Pokérewind!

Introduction

Hi! I'm TheRealMan, and I've been a Pokemon fan for approximately 18 years as of this writing. I was one of many kids who started their first Pokemon journey in the Sinnoh region; for me, it was June 2007, on Pokemon Diamond. It took over a year to complete the game, but I was absolutely overjoyed when I did; I was on vacation with friends of the family, so I made sure everyone knew about it!

Of course, the fourth generation of Pokemon was not my first exposure to the Pokemon franchise. I'd had some exposure to Pokemon prior to 2007, whether it be an episode or two caught on VHS, Kids WB or Cartoon Network, merchandise like toys, blankets, or whatever. While I was still a baby while Pokemania was the biggest thing, I was still able to feel its effects as I gradually became self-aware.

This means that I did NOT grow up with the first generation as my formative introduction to the series, and while I've seen select episodes before, I have never done a full-on watchthrough. I figured, why not bring some of my perspective as a fourth-genner (Genfourer? Is there an equivalent to the 'Genwunner' term?) to a part of the series I'm familiar with, but not entirely.

And so, that brings us to this: PokeRewind! In this blog / retrospective, I aim to review as many consecutive episodes of the Pokemon anime as I can (or at least until I don't feel like it), and with the first two seasons of the anime officially available through the Pokemon TV channel, it's easier than ever to watch it!

In terms of watch order, to save myself the trouble of figuring out Japanese vs. American air dates, I'm going by the episode numbers on the Pokemon TV Youtube channel. That being said, in regards to banned/skipped episodes in the English dub, I will find a way to review those as well, and try to place them in the order accordingly.

Full disclosure: a lot of the technical information in this retrospective, especially stuff about the dub, comes from Bulbapedia, IMDB, Pocketmonsters.net, AnimeNewsNetwork, and various Wikipedia pages. Shout out to all the user-maintained wikis out there; you definitely make things MUCH easier for me!

I'm also going to be a bit more detailed than I normally would be in this episode, seeing as it's the first episode of the entire show. There's a lot to talk about, after all, so let's get into it!

EP001 – Pokemon, I Choose You!

This first episode aired on 4/1/1997 on TV Tokyo in Japan, and in syndication in the US on 9/8/1998.

The show opens, as it always does, with the theme song. You know, THE anime theme song. “Gotta Catch 'Em All” is, arguably, one of the most popular songs produced exclusively for an anime, likely followed close behind by Neon Genesis Evangelion's “Komm, süsser Tod”. Vocalist Jason Paige was, according to an interview with the New York Post, only paid a few hundred dollars for the original recording session, later negotiating a further “tens of thousands of dollars” payout. Even this, in my opinion, was too little for the performance he gives on this song.

The first scene in the show is, of course, a recreation of Red & Green/Blue's opening animation, featuring a Gengar and a Nidorino battling each other in the Pokemon League. I'm proud of myself for noticing this: at about 1:46 in the episode (or at least on the Youtube upload), during the match, the slightly rotating shot of the Onix is the exact one used in the show's first opening! (After the line “I know it's my destiny!”)

Watching the match is a rather eager trainer to be: you know him, you love him, the one and only Ash Ketchum! Of course, he's voiced by the legendary Veronica Taylor, making her 1st of 417 voice appearances in the series up through 2005. Aside from her Pokemon voice roles, Taylor has also had voice roles in a TON of places, ranging from Sailor Moon, Yu-gi-Oh and Dragon Ball Super: Broly to TMNT (2003), Winx Club, and the Fire Emblem series, among much, much more. She also voices Ash's mother, Delia, making the scene of Delia scolding her son for being up so late rather amusing, as she's basically talking with herself.

Just as soon as we get the first line from Ash, we get another iconic voice: the Narrator! This voice was provided by Rodger Parsons, who serves as our narrator for essentially the entire Pokemon series; this is his first of 1037 appearances through 2023, making him one of the longest serving voices in the ENTIRE show's cast. Aside from Pokemon, he is also known for his roles in Dissidia: Final Fantasy and Vampire: The Masquerade - Swansong.

Ash's mom flips the television to what seems to be an educational program, hosted by Pallet Town's Professor Oak. A famous researcher of Pokemon, Oak's iconic voice is provided by actor and VA Stuart Zagnit, making his 1st of 78 vocal appearances in Pokemon up through 2013. Zagnit has quite the variety of roles himself; from vocal roles in Winx Club, Shaman King and TMNT (2003), to in-person acting roles in three versions of Law & Order (OG, SVU, CI) and The Good Wife, among many others.

Note: much of the talent featured in this era of Pokemon, especially those who voiced main characters, came from 4Kids, a now-defunct American licensing and dubbing company. They'll be handling the English dub of the series up through Season 8; you might know them courtesy of various memes about the quality and quirks of their dubs.

From here, we get our first of many, many, many title cards, typically narrated by Ash or his friends...

Ash's dream sequence after the title card is pretty interesting to me; each of the Pokemon's voices are a muffled noise. Since this is a dream, it makes sense that his sleeping mind doesn't quite remember how a Pokemon sounds. Most of us know how this story goes; Ash oversleeps, and ends up dashing to Professor Oak's lab in his pajamas.

At the entrance to the lab, Ash sees a large crowd outside, and meets an incredibly arrogant trainer; Prof. Oak's grandson Gary Oak, who rubs the fact that Ash is “too late” for a Pokemon right in Ash's face. Gary's smug attitude is complimented by the voice of one James Carter Cathcart (here credited under the pseudonym “Jimmy Zoppi”). Cathcart makes his 1st out of a staggering 716 vocal appearances through the end of the series in 2003. He's also done voices for Slayers, Yu-gi-Oh, Kirby: Right Back At Ya, Sonic X, and the game Shadow The Hedgehog.

Something odd that I noticed in this scene between Ash and Gary; Gary says, “wellll, you must be Ash” and “at least you get the chance to meet me”, whereas in flashbacks from much later in the series, we know that Ash and Gary were friends when they were younger. With a series that ran this long, there's gonna be plenty of inconsistencies with Ash, a character that existed in the anime for 25 years, so it's obviously not something I hold against the rotating cast of writers.

Anyways, Ash goes to pick his starter, and... all of the conventional starters are missing. Professor Oak offers him the one Pokemon: a particularly ornery Pikachu. And while, yes, Ash's Pikachu looks like any other Pikachu... this is THE Pikachu. Toe-to-toe with, if not further than, Ash in terms of being the series' default mascot. There's plenty to be said about Pikachu's personality in the future, but for now, he really doesn't wanna listen to Ash.

Ash comes outside to a small crowd of most-likely neighbors, along with this mom. Showing a bit of her caring, yet sometimes overbearing personality, she loads Ash up with tons of supplies for the road. And of course, the poor crowd, who just came to cheer Ash on, gets a Pikachu shock for their troubles.

Pikachu isn't exactly thrilled to be with Ash, so Ash gets the “bright” idea of TYING PIKACHU UP in the laundry line his mom gave him, and dragging him along the road. Probably not a good thing to do with your first Pokemon... although to give Ash credit, he does untie Pikachu when the Pokedex essentially corrects him.

Speaking of the Pokemon, “Dexter” is voiced by Nick Stellate. He is otherwise known for smaller background parts in miscellaneous live-action shows and movies (Spin City, Law & Order, Paradise Cove, Sweetwater, etc.), often playing the parts of policemen and guards. He is making his 1st out of 37 vocal appearances in the series through 1998; he is only Dexter for the first season of the show.

When our trainer encounters his very first Pokemon, a Pidgey, and Pikachu still refuses to help him, Ash decides to throw a Pokeball anyway. This is the very first instance of the “Ash Turns His Hat Backwards” scene, featuring much higher-quality animation than some of the other animation surrounding it. We'll certainly see more of this as we go along. When the Pokeball inevitably fails to capture it, Ash then tries to physically capture the same Pidgey using his dirty sleeping shirt... and when THAT fails thanks to a Gust attack from the poor bird, he just starts throwing rocks at a nearby group of bird Pokemon.

This leads to him hitting another bird; this time, it's a Spearow, and it's piiiiiissed. Attacking Pikachu causes the mouse to shock it... and then shit really hits the fan. The Spearow cries out to its flock, and they descend upon Ash & Pikachu in a rage. Ash is able to fetch the now-injured Pikachu from the frey, and he ends up diving down a waterfall into a nearby river. It occurred to me in this scene; I respect Ash for having the determination and the cahones to protect a Pokemon he just met, and already cares so much for.

After narrowly dodging a Gyarados, Ash & Pikachu are pulled out of the water by a familiar, orange-haired Trainer, who was just trying to catch a fish. She shows much more concern for the Pikachu, and points Ash in the direction of the nearest Pokemon hospital. In a hurry from the returning Spearow flock, Ash steals the other trainer's bike and takes off, much to her chagrin.

This orange-haired trainer is one of the main characters of the series; Misty, voiced by the late, great Rachael Lillis! Lillis will have many various voice roles in the series, including an important one that we'll see next episode. She's also known for her roles in Revolutionary Girl Utena and Hunter x Hunter, among many others. This is her 1st of 423 voice appearances in the series through 2015. Sadly, Lillis passed away in 2024 from breast cancer; may she rest in peace.

Note: Misty had the back of her hand facing us in the above screenshot, and after checking the original Japanese version, just as I thought...

She slaps him in a shot which is half-cut out of the English 4Kids dub. Little did we know, this short sequence would be the the beginning of one of anime's biggest “ships”, in the form of “Pokeshipping”. While the aspect of shipping probably won't be a big part of the show for me, it's still definitely worth noting in the context of the modern Pokemon anime fandom.

Back into the episode, this is where things really pick up. Dark clouds start to form in the sky as Ash quickly pedals down the road. Thunder starts to flash and rain falls, as Ash reassures Pikachu that they're almost there. The whole composition of this scene is excellently done, thanks in no small part to series music composer Shinji Miyazaki. The heroic horns and strings rise underneath as the Spearows finally catch up to the pair, tossing them off that bike and into the dirt.

This starts an incredible scene, where Ash makes one last impassioned plea for Pikachu to get inside of his Pokeball. He follows this by standing up, spreading his arms, and making a big speech to the incoming flock:

"Spearows, do you know who I am? I'm Ash from the town of Pallet. I am destined to be the world's number one Pokémon Master. I can't be defeated by the likes of you! I'm going to capture and defeat you all! You hear me?! ... Come and get me!!"

Following that, Pikachu sees this moment of heroism, and something seems to click within the mouse. He hops up over Ash's shoulder and hits the entire flock with an absolutely MASSIVE Thundershock, no doubt empowered by the thunderstorm above. (The poor bike is absolutely toasted by this!)

That, right there, is an incredibly character-defining moment for Ash. His determination and caring, despite everything going against him, is something that I hope to see as we go further into the series. While I'm aware that this series is more often than not a more episodic affair, these big character moments will be something I look forward to.

As Ash picks Pikachu up, carrying him into Viridian City, the Narrator takes us out of the episode, telling us about “the magic and mystery of a most wondrous place, the incredible world of Pokemon.”

Rating

At the end of every episode, I'll briefly summarize my thoughts and give a rating based on the American grading scale (A+ to E). I'm giving this episode an A-; an excellent introduction to the series and some of its key characters throughout the show's opening years, with lots of well-done scenes throughout. I'm excited to see what happens next!

Voices & Faces

In this section of the reviews, I'll be covering different miscellaneous changes in the cast, both voice-wise and character-wise. This is the first episode of the series, and I've already described our principal cast in the main review, so there's not much to report! However, there is one voice that I figured I'd introduce here.

Dan Olk is a bit of a mystery; he's one of the handful of voice actors credited as a voice in this episode by IMDB, without a specific character attached, and none of his characters given a name. If I had to guess, he may have been in Gary's fan crowd, perhaps? Either way, he makes his 1st of 5 vocal appearances here through 1998. He seems to be exclusively an English dub actor, providing voices in Revolutionary Girl Utena, Yu Yu Hakusho, and Now and Then Here and There.

Thank you for reading! I can't promise when the next review will come out, but I hope to write more soon! TheRealMan, signing off.