The Newest ‘Pokemon’ Movie Has a Gorgeous Opening

Pokemon: I Choose You!‘s English language broadcast recently premiered on Disney XD, and it has a gorgeous and nostalgic opening scene.

Before the film starts proper, the opening scene depicts two trainers in the middle of a fierce battle as a Blastoise fights off both a Gengar and Venusaur. This gorgeously animated battle will surely be a shock to fans who haven’t seen any of the franchise’s films since the first one.

As an added bit of nostalgia, the two trainer designs used here were last seen in Pokemon: The First Movie – Mewtwo Strikes Back. The boy, Corey, was indeed the trainer who used a Venusaur, and the girl, named Neesha, had a fully powered Blastoise.

The newest Pokemon film was full of nostalgic nods like this for fans who have been following the series since its premiere in April 1997. Pokemon the Movie: I Choose You! is the first film in the current Sun and Moon iteration of the anime series and celebrates Pokemon‘s 20th anniversary.

The film is a retelling of Ash Ketchum’s (Satoshi in the original Japanese release) adventures in the Indigo League, but with a few new twists such as new companions, visits from Pokemon who had yet to be introduced to the series at the time like the Legendary Dog trio, and a new threat from a brand new legendary Pokemon, Marshadow.

Ash is even seen sporting his old anime series look with a few upgraded look, and the English dub of the film briefly returned to the 4Kids Entertainment’s opening theme for the series for a special moment in the film. It also runs through a few notable events from the original series run like Ash catching his first Pokemon Caterpie, releasing Butterfree into the wild, and his first encounter with Charmander.

Pokemon the Movie: I Choose You! was directed by Shoji Yonemura, and is the twentieth series film. It was first released in Japan in July 2017 with a limited theatrical run worldwide November 5. It then had its English language broadcast premiere on Disney XD November 25.