#i guess i thought they were cute. even though i kinda always liked piplup more? i ended up with chimchar. actually i think it might've been

[front-facing-pokemon]

[wolpertinger-prince]

I'd love to hear about your favorite pokemon!

OKAY so my long time favorite is Ninetales. I loved Ninetales ever since I was a little kid because I just loved graceful animals and ever since I played Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Blue Rescue Team, I was in love with that graceful, mystical fox. I honestly don’t know if I still love Ninetales as much as I used to, but I still have this deep fondness of Ninetales because of how much I loved her when I was young. She’s a pretty basic-looking fox monster, isn’t she? Over the years, Gamefreak came up with so many more fox Pokemon with much more creative designs and gimmicks, but Ninetales will always be the best fox Pokemon to me. I also looove her Alolan form. I might actually like Alolan Ninetales better than Kantonian Ninetales, but I’m still not sure (at least I still don’t have a plush of Alolan Ninetales.... hmmm.).

My other long time favorite is Suicune. Another really graceful, beautiful animal. Their aesthetic is what I kind of strive to be perceived as: elegant with both a vague sense of femme and a vague sense of masc. Strong, yet dainty. I always kind of admired how the species they’re based off of is so much more vague than Raikou and Entei’s. I used to argue with people that said that they were supposed to be a wolf in YouTube comments. Because logically, they would be a leopard, since Raikou is a tiger and Entei is a lion, right? But they really don’t look like a leopard, do they? Even though logically I always knew they’re supposed to be a leopard, they always looked more like a fusion of a wolf and a horse. My two favorite animals at the time I started liking Pokemon, which is probably another reason why I took such a liking to them. They sound like what I imagine a polar bear sounds like, and that’s beautiful.

I’ve always had such a fondness for Absol that I’m surprised I never regarded him as a favorite of mine sooner, but. Absol was the first Pokemon I really sympathized with. The whole being blamed for natural disasters thing. I would wake up to reruns of the Hoenn seasons of the Pokemon anime playing on my TV and got really excited when one day it happened to be an episode starring that cool Pokemon that saved me and BulbasaurS from Articuno in PMD: Blue Rescue Team. I always knew she was a good Pokemon and I wish it was as obvious to the townspeople in that episode as it was to me. They were also the closest thing Pokemon had to a wolf at the time to me, my reasoning being that Absol is misunderstood the same way wolves are (my big thing at the time was being mad that wolves were always the bad guys in most media)! So you could imagine my confusion when I went to look up fanart and saw Absol lumped in with the cat Pokemon because of his face. I still think her anatomy is more doglike than catlike.

I went nuts over Buizel. I coveted that Buizel Pokedoll plush on PokemonCenter.com every single day probably for months until the day I actually got it from Nintendo World. I imagined myself as a Pokemon trainer with Buizel as my partner, somehow being able to take down a Ho-Oh on its own (I don’t think I really understood that Ho-Oh was a powerful legendary Pokemon at the time tbh). The weird thing is, I don’t even like water-type Pokemon, or anything to do with water powers in general. The other weird thing is that I don’t really remember actually using Buizel on my team when I played Pokemon Diamond. I assume it’s because Diamond was my first main series Pokemon game and I guess I didn’t really understand switching Pokemon from you PC and leveling them up until I got way, way later in the game. Buizel is one of those Pokemon that I kinda forget exists, but whenever I remember him my heart goes doki doki.

Between Buizel and Quilava, I’m pretty sure I loved weasels before I even knew that much about them irl. When I heard about HeartGold and SoulSIlver coming out, I knew I was choosing Cyndaquil not because of Cyndaquil (although he is really cute), not for Typhlosion, but for Quilava. I was just gaga over Quilava. He has such a simple design but man he is so adorable. The middle of the evolution lines for the starter Pokemon have always been very underrated and I always thought Quilava outshined both his pre-evolution and his evolution. Typloshion always just kinda came off to me as a generic tough guy, while Cyndaquil at least is cute in a more unique way than your typical cute Pokemon. But Quilava oozes with personality. I’m like 75-80% sure if I had a Pokemon partner it’d be him.

Turtwig. My first starter Pokemon ever. I remember seeing the starters for Sinnoh as Sinnoh was slowly being revealed on Pokemon.com - as I’d gotten into Pokemon right at the tail end of Gen 3 when RSE were already kinda obsolete and PMD first came out - and I immediately gravitated toward Turtwig. Even if I slowly learned to love the other two, Turtwing just felt the most “me”, yanno? Actually, if I were to pick which starter Pokemon was the most “me”, it’d still probably be Turtwig (if not, it’d be Cyndaquil). Something about the shape of his head and his stumpy little body and the way he sounds just appeals to me specifically, yanno? He’s cute in a way that doesn’t appeal to everyone and I always liked that about him. Piplup and Chimchar were way more popular than he was, probably because Piplup was more conventionally cute and Chimchar was cool - I had to stand up for my turty-boi because other kids made fun of him. He’s a lot more popular nowadays than he was back in 2006 when if you were a girl would wanted to be a popstar and if you were a boy you wanted to be gangsta. Or something. Idk I was never really in touch with my peers.

And of course my newest favorite is Lycanroc, specifically dusk form! I would love to be able to go back in time and tell my kid self that not only are there gonna be actual wolf Pokemon, but wolf Pokemon with blue shiny forms (she loved blue)! Shamelessly how I came up with my namesake, dusk form Lycanroc is the Pokemon I imagine I’d be if I were a Pokemon. I just generally like how all of Lycanroc’s forms are designed (even if dusk form is a recolor of midday form shhh I excuse that because I just like dusk form’s coloration much better); something about a wolf being translated into Pokemon’s art style is so cool. Another thing it did for me is give me a favorite rock-type Pokemon, because I really never liked any rock-types beforehand (probably because I’m a furry). Midnight form Lycanroc also has the same body type as Lacmac from the Rayman cartoon aaaaaand yes I bitched for someone to trade me a shiny male Rockruff for the shiny female Rockruff I wound up with when I shiny hunted Rockruff until my partner let me have it so I could name him Lacmac. Would’ve been much less a pain in the ass if non-shiny midnight Lycanroc was blue because he looks cooler in blue than in red anyway, but whatever.

Thank you for giving me an excuse to ramble about why I love the Pokemon I love! I mean, I stayed up later than I intended to typing this but I enjoyed every second of it! Even if I’m probably gonna wake up tomorrow and realize I forgot to talk about like ten other Pokemon.

[0chazuke]

About Pokemon: I choose you! The Movie (non-spoilers version) *small edit: 18/Jul*

Salt or not, you should watch it - it is hard to criticize the experience only by reading spoiler notes/plot reviews. Go watch the movie without much expectations, even with some (big?) flaws it is quite an entertaining film. 

If you love Ash and Pikachu’s friendship, I’m pretty sure you will enjoy this - their relationship is indeed the big deal of the movie. Their voice actresses do an incredible job in this movie, it is worth to note how much their talent make a huge difference in the quality of the movie. The animation has some really pretty scenes and cool battles, I loved how expressive Ash and Pikachu were!

M20 is also a good treat for fans of the original series soundtrack, it has some nice rearranges of the old time classics! Plus so many references from previous movies!

Many people cried during many parts of the film, I noticed also some surprised gasps and bursts of laughter around/in front of my seat range too. I missed watching flawed Ash.... And, oh, he does answer what does a "Pokemon Master" mean this time lol.

On the other hand, the plot and the pacing… are a big mess. Too much info, not enough time to develop each thread, then it ends in a very rushed way. No wonder why I ended up with so many mixed feelings about the whole thing, hahaha, I personally wouldn’t rank it as my favorite pokemon movie but… I don’t think it is also as awful as some people have claimed xD

It is indeed a very strange experience, for instance… New characters are not bad, they have some background and personality - I’d say they are fitting and likeable but also kinda of pointless at the same time? Or, another example, emotional scenes are intense but they are also solved so quickly that is barely no time to let the info sink lol. IMO this film was better than the last recent movies, it’s like “well, M20 was really nice, I’m not mad but it had potential to be much better - but still, it was very fun, go watch it”? Please try watching it!

So many people in the movie theater - both kids and adults… also, so many 3ds devices lol (Marshadow is a gift through local wireless network. They included a short announcement at the start/end of the movie by Shokotan-Joy reminding us of that!). I’m happy that I got Marshadow and also a Ga-ole card with Movie!Hat Pikachu - it can be converted to Pokemon USUM in the future…

I’m still unsure which Hat-chu should I redeem with my ticket code. Maybe AG one?

Oh, (long) ramblings and spoilers after this cut:

Spoiler talk:

I don’t think Pikachu’s speaking scene was as bad as some people said… I thought that was very emotional and meaningful? It is very ambiguous scene, I saw that moment as Ash understanding Pikachu’s pokemon words with full clarity, he was so weak (c'mon boy was exhausted lol) and I don’t think Pikachu literally spoke in human language… The atmosphere kinda implies it is something only Ash could understand that instant, like the blurred and muffled sounds.

I really like Ash and Pikachu and I guess anyone who has/had a partner like that might get emotional over that. Ugh, maybe it’s Ootani’s acting… idk, either way that crushed my heart really badly. I surprisingly got much more emotional about it than I thought I would, even after being bombed with pre-screening spoilers.

^few minutes before I was honestly wanting to laugh/cringe at MARSHADOW WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING and the UGH incineroar’s PELVIC BELT FIRE ATTACKS WHY DID YOU REMIND US OF THAT DETAIL FROM THE GAMES DDDD: 

Convoluted plot much? Yamachan is a nice Marshadow! But… Kinda too bad the Pokemon itself in the story is really confusing. Pacing is also weird, felt like the plot is too long and suddenly close to the end they had to wrap it up in a rush? I thought it was nice in a way that you don’t get bored because things go nonstop, however it would definitely work better as a short TV series than a single movie.

They must really like those guest celebrities to create the two new rushed Please!DPPremake!characters. I do think the movie would work better with Ash and Pikachu traveling alone - for example, Bonji could easily sometimes fill the gaps the role of the two companions are meant to be… I mean, Souji and Makoto are nice, but still… Ugh, it does feels a bit like they were forced to be there.

I hope you like Entei better than Suicune and Raikou lol. It’s like… The first one is a badass and the other two are simply… there. Suicune only appears to Makoto and they exchange glances... and that's all.

Team Rocket’s cameos are very short but cute. I liked the best the one at the beginning, at the Pokemon Center, when Joy goes"omg those guys!!!“ and instead of attacking the place, TRio just leave excited like the other kids "yaaaaay Entei!!!” XD

I apparently wasn’t the only one who was confused about Marshadow’s intentions in that movie. Judging by the viewers’ reactions, I noticed a lot of people were confused about it… Even understanding Japanese language didn’t help much tbh.

Going back to Ho-Oh and Marshadow, I didn’t get it at first, but… 

…Well, Ash got one of Ho-Oh’s feather and it kept shining with bright colors because he has a good heart - if the feather gets dark, according to the legend, it is thanks to humans being evil, which results in things going really bad, right?

Marshadow knows that black feather = not good - that’s why when Ash is blinded by frustration and the feather gets darker, he creates that dream world where Ash realizes how important Pikachu was for him and tries to find his partner even though he can’t remember him in that illusion world. It takes a while to Ash realize he was being reckless and stupid, but after he remembers and understand he was being stupid, he quickly wakes up and apologize to Pikachu with real regret, and the feather goes colorful again, right?

The second time the feather goes dark is when Cross snatch it from Ash’s hand and later on, Marshadow takes it and start destroying everything around it. Bonji tells Ash he should get his feather back asap or else Marshadow will never stop unleashing its power, right….

1) so you could say Marshadow is like a guardian that creates a trial for those who bear the rainbow feather, ensuring pokemon are safe from evil people/good people can meet Ho-Oh (does it mean when Ash “dies”, he actually goes under Marshadow’s trial and he quickly returns to the real world due to his bond to Pikachu?)

ooor

2) Marshadow actually a sneaky little chaotic pokemon that is very aware that when the feather gets dark, it is its opportunity to snatch it and unleash its power. That explains why dark feather = bad stuff happens and why Marshadow stop hitting the humans and fades away after the dark feather in its hands disappears and reappears as a colored feather in Ash’s hand)

So… Which one is the actual thing, 1 or 2?

I’m not planning to watch it a second time soon, but let’s see if someone else does it and help us figuring out the plot lol. It’s probably easier to understand it after a second view (I mean, I HOPE SO lol).

About specific stuff I was asked on Tumblr, in no particular order:

Oh, the credits with old characters was not a full screen part… Only a small portion of the screen. They all begin as shadowed figures that look at the camera, reveling their full bodies. The background is the same for all characters.

Misty was riding her bike! May tied her bandanna! Clemont’s glasses were shining! Serena kept her old looks, everybody had their original clothes and style… TRACEY! o/

Max appeared together with May and Bonnie appeared together with Clemont.

I was very intrigued that only (cute upside down) Iris and Serena were smiling in their respective scenes… Everybody else looked slightly surprised/confused somewhat? So odd. :/

While Makoto is checking out her “smartphone”, after some pictures of her friends (we can see that Souji is the one who cooks for the trio) and their pokemon we can see her mother’s picture (+Piplup and Empoleon). Yeah, possibly Cynthia - she’s missing the trademark hairclips and the hair color is slightly darker… but that long peculiar hair is quite similar to that character… Plus Makoto herself hints "my hometown (Twinleaf - Sinnoh) has a very famous trainer..."

The teacher inside the classroom of IRL Ash was Agatha, wasn’t it?

Professor Oak has a Squirtbottle.

Souji is seen spotting an Articuno at the end of the movie. Meanwhile, Makoto explains she will go back home to see her mother.

Ah, close to the end I remember seeing the Alolan starters animated - sorry, I don't remember when exactly but it was before the credits, when Ash and Pikachu already said goodbye to Souji and Makoto.

The Lapras is not Ash's, it's Makoto's. She kisses the pokeball before throwing it...

Pikachu's spoken lines: "ずっと一緒にいたいから" (zutto issho ni itai kara): Because I wants to be with you, always.

Oh, Ash does define what does it mean to him to be a pokemon master: to become a friend of all pokemon in the world!