A good series to grow up with

Written by gembocobo on January 19, 2011 at 6:56 PM

It's been almost 16 years since Ash's adventures were first animated but the this anime just never grows old on me (and strangely enough so does Ash who seems to be destined to stay as the eternal 10 year old). Critics might complain about it's commercial reasons for being but the series as a whole is essentially good entertainment for kids. Growing up with the English version makes stop and think about how different it is from from the original Japanese version. But the question of whether the you find the Japanese dub superior to the English one or vice versa is as I believe a matter of personal taste. I watched both versions and I find pikachu pika-pika-pi just as cute so I personally have no complaints. The animation does get better as the seasons pass ever proving that the producers are really getting good a buck for an anime that continues to advertise an already popular video game. Some may argue that the story is getting stale and that Ash is starting to get old (as the main character). Sure enough a new main heroine does show up as the anime tries to play catch up with the games but at this point it wouldn't be wrong to make Ash grow up (literally) and make the story focus on a new main hero, possibly a relative (like his son) or maybe focus on his rival Gary Oak. On the up side what I find to be nice about the series running for as long as it has is that it really helps in bridging the generation gap. I imagine parents who grew up with the series playing the games and watching the anime together with their kids as chance to bond in 5 more years. And so to wrap things up I give the story 3/5 which makes it good enough for kids. 4/5 for dialogue, Animation, and Entertainment Value.

And in case you're wondering Ash is supposed to be 25-26 years old by now. LOL