You know theres something fulfilling about having grown up with the earliest years of the Pokemon franchise. I dont want to be a gatekeeper or an elitist or whatever and say Pokemon was better in my day... Honestly it still featured just as much stupid bullshit and obvious animation issues back then and it wouldnt be fair of me to say that the show is crap now because I stopped watching the Pokemon anime towards the end of Johto Journeys... But damn there was something special about Pokemon in the late nineties a time when most current Pokemon fans hadnt even been born yet. Just think about it... The games were still really simple there was a reasonable amount of Pokemon and the announcement of a new wave of Pokemon was met with excitement and uncertainty and the internet practically exploded with each confirmed leak. Compared to today where every new game features some pointless gimmick that future games wholeheartedly forget about new waves of pokemon are as certain as death and taxes and the internet only explodes with complaints about Gamefreak running out of ideas. I havent watched the Pokemon anime in over a decade but to put it as nicely as I can I havent heard good things. What little I have seen does seem to coincide with what Ive heard that things have gotten a lot more formulaic and repetitive and whatever heart and soul the franchise used to have is nowhere to be seen. Well since were in the middle of Winter and Im stuck inside the house during an exceptionally well timed vacation from work I figured Id bring some attention to an old Pokemon OVA that exemplifies the heart and soul of the early Pokemon franchise Pikachus Winter Vacation Now regarding the background of this short Im not entirely sure where it came from. On the one hand it has a lot of qualities in common with Pikachus Vacation and Pikachus Rescue Adventure as it stars the Pokemon of the main cast on a side adventure where their owners only show up in the beginning and the end their faces hidden. On the other hand those other two shorts aired alongside theatrically released Pokemon movies and I cant find any similar information for this one. Im guessing that this wasnt the case for the three Winter Vacation specialswhich this is the first of because this one and the third one were aired as an extension of the 4Kids release of Pokemon Chronicles. Yeah for some reason 4Kids saw the sidestory Pokemon Chronicles as a convenient place to dump two Winter Specials and a lesser known Pokemon movie because for those of you who werent around to experience their heyday 4Kids was a fucking riot. Anyway despite it being the oldest material in the collection this particular special was aired as the finale of Chronicles which is why any version of it youre likely to find will probably have that inexplicable opening song thats basically just the beginning fragment of the gen 2 Pokerap. Theres some pointless trivia for you. The english dub features all of the same talents from the series... Pikachu and Togepi are still played by their original Japanese seiyuu Satomi Korogi as Togepi and the legendary Ikue Otani as Pikachu. Tara Jayne plays Bulbasaur and a baby Kangaskhan Eric Stuart the voice of Brock and James plays Squirtle The late Rachel Lillis the actor behind Misty and Jessie plays Vulpix The late Addie Blaustein returns as Meowth and Michael Haigney a very important figure behind the dub of this franchise who doesnt get nearly enough appreciation plays Geodude and Psyduck. Whats a bit more of a mystery to me is who plays the mother Kangaskhan because I cant find any information about who her voice actor was and yet I really liked her performance. She speaks in a low register that youd expect from such a large inherently monstrous pokemon but with a very maternal gentleness. Maybe Im wrong but I cant remember for certain if Ive ever heard a Kangaskhan talk in the anime before although I do have a vague memory of them sounding more masculine in the series. Anyway the credits for this special dont specify who played who so she had to have been voiced by either Rachel Lillis Veronica Taylor Tara Jayne or someone who didnt want to be credited. As for the actual story we have two which may or may not be interconnected. For the first one the title is Christmas Night and it centers around Ash Misty and Brock leaving six of their pokemon in a cabin while they step out for party supplies and the antics that happen as a result. From Ash we have Pikachu the responsible leader of the group as well as Squirtle and Bulbasaur engaging in a siblinglike rivalry that I actually kind of forgot they used to have back in the day but which it warms my heart to see again. From Misty we of course have Togepi and for comic relief we have Psyduck. From Brock we have his Vulpix another blast from the past and a pokemon that took cuteness to another level right from her introduction dont lie you remember her adorable eating animation. The story here is simple but its also effective and wholesome. Bulbasaur and Squirltle are horsing around while Pikachu attempts to keep the Christmas tree from being knocked over until Psyduck pops the cork on a bottle of sparkling cider overwhelming the poor Pikachu and toppling the tree. Bulbasaur and Squirtle try to laugh it off until they read the room and shut up. Theres some moping until the group is inspired to not only fix the entire situation but actually make things slightly better for when their trainers return. Like I said this special is really simple but its also really heartfelt and full of warmth like a little animated Pokemon Christmas card. Its as cute as a button without ever really trying to be. Theres no pandering no calculation behind it just a charming little Christmas story that feels completely natural and organic. For the second installment we have Kanga Games something much less festive but at the same time just as fun and wholesome. We have the same cast as last time with the additions of Geodude and Onix from Brocks stable. We still have no Charizard because in the words of Spongebob Squarepants dont be a jerk its Christmas. We also get a brief cameo from Meowth who plays surprisingly zero role in the actual narrative as he spends about thirty second concocting a scheme just for it to backfire and take him out with nobody really noticing his presence. We also have the mother and baby Kangaskhan that I mentioned above. In terms of actual content this short has just as much to offer as the previous one as most of its runtime is spent on these creatures that youd rarely see in the anime outside of battle just interacting in a casual slice of life style tone. Squirtle and Bulbasaur still have their strong sibling dynamic but with an outdoor snowball fight theres much less potential for collateral damage. They leave footprints in the snow along with Psyduck doing an impression of Ed single D as a woodpecker cept with snow and then they meet Kangaskhan whose baby they have to coax out of her shell before shell join their snowball battle. The climax happens when Togepi and the Baby Kangaskhan find an abandoned little sled and drive it down the hill and the other pokemon try to save them by riding Onix down the hill after them a problem that literally snowballs out of control before Mama Bear Kangaskhan has to save the day like a boss. Theres a really nice narrative here about Baby Kangaskhan learning how to play with others getting too comfortable and going too far with it until Mama has to intervene to save her which is something we can probably all relate to from SOME kind of misadventure in our childhood. And then they part ways. Kanga Games may not be as warm or heartfelt as the first short but it is a lot of simple innocent fun thats perfectly wholesome even though you can still enjoy it as an adult. Or at least I can Ive seen this special both as a kid and as an adult and I think I laughed even harder this time. This whole special is an absolute gem and its the kind of analog content that I wish they still made. An OVA like this one is not only a perfect time capsule of whatever was going on in the series at the time they were released but they also serve as the perfect introductions to different eras of the series as theyre both selfcontained enough to be accessible and really short and not bogged down by a ton of arbitrary plot and forced legendary showcases like the movies. I know Christmas is over but Im willing to bet its still pretty fresh in most peoples minds especially since a lot of us are still dealing with the freezing cold weather of January so if youre looking for some simple wholesome nostalgic holiday fun there snow reason to not check this one out. I give Pikachus Winter Vacation an 8/10