Pokemon's Anime-Exclusive Starters Are Horribly Tragic

Pokemon is typically a franchise that focuses on the lighter aspects of becoming a professional trainer, with young men and women travelling the world to capture as many as they can while also forming life long bonds with the adorable creatures. However, all the glitters isn't gold as the series can be surprisingly dark when it wants to be. One fan revisited the events that took place in the first Pokemon feature length film, Mewtwo Strikes Back, which reveals the tragic fate of the clones of the starting Pokemon for the first generation: Charmander, Squirtle, and Bulbasaur.

Twitter User and Poke-Fan Dr. Lava YT shared this horrific discovery via their Twitter Account, documenting the creation of these three starter clones from the movie of Mewtwo Strikes Back, revealing that the uncut version originally walked through the fates of these trio of clones who did not survive the cloning process:

Anime-Exclusive: Starter Clones

These clone variants never appeared in the games -- only in The Uncut Story of Mewtwo's Origin. They're created by Dr Fuji in an effort to clone his dead daughter, but can't withstand the cloning process... so they all die. Only Mewtwo survives. pic.twitter.com/GjecUacCpe

— Dr. Lava's Lost Pokemon (@DrLavaYT) January 13, 2020

While this is definitely a disturbing development, the death of these pocket monsters is certainly in good company as both the anime and video games of the franchise have dived into similar territory. Plenty of ghost type Pokemon were linked to living beings at one point, with some even rumored to carry dead souls to the afterlife, such as Lampent.

Fans are paying more attention to the first film of the Pokemon franchise thanks in part to the re-imagining of the movie with all new computer graphics in Pokemon The Movie: Mewtwo Strikes Back Evolution. While the film was released last year in Japan, no date has been given for a North America release, leaving fans to wonder just when this new interpretation of the origin of Mewtwo will be brought overseas. More likely than not, the deaths of these three starter Pokemon won't be included in the new version of the story!

What do you think of the disturbing fates of the cloned Charmander, Bulbasaur, and Squirtle? Feel free to let us know in the comments or hit me up directly on Twitter @EVComedy to talk all things comics, anime, and Pokemon!

Pokemon: The Series, is now airing new episodes weekly in Japan, but unfortunately is still not officially licensed for an English language release as of this writing. There's also a brand new film on the way to Japan this Summer, Pokemon the Movie: Coco.