Distorting worlds are no match for the Sky Warrior.note
Pokémon: Giratina and the Sky Warrior is the English title for the eleventh theatrical movie spin-off of Pokémon: The Series. The movie's basic premise centers around the existence of a "Reverse World," a kind of alternate universe designed to correct imbalances in the "Real World." Five years before the events of this movie, a research scientist named Newton Graceland apparently discovered the Reverse World and its sole resident Pokémon, Giratina, a winged, six-legged, metallic dinosaur-like creature. Newton and his assistant Zero plot to harness Giratina's power and take over the reverse world.
Series regulars Ash, Dawn, and Brock, along with their regular Pokémon companions, get roped into all this through the intervention of a cute, grassy little Pokémon called a Shaymin, who's on its way to the "flower garden" for the "flower-bearing" ritual with other Shaymin. Shaymin can communicate telepathically so we can hear its articulated thoughts, making it one of the very few Pokémon who can actually "talk". Shaymin's connection to Giratina and the Reverse World has something to do with its ability to render toxic material harmless via some internal process. Giratina seems to need Shaymin's help. In the end, Newton, who enlists Ash and his friends to help him, finally figures out what Giratina wants.
This movie provides examples of:
- Alien Geometries: The Reverse World is chock full of these.
- Ambiguous Gender: Shaymin, even for a "genderless" Mythical Pokémon. In Land Forme, it speaks with a soft, feminine voice (and in Japanese, uses feminine pronouns); in Sky Forme, it is headstrong and speaks with a much more masculine voice (and accompanying Japanese pronouns.)
- American Kirby Is Hardcore: (A non-video game example). Compare the Japanese title (Giratina and the Sky's Bouquet: Shaymin) with the English title (Giratina and the Sky Warrior).
- Artificial Intelligence: Infi, the autopilot system on the Megarig.
- Awakening the Sleeping Giant: Zero's meddling in the Reverse World does this to Regigigas.
- Awesome Backpack: Newton's backpack.
- Badass Adorable: Shaymin in its Sky Form.
- Newton's Shieldon. It's tiny, adorable, and knows Flash Cannon.
- Big Bad: Zero.
- Big Damn Heroes: Regigigas, once the glacier starts to move, wakes up and - with the help of a herd of Mamoswine - holds the glacier in place till Ash can do his thing.
- Break the Cutie: Zero in the Manga.Zero: *after Newton deletes the blueprints to the Megarig* How could you...PLEASE...DON'T DISAPPEAR!!Newton: Leave it be, Zero...this is how it should be. We cannot sacrifice Giratina for the sake of our research. Please understand, Zero!Zero: *crying* All...All I wanted...I hate this polluted world...I just wanted to stay in the beautiful Reverse World...That's all...
- The Cameo: Lucas, one of the Player Characters of Pokémon Diamond and Pearl and Dawn's male counterpart, gets his one anime appearance during the movie's introduction, which briefly shows him battling with Brendan, the male Player Character of Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire.
- Character Name and the Noun Phrase: The titles in Japanese (Giratina and the Sky's Bouquet: Shaymin) and English (Giratina and the Sky Warrior).
- Cloudcuckoolander: Newton, at least Ash and Dawn seem to think so. It's heavily implied he's been floating around the Reverse World for years — he's physically identical to himself in Zero's memories.
- Continuity Nod: Along with Arceus And The Jewel Of Life, this is part of a series that is kicked off by the events of The Rise Of Darkrai.
- Cool Airship: The Megarig.
- Dark Is Not Evil: Don't worry, Shaymin, Giratina is not going to eat you.
- Deadly Gas: Imbalances in the real world create distortions that spew horribly poisonous gas into the Reverse World. They're all over the place following Dialga and Palkia's battle in the previous movie and Shaymin can use them to power its Seed Flare.
- Determinator: Zero and Newton are both this in their own ways regarding the Reverse World.
- Did We Just Have Tea with Cthulhu?: Dialga's first scene. Shaymin is understandably frightened, but it turns out that sometimes even giant draconic guardians of time simply want a drink of water.
- Disney Death: Giratina pulled that off. Luckily, Aromatherapy doesn't just cure all the status ailments in your party, it also brings Olympus Mons back to life!
- Giratina was still breathing prior to Aromatherapy, but it still contributes to the trope.
- The actual moment of the trope is actually the reveal that Giratina is breathing: Pikachu and Piplup react so dramatically to Giratina's fallen form that the cast assumes the worst...until Dawn notices the dragon's neck moving.
- Disposable Vehicle Section: As the Megarig loses power, Zero in the Mecha Giratina, a smaller craft that detaches from the main cockpit and has its own systems. The Megarig itself is left to crash in the forest.
- Early-Bird Cameo: Giratina's Origin Forme and Shaymin's Sky Forme, ahead of the release of Platinum. Although the movie was supposed to be the proper debut for Shaymin, if it weren't for hackers discovering all the Generation IV event Pokémon beforehand.
- Eldritch Location: The Reverse World is a dimension full of structures made from buildings, bits of landscape, and even trees that mirror each other seemingly endlessly into bizarre formations. Damaging anything in the Reverse World causes its counterpart in the real world to violently break, to the point that even popping the Reverse World's ubiquitous bubbles causes explosions out of thin air. Everything seems to have its own Gravity Screw, with areas of especially low gravity giving off a Sickly Green Glow while day/night cycles are reflected in the color and direction of the ambient light.Ash: This is some weird place...for sure.
- Evil Laugh: Zero has two of them within the span of the movie.
- Eye Beams: Zero's Magnezone fires its Mirror Shot attack from its pupil.
- Fantastic Nuke: Depending on how toxic the fumes a Shaymin ends up absorbing, it can potentially become this after activating Seed Flare. Nurse Joy reveals that a previous incident with another Shaymin ended up absorbing extremely-toxic fumes which tore down part of a forest in contrast to the main Shaymin who absorbed much less toxic fumes from a barbecue grill and created a small weak explosion. Absorbing the Distortion World's poison clouds creates this, which tears a hole between worlds.
- Fearless Fool: Shaymin is a lot braver in Sky Forme, even challenging Giratina to a battle on sight.
- Flight: Shaymin Sky Forme's main ability and distinguishing power from its Land Forme.
- Foreshadowing: Happens at least twice.
- At one scene Brock mentions how the fjord were formed by a glacier and that there is a glacier by the flower garden. That glacier becomes very important at the climax of the film.
- Dawn mentions how cold it is. She ends up freezing Zero in said glacier.
- Gravity Screw: In addition to the strength of gravity varying in the Reverse World, gravity can also pull in other directions in some places. When Ash and friends get pulled into the Reverse World a second time, they meet Newton in a cave that is upside down relative to where they arrived.
- Gravity Is a Harsh Mistress: Justified in-setting. The portal that Newton leads Ash and Dawn to after first meeting them is on the edge of a low-gravity area. When Team Rocket tries to jump through and miss, they get pulled straight down and barely manage to hang on to the edge of the landscape.
- "Groundhog Day" Loop: Dialga traps Giratina in the Reverse World by using Roar of Time to create a miniature one that activates whenever Giratina tries to go through one of its own portals. This allows Dialga to escape without Giratina following it. The effect wears off when Giratina leaves through one of Shaymin's portals.
- Harmless Freezing: Zero is frozen inside of the Mecha Giratina for an unspecified amount of time, but appears completely fine when he is recovered and doesn't seem to have been affected by the cold; this may be due to the thick suit he is wearing.
- Ice Crystals: The Reverse World's counterpart to the glacier by the Gracidea field is a forest of mountain-high pillars made of these. Breaking the pillars causes the glacier to start sliding down the valley. The Reverse World's bubbles are also replaced in this area by ice crystals the size of cars.
- Impossibly Cool Clothes: Zero's jumpsuit comes to mind here.
- Insufferable Genius: Newton brags about how he is a genius (if he does say so himself) and it shows in his
Moment of Awesome when he shuts down the entire Megarig. He also shows some pretty badass skills while piloting that Airbike, avoiding attacks all with two kids along for the ride. - Involuntary Shapeshifting: This happens to Giratina whenever it leaves the Reverse World or returns to it, and to Shaymin when it comes in contact with the pollen of Gracidea flowers (as well as when night comes or it gets encased in ice if in its Sky Forme.)
- Jerkass Ball: For some reason, Dawn is strangely rude and antagonistic toward Ash in the movie, in contrast to her Nice Girl status and great relationship the two share in the anime. At one point she even kicks him in the shin, which is something you'd expect Kanto-era Misty to do, but not Dawn.
- Jerkass to One: Most of Shaymin's dickish behavior is directed towards Ash as opposed to Dawn who they like or Brock who they largely ignore.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Shaymin is entitled and somewhat self-centered, but does come to genuinely care for Ash and company by the movie's end and is truly grateful for their help.
- Killer Rabbit: Shaymin once it snorts its signature flower.
- Large Ham: Both Newton and Zero seem to be this, though Zero's doesn't really show at first until after the two of them meet up again.
- Laser Blade: The Mecha Giratina is able to copy Giratina's Dragon Claw by projecting one of these from its underside.
- Leitmotif: Zero has one: Zero no Wana (Zero's Trap).
- Mad Scientist: Zero in that it was once his occupation as the assistant of one. It still counts.
- Magic Skirt: Dawn in the Reverse World. Even though gravity is berserk there, her skirt is unaffected.
- Meaningful Name: Zero...but that one speaks for itself.
- Newton Graceland's Japanese name is Mugen, which means 'infinite', while his English name may come from the scientist Issac Newton, who developed the concept of gravity. The last name 'Graceland' is a play on the Gracidea flower garden.
- Then you have the holographic maid in Zero's ship, Infi, whose name is also a shortened form of infinity; her character design also incorporates lemniscates.
- Mirror Universe: The Reverse World. Supposed to be an Pokemon equivalent of an antimatter universe.
- Could be that antimatter things are turned into normal matter or vice versa when traveling between worlds.
- Never Trust a Trailer: Based on this early poster for the movie
◊, you'd think Palkia appears, but ultimately, it plays no role in the film whatsoever, appearing only in a brief flashback to Movie 10.- Not to mention some beta scenes that appear in some of the Japanese trailers that don't appear in the movie. But that's Pokemon tradition, anyway.
- Non-Malicious Monster: Giratina is just trying to protect the Reverse World from harm that world eventually spill over into the Pokemon World as a whole.
- Poor Communication Kills: Giratina's mad at Dialga and needs Shaymin's help, Shaymin thinks Giratina wants to eat it, Ash and the gang think Giratina's evil, and then the plot happens.
- Punctuated! For! Emphasis!: RE.GI.GI.GAS.
- Power Copying: Zero's Megarig is able to copy Giratina's abilities at the cost of nearly killing it. He's able to use Giratina's portal-creation and a few of its attacks with the Mecha Giratina afterward.
- A Pupil of Mine Until He Turned to Evil: Zero was once Newton's assistant/pupil until Newton deleted the blueprints to the Megarig.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: Giratina; they even glow when it's really pissed.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: Newton is the red to Zero's blue, however it has been seen to flip-flop.
- The Reveal: Zero is seen watching a video on loop that reveals he was Newton's pupil.
- Scenery Porn: The system of fjords that this movie is set in is depicted in lavish detail, as is the town where Ash and friends spend the first half of the movie. Even the Reverse World has its own surreal beauty, especially during sunset.
- Sequel Hook: Giratina's still pissed off at Dialga, so the end of the movie has him going off somewhere to go after him.
- Slasher Smile: Zero delivers some rather creepy ones when things go according to his plans.
- Spikes of Villainy: Played straight with Zero's Megarig and Mecha Giratina, both of which have seemingly ornamental spikes everywhere. Subverted with Giratina, who may be aggressive but has no malicious intent and even uses its spikes for a Dragon Claw attack while fighting Zero.
- Tender Tears: Shaymin Land Forme at the end of the movie. As if it weren't adorable enough.
- Theme Naming: The villain and his assistant are named for zero and infinity, two mathematical concepts that have multiple possible relationships depending on context.
- Thinking Up Portals:
- Giratina can create portals between the normal world and the Reverse World. They appear on reflective surfaces and if Giratina wants to drag something into its domain, it's accompanied by a vortex that pulls nearby things in. Zero eventually steals this power and doesn't need a reflective surface when he uses it.
- Shaymin's Seed Flare opens a portal when used in the Reverse World, which Giratina wants to use to bypass Dialga's mini-"Groundhog Day" Loop.
- Tsundere: Shaymin is a Type A to Ash for the majority of the film.
- Ungrateful Bastard: Shaymin, ironically. Shaymin is described as the "Gratitude Pokemon", yet spends the entirety of the movie completely taking for granted that Ash and co. are helping it, even going so far as to treat Ash like a Butt-Monkey, despite the fact that they are under no obligation to help it whatsoever. It does make up for it a little in the final scenes, though.
- Utopia Justifies the Means: Zero sees his own actions this way. The Reverse World is his idea of a perfect world and wants to cause destruction because people's actions can harm it.
- Villainous Breakdown: Zero appears rather calm and collected at the beginning of the movie, but after he captures Shaymin and uses it to open a portal using Seed Flare in order to allow Giratina access to the real world again so he can put his evil plan into fruition, he starts showing a dramatic change from being almost stoic to going off the deep end by the climax of the movie.
- He also had an even BIGGER breakdown in the manga version.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: Zero thinks that by destroying the real world, he's saving the Reverse World (which he plans to achieve by causing massive property damage in the Reverse World itself). This causes him to nearly murder the guardian of the Reverse World in the process.
- What the Hell, Hero?: This is the reaction Ash and Co. have when they find out that Newton designed the Megarig.
- White Hair, Black Heart: Zero is this to an extent. He has no problem with killing Giratina for the sake of his own wants and needs, but he honestly thinks that the Reverse World is being polluted by the real world and wants to 'save' it.
- With Great Power Comes Great Insanity: Zero once he gets a hold of Giratina's power.
