All the Right Notes: Pokemon Indigo League Retrospective, Part 1

I love Pokemon.  I'll admit it outright.  I watched the show obsessively as a kid (even up to most of the Advanced Generation and a few of the Diamond/Pearl episodes), have some of the cards (because they looked cool), and love the games (playing Yellow via Pokemon Stadium for the N64? I think so).  Recently, just for kicks, I started watching the episodes again from the very beginning.  And it's been a very interesting experience.  Becaues let's face it, while many of us have fond memories of the original Pokemon, how many of us have actually watched some of those episodes recently?  Memory is a funny thing, as I discovered when rewatching Pokemon!  So, without further ado, let's head into today's AtRN: A Retrospective on the Pokemon Indigo League!  Part 1 will focus on the oddities I ran into while watching season one, while Part 2 will be a discussion on the success of the anime in America.

The first Pokemon opening.  Just as catchy now as it was then!

 

Check out the review after the break!

First, a quick history (via bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net).  Pokemon really began with the first two games in 1996, Red and Green, followed by Blue.  In April 1997, the anime launched in Japan (which had also been preceded by some manga, which has not gained as much popularity in the US).  In September 1998, the games and the anime was brought overseas to the US, and the series has really never looked back since then.

As I watched the Indigo season of Pokemon, one thing I constantly wondered was why Pokemon has successfully captured the American consciousness as it has.  It's not like Pokemon is the first anime or televsion show based on a game or some sort of toy line.  I think we can all say that no similar franchise has been as successful as Pokemon, however.  Clearly, the first season of Pokemon must have done something right that has allowed it to remain a cultural force for both generations of  kids that grew up with it and still love it and new generations just being introduced to it.  It's hard to argue against fifteen years of unchecked success with not only game/toy sales, but the continuation of a popular anime.

The reason Pokemon's initial success strikes me as oddly as it does is because, quite honestly, the Indigo season of Pokemon is strange.  There are a lot of things that make me scratch my head and wonder.  When watching the Indigo episodes, I got several impressions: 1) The world of Pokemon had not been well-developed in season one, and 2) It had not been fully developed because the creators were not really betting on the continuation of the show.

Let me give examples.  The Indigo episodes of Pokemon seem to imply that Pokemon are not the only animals in existence.  Rather, they are a special kind of animals.  If you watch episodes in the Cerulean gym, for example, you can see regular fish in the background in the aquariums.  The first time I saw that, I did a double-take.  For my entire life I had been under the impression that Pokemon are the only creatures in the Pokeverse; they are that world's animals.  Instead of cats, you have Eevee and Meowth.  Fish are replaced by Magikarp and Goldeen.  So what gives?

Again, it's the odd predicament of the world not being fully developed yet.  I can only assume the creators themselves were also uncertain as to the mechanics of the Pokemon world when writing up the first season.  When Ash, Misty, and Brock run into professors, it is made very clear that "there are only 150 Pokemon" that have been discovered.  Why weren't these professors in communication with others from, say, Johto or Hoenn?  The world seems fairly peaceful.  And the world is also shown to have a long history much like our own--why are people just now researching Pokemon like it's a new thing?  (I have a personal theory on that, actually, but that's for another day.)  And it's not like Professor Oak mentions "other experts in other areas" or something; all his statements are very general, like he's not even aware other lands exist.

These strange circumstances lead me to believe that the Pokemon creators themselves were not completely certain of the series's success, were not certain of the series would continue to new lands and new Pokemon.  Once the show and games caught fire, of course, others were bound to follow, but that confidence didn't seem to exist initially.

Another funny aspect of the first season is the battling mechanics.  The amount of battles that are, quite frankly, completely underwhelming, is kind of amusing.  Just one example is Gary battling Giovanni--Gary's Nidoking takes out Giovanni's Golem with one hit, and a tackle no less!  Such simplistic battles are common in the first season.  While this likely has a lot to do with budgets and animation quality, it is still somewhat laughable when you compare the season to even the Orange Islands season, which is a lot more creative.

Still, despite all this, despite the anime being merely a show of average animation and budget based off a popular game, all of which takes place in a just plain bizarre world, Pokemon is now a series that has attained legendary status in Japan and the US.  It has captured the hearts of children who are now adults (like myself) and new generations of kids alike.  And on the next All the Right Notes, I'll explore why!