Well… it’s a video game series, primarily. But there is a TV show (loosely) based on those games, and it’s an animated series from Japan. “Anime” as we use it in English is literally just a word for a Japanese animated series. So yes, Pokémon is an anime.
With over a thousand episodes under its belt, Pokémon sits alongside the likes of One Piece and Detective Conan as an anime institution. In some ways, it will be a strange day when Pokémon ends; that said, this is one long-running anime that is not worth watching in its entirety.
With no real animals around and only Pokemon, it can be assumed that people in the Pokemon universe eat Pokemon. It is known already that people drink "MooMoo Milk" which is milk from Miltank, but as far as meat goes, Pokemon does not go into what they do eat.
While in different dubs, the Pokémon tend to say their whole name or sometimes just a part of their names, many Pokémon in the Japanese version often only use a couple of syllables, if not only one syllable (although, it is noticeable with Pikachu in every dub), but Pokémon rarely ever say their full name.
The Pokémon anime owes a ton to the video games, but two properties that are such different mediums are inevitably going to lead to inconsistencies. The Pokémon video games revolve around strategy, paying attention to different Pokémon types, and other regimented concepts.
1:297:27Pokemon Theory: The Anime and Game ARE the Same Universe?!YouTubeStart of suggested clipEnd of suggested clipIt's amazing back in the day would be amazing to receive an event Pokemon for the original. GamesMoreIt's amazing back in the day would be amazing to receive an event Pokemon for the original. Games those Pokemon were so rare that they outdid the legendaries. Themselves take a look at this footage.
Pokémon can have more than four moves in the anime, and are not required to forget an old move in order to learn a new one (although some of the moves a Pokémon is shown using when first introduced will generally fall into disuse as the Pokémon learns more powerful moves as the series continues).
The Pokémon anime started in 1997, one year after the original game released in Japan. Those handheld classics celebrate their 20th anniversary this week.
15 Bellossom. The short film Pikachu's Rescue Adventure was part of a series of shorts that featured Pikachu and his Pokémon pals. The series actually introduced a few Generation II Pokémon before the release of Gold and Silver, including Bellossom. This particular short also featured Hoothoot, Ledyba, and Elekid.
The first short in the series debuted alongside the first movie, Mewtwo Strikes Back. In it, we're introduced to Snubbull and Marill.
Joining Lugia in debuting early as part of The Power of One is Slowpoke's branched evolution, Slowking . This mega-smart Generation II Psychic and Water-type appeared in the movie to help Ash and his friends solve the mysteries of the legendary birds and the attached prophecy.
Knowing this, it might surprise some people that many Pokemon actually appear in the anime before they ever feature in a game. One would think that the anime, which often follows after the games release, wouldn't be introducing new creatures. But, it has happened dozens of times.
Ash and Pikachu have been on the same adventure they’ve been on since the ‘90s, and their travels still don’t have an end in sight (above). While the anime benefits from a singular, long-running narrative, the games operate on a looser and more episodic chronology.
Porygon remained one of the classic 150 Pokémon in the games’ line-ups, occasionally appearing and otherwise in sequels’ rosters just like everyone in Generation I does. Porygon even got evolutions in Porygon2 and Porygon-Z, both of which were never shown or even mentioned in the anime.
Items in the Pokemon games typically exist solely to help the protagonist. Only difficult or late-game opponents use items. Meanwhile, the player is free to heal their Pokemon with potions over and over again. While it feels good on this side, having to watch that kind of battle would be infuriating.
More than type, stats, abilities, or anything else, the most important thing for a player to consider when they're playing a Pokemon game is level. If their Pokemon are many levels lower than their opponent's Pokemon, they're going to have a hard time making any progress.
8 Dodging. In the games, Pokemon have statistics that show how good they'll be at different things. Evasion dictates how good they are at dodging. Conversely, a move's accuracy reflects how likely it is to hit its opponent. There are moves to raise and lower both stats.
If a Pokemon is not told to dodge it will just stand there and take the hit even if it had plenty of time to get away . This mechanic would become incredibly repetitive and boresome in the games, but in the anime it quickens the pace and raises the excitement of a battle.
The goal of the games is to collect eight badges, go to the Pokemon League, defeat the Elite Four, and become the new champion. Ash's goal is similar, but instead of having to face the Elite Four, he has to fight tournament style with hundreds of other trainers. The anime's Elite Four exist seemingly just to be cool.
Many of Ash's victories are credited to his out-of-the-box thinking, which is good, because he clearly doesn't understand type matchups .
6 Battle Challenges. In the Pokemon games, battles are mandatory. The rule is that if the player makes eye contact with someone, they have to battle. What this looks like in practice is the player walking past an NPC's position without observing them in any way and then immediately being challenged anyway.
Along with the core series regions, there are also two regions exclusive to the anime: the Orange Archipelago and the Decolore Islands . Some towns and other locations also differ between the anime and the games. In the anime, the Whirl Islands are populated, but in the games they are just a series of caves.
In battles in the anime, moves can be used together to make a totally new move. In the anime, characters change their clothes when they go swimming. However, when a player dives underwater in the games, the player is still wearing their normal outfit.
A recurring theme in the Pokemon anime is Ash finding new traveling companions. In each region (or arc of the show), Ash finds a few other people that are interested in traveling through the area with him. The first companions were Misty and Brock, but there have been many others over the years.
Each game in the main series typically has just eight Gyms, but the anime often has a few more. Sinnoh, Unova, and Kalos are all home to more than ten Gyms, and trainers only need eight badges from any combination of them to challenge the League Conference.
Frankly, it's strange that it hasn't been added yet. In the games, all Pokemon eggs (for the most part) look the exact same — beige with green spots. But, in the anime, Pokemon eggs look like the Pokemon they contain. This would be a great feature.
The anime is one of the most robust and in-depth iterations of the Pokemon universe, and, as a result, has a lot going on that the games do not. Some of these features are fantastic in the anime but would be terrible in the games, but in some cases, the anime has features that would be great to see in a game one day.
In the games, they mostly just pop up in the grass as an individual . It would be great to see a living, breathing world where Pokemon interact with the environment and one another. The closest fans have gotten to seeing something like this is Pokemon Snap, which is luckily getting a new release sometime soon.
The anime seems to have this as Ash has problems with each Gym Leader equally. They don't get harder as Ash goes on, instead, each one poses the same type of challenge. This is arguably how it should be.
1 Live Combat. This is, unfortunately, something that may only ever appear in side games like Pokken Tournament, but live combat would be absolutely incredible in Pokemon. Sure, the series is one of the pillars of the turn-based battling genre, but live combat could be a whole new ball game for the series. The anime is almost always live combat ...