This was an anime I knew I had to review when I found out about it. It was the anime we always wanted to see but thought that we would never get. This review was a rare exception to the 2-month rule I established when I first started writing reviews.
It’s the same story we’ve been hearing for years and the story that launched one of the greatest series of all time. We follow the story of Red a kid from Pallet Town who goes on a journey with his Charmander to find and capture all 150 Pokémon but along the way he gains a new goal. To defeat all the gym leaders and become the Pokémon champion. The 4 OVA series follows Red in his journey where he not only accomplishes all his goals but he even defeats Team Rocket and discovers the power of mega evolution which was honestly the whole point of this OVA to show off mega evolution. Don’t try to deny it, we all know that’s what the whole point of this series was about. But even so that still doesn’t take away from the fact that this was an awesome series. While I have nothing against the on-going Pokemon series the Origin series felt more realistic. Hell, we actually see the Pokémon scream out in pain when they fight. It’s both shocking and cool to see that yes the moves are actually hurting said Pokémon. Another enjoyable factor in this series is that Red accomplished what he set out to do. Ash I like you but you’ve been to multiple regions and have failed to grab the brass ring every time. It’s gotten to the point where it’s almost depressing to watch him. What made this series so enjoyable and fun to watch for me was that it really did feel like the games were coming to life and that everything that Red did in the series were things that I also did in the series as well. I remember capturing my first Pokémon, trying to steal another trainer’s Pokémon, winning my first badge, being handed my first defeat at the hands of my rival and more. This was a series that captured the heart and soul of the Pokémon series and in my honest opinion I think it should have been turned into an actual anime just so we can see Red’s journey from beginning to end instead of skipping over events like they did in the OVAs. I gave this anime a 7.5/10 and it still holds up to this day.