Pokémon anime: Difference between revisions

The '''Pokémon {{wp|anime}}''', often referred to as just "the anime" by Pokémon fans, is a collective term referring to currently {{#expr: {{PAGESINCATEGORY:Original series episodes}} - 8 + {{PAGESINCATEGORY:Advanced Generation series episodes}} - 6 + {{PAGESINCATEGORY:Diamond & Pearl series episodes}} - 5 + {{PAGESINCATEGORY:Best Wishes series episodes}} - 6 + {{PAGESINCATEGORY:XY series episodes}} - 4 + {{PAGESINCATEGORY:Sun & Moon series episodes}} - 2}} main series episodes, {{#expr: {{PAGESINCATEGORY:Movies}} - 2}} movies, and a number of side-story episodes, 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]], {{ashfr|his many friends}}, and most especially his Pokémon, who he considers his partners and friends.

The anime has been broadcasted in at least 74<ref>https://web.archive.org/web/20110219195838/http://www.andriasang.com/e/blog/2009/10/12/pokemon_stats/</ref> {{cat|Pokémon around the world|different countries}}, many times being [[dub]]bed into other languages for different locales. It is available on [[Netflix]] in 216 countries with different dubs and subtitles, and all countries have at least English audio.<ref>http://unogs.com/video/?v=80088367</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.

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 the {{series2|Advanced Generation}} and {{series|Diamond & 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 the ''Advanced Generation'' series. {{an|Iris}} and {{an|Cilan}} travel with Ash in the {{series|Best Wishes}}. {{an|Clemont}}, his sister {{an|Bonnie}} and Ash's childhood friend {{an|Serena}} travel with Ash in the {{series|XY}}. Like Max, Bonnie is too young to own Pokémon, but cares for her brother's {{p|Dedenne}}.

| style="background: #FFF; {{roundybl|5px}}" | [[File:SM series logo.png|150px|Pocket Monsters Sun & Moon]]<br>[[Sun & Moon series|Pocket Monsters Sun & Moon]]

| style="background: #FFF" | <!--[[File:OPJ20.png|166px|Unknown]]<br>[[Unknown]]-->TBA

| style="background: #FFF" | <!--[[File:Pokémon the Series Sun and Moon logo.png|120px|Pokémon the Series: Sun and Moon]]<br>-->[[S20|Pokémon the Series: Sun and Moon]]

| style="background: #FFF" | <!--[[File:OPE20.png|166px|Unknown]]<br>[[Unknown]]-->TBA

| style="background: #FFF; {{roundybr|5px}}" | [[File:SM001.png|166px|SM001]]<br>[[SM001]]

Since 1998 in Japan, and since 1999 in the US, a Pokémon movie has been released annually, most often focusing on a [[Legendary Pokémon]]. These movies are almost always a large success in Japan, and remain at least somewhat successful in the US and other countries, having been aired on Cartoon Network as a special since [[M09|the ninth movie]], and having theatrical releases during the first five seasons.

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 {{pkmn|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.

|- style="background: #FFF"

|- style="background: #FFF"

| style="{{roundybl|10px}} background: #FFF" | [[File:M19 poster 2.png|150px|Volcanion and the Mechanical Magearna]]<br>ボルケニオンと機巧のマギアナ<br><small>''Volcanion and the Mechanical Magearna''</small>

| July 16, 2016

| [[File:M19 Pikachu the Movie poster.png|150px|Pikachu the Movie]]<br>[[M19|Pikachu Project 2016]]

| [[File:M19 English poster.png|150px|Volcanion and the Mechanical Marvel]]<br>''[[M19|Volcanion and the Mechanical Marvel]]''

| style="{{roundybr|10px}} background: #FFF" | 2016

** During the {{series|AG}} and {{series|DP}}, 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]]''.

** During the {{series|BW}} and {{series|XY}}, 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. This text usually has meanings, as the symbols converted from the Latin script are written as romanized Japanese; sometimes its meanings are related to the context in which it is used, but sometimes the text contains hidden messages, like mentioning [[Jessie's Wobbuffet|Wobbuffet]] in a magazine seen in [[BW001]].

* Fingernails were not consistently drawn on characters until the {{series|XY}}.

*[http://www.tv-tokyo.co.jp/anime/pokemon/ Pokémon TV Tokyo website] (Japanese)