Live Blogs The Great Walk to Masterhood: "Gotta Ketch'um": The Story of Ash

Kaoz2013-09-09 17:46:24

day 369 Ash saves the world {m2}

The first movie was a former finale, re-worked into a nevertheless still stunning theatrical experience albeit with a somewhat hokey moral. (Jap version: It doesn't matter in what form or how it came to be, all life is sacred, Eng version: fights to the death are totally different than actual Pokémon battles,+ that sure your life might have been or is shitty but your choices in life are what shape you/actually matter.

The second movie then, is a Pokémon movie as directed by Michael Bay, and I mean good action '90s era Bay, not destroyer of childhood icons for the sake of good action '00s era Bay. Everything is bigger, louder, more cinematic, and yes more prone to blowing up. The second movie also continues the trend of Ash bodily ramming into something as a last resort that is done at least once per movie. For those curious, 1st was attacking Mewtwo of course, 2nd was the cages holding the birds. The rest you'll have to take my word that Ash's favorite move is Body Slam

Lastly, let's talk about time-line placement for the 1st 2 movies and canon hints for this one. The 1st of course needs to take place after getting the eighth badge/Mewtwo breaking out but before the league as noted previously, and the 2nd must happen after Charizard gets an attitude adjustment, but before Misty gets poliwag as he doesn't show up, so to make things easier after all the badges, just squeezing right before the capture.

Canon hints for this movie, are 1) the reason Ash comes home after every journey is b/c he promised his mom here that he would, and 2) when they help rescue a baby Lugia during the whirl islands, both Ash and James recognize its species. Also, Pr. Oak is right there why don't you give him the GS ball?!

(2013) While not in my top 5 of Pokemon movies, #2 decidedly in the middle, the copious Pokeshipping and Rocketshipping make a nice rewatch and oldschool visuals, which are still awesome, aside in terms of bombasity and sheer scope/epic only one beats it #14 and another comes close #12

day 374 misty heals ash+tracy after they're poisoned and gets a poliwag {ep110}

Oh dude poliwag, you just missed it bro. You know how all your friends and family were freaking out about doomsday, that kid in the hat your trainer lives with is the one who fixed everything. No fooling.

day 375 gets to pummelo i.e. the orange league and wins {ep111-112}

day 376 lapras finds its family again and leaves {ep113}

day 380 ash gets to pallet/drops off gs ball and gets it back/ he also forgets about pidgeot/brock returns {ep115+116}

Ash's fight with Drake was awesome, that Dragonite used like 8 different moves, mostly because game mechanics are archaic and wouldn't fit in reality. Ash's probably only major competition win in the entire series run nets him a cool trophy and picture. Also to my knowledge, this is the last time Ash will ever tell Pikachu to use Thunder, probably because he realizes that it's too broken in the hands of the godchu and prefers a fair fight to a beat down. Every time he says “thunder” in the future, its really just thunder bolt, the animation is not any different. Lapras leaving was actually kind of emotional, glad she's no longer an orphan.

114 is how they actually get back to Kanto and is an OK ep, but can be skipped if in a hurry. (you shouldn't though, for the clint easteood parody at least) We get a reminder about how awesome Gary is, with his eevee beating pikachu, and Brock and Tracey switch places, really all just transitions to get the audience in the mindset for Johto.

Ash didn't get Pidgeot, did the writers forget she exists? Ash even mentions her when he battles Falkner in a little while, so maybe the flock flew off by the time he got back, but beyond that little call back no other recognition is given. Seriously, WTF, Pidgeot's part of the OG team, she deserves better than to just be forgotten.

Themes: Pokémon World doesn't try to compete with its predecessor in epicness! Instead it serves as anthem to what the Orange Islands represent, the ever expanding world of Pokémon, you want to visit?

Character Bios: Tracey Sketchit (16-20???): Pokémon was released to the world in September of '98, around the time Ash was getting his 8th badge. So when OI was made, Tracey came along with it. Tracey is a white American stereotype invented by the creators of the show for the express purpose of replacing what they thought international audiences might view as a Japanese stereotype (Brock) in the interests of not offending potential audiences. They then realized nobody gave a shit and actually liked Brock's character, so he was quietly moved to side-character status asap. Why did they even need to have a 3rd character for the arc you may ask, to act as a moment-killer and cock blocker to Ash and Misty...DUH!

1. times ash should have died= 2 (1 explosion, fell from air into freezing water that knocked out Lugia)
2. of battles/badges ash won on technicality or cheating 0/0
3. of battles/badges ash won fair and square 10/4
4. of battles lost 3
5. times ash saved world 1 (rescued the birds and calmed them down afterward)

Comments

DonaldthePotholer Since: Dec, 1969

Apr 21st 2014 at 12:47:14 AM

Since only a single opponent was shown in the Orange League "Championship", my headcanon was that the Orange League was a "No Game Character Were Harmed" version of the Elite Four because Writers Forbid we let Ash win against an actual Elite Four member. In light of the Battle Frontier, I reclassified them as being a similar order.

Summation, Ash excels at objective standards but when he's up against the luck of the draw, he strikes out.