Pokemon Series "Infinity War" moment & crossover event. When fans freaked out for months.

[Divine Retribution]

I'm not really a manga/anime fan, nor a huge Marvel fan (although I did see Infinity War and Endgame with some friends, and I've seen a few of the other movies over the years as well), but honestly I feel like your comparisons are a little... stretched. I mean, I suppose you can compare nearly any circumstance where it seems like the protagonist is defeated to Infinity War if you wanted to, but Infinity War is not the first movie to do this, only the most recent. Go back almost 40 years to The Empire Strikes Back and we have a movie that opens with the protagonist faction's main base being overrun and ends with the main protagonist getting his ass kicked by one of the main villains.

As for the shocked reaction to the film, I don't think this is wholly unique to Infinity War either. I do think a big part of the reason why it resonated so much with audiences is that most of the MCU series is set on Earth at around our current time period (albeit an Earth inhabited by superheroes and futuristic technology and all sorts of other fantastical nonsense), which makes it much easier to relate with and fully absorb the momentum of the particular event driving the shock factor compared to other movies which are set in more alien or fantastical settings.

I don't think Pokemon could ever really replicate that, at least not fully. Being generally more light-hearted than the MCU series, being set in a much less realistic and relatable environment, as well as being told through the medium of anime/manga rather than live-action film all dampen any "shock value" that similar events might have in Pokemon. It's harder to empathize with characters who exist in a setting completely different to our own under conditions completely different to our own condition.

 

[shoz999]

I'm not really a manga/anime fan, nor a huge Marvel fan (although I did see Infinity War and Endgame with some friends, and I've seen a few of the other movies over the years as well), but honestly I feel like your comparisons are a little... stretched. I mean, I suppose you can compare nearly any circumstance where it seems like the protagonist is defeated to Infinity War if you wanted to, but Infinity War is not the first movie to do this, only the most recent. Go back almost 40 years to The Empire Strikes Back and we have a movie that opens with the protagonist faction's main base being overrun and ends with the main protagonist getting his ass kicked by one of the main villains.

As for the shocked reaction to the film, I don't think this is wholly unique to Infinity War either. I do think a big part of the reason why it resonated so much with audiences is that most of the MCU series is set on Earth at around our current time period (albeit an Earth inhabited by superheroes and futuristic technology and all sorts of other fantastical nonsense), which makes it much easier to relate with and fully absorb the momentum of the particular event driving the shock factor compared to other movies which are set in more alien or fantastical settings.

I don't think Pokemon could ever really replicate that, at least not fully. Being generally more light-hearted than the MCU series, being set in a much less realistic and relatable environment, as well as being told through the medium of anime/manga rather than live-action film all dampen any "shock value" that similar events might have in Pokemon. It's harder to empathize with characters who exist in a setting completely different to our own under conditions completely different to our own condition.

Oh I know that Infinity War isn't the first to do that. The entire comic book industry built this trend of killing off characters only for them to return for years to come. Also as surprising as this sounds, some people may disagree with you on the MCU being more realistic than Pokemon. Really depends on the perspective really. I personally think the Pokemon world does a much better job on capturing realistic and relatable environments with a much closer-up look than pretty much any universe that I can recall thanks to it's more "closer-to-home" regional-style environmental storytelling, traveling town to town across oceans and trees. In fact for me anyway, I find the characters of Pokemon Adventures to be some of the most relatable human protagonists I've seen in a long while from a light-hearted adventure. For example it was the manga that made 11-year old me realize that people with dwarfism or some kind of growth spurt condition do exist and can have a hard time adjusting to society or even their own family because of being born that way.

However ultimately the reason why I thought this would be a fun comparison to make is because the MCU's buildup to this reunion crossover event spectacular reminds me so much of Pokemon Adventures FRLG + Emerald arc own two-parter storytelling. I don't think replicating is the right word to be honest. It's more like doing it's own take, it's execution of several concepts that Avengers Infinity War + Endgame has done. It's probably a stretched comparison as you say, but it's a fun one not to ignore don't you think?

 

[Shadao]

The "Infinity War" ending moment I'm talking about, and some story spoilers, is none other than the villain Sird who petrifies the main characters of Gen 1 and Silver, a Gen 2 main character, turning them into stone. No one came for their rescue, the villain got away successfully and FRLG's storyline just ended like that with a lasting memory of a picture of long-time main characters that fans grew up with, frozen in stone with shocked looks on their faces. This was really dark, arguably darker than any moment fans have witnessed previously because they knew these main characters from different adventures where the good guy always win and yet, here they were in stone. Unlike Ash Ketchum of the Pokemon movie who made it out in one piece with a satisfactory finish, it just ended after that. Like Avengers Infinity War, the villain won and the heroes fates were left very uncertain. Similarly, this sent shockwaves to the Adventures fanbase. This was a pretty big deal at the time. For the first time as a Pokemon fan, I've seen a good chunk of fans who expressed across the internet that they were actually worried that things might actually turn out wrong in a Pokemon story, that they were actually freaking out. Some fans remained calm and waited for the next storyline in hopes that it would resolve this cliffhanger only they had to wait an even much longer time then anime fans do for the anime. This wasn't like the anime, the release schedule for Pokemon Adventures is much longer. When the next storyline arrived, I recall Pokemon fans having very mixed feelings and were still quite uncertain of how the cliffhanger was going to be resolved.

Perhaps it can be impressionable for a young fan unaware of how the comic book industry works. There's always a first. The Empire Strikes Back in the film industry. Crisis on Infinite Earths for the comic book industry. Lord of the Rings for literature. For me, it was Bionicle during 2006-2008 where the stakes were higher and the bad guys were winning.

Of course, like all things, it becomes normal and we start losing such emotional impact over time. Like Seinfeld becoming dry and predictable. And when something like this happens again, those who know the past tend to make bets on how long before the damage is undone. I know I have once I've learned that Adventures was bringing back villains long thought deceased to the picture due to promotions for remake games. Pryce, Archie, Maxie. All came back from the dead.

MCU will also face that problem as time goes on. However, I will give Avengers Endgame the one edge it has over the entire comic book industry (and other entertainment industries as well):

Spoiler

Killing off characters for real. No resurrections this time since the actors are so interlinked with their characters that is impossible for anyone else to fill in their shoes save for a reboot in the far, far future. Rest in peace, Iron Man and Black Widow.

So with explaining many of the awesome tropes, the unique circumstances and fan expressions here, I think you can understand, as dumb as this sounds, that Pokemon does has it's own "Infinity War" moments. One of the reasons why I also just wanted to explain this is that there are fans who don't think the Pokemon series can't produce great stories. These aren't haters or toxic fans but are Pokemon fans who do genuinely love the Pokemon series, perhaps more than you or I but still feel the stories just aren't on the same level as their favorite manga or anime elsewhere, or not even close. I personally think that's wrong and Pokemon Adventures is proof that great Pokemon stories can be told, especially on this scale. What do you think? Have you ever seen any other Pokemon mediums with this much fear and excitement from fans.

Fans who don't think Pokémon can produce great stories haven't been paying close attention since the days of the 90s. Or perhaps they've only glanced at the anime, never read anything in Adventures beyond Arbok slice, and just played the games skip the story. Or perhaps they never focused on the little moments. The ones that have a lot of heart without the baggage of crisis. Which is something I feel Adventures tends to forget at times with all of the evil teams seeking world domination.

But honestly, like what Carol Denvers said in Captain Marvel, Pokémon Adventures (and Pokémon as a whole) doesn't need to prove to anyone of what they can do. If we must have a crisis, then make it something worthwhile and unique to remember.

Personally, I perfer a crossover between Adventures and the Anime akin to Crisis on Infinite Earths.