Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on July 2013

The Pokemon industry is one of the best-known international character and animation franchises from Japan. Originally a Game Boy role-playing video game from the giant Nintendo, it has morphed into an anime series, manga and finally a film series. With Pokemon the Movie: Shinseko no Genosekuto Myuutsu that cinematic incarnation now moves—almost unbelievably—on to its 16th feature film.

The animated stories here follow a different narrative than the game, with hero Satoshi (Rika Matsumoto), his buddy Pikachu (Ikue Otani) and a host of friends who change with successive “generations” all defending the world. Directed as usual by Kunihiko Yuyama, this film will be the last of the fifth-generation Pokemon characters and features the baddy Red Genoskuto (Koichi Yamadera) and the previous evildoer turned good guy Myustsuu (Reiko Takashima). TV Tokyo aired a prologue on July 3 to prepare their diehard viewers for the story.

Set in a futuristic New York City the plot is an epic battle between Satoshi and friends to defeat Genoskuto. The drawings are the usual Japanese mix of cute and surreal and this entry into the oeuvre will please long-time fans, though it may not earn the franchise any new followers. (96 min)