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Pokémon is a metaserial anime that is semi-loosely based on the Pokémon video game series and a part of the Pokémon franchise. It was created in Japan, as , and was then adapted for the North American television market.
In the United States, Pokémon is the fifth longest running animated TV show time wise, only beaten by The Simpsons, King of the Hill, Arthur, and South Park. . Pokémon, however, has more episodes than any of these shows and is the longest running and most successful television show based on a video game series.
The metaseries appeared outside Japan before the video games did, and has since spawned several movies. It is aimed at younger viewers but many other devoted fans of all ages enjoy the anime as well. Originally a single series, Pocket Monsters, it has since been spun off to three: Pocket Monsters: Advanced Generation, and subsequently Pocket Monsters Diamond & Pearl, continue the story of Pocket Monsters, while Pokémon Sunday (formerly Shūkan Pokémon Hōsōkyoku) is a series of stories revolving around some of the recurring characters.
The English adaptation of the series was produced by 4Kids Entertainment, and video distribution of the series was handled by Viz Media for the TV series for the younger generation as well as the eighth movie forward, Kids' WB and Nintendo for the first three movies and the first special, Miramax Films, and Buena Vista Home Entertainment for the fourth movie through the seventh. The series and all feature films are directed by Kunihiko Yuyama, with English adaptations originally written by Norman Grossfeld and Michael Haigney for the first eight seasons. However, starting with the ninth season, the American branch of The Pokémon Company, Pokémon USA, and TAJ Productions, who worked with 4Kids on the show before taking leave after Season 5, replaced 4Kids as the show's non-Japanese producers and distributors. The voice cast was also replaced by Goldstar Talent Agency working through TAJ,[1] causing some controversy among fans who admired the old voice cast.
The show recently started its fourth season of Advanced Generation, titled Pokémon: Battle Frontier. An English version of Shūkan Pokémon Hōsōkyoku has now been made, titled Pokémon Chronicles which premiered in the UK on Toonami on May 11, 2005 at 4:30 p.m. ET, and is currently airing on YTV in Canada. Each season also brings forth a Pokémon feature-length film, and each film up until the seventh is preceded by a Pokémon animated short. ''Pokémon'' CD's have been released in conjunction with the anime. The tracks feature songs that have been shown in the English dubbed version of the anime. However, some CDs have been released to promote and profit the anime.
In Japan, both series are shown on TV Tokyo, with Advanced Generation airing on Thursday nights (previously Monday) and Pokémon Sunday on Sunday mornings. In the United States, Advanced Generation could previously be seen on the air on the Kids’ WB! cartoon block on Saturdays, but in April 2006, Kids WB!, which continues on the newly-merged CW Network, announced the fall schedule and Pokémon was nowhere to be seen, replaced by the WB-created series Legion of Super-Heroes. The rights for Battle Frontier have been picked up by TimeWarner’s corporate sibling Cartoon Network instead,[2][3] and have aired on CN since September 9, 2006 at 9 a.m. US ET/PT, with a special prime-time episode having been aired the night before (September 8 at 8:30 p.m. ET/PT, following the Pokémon Mystery Dungeon special. Battle Frontier has been airing in the United Kingdom from February 5, 2007, the show also airs in Canada.
Recently the second and third Advance series, “Advanced Challenge” and “Advanced Battle” started airing as part of the Miguzi block on the US version of CN at 5:00 p.m. US ET/PT, and earlier editions of the series aired on CN’s American sibling service, Boomerang, from July 31, 2006 to October 20, 2006. Cartoon Network’s India service, along with their Toonami UK service, also carries Pokémon episodes. As of October 9, 2006, Cartoon Network’s online service, Toonami Jetstream, features Pokémon episodes starting at the Orange League episode “The Pokémon Water War”.
The newest series of Pokémon began airing in Japan on September 28, 2006 with a three-episode arc introducing the new series main female character Dawn (known as Hikari in Japan), based on the playable female player in the games. The new series aired with a sneak preview on April 20 in the USA. The sneak preview aired on May 5 in Canada. A dubbed version of the 90-minute preview done in Japan, takes place in the Sinnoh region, based on the new Pokémon Diamond and Pearl games. The new series will begin with at least a week of episodes in prime time on Cartoon Network June 4 as part of the Cartoon Network Summer 2007 programming promotion. This was confirmed in the Pokémon Ranger and the Temple of the Sea DVD released on April 2 of 2007. Ash, Pikachu, Brock and Team Rocket have all returned, Misty, will be returning soon in a later episode of the new series, as confirmed by her Japanese actress, while May and Max did not return as main characters, and might return as guest characters more later in the season. Dawn is taking their place, while a new rival for Ash, Paul, is also featured.
Like many anime metaseries, Pokémon and Pokémon: Advanced Generation episodes are split up into smaller series for the English release, usually to denote the areas and adventures going on. Because of this, series are identified by the opening animation used for the episode, rather than a run of a fixed number of episodes. They are subdivided as follows:
The main series tells the story of Ash Ketchum (Satoshi) and his quest to become a Pokémon Master. However, unlike in the video games, he is given a Pikachu as his first Pokémon under unusual circumstances. Much of the series focuses on the friendship between Ash, Pikachu, and the various Pokémon and Trainers along the way.
Throughout the run of the show the subject matter changes. In the early episodes, the show is more comical and whimsical (light and airy). It uses “goofy” humor (or “cute” humor when it comes to Pikachu, who does wacky things in between important scenes). As the show progresses and as Ash becomes more of a mature and leader-type character, the main course of the show becomes more or less serious, and its previous comical nature (for the most part) changes into comic relief, attributed mostly to Team Rocket.
English-language episode titles tend to be a play on common words or phrases in pop culture (e.g. “I Feel Skitty”, “Where’s Armaldo?”) rather than phrases or short sentences from other anime (e.g “Tetsusaiga, the Phantom Sword” from Inuyasha, “Byakugan vs. Shadow Clone Jutsu!” from Naruto) although early episode names were mostly translations of their Japanese counterparts.
Pokémon Chronicles, known in Japan as Shūkan Pokémon Hōsōkyoku (週間ポケモン放送局 “Weekly Pokémon broadcast”), is a closely related spinoff series that airs concurrently with the beginning part of Pokémon: Advanced Generation. The main episodes are stories that star various recurring characters that appeared in Pokémon, some of which account for discontinuities of the plot of Pokémon: Advanced Generation. However, instead of new episodes each week, as is the case with Pokémon: Advanced Generation, other things may air during Pokémon Chronicles, such as reruns of Pokémon episodes, television airings of the Pokémon movies, cast interviews, and live action footage.
During each season of the main series, a Pokémon feature film, starring the main characters from the TV series has been released. As of 2006, there have been nine movies and one feature length TV broadcast (released outside Japan as a direct-to-video movie titled “Mewtwo Returns”), the tenth is scheduled to be released on July 15, 2007 in Japan. 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 brand new Pokémon that are supposed to be in new versions of the game.
In North America, the first three films were distributed by Kids WB! (through Warner Bros. Family Entertainment) and Nintendo, the fourth through seventh were distributed by Miramax Films (through Buena Vista Distribution in the US and Alliance Atlantis - with Universal Studios Home Entertainment distributing the DVDs under its distribution deal with Alliance Atlantis - in Canada), the eighth and beyond are being distributed by Viz Media.
In the United Kingdom, the sixth film was distributed by Paramount Home Entertainment.
In Japan, all nine films and beyond are distributed by Toho (Toho Co. Ltd).
Each movie until the seventh is preceded by an animated short, featuring Pikachu and other Pokémon owned by the main characters and Team Rocket. Much of the dialogue in the short is done in the Pokémon language, which consists of grunting (for larger Pokémon) or stating the name of the Pokémon, and most of the intelligible dialogue (monologue?) excluding the narration is performed by Meowth.
On March 9, 2007, April 16, 2007, and May 21, 2007, in premiering order, Jirachi Wishmaker, Destiny Deoxys and Pokémon 4Ever became the first three Pokémon films to air on Toon Disney (a corporate sibling of Miramax).
<dl> <dt>Pikachu’s Summer Vacation<dt> Pokémon: The First Movie - Mewtwo Strikes Back</dt>Distributed by: Kids’ WB! and Nintendo <dd>Features the legendary Pokémon Mew and Mewtwo. Highest grossing of all Pokémon films and of all anime films in the US. Followed up by the special Pokémon: Mewtwo Returns.</dd><br/> <dt>Pikachu’s Rescue Adventure </dt> <dt>Pokémon: The Movie 2000 - The Power of One</dt> Distributed by: Kids’ WB! and Nintendo <dd>Features the legendary Pokémon Articuno, Zapdos, Moltres, and Lugia. </dd><br/> <dt>Pikachu and Pichu</dt> <dt>Pokémon 3: The Movie - Spell of the Unown</dt> Distributed by: Kids’ WB! and Nintendo <dd>Features the legendary Pokémon Entei and the Unown. Last movie to be in nationwide theaters in the US.</dd><br/> <dt>Pikachu’s Pikaboo </dt> <dt>Pokémon 4Ever - Celebi: Voice of the Forest </dt> Distributed by: Miramax Films and Buena Vista Distribution <dd>Features the legendary Pokémon Celebi and Suicune. First film to be released by Miramax outside Japan.</dd><br/> <dt>Camp Pikachu</dt> <dt>Pokémon Heroes - Latios and Latias</dt> Distributed by: Miramax Films and Buena Vista Distribution <dd>Features the legendary Pokémon Latios and Latias. Last movie to be seen in theaters outside Japan.</dd><br/> </dl>
<dl> <dt>Gotta Dance </dt> <dt>Pokémon: Jirachi Wishmaker</dt> Distributed by: Miramax Films and Buena Vista Home Entertainment in the United States, Alliance Atlantis/Universal Studios Home Entertainment in Canada, and Paramount Home Entertainment in the United Kingdom. <dd>Features the legendary Pokémon Jirachi and Groudon. First film to have a direct to video release outside Japan.</dd><br/> <dt>Pokémon: Destiny Deoxys</dt> Distributed by: Miramax Films and Buena Vista Home Entertainment <dd>Features the legendary Pokémon Rayquaza, and the alien virus Pokémon Deoxys. The first fourth-generation Pokémon, Munchlax, makes its debut in this film, which was also the first without a short.</dd><br/> <dt>Pokémon: Lucario and the Mystery of Mew</dt> Distributed by: Viz Media <dd>Features the legendary Pokémon Mew, Regirock, Registeel, Regice, and four of the new 4th generation Pokémon, Lucario, Bonsly, Weavile and Mime Jr. First film to feature a legendary Pokémon from a previous movie.</dd><br/> <dt>Pikachu's Island Adventure</dt> <dt>Pokémon Ranger and the Temple of the Sea</dt> Distributed by: Viz Media <dd>Features the legendary Pokémon Kyogre and the 4th generation Manaphy, and other 4th generation Pokémon Chatot, Buizel, Mantyke, and elements from the Pokémon Ranger game. First film on DVD outside Japan including a short that was previously released.</dl><br/>
<dl> <dt>Dialga VS Palkia VS Darkrai</dt> <dd>Will feature the legendary Pokémon Dialga, Palkia, and Darkrai.</dd> </dl>
Once in a while there would be other animated material that does not fit in with the main series or the movies. <dt>The Birth of Mewtwo/The Origin of Mewtwo</dt> <dd>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 US version DVDs, while the full uncut version was made available on the Mewtwo Returns DVD</dd> <dt>Slowking’s Day</dt> <dd>A short featuring Slowking. It was never released outside of Japan, most likely due to it only being a few minutes long.</dd> <dt>Pokémon: Mewtwo Returns</dt> <dd>A made for television special that followed up on Mewtwo after the events of the first movie.</dd> <dt>Raikou: Legend of Thunder</dt> <dd>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 and is called as such in the Japanese title.</dd> <dt>Pikachu’s Winter Vacation</dt> <dd>A series of winter theme Pikachu-centered shorts that went directly to video. The first two were part of the Pokémon Chronicles series.</dd> <dt>Pikachu’s Summer Festival</dt> <dd>A short that premiered on ANA flights.</dd> <dt>Pikachu’s Ghost Carnival</dt> <dd>The second short premiered on ANA flights.</dd> <dt>Pikachu’s Mischievous Island (a/k/a "Pikachu's Island Adventure")</dt> <dd>The third short premiered on ANA flights, and was released in the Pokémon Ranger and the Temple of the Sea DVD in the USA.</dd> <dt>Pokémon 3D Adventure: Find Mew!</dt> <dd>A Pokémon 3D short that was shown as the PokéPark in Japan in 2005.</dd> <dt>Pokémon 3D Adventure: Pikachu’s Big Undersea Adventure</dt> <dd>The second Pokémon 3D short, shown when PokéPark was in Taiwan in 2006.</dd> <dt>The Mastermind of Mirage Pokémon</dt> <dd>An hour-long TV special commemorating the tenth-anniversary of Pokémon in the United States. 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. <dt>Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Team Go-Getters Out Of The Gate!</dt> <dd>A special cartoon based on the new video games which was shown on Cartoon Network in the USA 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.</dd>
English names are given before the Japanese names in Western order (given name before surname), when possible. All Japanese names, unless otherwise noted, are romanized from katakana. For the sake of simplicity, English language names will be used in this and other articles in Wikipedia about Pokémon, unless explicitly referring to the Japanese version.
The Pokémon Anime has had several episodes banned from Japan, the Western World (referring to U.S. and Europe), or the entire world. One episode in particular falls into the latter category: “Dennō Senshi Porigon” (sometimes translated “Electric Soldier Porygon”, lit. “Computer Soldier Porygon”). Before the Pokémon series even debuted outside of Japan, 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 never been seen again in the anime. The scene has been toned down with the strobe effects removed, but unfortunately the episode has still not been re-aired or translated.
Seasons one (Indigo League), two (The Adventures in Orange Islands), five (Pokémon: Master Quest) and six (Pokémon: Advanced) of the series, were released on DVD. The second season is in three volumes while the fifth and sixth season are in two volumes. Only the first 26 episodes of Season One have been released on DVD. There is no news on whether the second half of season one will ever be released on DVD.
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