The Angry Primeape Observation Diary - POKÉTOON Episode 10 Review - How To Calm A Primeape

While this isn’t the first POKÉTOON I’ve watched, I think I'd like to properly review all of them after watching this latest one. Pokémon is never afraid to experiment, but even among those many experiments these shorts really stand out.The POKÉTOONs do an amazing job showcasing a different type of story from the usual weekly show. This particular short is animated by ZEXCS, the studio behind the Shadowverse anime, with touchups from other studios like Wit Studio. I think it’s always nice that Pokémon showcases what all of these different animation studios can do with the Pokémon franchise.

Even if my Japanese is limited, all my years of watching anime has helped me get the gist of what the plot for this story is about. Basically, the unnamed boy is keeping an observation diary about his partner Pokémon Primeape, that he’s then recounting to his class at school. The boy is always mentioning how angry it is, and wonders if he could find a way to not see Primeape so angry, so he does various activities to calm it down like meditation, watching a movie, and all sorts of relaxing stuff. Unfortunately, Primeape gets anxious when it’s not lashing out, so the boy realizes that what his Pokémon wants is to get stronger, and they switch from R&R to Pokemon battles!

A very interesting key detail about Primeape’s battles is that it uses Rage Fist on so many Pokémon, but if you count the amount of times it hit Pokémon with it in battles before the final one to evolve, there’s only 18! So where's the missing 19th attack? You obviously forgot the first time it used Rage Fist on the boy’s popcorn bag, right? That means it had been used 19 times! The 20th time was of course when it defeated the Baxcalibur in the tournament they were in, and that’s how it evolved to Annihilape! I think that was such a clever way to showcase its evolution method! Unfortunately for the boy, even after evolution, Annihilape is still angry, but he still loves it very much. It definitely has a face that only the boy could love.

For the characters, it’s mainly the boy and his Primeape. I do love how patient and loving the boy is towards Primeape. He never gives up on his Pokemon and always does activities with it. I do like that even if Primeape gets annoyed with whatever the boy does with it, it never attacks its Trainer. It shows a sign of trust the two have. Though, it is hilarious that the boy technically “killed” his Primeape and made it evolve by coincidence and he’s just there with a giant smile plastered on his face. I’m also surprised with the cast. The boy is voiced by Rie Kugimiya who’s practically a regular in Pokémon at this point—give her a main role in the weekly anime already! Primeape is voiced by Mitsuo Iwata, who’s also a prolific voice actor as well! They did a fantastic job!

This is my first time writing a review for the POKÉTOON series. If you want me to write reviews for the other ones, please let me know!