Crown Grading

FILM NOTES

Pokémon: The First Movie arrived in North American theaters in November 1999, distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures and produced by OLM, Inc. for the Pokémon Company. Adapted from the beloved animated series at the height of the franchise's cultural dominance, the film drew enormous audiences and remains a defining artifact of late-1990s animation and merchandising history. Its emotional ambition surprised many viewers expecting lighter fare, cementing its place in the memories of an entire generation.

This cell, titled Pikachu Crying, captures the film's most quietly devastating moment: Pikachu, voiced by Ikue Ōtani, weeping with tears streaming down his face against a dark background. The adjacent frame is identical or nearly so, preserving the raw stillness of that grief in duplicate — a rare pairing from one of animation's most recognized emotional sequences.