Children who discovered the Pokémon animated series during its first broadcasts are now old enough to be parents. The Japanese program, launched in April 1997 on TV Tokyo, then broadcast in France from September 1999, seems to have decided to address the next generation.
Its historical hero, Sacha, bowed out in 2023, after twenty-six years headlining more than 1,200 episodes and broadcasts in 192 countries. The arrival on Gulli, from February 28, of Pokémon. Les horizons is therefore an opportunity for the curious to attend the presentation of Liko, the new heroine.
The inaugural episode features the latter’s return to school, who left her family and her native region, Paldea, to become a resident of the Indigo Academy, with the aim of “learning everything about Pokémon”. It borrows the clear outline of the initiatory story, which sees the little girl’s first clumsy steps in her new establishment.
The introverted student is as disconcerted by her mischievous roommate Ann as by the fierce Poussacha, the Pokémon with whom she was paired. The green feline, whom she is supposed to train, only thinks about leading the life every cat dreams of: sleeping, exploring the school roofs and begging for cuddles.
Measured risk taking
The successive failures encountered by Liko in taming the wayward creature offer tasty scenes and a welcome break with the series’ past. The introduction of a female protagonist (intended to be accompanied by a little boy) and the numerous nods to the video games Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet, released in 2022, give the impression of an update .
Ultimately, risk-taking turns out to be extremely measured. In the background, the most famous Pokémon parade to act as a guarantee of continuity for fans. Liko comes across, among others, the enormous Snorlax, or witnesses, blissfully, the appearance of a Charizard. The second episode proves that the series also fails to cut the cord with the famous Pikachu. Proof that it is him, and not Sacha, the true icon of the universe. While its mysterious villains, a group called “The Explorers”, seem like ersatz troublemakers from Team Rocket, also fired after two decades of good and loyal service.
This new beginning is like its protagonist, joyful but still a little smooth. He repeats over and over again an unsurprising formula which consists first of presenting an unexpected and insurmountable obstacle to a sympathetic hero. Only friendship, self-knowledge and adorable Pokémon, ready to sacrifice themselves for humans, allow us to overcome it.
The series zealously applies the philosophy of Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa’s Tancrede of the Cheetah: everything must change so that nothing changes. In this, it shows itself to be faithful to its source of inspiration, the Pokémon video game, which has barely evolved since its beginnings in 1996.