Pokémon (anime)

Plot and characters

After he turns 10 years old, Ash Ketchum (Satoshi in Japan), is allowed to start his journey in the world of Pokémon and dreams of becoming a Pokémon master. On the day he is to receive his first Pokémon, Ash wakes in a panic, having overslept. Professor Oak, the local Pokémon researcher, has already given away the three Pokémon (Bulbasaur, Charmander, and Squirtle) he entrusts to new Pokémon Trainers when Ash finally reaches Oak's Lab. The only Pokémon that he has left is a Pikachu, that he gives to Ash. Determined to make it on his journey, Ash does his best to befriend Pikachu, but it does not trust him and will not even return to its PokéBall, even attacking Ash with its unique electric powers. It is only after Ash protects Pikachu from a group of angry Spearow that Pikachu realizes how much Ash cares, leading it to save Ash. Afterward, they both see a mysterious and unidentifiable Pokémon that spurs both of them to work towards Ash's goal.

Along the way, Ash makes many human and Pokémon friends as he works his way through the ranks of the world's many Pokémon Leagues. Through the Kanto Region, Ash befriends Water Pokémon trainer and erstwhile Cerulean City Gym Leader Misty (Kasumi) and Pewter City Gym Leader and Pokémon Breeder Brock (Takeshi), and all the while thwarting the plans of the Team Rocket trio Jessie, James, and Meowth, who want to steal Ash's Pikachu and any other rare Pokémon they come across. When the group travels to the Orange Islands, Brock decides to stay with the local professor, leaving Ash and Misty to continue traveling together. After a while, they meet and begin traveling with Pokémon Watcher and artist Tracey Sketchit (Kenji). Once the trip is completed, Brock rejoins the group as they travel back to Kanto. Once they reach Pallet Town, Tracey decides to stay with Professor Oak. With this news, the trio continues on their way to the Johto region.

When Ash heads for the Hoenn Region in the Advanced Generation series, Misty stays behind to become the full-time Cerulean City Gym Leader. However, Brock follows him to Hoenn and he gains new companions in Pokémon Coordinator May (Haruka) and her younger brother Max (Masato), and together they face off against the rival teams, Team Magma and Team Aqua.

After returning to Kanto and participating in the Battle Frontier challenge, Ash battles with his rival, Gary. After seeing a Pokémon he has never seen before, Ash decides to travel to the Sinnoh region. At the beginning of the next season, Ash travels with Brock, one final time, to the Sinnoh Region, with May and Max going on their own paths. Ash and Brock meet Dawn (Hikari), another Pokémon Coordinator, who travels with them as they go through Sinnoh where they must defeat Cyrus and his Team Galactic.

In the Best Wishes! series, Ash, his mother and Professor Oak take a holiday to the far-off Unova Region, where he meets and travels with would-be Dragon Master Iris and Striaton City Gym Leader, Pokémon Connoisseur, and sometimes detective Cilan (Dent). During their journey, they discover the evil plans of Team Plasma, a criminal organization that wants to free Pokémon from people's ownership so that they can rule the world unopposed. After winning all eight Unova badges, Ash, Iris, and Cilan travel throughout the eastern side of Unova to prepare for the Unova Pokémon League Tournament, after which they meet N, who is instrumental in defeating Team Plasma. After this, Ash, Iris, and Cilan travel through the Decolore Islands before Ash makes his way back to Pallet Town and the meet the investigative reporter Alexa (Pansy) who is from the distant Kalos Region. Having arrived back in Kanto, Iris and Cilan travel to Johto whilst Ash and Alexa head to Kalos soon after Ash reunites with his mother and receiving a new outfit from her.

In the XY series, Ash and Alexa arrive in the Kalos region and Ash is itching to get started in earning his Gym badges. But after Alexa informs Ash that her sister, a Gym Leader, is currently absent, Ash travels to Lumiose City where he meets boy-genius Clemont (Citron) and his younger sister Bonnie (Eureka), unaware that Clemont is in fact Lumiose City's Gym Leader - a fact he tries his best to hide. Ash also reunites with Serena, a girl from Vaniville Town whom Ash had met in his childhood at Professor Oak's Summer Camp in Pallet Town. During that time he helped her during a predicament, and she has had feelings for him since that time. After traveling with them to prepare for the Kalos Pokémon League Tournament, Ash competes and advances all the way to the final, where he loses to Alain (Alan), a member of Team Flare due to them misleading him. Once he discovers their true intentions however, Alain reforms and joins Ash and his friends to stop Team Flare's plans. Bidding farewell to his friends in Kalos, Ash once again returns to Pallet.

In the Sun & Moon series, Ash, his mother and Mimey, their Mr. Mime, are on vacation in the Alola region when Ash has an encounter with one of the local guardian Pokémon, who presents him with the Z-Ring, a device that allows a Pokémon to unleash a powerful move when synchronized with its trainer. This leads him to stay in Alola and enroll at the local Pokémon school. When he decides to undertake the trials necessary to master the power of the Z-Ring, Ash's new classmates Lana (Suiren), Mallow (Mao), Lillie (Lilie), Sophocles (Māmane) and Kiawe (Kaki) decide to accompany him.

TV series

In Japan, Pocket Monsters has been broadcast under its original title and under four subtitled titles, with the subtitled versions denoting a change in the setting matching the different versions of the video games, rather than being divided into distinct seasons (a change in season is usually denoted by a change in the theme songs, but the title never changes). The current series being broadcast is Pokémon: XY (ポケットモンスター XY, Poketto Monsutā Ekkusu Wai). In its international broadcasts, Pokémon's episodes have been split up into smaller seasons for the international releases, running a fixed number of episodes, using a specific opening sequence for each new season, and a new subtitle. The current international season airing is Pokémon the Series: XYZ.

A new Sun and Moon anime was announced, due out in Japan on November 17, 2016.

Movies

During each season of the main series, a Pokémon Feature Film (劇場版ポケットモンスター, Gekijōban Poketto Monsutā, Pocket Monsters Movie) starring the main characters from the TV series has been released. There have been 19 movies and two feature-length TV broadcasts (the first of which was released outside Japan as a direct-to-video movie titled Pokémon: Mewtwo Returns, the second titled Pokémon: The Mastermind of Mirage Pokémon). The plot of every movie has involved an encounter with a Legendary Pokémon, although some may not conform to a strict definition of the word. The movies are also used to promote new Pokémon that appear in new versions of the game and series.

Specials

In addition to the main series and the movies, the anime has also shown various specials and TV shorts. In English-language broadcast, these have been played or are playing as the Pokémon Chronicles or Pokémon Sunday series, alongside The Legend of Thunder! special and several Pikachu shorts, Many of these specials centered around legendary Pokémon or one or more of the main characters that is separate from the main cast during its corresponding series, while the sporadically-made later side story episodes typically air as special episodes. Another eight additional OVAs were broadcast on numbered All Nippon Flights, as well as sold by DVD exclusively. In addition, two 3D shorts were shown during the tour of Japanese theme park Poképark.

Full-length TV specials

Pokémon: Mewtwo Returns / Mewtwo! I Am Here (ミュウツー! 我ハココニ在リ, Myūtsū! Ware wa Koko ni Ari)

A made for television special that followed up on Mewtwo after the events of the first movie.

The Legend of Thunder! (ライコウ 雷の伝説, Raikou: Ikaduchi no Densetsu)

A made for television special that showcased the legendary Raikou, as well as brand new trainers. It became the first three episodes of Pokémon Chronicles. This was based on the release of Pokémon Crystal, a fact which the Japanese title reflects.

The Mastermind of Mirage Pokémon / The Terrifying Mirage Pokémon (戦慄のミラージュポケモン, Senritsu no Mirāju Pokemon)

An hour-long TV special commemorating the 10th anniversary of Pokémon in the United States. It aired on Kids' WB the sister station of Cartoon Network. It features a variety of Pokémon as artificial and stronger "mirages", including a supposedly "most powerful" Pokémon creation. Pokémon shown to be mirages were Mew, Kabutops, Omastar, Armaldo, Aggron, Aerodactyl, Houndoom, Absol, Mightyena, Machoke, Machamp, Ursaring, Magnemite, Entei, Articuno, Zapdos, and Mewtwo.

Normal-length TV specials

The Story of Mewtwo's Origin / The Uncut Story of Mewtwo's Origin (ミュウツーの誕生, Myūtsū no Tanjō)

An animated adaptation of the "Birth of Mewtwo" radio drama, which was later attached to the beginning of the first movie for the Japanese video release. A small 3 minute heavily edited version was released on the USA version DVDs, while the full uncut version was made available on the Mewtwo Returns DVD.

Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Team Go-Getters Out Of The Gate! (ポケモン不思議のダンジョン 出動ポケモン救助隊ガンバルズ, Fushigi no Danjon: Shutsudō Pokemon Kyūjotai Ganbaruzu!, Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Pokémon Rescue Team Ganbarus on the March!)

A special anime based on the new video games which was shown on Cartoon Network in the U.S. September 8, 2006. The main characters in this special are a boy who was turned into a Squirtle, who formed a team with a naturally born Charmander and Chikorita.

Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time & Darkness (ポケモン不思議のダンジョン 時の探検隊・闇の探検隊, Pokemon Fushigi no Danjon: Toki no Tankentai — Yami no Tankentai)

A sequel to the anime special based on the new video games prior to the Japanese release. The English version was shown on Action Stations! in the UK on July 18, 2008. The U.S. airing was on September 1, 2008 (Labor Day in the U.S.) on Cartoon Network. This special opens with Grovyle stealing a Time Gear — a circular object that controls time. The story then switches to the main characters Piplup (who is really a boy turned Pokémon) and Chimchar. Together with Chimchar, they become the exploration group Poképals and work at helping Pokémon who are in need of rescue along with exploring dungeons for treasure. After completing their first mission, to help a Shinx's sister who is very sick, the show ends with an announcement that the Time Gear has been stolen again. Piplup decides to stay with the team in order to help rescue other Pokémon; recover the Time Gear; and find out why he has been turned into a Pokémon. The last scene includes the message "to be continued", as do all other episodes of this anime. Which seemed as if it was implying there would be a full series, but such a series was never created.

Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of the Sky Beyond Time & Darkness / Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Sky Expedition ~The Final Adventure Surpassing Time and Darkness~ (ポケモン不思議のダンジョン 空の探検隊～時と闇をめぐる 最後の冒険～, Pokemon Fushigi no Danjon: Sora no Tankentai ~Toki to Yami o Meguru Saigo no Bōken~)

A follow-up to Explorers of Time & Darkness, this anime special sees the Poképals teaming with Grovyle to battle with Dusknoir in the Hidden Land to save the world. This was available with the DSi game on a DVD for advance purchases at GameStop in the U.S., and also premiered on October 9, 2009 on Cartoon Network in the U.S. and the following day on YTV in Canada.

Mewtwo: Prologue to Awakening (ミュウツー ～覚醒への序章（プロローグ）～, Myūtsū ~Kakusei e no Purorōgu~)

Shorts

Pokémon Ranger: Guardian Signs (ポケモンレンジャー 光の軌跡, Pokemon Renjā Hikari no Kiseki)

A set of five-minute-long special episodes based on the DS game Pokémon Ranger: Guardian Signs which aired as part of Pokémon Sunday, it divided into two parts (Part 1 was aired on February 28, 2010, and Part 2 was aired on March 7, 2010). It shows in Oblivia Region, a Pokémon Ranger named Natsuya, receives a mission of head for the archipelago to stop a villainous team — Pokémon Pinchers' misdeeds from poaching and selling Pokémon which tasked by Professor Hastings. During his mission, he meets Ukulele Pichu and captures it.

Winter Vacation

Pikachu's Winter Vacation (ピカチュウのふゆやすみ, Pikachū no Fuyuyasumi) is a series of winter themed Pikachu-centered shorts that went directly to video from 1999 (the end of '98) to 2001 (the end of 2000). The first two were part of the Pokémon Chronicles series. This was the only Pokémon DVD not released by Viz Video but rather 4Kids' normal way of releasing DVDs, being released by 4Kids and Funimation.

We Are Pichu Brothers (ぼくたちピチューブラザーズ, Boku-tachi Pichūburazāzu) is a series extending from the short movie "Pikachu and Pichu", and it has two units. The first story included in "Pikachu's Winter Vacation 2001", and the second story included in the game "Pokémon Channel".

ANA flights shorts

Pikachu's Summer Festival (ピカチュウのなつまつり, Pikachū no Natsumatsuri)

The first short premiered on ANA flights on August 1, 2004.

Pikachu's Ghost Carnival (ピカチュウのおばけカーニバル, Pikachū no Obake Kānibaru)

The second short premiered on ANA flights on August 1, 2005.

Pikachu's Mischievous Island / Pikachu's Island Adventure (ピカチュウのわんぱくアイランド, Pikachū no Wanpaku Airando)

The third short premiered on ANA flights on August 1, 2006 and was released in the Pokémon Ranger and the Temple of the Sea DVD in the USA.

Pikachu's Exploration Club (ピカチュウたんけんクラブ, Pikachū Tanken Kurabu)

The fourth short premiered on ANA flights on August 1, 2007.

Pikachu's Great Ice Adventure (ピカチュウ 氷の大冒険, Pikachū Kōri no Daibōken)

The fifth short premiered on ANA flights on August 1, 2008.

Pikachu's Great Sparking Search (ピカチュウのキラキラだいそうさく, Pikachū no Kirakira Daisōsaku)

The sixth short premiered on ANA flights on August 1, 2009 and was released in the Pokémon Ranger: Locus of Light DVD in Japan.

Pikachu's Strange Wonder Adventure (ピカチュウのふしぎなふしぎな大冒険, Pikachū no Fushigina Fushigina Daibōken)

The seventh short premiered on ANA flights on August 1, 2010.

Pikachu's Summer Bridge Story (ピカチュウのサマー・ブリッジ・ストーリー, Pikachū no samā burijji sutōrī)

The eighth short premiered on ANA flights on August 1, 2011.

3D shorts

Pokémon 3D Adventure: Find Mew! (ポケモン3Dアドベンチャー ミュウを探せ!, Pokemon 3D Adobenchā: Myū o Sagase!)

The first Pokémon 3D short that was shown as the PokéPark in Japan in 2005, and it also shown when PokéPark was in Taiwan in 2006.

Pokémon 3D Adventure 2: Pikachu's Big Undersea Adventure (ポケモン3Dアドベンチャー2 ピカチュウの海底大冒険, Pokemon 3D Adobenchā 2: Pikachū no Kaitei Daibōken)

The second Pokémon 3D short that was shown in Japan in 2007.

Planetarium specials

Challenge from the Sky (天空からの挑戦)

This short movie was shown in a planetarium in Japan in 2004.

Get Together! Pokémon Planet Center (あつまれ！ ポケモン・プラネットセンター)

This short movie was shown in a planetarium in Japan in 2006.

Get Together! Pokémon Star Festival (あつまれ！ ポケモンまつり)

This short movie was shown in a planetarium in Japan in 2008.

Pokémon BW: The Celestial Globe of Light and Shadows! (ポケットモンスター ベストウイッシュ 光と影のテンキュウギ)

This short movie was shown in a planetarium in Japan in 2011.

Celestial Debris (宇宙の破片)

This short movie was shown in a planetarium in Japan in 2014.

Pokémon Chronicles

Pokémon Chronicles is a label created by 4Kids which is used for a collection of several as yet undubbed specials. The vast majority of the episodes making up Chronicles were taken from what was known in Japan as Pocket Monsters Side Stories (ポケットモンスターサイドストーリー, Poketto Monsutā Saido Sutōrī), which aired as part of Weekly Pokémon Broadcasting Station. The remaining portions of Chronicles consisted of the Pocket Monsters Crystal TV special, and installments from the Pikachu's Winter Vacation OVA series.

Pokémon Origins

Pokémon Origins is a television special that aired on TV Tokyo on October 2, 2013, and presented a story directly lifted from the original Pocket Monsters Red and Green video games (Red and Blue internationally).

Pokémon Generations

Pokémon Generations is an eighteen episode series of shorts highlighting every generation of Pokémon games up until X & Y. The first two shorts were released on September 16, 2016, on the official Pokémon YouTube channel, with subsequent shorts releasing through December 23, 2016. The series is considered to be more mature and action driven than the other Pokémon series. The creators indicated that Pokémon Generations is targeted to young adults who grew up with Pokémon as children in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

Weekly Pokémon Broadcasting Station

Weekly Pokémon Broadcasting Station (週刊ポケモン放送局, Shūkan Pokemon Hōsōkyoku) was a closely related spin-off series that aired with the beginning part of Pokémon: Advanced Generation. The show was presented as an animated variety show, and showed clip shows, reruns of Pokémon episodes, television airings of the Pokémon movies, cast interviews, and live action footage, in addition to the previously mentioned Pokémon Side Story episodes. The hosts were Mayumi Iizuka as Kasumi (Misty) and Yūji Ueda as Takeshi (Brock). They were regularly joined by Kaba-chan, Manami Aihara, Bernard Ackah and Rex Jones as the comedy team "Shio Koshō", Megumi Hayashibara as Musashi (Jessie), Shin-ichiro Miki as Kojirō (James), and Inuko Inuyama as Nyarth (Meowth). The show ran from October 15, 2002, to September 28, 2004, when it was replaced by Pokémon Sunday.

Pokémon Sunday

Pokémon Sunday (ポケモン☆サンデー, Pokemon Sandē) was broadcast on TV Tokyo from October 3, 2004, to September 26, 2010. The show is the successor to the Pocket Monsters Encore and the Weekly Pokémon Broadcasting Station. Like the shows before it, Pokémon Sunday is a sort of variety which featuring reruns of old episodes as well as a number of 'Research' episodes involving live-action elements. Regular guests include Golgo Matsumoto and Red Yoshida of TIM; Hiroshi Yamamoto, Ryūji Akiyama, and Hiroyuki Baba of Robert; Becky (through September 2006), and Shoko Nakagawa (starting October 2006).

Pokémon Smash!

Pokémon Smash! (ポケモンスマッシュ!, Pokemon Sumasshu!) is the successor to the Pokémon Sunday series. It aired from October 3, 2010, to September 28, 2013. Like its predecessors, Pokémon Smash! is a variety show that features live-action segments and reruns of old anime episodes. The theme song is "Endless Fighters" by AAA. Regular guests include Golgo Matsumoto and Red Yoshida of TIM; Shoko Nakagawa; and Hiroshi Yamamoto, Ryūji Akiyama, and Hiroyuki Baba of Robert.

Pokémon Get TV

Pokémon Get TV (ポケモンゲット☆TV, Pokemon Getto Terebi) is the successor to Pokémon Smash!, which premiered on October 6, 2013. Shoko Nakagawa remains as a host, and is joined by Yukito Nishii and comedy team Taka and Toshi. Just like its predecessors, it is a variety show featuring reruns of previous anime episodes and special live-action segments.

Airing and production

Pokémon is broadcast in Japan on the TX Network family of stations first on Thursday evenings; it is then syndicated throughout the rest of Japan's major broadcasters (All-Nippon News Network, Fuji Network System, Nippon Television Network System) on their local affiliates as well as on private satellite and cable networks on various delays. Production in Japan is handled by TV Tokyo, Medianet (formerly Softx), and ShoPro. Kunihiko Yuyama has served as the series' executive director since the original series. The latest series, Pokémon: Sun and Moon, began broadcast in Japan on November 17, 2016, with Tetsuo Yajima serving as director and Atsuhiro Tomioka as head screenwriter.

Internationally, The Pokémon Company International handles production and distribution of the anime, with DuArt Film and Video. The anime currently airs in 95 different countries. New episodes are first broadcast on American channel Disney XD, to which the channel will also have the airing rights to the previous episodes and the movies in the US. The Disney XD channels for the UK and Ireland (also handled by CITV Channel, and ITV4) and continental Europe handle broadcasting throughout Europe. Besides Disney XD, it also airs in Germany on Nickelodeon and ProSieben Maxx, in Belgium on vtmKzoom and Kadet. In Canada, the series has aired on YTV for over 16 years. Partway through XY, in 2014, it moved to Teletoon.

In Australia, this show was originally shown on Network Ten from 5 October 1998 until 22 February 2012, and was later moved to Eleven on 27 February 2012 and also shown on Cartoon Network until 2016 later moved to Boomerang. The show is now also being broadcast on 9Go!, which began on 4 December 2016. It is licensed by Beyond Home Entertainment.

In the UK, It was aired on Sky 1, ITV, ITV4, Cartoon Network, Toonami and Disney XD. It currently airs on CITV.

When the series started its broadcast in the United States, it was licensed by 4Kids Entertainment, produced by 4Kids Productions and syndicated by The Summit Media Group The show was syndicated until being moved to the Kids' WB block on The WB in February 1999. In the ninth season, after The WB branding went defunct, Pokémon's production was taken over by The Pokémon Company and TAJ Productions. After the tenth film and eleventh movie was released, DuArt took over. American channel Cartoon Network aired the series until the end of the XY series.

The Pokémon anime is available on Netflix in 216 countries with different dubs and subtitles, all countries have at least English audio. It is also available on Hulu in the United States and Japan, and Amazon Video in the United States, United Kingdom, Japan, Germany and Austria. It is also available through the Pokémon TV app for iOS, Android, and Amazon Kindle Fire.

Controversies

Pokémon has had several anime episodes removed from the rotation in Japan or the rest of the world. The most infamous of these episodes was Cyber Soldier Porygon (でんのうせんしポリゴン, Dennō Senshi Porygon, commonly Electric Soldier Porygon). The episode made headlines worldwide when it caused 685 children to experience seizures and seizure-like symptoms caused by a repetitive flash of light. Although the offending sequence was caused by Pikachu's actions, the episode's featured Pokémon, Porygon, has rarely been seen in future episodes, with appearances limited to one brief cameo appearance in the movie Pokémon Heroes and in one scene-bumper later in season 1. Its evolutions Porygon2 and Porygon-Z have only appeared in a brief part of the opening sequence of Pokémon the Movie: Kyurem vs. the Sword of Justice. Several other episodes have been removed from broadcast in Japan due to contemporary disasters that resemble events in the program; the 2004 Chūetsu earthquake, the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, and the 2014 Sinking of the MV Sewol all have caused cancellations or indefinite postponements of episode broadcasts. In the United States, the September 11 attacks in 2001 as well as 2005's Hurricane Katrina led to the temporary removal of two episodes from syndication.

On September 1, 2006, China banned the series from prime time broadcasting (from 17:00 to 20:00), as it did Western animated series such as The Simpsons, to protect its struggling animation studios. The ban was later extended by one hour.

On August 18, 2016, the XYZ episode Kalos League Victory! Satoshi's Greatest Decisive Battle (カロスリーグ優勝！サトシ頂上決戦, Karosurīgu yūshō! Satoshi chōjō kessen) (Down to the Fiery Finish! in the English dub) faced criticism from fans when Ash lost the Kalos League against Alain. The Pokémon fandom specifically criticized the episode due to misleading trailers that suggested that Ash would win the battle and because Ash had lost all of the Pokémon Leagues in past seasons. Fans also disliked the outcome because they believed Ash's Greninja had many advantages over Alain's Charizard, including the fact that water-type Pokémon are capable of critically defeating fire-type Pokémon, and that the rare Bond Phenomenon Greninja was subject to was said to be far more powerful than a conventional Mega Evolution. Several animators of the series expressed disappointment that Ash had lost. TV Tokyo's YouTube upload of the teaser of next week's episode received an overwhelming number of dislikes as a result of the outcome. On IMDb, the episode became one of the lowest-rated episodes of the entire anime.