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Article Pokemon Symphonic Evolutions: Full Program Review

Discussion in 'Pokémon General' started by Pixel, Nov 17, 2015.

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  1. Pixel

    Pixel Aether Child

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    Ice Stone ★★★★Lucarionite ★★★★Dawn Stone ★★★★Decidium Z ★★★★★Galladite ★★★★
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    [SIZE=10.5pt]Hey guys, [member='Touya'] here! So, last night I attended the Pokémon Symphonic Evolutions concert held in my city, and MY GOD was it amazing! I'm going to give an opinionated coverage on it, which will contain [/SIZE]spoilers, so you've been warned. Otherwise, continue on!

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    [SIZE=10.5pt]So, we'll start with what happened before the show. It was a Pokémon Paradise. The foyer was filled with cosplayers of all ages, they had a Wii U playing Smash 4 on one end and an N64 playing Pokémon Stadium mini-games on the other. There was a display case filled with Pokémon games and merchandise, including some awesome polygonal models of Pikachu, Bulbasaur, Charmander, Squirtle and Lucario. [/SIZE]Sadly, this will be the last time Lucario is mentioned here, much to my discretion. There was also a live trivia competition, where I ran into my friend Cameron, better known as [member='Sachi-Shimazu']. I battled against his flying mono type team, thrashing him managing to defeat his soaring team in a 5 on 6 match, since I had a legendary, and I have to say I'm pretty proud of it. After that it was time to head up to our seats. In the auditorium, there was a screen which had a graphic playing with silhouettes of Pokémon, the crowd instantly guessing the popular characters that appeared on screen. Then the lights dimmed, and the orchestra tuned their instruments. It was time for the show to begin.

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    [SIZE=10.5pt]The evening started with an overture, a rendition of the Pokémon opening theme, while the titles for all the games (oddly, they were missing BW2 and ORAS) scrolled across the big screen. We met the amazing Susie Seiter, our conductor for the performance, and she gave us an overview of the program. Then the first song started. It was Pallet Town, the first song most players heard when they started. After that, we were made to prepare for trouble, and make it double, with "Double Trouble", an arrangement of the Team Rocket HQ theme from Red, Blue and Yellow. All the while, gameplay footage played on the big screen, with added effects such as bits of rock flying out of the ground when the Player used Dig, or coins being flung forward by Giovanni's Persian's Pay Day. After that, we experienced all the battles of the first generation with "Born To Be A Champion". It was a medley of the Rival Battle, Gym Battle and Champion Battle themes. We saw many iconic trainers, such as the rival, the Gym Leaders, the Elite Four, even the shorts youngster was there! But it was time to move on to Johto, and we were greeted with its many mysteries and lore.[/SIZE]

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    [SIZE=10.5pt]The Generation II segment of the show began with Ecruteak City, which is my absolute favourite city theme in all of Pokémon. It was a nice calming tune, allowing the audience to relax a bit more after the intensity that was "Born To Be A Champion". But that wouldn't last long, as we moved into the tragic tale of the Ecruteak Towers, in "Tales of the Towers". It started of nicely, with the Tin Tower's theme, but it soon went dark when he were told the story of the Brass Tower, or rather the Burned Tower. Then we met Raikou, Entei and Suicune, and the intensity level went back up to 11. But it peaked even that, when we moved onto "...". Now, most of you would be wondering why they would title a song with a set of ellipses, but you have to remember what happened at the end of our Johto journey. Yes, that is correct. We battled Red, the silent trainer atop Mt. Silver. It started off with the theme for the Dragon's Den, moving onto the Johto League. Then the graphic changed, taking us to a cave opening with an ominous boy and his Electric companion silhouetted by the light of the outside world. We watched Ethan climb Mt. Silver, until Red's theme came in, and nobody was safe. It was amazing to watch as the player countered Red's team verbatim, but we had to say goodbye to Johto, and head over to Hoenn.[/SIZE]

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    [SIZE=10.5pt]Generation III's plethora of themes started with "Ancients of Hoenn", which told the tale of the battle between Groudon and Kyogre. We were greeted with a soothing version of the Meteor Falls/Cave of Origin theme, but that all ended when we met the Regi trio, and their theme [/SIZE]and their trumpets was blasted into our eardrums. This team really stuck to me, because I was playing Gen III while my mother was in hospital, so I spent and endless amount of hours trying to catch these godforsaken creatures. The theme still resides in my heart to this day, so the powerful orchestrated version was very nostalgic to me. After that we were given the rendition with Route 113's theme in "Falling Ashes". It was really nice to have that calming tune after the Regi theme, and it brought back memories of endlessly collected soot to get that elusive glass table. But then, my heartstrings were tugged at when they played "Road to Victory". At first, you'd think it's just the Victory Road theme, which was how it started, but then it went into the Credits theme. Generation III was my first game, so that was my first credits. I cried when I finished it, I cried when I heard it beautifully remastered in ORAS, and I was brought to tears with this version too. But enough about my weak heart, it's time to move on the Generation IV!

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    [SIZE=10.5pt]Just as in the games, Generation IV's music started with "Dreams and Adventures", the theme played when you meet Professor Rowan. It was nice and hearty, with a solo from a wind instrument in the middle. After that, we relived the painfully slow time we spent in Sinnoh with "Routes of Sinnoh". This medley included Routes 201, 206 and 209, with accompanying graphics for each route. They were nice and upbeat, but that all changed when we had to face Mesprit, Uxie and our favourite Pokémon, Azelf in "The Lake Guardians". It started off with facing against Azelf, the orchestra define with blue lighting. I shouted out "Lake Valor!", and I'm sure [member='Sachi-Shimazu'] did the same. Then we faced off against Uxie, the lighting changing from a calm blue to an intense yellow. After that, we met Mesprit, who flew away from us, and we were greeted with the logo for the symphony. It was time for the intermission.[/SIZE]

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    [SIZE=10.5pt][​IMG][/SIZE]​

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    [SIZE=10.5pt]The intermission gave the audience a chance to stretch their legs, talk with other fans, purchase food and drinks, and do a bit of trading. I managed to give away 1 of my 10 shiny Serperior, whoever received it I'm sure is happy. [member='Sachi-Shimazu'], my friend and I met up on the rooftop to talk about what we had just seen, and what we were all expecting. Knowing that they were only going to play themes from the main series games, we all said, in unison, how cool it'd be to hear Pyrite Town from Pokémon X.D and Colosseum. But the anticipating was eating away at us, so we had to go back and wait impatiently for the second half.[/SIZE]

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    [SIZE=10.5pt]It started by jumping back to Generation III with a tropical take on the Pokémon Center, which was a nice way to bring back the audience. But then we were met with the natural, harmonic and grabbing sounds of Generation V, starting with "The Day I Became King", the opening theme of Pokémon Black and White. They didn't just play the music from the cut scene, they played the whole thing. And it didn't end there! They went on with the intense double bass of the Pokémon League theme, then went on to finish with Route 10's theme. After that, they played "N-Counter", a medley of N's Castle and N's Battle Theme. It was powerful, to say the least, and accompanied by the cut scene of Zekrom being called upon by N, sending bolts of thunder flying everywhere. If you haven't caught on yet, N was a prevalent theme, or the theme for Generation V, as we ended with "Farewell", a soft, tugging-at-the-heartstrings composition of N's farewell. But, as we said goodbye to N, we met another Pokémon character whose name is only capital letters, as we listened to AZ's tale to start Generation VI.[/SIZE]

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    [SIZE=10.5pt]Imagine being in a war, and getting killed in the process. Now, imagine being brought back to life, but at the cost of the death of over 1,000 others. We explored the sad tale of AZ and the Eternal Floette in "An Eternal Prison", which was another soft, tugging-at-your-heartstrings tune. But soon after we were greeted to the latest region with "Welcome to Kalos", a medley of the intro theme to X and Y, and Vaniville Town. This one was upbeat, and I'm sure everyone was smiling as much as I was, with the memories of Kalos fresh in our minds. After that, we met the most fabulous professor in all of Pokémon with "Professor Sycamore", a take on Sycamore's theme. This was probably my favourite song in the whole symphony, if it weren't for what came next, and his sick, sexy theme really kicked ass. Now it was time for the final song, appropriately titled "Friends, Fights and Finales". It started with a very soft and soothing take on the Friends Forever theme from X and Y, which went for about 10 seconds. The stage went silent when Susie (the conductor, in case you forgot) turned around, smiling like an idiot as she conducted the percussion to make a set of eight beats, to which the crowd went ballistic. It was the opening to the X and Y Gym Leader theme, and that was the best part of the whole symphony. It ended on a high note, the audience applauding the orchestra and Susie for a solid 5 minutes. Then we went quiet, and someone in the crowd yelled "Encore", which we were given promptly.[/SIZE]

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    [SIZE=10.5pt]The encore started out in the best way, with the extended version of "Gotta Catch 'Em All". The orchestrated version of this song was beautiful, and the whole crowd sang in unison, making for some amazing vocals. After that, we were treated with Junichi Masuda's personal pick of "KISEKI", the credits theme for X and Y. This came with its own lyrics, in karaoke form, which we all attempted to sing along to. Then we applauded again, and streamed out of the auditorium. I was able to snap a quick pic with [member='Sachi-Shimazu'] in his amazing Falkner cosplay (below), and I bought a poster, which I'm happy about.[/SIZE]

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    [SIZE=10.5pt]All in all, the Pokémon Symphonic Evolutions was an amazing treat for those in love with the sounds of Pokémon, or just Pokémon itself. If there's a concert near you, I would highly recommend you make an effort to go and see it; you won't be disappointed.[/SIZE]

    [SIZE=10.5pt][​IMG][/SIZE]
     
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  2. mweep

    mweep The Roaming Legendary

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    AHHHHH IT SOUNDS SO GOOD. I'm glad you enjoyed it, I've listened to recordings and all that so much, and your review made it sound even better! Now I just have to convince my parents to go to a concert location for the summer...

    MN never get's anything...
     
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  3. Sachi-Shimazu

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    The concert was amazing and it was amazing to finally meet you IRL Touya. I think Touya gave it ten times more justice than I ever could.
     
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