Previous Month

Next Month

---

Movie 20 Japanese Box Office Performance, Week Six
August 24th, 2017

Dogasu @ 7:47 JST -- How is Pocket Monsters the Movie "I Choose You!" doing in its sixth week in theaters?


The 20th Pocket Monsters movie returned to the Number 6 position after last week's brief return to fourth place. According to Cinema Today the film made 2,973,000,000 yen in ticket sales, surpassing the 2.6 billion yen box office total that 2015's Pokémon the movie XY "Volcanion and the Tricky Magearna" made during its entire run.

Looking at rest of the charts, High & Low the Movie 2 End of Sky managed to finally bump Despicable Me 3 out of the top spot while Fireworks, Should We See It [sic] from the Side or the Bottom? rounded out the Top 3. The rest of the Top Ten looks like this:

Rank	Last Week	Title	Distributor	No. of Theaters	Weeks in Theaters
1	NEW	High & Low the Movie 2 End of Sky	Shochiku	314	1
2	1	Despicable Me 3	Toho Towa	359	5
3	NEW	Fireworks, Should We See It from the Side or the Bottom?	Toho	298	1
4	2	Spider-Man: Homecoming	Sony Pictures Entertainment	355	2
5	3	I Want to Eat Your Pancreas	Toho	319	4
6	4	Pocket Monsters the Movie "I Choose You!"	Toho	364	6
7	5	Transformers: The Last Knight	Towa Pictures	334	3
8	6	Gintama	Warner Bros. Movies	334	6
9	9	Mary and the Witch's Flower	Toho	365	7
10	8	Kamen Rider Ex-Aid The Movie True Ending / Uchu Sentai Kyuranger the Movie: Geth Indaver Strikes Back	Toei	317	3

Source:  Eiga.com

Pocket Monsters The Movie "I Choose You!" is the 20th Pokemon movie and is now playing in Japan. The English dub, titled Pokémon The Movie "I Choose You!" will have a limited theatrical run in the U.S. on November 5th and 6th, 2017.


"It's Mr. Mime Time"
August 20th, 2017

Dogasu @ 12:10 JST -- The next entry in #Kanto2017 is "It's Mr. Mime Time"!


Next week I'll be taking another look at "Holiday Hi-Jynx," an episode that's caused a lot of controversy over the years for various reasons. I haven't updated the comparison since the episode was de-existed in the West back in 2014 so there will be plenty of new stuff for me to add to the revamped comparison!


Pocket Monsters Sun & Moon Planetarium
August 18th, 2017

Dogasu @ 1:45 JST -- The Konica Minolta website has quietly announced a new Pocket Monsters planetarium special coming out soon called Pocket Monsters Sun & Moon Planetarium.


For those of you who may not know, "Pocket Monsters Planetarium Shows" are these specials that are released every few years that are screened exclusively in planetariums. These mixtures of 3D and 2D animation make full use of the planetarium's unique dome shape to provide a viewing experience unlike anything you can see on a regular TV or movie screen. This year's Sun & Moon planetarium special is the sixth one overall; you can see information about the other five specials over in the Movies & Specials Guide.

Konica Minolta has released a synopsis for the 29 minute special:

Tomorrow is a very special day because you'll be able to see a total eclipse of the sun! If you miss this opportunity then it'll be more than 300 years before you get a chance to see another one in the Alola region! When Satoshi and his friends hear this they decide to go with Mamane to Eclipse Island, the central spot to see the solar event. There, they meet a "Solar Eclipse Hunter" named Fred who travels around the world chasing after solar eclipses. They decide to watch it with him but unfortunately, the weather is a bit cloudy on the actual day of the eclipse. Satoshi and his friends, thinking they'll definitely be able to see the eclipse from above the clouds, decide to head toward the top of a mountain to get a better view. Meanwhile, the Rocket-Dan hear that rare pokemon are said to appear during the solar eclipse and, thinking they can also capture Pikachu while they're at it, sneak away from Kiteruguma's nest and hurry to the top of the mountain to confront Satoshi and his friends. During the conflict, however, the solar eclipse starts without them! Will Satoshi and his friends be able to watch the solar eclipse after all? Use your full power to not miss the miraculous moment when the sun and moon perform their special dance!

So far, the only confirmed screenings we know about are at the ones that start September 10th at the Yamaguchi General Children's Center. Others are sure to be announced in the following weeks. Once the show makes its way over to Tokyo I'll go see it and write up a report like I did for Pocket Monsters XY The Space Debris back in 2014.

None of the previous specials have ever been dubbed into English so it's unlikely that this one will be make it out of Japan either.


Japanese Box Office Performance, Week Five
August 16th, 2017

Dogasu @ 11:31 JST -- The 20th movie, Pocket Monsters the Movie "I Choose You!" has now been in theaters for a month in Japan. How is it doing?


Pocket Monsters the Movie "I Choose You!" managed to climb its way back to the number four position in its fifth week after being in sixth place the weeks before. This kind of thing isn't unprecedented; 2015's Pokémon the movie XY "The Archdjinn of the Rings, Hoopa" & "Pikachu and the Pokemon Band" went from 11th place to 10th place in its fifth week, 2012's Pocket Monsters Best Wishes! The Movie "Kyurem vs. The Sacred Swordsman Keldeo" & "Meloetta's Dazzling Recital" went from 5th place to 4th place in its fourth week, 2011's Pocket Monsters Best Wishes! The Movie "Victini and the Black Hero Zekrom" / "Victini and the White Hero Reshiram" went from 6th place to 4th place in its seventh week in theaters, etc.

I have to wonder if the Pikachu Outbreak! event that was held in Yokohama this weekend had anything to do with the increase in ticket sales. I went to the event on Saturday (you can watch a video I uploaded of the event here) and there were literally thousands of people walking around, taking pictures of the various Pikachu shows and Pokémon GO in hopes of catching rare pokemon like Barrierd and Unknown. It's not hard to imagine fans wanting to hop into a movie theater to watch this year's movie to cap the day off, you know? Other contributing factors to the movie doing better this week may include the fact that there was only one new major release (Spider-Man: Homecoming) and the fact that it was a three-day weekend.

So far, Pocket Monsters the Movie "I Choose You!" has made 2.5 billion yen in ticket sales. This is significant because this means Movie 20 has made more money in its first five weeks in theaters than its predecessor, Pokémon the movie XY&Z "Volcanion and the Tricky Magearna," made during its entire theatrical run.

As for the rest of the movie charts, Despicable Me 3 continues to be unstoppable as it stays in the top spot for the fourth week in a row. The Japanese release of Spider-Man: Homecoming got the number two spot while I Want to Eat Your Pancreas regained the Number 3 spot after being in fourth place the previous week.

Here's the full line-up:

Rank	Last Week	Title	Distributor	No. of Theaters	Weeks in Theaters
1	1	Despicable Me 3	Toho Towa	359	4
2	NEW	Spider-Man: Homecoming	Sony Pictures Entertainment	355	1
3	4	I Want to Eat Your Pancreas	Toho	319	3
4	6	Pocket Monsters the Movie "I Choose You!"	Toho	364	5
5	3	Transformers: The Last Knight	Towa Pictures	334	2
6	8	Gintama	Warner Bros. Movies	334	5
7	9	Pirates of the Caribbean Dead Men Tell no Tales	Disney	365	7
8	2	Kamen Rider Ex-Aid The Movie True Ending / Uchu Sentai Kyuranger the Movie: Geth Indaver Strikes Back	Toei	317	2
9	10	Mary and the Witch's Flower	Toho	365	6
10	7	The Mummy	Toho Towa	333	3

Source:  Eiga.com

Pocket Monsters The Movie "I Choose You!" is the 20th Pokemon movie and is now playing in Japan. The English dub, titled Pokémon The Movie "I Choose You!" will have a limited theatrical run in the U.S. on November 5th and 6th, 2017.


"The Battle of the Badge"
August 15th, 2017

Dogasu @ 11:29 JST -- The revamped version of my comparison for "The Battle of the Badge" has now been posted.


In addition to the usual tweaks (changing Nyasu to Nyarth, replacing all the screenshots with better quality versions, eliminating the double spacing between sentences) I've also corrected a translation error I made the first time around.

Next week (well, later this week) will be the updated comparison for "It's Mr. Mime Mimie Time."


Japanese Box Office Performance, Week Four
August 7th, 2017

Dogasu @ 23:33 JST -- Another week, another look at how Pocket Monsters the Movie "I Choose You!" is doing in Japan.


Pocket Monsters the Movie "I Choose You!" managed to hold on to its number 6 position in its fourth weekend in theaters, which lasted from August 5th to August 6th, and has managed to make 2.1 billion yen so far. The last Pocket Monsters movie to pass the 2 billion yen mark by this point in its run was 2012's Pocket Monsters Best Wishes! The Movie "Kyurem vs. The Sacred Swordsman Keldeo" & "Meloetta's Dazzling Recital".

As for the rest of the movie charts, Despicable Me 3 kept its top spot for the third week in a row, this year's superhero double feature Kamen Rider Ex-Aid The Movie True Ending / Uchu Sentai Kyuranger the Movie: Geth Indaver Strikes Back came in at number two, and the Japanese debut of Transformers: The Last Knight rounded out the Top Three.

Here's the full line-up:

Rank	Last Week	Title	Distributor	No. of Theaters	Weeks in Theaters
1	1	Despicable Me 3	Toho Towa	359	3
2	NEW	Kamen Rider Ex-Aid The Movie True Ending / Uchu Sentai Kyuranger the Movie: Geth Indaver Strikes Back	Toei	316	1
3	NEW	Transformers: The Last Knight	Towa Pictures	334	1
4	3	I Want to Eat Your Pancreas	Toho	319	2
5	NEW	JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Diamond Is Unbreakable Chapter I	Toho, Warner Bros. Movies	323	1
6	6	Pocket Monsters the Movie "I Choose You!"	Toho	364	4
7	2	The Mummy	Toho Towa	333	2
8	4	Gintama	Warner Bros. Movies	334	4
9	7	Pirates of the Caribbean Dead Men Tell no Tales	Disney	365	6
10	8	Mary and the Witch's Flower	Toho	365	5

Source:  Eiga.com

Pocket Monsters The Movie "I Choose You!" is the 20th Pokemon movie and is now playing in Japan. The English dub, titled Pokémon The Movie "I Choose You!" will have a limited theatrical run in the U.S. on November 5th and 6th, 2017.



"Clefairy Tales"
August 6th, 2017

Dogasu @ 21:29 JST -- This week's Kanto2017 episode comparison is "Clefairy Tales," the final episode before Satoshi's final (Kanto) gym challenge! There are no paint edits in this one but there's still plenty of script and music changes worth talking about!


The next few weeks will be rehash comparisons which is great for me because it'll give me time to tackle the massive backlog of Movie 20 material I still have to wade through. It's actually pretty overwhelming! I also hope to have time to (finally!) do a write-up for the Rocket-Dan event I was lucky enough to go to last month so there will still be plenty of content coming your way in the meantime!


Japanese Box Office Performance, Week Three
August 1st, 2017

Dogasu @ 07:51 JST -- Let's check in to see how Pocket Monsters the Movie "I Choose You!" did in its third week in theaters in Japan.


In its third weekend in theaters, from July 29th to July 30th, Pocket Monsters the Movie "I Choose You!" dropped to sixth place. The 20th Pocket Monsters movie has made 1.7 billion yen so far. For comparison's sake, 2016's Pokémon the movie XY&Z "Volcanion and the Tricky Magearna" had made 123 million yen by its third week, 2015's Pokémon the movie XY "The Archdjinn of the Rings, Hoopa" & "Pikachu and the Pokemon Band" had made 1.3 billion yen, and 2014's Pokémon the movie XY "The Cocoon of Destruction and Diancie" & "Pikachu, What is This the Key To?" had made 1.4 billion yen by this point in its run.

As for the rest of the movie charts, Despicable Me 3 kept its top spot, the Japanese debut of the Tom Cruise film The Mummy came in at number two, and the the live action adaptation of a novel called I Want to Eat Your Pancreas came in at number three. The live-action Tokyo Ghoul film also debuted this week, at number five.

Here's the full line-up:

Rank	Last Week	Title	Distributor	No. of Theaters	Weeks in Theaters
1	1	Despicable Me 3	Toho Towa	359	2
2	NEW	The Mummy	Toho Towa	333	1
3	NEW	I Want to Eat Your Pancreas	Toho	319	1
4	2	Gintama	Warner Bros. Movies	334	3
5	NEW	Tokyo Ghoul	Shochiku	305	1
6	4	Pocket Monsters the Movie "I Choose You!"	Toho	364	3
7	3	Pirates of the Caribbean Dead Men Tell no Tales	Disney	365	5
8	6	Mary and the Witch's Flower	Toho	365	4
9	5	Cars 3	Disney	345	3
10	7	Shinobi no Kuni	Toho	322	5

Source:  Eiga.com

Pocket Monsters The Movie "I Choose You!" is the 20th Pokemon movie and is now playing in Japan. The English dub, titled Pokémon The Movie "I Choose You!" will have a limited theatrical run in the U.S. on November 5th and 6th, 2017.