One of the latest episodes of Pokémon Journey‘ The English dub just made a great callback that will make ’90s kids cry over pure nostalgia. In 2022, Pokémon Journeys surprised fans and critics alike by not only pitting Ash against Leon, the world’s strongest trainer in the anime, but also letting him defeat Leon, turning Ash Become the Pokémon world champion. The development soon followed was the announcement that the anime would be shutting down Ash and Pikachu and starting a new anime called Pokémon Horizons, so it brought a very emotional conclusion to Ash’s story after more than two years. fifty years of controversial defeat on his part.
While the English dub of Pokémon hasn’t finished Ash’s journey yet, it has celebrated it by including an incredible callback to the first season. During the climax of the battle between Ash and Leon, Pikachu encounters a second wind against Leon’s Charizard, and this scene is scored by none other than the anime’s original theme song, “Gotta Catch ‘Em All”, despite being a remix from Pokémon: I Choose You! Even so, it’s a great moment that matches perfectly with the setting of the original Japanese version, and is especially great when it goes against the standards of how the English dub handles the music.
Pokémon brings back its original theme song
One thing that’s particularly notable about the English dub of Pokémon including the original theme song is how it perfectly adapted the original version of the anime in Japanese. When that scene happened in the Japanese version, it was included in the original theme song of the Japanese anime, “Aim to be a Pokémon Master”. The purpose of the Japanese dub could also be to end Ash’s victory by recalling season 1, so the English dub replicates that with “Gotta Catch ‘Em All” with nothing more than a twist. perfect.
Whatever language the setting is played in, this moment serves as the final culmination of Pokémon Journeys’ writing style. The Pokémon Journey has been filled with constant callbacks and appearances in every part of the anime since it began, with the final arc even going so far as to bring all of its companions. Ash and most of his opponents return. With that in mind, it makes perfect sense to end both the show and Ash’s journey with a flashback to its beginnings in terms of how deeply it revels in nostalgia.
Gotta Catch ‘Em All fixes Pokémon Dub’s loud music problem
Another great thing about the English dub including the original Pokémon theme is how it avoids the biggest musical problem of dubbing. Like many cartoons marketed to children in the ’90s and 2000s, most of the music in the Pokémon dub was dropped and replaced with original music often not with Japanese music, and in As other anime phased this out over time, Pokémon never stopped doing it. Thus, the dub used the first English theme to reflect how the original version used the first Japanese theme breaking the unfortunate trend that the dub did not copy the Japanese soundtrack.
Something like this bodes well for the English dub of Pokémon Horizons as well. If Pokémon Journeys can break the trend of not using the same score as the Japanese original of the English anime, then Horizons could well be the first Pokémon anime to use the same score as the Japanese original. level, the Pokémon The anime’s use of “Gotta Catch ‘Em All” may simply be an exception, but the possibility is still there, and even if nothing happens, it still doesn’t detract from this wonderful moment. for anime, regardless.