Pokemon Movie 21: Minna no Monogatari

As Satoshi continues his journey to become a Pokémon Master, he travels to Fura City to attend the annual Wind Festival. Pumped up, Satoshi and Pikachu are determined to win the festival's Get Race. Meanwhile, Kagachi, a show-off and a habitual liar, joins the competition at the request of his niece Lily. Having almost no knowledge about Pokémon, he manages to strike a deal with a socially awkward scientist named Torito in exchange for help with his upcoming speech. Following Kagachi's victory, Satoshi meets Risa, an ex-regional track and field champion looking to catch a Pokémon. However, during Torito's speech, Team Rocket strikes and manages to steal a capsule from his lab.

Tragedy strikes one after another as the Wind Festival's Sacred Flame disappears! As they set off on a journey to find the culprit, Satoshi and the group meet many people on the way—including Zeraora, the Thunderclap Pokémon who was believed to be dead...

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

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Adaptation:	Gekijouban Pocket Monsters: Minna no Monogatari Gaiden - Episode Zeraora
Other:	Pokemon Sun & Moon
Prequel:	Pokemon Movie 20: Kimi ni Kimeta!
Sequel:	Pokemon Movie 23: Koko

More characters

Characters & Voice Actors

Satoshi

Main

Matsumoto, Rica
Japanese

Pikachu

Main

Ootani, Ikue
Japanese

Torito

Main

Hamada, Gaku
Japanese

Zeraora

Main

Yamadera, Kouichi
Japanese

Largo

Main

Ashida, Mana
Japanese

Kojirou

Supporting

Miki, Shinichiro
Japanese

Musashi

Supporting

Hayashibara, Megumi
Japanese

Nyarth

Supporting

Inuyama, Inuko
Japanese

Eievui

Supporting

Togepy

Supporting

More staff

Staff

Wada, Jouji

Producer

Katou, Hiroyuki

Producer

Oohinata, Shun

Producer

Yajima, Tetsuo

Director, Storyboard, Screenplay

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Opening Theme

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Ending Theme

"Breath" by Porno Graffiti

Reviews

Jan 10, 2019

TGBBOD_19

Recommended

This movie truly was the greatest Pokémon movie ever! They have definitely changed things up in a great way! This is a great example of a GOOD reboot Pokemon movie. The previous Pokémon movie was boring, predictable, and had horribly unlikable and uninteresting characters (aside from the rival Cross) and the worst part was the 3rd act. I only liked the beginning and that’s it. However I can’t say the same for this amazing movie. I guess I do enjoy character driven stories which is probably why I liked this movie. In my opinion, this movie is in EVERY way better than the previous Pokémon ... movie (I Choose You!) which like I said, wasn’t good.

Story: I loved where everything was going, but the story wasn’t perfect by any means but it still kept me watching. I liked how they actually went with something different for this movie and didn’t copy the 2nd Pokémon movie, and actually went with something unique. And it turned out to be a way more interesting story than the lame 2nd Pokémon movie “The Power of One.”
Rating: 7/10

Art: The art looked really beautiful and so did the colors. It all looks way better than the current running SM anime imo. I love how Ash is designed in this movie, he looks great and this is probably one of my favorite versions of him (right beside his XY Design). Wish I could say the same for SM. And the animation was great too. Wit Studio and OLM did awesome animating this movie. They were smart for hiring Wit Studio.
Rating: 10/10

Sound: For the first time since the 16th Pokémon movie in 2013, they finally decided to keep all the Japanese music intact in the English dub (save for the ending credits theme). They didn’t replace any of Shinji Miyazaki’s tracks and that made the English dub a much better experience for me than last years. This is why I’m pissed I couldn’t see this in theaters. So I will gladly buy the blu-ray of this when it comes out. This movie easily has some of the best music composed imo. And I’m glad they did not use Ed Goldfart’s trash again. But I will admit this, “The Power of Us” ending credits theme was a good song and it fit the movie well.
Rating: 10/10

Character: All the characters were very interesting and all got a fair amount of screen time and all had interesting personalities, with my two favorite characters being Risa and Margo. Which imo are the best characters in the movies. And everyone else I liked too. They’re much more likable characters than the classmates from the actual running SM anime series, which are boring characters btw.
Rating: 9/10

Enjoyment: Yes! Of course I enjoyed this. This is the best Pokémon movie right beside Movie 3, Movie 12, and Movie 19. I don’t think I’ve enjoyed a Pokémon movie this much in a long time. I hope next years “Mewtwo Strikes Back: Evolution” movie will be good too as well as the Gen 8 anime movies. Geez I can’t wait for SM to end this year.
Rating: 10/10

Overall: I give this movie a solid 9.5/10. The dubbing was actually really good and if the director of this movie, Tetsuo Yajima, is smart enough to see that then clearly others will too. Still, if you see anyone hating on the dub of this movie, just ignore them. Anyway, this may not be a Pokémon for everyone as it has more action in it than in the SM anime but I personally think this is a Pokémon movie MANY others will like. Go ahead, give it a watch.

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Jul 13, 2023

Chaotic_beauty

Mixed Feelings

Pokemon: Everyone's Story feels like a movie set in the Pokemon universe rather than another tired sequel. This is shocking. Throughout the years we've been served almost two dozen Pokemon movie sequels. Some of them were good and felt distinct, but after the fifth movie quality quickly started dipping. After the tenth movie the best that could be hoped for was a passable flick. Passing the insane number of twenty, things changed; by the time of the fabled twentieth sequel even the producers were getting worried. To reinvigorate the series they decided to serve us a reboot. And it was a boring, albeit quickly forgotten ... reboot. Having reviewed all the Pokemon movies, a feat which had me sacrifice much of my time throughout the years to trivial bullshit, hardly anyone can be more surprised than I at what The Power of Us is. And while this movie wasn't that great, it gave me immense joy by dodging almost all trappings another yearly Pokemon release was bound to fall into. Seeing how the next movie will be a CGI remake of the first Pokemon movie, I get the impression that this one is the swan song for Pokemon movies as they were for over twenty years. So consider this review that; a last enjoyment of the now-bygone days.

The most notable difference between the olden movies and this one is the structure. The Power of Us has no antagonist, no helpless princesses to save, no comic relief sidekicks. It's a story of mischief and trouble the varied Pokemon and the vast human cast face. Almost a subversion, Pokemon needed this shakeup it to give a refreshing experience. It keeps the audience on their toes guessing what'll happen next. As for what it does to long time watchers, it's a special kind of amazement and excitement; just for this alone it's worth seeing.

The big cast is used exceptionally well. Around ten characters all get to have a small character arc. Each gets their own social circle, all of which interact in unpredictable and often creative ways. A character will forget something; a character will steal something; a character will help a stranger - it'll all come back around to impact other people they didn't interact with at all. Dozens of details of this kind are sprinkled throughout the whole movie. Sometimes it feels like poetry in motion. The script was definitely thought out. It may be the best one a Pokemon movie ever got. Even some of the best movies - Darkrai, Latias, Entei - had worse scripts and often less than impressive dialogue.

With all the praise for the script, the characters and the movie structure, The Power of Us almost reaches for the stars. It's an unfortunate fact that for all the smiles characters get out of us, they stay funny stick figures. They're nice stick figures, but nobody we can actually like or connect with. Making it clear there are no consequences for anything in this movie, the ride is too feel-goody for the viewer. Because of it there is almost no actual investment into the character stories. While the characters often fell flat in old sequels, the story was usually about something scary and new. For example, the terrible Genesect movie was about genocide on some level. This one has the most generic pro-nature and renewable energy message possible. Even if we ignore that wind turbines are the least ecologically friendly renewable energy type with huge negative ramifications for the environment, The Power of Us still fails to impress. While the buildup to the finale is great, it goes out with a whimper, not a bang. It's a comfortable whimper, though.

All things considered, The Power of Us should be considered a middling movie until we factor in the animation. It's great. Not Pokemon movie stellar, it's actually great. The battle with Eevee is one of the best fights in the movie series and the electric Lucario is a treat for the eyes. Yet, this is all fluff. Nice fluff, but fluff nontheless.

It's been a long road, topping Diancine movie from five years ago and reaching levels of Zoroark from nine years ago. The Pokemon movie team is obviously experimenting with new approaches to the movies. The old movie era ended with the Volcanion movie (nineteenth sequel!). Now we're getting reboots and 3D remakes are being announced. That make me feel alienated. I'm happy this single unexpected gem was made. But the question remains - will be ever get a real Pokemon movie again? We'll be closer to the answer in a year's time.

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Mar 20, 2020

lethargilistic

Not Recommended

There's a special place in Hell for the person who decided that the new Pokemon movies would start being an alternate continuity and then made Ash also the protagonist of the new continuity. The tenacity with which Ash has remained the anime protagonist has bothered me for more than a decade, but it's especially a problem here. The Ash in these movies is not allowed to have an arc because he might diverge from the cast-in-amber version of Ash from the TV show. I'm not saying the anime version of the character is completely static in every single story, because that's definitely not true, but ...

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Pokemon Movie 21: Minna no Monogatari

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Pokemon Movie 21: Minna no Monogatari

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