Pokémon (seasons 1-13, 17-present)

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Pokémon
Og-default-image.jpeg
Gotta catch 'em all!
Genre: Adventure
Comedy
Fantasy
Action-Adventure
Running Time: 24 minutes
Country: Japan
United States (4Kids & TPCi dubs)
Release Date: April 1, 1997 – present (Japan)
September 8, 1998 (United States)
Network(s): TV Tokyo (Japan)
Kids’ WB (Seasons 1-8; United States)
Disney XD (Seasons 20-22; United States)
Cartoon Network (Seasons 1-19; United States)
Boomerang (United States)
Netflix (Seasons 23-present; United States)
Teletoon (Canada)
POP TV (2019-present; United Kingdom)
CITV (2006-2019; United Kingdom)
Channel 5/Milkshake (1998-2006; United Kingdom)
Created by: Kunihiko Yuyama
Satoshi Tajiri
Distributed by: OLM, Inc.
Viz Media
Warner Bros. (US and Canada only)
Shogakukan
TV Tokyo
ShoPro
Nintendo
Starring: Veronica Taylor
Sarah Natochenny
Tara Sands
Bill Rogers
Michelle Knotz
Eric Stuart
Rachael Lillis
Ikue Ōtani
Jimmy Zoppi
Seasons: 25
Episodes: 1,100+

Pokémon is a Japanese anime series that started on April 1 (April Fool's Day), 1997 in Japan and on September 8, 1998, in the United States, continuing to air to this day. It is based on the video game franchise of the same name.

Summary

The Pokémon anime, often referred to as just "the anime" by Pokémon fans, is a collective term referring to the currently 1,100+ main series episodes, 23 movies, and a number of side stories, all focusing on Pokémon. The great majority of these focus on Ash Ketchum, a Pokémon Trainer from Pallet Town, and his journey toward his ultimate goal of being a Pokémon Master, his many friends, and most especially his Pokémon, whom he considers his partners and friends.

Though the anime is ultimately based upon the games and draws heavily from them, many concepts that are only touched on in the games are spun in a unique way and expanded upon.

Why These Seasons Make You Wanna Catch 'Em All

  1. It is overall a very good adaptation of its own source material for a lot of reasons.
    • Since this is primarily an adaptation of the video games, it showcases many of the regions in the Pokémon world and has Ash and his companions explore them all along with new Pokémon to encounter, battle, and capture.
    • Out of all the eras, the Kalos/XY era (S17-19) is widely considered to be the best era of the show (though the Kanto/Indigo League and Sinnoh/Diamond and Pearl eras aren't far behind), and the anime as a whole, despite having the lowest number of episodes (140) because, thanks to those seasons, the series spawned fewer filler episodes and Ash Ketchum has improved massively (thanks to improving during the Unova era until he fully redeemed himself and fully got his original personality back by the end of Black and White), and his companions are very likable. This era also spawned so many memorable episodes, seven of them ("Showdown at the Shalour Gym!", "A Fork in the Road!", "A Parting of the Ways!", "The Moment of Lumiose Truth!", "All Eyes on the Future!", "A Riveting Rivalry!", "The Right Hero for the Right Job!" and "Forming a More Perfect Union!") being considered the best of the series, among other episodes like "Lumiose City Pursuit!", "Breaking Titles at the Chateau!", "Climbing the Walls!", "The Cave of Mirrors!", "A Race for Home!", "Performing with Fiery Charm!", "The Tiny Caretaker!", "Mega Evolution Special IV", "An Explosive Operation!", "Performing a Pathway to the Future!", "The Synchronicity Test!", "Championing a Research Battle!", "A Real Icebreaker!", "Finals Not for the Faint-Hearted!", "Rocking Kalos Defenses!", etc.
      • Of course, the anime's success wouldn't be complete without Indigo League gaining such high ratings.
  2. Although this show is basically an advertisement for the main Pokémon games, as well as its many spin-offs in animated form, it manages to stand out very well, with wonderful stories, interesting direction, and original characters, most of which are created by franchise creator Satoshi Tajiri.
    • In fact, Ash Ketchum's Japanese name is taken from Tajiri's first name and, as well as a loose inspiration from Red, is based on Tajiri's childhood self.
    • Also, this series, alongside Dragon Ball Z and Sailor Moon, paved the way for the mass exposure of Japanese anime to Western audiences and soon the industry had a significant impact on popular culture thanks to them.
      • The series' popularity also encouraged many newcomers to play the Pokémon video games. As a result, the games sold higher than they would as expected because of this series.
      • It also helped the Pokémon series to become one of the largest and most popular franchises of all time.
  3. Very solid and detailed animation that constantly improves over the years, along with some very good art styles.
    • Out of all the art styles, the art style in the currently-running Pokémon Journeys series looks massively amazing! Better yet, it is considered to be one of the best art styles of the entire Pokémon anime with great lighting, really splendid colors, amazing visuals, and accurate character and face designs that do come out from either a manga of the franchise or even the 3D Pokémon games (XY-present games).
  4. The designs of the Pokémon and human characters are highly imaginative and colorful, especially in the first five seasons. They are also very faithful to the games it adapted from.
  5. Really large amounts of continuity. For example, Ash's journey for every reason focuses on having to obtain all eight badges to battle the champion of the region. In the currently-running Journeys series, his goal is to become a Pokémon Master, while he is currently participating in the World Coronation tournament.
  6. Great attempts at humor with lots of funny moments and jokes, particularly the slapstick humor from the earlier and present episodes.
  7. The show has some really good and memorable quotes from a lot of episodes, too:
    • "I will use my frying pan as a drying pan!" (The most famous line of the anime) - Brock.
    • "Prepare for trouble! And make it double!" - Team Rocket's motto.
    • "Looks like Team Rocket's/We're blasting off again!" - Team Rocket's defeat.
    • "No need to worry!" - Dawn's famous catchphrase.
    • "Jeez! You're such a stupid kid!" - Iris' famous catchphrase.
    • "Ta-da!" - Serena's famous catchphrase,
    • Any complaints to James' grass-type Pokemon due to their affection such as "I said fight the good fight not fight the good bite" - James to Carnivine
  8. The "Character of the Day" episodes focusing on a one-shot character give other characters a time to shine as the series went on.
  9. A lot of the episodes and story arcs are pretty memorable, no matter what era the anime is in:
    • "Pokémon: I Choose You!" (which started the anime off on a high note)
    • "Get the Show on the Road!"
    • "Pikachu's Goodbye"
    • "Ditto's Mysterious Mansion"
    • "Charmander - The Stray Pokémon"
    • "Air Time!"
    • "Power Play"
    • The "Volcano Badge" two-parter from Pokémon: Indigo League.
    • "Six Pack Attack"
    • "Lights, Camerupt, Action!"
    • "Lights! Camera! Pika!"
    • "Betrayed, Bothered, and Beleaguered"
    • "One Journey Ends, Another Begins"
    • "Enter Pikachu"
    • "Alola, Kanto!"/"When Regions Collide"
    • "Following a Maiden's Voyage"
    • "Alola to New Adventure"
    • "Don't Touch That 'Dile"
    • "Pallet Party Panic"
    • "Electric Shock Showdown"
    • "Charizard Chills" (and, to a lesser extent, the similar episode "Trials and Adulations!")
    • "The Legend of X, Y and Z!"
    • "Poetry Commotion"
    • "Kalos, Where Dreams and Adventures Begin"
    • "Gotta Catch Ya Later!"
    • "Houndoom's Special Delivery"
    • "Bulbasaur the Ambassador"
    • "Enter the Dragonite"
    • "The Chikorita Rescue"
    • "Bulbasaur's Mysterious Garden"
    • "Win, Lose, or Drew"
    • "Bye Bye Butterfree"
    • "A Talent for Imitation"
    • "All in a Day's Wurmple"
    • "Who Gets to Keep Togepi?" (Which is a good way to introduce Togepi)
    • "Go West, Young Meowth"
    • "The Fires of a Red-Hot Reunion"
    • "A Mission of Ultra Urgency"
    • "The Pi-Kahuna"
    • "Make Room for Gloom"
    • "Friends to the End" (Which is a good way to end Indigo League on a high note)
    • "Meowth Rules"
    • The "Mirage Pokémon" two-parter from Pokémon: Advanced Challenge.
      • "The Princess and the Togepi"
      • "A Togepi Mirage"
    • "I Feel Skitty"
    • "Lapras of Luxury"
    • "Extreme Pokémon"
    • "Will the Real Oak Please Stand Up?"
    • "Pokémon Ranger and the Kidnapped Riolu: Parts 1 & 2"
    • "Like it or Lup It"
    • "Setting the World on It's Buneary"
    • "Mounting a Coordinator Assult"
    • "A Dream Encounter"
    • "Caring for a Mystery"
    • "Unlocking Some Respect"
    • "Defending the Homeland"
    • "Goodbye, Friend!"
    • "To Train or Not to Train!"
    • "Beyond Chivalry… Aiming to be a Leek Master!"
    • "Not Too Close for Comfort!"
    • "On Land, in the Sea, and to the Future!"
    • "Thrash of the Titans!"
    • "Advice to Goh!"
    • "Leaping Toward the Dream!"
    • "Detective Drizzile!"
    • The "Darkrai and Cressailia" two-parter
    • "The Professor's New Adventure"
    • "The Misty Mermaid"
    • "Imitation Confrontation"
    • "Time-Warp Heals All Wounds"
    • "A Real Rival Rouser"/"Battling a Thaw in Relations"
    • "Pruning a Passel of Pals"/"Strategy with a Smile"
    • "Gaining Groudon"/"A Scuffle of Legends"
    • "Poached Ego"
    • "A Showcase Debut"
    • "Our Cup Runneth Over"
    • The two-part Alola League battle between Ash and Guzma:
      • "Getting Down to the Ire!"
      • "The Wisdom Not to Run!"
    • "Enter the Champion"
    • The "Lugia Trilogy" three-parter from Pokémon: Master Quest:
    • The "Darkest Day" Arc from Pokémon Journeys
    • The "Indigo League" three-parter from Pokémon: Indigo League (except for "Friend or Foe Alike")
    • The "Ash vs. Gary" two-parter from Pokémon: Master Quest:
    • "Catching the Aura of Fate!" (a massive awesome redemption episode for a one-episode reunion, since Greninja and Ash were reunited, Greninja helps Ash's Lucario become stronger, and Ash was in character)
    • Also, the pacing is decent in the majority of the episodes, especially in the earlier seasons, and the "slice-of-life" feel makes the anime even better.
  10. An incredible music score by Shinji Miyazaki. The recent composer(s) in Pokémon Journeys also does a good job, too.
  11. Ash has had a lot of great and funny companions, many of whom appeared in the games, such as Serena, Goh, Brock, Misty, Tracey, Clemont, May, Max, Bonnie, Kiawe, Sophocles, Lillie, Mallow, Lana and Dawn.
    • He also has an incredible myriad of Pokémon such as his Pikachu (his best friend), Bulbasaur, Lucario, Donphan, Charizard (though it was stubborn at first after it evolved from a friendly Charmander to a teenage Charmeleon and a fully-grown Charizard who hardly cared that much until Ash gained his respect for saving his life), RotomDex, Squirtle, Lapras, Bayleef (previously a Chikorita), Snorlax, Meowth (until after Black and White, since it was Team Rocket's Meowth at the time when he decided to be his traveling companion), Tauros, Infernape, etc.
    • A few of his rivals and other friends traveled alongside him such as Ritchie during the "Lugia Trilogy" three-parter in Pokémon Master Quest, Gary Oak during the last few episodes of Master Quest before Brock and Misty's departure, and Ash and Pikachu's journey to the Hoenn region.
  12. A very wide range of likable characters and Pokémon, many of which have appeared in the games, the most memorable characters being Ash, Misty, and Brock, with the latter two originating from the Indigo League season.
    • Ash Ketchum himself is a very likable and well-developed character throughout the entire show, who gets more mature as the series goes on learns many things on his journey, and has grown more down to earth later on. He can even go down to earth at times, especially in the original series, as well as the Sun & Moon era (Seasons 20-22).
    • May from the Advanced Generation era is also likable, as she went from a girl who didn't like Pokémon to growing to like Pokémon later on and has also gained an interest in being a Pokémon Coordinator.
    • Dawn From the Diamond and Pearl Era is a Well Written Companion. She wants to be Top Coordinator Just like Herr Mom. She Starts Cocky and at First Needs Emotional Support, But Later on she becomes more Mature and Accepts Loosing Contests More. She's Also Confident and Carefree showing with her Catch Phrase "No Need To Worry".
    • Serena is widely considered Ash's best-traveling companion because of her personality, her outfit, and especially her love relationship with Ash. Her performances in showcases are very well done, and many people want her to return to the Journeys era, and in fact, that came true in Journeys episode 105!!
    • Clemont is one of the most likable male companions in the anime mostly because he always comes up with inventions that keep exploding at the end.
    • Bonnie, just like Serena, is one of the most likable characters in the anime. Her look is cute (especially her outfit, hair, and eye color that are the same as Clemont's), her personality is funny (Bonnie often proposes girls for Clemont), and her relationship with Squishy.
    • Goh from the recent Journeys era is also likable. His goal to try and capture Mew shows how optimistic he is, and he has a lot of interesting character depth just like Ash. At first, he is a bit ignorant towards the Pokémon he encounters, like Scorbunny, but eventually learns to properly establish bonds with them.
    • Pikachu is oftentimes the best part of the entire show, and he is very cute from the beginning and he always has been. He would never make the Pokémon franchise great without him, and thus he is why he got to become the mascot for both Nintendo and Game Freak for all the right reasons.
      • Many other Pokémon are also very cute or incredible, in fact so many of them are absolutely adorable or really cool creatures that it would take ages to count them all due to the ongoing run of the anime, and the really huge success and popularity of the Pokémon franchise all thanks to Nintendo and Game Freak.
      • On the other end, pretty much any Dragon (or Dragon-like) Pokémon is just awesome, like Charizard and Dragonite.
      • In fact, it would be easier to count the "loathsome" characters compared to all the quirky and lovable ones!
  13. Ever since the release of the Pokémon Journeys era, older characters from previous seasons (like Gary from the Kanto season, Dawn and Volkner from the Sinnoh series, Iris from the Unova series, Clemont, Bonnie, and Serena from the Kalos series, and the Alola classmates) have been returning, starting with Korrina from the Pokémon X&Y series, the same character that battled Ash in his 3rd Kalos Gym battle.
  14. The trainers sometimes use clever Pokémon battling strategies that also work in the game if fans want to try them.
  15. A lot of well-executed parodies to famous cultural media, such as in the second half of the Ultra Adventures season and the majority of Ultra Legends, after Ash and his classmates first collaborate with the Aether Foundation base with Lusamine for their assignment to capture Buzzwole in "A Mission of Ultra Urgency", they become the Ultra Guardians, which shows how unafraid the anime is to execute cultural parodies. Not to mention that their designs are ultra-cool (no pun intended) to look at.
    • Speaking of the Ultra Guardians, they are an absolutely perfect example of how to create a task force in both the modern era of anime and cartoons in general, since they already parody the Rangers from the Power Rangers/Super Sentai franchise and the Robobot Armor from Kirby: Planet Robobot after all. Especially with the tight-armored features for each outfit as well as the gloves, look at their designs!
  16. There is a truckload of good morals to come from the anime such as "never give up", "don't let others put you down" and "believe in your dreams".
  17. Very epic and iconic Pokémon battle scenes that get more intense as the series goes on. Two examples of the most epic battles in the series are the battle featuring Alain's Charizard vs. Ash's Greninja in the Kalos League and Ash's Charizard vs. Blaine's Magmar in the Cinnabar Gym.
  18. Earned countless collections of great and decent movies, most notably the second and third movies.
  19. Awesome vocal performances in both the original Japanese version and the English dub.
    • A big highlight of the 4Kids dub is that all the actors are very well-cast and put on great performances.
  20. The Team Rocket trio is very hilarious and enjoyable (even though they can come off as comic relief villains sometimes).
  21. Amazing running gags throughout, such as characters saying Butch's name wrong and Team Rocket "blasting off" each and every time they are defeated.
  22. The PokéRap that played at the end of Indigo League episodes is memorable and catchy.
    • The "Pikachu's Jukebox" Songs, the "Pokémon Karaokémon" songs, and "Team Rocket's Song" from "The Song of Jigglypuff" are memorable and catchy as well.
  23. The entire anime is full of lore galore and truckloads of continuity sprinkled everywhere, even to the point that throughout its ongoing run, the anime always had a knack of world-building that's really cool to watch.
  24. The Who's That Pokémon? segments are very iconic, most notably in the first season, as well as seasons 20-onwards. What's better is that the characters say the phrase "Who's That Pokémon?" and after the Pokémon is revealed, they say "It's (Pokémon name)!", which was spawned as an internet meme as a result.
  25. The very last but final episode Pokémon Journeys: The Series: "The Rainbow and the Pokémon Master!" as Ash Ketchum rotate with his older Pokémon, travel with Misty and Brock, and has ended his journey on a high note.

Bad Qualities

  1. The series has been treated very poorly outside of Japan (as mentioned in the "Trivia" section), with barely any fansubs and no home or online releases of it without any censorship or edits made by 4Kids or TPCi.
  2. The series has seen a minor decline in quality since the end of the original series (1997-2002), although X&Y did pick the series up in full quality again ever since then, even then, there are still some hiccups. But quite gradually, not too many of them.
    • Some of the seasons have their hiccups and flaws, as seen by fans:
    • The Unova era (S14-16) is considered to be the show's weakest and least good era by fans due to the unnecessarily slow pacing, too many filler (or flat out bad) episodes, and most of the rivals, along with Ash, being extremely unlikable at times. Team Rocket was also flanderized to be dark, boring, competent villains who usually escape after their plans fail due to karmic reasons like James' lack of competence, Pikachu using Thunderbolt to blast them away, or even Jessie's own arrogance and ignorance as if they were this written to make kids root against.
    • The Sinnoh era (S10-13), while a pretty good series compared to Unova, was also long and had lots of filler, especially when you think of the infamous gap between Ash's next gym battle from 2009-2010 via Japanese broadcasting scheduling.
    • The Johto era (Seasons 3-5), while also another good series despite being part of the original series, is known for having a guilty reputation of doing this for the same problem as Diamond and Pearl and Black and White, though it's said to have improved over time, and a lot of the episodes are very good ("Extreme Pokémon" as an example), the characters are well written (including Ash, Misty, Pikachu, Brock, and loads of others), and the humor has made for some funny jokes. If there is another flaw with Johto (the original series in general), it was responsible for ignoring anything to do with the GS Ball subplot altogether, even after Ash gave the GS Ball to Kurt, more information on Bad Qualities #5.
    • The Alola era (Seasons 20-22) are also good seasons. The only two things that do put this era down are that Ash's design looks off-model compared to the original art style from 1997-2016 (1998-2017, US and international) and Journey's character art style, to a lesser extent. The other thing that puts it down is that the art style drastically changed and that itself left many fans having mixed thoughts on the new art style it's quite jarring how the animators changed it, and it can easily take a lot of time to get used to despite how uncanny it looks to some people.
    • Despite the Generation 8/Journeys era (Seasons 23-present) being a great era (so far), and that it has got the Galar region in store for the anime, Galar barely receives that much focus and (depending on the episode), Ash still stays in the Kanto region in some episodes with Goh alongside him, despite Ash going into the World Coronation. Galar officially got some more screen time later as the episodes went on after Season 23, which does show a big change of pace from where the then-new era started off.
      • To be fair, this was the beginning of the Gen 8 era of the series, and it is also because of the fact that Ash became a researcher for Professor Ceriese's lab while still being a Pokémon Trainer. This is somewhat forgivable since the writers wanted to give Ash something new to do after he won the Alola League.
  3. The infamous "Electric Soldier Porygon" incident that caused approximately 700 Japanese children to suffer epileptic seizures and caused the show to go on hiatus for four months.
    • Because of this, Porygon and its evolutions have never made any appearances in any other anime adaptation (excluding a few cameos).
  4. There are some very cringeworthy and/or unfunny moments from this show, especially in the original Japanese version, such as the infamous scene where James cross-dresses in a bikini with fake inflatable breasts in the episode "Holiday in Aopulco" ("Beauty and the Beach" in the English dub), which the English dub thankfully removed it from the 4Kids Cutting Room Floor. This sadly meant that said episode had to be cut down in America when it was aired on Kids' WB, but after that, it was still banned anyway. The episode was undubbed during the first season but aired in the second season on June 24, 2000. it was re-aired only one time on August 16, 2000, and was completely banned again thereafter. Even though the scene was censored completely, the episode was never aired again and is not available on any streaming service or any VHS and DVD sets.
  5. The GS Ball side-story was never resolved after season 3, making it just a pointless, but all-for-nothing side-plot that ended up no longer going anywhere and ended up getting scrapped for the fourth movie, Pokémon 4Ever, at the very last minute. With that movie, continuity regarding the GS Ball was completely long gone and it is clear that that movie would be the same one that is infamous for that disregarding the GS Ball plot unlike in the Gold and Silver games, where you eventually get a level 30 Celebi after you summon Celebi with it.
  6. Beginning with the Pokémon: The Mastermind of Mirage Pokemon special in 2006 during the Battle Frontier arc, 4Kids would no longer handle the English dub. As a result, almost the entire voice cast changed, and the voices in the special, particularly Ash's, were very grating at first for some fans, much to their dismay. Ash got another voice actor for the following season, and the other voices were more refined. Some of the 4Kids voice actors either maintained for dubbing episodes like Maddie Blaustein until her death in 2008 or did manage to return in later seasons, most notably the narrator (Rodger Parsons) and Giovanni's voice actor, Ted Lewis, though Ash and the other main characters retain their post-4Kids voices. The newer voices, though not quite the same, are at least tolerable now.
  7. There are several banned episodes. Some were banned globally, some were not dubbed in English, some were banned either in Japan or South Korea only, and some of them were banned temporarily in the United States due to comparisons with terrorist attacks.
    • "Tentacool and Tentacruel" and "The Tower of Terror" were banned temporarily in the United States as some scenes resembled the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks despite being made before the attacks happened.
    • "Electric Soldier Porygon" (the most infamous episode) was banned worldwide due to the aforementioned seizure incident. This was the first episode to be banned globally, as well as the fifth episode to be banned in South Korea due to flashing lights.
    • "Battle of the Quaking Island! Dojoach (Barboach) vs. Namazun (Whiscash)!" and "Team Rocket vs. Team Plasma! - Parts 1 and 2" were banned out of respect for the victims of the 2004 Chūetsu earthquake and the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami. As of 2022, they are the only episodes that did not air in any country at all.
    • "The Ice Cave", "Stage Fight!", "The Mandarin Island Miss Match" and "Holiday Hi-Jynx" were banned due to the appearance of the controversial Pokémon Jynx, whose design was compared to an offensive stereotype of African-American people. The only one of the four banned episodes that were not dubbed in English, Spanish, or any other non-Japanese language is "The Ice Cave" from Season 5/Master Quest.
    • "Ash and Passimian! Touchdown of Friendship!!" is the only episode from the Sun & Moon era to be banned from airing outside of Asia. The reason why it was banned was because of Ash disguising himself as a Passimian by using dark face paint that bore a noticeable resemblance to the racist caricature of "blackface", which was used by white comedians to mock African-Americans in the 19th and 20th centuries. This episode would never work anyway, and the episode's banning from being aired and dubbed into English is mostly for the better.
    • "A Fishing Connoisseur in a Fishy Competition!" was postponed from its original airdate of April 7, 2011, to June 23, 2011, due to the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami. The episode was originally titled "Fishing Conference of Castelia City! Fisher Sommelier - Cilan Appears!!". In order to fit in with its new airdate, references to the setting of Castelia City were removed. However, unlike the two-part episode "Team Rocket vs. Team Plasma!", the episode was not banned globally.
    • "An Undersea Place to Call Home!" was originally supposed to air in Japan on April 24, 2014. However, the sinking of the MV Sewol ferry led to the episode being pulled from its timeslot with plans for a later broadcast, which Japan eventually saw on November 20, 2014. It made its English debut on February 7, 2015, along with the season 18 theme song "Be a Hero". This actually kind of messes up both seasons if that makes any sense to any fan at all.
    • Episodes 1110-1116 were postponed from their original air dates of April 26 through June 7, 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic and replaced with reruns of previous episodes at the time.
    • Unfortunately, some banned episodes created major confusion and plot holes, notably "Challenge of the Samurai" (banned in South Korea due to overt references to Japanese culture) and "The Song of Jigglypuff" (banned in Turkey due to containing scenes where characters can be seen gambling), which featured some really important events and would've contributed to the plot if they aired.
      • "The Legend of Dratini" was banned outside of Japan due to scenes involving reckless gun usage, including an infamous scene where Kaiser, the Safari Zone warden, aims a revolver at Ash's head and asks him whether he wants to be shot or not. Some sources also claim that Meowth's mustache during the interrogation scene resembles that of Adolf Hitler and thus contributed to the banning. However, the episode being banned created a major plot hole for non-Japanese versions of the show, since that was the episode where Ash caught Tauros.
  8. Some episodes (that are not the banned episodes) have been left undubbed outside of Japan, most notably the special standalone episodes made after a season finale (e.g., "Brock and Cilan! Gyarados's Imperial Rage!" is undubbed without any reason other than "it's a Japan-exclusive special"). The only special episode that aired after the season finale and was lucky enough to be dubbed into English was "The Legend of X, Y, and Z" possibly due to the lore behind the Kalos region.
  9. Pokémon Chronicles never got a DVD release outside of Europe and Australia. Instead, it only aired on television through Cartoon Network; this could be due to 4Kids losing the license to Pokémon or Viz Media not having enough money to produce all of its episodes in the DVD format in Region 1.
  10. Some of the designs for the human characters in Pokémon the Series: Sun & Moon (especially Ash's) did not age well (mainly due to the art style). Thankfully, they changed Ash's face design in Journeys, and it looks much better than it did in Sun & Moon, even if the art style had to be changed at the last minute.
  11. The anime has numerous errors in it:
    • An example of how bad these errors can be is with this infamous "Trainer's Choice" segment in "A Fan with a Plan" that incorrectly says that Arbok evolves into Seviper, which is one of the worst errors they could have done.
    • Another example is that, in some episodes, Ash's gloves are missing in some scenes.
    • Ash's Pikachu's strength at times can be very inconsistent in terms of continuity basis such as defeating a Regice and holding a Latios to a draw, but losing to a Snivy that had no battling experience.
  12. Even before & after the Unova era (S14-16), there are a handful of bad, mediocre or just plain average episodes with some bad filler. Examples of the worst episodes are:
  13. Sometimes, the pacing isn't that good in some episodes like "Challenge of the Samurai" (not a bad episode, just wasn't great), "Two Hits and a Miss", "One for the Goomy", "Curtain Up, Unova League", "Danger, Sweet as Honey", "Now You See Them, Now You Don't", "The Dex Can't Help It", "Snivy Plays Hard to Catch", "A Venipede Stampede", "Kicking It from Here to Tomorrow!", "Splash, Dash, and Smash for the Crown!"/"Slowking's Crowning!", and most infamously "Pokémon Ranger: Heatran Rescue!", even if the episode is considered to be good or bad.
  14. There are also some unlikable characters here and there, including:
    • Cameron (the most intolerable of them all)
    • Harley (despite being made to be unlikable)
    • Damian (despite being made to be unlikable)
    • Iris (her anime counterpart, not her game counterpart, though she did become a mostly better character in Pokémon Journeys)
    • Burgundy
    • Max (at times, though he is usually not that bad)
    • Misty's sisters (though Daisy later got some character development in Pokémon Chronicles)
    • Georgia
    • Although not a completely unlikable character, there are some episodes of the show where Goh is an unlikable character in some of the episodes he is in. Like in "Kicking It From Here to Tomorrow!", where he shows no hope about Scorbunny learning his first Ember Attack, which causes Scorbunny to evolve into Raboot and then later starts ignoring him until "Goodbye, Friend!", but of course in that episode, he realizes he was wrong to judge his then-Scorbunny and learns his lesson the hard way.
    • Goh's Inteleon as a Sobble (the most hated Pokémon out of Goh's Pokémon crew because of how much he constantly cries and makes everyone else cry because his tears are the same as chopping off 100 onions, but he has massively redeemed himself and got character development after evolving into a Drizzile and later an Inteleon).
    • Tobias (a Karma Houdini who never got any repercussions for his actions after he defeated Ash and won the Sinnoh Conference by using only legendary and mythical Pokémon, which are supposed to be banned outside of the Elite Four and Champion rounds)
    • Trip (a blatant rehash of Gary who treated Ash like garbage and was an "invincible villain" until his and Ash's final battle)
    • Shamus (an abusive Pokémon trainer who abandoned his Tepig and left it to die from starvation)
    • Paul (an extremely unlikable and rude jerk who treated his Pokémon like tools and other people very badly, notably Ash and Chimchar, and used the word "Pathetic" a lot, even if Chimchar practiced to near-death and tried the best he could, though he finally got redemption in the later seasons of Diamond and Pearl and became very well-known as Ash's best rival)
    • The Invincible Pokémon Brothers (a trio of cheating Pokémon trainers who nearly tried to kill Misty after they lost to her in a gym battle)
    • Ash Ketchum himself can also be unlikable at times, especially in the earlier Black and White/Best Wishes anime episodes due to how stupid and stuck up he can be and that he's not that good of a trainer in those seasons unlike he was before and/or after, due to these seasons being called the "Indigo League Rehash". Luckily, his character started to improve in the later Black and White episodes, and the best part is that his cocky side has been put behind completely. If this kept up, the anime would have gotten worse.
    • Misty can be a bit unlikable in the original series sometimes due to how shallow, bossy, rebellious and bratty she can possibly be and how she sometimes treats Ash unfairly most of the time (though to be fair, Ash is usually responsible for triggering these actions back such as showing off his first Pokémon he ever caught and getting a big head about it, insulting and criticizing the perfume at a department store near the Celadon City Gym in front of everyone (Ash actually deserved his repercussions here), making fun of her, refusing help from her, telling her to shut up after being beaten down by Gary while she and Brock are talking about his Umbreon, etc.). Fortunately, her character started to improve near the end of the Indigo League season and improved much more around the Orange Islands and Johto seasons, where she became less bratty and more better tempered and her friendship with Ash and Brock got closer.
    • Team Rocket's boss, Giovanni, can be also pretty unlikable due to how he treats Jessie, James, and Meowth (even though he is meant to be unlikable; he has started to become a mostly better character since the end of DP, where he treated the trio with more respect).
    • Speaking of Team Rocket, while funny, they can be annoying and repetitive every now and then at times. Thankfully, they haven't always appeared in every episode considering the fact they would have gotten stale after appearing in every episode for the past three eras in thirteen years (1997-2010; 1998-2011 in the US).
  15. The infamous trope where Ash lost every official Pokémon League Championship until Alola. While Ash winning the Orange League and Battle Frontier was nice, they were mini-leagues of some sort. Thankfully, Ash eventually wins the official Alola League Championship, finally becoming a champion, and during Journeys, he does not enter the Galar League, so this trope of him losing has been set aside since winning in Alola. It had already become a cliché when Diamond and Pearl was coming to a close.
    1. Ash's Companions could be Considered going through the Same thing, While Not as Awful as Ash Loosing a League, It Can be Off to Some People, Like May Loosing 2 Grand Festivals and Dawn Loosing one at Sinnoh, And Serena Not Be coming Kalos Queen.
  16. The English dubs of both the anime and movies have been mediocre at best since 4Kids stopped dubbing the show in 2006, and the rights were later handed over to TPCi. It is not all bad, but regardless of the improvements in later years, there are still some hiccups though:
    • Almost the entire voice cast was replaced (though a few of the 4Kids actors would return from time to time) and the new voices were originally very grating to hear (especially Kayzie Rogers as Ash, which resulted in her being almost immediately replaced by Sarah Natochenny).
    • The soundtrack made for the dub in a lot of seasons is more unfitting than the original Japanese version's, with light-hearted music sometimes playing during dark moments or action scenes.
    • TPCi didn't care about the feedback people gave to their Pokémon dub, with their voice cast even disrespecting the Pokémon community by claiming their voices to be superior to their predecessors' voices.
    • There are some pronunciation errors, such as "Aridos" being pronounced as "air-idos".
    • Some of the voices are not as good as the 4Kids OG cast like Michelle Knotz as May. While she doesn't sound as terrible as May, at the same time, she sounds more likely Misty's voice and doesn't capture the same charm as the voice Veronica Taylor gave May.
    • Certain items like peas, carrots, and bananas have been given more generic terms in the TPCi dub as simply "vegetables" and "curved fruits", respectively.

Recommended Tips for Newcomers to The Main Series

  • Tip #1: If you're a newcomer to the show, the best recommendation for you is that you start watching the series from the very beginning. However, if you prefer storyline-heavy episodes, the Diamond and Pearl and XYZ series are highly recommended as a starting point.
  • Tip #2: You can always save the filler episodes for later after watching the storyline or arc-based episodes.

Legacy

Pokémon, being a globally popular franchise, has left a significant mark on today's popular culture. The various species of Pokémon have become pop culture icons; examples include two different Pikachu balloons in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, Pokémon-themed airplanes operated by All Nippon Airways, merchandise items, and a traveling theme park that was in Nagoya, Japan in 2005 and in Taipei in 2006. Pokémon also appeared on the cover of the U.S. magazine Time in 1999. The Comedy Central show Drawn Together has a character named Ling-Ling who is a parody of Pikachu. Several other shows such as The Simpsons, South Park, and Robot Chicken have made references and spoofs of Pokémon, among other series. Pokémon was featured on VH1's I Love the '90s: Part Deux. A live-action show based on the anime called Pokémon Live! toured the United States in late 2000. Jim Butcher cites Pokémon as one of the inspirations for the Codex Alera series of novels.

Pokémon has even made its mark in the realm of science. This includes animals named after Pokémon, such as Stentorceps weedlei (named after the Pokémon Weedle for its resemblance) and Chilicola charizard (named after the Pokémon Charizard) as well as Binburrum articuno, Binburrum zapdos, and Binburrum moltres (named after the Pokémon Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres, respectively).[97][98] There is also a protein named after Pikachu, called Pikachurin.

In November 2001, Nintendo opened a store called the Pokémon Center in New York, in Rockefeller Center, modeled after the two other Pokémon Center stores in Tokyo and Osaka and named after a staple of the video game series. Pokémon Centers are fictional buildings where Trainers take their injured Pokémon to be healed after combat. The store sold Pokémon merchandise on a total of two floors, with items ranging from collectible shirts to stuffed Pokémon plushies. The store also featured a Pokémon Distributing Machine in which players would place their game to receive an egg of a Pokémon that was being given out at that time. The store also had tables that were open for players of the Pokémon Trading Card Game to duel each other or an employee. The store was closed and replaced by the Nintendo World Store on May 14, 2005. Four Pokémon Center kiosks were put in malls in the Seattle area. The Pokémon Center online store was relaunched on August 6, 2014.

Professor of Education Joseph Tobin theorizes that the success of the franchise was due to the long list of names that could be learned by children and repeated in their peer groups. Its rich fictional universe provides opportunities for discussion and demonstration of knowledge in front of their peers. The names of the creatures were linked to their characteristics, which converged with the children's belief that names have symbolic power. Children can pick their favorite Pokémon and affirm their individuality while at the same time affirming their conformance to the values of the group, and they can distinguish themselves from others by asserting what they liked and what they did not like from every chapter. Pokémon gained popularity because it provides a sense of identity to a wide variety of children, but lost it quickly when many of those children found that the identity groups were too big and searched for identities that would distinguish them into smaller groups.

Pokémon's history has been marked at times by rivalry with the Digimon media franchise that debuted at a similar time. Described as "the other 'mon'" by IGN's Juan Castro, Digimon has not enjoyed Pokémon's level of international popularity or success but has maintained a dedicated fanbase. IGN's Lucas M. Thomas stated that Pokémon is Digimon's "constant competition and comparison", attributing the former's relative success to the simplicity of its evolution mechanic as opposed to Digivolution. The two have been noted for conceptual and stylistic similarities by sources such as GameZone. A debate among fans exists over which of the two franchises came first. In actuality, the first Pokémon media, Pokémon Red and Green, were released initially on February 27, 1996; whereas the Digimon virtual pet was released on June 26, 1997.

Trivia

  • Pokemon: The Series has never been officially released uncut or with Japanese audio and English subtitles, even in Japan. The original Japanese version is available on Amazon Prime in Japan, however.
  • The only release of the original Japanese version the anime has seen is a DVD consisting of four Advanced Generation episodes.
  • Despite almost every anime Netflix has licensed having Japanese language and sub-options, Pokemon: Journeys is only available on the service in English.
  • Netflix Japan and Amazon Prime Video have the edited version of "Holiday Hi-Jynx".
  • The 4Kids and TPCi versions were used as sources for all international versions of the show.

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