#[[ARE WE DUNKING ON JOHTO WITHOUT ME]]

[gildead]

The Johtonian government watching its kid champion get fucking murdered in broad daylight.

[zdbztumble]

I finally got a chance to watch the first of the hour-long specials, courtesy of a stream by @pocketmonstersrimeiku the other day. (The stream also ran the Japanese version of the first movie, making that only the second of these films I’ve seen in its original language. It was a fun time, though it didn’t substantially alter my thoughts on that film.)

Compared to the other hour-long special this show has done, Mewtwo Returns is a freakin’ masterpiece. Compared to a good number of the movies, it’s a slam dunk. And even without any comparisons, it’s pretty damn good, and one of the highlights of the Johto years.

Unlike Mastermind of Mirage Pokemon and many of the films, Mewtwo Returns has a central theme, clearly defined and presented. Mewtwo’s existential dilemma about the place he and his fellow clones have in the world, being living beings but not born of nature, is a compelling idea. If anything, it’s stressed a little too much in the dialogue - not unlike the themes of the first movie. But if the special is heavy-handed at times, that isn’t enough of a problem to take away from the value of the concept in the first place. And Mewtwo’s evolution from vengeful creature to conflicted caretaker feels very natural and believable. His final shift at the end, to a city-dweller exploring the world, was also solid, and it’s a shame more wasn’t done with that outside of him turning up in a cape in one of the openings.

(An interesting subplot connected to Mewtwo’s dilemma is Pikatwo being a rather aggressive advocate for not hiding away from the world, to the point of leading a faction of defectors that Ash’s Pikachu ends up involved with. It’s a well-written story point, and it almost feels like a trial run at Takeshi Shudo’s daydreams of a Pokemon revolution storyline.)

Allowing for the fact that I haven’t seen all of BW’s Team Rocket material, this special is the one time I felt that the Team Rocket organization as a whole was used to anything close to their full potential. They’re presented as a competent and threatening criminal group, with Giovanni in particular having some real bite to him in a way that later series undermined. Domino, aka 009, aka Black Tulip, is a fantastic villain. Her disguise was convincing and even funny, her true persona is dangerous and even a little edgy without going over the line for a kids’ show, her design is unique, and her potential as Giovanni’s right hand is wide open. The fact that she hasn’t reappeared since this special is criminal.

And Ash gets a decent role in the proceedings too. He isn’t given an arc of his own (par for the course, unfortunately), but he does end up integrating into the plot in a much more natural way than most of the movies manage. And through very simple means, too; he shows Mewtwo kindness because Mewtwo showed Pikachu kindness. The connection between them is subtle but compelling, and it’s yet another element of this special that I wish would’ve seen some follow-up later on.

But apart from its good points not being followed up on, this special does have some real flaws. To start with more of a pet peeve on my end - I think Takeshi Shudo let his fondness for the TRio cloud his judgment on writing them at times. He may have intended them as basically good, but they are frequently shown to have strong streaks of cowardice, amorality, and selfishness, and Meowth is possibly the worst offender of the three. He abandons Jessie and James to their prison so he can deliver Pikachu to Giovanni and claim the credit, but then immediately shifts to allying with Pikachu and the clones. His turn doesn’t feel motivated, but arbitrary - as if the plot demanded it, or the writer wanted it. (To be fair to Shudo, he isn’t the only one who did this with the TRio; years later, Meowth’s water works in Volcanion felt just as contrived.)

There’s also the disappointing fact that, at the climax, it’s Misty and Brock who step up to hold the entire Team Rocket army at bay while Ash rushes to save Mewtwo, and the battle is entirely off-screen. I wouldn’t even object to that - or rather, I wouldn’t object to the majority of the battle being off-screen so long as we got a taste - except that Giovanni ends up appearing for a final confrontation with Mewtwo without explanation. Did he win? Did he sneak around and leave his minions to do the dirty work? Is the battle on-going? Did a rift in the space-time continuum allow Giovanni to exist in two places at once?  What happened, Shudo!?

And that leads me to the biggest problem with Mewtwo Returns - there’s too much story here for the time allotted. To its credit, the special manages its many elements fairly well for the first two-thirds or so; Mewtwo’s angst, Team Rocket’s plotting, the TRio’s comedy antics, and Ash’s journeys are all well-balanced and well-paced. It’s only when the action comes to a head that the strain starts to show. Mewtwo is restrained by Giovanni, Ash and friends are imprisoned, and Team Rocket begins converting the island into a headquarters that pollutes the pure waters of the lake within a matter of minutes of screen time, and seemingly only a few hours of time at best within the story. Because there isn’t enough time at the end for the possibility of Giovanni regaining control of Mewtwo to amount to anything, that element feels rushed. Misty and Brock’s not-battle, and Mewtwo and Giovanni’s last stand-off, feel hurried along as well. And the TRio’s casual disregard for their organization’s plans seems rather...well, casual.

I said it without having seen this special, but I feel it even more strongly upon seeing it - this should’ve been an arc in the series, not a one-off. It isn’t as if there was anything going on in Johto around this time, and more time would’ve solved every major flaw in this story. Mewtwo could’ve actually been under Giovanni’s thumb for part of the arc, allowing for some additional drama and an expanded sense of scale and menace - instead of just threatening one island, Team Rocket could’ve threatened one, possibly two regions. Their takeover of the island could’ve been more well-paced, the consequences more clearly established. Misty and Brock could’ve gotten their battle, and Ash’s quest to save Mewtwo could’ve been more involved, giving all three of them more material. And this story as an arc would’ve given Takeshi Shudo a perfect opportunity to do what he always wanted with the TRio - have them realize that they’re basically good people in service to a bad organization, and truly reform, on a believable time frame. (And who knows? Under those circumstances, maybe they would’ve been the ones to leave after Johto.)

But if missed opportunities are the biggest flaw a special has, then one can’t complain too much. I really enjoyed this special, and I’m happy to have seen it in its original language first.

[gaycey-sketchit]

(Gary anon) Yup, makes me not looking forward to the excuses fans will come up with when Ash defeats Cynthia; even with the battle being a long-awaited dream since DP. And, if Ash vs Leon isn't a full battle... (I'm gonna guess it's probably an "effort" to make Hop look more pitiful. And I couldn't tell ya if the side that wants to uplift him, by downplaying his brother. Or the other side that grows tired of friendly rivals and likes to dunk on them often) I think that's one of the sole

.

(Part 2) reasons why I put off looking at Undertale, besides the *multiple paths and endings. (*Which Let's Players were given a hard time about) Sans alone perfectly describes the era of when that game dropped. At least it didn't cause Toby Fox to quit, but I believe the fandom did stress him out at points when it really blew up. (People really need to understand how much game developing [and animation] is time-consuming; and unfortunately, some things have to be dropped in order stuff to)

(Part 3) (work. And the fact some folks are not being paid enough for the crunch time they do. Some complaints I understand, but please learn the process first) Have to find the time to read the whole series in full; the RBY saga I remember finishing with bits and pieces of everything else. As far as Blue, I remember him eventually being this big brother mentor to Silver, which isn't too unlike what's apparently happening in Pokemon Masters currently. Just with different personalities. And him

(Part4) training under Chuck when he was younger. (I think the one thing I would have preferred is Blastoise not being unveiled under their Johto battle, but rather Gary's prelim matches to give some type of build up. And Ash deducing himself to bring back Charizard rather than Brock doing it) I still think we're kinda owed a childhood flashback, besides that very brief 'at the movies' one.

(Part 5) Chances of Journeys rectifying that has largely dwindled. Eh, I'm not losing sleep over it, just a bonus at this point. But yeah, OS writing hurt some things. (Hmm, heard we might get more episode titles this week, possibly up to 3. We know 2 of those will be the rest of the first round) We'll see how TRio fares in this tournament.

Yeah, that's going to be a whole thing.

Could be. Could be both sides doing that also.

Yeah, the fandom put me off of it for quite a while too. (It took two years for me to cave and finally watch a couple LPs. I wish I'd been able to experience it without any spoilers, but I cried the first time I saw the true pacifist ending anyway.) Yeah, people pressuring LPers to do things a certain way were kind of... missing the point? Because in a game where most of your choices have some kind of consequence, people should get to make their choices and see what happens.

Yeah, I'm kind of amazed at how Toby Fox managed to handle... all of that. And to this day he's still active on social media sometimes.

Yeah. Game development takes so much time and effort and the people who do it are not being paid enough.

Yeah, same. I managed to get my hands on the first four volumes a few years back and I've read and reread those and that's basically it, but I've heard interesting things.

Blue and Silver actually interacting sounds so good, I love them. (Reminds me, I need to try to pick Masters back up.)

Oh, yeah, that would've been good.

Despite how much the chances of it have dwindled, I'm still yearning for a childhood flashback. Would love to see the boys at their most baby so much. I'll be fine if it doesn't happen but if it does, it'll be fantastic.

Ooh, episode titles. That'll be interesting.

Yeah, we'll see! Here's hoping all goes well!