Show me aPokemonfan who hasn’t wished for a live-action TV version of the series, and I’ll show you a liar. While the anime is beloved to millions, myself included, it’s very clearly aimed at kids, and many Pokemon fans have grown out of the show they grew up with.
I’m not asking for a gritty live action reboot starring Stephen Graham as a corrupt Officer Jenny and a David Tennant-ified Pokemon Professor. Team Rocket shouldn’t be turning Slowpoke tails into opiates and Pokemon shouldn’t actually die when they faint in battle. We just want live-action people throwing silly little balls at silly little CGI monsters.
Detective Pikachu(the movie, not the game) was successful for exactly this reason. While it had the star power of Ryan Reynolds attached to the eponymous yellow mouse, most fans my age were just excited to see CGI realisations of the Pokemon they loved let loose in Rime City. The cage fighting Charizard was pure nostalgia bait, but we lapped it up.
Despite a sequel seemingly being put on ice, live action Pokemon is hitting the small screens, at least for Japanese Pokefans. PokeTsume, or Pocket ni Bouken o Tsumekonde (Cram Adventures Into a Pocket) to give it its full title, is a light drama show set in Kanto. No, not that Kanto.
PokeTsume is set in the Kanto Prefecture of Japan, and follows protagonist Madoka Akagi as she moves to the big city in search of adventure. As much as this sounds like Ash’s journey to run away from Pallet Town to take on the Pokemon League and catch ‘em all, Akagi’s Pokedex is a job at an advertising agency, and her Pokemon League a corporate presentation.
“But where are the Pokemon?” I hear you shout, scream, and holler. Well, Akagi’s mother sends her a Game Boy in the post, complete with Pokemon Red. It’s a generous gift, considering how much those things cost on the secondhand market these days, but Akagi immediately begins reliving her youth. I end up doing the same every time I play a new Pokemon game, booting up a classic like SoulSilver instead when all the horrible textures and stuttering framerates get too much.
We’ve only had one episode so far, and it’s in Japanese, so I didn’t catch everything that went on, but the only Pokemon has been what’s played on Akagi’s Game Boy. Great, another fan picking Charmander, the worst Kanto starter.
The episode shows Akagi using her Pokemon skills IRL, finding the company president who she’s pitching to has a weakness just like her monsters do! She does a super-effective presentation and saves her company! Spoilers, sorry. It’s twee and a little charming, but other than that, it shares very little DNA with the Pokemon anime series we know and love.
There’s plenty of room to grow, however. While I can’t see Akagi getting pulled into her Game Boy à la Jumanji, I could see her envisioning Pokemon in the real world. The Charmeleon who beats Erika also helps her overcome some awkwardness at a post-work drinks night, for instance, or her Haunter evolves in-game when she trades phone numbers with the guy she likes. From there, it could either go into a surreal depiction of how video games impact your mind to the detriment of your social life as Akagi descends into madness, or tell a heartwarming tale of how Pokemon can help you settle into new surroundings and make friends. Considering this is made by Pokemon and aims to sell more video games, the latter seems more likely.
I don’t think any of us expected a live action Pokemon show to have super-effective PowerPoints rather than CGI Pikachu, and it’ll take some getting used to. Live action Pokemon is here, but it’s all a little bit strange.
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