Happy Anniversary! (Year Thirteen)

Dogasu's Backpack | Rants | Happy Anniversary! (Year Thirteen)

By Dogasu
Posted 01-31-2013

So a new episode of the TV series debuted on my site's birthday tonight, something that actually doesn't happen all that often. The only other episodes to debut on a January 31st in the series' fifteen years on the air were "Natio's Big Prophecy!" (January 31st, 2003) and "Pachirisu is Inside Kabarudon's Mouth!?" (January 31st, 2008). The first is a Jouto filler about psychic birds while the second one deals with a hippo eating a squirrel, so...yay? The latter one does feature the most recent appearance of Yamato and Kosaburou, though, so that's something.

So if you read last year's write-up, you'll see how I stated that my goal for 2012 was to revamp the site's layout. While that obviously hasn't happened, I have actually done some work toward that end, believe it or not. It'll be a while before I'm ready to debut anything yet, but I've already passed a few hurdles and hope to be able to make it past the rest later this year.

While I didn't accomplish my big goal of the year, I did manage to do a bunch of other stuff that I'm proud of. I translated interviews from the Black2 & White2 CD soundtrack (which people seemed to like) and the Kyurem vs. The Sacred Swordsman Keldeo Visual Guide (which people seemed...indifferent toward?). I was also one of the only English language websites (if not the only English language website) to cover the Blu-ray movie set, but I'm sure part of that is also because I'm one of the only people crazy enough to actually drop the money for it. One of the goals of my site is to provide information you can't get anywhere else - why would you visit Dogasu's Backpack if it just regurgitated the same content that every other fansite does? - and I think updates like these really help keep that going.

I also started covering Pocket Monsters Special in earnest, something I had been meaning to do for years but just never got around to. I also covered the manga adaptation of Kyurem vs. The Sacred Swordsman, Keldeo and the Black2 & White2 tie-in manga Pocket Monsters B2 - W2 ~ A New Legend ~, coverage that, again, is something that only Dogasu's Backpack can give you.

I did nine episode comparisons in 2012, which I know doesn't sound all that amazing. But! I like to think the ones for "The Rocket-Dan vs. The Plasma-Dan" and "Rougela's Christmas" had several comparisons' worth of content in them and therefore kind of help justify the low number. Let's just hope there aren't any more "huge" comparisons coming up in 2013 that will require me to stop everything to work on.

Oh, and I also met Masuda Jun'ichi last year. That was pretty rad.

But that's enough of that. Let's get to the more interesting parts of these write-ups, the predictions!

I predict that Pocket Monsters X and Y will come out in Japan on October 12th, 2013. Why? Well, video games typically come out on Saturdays in Japan, and October 12th is the first day of a three day weekend (that Monday is Tai'iku no Hi, which you often see translated as "Sports Day"). Kids will therefore not have school on Monday, making that the perfect time to release a new video game. I think the U.S. will get the games on Tuesday, October 15th.

I don't want to get into too many X & Y predictions because I'd be here all day if I do, so I'll just make one more: I think Generation VI will be the first generation to not have all its pokemon spoiled on day one. The 3DS' ability to do DLC means Game Freak can leave the data for the legendaries off the actual carts themselves and have them added in later, enabling them to actually keep the secret pokemon a secret this time around.
I think we'll get one more side game before X & Y come out in October. Eleven months without a single Pokemon game is a long time, so I'm thinking they'll announce - and then release - a new side game between now and then. Perhaps a Pokemon Ranger 3DS which will also have some legendary pokemon egg that you'll be able to transfer to your X & Y games later on?

So, what's going to happen in (deep breath) Pocket Monsters Best Wishes! Season 2 Episode N? Well...it's kind of hard to say. We'll see Satoshi's Lizardon come back before July (because of the movie) and the whole thing will end at the White Ruins, but other than that? Um...I think Charbu will evolve into Emboar, as redundant as having two fully evolved Fire-Types on his team will be?
I think "The Rocket-Dan vs. The Plasma-Dan" will air, in some form, later this year.

Iris and Dent will have their farewells and will not go to the X and Y series. Iris will return to Souryuu City and become a Gym Leader while Dent goes back to the Sanyou City Gym to be with his brothers. Hopefully, hopefully they'll both get a full episode to themselves, but after the way they handled Takeshi's departure back in DP I'm not holding my breath.

Satoshi and Pikachu will stay for the new series. Obviously.

The Rocket-Dan, on the other hand...that's kind of 50/50. I'm leaning toward them being written out at the end of BW (and for real this time...none of that "Don't miss the Rocket-Dan's final battle!" bullcrap from before), though, because there doesn't really seem to be any point in keeping the trio around anymore.

An all-new Generation VI pokemon will be teased at the end of the Genosect movie, just like how Victini was teased at the end of the Zorro'ark one back in 2010.

CD-wise, we'll get the four Rocket-Dan radio show CDs, a Yajirushi ni Natte! 2013 single, a Sakura-Go-Round single (Shiritsu Ebisu Shougakkou is not on Media Factory's record label so I think a release with both the opening and ending on it is unlikely), a soundtrack for the Genosect movie, two CDs for the movie's ending theme (one regular and one limited edition), a Pocket Monsters X and Pocket Monsters Y video game soundtrack (I'm guessing a four disc set), a CD for the new TV series' opening theme, and a CD for the new TV series' ending theme (which will feature some other young girl idol group). So twelve CDs altogether.
At least two new manga series will pop up related to Pocket Monsters X & Y; one will be a short, one volume dealie that won't leave Japan while the other will be a much longer series.

And finally,

Every time a new pokemon is revealed, cries of "It doesn't look like a Pokémon!" or "It looks like a Digimon" will be echoed across the Internet, much to our annoyance.

I want to thank everyone who's been visiting this site, from all you old timers to those of you who only just started visiting in the last year. I do this site for you (well, mostly) and will continue to do my best to give you all the exclusive content you've come to expect from Dogasu's Backpack. Until next time!