Original series

A poster for the series, featuring Ash, Misty, Brock and some of their Pokémon

The original series of the Pokémon anime (Japanese: ポケットモンスター Pocket Monsters) is the first of its series. Unlike later series, the name of the original series comes only from the need to differentiate it from latter series. It ran from April 1, 1997 to November 14, 2002 in Japan and from September 7, 1998 to October 25, 2003 in the United States.

During the original series, rookie Trainer Ash Ketchum begins his journey in the Kanto region, leaving his home of Pallet Town with the only starter Pokémon that Professor Oak had left to give: a reluctant and moody Pikachu. Ash's quest begins in earnest to defeat all of the Gym Leaders and get to the Pokémon League as soon as he has gained Pikachu's trust, and he is joined by two mentors, Misty and Brock.

After competing in the Indigo Plateau Conference and not performing as well as he had hoped, Ash journeys to the Orange Archipelago to receive the GS Ball from Professor Ivy, as it cannot be transported to Professor Oak by PC. During his time there, Ash competes in another Pokémon League, the Orange League and meets a new friend named Tracey Sketchit. When Oak cannot figure out how to open the GS Ball on Ash's return to Pallet, the Professor sends Ash to Johto to give the special Poké Ball to Kurt. While there, Ash again competes in a Pokémon League, the Silver Conference.

Chapters

The original series is officially divided into three chapters:

• Pocket Monsters (ポケットモンスター) (EP001–EP081)
• Pocket Monsters: Orange Archipelago Chapter (ポケットモンスター オレンジ諸島編) (EP082–EP116)
• Pocket Monsters: Gold & Silver Chapter (ポケットモンスター 金銀編) (EP117–EP274)

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  Pocket Monsters logo

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  Pocket Monsters: Orange Archipelago Chapter logo

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  Pocket Monsters: Gold & Silver Chapter logo

Dub seasons

When the anime was dubbed into English and other languages, the series was divided into five seasons:

• Pokémon: Indigo League (EP001 - EP081)
• Pokémon: Adventures in the Orange Islands (EP082 - EP116)
• Pokémon: The Johto Journeys (EP117 - EP157)
• Pokémon: Johto League Champions (EP158 - EP209)
• Pokémon: Master Quest (EP210 - EP274)

Episodes in the original series are numbered with the prefix EP on Bulbapedia. For a complete episode listing, see the list of original series episodes.

Trivia

• Originally, this series of the anime was only to have lasted a year and a half, approximately as long as the Kanto saga lasted.
• At 274 episodes, this is the anime's longest series. This is because it adapted the games from two generations, I and II. The following series are adaptations of games of only one generation each.
  • This series has also the most dub seasons, counting five. This is one more season than both the Advanced Generation series and the Diamond & Pearl series has and two more seasons the Best Wishes series has.
  • Minus the 81-episode Kanto saga, which covered the storyline of Generation I, the series contains 193 episodes, only two more than the Diamond & Pearl series and only one more than the Advanced Generation series.
• This is the series with the most number of movies to date, with five.
• This is the only series to cover more than one generation, covering two.
• The first half of season 1 was originally aired in Syndication in the United States in 1998 before moving to Kids WB in 1999.

In other languages

Language		Title
Mandarin Chinese		神奇寶貝無印篇 Shénqíbǎobèi: Wúyìnpiān
Korean		포켓몬스터 Pocket Monster

Series and seasons of the Pokémon animated series Original series (list) Indigo League • Adventures in the Orange Islands The Johto Journeys • Johto League Champions • Master Quest Ruby and Sapphire (list) Advanced • Advanced Challenge • Advanced Battle • Battle Frontier Diamond and Pearl (list) Diamond and Pearl • Battle Dimension • Galactic Battles • Sinnoh League Victors Black & White (list) Black & White • Rival Destinies • Adventures in Unova and Beyond XY (list) XY • Kalos Quest • XYZ (Mega Evolution Specials) Sun & Moon (list) Sun & Moon • Ultra Adventures‎ • Ultra Legends Journeys (list) Journeys • Master Journeys • Ultimate Journeys (The Arceus Chronicles) Horizons (list) Horizons Specials (list) Pikachu's Winter Vacation • Side Stories • Pokémon Chronicles Planetarium specials • Pikachu shorts Mewtwo Returns • The Legend of Thunder! • Pichu Bros. in Party Panic The Mastermind of Mirage Pokémon • A Ripple in Time Complete list • Movies

This article is part of Project Anime, a Bulbapedia project that covers all aspects of Pokémon animation.