I enjoyed watching Pokemon when I was growing up, and so when they released the box set I had to get it. Unfortunately, Viz Media doesn't quite live up to the anime DVD standards set by other companies. The overall lack of quality was really disappointing.
- The cases themselves feel really flimsy and weak. My first thought when I touched them was "bootleg." The box art is colorful but really kind of plain. It just didn't look as polished and professional as other anime DVDs, which was shocking since I dare say Pokemon is probably one of the most popular (or at least well-known) anime series of all time. Furthermore, there are no included inserts: just an episode list that looks exactly the same as the one on the back covers of each DVD. (I wonder why they even bothered?)
- DVD menus are colorful, albeit very plain and minimalistic (only options are "play" and "episodes"). No Japanese track, and no subtitles. No extras either. You get the dubbed episodes plus the full Pokerap (which isn't a menu option, so you have to skip to it).
- Several episodes are skipped: "The Legend of Miniryuu [Dratini]," "Electric Soldier Porygon," "Princess versus Princess," and "The Purr-fect Hero." The first two episodes were never, as far as I can tell, broadcast on American television (the Porygon episode in particular has never been seen outside of its initial run in Japan, due to the seizure incident). The last two episodes WERE broadcast on American television, but are not included here; they are in the third box set. This doesn't mess up the chronology of things too much since Pokemon is a fairly episodic series, but sometimes weird "holes" pop up (like how Ash inexplicably has a bunch of Tauros that he caught in the Dratini episode, which we never got to see).
- These videos aren't uncut and uncensored, like what you'd find with most typical anime. That's fine with me, since it's not like 4Kids censored or cut a whole lot of stuff from these episodes anyway, but it's still worth noting here. Digital paint is out in full force, mostly just to cover up Japanese text that was present in the original. If you didn't care when you first saw these episodes on TV, you won't care now.
- The video and audio quality are beautiful, and exactly what I had hoped for. Certain scenes might seem kind of "glitchy," but that's because the original animators went back and slowed down the framerate and muted the colors because of the infamous seizure incident. Those scenes really stick out and look funky and ridiculous, but that's not Viz's (or 4Kid's) problem.
Even though I love these episodes, I cannot in good conscience give this collection higher than three stars, an "average" rating: these DVDs contain only the bare minimum to be considered a "collector's box set." Poor production values, combined with zero extras and several missing episodes, hold this back from being really exceptional. If they threw in the Japanese track, a handful of extras, and stronger DVD cases, then we'll talk. As it stands, these are only slightly better than my old VHS recordings of the show, and those tapes didn't cost me $22.
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