Pokémon: Mewtwo Returns | |
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Written by | Hideki Sonoda |
Screenplay by | Takeshi Shudo |
Directed by |
Kunihiko Yuyama (chief) Masamitsu Hidaka |
Voices of | |
Narrated by | Unshō Ishizuka |
Composer(s) | Shinji Miyazaki |
Country of origin | Japan |
Original language(s) | Japanese |
Production | |
Producer(s) | Makiko Iwata Takayuki Yanagisawa Takemoto Mori |
Editor(s) | Toshio Henmi |
Running time | 74 minutes |
Production company(s) |
Oriental Light and Magic Shogakukan Production |
Release | |
Original network | TV Tokyo |
Original release |
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Pokémon: Mewtwo Returns, released in Japan as Pocket Monsters: Mewtwo! Ware wa Koko ni Ari: MEWTWO SAGA (ポケットモンスター ミュウツー! 我ハココニ在リ MEWTWO SAGA Poketto Monsutā: Myuutsū! Ware wa Koko ni Ari MEWTWO SAGA?, "Pocket Monsters: Mewtwo! I Am Here 'MEWTWO SAGA'"), is a special hour-long episode of the Pokémon anime series, and is the direct follow-up to Pokémon: The First Movie. It was first broadcast in Japan on December 30, 2000 and was released on VHS and DVD in Japan on March 21, 2001. It went direct-to-video in Australia on August 17, 2001 then in the United States and Canada on December 4, 2001 and in the UK on February 11, 2002 .
In the American dubbed version, the DVD (but not the VHS) features a second mini-feature in addition to the movie feature named The Uncut Story of Mewtwo’s Origin. This 10-minute segment was originally part of Mewtwo Strikes Back's running length in the Japanese version, but it was cut from the U.S. release of that movie because it was deemed too dark and morose for the film's American "G" rating. The German DVD release also includes the English language track. However, the DVD is now out of print across the world as the distribution rights for Warner Bros.' Pokémon movies and specials appear to have expired.
Mewtwo, his heart having been softened by the selfless example of the human named Ash Ketchum back in his birthland in the eastern Kanto region, has now traveled to the western region of Johto in search of a location that is unreachable by the prying eyes and harsh judgments of humans for the sake of his band of cloned Pokémon, with whose welfare Mewtwo is solely concerned. He eventually finds the perfect hideaway: a huge mountain named Mt. Quena, surrounded by steep cliffs that are practically impossible to scale, but in its top is a forest and a freshwater lake that makes for a near-utopia for all the Bug Pokémon living there. This is a perfect fit for Mewtwo's band, so thus they settle in the top of Mt. Quena and begin a new, safe life, with Mewtwo watching over as their guardian, as he feels they cannot belong in the world as they were not born in it (Interestingly enough, he seems particularly close to the Pikachu and Meowth clones, possibly reflecting how important their templates were in his change of heart).