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The World According To Takeshi Shudo

M

Murgatroyd

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I recently acquired a copy of the first volume of Takeshi Shudo's (1) novelization of the anime. Though the world it portrays is in many ways inconsistent with that which was developed over the course of the anime (2), it goes into quite a lot more detail on how that world works than any other Pokemon canon-variant I've ever seen.

(1) The script writer for a number of episodes, including the first two, and for the first three movies.

(2)The episode that made the differences totally irreconcilable, so far as I can tell, was the Pokemopolis episode, for reasons that should be obvious after reading the extract below.

I haven't finished reading it yet, and have no idea when I will (Real Life, along with various other things I want to read, is getting in the way), but I figured I might as well present a few things as I found them. I'll usually summarize, but when it seems appropriate, I'll translate short extracts. This will be updated whenever I get around to it.

I'll start off with the very beginning of the book. Here's a translation of the opening of the prologue:

It happened one night.
In the darkness, a small light shone.
Pop...
There was a small sound, like a burst in the air.
Then, a creature was born.
At that same time, in other places...
Pop...
Pop...
Pop...
Those creatures were born, one after another.
Those creatures were of all shapes and sizes.
Some of those creatures resembled ones we already knew.
But in truth, they were in many ways completely different from any creature that had ever lived in this world.
Like humans, who long ago evolved and branched off from a species of ape, every species in the world had descended from creatures that had lived here before.
But these creatures were different.
Suddenly, one night...
Pop...
Pop...
Pop...
They appeared as they are, in forms we would not recognize from our reference books.
Later, people would come to call these creatures "Pocket Monsters".


"Why are Pokemon here in our world? Explaining this mystery would be as hard as explaining the mystery of mankind."
-From An Introduction to Pokemon Studies by Ookido Yukinari, Professor of Pokemon Studies at Tamamushi University.
 
WHOA.

This is possibly like the bible of Pokemon Fandom....

EDIT: This explain why the dex mentiones the Pokemon as "real world" animals. I bet the Pokemon probably made most of the terrestial animals extinct.
 
Very pecular. Especially given that we've seen many an episode showcasing how ancient Pokémon truly are, and the games certainly show that as well. Shudo is acting like it was a recent occurance, or at least in the past few hundred years. At least that's the impression I got out of it.
 
Blackjack Gabbiani said:
Shudo is acting like it was a recent occurance, or at least in the past few hundred years. At least that's the impression I got out of it.
Click to expand...

Yes, that's how it's consistently presented in the book. This is a not-too-distant future version of our own world (or one very like it), with Pokemon first appearing around our time. There is at least one century of history since Pokemon first appeared, and I get the impression it isn't more than two or three.
 
It sounds more like a biblical story, taking place in ancient times to me.

Was this written pre-Johto? As I imagine alot of stuff would be different (also, that the DP game has another creation story as well....)
 
Perhaps we could consider a lot of the legendary Pokémon to be old legends of monsters and deity's that were reclassified as Pokémon after the creatures were found to actually exist.

As for other, more demonstratively ancient Pokémon, and related events....what if this event, with Pokémon appearing in the world, was one that has happened several times in the history of earth? While records of them may have been lost, or thought of as mere fiction by future historians living in an age without Pokémon, the modern historians who do know of their existance have re-examined the evidence, and realised that there was more to those old stories than they once thought.
 
Ah, well, that certainly will compromise many things....(no reference to the Ho-Oh stuff then).

And even if it ain't canon (in Pokemon? rotfl) it's still VERY enticing.
 
Yeah, like how you really can't connect any of the Zelda games really toghether....
 
Blackjack Gabbiani said:
Maybe it's a canon onto itself and not meant to go with any of the other canons.
Click to expand...

That's how I've chosen to interpret it. It is a canon, closely related to the first few episodes of the anime.

And now, a couple of notes on the world and locations therein:

-The name of the country Satoshi lives in has not been stated in the part of the book I've read so far, but its capital is トウキョシティ(1). Other locations mentioned by name are 亜米利加(2), 英吉利(3), and 巴里(4).

(1) Toukyo City
(2) Amerika (America)
(3) Igirisu (England)
(4) Pari (Paris)

-The dictionary by which all others are judged is the Oxbridge English Dictionary.
 
Well, we knew that there's an America, since that's where Surge is from. And didn't the first few episodes mention France, with Misty saying that she loved French things?
 
She had a fantasy of herself in Paris. That had to have been in the original. :p

I reeeeally want a full translation of this novel. Or is it novels...?

This is so bizzare. Pokémon suddenly popping into exsistence? Strange... and cool. Maybe Pokémon are a lot more mysterious than we think...
 
Ah, forgot about that part.

I still subscribe to the post-nuclear war theory....btw
 
Lil Brother said:
I reeeeally want a full translation of this novel. Or is it novels...?
Click to expand...

I believe there are two volumes; I have the first.

And in case you're wondering, I don't do translations on this scale. (Or at least, not without someone paying me enough to quit my day job to work on it full time. :-D)
 
I really want an English translation. What do we need to do to get one? I'll do almost anything.
Lil Brother said:
She had a fantasy of herself in Paris. That had to have been in the original. :p
Click to expand...
I saw that episode a few days ago. The School of Hard Knocks.
 
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