Anime & Manga Guide: Pokemon

Pokemon

Pokemon ("Pocket Monsters" in Japan) was originally a Nintendo video game designed by Satoshi Tajiri based on the idea of virtual pets. Players would train their Pokemon to develop its skills and compete in matches against Pokemon raised by other players.

Anime Story Background
Ash Catchum (named Satoshi in Japanese) was determined to become the world's greatest Pokemon trainer. The night before Ash was to get his first Pokemon, he was too excited to sleep and as a result overslept in the morning and missed the distribution of beginner-level Pokemon to new trainers. However Professor Oak, who ran the local Pokemon centre, gave Ash his last Pokemon which was a difficult Pokemon called a Pikachu. At first Pikachu was stubborn and would not co-operate with Ash. However after Ash risked himself to save Pikachu's life the two became inseperable partners on Ash's quest to collect every different type of Pokemon.

Characters
Ash's first travelling companion was Misty (Kasumi was her Japanese name). Misty was a novice Pokemon trainer from Cerulean City who specialized in water Pokemon. They met when Ash 'borrowed' her biycle in order to get Pikachu to a hospital. He wrecked Misty's bike in the process and has owed her one ever since. Ash's second friend was Brock (Takeshi in Japanese) who was originally a local Pokemon Gym Leader in Pewter City. However Brock was not really interested in combat matches. His true dream was to become an expert Pokemon breeder, so when the chance arose he joined Ash on his training journey. Many other people were helpful towards Ash and his friends. Every Pokemon Centre had a Nurse Joy (they all looked identical and were all supposed to be related to each other) and most towns had a policewoman named Officer Jenny (again all identical and supposedly related to each other). Professor Oak would periodically get in touch with Ash to assist him, although Oak's grandson Gary was actually Ash's rival.

On nearly every adventure Ash crossed paths with Team Rocket, a gang of villians made up of Jesse, James and Meowth whose goal was to steal rare and valuable Pokemon. During their first encounter with Ash, Team Rocket realized that his Pikachu was unusually intelligent and skilled beyond the average and so they always tried to capture him after that. Jesse's vanity, James's vacuousness, and Meowth's tendency to get what he deserved always added some fun to every adventure.

The Pokemon World
The Pokemon world had a number of distinctive features. Pokemon did not have individual names, but were called by whatever type of Pokemon they were. Most Pokemon communicated by saying their Pokemon name in different tones (an exception was Meowth who could speak normally). A properly raised Pokemon that gained enough life experience would 'evolve' into a more advanced form with a different Pokemon name. Pokemon battle competitions were organized by the Pokemon League. One of Ash's early tasks was to earn badges to qualify for participation in the Pokemon League. The main way to earn badges was to win matches against Gym Leaders, although Ash also earned some badges as rewards for good deeds. Several other items were important in the Pokemon world. Pokeballs were used to capture and store Pokemon- they would sleep happily within these red and white spheres until they were awoken for a match. The Pokedex was a pocket computer that gave information on all the known types of Pokemon. It also contained Ash's Pokemon trainer ID. The Pokemon Centres also had various devices for healing and transporting Pokemon.

Untranslated Episodes
Several episodes were excluded from the American broadcast of Pokemon. In 'Legend of Dratini' Team Rocket was trying to find a rare Water-Pokemon, Dratini, in the Safari Zone. James, in an uncharacteristically sinister scene, held the Safari Ranger at gunpoint to force him to reveal the Dratini's location. The episode 'Electric Warrior Polygon' was excluded for a completely different reason. In that episode a scientist named Professor Akihabara had invented a Human Transporter that allowed people to be transported electronically just like Pokeballs. However Team Rocket used his transporter to get inside the Pokeball transporter system and were intercepting Pokemon as they were sent from the Pokemon Centres. Professor Akihabara forced Ash and the others to go through his transporter system into the computer (kind of like the old movie 'Tron'), along with a Computer-Pokemon called 'Porygon' (a Japanization of the word 'polygon'). There they were able to defeat Team Rocket but a computer technician had introduced a 'Vaccine Program' into the computer that also attacked them. The whole chase/battle scene inside the computer involved a lot of blue and red flashing lights which were very irritating to view and actually triggered 'photosensitive' seizures in some of the children who were watching the original broadcast in Japan. Because of the popularity of the show a relatively large number of people were affected, and the incident was widely reported internationally. Unsurprisingly, the episode was never broadcast again.

Series Info
Pokemon was an exceptionally popular show both in Japan and around the world. There were 276 episodes in the main TV series. As of 2006 there are 8 Pokemon movies plus numerous specials. Related series include Pokemon Advanced Generation (2002-ongoing) which features further Adventures of Ash and Pikachu, Pokemon Chronicles (2002) which features various side-stories related to the original series, and a new series Pokemon DP (Diamond and Pearl) (2006).