Pokémon Horizons Is Incredible Now.

back in 2022 the world was watching Ash catman's battle for the world championship and wondering what exactly the hero we've been following for 25 years could possibly do next but then the Pokémon company shocked everyone cuz Ash Ketchum was about to get replaced by a girl named Leo and in 2023 Leo took the anime in a totally different direction Pokémon Horizons kicked off with Leo and a group of adventurers traveling the world to solve an ancient mystery connected to a strange pendant she'd gotten from her grandmother and the concept sounded so refreshing after 25 years of Ash battling his way through through leagues that everyone was talking about where the next generation of the Pokémon anime might take us for a couple weeks anyways then they stopped because it turns out that back then the show was missing the Pokémon secret sauce and I'm not talking about Ash Ketchum cuz even though Ash's grit courage and compassion made him an iconic rule model and even though it was obvious that many fans who grew up with Ash would stop watching when he left there are actually three other ingredients that make the Pokemon anime hit different and once Pokémon Horizons finally figured out the recipe the anime went from pretty good to peak Pokémon the first ingredient is battles but not just battles Pokémon battles because the truth is there are a lot of anime out there with amazing fights but a Pokemon battle is actually quite different from a standard anime battle since it depends on team building move sets abilities typing math match rules and the trainer is more like a super involved coach than a direct competitor so instead of the fights in one piece Dragon Ball or Digimon a better comparison for Pokémon battles are the matches in Slam Dunk haq or kjo I mean Captain subasa not to mention that hearing fans talk about Ash's battles always reminds me of people talking about the games of their favorite sports team more than talking about the battles of a typical anime hero like which team is he facing what do the matchups look like who is he recruiting next how can he counter his opponent's strategy without using the damn Sprinklers and what is his best possible team etc etc basically Pokemon turns cool monster fights into strategy based sporting events and it's pretty hype I mean this is obviously a big reason why people love the video games and the TCG and the sports mentality is just as clear when people talk about Ash catch's League battles so even though the first year of Pokémon Horizons did have battles and at times very very beautiful battles they are mostly the kind of do or die fights that you'd see in any other anime not sporting events on top of that in year 1's only two exhibition battles against two Gym Leaders Leo's Sid kick got absolutely steamrolled Leo herself threw in the towel because she didn't want to hurt her opponent's feelings and while these outcomes did have a long-term impact on Leo and Roy's character arcs not taking organized competition seriously nuked a big part of Pokémon's core appear and made the episodes a much harder sell to the average Pokémon fan even if the show's storytelling was on point that is until black Rayquaza totaled the rising volt tackers Airship at the end of the second Arc because now that the ship is under repair the three kids on the crew are taking a teral training course at Nana Academy to get strong enough to face Rayquaza and the other trials ahead as the story approaches its climax to complete the course Leo Roy and Dot need to pass two rounds of battles against Pal's Gym Leaders which means battles battles and more battles sure enough from the start of the third Arc we have had nine battles in just 11 episodes with three more coming right up and the battles haven't just brought back the wacky strategies and the spirit of competition that defines the Ash Ketchum era of the anime because they've also made a very noticeable impact on the show's characters for example dot is an introverted and socially anxious girl who hides behind an online persona but the battle against iono forces her to choose between continuing to live in the shadows or competing as herself in a match broadcast to thousands of viewers so dot struggles and she breaks down as she tries to muster her courage but she eventually does battle his DOT instead of Neo thing and even though she loses she walks away from the Battle of stronger person however in her next battle dot teams up with iono against poppy of the Elite 4 and even though they win iono practically carries the match this leaves dot feeling hopeless about her own abilities which sets up the next chapter in her Arc where she'll have to prove herself against everyone's favorite gym leader Elite for m/ depressed salary man Larry Leo and Roy's battles have been just as impactful resulting in one of the most peak Pokémon arcs in years even better the battles are connected to a second secret sauce ingredient that's made year 2 of Pokémon Horizons so much easier to get into a qualification structure see one aspect of the Ash Ketchum era anime that made it simple sticky and highly watchable for the average Pokémon fan was the structure of the Pokémon League cuz even if Ash did go on all these crazy detours it was all in the context of traveling town to town to earn Gym badges just like in the games in order to qualify for the Pokémon leagues in Kanto jotto hoen coo yova and and callow not to mention that a lot of the key story beats were modeled quite closely after the video games so it was really easy to pick up mids series if you were a player and even though Pokemon Sun and Moon and Pokemon Journeys shook up the formula quite a bit on a superficial level the underlying qualify for the championship structure was essentially the same so just like how the Pokémon battles feel more like sporting events than traditional fantasy battles the Pokemon League structure made the ash era of the show feel more like a Sports Anime than a traditional fantasy adventure and the result was a catchy League qualif application structure that was as easy to follow as your home team's baseball season and as for any more traditional fantasy Adventures they were usually saved for the Pokémon movies which took a break from the qualification structure and its organized competitions to focus on big Mysteries high stake situations Legendary Pokémon and guess what year 1 of Pokemon Horizons felt just like a Pokemon movie but extended over 45 episodes on one hand this was amazing since the grand Adventures of the Pokémon movies are a lot of fun but on the other hand in addition to making the show feel more like a vanilla fantasy Adventure series than a Pokémon series ditching the qualification structure made it so much harder for the millions of Pokémon players out there to instantly connect with Pokémon Horizon story since it was such a huge departure from the league based format of the video games A Familiar structure that made the show very accessible to anyone who's into the games but this time viewers need to be up Tod date on a lot more anime specific lore and backstory if they want to fully enjoy Pokémon Horizons the good news is that while it doesn't look like the full League qualification structure will return anytime soon Pokémon Horizon's teral training Arc is basically a miniature version of the qualification structure except that the goal is to pass a course instead of win a championship and although the ancient mystery plot line that makes Pokémon Horizon so unique is still thread through all the episodes the teral training structure just makes the show so much easier to follow by giving viewers clear Milestones to measure the Trio's progress against combined with the new focus on Pokémon battles the anime now feels a lot more like a Pokémon anime than it did in the first year which brings us to the biggest move Pokémon Horizon's made to upgrade from being just a good anime to being a peak Pokémon anime something I call the gensaku effect in Japanese gensaku means original work aka the original story that an adaptation is based on for example Pokémon red and blue are the gensaku for the first season of the Pokémon anime and Japanese fans often compare gensaku characters to original anime exclusive characters when they're talking about the show especially since While most anime adaptations follow their gaku quite closely the Pokémon anime massively expands on the original Universe with new events new characters and much deeper insights into gensaku characters and locations to the point where the anime totally eclipses the video games when it comes to story at lore and character development which is exactly what you'd expect when you stack 53 hours of dedicated storytelling against 33 hours of gameplay with about 6 hours of Story scene sprinkled in but what is truly invaluable about the anime's 50 to 70 hours of runtime per Pokémon generation is how it turns just a few lines of text from the video games into living breathing characters with big personalities and stories to tell I mean the anime versions of characters like Brock Misty and Iris speak for themselves and I've got to mention how the anime's conclusion to Lily story arc took what was introduced in the video games to an entirely different level so even though the anime has always had its own original characters one of its greatest strengths is how it brings the characters from the video games to life because fans simply love seeing their favorite game characters talking battling and playing much bigger roles in the anime and the appearances of these characters are highly marketable which is why the anime has always made them a priority at least until the first first 45 episodes of Pokémon Horizons Wich almost completely focused on the all original cast with only four notable game characters showing up throughout the year don't get me wrong the rising volt tacklers are great but it's obviously harder to hook casual Pokémon fans when there isn't a familiar face in sight nor does it help that aside from Coral the original villains don't fill the vacuum left by Team Rocket particularly well and if the recent surge of hype is any indication the sheer lack of gaku characters was really holding back the show since within 10 episodes of the teral training Arc we met all of Pal's Gym Leaders The Elite 4 the regional Champion various other characters from the video games and as a result the anime immediately started trending in Japan because now it's not just the hardcore anime fans talking about Pokemon Horizons it's also the millions of players who' played Pokémon scarlet and violet who are finally seeing familiar faces which is causing them to come out and chat about what their favorite characters are up to in the anime and as always the anime expands on these video game characters in really interesting ways for example Larry is just 7.7 times funnier with voice Act you'll never see ktie the same again and rup from the Elite 4 is Making Waves by mentoring Leo kind of like how Prima Drake and other elite four members helped Ash break through his own obstacles back in the day in fact ra pushes Leo so hard that at long last she recognizes her passion for Pokemon battles and bursts into tears in awe of this realization which is great news if it means more battles more training and more team building in Pokemon Horizons since now that the new series is acing it with the Gen Saku characters the qualification structure and the focus on proper Pokémon battles a lot of people are getting interested in Pokémon Horizons which is why the anime has been trending in Japan every single week this summer basically the writers took a look at the Grand Adventure they'd created realized that all it needed was a little squirt of secret sauce to turn it into peak Pokémon fiction and now they've got the perfect opportunity to hook the next generation of fans and with that said I recommend watching this video right here I'll see you there [Music]

Channel: charusharu

Views: 216,497

Keywords: pokemon anime, pokemon, ash ketchum, ash's released pokemon, greninja, ash greninja, ash-greninja, ash's pidgeot, ash's lapras, ash's solgaleo, ash's lucario, pokemon ash, pokemon ash's team, pokemon horizons

Id: WqXmAjQMykU

Length: 9min 57sec (597 seconds)

Published: Tue Jul 09 2024