The latest Pokemon movie was easily the greatest of all time so a prequel special would definitely be fun. Usually, when a film has a prequel episode it can be tricky since the main characters may be absent. I don’t think that Ichigo got to appear when the anime did an episode on the final movie. Luckily, Ash manages to appear in this film and it’s a pretty epic cameo. Let’s just say that Ash will be going places! Could this prequel episode manage to live up to the movie and prove to be better than the average Pokemon episode? Let’s find out!

The plot is pretty simple and I’ve been saying that a lot lately. It’s just the way that the cookie crumbles or how the mashed potatoes is serves I suppose. Mewtwo is fighting three powerful Pokemon when a mountain shatters from the power and hits all of them. Mewtwo is now gravely injured and someone is still hunting him. Meanwhile, a Pokemon Ranger crash lands when he forgets how to properly use a plane and didn’t notice that he flew off in one that was broken. This guy’s a natural expert on plane mechanics and goes to work. An old man his grandson own a cabin on the land and go to help the guy. They meet a very suspicious Pokemon Hunter who says that Mewtwo saved him, but his Pokemon are injured. The Ranger must now help the guy’s Pokemon and also find Mewtwo to recruit him for the cause!

Virgil is the main character of the special and he’s pretty intense. It may make you wince when he forgets that his plane is damaged and when he can’t bluff his way through a sandwich, but it can be worse. He’s an Eevee user and he owns all of the different types. He’s pretty impressive since he became the champion of the Pokemon League in his region. It’s too bad that he couldn’t face Ash since Ash got knocked out during the early phases of the tournament, but it’s how it goes I suppose. Ash always manages to lose the battles that really count. Virgil doesn’t usually take things in stride and he can get shocked very quickly, but he’s still a good guy deep down. He just doesn’t have the natural leadership qualities that Ash possesses and he doesn’t have quite as much experience. His team wasn’t able to put out a simple forest fire, but they gave it their all!

Dirk is the Pokemon Hunter and he should not be underestimated. He was nearly able to defeat Mewtwo in a fair fight and that’s nothing to sneeze at. I did have to question the accuracy of such a feat, but for now I’ll just take it in stride….nah. That was pretty inaccurate and I just didn’t buy it. Dirk isn’t really a great character since he’s a little bit of a one shot and he wasn’t very impressive. He managed to outsmart the main cast, but that’s nothing to brag about. At least he was taken to the proper authorities so that they could put him behind bars.

Anna and Oscar are also in the film, but there isn’t much to say about them. Anna tries to show Mewtwo that Friendship is Magic and Oscar tries to make sure that Virgil doesn’t have a great experience during his stay there. They team up to give Vergil a really spicy sandwich and Vergil doesn’t take it too well. One bite is enough to take him down and he just wasn’t able to stop it. That was one spicy sandwich!

Mewtwo is the main Pokemon of the film, but she isn’t portrayed too well. The problem is that she’s very depowered so that the villains can actually have a chance. I don’t mind that the villains can get some props since I’ve always liked Tyranitar, but that was a little too much. Mewtwo couldn’t use recover and her speed was very inconsistent. I would have liked to see Mewtwo just take out the planet and go from there. At least Mewtwo will be ready for the movie and she was definitely powerful in that film.

Ash also gets a cameo and it’s a pretty intense one. He doesn’t seem to have fully recovered from his humiliating loss in the Pokemon League and watching his rival Vergil win it all must have been devastating. Professor Oak tells them that they should go visit a town that’s not too far away. He’s likely telling Ash this so that Ash can take his mind off of his big losses. Ash continues to lose in the big championships, but at least he gives it his all! Ash came across as a winner in this special and I like to think that he would have won in a rematch.

The only problem with this episode is that it feels like they were trying to make everyone look bad. The voice acting was definitely over the top and they felt as if they were talking in slow motion for some scenes. I hope that this isn’t the case with all of the current episodes, although it could be a little funny I suppose. The only problem is that good scenes won’t sound as hardcore and bad scenes will sound even worse. It’s a risky gambit so I hope that they know what they’re doing!

Overall, this was a fun episode. It’s pretty nostalgic to see the gang once again and Ash will always be an inspiring hero to all! I wonder if he still plans to catch them all, but he probably just wants to become the Pokemon Champion. It’ll be fun to finally see him fulfill that objective in the Kalos region. It’s also good to see Mewtwo again and the mega transformations never get all. It’ll be awesome if Pikachu learns how to do that in the anime. The soundtrack and animation were great and it felt like they were aiming this at the movie crowd. They probably grabbed some movie animators as well, for better or for worse. I definitely recommend checking this special out, but if you are watching the anime then you’ll come across it in time. I also recommend checking out the film right after you watch this episode so that you can watch as Ash’s Pikachu takes on Genesect!

Overall 7/10