You’ve been busy successfully adult-ing all week, so now it’s time to chill out, watch something easy and fun. Unless you enjoy being up early, the good news is that now in the age of Netflix, Sky+ and online streaming you no longer need to get up super early to enjoy cartoon greats. With just over 20 years under it’s belt and 1 year of the latest smartphone game, there’s never been another time to discover, or re-discover, Pokémon the animated series. Although it was never really aired on a Saturday morning, weekdays at school finish time probably don’t suit many people to watch it nowadays.
All ages And All Backgrounds
Whether your a casual Pokémon Go player, watched every season right up to Generations or haven’t watched in years, the first couple of seasons of Pokémon are a real treat to watch. I hadn’t watched the original three since probably the first time around, if not shortly after, until very recently and it’s safe to say these episodes age well. Even the repetitive Team Rocket sing-song is charming and the Pokémon characters and various songs bring back fond memories of being around 10-12 years old. It’s incredibly strange to have no memory of half the episodes of some later seasons but know the song word for word the first time you’ve heard it in over 10 years.
Indigo League
Indigo is the first, and most classic, season of Pokémon. It has all the best and founding moments. Ash wakes up late for his first day as a Pokémon trainer and is left with something a little different than your usual starter companion, Pikachu. You see lots of touching moments as he bonds with Pikachu, becomes friends with Misty and Brock after he breaks the former’s bike and encourages the latter to take a break from home.You have Ash’s first and longest rivalry with Gary and you have the full introduction to the tag team that is Jessie James and Meowth. There’s battles won and lost as Ash gains new and says goodbye to some Pokémon friends.
Adventures In The Orange Islands And Johto Adventures
After his first major tournament and Ash becomes a bit more down to earth from not winning, he gains a new companion Tracey. Brock has followed his crush to Pokémon breeding. This stage of the show gives Ash more experience in battling and winning gym badges over different islands in another region. We start to see more Pokémon outside of the 150 we’re used to and this is a particular feature of the Johto Adventures. What is now referred to as second generation Pokémon become quite a feature of this third season. This is about where I stopped watching as it became harder to see the show when it aired so early in the afternoon. It probably explains my bitter resentment of anything past 150 in my teens and why I never really got into any further seasons.
Now after being challenged by an actual ten year old on my knowledge of Pokémon at work, i’m seriously considering giving those post 150 another whirl!
