(Note: To be honest I will not go into the heavy details about its whole capitialistic controversy in this review. I am just going to tell what I feel of it like it is and just in case you DO want to know what I think of the whole infamous controversy of the whole thing then just look at my article at the "pokemon phenomenon" section at this site among other articles and such.)

Summary: I will try to brief (but hopefully not TOO brief) about this. The daily adventures of 3 friends by the names of Ash, Misty & Brock. (And sometimes Tracy from orange island.) Ash the young plucky preteen who tries to be a very successful

Critique: A truly wonderful anime which is actually quite a good mix of 60's to 80's campiness & moralisitc value. And in certain ways the storyline is a bit better than the game.(Misty & Brock having a lot more characterization and if you thought the members of Team Rocket are generic villians in this show you should see the game.) And while it is not fully based on the game the differences are usually well done enough to make up for it. Though while it may have a bit of a better storyline than the game it doesn't quite match the movies & ESPECIALLY the comics. (Heck to be honest I wish that the show was more like the comics. The show will DEFINTELY get a five-star rating out of me and the TV series will truly get a LOT more appeal to people older than 12.)


This show is a semi-loose telling of the game. (Though like I said plenty of the changes were more for the better.) And despite WB's sad overdone attempts of marketing the show straight to single-digit aged kids this show was originally made for all ages. (Though the present episodes may not seem like that the pre-Kid's WB episodes have a bit of a adultisitc acidic wit.) And as for the voice cast I have mixed feelings about it. I agree that it is nice to see a original voice cast filling up the roles. (Many of them mainly either had voice roles in Ranma or just small roles from certain shows on TV and very obscure movies.) Although it certainly would be nice to see see more known voice-over actors & actresses in this. (Heck I love to see Frank Welker voice a few pokemon for one example. Though I am aware that there actually are some somewhat known actors in this like Jim Cummings & Carlos Alazraugi but sadly they don't do much.) Although it certainly would be nice to more known voice-actors get good roles in this show the cast we have here is not too shabby.


But...to be honest considering that I am a Anime fan I will certainly agree that this is NOT the best anime at all. (IT has a way to go to get close to classics like Gundam Wing & Transformers & Tenchi Muyo! & such.) Though it hardly deserves its dubious reputation it is indeed a entertaining lightweight anime series that might seem a bit too retro for some tastes but this might be a least decent entertainment to a open-minded TV viewer. Pokemon isn't the only bashed anime TV series that some MIGHT want to sympatheize with. (*cough* Sailor Moon *cough*) I will take this time to paraphrase Buddy from the classic 80's TV series "Night Court" by saying "With shows like these who needs hallucinogens?" (And unlike other people I mean it in a good way. I mean its a lot cheaper & healthier than trying to smoke pot & use LSD. And if people can be OK with kids using Pixie Stix like Crack then why are we making such a fuss over this? *snickers* It was just a joke.)


So overall Pokemon is just a good entertaining show that is far from deserving that "big controversy" that nobody will seemingly shut up about. So don't go for the "Anti-poke" bandwagon if your in the right mindset (and yes there is a mindset) do give it a shot and there just might be a just that you'll at least tolerate it. And despite on that it is not the best in the whole franchise or anything like that it well deserves a recomendation from me.

Recommended: Yes