Top 10 best Pokémon short films & OVAs

We've gathered audiovisual media recommendations here as suggestions for diving into the Pokémon franchise with numerous works, both shorts, OVAs, anime, and movies. And we will only talk about short media here.

The first short film that is in the memory of many who saw the first Pokémon movie, both in cinema and on VHS, where it narrates a brief moment of leisure between Ash, Misty and Brock's Pokémon in a kind of "playground", where they let their Pokémon rest throughout the day. It was in those shorts that we had just always met a Pokémon from the next region, which would be Johto, with Snubull.

Short films

Here as the second short film, it's precisely what happened before the second Pokémon movie (Pokémon: the Movie 2000).

The story tells about when Ash, Misty, and Tracey take some time to sleep while the Pokémon rest, but Togepi starts getting ready awake and ends up falling into a river.

Pikachu immediately wakes up worried and calls the other Pokémon in the group to go look for him, until he finds it in a type of wild habitat commanded by Elekid (again, introducing another Pokémon from the Johto region - knowing that the anime was in the saga of the Islands Orange, still with Pokémon from Kanto) but that everyone in the community worked together on behalf of each other.

So, Pikachu and his friends, with the Elekid community, team up to save the place from a terrible storm, protecting Togepi and the Exeggcute.

Short films

Third short film in the franchise, presented in the Johto region, before the third film (Pokémon 3: The Movie – Spell of the Unown).

Pikachu gets lost from Ash and his friends to defend the Pichu brothers from a rabid Houndour, who chases them through the big city and builds a small adventure, showing the Pichu home with other suburban Pokémon and doing local tourism, until Pikachu is reunited with Ash and goes back on his way.

Short films

This episode is a 10th anniversary special of the franchise, and takes place during the events of Ash in Hoenn, he's traveling with May, Max and Brock (the villain of this movie even has a brief frame in the opening of the Advance Battle arc).

Here we have the synopsis that Ash, May, Max, Brock are in Kanto to visit Professor Oak and Misty, where they were invited by Professor Yung to show off his recent device that can project data from any Pokémon in his castle, the "Mirage Mansion".

Team Rocket ends up knowing this and goes after this device, but in the meantime, a villain with greater potential appears behind this power to create according to their imagination the strongest and most legendary Pokémon.

OVA: English (USA)

Perhaps one of the weakest animations there is, it elaborates on the daily life of some Pokémon, showing comedy situations precisely to captivate children (from 3 to 9 years old), but nothing that improves knowledge of lore or anything like that.

The link to watch the episodes is free on Youtube.

Episodes

Episode 1

Episode 2

Episode 3

Episode 4

Episode 5

Episode 6

Episode 7

Episode 8

The story here takes place in the time of Hisui (in the early days of Sinnoh - in reference to the game Legend of Arceus), and deals with the issue of conflicts between Pokémon and humans and coexistence in a heavy plot, involving the death of a little Zorua, where the mother Zoroark freaks out in anger blaming humans for this incident.

In this, we meet Alec who wants to be a doctor and is going to Hisui to see his father. He is approached by an old man asking where he would go, saying in response that he would go to the city of Jubilife, but warned that in the forest of Alabaster there is an increasing attack of Pokémon in the region.

To know the plot, to know a little about this mystery and these events, just watching the anime to know more about it.

The anime is available on YouTube.

Episodes

Episode 1

Episode 2

Episode 3

Here in this plot, we talk a bit about the daily lives of Galar characters, with normal situations in their lives outside what we see in games.

The plot begins with a bedridden boy who has a desire to meet the great champion, Leon. Considering this, we have episodes talking about Oleana's work at Macro Cosmos as Rose's secretary, Bea's training with her fighting Pokémon, the city tour and photo session with Nessa, in short, different situations.

The animation is very well drawn and gives a great feeling.

Episodes: English (USA)

Episode 1

Episode 2

Episode 3

Episode 4

Episode 5

Episode 6

Episode 7

Episode 8

In it, we are presented with a retrospective of the 8 generations of Pokémon in a decreasing way, that is, taking in the first episode the Galar region narrating the events of Leon facing Eternatus and unsuccessfully, its protagonist along with Hop (Leon's younger brother), use Zacian and Zamazenta to stop the fearsome dragon, with the ending being captured by the protagonist.

The last episode, the eighth, focuses on the Kanto region, where Green goes after Mewtwo to complete her Pokedex, but is surprised by the region's "Girl" (who would be her doll in the games) who makes the capture.

The link to watch the episodes is free on YouTube

Episodes: English (USA)

Episode 1

Episode 2

Episode 3

Episode 4

Episode 5

Episode 6

Episode 7

Episode 8

Here we have one of the best short films about the summary of the franchise in important stages of the games until the sixth generation, in the Kalos region.

We have moments of Red's battles against Elite 4 and the fight against his rival, Blue. We have the scheme of Giovanni being exiled after the failure of the Rockets and his minions in the Johto region trying to contact him at the radio tower.

There's also Team Magma and Team Aqua's brainstorming in the Hoenn region, in addition to your region character going to capture Deoxys in space mounted on the Mega Rayquaza in Earth orbit; among other remarkable events in an animated version that is really worth checking out.

In fact, it's one of the animations that has one of my favorite traits on this list, with a more mature trait for adult characters, like the example of Elite 4 (see Lorelei), along with Origins.

The link to watch the episodes is free on YouTube.

Episodes: English (USA)

The full American playlist is at this link.

An OVA (Original Video Animation), which compiles 4 episodes summarizing the entire history of the Red/Green/Blue games, showing the rivalry of Red and Blue, the choice of their first Pokémon, the search for the gym badges of Kanto, confrontations with Team Rocket, the battle against the Elite 4 with Blue as the champion and, finally, being graced by Red trying to close the Pokédex to capture Mewtwo, as exactly we do in the games.

For me, this animation of shorts is in first place for the nostalgia factor, and also for the presentation of the Mega Evolution of a certain Pokémon (I won't give spoilers) that just left a big impression on me.

Also, the animation trait of the battles is exceptional!

Episodes

- Episode 1

- Episode 2

- Episode 3

- Episode 4

Mega Evolution – Special

Here is practically a prequel to the events of the XYZ anime, showing Alain's journey in improving his Charizard and at the same time with the scientific study of Mega Stones prepared by Lysander (before revealing the faces as a villain in the main anime - obviously).

Meanwhile, Alain will meet with important personalities in the plot such as the champion of Hoenn, Steven Stone, in addition to meeting with legendary Pokémon that you will be surprised to see in the episodes!

You can watch it here.

Pokémon Chronicles

Taking the end of the Johto era and moving on to the Hoenn era of main anime animations at the same time, this series of episodes focuses on side characters that briefly resemble Gold/Silver video game protagonists like Ethan and Kris (who in the anime call Marina).

In the first three episodes (the best by the way) the focus is on the legend of Raikou, closing the trio of the legendary beasts of Johto (since Ash saw an "Entei" -even if it was a fake - in the third film of the franchise; and a Suicune in the fourth film), where we have other members of the Team Rocket, the duo Attila and Hun.

In addition, we have the appearance of Spark (the "Ash" lookalike in the anime's timeline) with his fringe Pikachu, Spark; in addition, we also have Misty, Tracey and other characters in these 22 episodes.

To watch the episodes, access here.

Hope you liked the recommendations. Do you agree with the list or not? Which of these short films have you seen, and which ones you haven't?

Comment below in the comments and talk a little about your experiences with them in the franchise. See you in the next article!