Pokemon Generations is a new YouTube series of bite-sized anime episodes focusing on the Pokémon game’s most memorable moments and designed as a way to bring new viewpoints to these classic stories.  So far, they’ve been short and sweet, giving you just enough to want more in the coming months as it continues to be released weekly through December 23rd.

However, it’s episode two, “The Chase”, that I want to talk about.  Overall, it’s pretty enjoyable.  The animation is decent, the voice acting is serviceable, and it has some very light action, but it’s the story that demands attention.  It deserves its own series.  Focusing on Detective Looker of the International Police, he and his team raid the Viridian Gym in hopes of catching Team Rocket’s leader, Giovanni.  You can watch the four minute episode below.

While not the best piece of anime I’ve ever seen, it’s a subset of the Pokémon universe rarely touched upon.  To be honest, in nearly all Pokémon media, anything outside of children battling in gyms for badges is almost actively ignored, and it’s a real shame.  There is an entire world of adults in everyday jobs that use Pokémon in interesting ways, and the police concept shown ever so briefly here is just begging to be explored further.  A spinoff series that followed a detective within the International Police during their day to day lives, raiding corrupt gyms and casinos, making routine calls and patrols, having banter with a partner or discussing the politics of using wild creatures for police work, would be absolutely stunning to watch.

Just seeing a Machamp bust down a wall and a Magnemite hack into and unlock a door has so much potential behind it!  What are those guys’ daily routines?  How do you train a Pokémon to work for the police?  Are some of them unwilling to it?  Is there a Chansey out there who wants nothing more than to help bust criminals, but social norms keep her working in Pokémon Centers?  I need to know.

Machamp doesn’t have time for walls.

With high budget animation, better writing, and some star voice acting talent, an International Police anime could be a huge hit.  I’d love it even more if it were about the seedy underbelly of the Pokémon world with a more mature feel to it.  It doesn’t have to be gritty grim-dark reboot edgelord stuff, but a Pokémon series that aims for the audience that grew up with it, for once, would be a nice bone to throw our way.  The chances of this becoming reality are slim, but maybe a Pokémon enthusiast will create something phenomenally magical that the internet can enjoy for fifteen seconds before Nintendo swoops in and crushes more amazing fan-made content that outclasses their own work.

Here’s hoping.