Kodai’s waning powers are only able to show him short glimpses of the future, but uses those visions to stay one step ahead of the heroes. The heroes are eventually joined by Rowena, another journalist who was working undercover as Kodai’s assistant. Karl and Zorua are able to combine information to figure out Kodai’s plan, and the group sets out to find Zoroak and Celebi so that they can close the time ripple and prevent the city from becoming a wasteland once again. The group enters the now-abandoned city and meets up with Karl, an independent journalist who has been on to Kodai for some time. Zorua runs into Ash and his friends and convinces them to help reunite it with Zoroark. Meanwhile, Zorua has managed to escape Kodai’s airship, but the villain uses fake footage of a Zorua hologram being tortured to manipulate Zoroark into continuing to obey his orders. He urges the people of Crown City to evacuate while he and his corporation hunt down Zoroark. Kodai records the ‘attack’ and edits the footage to make it look like buildings and monuments are being destroyed, then broadcasts the video to everyone in Crown City, explaining that Raikou, Entei, and Suicune have been mind-controlled by the evil Pokemon Zoroark. Zoroark terrorizes the citizens and creates illusions of massive floods and towering infernos in order to run everyone out of town.
Kodai sends Zoroak on a rampage through Crown City disguised as the city’s guardians, Raikou, Entei, and Suicune. He captures the shapeshifting Pokemon Zoroark and forces it to do his bidding by threatening to kill its child, a telepathic Zorua. In order to pursue Celebi and search for the time ripple, Kodai devises a plan to evacuate the city through a complicated misinformation campaign. Also in attendance are Ash and his friends Brock and Dawn, who arrive just in time - as they often do - to get in the bad guy’s way. Celebi’s return coincides with the Pokemon Baccer World Cup - a precursor to Pokemon Unite - which Kodai uses as a cover for his return to the city. Kodai, who has used his precognition to become a wealthy media mogul, sees this as an opportunity to absorb another time ripple and refresh his powers, which have started to fade and become unreliable. Related: What's Up With Pokemon Unite Season Two's Ridiculous Decisions?Ģ0 years later, Crown City has been restored to its former glory, prompting Celebi to finally come back. The corruption of the time ripple creates a shockwave across Crown City that wipes out all plant life, causing Celebi to abandon the city completely. By absorbing a time ripple, Kodai gives himself the power to see the future. While examining Crown City’s ancient texts, a man named Grings Kodai discovers the location of time ripples - resident energy left behind by Celebi. The time-traveling Pokemon Celebi is a patron of Crown City, and visits periodically to keep the flora in a perpetual state of bloom.
#List of illusion games movie
The movie may have failed to earn Zoroark the same kind of A-list status that Mystery of Mew gave Lucario, but it stands out as perhaps the most culturally aware Pokemon movie ever.Ĭrown City is the fictional version of Brussels, a beautiful metropolis filled with Art Nouveau architecture covered in lush greenery. It’s a particularly prescient story in the ‘fake news’ era, and it handles themes of misinformation and abuse of power in more nuanced and responsible ways than I ever expected a Pokemon movie to be capable of. Master of Illusion is about the power of mass media and the threat that manipulated information poses to the public. This week we’re revisiting Pokemon - Zoroark: Master of Illusion, a pseudo-sequel to Pokemon 4Ever and one of the most thematically dense films in the series.
Welcome back to Pokemon Movies in Review, a weekly recap of the entire Pokemon cinematic universe.