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Summary
ThePokémonanime is only a little over a year into its post-Ash era, with the new seriesPokémon Horizonshaving a completely different cast of characters. However, if the original head writer of the Pokémon anime had his way, Ash would’ve been finished by the time of the second movie, which fans today know asPokémon the Movie 2000: The Power of One.
Takeshi Shudo was the head writer for thePokémonanime’s first five years, as well as the writer for the first threePokémonmovies. He shaped many elements that came to be standard for the anime, including the creation of the Team Rocket trio. It’s well known that he was a driving force behind makingthe firstPokémonmovie,Mewtwo Strikes Back, into the darker affair that it is, and he had equally controversial plans for later Pokémon storylines, which the Pokémon Company ultimately didn’t approve of.
One such idea was in his first draft of the second movie, which originally didn’t feature Ash, Pikachu, or any familiar characters at all.
Pokémon’s Second Movie Was Almost Entirely Different
A Script Without Ash Would’ve Been Unrecognizable
Anyone who has seenPokémon the Movie 2000knows Ash actually plays a fairly large role in the plot, as the “chosen one” of prophecy, making it difficult to imagine what the movie might’ve been like without him. In a blog post written by Takeshi Shudo in December 2009,as translated and hosted by Lava Cut Content, Shudo describes turning in his first draft for the beginning of the second movie. “I let the staff read the first quarter of the script — I wanted them to get a rough idea of the general outline,” Shudo says.“In the initial script, there was no Ash and no Team Rocket. The staff pointed this out to me — even though I obviously wrote it that way on purpose — but I ended up revising the script to include all the regular characters from the very first scene.”
It’s very interesting to consider that as early as the second movie, there was already some desire to move beyond Ash and tell other stories in thePokémonworld. Shudo doesn’t elaborate on exactly who or what the movie might have been focused on, if not Ash, so the actual content of this first draft remains a major mystery. It does seem like Shudo wrote the script without Ash knowing that he’d be asked to include the existing cast eventually, and that writing it this way was something of a ploy. In regards to rewriting it with Ash included, Shudo adds, “I guess that reassured them, because after that, I was able to finish writing the last three-quarters of the script without anybody asking to see what I was writing.”
There was, originally, talk of havingAsh win the Indigo Leagueand retire from the anime in favor of a new character for the second generation, so it’s possible the first draft was written with this idea in mind–that Ash was leaving the anime anyway, and there was no need for a second movie starring him. However, Ash was so successful as a protagonist that they decided to keep him on board, and any hopes of a movie without him went out the window.
Pokémon Without Ash Ketchum
Shudo Wanted the Series to Reinvent Itself Without Ash
Shudo definitely seems to have been in favor of, if not ending the series, at least shifting to a new protagonist at some point. In another post translated by Lava Cut Content, Shudo says, “After 3 or 4 years, a new Pokémon adventure with a new main hero should begin. With its own topics — this new Pokémon should adapt to its times.” Shudo felt that a series that only followed Ash and was afraid to make big changes to the formula would never be able to stay relevant, something that he arguably had a good point about. While Ash would sometimes see changes to his design or character between seasons, in the endhe was still Ash Ketchum.
Given that perspective, it’s also possible that Shudo was hoping this second movie could be the start of a new era, and that’s why he didn’t include Ash and company in his first draft. Perhaps it would’ve even led to a world where thePokémonmovies starred varying casts, while the anime focused on Ash. It certainly would’ve been interesting to see whatPokémon the Movie 2000might’ve been like without Ash, and how that would’ve affected laterPokémonmovies, knowing they were no longer constrained to having Ash as their hero.
Pokémon the Movie 2000
Cast
Pokémon the Movie 2000, directed by Kunihiko Yuyama, follows Ash Ketchum and his friends as they embark on a mission to restore nature’s balance. When the Legendary Pokémon Lugia is targeted by Lawrence III’s capture scheme, their quest becomes crucial to saving the world from impending chaos.
