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What did you think of this episode?
5Loved it!
80.0%
4
4Liked it!
0.0%
0
3It was OK
20.0%
1
2Disliked it
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1Hated it
0.0%
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Average 4.6
5 votes
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Aug 31, 2019 1:43 AM
#1

Offline
Aug 2015
984
THIS IS AN ANIME ONLY DISCUSSION POST. DO NOT DISCUSS THE MANGA BEYOND THIS EPISODE.
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the day Pokemon swallowed Japan

What a great episode. It's so rare to see a direct, Western-style satire of something in anime, but here we have Earth Defense Family quite obviously mocking Pokemon in this episode. Similar to South Park's episode in 1999 at the peak of Pokemania, the "fad" character of Pokemon is mocked and the name Pokemaru name is unusually close for an anime. Of course, coming out of a the Pokemania that ended the 1990s- a decade that saw Japanese de-industrialization, long recession and the rebranding of Japan as a postindustrial contender, "Cool Japan"- seeing Pikachu painted on JAL planes as a testament of Nintendo's grip on global consumer culture- it must have felt as if Pokemon was swallowing Japan, and indeed, that is what happens here as "Pokemaru" destroys Tokyo before going away on its own accord.

Perhaps the most interesting aspect of this episode is not only the disarming power of kawaii on Mamoru, but also his turn from grudge-holder against Pokemaru to finding value in the unconditional love offered by his Pokemaru, similar to the more common critique of otaku as finding refuge in 2-D waifu.

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Aug 31, 2019 1:51 AM
It’s time to ditch the text file.
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