Pocket Monsters Planetarium
"The Message from
the Aurora"







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Dogasu's Backpack | Movies & Specials Guide | Pocket Monsters (2019) Planetarium



The Pocket Monsters planetarium shows are a series of special stand-alone episodes of the animated series that are shown exclusively in the planetariums installed in kids' science museums all across Japan. They are, in essence, educational programs disguised as an episode of the Pocket Monsters TV series. The specials are projected on the domes of the planetariums, using the extra real estate afforded to them to provide audiences with a viewing experience unlike any other.

I recently had the chance to see the newest Pocket Monsters planetarium show, Pocket Monsters Planetarium "The Message from the Aurora", over at the
Saitama Municipal Youth Astronomical Museum.

The Venue

I actually ended up making two attempts to see this thing. The first one was the morning of October 4th, 2020. I took the train to Urawa Station and, after about a 10-15 minute bus ride, arrived outside the Saitama Municipal Youth Astronomical Museum. I arrived at around 10:00 and the show was scheduled to start at 10:30, so that should be fine, right? Apparently not! The museum was limiting the number of tickets they were selling thanks to COVID-19 and so they were already sold out by the time I arrived. The woman behind the counter suggested I come back in a few weeks and that when I do, I arrive right when the museum opens at 9:00 am to increase my chances of getting a ticket.




It took a while for me to be able to make the second trip but on Saturday, November 21st I was finally able to make my second attempt. I arrived at around 8:50 to see a line of about 15 people or so, all waiting to buy tickets to the Pocket Monsters Planetarium show. I waited in line, filled out the little COVID-19 survey they gave us, had my temperature checked, and then bought my ticket for 520 yen.

The planetarium special was well publicized. A huge banner was draped on the outside near the museum's entrance, a huge poster was in a prominent location on the wall leading to the entrance of the actual planetarium itself, and posters and other flyers were hung up all around the rest of the museum. When I had seen the other Pokémon planetarium shows in years past there was always a conspicuous lack of advertising for those specials but this time things were different. You couldn't visit this children's science museum and not know that a Pokémon show was airing here.




At around 10:00 am we were allowed to enter the actual planetarium itself. We were free to sit anywhere we wanted, though we were asked to be sure to social distance from each other because, y'know, coronavirus. The seats all had these signs that said "Disinfected" (消毒済み) on them to let us know that the staff had wiped everything down. The venue has a seating capacity of 250 but I'd say only about 50 people or so were actually allowed in. I sat to the right side of the projector since it was the seat that was kinda-sorta the closest to the center.



Once everyone was seated the lights were dimmed and trailers for the other planetarium shows currently playing were shown to us. This included Detective Conan The Planetarium Show  - The Burning Galaxy Railroad, *deep breath*  Ninaboy Rantaro and the Big Space Adventure with Cosmic Front Next "The Close Call at the Black Hole!?", and Hayabusa 2 ~ Reborn. Once those were out of the way a pre-show science lecture took place.

Before the show

When I went to see Pocket Monsters Sun & Moon Planetarium back in 2018 I talked about a 15 minute science lecture that took place after the show. There was a similar presentation at this museum as well, but this time around the show took place before the show, not after.

I don't need to go into too much of this pre-show talk. A man on a microphone displayed the sky of the neighborhood around the museum and then showed us a time-lapse so we can see what the stars will look like as the sun sets. He pointed out that Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn were going to be visible, showed what the night sky would look like without all the light pollution caused by us humans, and then went on to point out a bunch of constellations. It was pretty interesting, and the guy who was pointing things out to us did a good job of making the presentation easy enough to understand, but toward the end of the thing - right around when he was going on about the Greek myth of Andromeda and all the constellations related to her tale - you could tell the kids in the audience were getting a bit restless.



I guess it's good that they put this presentation in front of the show like this because if they had waited until the end then I can imagine it would have been tough to ask everyone to sit tight for an extra 15 minutes

Now that the obligatory lecture was completed, it was time to start Pocket Monsters Planetarium "The Message from the Aurora" proper.

Pocket Monsters Planetarium "The Message from the Aurora"

The episode starts with a shot of Suicune far off in the distance - so far away that you can barely tell what it is - galloping in the sky across an aurora curtain backdrop.



The opening theme, 1, 2, 3., is then played.



What's next is an extended sequence where the camera zips around a computer generated simulation of outer space. We start off by taking a lap around the Sun before heading past Venus, Mercury, the Earth's moon, and then the star that's only ever referred to as "our planet" (この星) throughout the rest of the special.

At the Sakuragi Laboratory, Dr. Sakuragi is checking on the status of the sun. Satoshi and Gou enter the room, asking him what he's doing. What follows is one of two large sections in this episode where the characters launch into a science lecture since this is, first and foremost, an educational program.  Dr. Sakuragi tells the boys about how the weather on our planet affects Pokémon in certain ways, right? When it's sunny out, for example, certain Fire-Type Pokémon's attacks (like Hitokage's) grow stronger. And when it's raining, certain Water-Type Pokémon (like Showers) appear out of hiding. Well, did you know there's also this thing called "space weather" as well? And that it can affect Pokémon just as much? Dr. Sakuragi likes to keep tabs on space weather for this reason.

One such phenomenon he's looking at right now is auroras, the pretty curtains of lights you can see at our planet's poles. Dr. Sakuragi explains that auroras get their name from Aurora, the goddess of dawn in Roman mythology. He explains that the
corona, the upper atmosphere of the Sun, releases streams of charged particles know as solar winds that then come into contact with our planet's magnetosphere, particularly the areas near the poles known as the aurora belts, and cause the charged particles that are expelled to ionize and create what we see as auroras. Dr. Sakuragi's explanation is accompanied by computer generated imagery like this:



Dr. Sakuragi then states that when you think of auroras, you think of the Aurora Pokémon, Suicune! "There's a legend in Aurora Village, in a country up north. It says that when the sky was torn apart, Suicune appeared together with the northern wind and purified the dirty water there." Satoshi and Gou ask if they can go to this "Aurora Village" to see if they can look into the connection between auroras and Suicune, and Dr. Sakuragi says that of course they can.



Our heroes arrive at an airport in a snowy country up north somewhere. As the boys make their way down the plane's passenger steps they complain about how hard the trip was. About how many layovers do you think we had? they wonder. Satoshi wonders what's next (are we getting in a car? a train?) and Gou replies that Dr. Sakuragi had apparently asked to have one of his friends come meet them at the airport to guide them the rest of the way to Aurora Village. No one's arrived yet and so Satoshi and Pikachu decide to kill time by having an impromptu snowball fight. Gou's annoyed - they came here to work, not to play! - but when a snowball hits him in the face he quickly changes his tune. Gou joins in on the fight, and before long the two boys are throwing snowballs at each other.

One of the snowballs Gou throws misses Satoshi and hits a random Mammoo right on the face! The Twin Tusk Pokémon is angry and is about to charge at Gou when it's stopped by the little girl riding it! The girl introduces herself as Emma, the daughter of the friend Dr. Sakuragi had contacted earlier. Her father was supposed to be their guide to Aurora Village but he got tied up in something so he asked her to go meet Satoshi and Gou instead. Gou comments that he had assumed they'd be assisted by an adult. Satoshi, on the other hand, is excited; they get to participate in a Mammoo Ride! Emma adds that her Mammoo there will be able to help get them through whatever rugged terrain they come across.



Satoshi, Gou, and Emma all chat with each other as Mammoo carries them across the snowy tundra. Gou looks Mammoo up in his Pokémon Bestiary. At one point during their ride, Emma mentions that she would love to travel to places like the Kanto Region to see Pokémon there that she can't see around her own village. She wonders what the Pokémon who live in cities are like, for example. Satoshi gets excited and starts listing off a bunch of the Pokémon you can see in Kanto - Fushigidane, Zenigame, Hitokage, Caterpie, male Nidoran, Purin - but Gou cuts him off before he gets too carried away. The two boys end up telling Emma that she's welcome to come visit anytime.

As their trek continues, our heroes come across a bunch of Ice-Type Pokémon like Jugon, Yukiwarashi, Tamazarashi, and maybe others that I'm forgetting, all in this sort of montage segment. They then come across a Kumashun, so Gou decides to try to get it. He throws a Monster Ball at the Chill Pokémon but it spots the ball and dives into a hole it had just burrowed into the snow at the last minute, narrowly avoiding capture. A few moments later, a Tunbear bursts out from under the snow with a huge roar! Is this the Kumashun's mother!? The angry Pokémon begins to chase after Gou and his Rabbifoot and so the two hitch a ride on Mammoo, who was already running away at this point, to get away to safety.



Up in the sky above, the Rocket trio are riding in their giant Nyarth hot air balloon. Maybe an open-air hot air balloon basket wasn't the best way to traverse across a snowy land like this? As the three shiver from the cold wind, Nyarth spots the twerps in his binoculars. What are they doing here!? Could it be...are they also after..."that?" It's no matter; the Rocket trio (plus Sonansu) figure this will be a good chance as any to try to get Pikachu.

Our heroes arrive on a hill overlooking Aurora Village. It's still early and they have some time to kill, so Emma decides to start talking about auroras. In the episode's second science lecture, Emma talks about how the plasma particles affect the colors of the auroras. According to Emma, oxygen produced by things like plant life give the auroras their green color, which she interprets as proof that there's life on this here planet. There's also an explanation about volcanoes' contribution to the colors of auroras, but I unfortunately wasn't able to catch much of what she was saying at that part. In any case, Gou comments that Emma sure does know a lot about auroras, and she responds that she learned it all from her father.



Emma also says that while she's seen auroras plenty of times before, neither she nor anyone else in her village had ever seen the legendary Pokémon Suicune for themselves. It's their guardian deity and is said to have turned their land from an unlivable wasteland to a place where humans can actually live and thrive, but no one's ever actually seen it with their own eyes.

All of a sudden, a net appears and traps Emma inside! The Rocket trio appear out of the snowy mist and recite their motto before telling Satoshi that if he wants them to return the girl he'll have to hand over his Pikachu first. He refuses, so they call on their Rocket Gachat machine to start a Pokémon battle. Musashi and Kojirou put Nyarth's coin into the machine, turn the dial, and throw the two Monster Balls that come out. Today's Pokémon are Manyula, the Sharp Claw Pokémon, and Onigohri, the Face Pokémon! Musashi orders Manyula to use some Ice-Type attack - Icy Shard, maybe? - while Kojirou has Onigohri use Ice Fang. As Pikachu battles the Rocket Pokémon it eventually gets itself frozen, leaving it up to Gou to continue the battle. The young Trainer then remembers that oh yeah, his Rabbifoot is a Fire-Type and should therefore have an advantage, and so he has his Pokémon use Ember to free Pikachu from its icy prison. Now that Satoshi's Pokémon is able to move around again its Trainer has it use a powerful Thunderbolt attack to put an end to the battle. The Rocket trio, hair frizzy from the static, are all sent blasting off.



Night falls, and it looks like a blizzard is blowing its way through. Our heroes don't go into the village for shelter, for some reason, and instead rush over to a nearby tree to shield themselves from the icy cold wind. As the three kids and their Pokémon huddle together for safety, Emma warns the boys not to allow themselves to succumb to any drowsiness they may be feeling. Some time later, all three kids have fallen asleep in the snow. And then...a roar.



The children have all been brought into the inside of an icy cave somewhere, right near the entrance. Emma opens her eyes first and is greeted by the sight of Suicune looking over them! Was the legendary Pokémon the one who dragged them out of the snow? Suicune, startled by this human suddenly regaining consciousness, turns around and walks out of the cave. Satoshi and Gou wake up shortly after, and while they are upset that they missed seeing the legendary Pokémon they're at least happy to know that it's around.



The children get up and make their way out of the cave. Once outside, the trio is greeted by the sight of a beautiful aurora! And what's this? They see (that same footage from the cold opening of) Suicune galloping across the aurora in the sky above!



Elsewhere, the Rocket trio are sitting on top of a large icy mound. It seems like this is where they landed after blasting off? They didn't get to see Suicune, much to their chagrin, but at least they did get to see this wonderful aurora! The three of them shout out ii kanji! into the air as the camera zooms away.



Back at the Sakuragi Lab, Dr. Sakuragi reviews the footage his research fellows took of Suicune running across the night sky. He commends the boys on a job well done before turning his attention to Emma, who has apparently taken up Satoshi's and Gou's offer to come visit the Kanto region! She tells Dr. Sakuragi that her father says hi and then turns to Satoshi and Gou; it seems like the two boys are going to show her around the Kanto Region!

The special ends with still frames chronicling the kids' journeys through Kanto being shown off on the left-hand side of the screen, slideshow style, while the episode's credits run down the right-hand side of the screen.

Stray Observations

Here are some miscellaneous notes I took while watching the special:

  • There was no Pokémon Riddle segment, eyecatch, or "next episode preview."
  • The version of 1,2,3 used was the very first one from when the series debuted in November 2019. It was completely textless; yes, even the lyrics that are usually on the bottom of the screen aren't there! The version of the opening they used in this special is the one with Zacian and Zamazenta at the end.
  • Dr. Sakuragi very specifically uses the phrase "Roman mythology" (ローマ神話) when talking about the origin of the term "aurora," so I guess this means Italy exists in the Pokémon world. His namedrop of this real-world (mythological) person is accompanied by this image:



  • I've gotta say, hearing Dr. Sakuragi casually use the word "corona" in the year 2020 was a little bit jarring, even though his use of it here makes perfect sense in the context of auroras and the Sun and all that.
  • Gou throws snowballs the same way he throws Monster Balls.
  • Emma's Mammoo is able to outrun a Tunbear, for what that's worth.
  • Emma's father is brought up multiple times throughout this special but we never actually get to meet him. We don't ever get to see a photograph or anything to show what he looks like, either.
  • Our heroes never actually enter the Aurora Village; they just kind of hang around the outskirts the whole time. I have no idea why.
  • When the Rocket-Dan is blasting off, all four members are shown with frizzy hair. For the humans this is fairly straightforward - Musashi's and Kojirou's natural hair is drawn as fluffy wads of cotton - but for the Pokémon the animators decided to give Nyarth and Sonansu wigs (black for Nyarth, brown for Sonansu) to give them hair that they can make look frizzy.
  • The Suicune in this episode has a really weird, awkwardly deep voice that I don't recall hearing from any other member of its species before.
  • Emma gets a costume change for when she goes to Kanto, which is pretty amazing considering we only see her wearing these clothes for a grand total of one minute.
The special has a runtime of approximately 27 minutes, so about the same as a regular episode of the TV series.

Presentation

This is my third Pocket Monsters planetarium review, and it seems like things are getting better the more of these that are made. Pocket Monsters XY The Space Debris had terrible looking CG backgrounds, Pocket Monsters Sun & Moon Planetarium had better CG backgrounds but all the colors look faded and dark, and now, Pocket Monsters Planetarium "The Message from the Aurora" has the same quality backgrounds from the previous special but then also fixes the color issues.

However, a new problem cropped up for me;
there was something wrong with the frame rate of this thing. Like, maybe it was animated at 30 fps, but then they interlaced it to 60 fps or something? That's an exaggeration, but the whole thing did look like janky as all hell. The mouth flaps look like they were animated at 2 frames a second and then sped up and so you get a lot of ghosting going on whenever anyone says anything. Simple animations, like characters walking across the screen, were jittery. These issues aren't really apparent in the trailer posted on YouTube so it could have just been a calibration issue or something at that particular planetarium, but it was still a noticeable distraction.

It doesn't really help that the animation in this was generally pretty weak. The Rocket battle toward the end was particularly bad, with a bunch of the "still characters sliding across backgrounds" shortcuts the show used to use being implemented much more liberally here, and what was actually animated looked pretty limp. They did not use their A-Team on this episode, that's for sure. The only part of this that didn't look super low budget was Pikachu's final Thunderbolt attack at the end, which looked amazing but only made the rest of the battle look so much more weak by comparison.



Like with the other specials, the parts of the program that reused footage from the TV show - the opening theme 1, 2, 3, the Rocket-Dan motto, and the footage of Nyarth's coin being inserted into the Rocket Gachat machine - didn't take up the full dome and were instead displayed in a little rectangle in the middle. Imagine watching a movie that keeps switching back and forth between 4:3 and 16:3, over and over again, and you'll get an idea of what it's like to watch these planetarium specials. Weirdly, the big splash screens they use to introduce this episode's Rocket Pokémon - Manyula and Onigohri - were also shrunk down to 16:3 even though that would have been brand new footage created just for this episode. Maybe they animated it that way in case they want to ever reuse it for the TV series someday? I honestly can't think of any other reason why this would be the case.


Recycled footage like this shot here was shrunk down and shown in a little rectangle in the center of the planetarium dome.

Voice acting wise we get the usual cast who all does their usual great job. This time around we're joined by Nana Mizuki (水樹奈々) as the character-of-the-day Emma. In Pocket Monsters, she was the voice of Audrey (one of the two twin girls) in Pocket Monsters Advanced Generation The Movie "The Sky-Splitting Visitor, Deoxys" as well as Victini in Pocket Monsters Best Wishes! The Movie "Victini and the Black Hero Zekrom" & "Victini and the White Hero Reshiram."  Outside Pokémon, she's probably most well-known as the voice of Hinata Hyuga in Naruto (and its various sequel series) and Wrath in Fullmetal Alchemist, among many, many others.

The music used in the special is the same Yuki Hayashi background music from the Pocket Monsters (2019) TV series.

Final Thoughts

This was an OK episode of Pocket Monsters (2019). The episode's merging of science and Pokémon didn't feel as forced as it usually does, and Emma was a pretty interesting character-of-the-day, but it's also the kind of special I'll probably forget about a few months from now. It's not great, but it's not terrible, either.


Pocket Monsters Planetarium "The Message from the Aurora" is currently playing exclusively in planetariums throughout Japan.





 

 

 

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