There have been good video game adaptations besides Pokemon. I enjoyed Fallout and The Last of Us, and I’m sure there will continue to be good video game movies and TV shows that do not involve Poke Balls, Pokedexes, or anything else with the Poke prefix. But while others have been good, Pokemon has consistently been the most interesting.
Pokemon has a bit of an unfair advantage here. The Pokemon anime began all the way back in 1997 and was a very faithful adaptation of the games. There are differences, sure. Ash is the series’ invention, as are Jessie, James, and their talking Meowth. But the thrust of the games has always been present in the anime, which is the story of one kid’s quest to become a Pokemon master. Just like in the games, he starts in Pallet Town, engages in Pokemon battles, travels all around Kanto, and takes on gym leaders. Like in the games, those gym leaders include Brock, Misty, and Giovanni. Like in the games, the primary antagonists are Team Rocket.
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The Anime Frees Pokemon Up To Be Interesting
When you’ve had an adaptation that, for 30 years, has been devoted to faithfully translating the game experience, it provides some freedom to get a little weirder. Oh, you don’t think Pokemon Concierge accurately translates the experience of the main games? So what? You have 1,300-plus episodes of anime that do that! That foundation frees Pokemon up to get a little experimental, as evidenced by the recent news that the franchise is teaming up with Aardman Animations on something new. We don’t yet know if it will be TV or film, but Aardman’s pedigree (Wallace and Gromit, Chicken Run, The Pirates!) and the teaser artwork suggests it will be made using claymation.
That’s a cool aesthetic direction for Pokemon to explore, and though we don’t know what the narrative focus will be, it’s just the latest example of the games being adapted in interesting ways. Pokemon Detective Pikachu was the first video game movie I thought was good and that was, in large part, due to its tactile monster designs. Director Rob Letterman could have easily gone in a rubbery CG direction, but instead gave the Pokemon a more textured look, with prominent fur, scales, and feathers.
This, paired with the rainy, nocturnal urban setting made it feel more like the Blade Runner-inspired films of the late ‘80s and early ‘90s — movies like Batman and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles — that brought children’s franchises to life with inspired metropolis production design.
Pokemon Concierge Is Far From A Typical Adaptation
The franchise continued this aesthetic exploration with the aforementioned Pokemon Concierge, a gorgeous stop-motion Netflix series. The Pokemon here similarly had a tactile appearance, with notable fuzz on the monster models and choppy, plasticky movement for the humans. It was a completely different vibe, with sunshine and sand instead of smoke and city streets, but it was similarly accomplished.
Both of these Pokemon adaptations explored new narrative ground, rather than repeating the familiar “wanna be the very best” anime plotline. Detective Pikachu (which was based on a DS game) was set in Ryme City, a metropolis where Pokemon battling is outlawed and our favorite monsters instead work normal jobs. Pokemon Concierge is set on a tropical island where our favorite creatures go to get their mojo back. The protagonist is a young woman who is essentially working as a Pokemon therapist and getting some much needed R and R in the process.
Compared with isekai adaptations, like Minecraft, both Mario movies, and Sonic, or straightforward retellings of the main games’ events, like The Last of Us and Uncharted, I’m much more interested in Pokemon’s approach. If every movie and TV show needs to be IP, at least explore a less-seen corner of that familiar universe.
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