The Other Pokémon Anime

After nearly 25 years, the Pokemon TV anime is still chugging along as strong as ever, but what I find just as fascinating at this point are the myriad of anime side projects that Pokemon has created over the years. While we've had a few smatterings of specials here and there like Origins and Generations, the past two years in particular have really kicked into overdrive in terms of limited-run Pokemon projects. Today, as we celebrate Pokemon month, we'll be taking a dive into what the Pokemon anime looks like outside the TV series.

Beginning with a brief trip back to 2020, we have a series of web shorts titled Pokemon: Twilight Wings. This 8-episode series gives us a survey of different characters and stories from the Galar region in order to show off the potential for storytelling within this new generation. Directed by veteran animator Shingo Yamashita and produced at Studio Colorido, known for a variety of high-quality films and short projects like Penguin Highway, Burn the Witch, Paulette's Chair, and Fastening Days, Twilight Wings looks as phenomenal as you might expect. Just about every aspect of this production makes it one of the highest-quality Pokemon projects around, with every episode being on par with the absolute best from the TV anime.

One of its more standout features is the lighting and color direction. Colorido anime tend to make heavy use of intense light sources, especially sunlight, and this excessive use of light and shadow creates a much deeper and richer visual world. This depth can also be found in its cinematography and shot composition, which go well beyond what you'd expect from the average anime to craft environments that feel real and lived in. And that's to say nothing of the actual animation, which gives us some of the absolute best that Pokemon has to offer. While the vibrantly explosive Pokemon battles are the most outright stunning, the detailed character animation forms the backbone of this project's aesthetic. Smaller, more realistic movements fill this anime with a liveliness that further endears you to already endearing characters, and the ambitious camerawork allows these characters to move in more unique and interesting ways. Even in episodes that are fairly light on sakuga like episode 5, the editing, sound design, and cinematography present a quick-paced and captivating look into the lives of these characters in a way that feels almost effortless. Put simply, this might be the most consistently beautiful Pokemon anime to date.

Of course, it's not just style with Twilight Wings, as the narratives for each episode have plenty of substance to them as well. The series strikes a solid balance between episodic stories to highlight some of the characters from Sword & Shield and maintaining a core narrative throughline to tie everything together. In the first episode, we're introduced to a young boy named John who developed a fascination with Leon during his long stay in the hospital. As the episodes progress, we see how his and Leon's stories spiral out and affect others throughout the region, be it one of John's friends requesting help from Allister to fulfill John's dreams, or how the Gym Leaders struggle to keep up with Leon's talent and legacy.

One of the more fascinating features of these shorts is that the actual Pokemon battles are much more infrequent than you'd expect, with several episodes only using battles as background noise rather than the central focus. Instead, the stories concentrate on how these characters are shaped by the world and the Pokemon around them. Bea struggling with her self-control and pushing herself too far past her limits, only to have her Pokemon pull her back with love and support, Hop becoming obsessed with his brother's battling prowess and the strain that puts on the relationship with his Wooloo, Oleana managing the unending responsibilities that come with her position as Chairman Rose's secretary, Nessa attempting to maintain her hold on the two disparate passions that drive her life forward. These stories feel so human and down to Earth in ways that truly endear you to these otherwise fantastical characters.

That said, the fantastical elements are still very much there, and Twilight Wings does a stellar job recreating the awe and wonder that comes with immersing yourself in the world of Pokemon. The thrill and exhilaration of a Gigantamax battle, the ravishing beauty of Galar's expansive landscapes, being surrounded by hundreds of these fascinating creatures in ways that truly capture what makes them so exciting. Very few Pokemon projects are as deft at inviting you wholeheartedly into this world as this one.

Twilight Wings as a standalone Pokemon project is simply incredible, taking some of the more understated elements of what makes Pokemon so fun and unique and packaging it in the prettiest wrapping paper the industry could offer. It's an absolute must-watch for Pokemon fans, especially those who adore the Galar region and its parade of wonderful characters.

If Twilight Wings was specific to Sword & Shield in order to highlight the most interesting facets of the new region, Pokemon Evolutions takes a much broader look at the franchise as a whole, retelling climactic moments from each generation of the video game. In that sense, it's rather similar to Pokemon Generations from back in 2016, but whereas Generations tackles three stories from each generation with four minutes per episode, Evolutions only covers a single story per generation with about double the episode length, allowing for more depth to be added to our favorite Pokemon moments.

In general, most of the stories in Evolutions accomplish this rather adeptly. The first episode, which shows the battle with Eternatus, gives us a deeper look at Leon as a character and his struggles with maintaining his image as the Champion. The sharp contrast between the hyped-up crowd waiting for the championship match and the dimly-lit locker room Leon waits in immediately sells us on this conflict. It deepens his character by relying mostly on scenes not present in the original game in order to enhance our emotional connection with him, rather than simply retelling the events we already experienced in Sword & Shield. The same can be said for episode 2, in which we see Lillie's progression as a character over the course of Sun & Moon and her emotional connection with Lunala before the fight with Necrozma, though this one is slightly less ambitious in terms of deviating from the plot and aesthetics of the games.

That said, Evolutions is still very much a hit-or-miss series, with episodes spread across a wide range of quality. While I can say that most episodes are worth watching, there are a few stinkers around the middle section that really drag down the experience, each having a bizarrely different failing. Episode 5 in particular is just a flat-out trainwreck, sloppily retelling the story of gen 4 through the eyes of the rival character with no discernible personality, coupled with the weakest animation from the entire series and made all the more disappointing by its close proximity to the release of Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl. Episode 4 attempts to retell N's origins in the Unova region, but decides to use Ghetsis as the central narrator for the story, and so the tone of the episode never feels as focused as it could be. This one isn't outright bad, especially considering the strong color direction and cinematography, but the tonal gap is still a bit difficult to overcome and kept me from fully enjoying this episode.

However, I think the episode that fully embodies the main issues with Evolutions, as well as bad Pokemon storytelling on the whole, would be episode 3, which recounts the final battle with Lysandre and the destruction of his research facility. What irks me about this episode is that it does almost nothing to supplement the story we're already familiar with from the games, and I consider that a negative because this series pre-supposes that you've already played through these scenarios. Most of the episodes cover the climaxes of their respective stories, so reciting a bare bones rendition of a plot we've already experienced feels uninspired and wholly lacking in comparison to something like Leon's, and that's to say nothing of how this episode fails as a Pokemon story.

There's a certain rule I tend to keep in the back of my mind when it comes to Pokemon narratives, and that rule is: if you can replace the Pokemon with a sword and the story doesn't significantly change, then you have failed to tap into what makes Pokemon special. To me, the most fundamental component of a Pokemon story is how people and Pokemon interact with and influence each other, creating a world that feels truly magical and alive. Stories like episode 3 that practically push the Pokemon into the background in favor of whatever human drama is unfolding are just flat-out missing the point.

Fortunately, the series manages to swing back towards the positive at the end. Perhaps it's my generational bias speaking, but it's in these last 3 episodes where Evolutions truly starts hitting home runs, with each episode highlighting a different facet of Pokemon's narrative strengths. Episode 6 takes us to the Sky Pillar for a gripping retelling of Hoenn's creation myth, but the real meat of the story lies in Zinnia's characterization and her eventual realization that she's not the destined hero she thought herself to be for so long. Her fervent arrogance and zeal followed up by a brief, but heartbreaking series of flashbacks makes her the standout character from these shorts and actually left me tearing up near the end, and the absolutely phenomenal animation had me on the edge of my seat from start to finish.

Episode 7 hops over to Johto for a spectacular stage play retelling the legend of the two towers in Ecruteak City and puts its full focus on said play rather than attempting any particular character study. The way that Pokemon attacks are incorporated as stage effects combined with the stellar animation creates a truly immersive experience and captures the mythical essence of this story perfectly. And finally, episode 8 brings us all home to Kanto with a full throttle mad dash to Cerulean Cave as Green races Trace, the rival from the Let's Go games, to see who can capture Mewtwo first. It's an exhilarating spectacle filled with superb animation and a lively, upbeat atmosphere that had me feeling like I was 7 years old again and picking up my Game Boy for the first time, truly capturing the boundless joy and wonder that has made Pokemon so successful as a franchise.

Pokemon Evolutions does have its ups and downs, but when it hits, it hits hard and reminds me of all the things I love about this franchise.

Web shorts aren't the only interesting entries outside of the TV anime, however, as it would be remiss of me to not mention the Pokemon movies, which have been just as consistent as the TV anime in their premieres. If this were five years ago, I might not feel the need to add this section, as the movie formula back then felt more like an additional episode of the TV anime with a longer runtime and higher-quality animation…most of the time. However, ever since the 20th film, I Choose You, the Pokemon movies have fully taken on an identity of their own and produced some of the best entries from the entire franchise...most of the time. As opposed to Ash and his gaggle of side characters from each region taking part in some side story adventure, Ash and Pikachu have become the only elements that tie these films to the TV series, and when they aren't remaking previously established events, the movie-exclusive characters often end up being much more in the spotlight than Ash.

Such is the case with the most recent film, Pokémon the Movie: Secrets of the Jungle. Here, Ash mostly takes a backseat and, rather than drive the plot himself, acts more as a guide for the true main character, Koko, a boy raised from infancy by a Pokemon named Zarude. Essentially, Koko is Pokemon Tarzan, and retelling that concept through the lens of Pokemon leads to some fascinating story ideas, in particular that of family.

While the general notion of family bonds is not new to Pokemon films, with Spell of the Unown and Master of Illusions touching on them to some degree, Secrets of the Jungle is the first to focus specifically on what it means to be a family and how we are affected by those in our immediate family group. The chemistry between Koko and Zarude is complex and engaging as the two grow closer, drift apart, and grow closer again, with Zarude coming to terms with what it means to be a father, while Koko realizes the crucial bridge he forms between humans and Pokemon, thus allowing him to unite both groups under a common goal. I will admit that that last point eventually leads to one of the more narratively questionable moments in the film, but its thematic purpose outweighs any narrative oversteps, and the final resolution to this duo falls perfectly in line with the core message of Pokemon as a whole.

This film is also yet another in a growing list of recent Pokemon movies readapting concepts from earlier Pokemon stories to fit a new plotline. With I Choose You, the reuse of Ash's origin is pretty obvious, but the inclusion of Entei invites a subtle nod to Spell of the Unown, while Cross, one of the film's antagonists, bears a notable resemblance to Paul from Diamond & Pearl in terms of trainer ideology. With The Power of Us, both the name and the inclusion of Lugia calls on Pokemon 2000: The Power of One, and this callback is reflected in how the film's theming expounds on its predecessor's by making everyone's actions equally heroic and meaningful.

As for Secrets of the Jungle, its main pull seems to be Pokemon 4Ever with its setting being a secluded jungle that Celebi supposedly watches over, as well as a water source that displays healing properties. Whereas 4Ever had a more generalized theme about environmentalism, Secrets of the Jungle gets much more specific with concepts like resource drain, ecological hierarchy, and societal cooperation. Granted these ideas are still presented rather simplistically, but I admire it for managing these themes all at once as well as it does.

The healing water in particular seems to draw no so much on 4Ever, but rather from the TV special Mewtwo Returns, in which a pair of scientists are forced to choose between announcing the discovery of a healing spring to the world in order to further scientific progress or leaving it be so as not to destroy the local ecosystem that the Pokemon call home. This, in conjunction with the cooperation theme that Koko embodies allows this concept to feel relatively new despite previous entries.

And all of this is conveyed through a spectacular display of animation prowess. Ever since X&Y, the Pokemon anime has become more ambitious and skillful with its overall animation, and this film is no exception. The Tarzan idea allows for more extreme camerawork in the moments where Koko and Zarude are swinging through trees, with the CG backgrounds allowing for more freedom to focus on the dynamic motions of the characters, as expected from a project featuring Hirotaka Marufuji, more notable for his work on Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress, as one of its animation directors. The characters themselves remain as crisp and clean as ever, and the overall vibrancy of the color design gives the film an eye-catching pop.

Having binged all of the Pokemon films myself a while back and seeing just how wide the range of quality can be, the fact that the past few have been so high quality gives me immense confidence that these films will continue to deliver unique, yet comfortable and engaging Pokemon experiences for the foreseeable future.

Speaking of unique projects, remember that time Pokemon made a legit music video? Yeah there's no way I could do this analysis without mentioning "Gotcha," as it's easily the densest crystallization of the thrills and excitement that Pokemon. It's difficult to say something about this video you probably don't know already since it was such a massive success, but it bears repeating just how incredible this project is. On the whole, the most striking aspect of this video is how well it balances nostalgia with an actual narrative throughline. It would have been so easy to make this a project of pure fan service, but inserting the two trainer characters as visual guides to help us traverse the many nods to past Pokemon entries gives this video a strong flow to keep us engaged as we're bombarded with an abundance of iconic characters from all over this franchise. Along with that, the timing against the beat of the music is top notch, picking the perfect moments for a long buildup to a climax before unleashing a tidal wave of visuals evoking memories of generations gone by.

It's no wonder that this video is so expertly crafted considering the staff behind it. Rie Matsumoto, known for her work on Kyousougiga and the first season of Blood Blockade Battlefront, serves as director and jams as much of her style and directorial excellence as possible into every frame of this video, from her masterful control of framing and movement to her tendency to stuff her work to the brim with visual Easter eggs that take dozens of rewatches to fully parse. Speaking of visuals, the animation was done by none other that Studio Bones, and as such looks absolutely phenomenal front to back and is helmed by some of the strongest talents in the industry like Yuki Hayashi and Yutaka Nakamura, the latter gracing us with this insane cut of the battle between Red and Gold at Mt. Silver.

And, of course, this is a music video after all, and so Bump of Chicken deserves just as much praise for contributing the song “Acacia.” Bump of Chicken seems to be a favorite of Matsumoto, having worked with her previously on the Blood Blockade Battlefront OP and another music video for Lotte chocolate called “Baby I Love You Daze,” and the light rock edge they bring to the project maintains a constant forward momentum while keeping the tone light and optimistic, a perfect audio backing for nostalgia. The idea of a Pokemon music video seems like a no-brainer in hindsight, and it appears to still have legs even now with another music video from last month titled “It'll Be Fine.” It's part of the Project Piplup campaign and does a decent job at capturing the appeal of Piplup and some emotional tie-ins to the TV anime, though it's still nowhere near the same level of explosive ambition as "Gotcha."

Last, but certainly not least, we have yet another series of web shorts, though these are much more decentralized than any other Pokemon project to date. Yep, we're talking about Poketoon, a project published on the Pokemon KidsTV YouTube channel that I had no idea would explode so rapidly when its first episode, “Scraggy and Mimikyu - Chase the Bean,” premiered in 2020. Back then, it was just a single episode about a Scraggy getting into cartoony hijinx, with the main appeal being its unique animation. The style is very similar to that of classic Hanna-Barbera cartoons like Tom and Jerry, relying mostly on physical comedy. It's a pretty alright short overall, but something about the animation feels just a tad too slow for the style it's mimicking, and so it doesn't hit with quite the same impact. After that came “The Pancham Who Wants to be a Hero” almost a full year later, focusing on a Pancham fighting against its Dark-type nature and the stigma around it. Despite having a relatively decent narrative, the short is barely animated at all, consisting mostly of still shots accompanied by voiceovers.

At this point, it was difficult to say what exactly the Pokétoon brand was supposed to be, but it wouldn't be long before the third episode, “A Budding Dream,” would take the animation world by storm, as this episode signaled the return of Shingo Yamashita and Studio Colorido for the next four episodes. “A Budding Dream” might be my favorite episode of Pokemon ever created, or at the very least the one I find to be the purest presentation of what makes Pokemon amazing. It follows a young girl named Tsubomi, who is desperate to start her own Pokemon journey despite the wishes of her mother, eventually leading to a harrowing encounter with a Nidoran and setting in motion a chain of events that puts her home town in danger and spurs Tsubomi towards her own personal growth.

Unlike many of the previously mentioned projects, “A Budding Dream,” as well as Pokétoon on the whole, has a bit more of a comedic edge to it, adding to the lighthearted nature of Pokemon with a series of punchlines that span the comedic spectrum, all hitting their marks with deadeye precision, and the comedic joy that this humor brings further supports the simple, yet heartfelt character story of Tsubomi growing as a person via sympathizing with a Nidoran that shares similar flaws with her, ultimately leading Tsubomi to take action and demonstrate the qualities of a great Pokemon trainer, as shown by how she's able to pull her father's Charizard out of retirement in order to save her town.

Along with its solid narrative, the animation and general artwork are simply incredible. It takes on a slightly more cartoony appearance than Twilight Wings, but still sticks somewhat close to the aesthetic of modern Pokemon, allowing it to be extremely flexible in executing both comedy and action. Much like Twilight Wings, it's in the details that we find some truly phenomenal animation. I'm blown away every time I see this Arbok slithering around, and the insanely strong cinematography, background art, and effects work all come together to form a near perfect piece of animation.

“A Budding Dream” is something truly special, capturing the heart and soul of Pokemon and the unquenchable drive to immerse yourself in this world in just under 15 minutes, built on the backs of strong characterization and ambitious animation. No matter how many times I watch it, I'm immediately sucked in and completely engrossed by this simple, yet elegantly executed story, leaving me on an emotional high unlike any other when that final shot hits.

And that's just the first of four Colorido shorts for this series. After that comes “Please Wait! Magikarp,” an episode with zero dialogue relying solely on its musical score and sound effects. Yamashita takes a backseat as executive director here to let French animator Cedric Herole take the reins, making it stand out visually from the other Colorido shorts. This one goes all in on emotional storytelling as a young boy befriends a Magikarp by playing the flute, only for his parents to reject the Pokemon, forcing it to live at the Daycare Center until the boy is allowed to return.

Even without a single word of dialogue, this short is able to convey a wide and complex array of emotions. The joy and excitement of a budding friendship, the dejection at being separated, and the extended sense of longing all craft a rich tapestry of characterization. The lighting and color do a great deal in supporting these emotions, with the color palette often shifting towards the monochromatic in order to convey a certain tone. The character designs are even simpler this time around, further increasing their flexibility in the range of emotions they display. I don't know how they got this dead-eyed Magikarp to be so expressive, but they sure did an amazing job.

There's also just a great deal of fun at play as well, with an entire segment devoted to the musical nature of the different Pokemon the Magikarp interacts with. Sometimes, it's the simplest narratives that convey the strongest emotions, and this short certainly lives up to that mantra.

Then we have “The Warming Slugma Home,” in which a young girl visits her grandparents' house and plays with the different Pokemon that live there. This is a short that would best be summed up at “just vibes.” There's no real character growth or plot motivation aside from the girl trying to befriend the Slugma that heats the house. Instead, it devotes most of its run time to exploring how non-trainers and Pokemon cooperate and live in harmony together. Haxorus cuts firewood, Ariados knits clothes, Minccino sweeps the floor. This short, more than any other, is solely focused on worldbuilding in the more minute and intimate details.

As such, it has an aesthetic to match that intimacy. The bright, warm colors give the house a cozy and inviting atmosphere, the shades of yellow and orange representing Slugma's heat feel both vibrant and natural, and the lilting, upbeat piano providing the music keeps this short lighthearted and endearing. Not a whole lot else to say about this one other than the girl's search for Slugma and Slugma's growing attachment to her being really cute and charming, but the focus on building a lived-in and immersive atmosphere is one of Pokemon's biggest strengths presented as strongly as possible here.

Swinging hard in the opposite direction, we have “I've Become a Gengar,” where a group of students explore their school's seven mysteries and one of the students, Shoko, gets turned into a Gengar, leading to a hilarious series of scares and misunderstandings. Whereas the Slugma episode was all about relaxation and warmth, this episode is much more about thrills and chills as the Ghost Pokemon that haunt the school take pleasure in pranking the kids who stay after hours, and the humor keeps this story brisk despite its relatively longer run time. I laughed out loud way more than I thought I would, with the “scary” moments turned intentionally comedic pulling off some incredible shock value every time.

That said, there's still a ton of genuine emotion and solid character writing behind this one. Most of the predicaments that Shoko gets herself into are the result of her crippling shyness and not being able to vocalize her thoughts clearly, and so hanging out with these rambunctious Ghost Pokemon allows her to open up a bit more, eventually culminating in a mad dash to escape the school from an unnamed malevolent being and forcing Shoko to fully come out of her shell in order to save the day. It's a wonderful bit of character progression that gives this episode a gripping and engaging heart for all the comedy and action to orbit around.

As for said action, this is easily one of the more ambitious episodes in terms of cinematography and media integration. The background animation during tracking shots is simply jaw-dropping, hyping me up for the insane sakuga sequences that follow. Even the more static shot composition always manages to find framing just a bit outside the norm to truly capture a unique look for this environment, with the darker color palette and selective lighting choices adding a much eerier vibe. This is also one of the few Colorido shorts to make extensive use of CG, mostly to portray that malevolent entity, and it creates a notable divide between it and the Ghost Pokemon to convey that it is the real threat to be overcome and not our lovable pranksters. This short really took me by surprise with how well it manages both a nonstop stream of excitement and a steady build-up of quiet characterization with a heartfelt and satisfying payoff.

Unfortunately, that seems to be the end of the Colorido shorts for now. After that we got “A Blizzardy Summer Vacation,” which has a similar aesthetic as the Pancham episode but with significantly more animation. The story shows a group of children playing in their secret base and discovering a Snorunt that wound up in the wrong climate. It's not bad, but the story is incredibly bare bones and lacking in emotion, and there's not much to the visuals aside from a few neat transitions. Finally, we have “Jigglypuff's Song,” the only full-CG short from the bunch, and, to its credit, the CG is pretty alright. It shoots more for visual consistency than ambition, but considering the track record for CG in anime that might be commendable on its own. I will say it's much more successful in animating the Pokemon than it is the humans though. As for the story, it's a pretty basic tale about being true to yourself despite social pressure, conveyed through the titular Jigglypuff's unusual singing voice. I wouldn't call it particularly interesting and, despite being only six minutes long, it somehow feels much longer, so I don't think I'd quite recommend it. A shame that the last two episodes kinda bottomed out, but with Pokétoon's production and release schedule being so erratic, we may yet see a return to greatness sometime in the future.

If you couldn't tell at this point, Pokemon is far and away my favorite franchise of all time, not just because of its impossibly strong premise and it being my biggest source of nostalgia, but because, even 25 years later, this franchise continues to find new and exciting ways to evolve and progress, even with its most central components. The fact that Pokemon has fully embraced the web short format in order to tell exactly the kind of stories it wants to tell leaves me flooded with anticipation for whatever project comes next. Whether it's the culmination of literal decades of progress or a miniature low-stakes tone piece, the Pokemon anime never ceases to bring me endless joy and wonder.

Thanks to all of you for watching. If you enjoyed this video, be sure to like and subscribe and follow Anime News Network on Twitter for more great anime content, and if you wanna see more from me you can check me out at Ember Reviews on YouTube and Twitter.