lillie in the anime is the bookworm of the group. She knows lots about Pokémon. Unfortunately she can't actually be near enough to touch them. She's too afraid. I do know that later she gets an Alolan Vulpix though. Lillie's not as shy or timid as she was in the games though. No the shy and timid one is Lana. It never really occurred to me how much the anime changes the characteristics of certain characters from the games. I mean in the games Lillie also read a lot, and presumably knew a lot about Pokémon, but they took away the thing that really made me like her. Lillie is my favorite character from the games so I guess you could say I'm being slightly too salty over this, but still this version of Lillie is a bit bland. Her purpose I guess was to inform Ash and thus the audience about Alolan Pokémon, but Ash gets a Pokedex later to do that so now I have no idea what they're going to do with Lillie. Lana, as I said before, is sort of shy and timid and well probably develop out of that like Lillie did in the games as the anime progresses. Needless to say she wasn't like this in the games. She doesn't get a whole lot of notable screen time in these first 3 episodes though so...moving on. Mallow. She was probably the Trial Captain with the least amount of personality to begin with in the games, but it was still there. Her anime counterpart is dull. She cooks...that's really it. She's pretty much like the Brock of this group only minus personality. Though she cooks in the game so bonus points for accuracy to source material. She's as boring as watching grass grow though. Mallow does take Ash to the principal, who looks just like Professor Oak. It's actually his cousin, but I guess he's could still technically be called Professor Oak. Either way I hate him. He's always making these stupid Pokémon puns. Half of them don't even work. I'm sure they work a lot better in the Japanese dub with the Japanese names, but still I don't really expect them to be any better. Making puns based on Pokémon names is lame. No matter what the country. And it's not toungue and cheek like the writers know the puns are lame. No, they play them straight. Afterwards he does this stupid face imitating whatever Pokémon he just made a joke about. Literally every time he's on screen he does this, and he's on screen a lot. Its so annoying I feel like I could Exploud at any moment. I just want to throw a Regirock at his face and watch him flail around like a Magikarp out of water when he falls to the ground. Give him bruises and Bulbasaurs. Maybe instead of taking the violent route I can justRapidash away from this crap.
....
Shoot! Now you've got me doing it. It'd be more tolerable though if the puns actually made sense. Sometimes they do, other times they don't work at all. And those silly faces are like a kick in the balls. Needless to say I don't like this dude. Pokemon Rusty, a webshow from Dorkly, also does this but not frequently. Every time we see this dude that's all he does. It wears thin fast. Plus when Rusty does it the puns work and are actually pretty clever and funny. My favorite being Pay-Palpitoad. We also meet Professor Kukui who also has the occasional pun based around move names. But it's nowhere near as frequently done as Alolan Oak's puns. So their more tolerable. Only by a bit though. At least they all actually work and make sense. Otherwise he's not very interesting. I love him in the games, but here...Meh. Anyway Ash's mom is there as well. Professor Oak (the Kanto one) gave Ash and his mother an egg to deliver to Professor Oak (the Alolan one) for...reasons. I don't know, they really don't explain why he needs to deliver it. But whatever Mom is there. She really didn't seem too concerned with her missing 10 year old child. They deliver the egg. Later, outside the school, we meet Kiawe who in the games is a fire type Trial Captain. I'm really not sure how this anime is going to handle the trials. They've made most of the Trial Captains high school students and none of them even mention being Trial Captains. So I'm starting to think that they aren't Trial Captains in the anime. I mean you'd think they'd bring it up if they were sometime withen these first 3 episodes. So here's what they did. They took the epic story from the original game and then made it into a school story. Because you know Anime doesn't have enough shows that follow school students. I mean there's only Clannad, Bleach, Girls Bravo, Lucky Star, Sankarea, DearS, Your Lie in April, A Little Snow Fairy Sugar, School Days, Eiken, Yuki Yuna is a Hero, Suzuka, Free!, Hanasaku Iroha, Hitman Reborn, Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko, Please Teacher, Please Twins, Haruhi Suzumiya, Azumanga Daioh and more. You're right we needed more school anime. Kiawe is going against Team Skull, the local villains. This is the only time they appear in these first 3 episodes and it's pretty disappointing. If you watched the Sun and Moon game trailer you'd probably think Team Skull is just a complete joke. While in actuality they are a pretty big joke (heck even the people in Alola think so) but they had a lot of complex characterization as well. Here they're kinda just portrayed as playground bullies so hopefully they didn't lose that complexity I loved about them from the games. Hopefully in future episodes it'll come through. Team Skull plays dirty though and sends out 3 Pokemon each for a total of 9 against Kiawe's 1 Turtonator. Ash finds this unfair and steps in with Pikachu. This is where Ash learns about Z-Moves. Kiawe demonstrates one with his Firium Z and Turtonator. This of course causes Team Skull to flee. Overall it was an entertaining battle where both Ash and Kiawe showed their skills and it was a good way to show off the Z-Moves. Great first battle. Ash being Ash is excited about Z-Moves and is excited to learn some. Of course to use them you need to complete Trials. Ash suddenly sees something in the distance. What looks to be a Pokemon. When Ash describes it Lillie says it was probably Tapu Koko the Island guardian of Melemele. You see Alola is split up into 4 islands. Melemele, Akala, Ula Ula and Poni. Each Island has a guardian. Tapu Koko is the one for Melemele. Later that night Ash and his mom are enjoying an Alolan dinner. Ash thinks he sees Tapu Koko again and leaves his mother all alone with Mr. Mime. You know my mom would just guilt trip me about how she's not going to be around forever and how I should enjoy my time with her while it last. Ash catches up with the Tapu who gives him a Z-Ring required to do Z-Moves. The episode ends with the reveal that Ash is now staying in Alola with Professor Kukui and that he'll be going to the trainers school.
That was an OK episode. I'm still a bit miffed about the change of the plot, but I'll get over it. It reintroduced us to Ash and Pikachu as well as introduced us to Ash's new companions. It was also pretty fun so I guess it did it's job.
Moving on to episode 2. The Guardian's Challenge. It starts with Ash going to school and attending his first day of class. Kiawe notices his Z-Ring and the Electrium-Z inside of it. He asks about it saying he has no knowledge of Ash doing a trial. Ash explains the Tapu gave it to him. Lillie says that the Tapu is known to trick people and punish those he finds deserving of it. You should've seen what he did to Donald Trump.

Disclaimer: The opinions of Tapu Koko do not reflect those of The Animated Critic or the people behind it.

By the way you should've seen how Donald reacted. 

Lillie also states that sometimes he gives gifts to the people he likes. Tapu Koko must not have a good taste in people. Kiawe begins nagging about how people with Z-Moves have a responsibility and blah blah blah it's honestly kind of stupid and feels like they tried having an Uncle Ben 'with great power comes great responsibility' moment. Kukui mentions something to himself about there being a battle between a thunderbolt and a flamethrower. It's metaphorical, but a battle with a literal thunderbolt and flamethrower would still be awesome to watch. We then start the class lesson. Which is taught by Alolan Professor Oak. Oh boy. It's about regional variants and he demonstrates this with Exeggutor. By the way Alolan Exeggutor is the greatest thing ever. His neck is so long it can't even fit on the screen.

And that tail. Oh my god. It's ridiculous but I can't help it. I love it. OK, so I understand why it's so tall but can I get an explanation on why it's now dragon type. I mean just picture this thing standing right next to other dragons like Dragonite or Salamence. It just makes it even sillier. So Charizard needs a mega evolution to become dragon but Exeggutor can just be naturally dragon. What is this?

 Anyway the next day, instead of school, all the students decide to have a series of challenges against Ash. Ash loses them all. This is foreshadowing how the Pokémon leagues going to go for him isn't it? His last challenge is a battle with professor Kukui. Cause that's fair. A Pokémon Professor up against a trainer who just arrived in Alola. Ash is saved from being absolutely wrecked though by Tapu Koko. He appears again, and Ash and the gang chase after him. When they catch up to him the Tapu seems to want to see Ash use the electric Z-Move. Ash is able to use it and then the Tapu just disappears. Well, goodbye then. We probably won't see you again until movie 21. Now that I think about it that's probably when they're going to do something with Cosmog. Ash's Electrium-Z completely shatters. Kiawe says it's because he hasn't done any trials yet. So the episode ends with Ash deciding to take on the island challenge. Though I don't know how this'll work out considering they made half the Trial Captains school students. Oh well, we'll see.
So, I think everyone has been introduced. Now we can finally focus on developing the characters, right?

Oh, right. Have to find a way to bring Team Rocket into this. Cause even though the companions Ash travels with constantly change the bad guy team can't. 

So we begin episode 3, Loading the Dex, with Team Rocket arriving on a plane to Alola. Giovanni sent them there to catch some rare Pokemon. We then cut to Ash who, in the after credits scene of the last episode, got a new Pokédex. Only to activate this one they need to put a Rotom inside. So out of all the features you take from the games it's the talking Rotom dex? Don't get me wrong I don't mind the Rotom dex, but I think there's better things you could've brought to the anime from the games. The next day Rotom dex is introduced to all of Ash's friends. We also get a funny joke involving Alolan Professor Oak's puns. You see Rotom dex doesn't understand them, and that's all I'll say about the joke. Just imagine what would happen if you told Siri to look up complete gibberish. That's pretty much what happens. Finally a funny joke. Good job. So instead of learning the gang go out to hunt for Pokemon in the forest. Team Rocket is there as well. They end up finding Mimikyu. Mimikyu has become one of my favorite Pokemon. I didn't use it on my team as it appears late in the game, but I love it's back story and I have played around with it a bit. You see though, Mimikyu is a Pikachu look alike. 

To be more exact he wears a Pikachu costume and pretends to be him. That's where the mimic part of his name comes in. He does this as he only wants to be as loved as Pikachu is. It's just so sad, but yet this thing is utterly adorable. Also creepy, but we'll get to that later. Yeah this Mon makes you feel a variety of emotions. But I mean it makes sense he wants to be as beloved as Pikachu. I mean even people who haven't played Pokemon know who Pikachu is. Heck, Pikachu is so popular he's even forced into games where the only Pokemon you can find in the wild are new Pokemon. 

Thanks Game Freak. I almost forgot Pikachu was the mascot of the series. 

But he goes through the trouble of making the disguise as supposedly noone is pleased with the look of the creature under it. Apparently someone even died cause he saw what was under there. They say it's because what was down there was just so terrifying to look at, and that it wasn't Mimikyu's fault that he looks so scary, but I think Mimikyu just straight up purposely took his life.

Oh yeah. And this dudes part fairy type (I mean the other half is ghost, but still you'd expect a full ghost type or maybe even Gengar with his Ghost and Poison typing to be more scary, but no. The one with a secondary fairy type is the scariest). Unfortunately, since Team Rocket have never seen Mimikyu before, Meowth takes a look under the costume. And, in a shocking move by the writers, he dies. Yeah they finally decided to break the status quo...and you're not buying any of this. Instead he's teleported to a fantasy land where a cute trio consisting of Glaceon, Lopunny, and Gardevoir are giving him flirtatious looks. 

This is how you flirt, right?

Meowth follows the trio, because Poké-hormones exist. 

So I have some questions. 

1-Why Glaceon?

I mean I understand Lopunny and Gardevoir, heck even some humans think they're sexy, (can't believe I said that, but it's true) but Glaceon? Don't get me wrong Glaceon is adorable, just doesn't seem to fit with Lopunny and Gardevoir. I mean I imagine those two as being the prom queens of the Pokémon world. The girl everyone wants (again, even some humans, unfortunately). Glaceon just doesn't fit this image. Plus I can still look up Glaceon on Google without getting any NSFW pics, unlike the other two. All joking aside, what about a Florges? I feel that fits better. 

2-Why Gardevoir?

I understand by Pokémon standards she must be attractive, but again she's a bit out of place. You see the only logical reason to have Glaceon with the group is that Meowth is in the same egg group as Glaceon so...they can breed. Same goes for Lopunny. They're all in the field group. Gardevoir is in the Amorphous egg group. Sorry to say Meowth, but she's just not going to go for you. I hate to add salt to the open wound, but Muk is closer to getting some of that than you'll ever be. So is Stunfisk, Weezing, Slugma, Swalot, Solosis, Gastrodon, A literal balloon with a face, a candle, and a sandcastle. Ouch. I think you need a Rawst Berry, cause you just got burned.
But if you want another Field Pokemon that could be called 'attractive' how about Ninetales. Or even better Liepard or Delcatty. After all Liepard and Delcatty are also cats. A female Meowstic would work too. Why wasn't this entire trio just replaced with cats. I already pulled out three. Anyway, Meowth's dream is turned into a nightmare in the blink of an eye. Luckily he's pulled out of it by Jessie and James. That's when Ash and the gang show up. Of course Ash's new friends aren't familiar with Team Rocket so they get introduced. You know, what are the chances of Ash and these guys always ending up in the same region. I mean I know the saying is the world is a small place but it's not supposed to be taking literally. You guys should really try a different region. Go to Orre, I hear shadow Pokemon are a booming business. Anyway Jessie and James left the Pokémon they got in Kalos back at their HQ. Smart move guys. Meowth tries fighting them, but that goes about as well as you'd expect. But there's hope for Team Rocket. Mimikyu joins it's side as it apparently hates Pikachu. This is a change that...I can accept. In fact I really like this idea. In the games Mimikyu is simply obsessed with Pikachu as he's trying to be him. Here though the hatred gives Mimikyu a more complex and frankly dark personality. He probably feels resentment towards Pikachu because as I stated before no one wants to be near this guy, but everyone loves Pikachu. He feels mad that he's forced to become something he isn't just to fit in, all because people rather be near something like Pikachu. I mean that's probably cause A) Pikachu won't kill them and B) Pikachu doesn't threaten to curse people. Still though it's a Mon you just can't help but feel bad for. Before the battle can actually begin though our episode ends with a Bewear, that made an appearance a couple times before this point, coming and snatching up Team Rocket. He takes them away and Meowth, Mimikyu and the rest of the gang follow.

These first 3 episodes were OK. Despite me not being a big fan of the changes they made the episodes were still overall fun. I understand they have to introduce everyone so it's going to start off kinda slow, but hopefully soon we can get funer (I know it's not a word, shut up) episodes as we get further into this shows run. Pokemon the anime isn't really that deep in characterization or storytelling, but it is really good at creating entertaining, fun episodes featuring our favorite creatures. And while I feel it's become a bit lackluster as the years have gone by, I have high hopes for this series. I think they could make some really fun episodes with the Alola region and it's Pokemon. So I'll definitely keep watching, which for the most part is the goal of the earlier episodes. To introduce you to everything and to make you want to keep watching. In that aspect it does succeed.
So score sheet time.

Plot gets a Check minus as the changes it made from the source material are confusing. However it had some interesting ideas and some fun moments. Not much went on, but since these first 3 episodes were made to introduce us to everything, I can't be too harsh.
Characters get a minus as they're mostly bland or annoying, and Ash is an unbearable idiot sometimes, but for the most part I can still watch these guys and I'm sure they'll get more development later on now that everyone's been introduced.
Animation gets a check. It's an art shift from previous seasons, but it still looks really good. I find this new style fits the tropical atmosphere of Alola much better then the old style would of.
Sound gets a minus. For one, there's no theme song. It pulls a Regular Show and has a small snippet wig music before the title card pops up.
Correction: Apparently there are theme songs, but the videos I was watching just used what I described above. Either way score stays the same.
Enjoyment gets a check. I did have fun while watching it. Weather I was riffing it or was just legitimately having fun with myself. It was a good time.
Overall I'll say Check Minus.

That ends this episode. I know updates have been slow. I'll get back into the swing of things don't worry. For now I'll see you next time.
Peace.