tek's rating: ½

Pokémon Chronicles, on TV Tokyo
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This is sort of a spin-off of Pokemon, but Ash isn't in it. It's actually a series of like 22 special, stand-alone episodes, about various characters from the Pokemon world. Most are familiar, but there are a few new ones. I should also mention that these episodes also called Pokémon Housou (TV.com) - sort of. I think actually "Chronicles" seems to include some stuff that wasn't in "Housou," and/or vice versa. And even the common episodes might be in a different order, or something. I dunno. Also I guess some episodes of this series were originally short films. Anyway, some eps were better than others, and I'd put them on the same level with the regular series, though others weren't quite as interesting. Though to an extent that might be because I didn't always pay strict attention while watching it. But whatever, I'd rate the show overall slightly lower than Pokemon, because I'm not sure how well it stands on its own. Still, it wasn't bad.

Anyway, the first three episodes actually comprise a movie called "Legend of Thunder" (TV Tropes), about a boy named Jimmy, whose main pokemon is a Typhlosion. There's also another trainer, a friend of his named Marina. I think she liked Jimmy or something, but there was also another boy named Vincent who was in love with her. Anyway, they all battled a couple of Team Rocket members named Attila and Hun, who were trying to capture a Raikou. Then there was an episode called "Pikachu's Winter Vacation," which actually had three short stories in it. That was fun. And there's an ep where Brock returns to Pewter Town and battles his mom for control of the gym. Or whatever. That was fun. There were various episodes with Misty as leader of the Cerulean gym. Probably my favorite of these eps was the first one, "Cerulean Blues." Misty dressed as a mermaid, what more could you ask for? Plus one brief shot of her face looking as if it were drawn... for a better-drawn anime than Pokemon (sort of CLAMP-ish, I'd say). There were also various episodes featuring the familiar Team Rocket- Jessie, James, and Meowth. My favorite of these was "Training Daze," in which the three of them met for the first time and were training to become Team Rocket members. There were also episodes featuring Butch and Cassidy of Team Rocket, and often Tracey and Professor Oak and Delia Ketchum. There was an ep with Gary Oak as a pokemon researcher, which involved an Aerodactyl. And some eps also had appearances by people Ash and his friends had met in various episodes of the regular series, like Richie and his Pikachu, Sparky, or Casey the Electabuzz fan, etc. And there were eps featuring just Meowth, along with the Pichu Brothers and some of their friends (who have been seen in some of the shorts at the start of the Pokemon movies, I guess). And the last ep is another "Pikachu's Winter Vacation" with two stories, which I didn't see on TV but eventually caught on Toonami Jetstream. It was fun. And... I guess that's all I can say about Pokemon Chronicles....


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