Pokémon The Movie I Choose You (2017) Trailer Thoughts

So, my first day back at school was relatively successful. Class even got out a little bit early, and I have watched most of the Jirachi movie so I can start writing the recap for it as well as other stuff I'd like to do.

In the meantime, I've been wanting to address this in more detail for a while; but things have been getting in the way. Around this time last month, more official trailers for the 20th installment in the Pokémon film series were uploaded to their official Japanese YouTube channel: Pokémon The Movie I Choose You.

The official logo for the film.

The film will be a re-imagining of sorts of the original series starting from the very first episode, which aired in Japan in 1997.

The first things we hear include some dialogue between Ash and Professor Oak (or Satoshi and Professor Okido as they're known in Japan), before we see Pikachu and his first moments of his friendship with Ash being reimagined with some new animation techniques; but the initial rough patches remain. To be honest, I rather like the designs they went with. Even as someone who doesn't hate the Sun and Moon designs (I will officially recap some when the dub starts up for real on Disney XD, though I am liking what's leaking from the Canadian airings on Teletoon), I enjoy how OLM has given the visual style some new flourishes as well as being still recognizably '90s. Again, I still consider the idea of redesigning characters in general to be sort of a crapshoot even as someone who didn't hate the New Batman Adventures Joker growing up.

On top of that, the animation is gorgeous, even in just these screencaps. While the films have often had a higher budget than the TV series, this entry seems to have taken a page from adaptations such as Origins and Generations; and easily looks to be one of the best-animated takes on the series in a long time.

After that, we see more moments from the first episode, such as this one of Ash using his clothesline as a makeshift leash when Pikachu won't get in the Poké Ball.

Of course, slowly but surely; their friendship builds. Once again, these re-imagined scenes show his character and how he presents himself as a trainer: even if certain Pokémon don't share his friendship, Ash won't give up on them, from Bulbasaur to Marshadow and beyond.

As he tells Pikachu he likes him, I am very pleased at how expressive the facial animation and design is as well. Being a longtime fan of the franchise and the genre, I've been trying more and more as the years go by to be more open about potential new changes beyond what I might expect. Again, I don't share certain fans' hatred of the Sun and Moon art direction and submit that some of my favorite currently-running series have more unconventional artwork (One Piece, for example. Not really interested in Tokyo Ghoul replacing it on Toonami, read the manga and it didn't really do anything for me. The art and action were admittedly nice, but the story and characters weren't my thing.).

As expected, the scene where Ash is willing to let a bunch of Spearow pick him apart to protect his best friend looks spectacular, and further shows why I like his character: even if the odds are against him, he's willing to protect the ones he cares about; no matter the cost. I know he may be a common archetype, as are other characters such as the Digidestined and Yugi Moto, but so are Luke Skywalker, Indiana Jones and Harry Potter (still not a big fan of that infamous article, by the way. Given how the guy who wrote has done some very unpleasant things, I will spare you anything else beyond the fact that it was full of inaccurate information and more holes in logic than Swiss cheese.).

Then, all of a sudden, Ho-oh appears over the horizon!

Dropping a Rainbow Wing as it flies overhead (which actually appears to be rainbow-colored rather than just red, white and green as recently as the Generations short centered around it), Ash and Pikachu then set off to find Ho-Oh!

While the previous incarnations of the Pokémon anime have admittedly had many variations in quality over the years as well as differing reception among fans (it was even one of the catalysts for starting this blog, no less), to say nothing of the other numerous films; they have at least all contributed to the longest-running animated series based on a video game ever. Even with its detractors, I guarantee that no series lasts this long if absolutely no one likes it. As I stated before, my plan is to continue with the other film recaps from the Jirachi movie onward in order to catch up on the progress I lost last year. While using my old computer may not be ideal, using this post as a test run proves it can be done. I hope to have the Jirachi recap done and posted by this weekend once I'm done with my first pieces of schoolwork for health; but first, I will address something I've been meaning to for a while. That will be all for now. Bang.