Pokémon anime: Difference between revisions

The anime has aired in 169<ref>[https://www.pokemon.co.jp/corporate/en/services/ ''Pokémon in Figures'' - The Pokémon Company] (retrieved June 2, 2020)</ref> {{cat|Pokémon around the world|different countries and regions}} in over 30 [[Dub|languages]]. It is available on [[Netflix]] in 217 countries with different dubs and subtitles, and all countries except Japan and South Korea have at least English audio<ref>[http://unogs.com/title/80186475 ''Pokémon the Series'' - Unofficial Netflix Online Global Search] (retrieved June 2, 2020)</ref>. [[The Pokémon Company International]] usually refers to the anime as the "Pokémon animated series" or "Pokémon television series", while some [[event Pokémon]] based on Pokémon from the anime have their location set as "the Pokémon cartoon" in the English version of the games. It is also referred to formally as '''''Pokémon the Series''''' (Japanese: '''テレビアニメ「ポケットモンスター」シリーズ''' ''TV Anime "Pocket Monsters" Series'').

==Overview==

Over the course of the series, Ash has had several {{AP|friends}} who travel with him, typically across one region, who assist him in his journey as much as he assists in theirs. {{an|Misty}}, the Gym Leader from [[Cerulean City]] in the games, joins him in the [[original series]], as does {{an|Brock}}, [[Pewter City]]'s Gym Leader, in [[Kanto]], [[Johto]], [[Hoenn]], and [[Sinnoh]]. [[Tracey Sketchit]], an amateur [[Pokémon watcher]], joins Ash during his Orange Archipelago journey, but leaves him on Ash's return to Pallet to become an assistant to Professor Oak, his hero. {{an|May}} and {{an|Dawn}}, rookie {{pkmn|Coordinator}}s, join Ash for the duration of ''[[Pokémon the Series: Ruby and Sapphire]]'' and ''[[Pokémon the Series: Diamond and Pearl]]'', respectively; in these he mentors them much as Brock and Misty did him, while [[Max]], May's brother, who is too young to own Pokémon, looks up to Ash for the duration of ''Pokémon the Series: Ruby and Sapphire''. {{an|Iris}} and {{an|Cilan}} travel with Ash in ''[[Pokémon the Series: Black & White]]''. Inventor {{an|Clemont}}, his sister {{an|Bonnie}}, and Ash's childhood friend {{an|Serena}} travel with Ash in ''[[Pokémon the Series: XY]]''. Like Max, Bonnie is too young to own Pokémon, but cares for her brother's {{TP|Clemont|Dedenne}}. In ''[[Pokémon the Series: Sun & Moon]]'', Ash attends the [[Pokémon School]] instead of traveling around the [[Alola]] region. As such, his new friends—{{an|Lillie}}, {{an|Mallow}}, {{an|Kiawe}}, {{an|Lana}}, and {{an|Sophocles}}—are not traveling companions but classmates. In ''[[Pokémon Journeys: The Series]]'', Ash's sole new traveling companion is [[Goh]], a Trainer who aims to catch every Pokémon species in the {{pkmn|world}}, with his ultimate goal being to catch the [[Mythical Pokémon]] {{p|Mew}}.

In Japan, the anime is divided into seven [[series]]: ''[[Original series|Pocket Monsters]]'', ''[[Pokémon the Series: Ruby and Sapphire|Pocket Monsters Advanced Generation]]'', ''[[Pokémon the Series: Diamond and Pearl|Pocket Monsters Diamond & Pearl]]'', ''[[Pokémon the Series: Black & White|Pocket Monsters Best Wishes]]'', ''[[Pokémon the Series: XY|Pocket Monsters XY]]'', ''[[Pokémon the Series: Sun & Moon|Pocket Monsters Sun & Moon]]'', and ''[[Pokémon Journeys: The Series|Pocket Monsters]]''. Outside of it, it has been divided into eight series: ''[[Original series|Pokémon the Series: The Beginning]]'', ''[[Original series|Pokémon the Series: Gold & Silver]]'', ''[[Pokémon the Series: Ruby and Sapphire]]'', ''[[Pokémon the Series: Diamond and Pearl]]'', ''[[Pokémon the Series: Black & White]]'', ''[[Pokémon the Series: XY]]'', ''[[Pokémon the Series: Sun & Moon|Pokémon the Series: Sun and Moon]]'', and ''[[Pokémon Journeys: The Series]]''. The episodes are also further divided into [[season]]s spanning roughly 52 episodes, and currently {{cat|Anime seasons|numbering {{#expr: {{PAGESINCATEGORY:Anime seasons}} - 1}}}}. This concept of a television season was first embraced by the Japanese source with the inclusion of an explicitly second season to ''Best Wishes''.

The show is mainly aimed at children, and as such, mature topics such as death are not often brought up, though sometimes they appear in some episodes, and most notably in movies. Many Pokémon that are implied to be violent or sinister in the games are also made to be less aggressive. There are generally some references meant for adults, though these are kept to a minimum especially outside of Japan.

|-

|-

|-

|-

|-

|-

|-

|-

|-

|-

|-

|-

|-

|-

|-

|-

|}

|-

|}

|-

|}

==Movies==

The movies are not considered by all people to be canon to the show, with some preferring to think of them occurring in an alternate timeline. This theory comes from the fact that {{Ash}} and {{ashfr}} do not seem to be profoundly affected in the show by the events of the movies, which tend to have a lot of peril and drama. Others, however, see the movies as being akin to [[filler episode]]s, as none of their [[party|parties]] change, and no [[Gym Leader]]s are defeated nor [[Pokémon Contest]]s won. This is presumably the correct interpretation, as not only have most of the events of the movies been referenced at least peripherally in the show, but also, several of the events of even ''major'' episodes have been forgotten by the writers of later episodes.

|-

| July 18, 1998

| November 12, 1999

| July 17, 1999

| July 21, 2000

| July 8, 2000

| April 6, 2001

| July 7, 2001

| October 11, 2002

|-

| July 19, 2003

| June 1, 2004

| July 17, 2004

| January 22, 2005

| July 16, 2005

| September 19, 2006

|-

| July 14, 2007

| February 24, 2008

| July 19, 2008

| March 31, 2009

| July 18, 2009

| July 10, 2010

|-

|-

| July 19, 2014

| November 8, 2014

| July 18, 2015

| December 19, 2015

|-

| July 15, 2017

| November 5, 2017

|-

|}

==Variety shows==

These are Pokémon variety shows that air on Japanese television.

| October 19, 1999 — September 17, 2002

| October 15, 2002 — September 28, 2004

| October 3, 2004 — September 26, 2010

| October 3, 2010 — September 29, 2013

| October 6, 2013 — September 27, 2015

|}

==Trivia==

* Animator [[Masaaki Iwane|Masāki Iwane]] 岩根正明 [[n:Masaaki Iwane: Pokémon anime originally slated for 18-month run|once stated]] that the series was originally slated for a 1½-year run, which corresponds approximately to the length of the [[Kanto]] [[region]] [[S01|saga]] (had it not been delayed due to [[EP038|the Porygon incident]]). Due to its popularity during the run, however, the show was extended and continues to be one of the longest running video game-based anime series.

* During the early episodes of the [[original series]], Japanese text was seen quite frequently on signs and buildings as well as objects. This usually resulted in the English dubbed version (and thus, foreign dubs based on it) painting out the text or converting it to English.

** During ''[[Pokémon the Series: Ruby and Sapphire]]'' and ''[[Pokémon the Series: Diamond and Pearl]]'', the animators used a new style of symbols that appear to be blocky letters without a resemblance to any alphabet. However, most of these were still edited out for the English dub until ''[[S09|Pokémon: Battle Frontier]]''.

** From ''[[Pokémon the Series: Black & White]]'' and onward, a full writing system was specifically created for the anime. This language consists of three different fonts: a font used for titles, big signboards, etc.; other font used as less remarkable text accompanying the title font; and other font used only occasionally as a minor text filler. Each font has 26 unique symbols, and each one of those symbols represents a letter from the modern Latin script.

* [[Timeline of events in the anime]]

* [[Differences between the games and anime]]

==External links==

===On Bulbagarden forums===

* [http://forums.bulbagarden.net/index.php?forums/pokemon-anime-and-manga.228/ Pokémon anime discussion forum]

{{Anime series}}