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EP001

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If you were looking for the movie titled I Choose You!, see M20.
Original series
EP002 : Pokémon Emergency! →
Pokémon - I Choose You!
EP001.png
  EP001  
ポケモン！きみにきめた！
Pokémon! I Choose You!
First broadcast
Japan April 1, 1997
United States September 8, 1998
English themes
Opening Pokémon Theme
Ending
Japanese themes
Opening めざせポケモンマスター
Ending ひゃくごじゅういち
Credits
Animation Team Ota
Screenplay 首藤剛志 Takeshi Shudō
Storyboard 湯山邦彦 Kunihiko Yuyama
Assistant director 鈴木敏明 Toshiaki Suzuki
Animation directors 酒井啓史 Keishi Sakai
一石小百合 Sayuri Ichiishi
Additional credits

Pokémon - I Choose You! (Japanese: ポケモン！きみにきめた！ Pokémon! I Choose You!) is the first episode of the Pokémon anime. In the US, however, the first episode shown was Battle Aboard the St. Anne. It was first broadcast in Japan on April 1, 1997 and in the United States on September 8, 1998.

A remastered version of the episode was shown on Pokémon Smash! on April 1, 2012 to celebrate the anime's fifteenth anniversary. Only the episode itself was remastered; the opening and ending sequences, as well as the eyecatch, were not shown at all.

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Spoiler warning: this article may contain major plot or ending details.
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Blurb

Meet Ash Ketchum, a 10-year-old boy full of imagination, confidence, and dreams that are almost too big for his village of Pallet Town—plus the desire to become a Pokémon Master!

Ash is finally old enough to receive his first Pokémon from Professor Oak, the town's Pokémon expert-but on the morning Ash is supposed to claim it, he oversleeps! By the time he arrives at Professor Oak's, the three Pokémon he wanted have already been chosen by the other Trainers-in-training, including his rival, Gary! The only Pokémon remaining is a strong-willed Pikachu.

Trainer and Pokémon don't get along right away. Not only does Pikachu refuse to enter its Poké Ball, it would rather climb a tree than battle a Pidgey that Ash encounters! Disagreements aside, they start to bond when they find themselves chased by an angry flock of Spearow. The Spearow wound Pikachu, but Ash risks his own safety to protect his Pokémon.

To further their escape, Ash "borrows" a bike owned by a young girl named Misty. He soon wrecks the bike; however, he and Pikachu are surrounded by the Spearow. When Ash fearlessly confronts the Spearow, Pikachu is inspired to summon its remaining energy to repel the Pokémon with a powerful electric shock.

Finally out of harm's way, the wild experience makes Ash and Pikachu realize that they've begun what promises to be a blooming friendship.

Plot

In a massive stadium, two creatures known as Pokémon are having a battle, directed by the trainers to give it their all. One of the Pokémon, a Gengar, uses its Hypnosis attack on its opponent, a Nidorino causing it to fall asleep. Nidorino's trainer recalls it and sends out another Pokémon, Onix to battle. The massive Rock Snake Pokémon emerges from its Poké Ball and prepares to take on Gengar, at which point its revealed that the battle is being displayed on television. Its viewer is a boy named Template:Ash Ketchum who lives in a small settlement called Pallet Town and is ten-years old which allows him to pick a Starter Pokémon and become a Pokémon Trainer. As Ash declares to himself (and the Pokémon of the world) that he will become a Pokémon Master. Ash's speech, however, is interrupted by his mom who tells him to get to bed as he has a big day tomorrow. Ash protests that he's too excited to sleep, so his mom tells him if he won't sleep then to at least get ready for the next day as she switches on a programme hosted by the town's Pokémon expert, Professor Oak. Ash watches as Oak explains that new trainers get to pick one of three Pokémon to start their journey; the grass-type Bulbasaur, the fire-type Charmander or the water-type Squirtle.

As Ash sleeps, he goes over the choices in his head reasoning that any of the three available Pokémon are good for beginning trainers. However his Voltorb alarm clock rolls into his hand as he sleeps and, dreaming that he's throwing a Poké Ball, chucks it into the wall smashing it. When Ash finally wakes up, he sees the sun high in the sky and realizes he overslept. Ash runs to the lab, in such a hurry he doesn't change out of his pyjamas, and at this point doesn't care which starter he gets as long as he gets any. He arrives at the lab just in time to see one of his new fellow trainers (and Professor Oak's grandson), Gary, leaving. Unfortunately for Ash, Gary is very overconfident and brags that he was on time and already has his first Pokémon although he refuses to reveal which one he got. Gary's large crowd (which includes a group of cheerleaders) cheers for him, and Gary promises that he'll become a Pokémon master and put Pallet Town on the map before leaving. As the crowd follows, Ash is left by himself but not for long as Professor Oak approaches. Ash apologizes for being late (and hardly being dressed for the occasion) but tells Professor Oak he's ready to pick his first Pokémon.

Taken into the lab, Ash sees three Poké Balls sitting on a pedestal and states that after thinking about it he's decided to choose Squirtle as his starter... however the Poké Ball is empty. Oak explains that Squirtle has already been claimed by a trainer that was on time. Ash doesn't mind as he decides to instead go with Bulbasaur, whom has also been taken already. Ash is still happy to go with Charmander but, alas, that Pokémon is gone too with someone who wasn't late. Ash asks if this means there are no Pokémon left for him, and Oak tells him this isn't exactly true as he does have another Pokémon but its very unusual. At this point, Ash is willing to settle for anything and tells Oak he'll take whatever it is. A fourth Poké Ball emerges onto the pedestal and Ash picks it up, upon which point it opens and from it emerges a small yellow mouse-like Pokémon. Oak explains that the Pokémon is named Pikachu, and Ash is very impressed deciding Pikachu is better than any of the other starters. He picks up Pikachu and hugs it, however Pikachu doesn't like being hugged and gives Ash a massive electric shock as Oak explains that Pikachu is an electric-type, and has a shocking personality to match. Oak gives Ash some Poké Balls and a Pokédex, however at this point Pikachu shocks them both.

While Ash is excited to have a new Pokémon, Pikachu is not excited to have a new Trainer and the two of them have a very rocky relationship at first. Pikachu is extremely mistrusting of Ash and is so stubborn that Ash has to drag him around with a clothesline leash from the backpack Delia prepared for him. Making matters worse is the fact that Pikachu absolutely hates being inside his Poké Ball, so Ash has to keep Pikachu out with him at all times.

In the process of trying to capture a wild Pidgey, Ash accidentally angers a flock of Spearow. While running away from the Spearow, Pikachu is grievously injured due to many vicious attacks from the flock. After being fished out of a pond by a girl, Ash takes the girl's bicycle so he can get away from the pursuing Spearow, an effort that is hampered by a raging thunderstorm. Eventually, Ash is left with no other choice but to stand in front of his injured Pokémon and defend him from the Spearow. This selfless act convinces Pikachu to help Ash, so Pikachu leaps over his Trainer's shoulder and uses the lightning from the storm to defeat all of the Spearow simultaneously. However, Pikachu's attack also hits the girl's bicycle, destroying it.

As Ash and a barely conscious Pikachu get ready to continue to Viridian City, Ash sees a shimmering golden Pokémon flying overhead in the aftermath of the storm. Wondering what it could be, as the Pokédex is unable to identify the Pokémon, Ash and Pikachu make their way to Viridian City and Ash wonders what will lie ahead of him on his journey.

Major events

 
Ash meeting Pikachu for the first time
For a list of all major events in the anime, please see the history page.

Debuts

Humans

Pokémon debuts

Other

Characters

Humans

 
Dare da?

Pokémon

 
Who's That Pokémon?

Who's That Pokémon?: Pikachu

Other

Trivia

 
The beginning of the anime (left) and the opening of Pokémon Red and Green (right)
 
An early frame
 
The shadowed Trainer that resembles Bruno.
 
The green Poké Ball from the first scene
 
Ho-Oh in its debut
  • The beginning of the episode features sound effects from the original Game Boy games, drawing from the opening animation from Pokémon Red and Green (with a Gengar battling a Nidorino) before transitioning seamlessly into the battle that Ash himself is watching on TV.
    • A similar sequence and transition occurs in the beginning of the first episode of the Pokémon Origins mini-series, in which Red watches a televised battle between Gengar and Nidorino.
  • An early, unused frame of the stadium battle scene exists.
  • The shadowed Trainer using Nidorino and Onix to battle greatly resembles Bruno of the Indigo League Elite Four.
  • Ash's introductory shot is repeated in the first episode of the Best Wishes series as a throwback to this episode.
  • Ash has a Voltorb clock with a cuckoo Pidgey in it. Furthermore, he ends up breaking it in his sleep, unknowingly using it as a Poké Ball shortly after 4 AM.
  • The order in which Ash opens the starter Pokémon's Poké Balls, only to find them empty, indicates his preferred choices: Squirtle first, Bulbasaur second, and Charmander last.
    • Coincidentally, this is the same order the Pokémon Trainer from Super Smash Bros. Brawl obtains their respective evolved forms in the Subspace Emissary.
  • Despite this episode centering around receiving a starter Pokémon, neither Bulbasaur, Charmander, nor Squirtle actually appeared in the flesh until Bulbasaur and the Hidden Village, Charmander – The Stray Pokémon, and Here Comes the Squirtle Squad, respectively. This is unlike the following generations, when at least one of the starter Pokémon appeared in the first episode of each generation.
  • This is the only episode where Ash's Pikachu is seen inside his Poké Ball.
  • This episode revealed that Spearow see in black and white.
  • This is one of the few episodes in which Rachael Lillis provides the voice of Pikachu in a few scenes of the dub. This happened when another Japanese voice actor spoke over Ikue Ohtani's Pikachu voice and the audio could not be used.
  • The legendary bird Ash saw at the end of the episode was Ho-Oh. This makes Ho-Oh the first Generation II Pokémon seen in the series, and in the first episode of the entire series.
  • Only two pieces of background music were kept in the dub: the opening music of Red and Green in the beginning, and Tears, After the Cloudy Weather in the scene where Ash is defending Pikachu from the Spearow.
  • The book I Choose You! is based on this episode.
  • This episode can be found on volume 3 of Game Boy Advance Video.
  • This episode is featured on Volume 1: Pikachu from Viz Media's Pokémon All-Stars series.
  • This episode is featured on Pokémon All-Stars: Pikachu from Magna Pacific's Pokémon All-Stars series.
  • Coincidentally, Ash would later attempt to use a Pidgey and Rattata in the following episode against Team Rocket after failing to capture both Pokémon in this episode.
  • This is the only episode of the original series in which the Team Rocket trio does not appear. The next time would not occur in the regular episodes until Rematch at the Nacrene Gym!, 672 episodes later. They also did not appear in a clip show episode, AG120, which was never aired outside of Japan.

Errors

 
The man with no eyes
  • As Delia catches the alarm clock Ash threw, her ponytail curls to her left shoulder. When seen from behind in the next shot, it is curled to her right shoulder.
  • When Professor Oak appears on television to discuss the starter Pokémon, the background colors behind Charmander and Squirtle are reversed (blue behind Charmander and red behind Squirtle). Bulbasaur's background color, green, is correctly shown.
    • In this same scene, the starters look significantly different between the shot of the whole television and the close-up of the screen. Charmander, for instance, has a much larger tail flame and more open mouth in the close-up.
  • When Ash throws the Poké Balls containing Bulbasaur, Charmander, and Squirtle in his dream, both sides of the Poké Balls are red. This was fixed in the scenes of the Poké Balls releasing the Pokémon.
  • When Ash passes Gary's cheerleaders and a crowd, a man has no eyes.
  • As Ash runs to Professor Oak to collect his first Pokémon, the top button on his pajamas changes from green to yellow.
  • Gary addresses Ash as if he has never met him before, despite the fact that they were childhood friends.
  • After Gary tells Ash that his Pokémon is inside its Poké Ball, the order of Gary's cheerleaders reversed.
  • If all three starters had already been taken, then the Poké Balls containing them should be with their Trainers, as Gary's is, and not with Professor Oak.
    • Also, the Japanese writing on the Poké Balls disappear after Ash picks them up.
  • After Ash opens Charmander's Poké Ball in Oak's lab, part of Oak's coat unnaturally changes position as he speaks.
  • When Professor Oak hands Ash Pikachu's Poké Ball, the bottom portion of the black ring surrounding the white center of the Poké Ball turns white.
  • As Pikachu's Poké Ball opens with a strobe-like flash of light, the background behind Ash differs greatly between the two frames. The buttons and features of the large machine change position and size. Also, the table and beaker in front of it change position and shape, respectively.
  • The sneakers that Delia hands Ash are the same ones he is already wearing.
  • When Ash tries to make Pikachu go to his Poké Ball, the lightning bolt on it disappears.
    • The same thing occurred again when Ash tries to protect Pikachu from the Spearow.
  • When Ash opens his Pokédex for the first time, the directional buttons are not present.
  • In the Japanese version, the Pokédex misidentifies Pidgey as the Sky Pokémon instead of the Tiny Bird Pokémon.
  • When Pikachu is up in the tree, and in the last shot before the title card, Ash's coat loses its yellow stripes, but they return later on.
  • In the slap scene cut from the English version, the hole on Ash's hat matches his skin color despite being above his hairline.
  • When Ash sees the Spearow flock again after Misty tells him where the nearest Pokémon Center is, his shoes are not colored, making it look like he only has white socks on. Then, when he puts Pikachu on Misty's bike, his shoes are colored normally.
  • When Ash places Pikachu's Poké Ball on the ground, his thumb passes right through it when he stands up to face the flock of Spearow.
  • When Ash stands up to the Spearow to protect Pikachu, he incorrectly refers to them "Spearows." The plural of a specific species of Pokémon is the same as the singular.
  • As Ash looks at Ho-Oh at the end of the episode, his hat points backward as it had since he jumped into the river. As he walks uphill in the next scene, it points forward. When he gets to the top and looks at Viridian City, it points backward again. Lastly, as we see him from behind as he walks toward Viridian, his hat points forward again.

Changes

Dub edits

 
The cut shot
  • PokéRap: Day 1 (Poliwrath error)
  • Onix's Tackle was not referred to by its name in the dub, whereas in the Japanese version, the announcer clearly identifies the attack.
  • During the shot of the whole television and Ash moving his head into view, Charmander, Bulbasaur, and Squirtle have their Japanese names written below their pictures. The names are gone during and after the close-up, however.
  • When the people outside of Professor Oak's lab cheer for Ash, the flag says "ガンバレサトシ" on the Japanese version. The dub edits this to "GO ASH GO".
  • The Poké Balls in Professor Oak's lab are labeled in Japanese when they first appear, but are painted over when Ash picks up one up. These labels are also partially visible when Pikachu's Poké Ball is revealed.
  • In the Japanese version, after being shocked by Pikachu, Delia tells Ash to change into his pajamas before going to sleep, even if it's the dirty pajamas he was wearing at the moment. The dub changed this to her telling Ash to remember to change his underwear every single day.
  • The Japanese version of the scene with Ash talking with Pikachu on Route 1 contains an untranslatable pun. When Ash asks Pikachu to talk (話) to him, Pikachu misunderstands this as him saying it has "no teeth" (歯なし), thus opening its mouth to show Ash that it indeed does have teeth. In the dub, Ash asks Pikachu to open its mouth and tell him what's wrong, to which Pikachu responds to by literally opening its mouth wide open.
  • In the Japanese version, after Ash thanks Misty, she slaps him. This was cut from the dub (the screen freezes just as Ash answers Misty) due to physical violence. In the next scene, Ash can clearly be seen rubbing his aching face and Misty has her hand in the air.
  • In the Japanese version, Misty tells Ash there is a hospital in Viridian City; in the dub, she just says that it is nearby.
  • The English-dubbed version of this episode was released in Japan as part of the Pokémon de English! Aisatsu Hen VHS/DVD. This version has a few changes made:
    • Some paint edits are undone, such as the Japanese labels on the Poké Balls in Professor Oak's Laboratory.
    • Who's That Pokémon? is presented in the Johto League Champions style rather than the original style as the segment from EP160 is used.
    • The shot of Misty slapping Ash is included, though the slap doesn't produce any sound.
    • The PokéRAP and end credits are not included.

Differences between the episode and the comic adaptation

  • The opening League Battle was shortened, cutting out the reference to the Game Boy opening scene.
  • Ash's attempt at catching Rattata was cut.
  • Ash's escape through the river was shortened, only showing the first swimming distance. Gyarados and Ash's attempt to swim away from it were cut.
  • In the ending of the episode, after Pikachu licks Ash, Ash was silent, though his gratefulness for finally earning Pikachu's respect is still implied. In the comic, it has Ash either saying or thinking, "Hey, Pikachu really does like me!"

Differences between the episode and Pokémon the Animation Volume 1

  • After Misty scolds Ash for endangering Pikachu, she directly comforts and cradles the injured Pikachu instead of simply expressing concern for him.

In other languages



Original series
EP002 : Pokémon Emergency! →
  This episode article is part of Project Anime, a Bulbapedia project that covers all aspects of the Pokémon anime.
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