Pokémon in South Asia: Difference between revisions

|AG001={{tt|May 9, 2006|Cartoon Network India}}<!--<br>{{tt|July 6, 2015|Hungama TV}}-->

While [[Nintendo]] has yet to make its way in the Indian subcontinent market officially, the [[Pokémon games]] and some [[Pokémon merchandise]] as well as other {{wp|Nintendo}} products (like consoles and games) are available on online retail sites.

===Cartoon Network & Pogo===

[[S01|Pokémon: Indigo League]] premiered on {{wp|Cartoon Network (India)|Cartoon Network India}} on May 12, 2003 as a part of its {{wp|Toonami}} block and it was made available in both Hindi and English languages.The timing was Monday - Friday at 8 am and 5 pm. The anime soon became one of the highly rated show on the respective channel, especially during its peak, and concluded its first run in the same year.

Immediately after the first season, [[S02|Pokémon: Adventures in the Orange Islands]] made its Indian debut in late 2003 and ended its run in the mid of 2004. Following the year long re-run airings, [[S03|Pokémon: The Johto Journeys]] made its long-awaited premiere on Cartoon Network.

Affiliated with Cartoon Network India, a separate {{wp|Cartoon Network (Pakistan)|Cartoon Network}} feed was launched for the Pakistani audience in 2004, which was later made available in Afghanistan and Bangladesh as well. Due to the affiliation, both channels broadcasted the anime simultaneously. With [[S05|Pokémon: Master Quest]], Cartoon Network India introduced two additional dubs for the Indian viewers, Tamil and Telugu. The {{series|original}} concluded its first complete run in the mid of 2005.

[[S06|Pokémon: Advanced]] made its South Asian debut on May 9, 2006 and concluded in July of the same year. After four months of reruns, [[S07|Pokémon: Advanced Challenge]] was simulcasted on November 6, 2006. The trailers for the seventh season were also aired in the Indian theaters. It ended its first run on January 4, 2007. Following this season, Cartoon Network introduced a new block called ''Dastaan-e-Pokémon''.

''Dastaan-e-Pokémon'', a one-hour block, started January 8, 2007 with the first episode of the anime. The block continued to air all of the previous seasons, from the first season up to the seventh. Almost a year later, [[S08|Pokémon: Advanced Battle]] made its way to South Asia. Also, it was the first time when a season premiered with two back-to-back episodes on the respective channels. The block ended in the end of 2008

The final season of the ''Advanced Generation'' series. [[S09|Pokémon: Battle Frontier]] debuted in November of 2008. It began to air on Cartoon Network Pakistan two weeks after its Indian debut. Following the ten months long rerun airings, [[S10|Pokémon: Diamond & Pearl]] premiered in the respective territories.

Unprecedentedly, the first season of the {{series|Diamond & Pearl}} aired in Pakistan starting November 9, 2009 and in India on November 16 of the same year. Due to unknown reasons, Cartoon Network Pakistan wrapped up the season prematurely in just five weeks. As a result, around 23 episodes were skipped, from ''[[DP018|O'er the Rampardos We Watched!]]'' to ''[[DP041|A Stand-Up Sit-Down!]]''. However, all the episodes were aired in their actual order during the rerun airings.

After almost a year and eight months long gap, Pogo premiered the [[S14|fourteenth season]] of the anime on June 17, 2013. Many changes were introduced, including:  a new time-slot for the show, new voices for the [[narrator]] as well as [[Delia Ketchum]]. Instead of following the original order, Pogo skipped the episodes ''[[BW027|The Dragon Master's Path!]]'' and ''[[BW040|Cilan Versus Trip, Ash Versus Georgia!]]'', due to some unknown reasons. The channel completed the run of the season with the season finale, ''[[BW048|Battle for the Underground]]'', on Thursday, 5th September. The re-runs of the season began from 9th September, continuing at the same time slot. Later on during these re-runs, the episodes of ''The Dragon Master's Path!'' and ''Cilan Versus Trip, Ash Versus Georgia!'' were broadcasted.

On June 27, 2014, after more than 3 years since Pokémon shifted to Pogo, {{wp|Cartoon Network (India)|Cartoon Network India}} made an announcement through [https://www.facebook.com/cartoonnetwork.india its official Facebook page] that [[Pokémon]] would soon be returning to Cartoon Network. The channel began airing [[S14|Pokémon: Black & White]] from July 2, 2014, airing 2 new episodes on the weekdays. However, many of the episodes were aired out of order, which created confusion among viewers who were watching it for the first time. Instead of completing the fourteenth season run, it started airing reruns from 6 August, 2014, having originally aired till ''[[BW043|Mewoth's Scrafty Tactics]]''. CN later completed airing the remaining episodes airing them at late night time slot of 10:30 pm without any promo on the channel. The channnel later continued airing re-runs at various time-slots, also airing various marathons during that time.

The {{series|BW}} premiered on Cartoon Network Pakistan on November 3, 2014.<!--

====Pikachu Shorts====

Cartoon Network India has aired several Pikachu Shorts but they did not air along with movies. The Pikachu Shorts [[PK02|Christmas Night]] and [[PK03|Kanga Games]] were aired together as [[Pikachu's Winter Vacations]]. The Shorts [[PK05|Winter Games]] and [[PK07|Pikachu & Pichu]] were aired together.<!--

Pokémon has managed to rock the country's kids as schools are scurrying to ban them, and parents are trying to find a cheaper entertainment alternative for their children. Consistently ranking on top in its respective demographics, the show earned Rs 1.5 billion within the 10 months after launch. Eros Huang, managing director of Taiwan-based Top-Insight International, which holds the Asia license to distribute and market Pokemon merchandise. "The year 2004 will be big for Pokemon fans in India," he added, admitting that the company is gearing up to swamp the country's kids with spawned games, toys, comics and an array of other merchandise, including a Pokemon movie later in the year.

However no step was taken by Parents and Schools to ban Pokémon but their Angriness showed everything, during that time the license of selling Pokemon tazos and trading cards was given to Cheetos, due to this a complaint was registered against Cheetos.

Listen to the complaints of the mother of two school-going siblings aged nine and five: "My children insist on buying a particular brand of potato chips every day, not because the kids are particularly fond of the junk food, but for what they get along with them: Pokemon tazos [plastic collectible stamps] and trading cards." However on the other side some parents actually appreciate that Pokemon exists. They claim it gives their kids a hobby and that they can meet more people this way. It gives them something to do so that they are never bored; they start collections and even get a small financial benefit from trading and selling cards, they say.<ref>[http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/FB25Df01.html Atimes]</ref>-->

Around the beginning of 2014, {{wp|Disney India|Disney Inc.}} bought the airings rights for Pokémon. However, the respective company did not acquire the rights for the anime's previous Hindi dub. While the exact reasons for re-dubbing are not known, there is a good possibility that such decisions were made because of Disney India and {{wp|UTV Software Communications|UTV}}'s policy, implemented in 2010-2011, that all the dubs of Disney channel properties will be carried out in-house, even if previous dubs exist.

With ''[[EP001|Pokémon, I Choose You!]]'', the {{pkmn|anime}} made its Hungama TV debut on May 19, 2014. Hungama TV introduced a block for Pokémon reruns, ''PokéThon'' (coined from ''Poké''mon and Mara''thon''). Similar to the Cartoon Network airings, a couple of inconsistencies in the airing order were noticed by viewers. Following ''[[EP064|Its Mr. Mine Time]]'', Hungama aired ''[[Holiday Hi-Jynx]]'' on August 14, 2014 and ''[[Snow Way Out!]]'' on August 18, 2014, followed by ''[[EP065|Showdown at the Pokécorral]]''. Some episodes like [[EP018|Episode 18]], [[EP035|Episode 35]] and [[EP038|Episode 38]] were skipped by Hungama as they are banned. [[S01|Pokemon: Indigo League]] completed its initial run on September 10, 2014, with the airing of ''[[EP080|Friends to the End!]]''.

[[S02|Pokémon: Adventures in the Orange Islands]] debuted on Hungama TV on September 11, 2014, with ''[[EP081|Pallet Party Panic]]''. Hungama TV now introduced an another block for Pokémon reruns, ''PokéVaar'' (literally ''PokéDay''). More inconsistencies were noticed by viewers, and some episodes, including ''[[EP090|Stage Fight]]'' and ''[[EP099|The Mandarin Island Miss Match]]'' were permanently skipped. However, some other episodes like ''[[EP103|Misty Meets Her Match]]'', ''[[EP115|A Tent Situation]]'' and ''[[EP116|The Rivalry Revival]]'' were also skipped but aired later at repeat time-slots and main slots as new episodes.

On October 30, 2014, [[S03|Pokémon: The Johto Journeys]] debuted on Hungama TV with ''[[EP117|Don't Touch That 'dile]]'', even though all episodes of the previous season were not aired at that time. The channel also started using [[a:File:Pokémon logo Southeast Asia.png|a red logo]] for Pokémon, instead of [[a:File:Pokémon logo English.png|the regular one]]. As had happened with earlier seasons, another episode, ''[[EP131|Fighting Flyer with Fire]]'', was skipped. Similarly, one more block for reruns was introduced, named ''PakdoThon'' (coined from ''Pakdo'' (Hindi word for ''catch'') and mara''thon''). Some episodes of this season were aired with additional Tamil and Telegu dubs. With ''[[EP157|The Fortune Hunters]]'', [[S03|Pokémon: The Johto Journeys]] completed its initial run on December 29, 2014.  

With ''[[EP158|A Goldenrod Opportunity]]'', [[S04|Pokémon: Johto League Champions]] debuted on Hungama TV on January 2, 2015. A change of cast of the Narrator was introduced. Also, Hungama fully introduced Tamil and Telugu dubs from this season. All the previous seasons were also dubbed into Tamil and Telugu, and started airing in those languages during re-runs. From ''[[EP166|Two Hits and a Miss]]'', the channel also started skipping the parts of the episode before the title card, as they wanted to skip the theme song, but unlike previous seasons, there are some scenes before the theme song. Even the scenes of those episodes which had been aired fully (with the theme and the scenes before the theme) before were also skipped during reruns. This started causing confusions among the viewers. However, sometimes during reruns and in the late evening re airing time slot (before), the deleted opening scenes and the theme song were aired. For ''[[EP195|The Poké Spokesman]]'' and ''[[EP196|Control Freak]]'', those scenes along with the theme song were aired during the main time slot. The scenes and the theme songs were again restarted from ''[[EP203|The Secret Actor's Guilt]]''. From ''[[EP206|The Joy of Water Pokemon]]'', they again started skipping the theme song but this time the scenes before the theme were not skipped. With ''[[EP209|Machoke, Machoke Man]]'', Hungama completed the initial run of [[S04|Pokémon: Johto League Champions]] on March 26, 2015.

[[S05|Pokémon: Master Quest]] debuted on Hungama TV on March 31, 2015, with ''[[EP210|Around the Whirlpool]]''. The episode ''[[EP214|Mantine Overboard]]'' was skipped by the channel. It was later aired during reruns. The [[EP250|Episode 250]] was also skipped by the channel as it is banned. For currently unknown reasons, Hungama TV did not air the episodes ''[[EP254|Better Eight Than Never]]'' and ''[[EP255|Why? Wynaut!]]'' during the weekday afternoon timeslot. Instead these were aired during evening re-run slots on the same day, while there were no episodes during the afternoon slot. After [[EP262|You're a Star, Larvitar!]], Hungama TV stopped airing new episodes. The reasons for stopping after You're a Star, Larvitar is that starting from [[EP263|Address Unown]], [[S06|Pokémon: Advanced]] starts for the Television airings.

The {{series|XY}} debuted on Hungama TV on May 9, 2015 with the first two episodes of [[S17|Pokémon the Series: XY]], ''[[XY001|Kalos, Where Dreams and Adventures Begin]]'' and ''[[XY002|Lumoise City Pursuit]]''. According to Nichiket Dighe (Hungama dub voice actor for [[Ash Ketchum|Ash]]), the episodes were aired as Hungama got the highest TRP (Television Rating Points) among all cartoon channels. These episodes were aired without any promo on a weekend time-slot, even though the {{series2|Advanced Generation}}, {{series2|Diamond & Pearl}} and {{series2|Best Wishes}} series hadn't aired on the channel. Hungama TV later announced that more episodes of this season would air during the weekend time slot, with regular episodes continuing during the weekday time-slot. From the start of the season, Hungama TV started skipping the title card of the episodes. The channel started using [[a:File:Pokemon XY logo India.png|a new logo]] for the series, replacing [[a:File:Pokémon the Series XY logo.png|the original one]]. Similar to the other seasons, inconsistencies in the airing order were again noticed by viewers.  Hungama TV skipped the episode ''[[XY017|A Rush of Ninja Wisdom]]'' for unknown reasons.

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===Pokémon movies===

On November 14, 2006, Cartoon Network India aired ''[[Mewtwo Returns|Pokémon: Mewtwo Returns]]'' as a part of its Children's day programming<ref name="Mewtwo Returns">[http://www.indiantelevision.com/television/broadcasting/tv-channels/kids/cartoon-network-to-join-barbie-and-pok%C3%A9mon-on-childrens-day Indian Television]</ref>.

In 2009, Cartoon Network took the opportunity to air [[Pokémon Chronicles]] from 11th June onwards.

The movie ''[[M08|Lucario and the Mystery of Mew]]'' premiered on both Cartoon Network channels (CN India and CN Pakistan). The movie [[M09|Pokémon Ranger and the Temple of the Sea]] premiered on Cartoon Network Pakistan in 2009, but debuted on Cartoon Network India in the following year.

 

 

 

 

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| 2015 (Upcoming)

| ''[[M02|Pokémon the Movie 2000 - The Power of One]]''

|}

===Cast and Crew===

| style="background: #fff; {{roundybr|5px}}" | {{wp|Saumya Daan}} (Hungama dub)

English-translated [[Pokémon manga]] was distributed in India by [[Chuang Yi]].<!--More information in this regard would be extremely appreciated.-->

* Pokémon collectibles were available for free in every {{wp|Cheetos}} snack packs.

* Pokémon Toys were available as toy gifts of {{wp|McDonald's}} {{wp|Happy Meal}}s. These toys were spoons featuring Pikchu and other starters. However no advertisements were made by McDonald's as they usually did.<ref>[http://hm.toysaffair.com/2013/06/happy-meal-toys-pokemon-bw-movie-version.html Toysaffair.com]</ref>

* Pokémon XY merchandise is launched in India by Dreamtheatre, available in on-ground stores and online sites ({{wp|Flipkart}}<ref>[http://www.flipkart.com/search?q=pokemon Flipkart]</ref>, {{wp|Snapdeal}}<ref>[http://www.snapdeal.com/search?keyword=pokemon&noOfResults=20 Snapdeal]</ref>).

* Starting from [[S14|Pokémon: Black & White]], Cartoon Network aired the show in English and Hindi only, hence the Tamil and Telugu feeds have aired only from [[S05|Season 5]] to [[S14|Season 14]]. While Hungama started the Tamil and Telegu feeds from [[S04|season 4]], the previous seasons of the show were also dubbed into these languages later and aired during re-runs.

* Instead of following the usual tradition in the CN dub of literally translating the moves' names into Hindi, several of them have been kept the same as in English starting season 14.

* From the mid of second run of Pokémon: Black & White, Cartoon Network replaced the [[Black and White (song)|regular opening]] with a [[List of Hindi Pokémon themes#Pokémon: Black & White Song Video|new one]].

* After the initial few episodes of each [[season]], Hungama TV stopped airing the [[List of English opening themes|opening themes]] and credits.

* [[S15|Pokémon BW: Rival Destinies]], [[S16|Pokémon BW: Adventures in Unova]] and [[S18|Pokémon XY: Kalos Quest]] are the only 3 [[season]]s which haven't yet debuted in {{wp|South Asia}} at all.

* Prior to ''[[EP052|Princess vs. Princess]]'', Hungama TV did not include the [[Who's That Pokémon?]] segment. It was skipped some times in between, but permanently aired after ''[[EP089|Shell Shock!]]''.