Pokemon Reveals One Gengar’s Heartbreaking Past

Pokemon‘s anime series has been running for quite a long time, and many fans have been privy to some of the most heartbreaking moments over the course of its long tenure. The current era of the anime has already had its fair share of sad moments too, but the latest episode featured one that definitely broke a ton of hearts. Fans were previously introduced to an angry Gengar who had been causing a lot of trouble in Professor Sakuragi’s laboratory, but Ash and Go failed to catch it the first time it was causing all this damage. But with its return in the latest episode of the series, we learn that all of this mischief comes from a traumatic place.

Episode 16 of Pokemon: The Series gives us the backstory of this Gengar that had been haunting the laboratory building for the last three years. It turns out that it had been waiting there all this time for its trainer, but felt betrayed and began to lash out once enough time had passed for the Gengar to realize it had been abandoned. But seeing it play out was another thing altogether as it’s far more heartbreaking in motion.

As we see play out in the episode, Gengar’s previous trainer walked it to an abandoned building and told it to stay put while he went to go check on something. Gengar, completely oblivious, even waves goodbye and continues to stand in place with a huge smile on its face. But over time, this turns to a malicious aura.

Long time fans of the franchise will recognize this story is much like when Ash was first introduced to Charmander in very much the same way in the original anime series (to the point where the anime even points this out with a fun Easter Egg), and thankfully for Gengar it worked out the same way this time too. Ash was able to forge a bond with the heartbroken Gengar, and added this mischievous Pokemon to his party before the episode came to an end.

What do you think of Ash’s newest addition to the team? Did you catch the throwback to some of the most depressing stories in the original anime? How do you feel about Gengar’s past? Let us know your thoughts in the comments or talk to me directly about all things anime and other cool things @Valdezology on Twitter!