Analysis and Speculation of Project Mew
On Friday, April 23rd, 2021, a new special preview titled “Project Mew” dropped on the official Anipoke twitter account. This trailer featured many groundbreaking and hype inducing events such as the return of Iris and Gary, the Crown Tundra, and Ash’s old Pokémon which made fans speculate about Ash’s future and the future of the anime in general. Today I go over and analyze the trailer and then speculate about future events in the anime, and I also what I want.
- 0:05: We see the foot of Blastoise, and this is probably Gary’s.
- 0:06: We see a brief shot from left to right: Infernape, Ash, Pikachu, Cinderace, Goh, Electivire, and Gary. This means that Gary’s Electivire is appearing.
- 0:07: We see a brief shot of Iris’s Dragonite vs Ash’s Dragonite from JN065. Iris’s Dragonite is the one on the left using Thunder Punch and Ash’s Dragonite is the one on the right using Dragon Claw.
- 0:10: The words “Project Mew” pop up on the screen with Mew in the background. As for what this Project Mew is, it probably has to do with researching Mew, which of course relates to Goh’s ultimate goal of catching it.
- 0:24: Goh and Ash are seen in front of Professor Oak’s lab with Oak waving to them. He then is seen going over Project Mew. I don’t know if Tracey will appear (probably not because the anime staff likely forgot about him) but I hope he at least makes a cameo.
- 0:30: Ash and Goh, with Pikachu and Grookey, are seen trekking what looks to be the Crown Tundra. (I’ll admit I don’t know much about it but it seems exciting!)
- 0:32: Gary is seen up close for the first time, and it looks like he might be in on this Project Mew, and this makes total sense as Gary is a Pokémon Researcher and he can help them out. I’m happy that this is how they brought Gary back instead of a PWC opponent because he’s already had his big battle with Ash in the Johto League. (I’m shocked Gary didn’t return in Sun and Moon) He could also maybe battle with Ash as well.
- 0:37: We see a shot of Regice vs Urshifu (Single Strike form).
- 0:47: We see a shot of Ash’s Dragonite hugging Iris, who is in her Champion outfit from B2W2! I wanted Iris to be the Opelucid City Gym Leader, but I didn’t expect her to be Champion of the Unova region!!!!! It’s amazing to see all the appreciation towards her after being one of the most hated companions because she deserves the appreciation. This means her Axew probably evolved into Haxorus, her Gible might have evolved, and she even might have caught the Hydreigon that she deserved in BW. Poor Cilan being left out, I hope he appears in the future (besides a flashback) because everyone needs to return. It’s awesome that we finally get to see Iris and Ash have another high stakes battle because their battles in BW were awesome. I’m really glad that Iris is returning, but I wish that Cilan was with her. Sadly we didn’t see any of her other Pokémon besides Dragonite but I really hope that Excadrill appears because he is my favorite of her Pokémon.
- 0:53: We see a shot of Ash commanding Infernape and Infernape using Mach Punch on Moltres. This means that Ash’s Infernape is coming back and it’s battling a legendary! To be honest Infernape was one of the last Ash mons on the list that I wanted Ash to bring back because I feel like its story arc was already concluded against Paul. I feel like Ash can use Infernape against a legendary as it’s powerful enough but it’s probably being used as promotion for DP remakes and it’s Ash’s most popular Pokémon from Sinnoh. It seems like Ash was “forced” into using Infernape as it seems like it escaped the lab which is disappointing as I wanted Ash to actually want to use it. I pray that we see Ash use more reserves in the future for PWC (Torterra, Incineroar, GRENINJA) and I want all of Ash’s Pokémon to win at least one battle so that each one can have it’s shining moment because everyone is someone’s favorite. I want them to bring back another Sinnoh starter, Torterra, as he got 0 wins as a fully evolved Pokémon which is brutal and I want to see him win a battle. There’s still an opportunity for him to be used here or in an eventual BDSP arc, right? Right?
- 0:58: Ash vs Iris. We see Dracovish use possibly Ice Fang and Fishous Rend (watch out) against Dragonite. Yes the derp fish gets to battle! This probably means Ash’s Dragonite lost to Iris’s though.
- 1:04: We see a shot of Ash with some of his old Pokémon, which I’m psyched about as we haven’t seen them in a long time plus Ash needs to use his reserves! The ones shown here are Noivern!!!!!, Heracross, Donphan, Bayleef, Buizel!!!!, Charizard, Bulbasaur, Totodile, OSHAWOTTTTTTTTTTT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!, Talonflame!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!, Snorlax, Quilava, Hawlucha!!!!!!!!, Corphish, Krookodile, and Pignite. You can clearly see the ones I’m most excited about returning but THE KALOS BIRDS ARE BACK XY GANG XY CONTINUITY NOW WE NEED CLEMONT, BONNIE, GOODRA, GRENINJA, AND SERENA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AND OMG OSHAWOTT MY BABY IS BACK YAY!!!!!!!!! Here’s why I think these ones are in the shot: Bulbasaur because he’s always there, Charizard because it’s Charizard, Totodile and Corphish also appeared in SM, Oshawott and Quilava for Legends Arceus promotion, Buizel for DP remakes (shocked that not more of Ash’s Sinnoh team appeared here but all of Ash’s Pokémon will probably appear at some point), Snorlax, Bayleef, Heracross, and Donphan appeared in DP and the first two are popular, Krookodile and Pignite are two of Ash’s most powerful Pokémon from Unova, and Hawlucha, Talonflame, and Noivern are there because they haven’t appeared since the XY Finale and they absolutely deserve to appear here. But I thought the writers hated XY?! I LOVE THIS!!!!!!!!! THIS IS WHAT WE WANTED!!!!!!
- 1:14: We see the only shot of Team Rocket in this preview (and it’s pretty meme worthy), so I don’t know if they’ll appear that much during the Crown Tundra arc. Seems like maybe they are weaning away from Team Rocket...
Now for what I want. After the Crown Tundra Arc, I want Ash to use some of his reserves like Torterra and for more companion returns such as Clemont, Bonnie, and Cilan. I could see those three happening next or Dawn because of DP remakes. This is the first step of the plan, and let’s take it one step at a time. This trailer honestly seems like it’s setting up for Ash’s journey to end here… maybe? And then Goh (OR SOMEONE ELSE) takes over but that is a stretch. About Chloe, because of the Eevee thing, I can see May helping her out, but there’s a better option that could work that appears towards the end, and you all know who I’m talking about (Serena). Since Iris is the Champion of Unova, I can see May or Dawn possibly becoming a Top Coordinator as well. I honestly think they’ll save the best for last (Greninja and Serena). Ash-Greninja could maybe battle Alain again and get revenge on Mega Charizard X and Serena could appear in a Hoenn contest or in Kalos and be the last one that Chloe’s Eevee seeks out since she has a Sylveon. Serena can help Chloe maybe find what she wants to do in life as Serena was also once insecure and unsure about what she wanted to do. (And of course when Serena returns we need Amourshipping moments, that is a given.) This is what Journeys has the potential to do.