History Anime / PokemonIChooseYou

** Verity's mother, who we see in her phone gallery, [[spoiler:is Sinnoh Champion Cynthia]].

* YouBastard: A moral the film presents is that Pokémon are friends and companions and that you're a terrible trainer if you only care about how strong they are.

** Scenes featuring Gary and Misty were cut out from the ''[[{{Recap/PokemonS1E1PokemonIChooseYou}} Pokémon - I Choose You!]]'' portion of the movie, as neither of those characters had a part for the rest of the movie. Likewise, Delia Ketchum arrives at Oak's Laboratory alone rather than bringing a crowd to celebrate Ash's first step as a Pokémon Trainer.

** Butterfree's story arc is spread across the film to even the pace, and its fights with other Pokémon alludes to other episodes such as [[{{Recap/PokemonS1E4ChallengeOfTheSamurai}} Pinsir]] and [[{{Recap/PokemonS2E1PalletPartyPanic}} Fearow]]. Like in ''[[{{Recap/PokemonS1E21ByeByeButterfree}} Bye-Bye Butterfree]]'', Ash releases Butterfree to be with the Pink Butterfree.

In a departure from the previous movies, this movie is a loose retelling of Ash's original journey through the Kanto region in an AlternateUniverse, in celebration of the Pokémon anime's 20th anniversary.

A sequel set in the same continuity, called ''Anime/PokemonEveryonesStory'', is set to air in Japan on July 13, 2018.

** [[Film/PokemonTheFirstMovie Corey and Neesha]] cameo as dueling trainers during an early competitive battling segment.

* Heroic Sacrifice: [[spoiler:After the battle between Pikachu and Marshadow, Pikachu ends up severely injured. Ash picks up Pikachu and tries to escape, but the brainwashed Pokemon fire ruthless attacks on Ash and Pikachu. Ash shields Pikachu to protect it from the blasts and is also severely hurt in the process. As the Pokemon prepare a final explosion, Ash recalls Pikachu and grabs the pokeball tightly, taking the full force of the attacks himself. Pikachu is saved, but at the cost of Ash's own life.]]

''Pokémon: I Choose You!'' is the 20th ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'' movie, revealed on December 14, 2016.

* ArtisticLicenseOrnithology: The short scene showing a Spearow's point of view reveals it sees in black and white. Birds in RealLife are known to have good color vision, and they can distinguish colors better than people can.

* TheGhost: This is the first time Ash's father has been mentioned in the anime.[[note]]The only other time was in the American only ''Theatre/PokemonLive''[[/note]] It's implied that he's on a Pokémon journey like Ash, as Delia complains that the two of them never call her.

** Ash has only three Pokémon instead of 5-6 as he did in the show, likely to give room for Butterfree and Charizard's story arcs. Pidegotto, Bulbasaur, and Squirtle were omitted altogether as they wouldn't have been anything more than background extras in Ash's team. [[spoiler: However, the credits sequence also features Heracross, with the implication that Ash is about to catch it.]]

* MythologyGag: Already present in the first preview, considering the nature of the movie.

* DarkerAndEdgier: Unlike previous movies, there are some dark themes all about: [[spoiler:young Sorrel's Luxray dying from cold temperatures, Ash taking the brunt of attacks ''twice'', and shielding Pikachu and dying (in the form of fireflies)]]. BloodlessCarnage still applies, though.

* {{Retraux}}: An odd example, in that the movie returns to the artstyle of the ''XY'' saga (which is essentially [[ArtEvolution an evolution of the art style that the series had used from the beginning]]), rather than going with the unique style of the concurrent ''Sun & Moon'' anime.

* AdaptationalAttractiveness: The second movie's Ash has him with rounder features, larger eyes, and a softer outline. It's in stark contrast to the more angular designs pre-''Sun and Moon''.

A sequel set in the same continuity, called ''Pokémon: Everyone's Story'', is set to air in Japan on July 13, 2018.

A sequel set in the same continuity, tentatively called "Pokémon: Everyone's Story", is set to air in Japan on July 13, 2018.

A sequel set in the same continuity, tentatively called "Pokémon The Movie 2018", is set to air in Japan on July 13, 2018.

* DemotedToExtra: With his role as Ash's rival being taken over by Cross, Gary is reduced to having a non-speaking cameo, briefly seen choosing squirtle as his starter.

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* BreakingOldTrends: Every prior movie was a NonSerialMovie, which obstensively fitted into the chronology of the series (despite their events rarely, if ever, being brought up in episodes or other movies). This one, however, kickstarts an UltimateUniverse completely divorced from the series' canon.

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** During the closing narration, several and characters from previous movies appear. We see Lugia and Slowking from ''Anime/{{Pokemon 2000}}'', Baron Alberto from ''Anime/PokemonTheRiseOfDarkrai'', Joe and Tammy from ''Anime/PokemonZoroarkMasterOfIllusions'', and Juanita and Golurk from ''Anime/PokemonTheMovieBlackAndWhite''.

** [[spoiler:Misty, Brock, Tracey, May, Max, Dawn, Iris, Cilan, Serena, Clemont, and Bonnie all appear in the closing credits sequence.]]

** In the film's climax, when [[spoiler: Ash is killed by Marshadow's army of BrainwashedAndCrazy wild Pokémon and finds himself in the afterlife, its appearance, similar to the real world but with a murky grey filter, resembles the depiction of it from ''Anime/PokemonLucarioAndTheMysteryOfMew''.]]