In our family, going to see the new Pokémon movie every year is a tradition. Together with Detective Conan and Crayon Shin-chan, these three are a must.
Among the Pokémon movies, there are two I hold especially dear: Mewtwo Strikes Back and I Choose You! I saw Mewtwo Strikes Back in a movie theater when I was in elementary school, and I have watched it again many times as an adult.
The question in Mewtwo Strikes Back
Pokémon: The First Movie, Mewtwo Strikes Back was released in 1998. It is the story of Mewtwo, created by human hands, who rampages while asking who made him and what his life is for.
Though it is a children's film, what it deals with is "the meaning of being born," a question even adults struggle to answer. That is probably why we want to watch it again as adults. What the end of the story shows, as I take it, is the message that being alive here and now is itself valuable, regardless of how you were born or what your role is.
This is almost exactly what I want to convey through my paintings. However you were born, whatever situation you are in, simply existing is already valuable enough. The story of Mewtwo taught me that when I was little.
Pikachu in I Choose You!
Pokémon the Movie: I Choose You! (2017) was made to mark the anime's 20th anniversary. It retells how Ash and Pikachu met, and near the end there is a scene where Ash asks Pikachu to get into its Poké Ball. Pikachu does not, and tells him why.
I will not go into detail to avoid spoilers, but when I remember what Pikachu says in that scene, I still almost cry. Wanting to be with someone needs no reason, I think.
Perhaps ikigai is not a big story
Words like "ikigai" and "well-being" can sometimes sound a little grand. But what the Pokémon movies depict is something simpler. Being here. Being with someone. Being able to truly savor that fact.
That is the feeling I want to put into my paintings too. So that when it catches your eye in the room where it hangs, you can think, "It is all right for me to be here." Without grand words, I hope to hand that over quietly, in color and form.
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