PokeContext

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A little while ago I went to see Detective Pikachu at the dollar theater. I thought it was charming and it was fun to see pokemon walking around with humans. So I decided to start watching the TV shows. I'd always wanted to watch an anime show but I couldn't decide on one. Well, this should cover both.

My internet research led me to understand that the first season is called Indigo League. I have no idea why because there's no indigo and no league, but I'll chalk it up to a bad English translation. And how convenient! It's on Netflix.

I probably shouldn't admit this, but I burned through 52 episodes really quickly. And here's my breakdown of this show...

A young boy named Ash Ketcham (sp?) dreams of being a "pokemon master." At the oh so mature age of 10, he is allowed to begin his training to become a pokemon master. The root of this training involves going out and capturing wild pokemon (special animals), making them your own and using them in battles. As the trainer uses them in battles, they (and the trainer) gain experience and become more powerful. Professor Oak is the guy who sets all this training in motion.

Yes, that's right. The core of this show is about enslaving wild animals and forcing them to fight each other. Michael Vick would love it. But wait, it gets better! Once you've captured the pokemon, you keep them ... inside a ball. You read that right. Animals live inside balls and pretty much only come out when their master trainer needs them.

So how does Ash go about this training?  He leaves home and wanders through the forest, seaside, desert, mountains, basically everywhere.  Do you remember the part where I said Ash is TEN years old?  It's totally normal for these kids to wander around fighting wild animals.  Professor Oak gives them one pokemon to start their journey.  This pokemon is supposed to help them tire out the wild ones they come across to make them easier to catch.  Ash gets to the Professor's place late so he misses all the "good" starting pokemon and receives Pikachu.

Pikachu is an electric yellow mouse and he is the real star of the show.  It is crazy how cute they make this little mouse pokemon!  He has a ton of personality.  Like, he refuses to live inside his ball so he is always seen walking alongside or on the shoulder of Ash.

Right from the first episode we meet the inept villains of the show - Jessie and James, representatives of an organization called Team Rocket.  They report to "the boss" through phone calls (imagine a criminal, anime version of Charlie's Angels).  The third member of Team Rocket is a talking cat pokemon (Meowth) who technically belongs to the boss but is often the brains behind this field team.  The entire point of their mission is to "steal valuable pokemon."  For some reason they've decided that Ash's Pikachu is super valuable (because he won't live in his ball?) so they follow our hero gang around for the entire series.  Buuuuuuuuuuuuut... if they're looking for valuable pokemon, um... they have a TALKING Meowth!  That's the most valuable pokemon they come across in the whole show, in my opinion.

The rest of Ash's gang are people he meets along the way. The first person Ash picks up is a girl named Misty.  She looks to be about the same age as Ash. He steals her bike to chase some pokemon, he wrecks it and she pursues him. Ash wants to compete in the Pokemon League.  To do that he needs to battle and win badges from at least 8 gyms.  The first gym he comes to is lead by a guy named Brock (who will henceforth be called HornDog).  Shenanigans happen and Ash is able to get the better of HornDog.  So HornDog decides to join Misty and Ash (cause at this point Misty is following Ash around trying to get him to replace her bike) because his heart really isn't in battling.  He wants to be a pokemon breeder.  I have no idea how he's gonna be a breeder by wandering the countryside with a couple of ten year olds who bicker like siblings.

Ash's trainer nemesis is Gary Oak, son of the professor.  He is also training to become a master and, frankly, is better than Ash.

As the gang wanders from city to city, every nurse and policewoman are basically clones of each other.  The nurses are named Joy. The policewomen are named Officer Jenny.

Anyway, I thought the end of the first season would lead us to the Pokemon League.  But that didn't happen.  I've started the second season and we're still not there yet.  Ash has enough gym badges and the league is still a couple of months away.  What's still to be determined is if competing in the Pokemon League will make Ash a Pokemon Master.  Because if it does, it really doesn't seem that hard if a ten year old boy can become a Master by primarily fighting with a Pikachu.

Oh, there's also little facts like they sleep in the forest, never shower, don't have a way to earn money yet they have no trouble getting around and their clothes always look clean.