Character borrowing from "Hypno's Naptime??" (Housou Spoilers)

[Dogasu]

So I was looking through "Hypno's Naptime" the other day, looking for a connection between the little kids in that episode and the ones in "Hokey Pokeballs!" As I was looking at the two episodes, the thought crossed me: wasn't Arnold, the little boy who the mother mistakes Ash for at the beginning of the episode, originally named Hajime?

After I confirmed it, I instantly thought of another Hajime in the anime--the trainer in the Housou special, "Masara Town, The Setting off of a Pokemon Trainer." I looked at the two different Hajimes, and this is what I came up with:

Hypno's Naptime:

Masara Town, The Setting off of a Pokemon Trainer:

It may be a bit of a stretch, but I think it's interesting nonetheless. Could the Hajime in Kanto be the same Hajime in Houen, just with a different set of clothes?

 

[MondoTR]

He's still in Kanto cause he's in Pallet.

 

[Blackjack Gabbiani]

That looks like it could be him. The hair's similar. But for some strange reason, the animators seem to keep skin tone the same (Ash really should have a tan by now...), so it would be odd of them to make him darker now.

 

[Kthleen]

This is foreshadowing how? The fact that someone appeared in an episode doesn't mean that that the writers planned from this kid's appearance (or at least soon after) that the character would reappear. By watching Sleeper and Pokemon Hypnotism!? (Hypno's Naptime), who would be able to know or at least make an educated guess that we would see Hajime again (if this were him), let alone as a main character? To me, that no more said that he would be in a future episode than the appearance of that older student with glasses in The School of Hard Knocks portends his reappearance in a later episode (as more than just a vague character who does nothing to/with Ash-tachi or another main character).

Now that that nitpic is out of the way, that is pretty interesting. Do you know how often the Japanese reuse character names? If it's comparatively rarely, then perhaps the two could be the same. It would also be very curious if, when the episode is dubbed into English, the kid's name is Arnold. Then we could guess that something is up.

And you confused me (and maybe Belldandy) when you said "Hajime in Houen," though I understand now (i.e. "Hajime in [a] Houen [episode]"). However, do you know where the Special 15 Hajime is actually from? Did his family move to Kanto from Houen? Is he from Yoyoyo Town or some other Kanto city, knows of the Houen Pokemon and evidently thinks that they're t3h r0x0rZ? Perhaps they're from Jouto, but the family is traveling at the time yet can't get to Houen?

 

[Dogasu]

I forgot that Hajime is actually still in Kanto. My bad.

This is foreshadowing how? The fact that someone appeared in an episode doesn't mean that that the writers planned from this kid's appearance (or at least soon after) that the character would reappear. By watching Sleeper and Pokemon Hypnotism!? (Hypno's Naptime), who would be able to know or at least make an educated guess that we would see Hajime again (if this were him), let alone as a main character? To me, that no more said that he would be in a future episode than the appearance of that older student with glasses in The School of Hard Knocks portends his reappearance in a later episode (as more than just a vague character who does nothing to/with Ash-tachi or another main character).

OK, so foreshadowing was the wrong word. I meant something more along the lines of the Housou people reusing a character from an old episode rather than coming up with an all-new one. I don't think anything like that has a term, does it?

 

[Misty]

Is there anything from the special that might be relevant to this, whether suggesting its truth value, or lack thereof?

 

[Doctor Oak]

I meant something more along the lines of the Housou people reusing a character from an old episode rather than coming up with an all-new one. I don't think anything like that has a term, does it?

Yeah it does, it's called being lazy.

They reuse characters all the time, especially as background characters. I think this'd be the first time they've reused the same character/design for an actual main character but... meh.

I think the fact that the two are alike falls more into the fact that they look a fair bit like Ash... The Hypno one looks like Ash for a specified reason, the Pallet Town Trainer one probably looks like him to show the emulation of Ash's start.

I highly doubt it was intentional, the names may be pure coincidence (or set down with the original character design). But it is pretty interesting.

Realistically, they could look more alike. Afterall, in anime the few defining features you'll see are hair, body build and clothes. With different hair and different clothes, there's no reason to not believe that they're different characters completely.

But meh.

 

[Luna Tiger]

Yeah it does, it's called being lazy.

Considering a whole truckload of episodes and RL time have passed between Hypno's Naptime and this Hoso episode, I don't think that's very fair to say.

You can tell the animation has slightly changed when comparing design tactics; not very many characters in the Hoenn series (including the Hoso episodes) look like they would have if the animators were still back in Kanto. In fact, Hajime in Kanto does look like Ash, and the Hajime in 'Hoenn' adopted Max's haircut in the back, not a hairstyle ever really seem prior to AG.

If Hajime and Hajime are, in fact, the same person, this detail not only makes sense, but it's also a neat idea to take a background character and give him a starring role. Also, this change in how he appears may confirm slight time passage in the series (for the people who believe no one is truly aging/changing, like me).

Now, if only we had a front view of Hoso!Hajime.

 

[Dogasu]

Now, if only we had a front view of Hoso!Hajime.

The only reason I didn't include one earlier is because that shot of Arnold was the ONLY shot we see of the character in that Kanto episode. Therefore, I tried to include a similar shot (a side-view profile) from the Housou episode to make the comparison easier.

 

[Roses Ablaze]

*Wonders what his dub name will be in the HoSo*

 

[Misty]

I bet it won't be Arnold. >.>

 

[Fig]

Yeah. Even if they're MEANT to be the same by the animators, you can bet the dubbers will miss out on that one.

 

[GrnMarvl14]

Interesting, but like Doctor Oak said, it's not the first time a character's been repeated.

There's one character in particular that's shown up in about 5 episodes, and is (unless I'm mistaken) never given a name. I know she was in the Johto ep with Professor Oak's radio station, and she was at the Johto tournament. Few other places she showed up as well, but I can't think of what eps they're from. And in every ep she's in, she has the same color shirt, same color hair, same overalls, and the same cap.

Personally, I'd love to see a list of all the repeated characters, mostly for future reference. It would be interesting to see how many times a specific character design is repeated.

 

[Dogasu]

There's one character in particular that's shown up in about 5 episodes, and is (unless I'm mistaken) never given a name. I know she was in the Johto ep with Professor Oak's radio station, and she was at the Johto tournament. Few other places she showed up as well, but I can't think of what eps they're from. And in every ep she's in, she has the same color shirt, same color hair, same overalls, and the same cap.

I remember hearing about this girl, but I don't have any pictures of her. Does anyone else have any pictures of her?

And, while on the subject of lookalikes...

This was taken from the end Japanese version of "Hoenn Alone," when the boat arrives in Houen. Notice the Toru/Snap/Todd lookalike?

 

[GrnMarvl14]

He's not the only one that looks familiar in that pic. The old guy over his shoulder and the black haired kid next to the girl both look familiar. But I could just be imagining those.

And it WOULD make sense for Todd to show up in Hoenn wearing different clothes. I mean, if the main characters can change clothes, why can't he?

 

[Zeta]

Pokemon's art style is so flat and generic. Most of the time, characters can only be told apart by hairstyles and clothing. Everybody would look indentical to everyone else if you shaved them bald, like in South Park.

True, there are some that stand out (Ash, Brock, Professor Oak) but for the most part - they're almost as bad as Nurse Joys.

 

[Blackjack Gabbiani]

That guy doesn't look like Todd, just has his hair.

 

[Sharpshooter]

I think people have to remember though there's effectively 400+ episodes of pokémon here (original, AG, Hoso's, Movies etc) so for certain character designs to resemble others is quite natural. Sometimes you would presume the writers become lazy with such designs and end up looking rather too similar than what they should be, but in all I don't think there's too much of a problem of it.

Give them credit though, they did try in "Absol! Creeping Shadow of disaster!!" with the lead filler character who happened to look like Indiana Jones. It's just coincidence there of course lmao.

 

[Roses Ablaze]

I remember a fat lady with curly brown hair, a purple dress, and a flower in her hair. She was the lady that those two kids scared in the second movie, but she also showed up in the audience of the show boat ep (Orange Islands).

Then there's the girl with the brown braids and the pink overalls. I've seen her a couple of times.

 

[Blackjack Gabbiani]

Wasn't she also in the ep with the tan Joy? She had a Vileplume? The fat lady that is.