Welcome back to 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Pokemon Movies in Review, a weekly recap of the entire Pokemon cinematic universe. This week we reach the end of our journey with the most recent movie, 2021’s Secrets of the Jungle. Like 2019’s 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:The Power of Us, Secrets of the Jungle relegates Ash to the deuteragonist role and instead focuses on a boy named Koko who was raised i🦋n the jungle by a Zarude and believes himself to be a Pokemon. Secrets of the Jungle is a throwback to the style of the earliest Pokemon movies, yet possesses a level of maturity rarely seen in Pokemon stories - if ever. Secrets of the Jungle isn’t the most memorable Pokemon movie, but it demonstrates the reboot series’ willingness to explore darker themes and experiment with new ways to tell stories. It also hints at a larger arc for the series that fans have been hoping to see for many years.

The Zarude rule the jungle surrounding Milyfa Town with an iron fist. They ma♏ke their home in the Heart Tree at the center of the Okoya Forest, which is surrounded by magical healing springs. The other forest Pokemon live in fear of the Zarude and their might-makes-right attitude. Th🐟ey see themselves as the dominant species and the rightful owners of the land and resources in the jungle.

One day, a Zarude finds a human baby abandoned in the jungle and decides to raise it as his own. This is against Zarude law, so the Zarude, known as Dada, leaves the tribe and lives in isolation with the baby, Koko. As Koko’s personality develops over the next ten years, the young boy struggles with his identity. He loves the forest ꦗPokemon in a way that the other Zarude do not, and he can’t do things that other Zarude can do. Deep down, he knows he isn’t not a Zarude, but when he confronts Dada about it, the Pokemon won’t tell him the truth. After an argument about his origins, Koko recklessly tries to swing across a river and ends up falling in. As he washes up on shore miles from home, he’s found by Ash and Pikachu, who rush him off to Milyfa Town for medical attention.

At this point, you’ve likely made t🔥he obvious connection to Disney’s Tarzan, of which Sec♋rets of the Jungle is heavily inspired. The Tarzan Boy trope is a well-worn convention in fiction, but there are some specific references to the Disney movie here. The argument between Koko and Dada is the same one that Tarzan has with his mother Kala, and when Koko wakes up at the hospital, he and Ash put their hands together so that Koko understands they’re the same, just like Tarzan and Jane do in the Disney movie.

Pokemon movies used to do this sort of thing all the time. Jirachi: Wish Maker was essentially just the Pokemon version of E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial, and Destiny Doexys was a traditional kaiju movie that cast Rayquaza in the role of Godzilla. 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Pokemon 4Ever - which Secrets of the Jungle is closely related to - was a eco-fantasy that drew themes and plot points from Pocohontas, FernGully, and Emerald Forest. The Pokemon movie series went in a different direction and stopped adapting popular stories ไafter 2005, so watching Secrets of the Jungle was kind of nostalgic. It has nothing particular to contribute to the Tarzan story - and in fact, it’s probably time to retire the jungle boy trope a൲nd its white savior undertones - but Secrets of the Jungle uses the ‘Two Worlds, One Family’ theme to take Pokemon to some pretty extreme places - at least by Pokemon standards.

Ash and Koko set off on a journey to find Koko’s parents, and eventually end up at the Bioptope Company's lab where his parents worked. They meet Dr. Zed, who worked for Koko’s parents in the past and now runs the company. He tells Koko that his parents died in a car accident, but as we later learn, Zed killed them when they refused to approve his project to extract energy from the Heart Tree until they could ensure the safety of the Zarude that lived there. Zed runs the couple off the road, but doesn’t help them as they crawl to the edge of a riverbank and send baby Koko floating away moments before their car explodes, engulfing them in flames. As Zed watches the towering inferno, he tells himself it’s all for the best because he gets to make the decisions now.

Death has always been in the periphery of Pokemon. Molly’s bond with the Unown is the result of her grief over losing her mother in 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Pokemon 3, but we don’t see her die and we aren’t even told what exactly happened to her. When Sir Aaron and Lucario sacrifice themselves in 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Lucario and the Mystery of Mew, they die as heroes and we’re told that they live on in a way thanks to the power of aura. Almost every other Pokemon death is quickly reversed. Whether it’s Celebi in Pokemon 4Ever, Magearna in 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Volcanion and the Mechanical Marvel, or Ash in… everything, people and Poke🐻mon are only shown dy🌞ing temporarily.

All of the exceptions happen in the reboot series. In I Choose You, Sorrel tells a story about his Luxray that froze to death to save him, and we see the Luxray frozen in a block of ice. Similarly, Harriet from The Power Of Us lost her partner Pokemon Snubbull in a fire, but we aren&rsqu💯o;t shown 📖the Pokemon actually dying. This is the first time we’re shown a character dying on screen - not just dying, but murdered. Consequently, Dr. Zed is also the most evil villain in Pokemon history.

Using data stored in a pendant that was given to Koko by his parents, Zed finally discovers the location of the Heart Tree. He descends on the jungle in a giant mech and threatens to wipe out Zarude, ostensibly so that he can harvest the healing energy from the tree to continue his life-saving research, but in actuality, to prove to the people he killed that🍒 he was right all along. Dr. Zed is an irredeemable killer who’s ego allows him to justify murder and Pokemon genocide. When he is defeated by Ash, Koko, and the forest Pokemon, he begs Dada to drop him off a cliff so that he doesn’t have to face the consequences of his actions. He’d rather die than ever admit he was wrong.

It’s surprising to see such a vicious character in a Pokemon movie, but it gives some much-needed weight and intensity to the series. Just as 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Legends: Arceus represents a step forward for Pokemon, it&rsquꦐo;s nice to see the franchise evolving in other ways too. Both The Power of Us and Secrets of the Jungle are quite daring by Pokemon standards, which bodes well for the series if it does eventually continue. It may tell a familiar story, but Secrets of the Jungle is a big step for Pokemon in many ways.

A few stray thoughts before I s꧒ign off one last time:

• Koko decides to go on his own adventure to learn how he can be the bridge that brings people and Pokemon closer together. Typically, Pokemon movies don’t end like this. With everything resolved, Ash usually just leaves to go find the next adventure. With Koko heading off on his own, we might see him return later down the line, perhaps alongside some of the other friends Ash has made throughout the reboot series
• Ash tells K🧔oko that his dad used to tell him never to 𒅌give up on his dreams. We’ve never heard anything about Ash’s dad before, but apparently he was around at least until Ash could form memories. This could be exclusive to the reboot universe though.
• Koko uses Zarude's signature move Jungle Healing to save Dada, meaning Koko isn’t just figuratively part-Pokemon, it&rsq𝓡uo;s ﷺliteral. There’s an old theory that people are just another kind of Pokemon, this event gives some credence to that idea.
• No Matter What by Cyn is the best Pokemon movie song ever. Yes, including Brother My Brother.
• Team Rocket plays an integral part to the plot and is even responsible for turning Zed into the police at the end. I have enough proof now: the only good Pokemon movies are the ones where Team Rocket actually does something.

Thus concludes Pokemon Movies in Review - at least for now. If you’ve been following along since the beginning, I can’t thank you enough for going on this strange journey with me. You can find 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:all 24 installments by follo♒win♔g this link. Come bac🎃🗹k next week for one final retrospective: What I Learned From Watching Every Pokemon Movie.