Pokémon (anime)

Pokémon (ポケモン), abbreviated from the Japanese title of Pocket Monsters (ポケットモンスター), is a children's anime TV series, which has since been adapted for the international television markets. It is based on the Pokémon video game series and a part of the Pokémon franchise.

The Pokémon metaseries is split up into four chronologically sequential series in Japan, split up by the version of the video game series the anime takes inspiration from: the original series (split up into the Orange Islands and Gold-Silver sub-chapters), the Advanced Generation series, the Diamond & Pearl series, and currently the Best Wishes! series which started its Season 2 chapter in June 2005. In the international broadcasts, these four series are split into 15 separate seasons. These anime series are accompanied by spin-off programming, consisting of Pokémon Chronicles, a series of side stories featuring characters in the anime that are not its current cast of main characters, and the live action variety and Pokémon-related news shows of Weekly Pokémon Broadcasting Station, Pokémon Sunday, and the current incarnation of Pokémon Smash!.

Plot
The series follows Ash Ketchum and his friends (both human and Pokémon) that he makes on the way as he travels the world catching new Pokémon, battling Pokémon trainers, winning Gym Badges to enter tournaments, and thwarting the attempts of criminal organizations. The anime adapts a fair amount of video game logic from the original games, such as multiple lookalike characters in different regions and Ash being unable to carry more than six Pokémon with him at a time.



TV series
In Japan, Pocket Monsters has been broadcast under its original title and under three 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 Pocket Monsters: Best Wishes!. 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 season airing is ''Pocket Monsters: Best Wishes! Season 2 in Japan and Pokémon: Black & White: Rival Destinies'' internationally.

Movies
During each season of the main series, a Pokémon Feature Film (劇場版ポケットモンスター) starring the main characters from the TV series has been released. , there have been 15 movies and one feature length TV broadcast (released outside Japan as a direct-to-video movie titled "Mewtwo Returns"). 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
Except main series and 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 8 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

 * The Birth of Mewtwo / The Origin of Mewtwo (ミュウツーの誕生)
 * 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.


 * Pokémon: Mewtwo Returns / Mewtwo! I Am Here (ミュウツー! 我ハココニ在リ)
 * 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)
 * 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.

Normal-length TV specials

 * The Mastermind of Mirage Pokémon / The Terrifying Mirage Pokémon (戦慄のミラージュポケモン)
 * An hour-long TV special commemorating the tenth-anniversary of Pokémon in the United States.it aired on Kids' WB the sister station of Cartoon Network that Had  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.


 * 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)
 * A special anime 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.


 * 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)
 * 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 USA 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～)
 * 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 USA, and also premiered on October 9, 2009 on Cartoon Network in the USA and the following day on YTV in Canada.


 * Pokémon Ranger: Guardian Signs (ポケモンレンジャー 光の軌跡)
 * 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 2003, and Part 2 was aired on March 2003). 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) is a series of winter themed Pikachu-centered shorts that went directly to video. 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.

ANA flights shorts

 * Pikachu's Summer Festival (ピカチュウのなつまつり)
 * The first short premiered on ANA flights on 1997.


 * Pikachu's Ghost Carnival (ピカチュウのおばけカーニバル)
 * The second short premiered on ANA flights on 1998.


 * Pikachu's Mischievous Island / Pikachu's Island Adventure (ピカチュウのわんぱくアイランド)
 * The third short premiered on ANA flights on 1999 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)
 * The fourth short premiered on ANA flights on 2000.


 * Pikachu's Great Ice Adventure (ピカチュウ 氷の大冒険)
 * The fifth short premiered on ANA flights on 2001.


 * Pikachu's Great Sparking Search (ピカチュウのキラキラだいそうさく)
 * The sixth short premiered on ANA flights on 2002 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)
 * The seventh short premiered on ANA flights on 2003.


 * Pikachu's Summer Bridge Story (ピカチュウのサマー・ブリッジ・ストーリー)
 * The eighth short premiered on ANA flights on 2004.

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!)
 * The first Pokémon 3D short that was shown as the PokéPark in Japan in 1998.


 * 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)
 * The second Pokémon 3D short, shown when PokéPark was in Taiwan in 1999.

Pokémon Chronicles
Pokémon Chronicles is a 4Kids-created label used for a package collection of several as of 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), 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.

Weekly Pokémon Broadcasting Station
Weekly Pokémon Broadcasting Station (週間ポケモン放送局) 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 show ran from October 1995 to September 1997, when it was replaced by Pokémon Sunday.

Pokémon Sunday
Pokémon Sunday (ポケモン☆サンデー) debuted on TV Tokyo on October 1997 and lasted until September 2003. 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.

Pokémon Smash!
Pokémon Smash! (ポケモンスマッシュ！) is the successor to the Pokémon Sunday series. It debuted on TV Tokyo on October 3, 2003. 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.

Airing and production
The English adaptation of the series was produced by 4Kids Entertainment and video distribution of the series was handled by Viz Media and Pioneer Entertainment for the TV series, Warner Bros. and Nintendo for the first three movies, the thirteenth movie, and the first television special, Miramax Films, and Buena Vista Home Entertainment for the fourth movie through the seventh, Viz Media for movies eight to ten, and Universal Studios for the eleventh and twelfth films. The series and all feature films are directed by Kunihiko Yuyama, with English adaptations originally written by Norman J. Grossfeld and Michael Haigney for the first eight seasons. However, starting with the ninth season, The Pokémon Company International (operating as Pokémon USA at that time,) 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. Most of the original voice cast was also replaced by TAJ for budget purposes, causing controversy among fans who admired the original voice actors. When TAJ closed their doors, they were replaced by DuArt Film and Video for the tenth movie and Season 11 of the anime series onward. In Canada, Pokémon first aired and has been airing on YTV since late 1998. YTV has been airing Pokémon longer than any other English network and is Subsequently YTV's longest running show. In the UK, Pokémon first aired on Sky1, then it was followed by airings on CITV in the summer of 1999 including their Saturday morning show SMTV Live and proved to be extraordinarily popular, to the point were segments and sketches of the show itself were based around Pokémon (e.g. the Pokérap). As part of their relaunching of their internet site, the full first season of the anime is being shown on the Pokemon.com web site in the USA.

The show (as of September 23, 2010, in Japan) has premiered the "rebooted" series, Pocket Monsters: Best Wishes! on TV Tokyo Thursday nights at 7:00 PM JST. The metaseries had been airing on Tuesday nights in the earlier seasons. In the United States (as of February 18, 2012) the series is airing its second season of Black & White on Cartoon Network, with episodes premiering Saturday mornings at 8:30 AM ET/PT. An English version of Pokémon Side Story has now been made, titled Pokémon Chronicles which premiered in the UK on Toonami on May 11, 2005 at 4:30 p.m. BST, and is currently airing the 13th season 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 CDs 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.

Pokémon Diamond and Pearl began airing in Japan on September 28, 2006 with a three-episode arc introducing the new series' main female character Dawn (known in Japan as Hikari), based on the playable female player in the Diamond and Pearl games. The new series aired with a sneak preview on April 20, 2007 in the USA. The sneak preview aired on May 5 in Canada. A dubbed version of the 90-minute preview done in Japan, Diamond and Pearl takes place in the Sinnoh region, based on the new Diamond and Pearl games. The new series aired in prime time on Cartoon Network starting June 4 at 7:30 PM ET/PT as part of the Cartoon Network Summer 2007 programming promotion. The summer run was confirmed in the Pokémon Ranger and the Temple of the Sea DVD released on April 2, 2007. Pokémon Diamond and Pearl has also been airing on YTV in Canada since September 8, 2007. Ash and Brock are joined by a new coordinator named Dawn, and the trio travel through Sinnoh, collecting gym badges and ribbons. Gary returned in this series.

Diamond and Pearl came to an end on September 9, 2010, and two weeks later was replaced by a new series based on the games, Pokémon Black and Pokémon White. On June 9, 2010, a blog posted by the storyboard writer revealed that the first four episodes of the Pokémon: Black & White series were finished and confirmed Ash returning. Two new characters would be traveling with Ash. On July 1, 2010, the official title of the 4th series - Pocket Monsters: Best Wishes! - was revealed. The series introduced two new characters traveling with Ash - Iris, whose Axew travels in her hair, and Cilan, a "Pokémon Connoisseur" ("Sommelier" in Japan) who is a Gym Leader and specializes in relationships with Pokémon and their trainers. In addition, a new rival, Trip, was introduced as well.

In the UK, the first eight series were aired on multiple channels, ITV1, ITV2, Channel 5 and Sky1. Battle Frontier and Diamond and Pearl were aired on Cartoon Network. The CITV Channel and ITV4 recently broadcast the Battle Frontier episodes for the first time on free TV, on everyday as part of Action Stations!. Battle Dimension started airing in the UK on September 6, 2008, on Disney XD (née Jetix), which is advertised confusingly as "the new home for Pokémon in the UK", however episodes airing on Jetix/Disney XD have also aired on CITV and ITV4, with ITV4 sometimes premiering new episodes. Jetix/Disney XD's various European channels also started including Pokémon in their schedules from late 2008, making it the only channel to air the newest Pokémon series in some regions. The show will air on Pop soon.

In Germany the series was shown for the first time on 1 September 1999. As collecting main the USA version serves and simply with Germans dialogues was provided. In Germany so far 15 Seasons was shown from RTL2.

In Australia Pokémon: Black & White seasons airs on Eleven on 27 February 2012 at 7am Weekdays, formerly aired between Season 1-14 from 2000 to 2012 on Network Ten, also aired on Cartoon Network from 2001 to present.

Cartoon Network's India and Pakistan services, along with their Toonami UK service, also carries Pokémon episodes. As of October 9, 2006, Cartoon Network's online service, Toonami Jetstream, featured Pokémon episodes starting at the Orange League episode "The Pokémon Water War". As from November 16, 2009, Cartoon Network India is going to air the dub of Pokémon Diamond and Pearl while Cartoon Network Pakistan is going to air it from November 9, 2009. The last season of Diamond & Pearl series and thirteenth season overall, Pokémon Diamond & Pearl: Sinnoh League Victors premiered on October 3, 2011 in India. The last episode of Diamond & Pearl series that was shown on October 25, 2011 in India, while it is set to premiere on Cartoon Network Pakistan on February 1, 2012.

Controversy
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 Electric Soldier Porygon (でんのうせんしポリゴン). 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 except for 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 never appeared either. On September 1, 2006, China banned the series from prime time broadcasting (from 17:00 to 20:00), similarly to Western animated series such as The Simpsons, to protect its struggling animation studios. The ban was later extended by one hour.

Japan

 * Pokémon JP official website
 * Pokémon anime website at TV Tokyo
 * Pokémon: Advanced Generation website at TV Tokyo
 * Pokémon: Diamond and Pearl website at TV Tokyo
 * Pokémon TV Anime at Pokémon JP official website

United States

 * Pokémon US official website
 * Pokémon: Black & White website at Cartoon Network
 * Archive of the 4Kids corporate page about Pokémon anime
 * Archive of the KidsWB content about Pokémon
 * Bulbapedia: The Pokémon Encyclopedia

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