Pokemon: A Retrospective

Gotta Catch ‘Em All.

A simple phrase that carries a certain history to it. That phrase just as iconic as, “I want to be the very best like no one ever was,” making an entire generation of people sing a particular tune.

Starting off with humble beginnings stemming from the mind of Satoshi Tajiri catching bugs in the forest around his home, Pokémon has flourished into the highest grossing media franchise of all time. Bringing in roughly $4 billion dollars a year, it vastly out grosses Star Wars, the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Harry Potter, and Disney Princesses. With movies, both animated and live action, an ongoing television show, web series, card games, mobile games, more merchandise than one can count, and of course, the video game franchise that started it off, one thing is clear.

Pokémon isn’t going away anytime soon.

I can’t even begin to describe what Pokémon means to me. It has always been part of my world.  Some of my fondest memories as a kid were pretending to be Pokémon trainers in my friend’s backyard. We would shout out commands to our invisible monsters in a battle that only we could see. Since those formative years when I first watched the anime, it has been a staple in my life. Pokémon has always been the franchise that feels like coming home.

The staying power of Pokémon is undeniable. It’s ability to evolve as a franchise just like the monsters in the games is part of its appeal. Pokémon has always help lead the charge of pushing innovation allowing for so many entry points for new fans.

For a long-time fan like me, this is always exciting. Franchises need new people for a variety of reasons.

The simple thing of course is money. People buy Pokémon stuff then more Pokémon stuff gets made. But it’s also how the franchise adapted merchandise over the years that’s very impressive. Of course they have plenty of toys for children. Heck, when I was a kid, getting the stuffed Vulpix toy (that I still have and is on the shelf behind me as I type) was such a big deal. It was perfect for my little kid self. But the Pokémon Company also understands that my generation is now a group of adults who wish to have items tailored for us. There is a lot of appealing merchandise now like the Original Stitch line of Pokémon shirts. Or even the official Pokémon Center store offering a home décor section (I want all the Christmas things). The company’s ability to grow and develop over the last two decades to truly have something for all ages is astounding. It’s easy for a new fan so see that one items that catches their eye and be tempted to explore what it is.

Not just with merchandise, there are so many entry points to experience Pokémon for the first time. It’s easy to get hooked.

The anime has been ongoing for years, the adventures of Ash Ketchum and Pikachu doesn’t seem to be ending anytime soon. Every new game means an unknown region for Ash to explore with a different cast of characters. It essentially resets the series allowing a jumping off place for fans coming to the franchise for the first time.

It’s especially handled well in the most recent series, Pokémon Journeys, which is a huge love letter to the entire franchise. This show completely changed the format of the anime, giving it a fresh new overhaul. The set up for the series of course follows Ash and Pikachu. Recently, he finally won his first league championship in the Sun & Moon season (Y’ALL I SOBBED FOR MY BOY WHEN HE FINALLY WON IT ALL). He’s looking for something new to do. Setting out with the goal to become the world champion, he explores all eight regions with his friend Goh to accomplish this. Goh is essentially the video game player, trying to complete his Pokédex and actually collect all of the Pokémon in the world. It’s a fantastic format allowing for a new fan to get a sample of each region, their gym leaders, characters, and a huge variety of Pokémon.

There are also the web series shorts, which I have praised on this site before. What I love about the web series is they don’t rely on the canon of the ongoing anime which has 20+ seasons and over 1,000 episodes. Some of them have an ongoing story, but they’re never the length of a full episode of the anime. They’re bite sized for quick, fun viewing. Pokémon: Generations and Pokémon: Evolutions are tied to the video games and their events, both released during major anniversaries. Both are a celebration of the entire franchise, tapping in on fantastic characters as well as giving us some awesome animated battles. Twilight Wings focuses on the Galar region, and personally, made me finally fall in love with the generation I struggled the most to enjoy.

My personal favorite for sure is the PokéToon shorts which I featured in my best animated shows of 2021. Each episode is a standalone plot that requires no extra content for the bigger world, games, or anime. From the nod to Fleischer Studios to simple Japanese paintings come to life to several coming of age stories, I adore every single entry into this series.

The best part of the web series is they’re completely free, all of which are on YouTube. Unlike the anime where it requires streaming services, the web series lets someone enjoy Pokémon without having to factor in a price. Though, PokéToons is not dubbed as of writing this. Make sure to click on that closed captions button for an English translation.

Also, my goodness “Bidoof’s Big Stand” is a perfect piece of Pokémon media.

Maybe someone’s introduction was Detective Pikachu, the live action movie that has been praised for breaking the dreaded video game movie curse. I adore this movie, and I stand by my own personal claim that Detective Pikachu walked so my other favorite video game movie, Sonic the Hedgehog, could sprint (Sonic pun intended).

Detective Pikachu was incredibly smart by using the source material of the titular game as inspiration and then making its own original story. Despite being packed with plenty of references for lifelong fans, the concepts and world of Pokémon are introduced beautifully through the eyes of Tim Goodman, the protagonist, and his father’s Pikachu, voiced by Ryan Reynolds. It’s a fast pace movie that focuses more on letting the story and characters thrive without getting bogged down in the mechanics of a 20+ year old franchise. A new viewer doesn’t have to know every single one of the 900+ Pokémon in the franchise. Instead, it’s a perfect little popcorn movie to get lost in on a summer day. Just like the summer day I watched it for the first time with my Pokémon loving niece and nephew.

I’m so bummed the sequel has been scrapped. Hopefully, Sonic the Hedgehog 2 will perform well enough to show that video game movie sequels can still bring in big money. Maybe then, we’ll finally get to return to Tim, Pikachu, Lucy, and Psyduck!

One of the biggest pulls of course are the games. Stretching across multiple platforms from the humble Gameboy to the Nintendo Switch, Pokémon has truly grown and evolved through technology over the last two decades. It’s even jumped to our phones with the insane launch of Pokémon Go.

I still remember the excitement I felt the first time I saw the Pokémon Go launch trailer. It seemed like a dream that this franchise I adored was about to cross into the real world. Well, as “real” as augmented reality on cellphone can be. The full force of the community came out in those first weeks. It was insane!

I walked the historic district of my hometown with my friends late into the night to fill up my Pokédex. Even now when I drive around, I don’t see locations but rather places I know are gyms and PokéStops. I would drop lures on the PokéStop outside my store at work to pull in both customers and new Pokémon for me to snag. We ran sales based on Pokémon Go teams to decide who got a discount that day. I managed a comic book store at the time so there was plenty of nerd trash talking among teams. My regulars would trade with me when I couldn’t make nearby raids. One couple in particular always brought me new Pokémon all the time. We grew closer over the years as they came by on their nightly walking path during almost every one of my work shifts.

Sadly during the summer of last year, the wife in the couple passed away suddenly. I remember her funeral fondly, choosing to wear a Doctor Who shirt which was the other fandom we had loved together. When her family asked how we met, I sadly replied, “We played Pokémon together,” and her relatives knew exactly what that had meant to her.

Pokémon also changed the very structure of my family.

My older sister always poked fun at my nerdy interests growing up, as older sisters do. Of course I got my revenge in my own way by helping her kids become nerds. Therefore she had to live full time with an extension of me. Though one day out of the blue, she called me to apologize. That was because she had fallen down the Pokémon Go rabbit hole and was absolutely hooked. Discovering the community for the first time, she met so many new friends in her town. She discovered just how fun it could be, enjoying the experience with her kids too.

But during one particular Kyogre raid, her life changed for the better. That’s where she met a nice man in her community group and they hit it off right away. They began spending more and more time together. And then a few years later, he gave her this very special Pokéball and asked her an important question.

Last year, because of Pokémon, I gained a new brother-in-law. I got to watch my sister get all giddy in her kitchen as we baked the Pokémon cookies for their wedding. Their Go community group came out in support to celebrate their love. It was definitely one of the most special moments in my own Pokémon journey thus far.

Heck even tonight as I’m writing this, I called up my sister to ask permission to share her story. She laughed and said, “Don’t forget to mention our brother plays now too!” which had been news to me. I yelled, “He plays Pokémon now!? And he didn’t tell me! He’s dead to me!” I couldn’t help but to laugh, knowing another one of my many siblings had been ensnared into my fandom.

I haven’t even touched on the comics, card games, all of the animated films, and everything in between. Heck, Pokémon The First Movie was my very first date in sixth grade. It was the kind of date where our parents sat about ten rows behind us to give us space but also to make sure nothing happened. I haven’t talked about how heated our Super Smash Brothers battles got at college parties where I chose Pikachu and Link as my two main fighters. Or my elation when my best friend discovered Black and White, her first Pokémon games that finally hooked her into the series after years of me trying to get her into it. Now, we go out on our own adventures to our local park for Go raids and to take over gyms together. Or my love of watching Pokémon VGC competitions, rooting on my favorite competitive players. I don’t care what anyone says; Pachirisu will always be a world champion!

There is just so much to Pokémon. As we celebrate another Pokémon Day, I look back on the last 26 years of a franchise that has and will always be a staple in my life. It’s changed me in ways I haven’t imagined and I can’t wait to see where the story goes from here.

So get out of there and play Pokémon, trainer!