How America Ruined Pokémon's Greatest Villain

All music used in this video is from the original Japanese or English movie soundtrack:

CITATIONS:
[1] Rafael, Motamayor. (2019, March 2). How the original Pokemon Movie Was Changed
[2] Senzatimore, R. (2022, August 25). Pokémon: Leonardo DiCaprio was
[3] Takeshi Shudo. "WEB Animation Magazine:
[4] "u/moon_shoes." How Phantom of the Opera influenced Pokémon (MewTwo).

and of course thank you to Wikipedia for the links!

Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, Mewtwo, Pokemon Movie, 4kids version

[zyrenfall]

"Do not cry... the West will cut it out anyway"

[LegendaryCake-]

Japanese mewtwo: i want help all clone pokemons and have revenge on team rocket....

American Mewtwo: fuck it *loads shotgun*

[kyoshiroryuken]

Cutting out the important part of Mewtwo's backstory was definitely a blow to the overall story. Still, the movie was thematically an incredible experience for me at the time. Especially for the fact that it's actually Pokemon. So cute monsters fight a bit with each other... At it's core, it was really about existence and what it means or could mean. I was absolutely fascinated.

[Neevkl_]

I like how the western audience grasped onto the two parts of the film that were true to the original like the Mewtwo quote you mentioned but also Meowth’s quote
“We do have a lot in common, the same earth, the same air, the same sky. Maybe if we start looking at what’s the same instead of what’s different, well who knows.”
As a kid I never knew about the English cut scene or the Japanese version but I somehow came to the conclusion that Mewtwo wasn’t a bad guy but just wanted answers and I really sympathized him. Had a nice “I was right moment” when I discovered the cut scene.

[LITTLE]

As much as I love Mewtwo to this day being a Gen 1 veteran, as a kid, I always wondered why they made the original movie so dang DARK. I didn't know the Japanese version had that many differences. At least the 3D remake fixed most of the errors.

[hoaujudaiyubel]

As an american myself the line "there needs to be a distinct difference between good and evil characters" and the mentality that came with was in fact one of the two very reasons why I as a kid hated and despised American media, the other was because I like serialized storytelling and couldn't for the life of me find any serialized tv shows that weren't anime as a kid in the 90s and 2000s





So 7 year old me clung to shonen anime and refused to give american media a chance unless someone would tell me that it was serialized or nuanced....which I as a 7 year old kid with very very poor communication skills could not articulate at all. Leading to alot of bullying because I liked anime in the 2000s while living in the south.

[Zak_Katchem]

As a kid, when I watched this movie, something about the struggle between the Pokémon I feel I took a different message than from the watered down 4kids adaptation. I have never watched the original production, in my heart and mind I took from the original message due to music, the art. It was there even though the words were not.

[zacharygate]

Mewtwo has always been one of my favorite characters, and I hate how his origin was cut in the Dub. He deserves the world and best friends. If I was in the Pokémon world, I would be the first one to catch and befriend hin.

[zacharygate]

I feel like the only things that the English Dub does better than the original is the incredible OST and Mewtwo and Meowth's speeches, with Mewtwo's speech being my favorite speech of all time.

[covildofantasma]

1:45 I always knew Mewtwo had something to do with Erik's character. As much as Mewtwo didn't suffer because of his appearance as Erik did, their paralels of being sympathetic characters that learn how to be better while struggling with their existence in the world are strong. I think both Mewtwo and Erik would be best friends! And, ironically, many "Phantom of the Opera" adaptations turn Erik into an evil villain, despite his original character in the 1910 novel being a tragic anti-hero who only wanted to be loved. Both Erik and Mewtwo only needed love and compassion to fit in and feel complete, after all, no matter how Erik looks or how Mewtwo was born, they are both living beings and their lifes are worthy 🥺❤️

[thezeraxadvance]

Amazing video man, i am amazed that this doesnt have much views, it deserves a lot more. Peace and hope u grow as a youtuber!!

[mwiner]

They fixed a lot of it in mew two strikes back evolution.

[Pikatoshiii]

Im so glad that our hindi dub kept the original material.

[sorivios]

Bro they hoe'd mewtwo so bad I also hope u do a pokebar break down for the next cypher and the Spear Pillar song they did

[amandaletcher]

God damn first Godzilla was butchered in English and now pokemon

[RamshacklePrefect]

As someone from the west, we never deserved anime. We ruin everything we touch.

[abrealgaming]

Extremely unpopular opinion amongst anime/manga fans: Marvel actually does have some incredible villains that are nuanced and don't just do evil shit to be evil.

[MrBro]

LOL in germany we had the whole movie. I never knew that it’s such a big deal across the ocean.

[ishierrogamer]

Did the other Dubs like the Italian, French, German or Spanish also butchered Mewtwo's character?

[ketanvirbhadre]

Good thing, the recent hindi dubbed version kept the whole thing, don't know about the cn version.