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Pokémon Info
'Pokémon' was originally created as a GameBoy game in 1995 by Satoshi Tajiri, the man who set up the Japanese game company, 'GameFreak'. Tajiri grew up outside Tokyo and spent his childhood years in the fields around the city capturing bugs, but with the growth of Tokyo, this land was over built. Losing his old stomping ground, Tajiri, as a teenager, found a new pass time - computer games; His love of games led him to set up his own company. Around 1990, he came up with a new idea for a game - 'Pokémon'
(The word 'Pokémon' is actually short for 'Poketto Monsuta',
which is Japanese for 'Pocket Monsters'). Over the next few years
he spent most of his time developing his idea (apparently for three
years he spent ten hours a day alone thinking about the game), in
which time many of his workers quit as they were not getting In '94 or '95 he approached Nintendo about publishing the game. Nintendo almost refused the idea, saying that the story line of the game was far to complicated and that the GameBoy was to old and obsolete for many more games as the N64 was nearly ready for release. Luckily, though, they decided to go on with the game. Within a very short while, the game became one of the biggest Nintendo successes, selling several million copies within the first year in Japan. Initially there were two games, Red and Green (Green was released as Blue in the West). Astounded by it's success, a card game was created in 1996, which became one of the best selling card games. Then in 1997, Nintendo approved plans for a family anime series which would follow the adventures (or rather misadventures) of a character based on the playable character in the game, a ten year old boy with dreams of becoming a Pokémon Master. In the Japanese version they called him Satoshi, after the game's creator. Again, as you can see happens with anything 'Pokémon', it became one of the top rated shows in Japan, and the number one anime on TV Tokyo. The show is animated by Shogakukan Production, and is directed by Hidaka Masamitsu. Spurred on again by success, five movies have now been created
- 'Mewtwo Strikes Back', with the featurette 'Pikachu's Vacation'
(1998/99); 'The Power of One', with the featurette 'Pikachu's Rescue
Adventure' (1999/2000); 'The Spell of the Unown', with the featurette
'Pichu to Pikachu' (2000/01); 'Celebi - The Voice of the Forest',
with the featurette 'Pikachu's Great Hide & Seek!' (2001/02);
and Guardian Spirits of the Water Capital: Latias and Latios (2002/03).
The sixth movie, 'Wishing The featurettes are very cheerful, with little dialogue, and are mainly aimed towards younger 'Pokémon' fan, while the actual movies are a lot darker, more violent, with more complex story lines, than the usually light-hearted series, and are primarily for older fans. The show has also released several music albums, both in Japanese and English, which have also become hits. The show debuted in North America on September 7th, 1998, and in Britain a few months later. It has been translated into several different languages, including English, French, German and Italian. It has also been banned in several countries, mainly those with religion-controlled governments.
The Anime - A Brief Synopsis The show begins with it's main character, Ash Ketchum, preparing to leave the next day to begin his journey. He is unsure which Pokémon to choose, Bulbasaur, Squirtle or Charmander, to begin with, but he accidentally sleeps in, and ends up running to Professor Oak's home in his pyjamas just to be told that the three Pokémon have been taking by trainers who weren't late. Only one remains, a Pikachu, who seems to have a problem with authority. At first, travelling is difficult, but after Ash proves himself to his first Pokémon, by risking his life to save him from a flock of Spearow, he begins to trust him. On the way, Ash meets Misty, a gym leader from Cerulean, and destroys her bike, leading her to vow never to leave Ash until he pays her back. Later they meet Brock, the Pewter City gym leader. He leaves with them to pursue his dream of becoming a Pokémon breeder. Over the next year and a half the four travel together, fighting off numerous attempts by three members of Team Rocket, a notorious gang of professional thieves, to steal Pikachu. During this time, Ash earns eight gym badges, enough to enter the Indigo Pokémon League where he wins four matches and is placed among the Top-16. He was beaten by new found friend, Richie. After the League competition, Ash, Misty and Brock set of for Valencia Island to collect the mysterious G/S ball for Professor Oak from Professor Ivy. Still, no one knows what is contained within it. Brock also leaves the group to stay and learn at Ivy's Laboratory, and Ash and Misty met Tracey, a Pokémon watcher, who hopes to become a professor someday. While in the Orange Archipelago, Ash tries to earn the four badges which will allow him to compete against the Orange Crew, the best trainers on the Orange Islands. After he becomes Orange League Champ, they all journey back to Pallet, and met up with Brock again (who for some reason shudders at the sound of Ivy's name), and Tracey stays with at Professor Oak's Lab. The group again leave Indigo/Kanto, this time for Johto, a region to the west of Pallet Town, to compete in the Johto League Championship, and to deliver the G/S ball to Kurt, a pokéball expert. In this league, like the Indigo League, a trainer must earn eight badges. Ash and Misty also take part in the Whirl Islands competition. Now Ash has completed the Johto League, coming eight overall, he, Misty and Brock all seperate to return to their hometowns, before travelling to Hoenn. Brock follows and they befriend a newbie trainer, named May.
Differences Between Western Cartoons and 'Pokémon' Pokémon, as I'm sure you know, is Japanese anime. This creates so many differences between it and typical Saturday morning cartoons. For a start, Japanese humour is much more surreal than American humour. The humour can also be more adult than in other animation, with sexual innuendoes, although usually very vague, appeal to the older viewers, which censors have tried to cut out completely. Also, 'Pokémon' is a mixture of contrasts. It generally does not take itself seriously at all, with very embarrassing circumstances for it's characters, but within seconds, it can turn serious, dealing with issues that western cartoons rarely would touch with a ten foot barge pole, for instance the death of a major character. The show is not like many western equivalents as the character do not live in a world where everything always works out for the best. But even the bad guys are shown to have a soul. They usually have a reason for what the are doing, and are shown to regret things. In many western cartoons, the characters can be very two dimensional, pure white or black, where 'Pokémon' is more shades of grey. There have been times where Team Rocket have seemed truly caring, and very human, and also we've seen the 'good guys' bad sides and they have made many mistakes along the way. In Pokémon, it is not always the heroes that save the day. Generally, it is someone who they have met in the episode, and maybe they help. The show also deals with things that are typical of teenage life, friendships, love, etc., but also there are situations that are more serious, like ancient prophecies coming true. Also, there is a dark undertone to 'Pokémon' - Team Rocket. They are an organization similar to the Yakuza, the Japanese Mafia, who are hell-bent on eventually controlling the world, and they have made a good start so far. Giovanni, the Team Rocket boss, has some control over many of the cities on Indigo Island, runs his own gym, has a theme park, blimping company, and seems to have some control over the police service (members of Team Rocket run around in uniforms in the daylight with no bother, and when they are arrested, Giovanni bails them out easily, no matter their crime, a little like the real Mafia).
Pokémon - A kids show? This seems to be the opinion in the West, but in Japan itself it was created as a family show, and therefore appeals to all ages on different levels. The reason it is generally thought of as a kid's show is because over here in the West people still think that animation is only for the under tens, even with programmes like 'South Park' on TV. Just look at the show and you can easily see that it is aimed towards all age groups. For a start, the age of the main five human characters. At the beginning, they ranged in age from ten to seventeen, with the older characters more interested in older things, like romance and love. Also, how many kids shows have two thieves as main, and pretty cool and likeable characters (although this is really common in Anime). And do you think a Western children's cartoon would have a cross-dresser as a main character (I'm referring to the fact that James seems to prefer to wear woman's clothing. A lot of the time when Jessie and James are both in disguise, James wears the skirt and Jessie wears the trousers)? And what about the dark background to the show with the whole Team Rocket thing? Okay, Jessie, James and Meowth aren't much of a threat to the freedom of the world, but what about Cassidy, Butch, Domino and Giovanni. Another piece of evidence for it being a family show in Japan is the cases of two of the banned episodes in America and Britain. 'Holiday in Acapulco' was banned as it was viewed as too saucy for daytime TV. This was because of the number of sexy, scantily women in the episode, and also the fact that there was a bikini competition which only had one competitor, James, complete with bikini and inflatable breasts. The other episode was 'The Legend of Dratini' which was banned for being too violent, with its mixture of guns and bombs. In one scene, Ash asks someone a question and has a gun shoved in his face. In Japan, these episodes are shown without any complaints. Also, here in the West, Pokémon is shown either early in the morning or at about three or four in the afternoon, while in Japan new episodes are shown at about six or seven at night, prime time for family viewing. There, it is the same as 'The Simpsons' or 'King of the Hill' over here (but then people have made the mistake of calling these children's shows when they are family shows), eventhough Pokémon is generally more serious and violent than these. The main reason Pokémon is considered a kids show here is that it is animation and two of the main characters were preteens, and the other three are in their teens. Also, from personal experience, it appeals to teenagers and people much older. A lot of the people who I hang around with love anime, and it is great to be able to see Anime before twelve o'clock at night and on a channel other than Sci-fi. Also, luckily, Pokémon is one of the least cut dubbed Animes, which means a lot of the Japanese strange humour is left, and so is a lot of stuff (like sexual innuendoes and violence) that the censors would love to cut. I'm in my late teens, and a lot of the people I hang around with love it because of the unusual humour and as it is so different to Western family programmes that are on over here (stuff like Disney). Pokémon is a show for everyone who likes it, regardless of age.
Pokémon's Problems 'Electric Soldier Porygon' The Anime has had more than it's fair share of problems. The first of these, and probably the most serious, was when the infamous episode 38, 'Electric Soldier Porygon', was first shown in Japan. It aired on December 16th, 1997 at 18:30 and over the next few days 700 people were hospitalized due to a flashing effect used in the scene where Ash, Misty and Brock entered a super computer and meet the first man-made, digital Pokémon, Porygon. The episode flashed 105 alternating red- and white-lit images in five seconds. This effect had never really been tried before in animation. People were suffering of nausea, breathing troubles, convulsions, and loss of consciousness. All of these symptoms are similar to those of visually induced epileptic illnesses. This incident sparked a new round of overreaction from the anime-ignorant media. The show was pulled from Japanese TV, and it was not until April that the Anime was allowed to be shown again, after fans appealed to the TV stations to bring it back. The incident, however, was not altogether bad for the show. It made the show famous all over the world where it had probably never been heard of before. The episode has been reshown in Japan since then, but the speed of the flashing effects (which caused the problem) have been slowed, and there have been no more incidents (they also altered many other episodes, shown and unshown, to prevent anything happening in the future). But still, this episode has never been translated or shown outside of Asia. But the fallout from this can still be felt. Ever seen an anime that says something along the lines of 'Please only watch animation in a well lit room and sit back from the television'? This was a direct result of the incident
Probably Pokémon's biggest opponent are stoutly religious Christian and Muslim churches, who have always looked down upon anime. They believe that the show is un-Christian/Muslim, and with the facts that it is Japanese, which is largely a Buddhist and Shinto country, and the only evident of Christianity is crosses and Santa Claus, I guess I believe them; but it's not a bad thing. Far from it. It exposes people to a way of life they may never have been in contact with previously. Also the church says that it promotes homosexuality and transvestism (several of the male characters have dressed up as women, (cross-dressing is a popular theme in anime), and have long hair), violence and sex. They also believe that the show promotes occultism, as two Pokémon are called Abra and Kadabra, and ancient incantation spell used by some cults. Also, the fact that many people have psychic powers, and that there are Psychic, Ghost and Dark-type Pokémon. Personally, I feel it is doing the world a favour by promoting understanding and showing everyone, especially kids, that it doesn't matter who you are, what religion you follow, your sexual preference or whatever, but that it is your actions that make you who you are. About cult promotion, it's just telling people about other ways of life, and because many of the Pokémon's name are taken from history and culture it will hopefully encourage people to look the stuff up. I've heard of an incident where a minister in America destroyed Pokémon merchandise because he believe the show was a creation by the devil, and had his young son set fire to the stuff himself! I'm sorry, but I think that that is just stupid and very irresponsible of a father to let his son do. Yes, Pokémon is probably one of the most controversial family shows made, which displays a Japanese society, rather than a western one, where everyone gets along with people who you should think would be their enemies, where good and evil isn't all black and white. The good guys sometimes do things that are wrong, and the bad guys do have feelings and regret what they have done. Personally I think it is a change from the sugar coated world of nothing-ever-bad-happens we in the West are subjected too. Even the Pope has said that the show is good for children as it teaches about taking responsibility for your actions, how to treat others and the importance of friendship. It is probably the first TV show that has had a personal endorsement from the Pope.
Censors are another Pokémon opponent. In Japan, not a single episode has been banned, but a few have in the west (see below). Some episodes have actually had there first showing delayed in the US, for instance 'The Psychic Sidekicks', which was held off for two months. However, the UK and Ireland seem to have a slightly more relaxed view of 'controversial' episodes. This episode was shown in the normal run of the series, despite the fact that both the US and UK were showing episodes only a week or two apart.
Poké Facts Jessie and James, as if you didn't know, are named after the infamous Wild West criminal, Jesse James, and Butch and Cassidy were named after Butch Cassidy, another Wild West criminal. Jessie's and James' names in the original Japanese version are Musashi and Kojiro, retrospectively. Musashi and Kojiro were both famous Samurai. Musashi was a very peaceful, poetic man, very different to Jessie, and Kojiro was his chief rival. This is pretty weird as in the Anime series, they are partners and best friends (and possibly more). Team Rocket have even sworn an oath on a Samurai sword before ('The Legend of Dratini'). The Samurai Musashi's surname was Miyamoto, and in 'The Birth of Mewtwo', one of the Japanese CD dramas, Jessie's mother was named Miyamoto. Also, the Yamato (Cassidy's Japanese name) was the name of one of Japan's warships in the Second World War, and it's sistership was named the Musashi. Meowth is based upon the 'Maneki Neko', a good luck charm in Japan. It is a cat that often has one of it's paws raised. Ash's name in the French version of Pokémon is Sacha, where Misty is Ondine and Brock is Pierre.
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