Pokémon Origins

Pokémon Origins logo

Pocket Monsters: The Origin logo

Pokémon Origins (Japanese: ポケットモンスター THE ORIGIN Pocket Monsters: The Origin) is a miniseries that closely follows the plot of Pokémon Red and Green. Aesthetically it is based on the artwork, sprites, and other minor elements from Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen (and to a far lesser extent, Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver), as well as including some unique features, such as Blue's green jacket and Mega Evolution. It stars Red as the protagonist and Blue as Red's rival.

The story is split into four episodes. It was first aired in Japan on October 2, 2013, airing in its entirety. The first episode premiered in English on Pokémon TV on November 15, 2013, with subsequent episodes following on November 18, 20, and 22, 2013; the episodes remained on Pokémon TV until December 2, 2013. All four episodes were released on DVD and Blu-ray in Japan on December 4, 2013. On January 30, 2014, the English dubs of all four episodes were made available on the Hulu streaming service for the United States, along with Prime Video. On May 28, 2014, the English dubs of all four episodes were released on the iTunes distribution service, available in standard-definition (SD) and high-definition (HD) formats. On September 13, 2016, the first English dubbed episode was uploaded to Pokémon's official YouTube channel.

Episodes

Code	Screenshot	English title	Japanese title	US broadcast	Japan broadcast	Time between
PO01		File 1: Red	レポート1 レッド Report 1: Red	November 15, 2013	October 2, 2013	44 days
PO02		File 2: Cubone	レポート2 カラカラ Report 2: Karakara	November 18, 2013	October 2, 2013	47 days
PO03		File 3: Giovanni	レポート3 サカキ Report 3: Sakaki	November 20, 2013	October 2, 2013	49 days
PO04		File 4: Charizard	レポート4 リザードン Report 4: Lizardon	November 22, 2013	October 2, 2013	51 days
This concludes Pokémon Origins.

Differences from the games

Although the miniseries is more faithful to the games than the main anime, there are still some differences, mainly to enhance the plot or due to time constraints.

• Red speaks (although he is also implied to speak in the games when talking to Copycat).
• The character dialogue is directly from Red and Blue when in the text boxes during the montages (such as the beginnings of Files 2, 3, and 4), but when actually spoken, it is retranslated.
• Pallet Town is much bigger.
• The two visits to Professor Oak's Laboratory for the starter Pokémon and the Pokédex are combined in Origins. Thus, Oak's Parcel is absent.
• Red encounters certain wild Pokémon in locations where they cannot be encountered in the games, such as Caterpie and Spearow appearing on Route 1.
• Red and Blue first battle on Route 1, instead of in Professor Oak's Laboratory. He references the lab battle by proposing that he and Red "test out [their] Pokémon" like in the games, but quickly changes his mind.
• Brock meets Red on Route 1, whereas in the games he meets Red at the Gym, like all Generation I Gym Leaders except Giovanni.
• The Gym Trainers do not battle Red.
• A minor character based on a nameless NPC in Mr. Fuji's house, Reina, is introduced.
• There are no Channelers or any other Trainers in the Pokémon Tower.
• Red is shown to already own a Jolteon by the time he visits Pokémon Tower, despite having not yet visited Celadon City, where he would obtain Eevee at Celadon Condominiums.
• The Silph Scope is obtained in the Pokémon Tower, instead of in the Rocket Hideout. However, a Team Rocket Grunt held it before Blue stole it from him.
  • The Rocket Hideout is instead encountered afterwards in a flash back in File 3.
• Blue helps Red in the Pokémon Tower.
• The ghost Marowak is calmed by her child, Cubone, instead of Red.
• Red's Haunter knows Shadow Punch, a Generation III move, and it is effective against Sabrina's Alakazam.
• Giovanni is the only Trainer that battles Red inside Silph Co. Also, Red loses against him.
• In the games, Blue leaves Red to defeat Team Rocket in Silph Co. In this special, he goes to inform the police, though only after being scolded by Red.
• The Master Ball's production is put on hold, as opposed to Red being given one.
• Giovanni uses fewer Pokémon.
  • This is referenced by him putting away his regular Gym Pokémon to battle Red with his two most powerful ones.
• In the games, Giovanni originally disbands Team Rocket because he does not wish to face his followers after losing to Red. In this special, he disbands them because he remembers his former love for Pokémon.
• One of the photos in the Hall of Fame includes a Slowking, a Generation II Pokémon.
• Blue goes to Cerulean Cave to catch Mewtwo, whereas in the game he does not go at all.
• Mewtwo knows Confusion instead of Psychic.
• Mega Evolution, Mega Stones, and Key Stones were all added in Pokémon Origins.

Cast

Cast
Red	Bryce Papenbrook	Red	Junko Takeuchi	レッド	竹内順子
Blue	Lucien Dodge	Green	Takuya Eguchi	グリーン	江口拓也
Professor Oak	Kyle Hebert	Dr. Okido	Katsuji Mori	オーキド博士	森功至
Brock	Johnny Yong Bosch	Takeshi	Tomokazu Sugita	タケシ	杉田智和
Giovanni	Jamieson Price	Sakaki	Rikiya Koyama	サカキ	小山力也
Reina	Christine Marie Cabanos	Reina	Yui Ishikawa	レイナ	石川由依
Lance	Robert Buchholz	Wataru	Tokuyoshi Kawashima	ワタル	川島得愛
Mr. Fuji	Kirk Thornton	Elder Fuji	Minoru Inaba	フジ老人	稲葉実
Red's mom	Laura Post
Lass	Cristina Vee
Pokémon Center Nurse	Cristina Vee
Silph Co. secretary	Erin Fitzgerald
Nidoran♂	Cristina Vee
Kabutops	Lucien Dodge
Oddish	Lucien Dodge
Koffing	Lucien Dodge
Cubone	Cristina Vee
Marowak	Laura Post
Pidgey	Christine Marie Cabanos
Caterpie	Christine Marie Cabanos
Mew	Christine Marie Cabanos
Vulpix	Erin Fitzgerald
Tentacool	Erin Fitzgerald

Gallery

For more artwork, please see Pokémon Origins images on the Bulbagarden Archives.

Characters

• 

  Red

• 

  Blue

• 

  Brock

• 

  Red's mom

• 

  Professor Oak

• 

  Giovanni

Posters

• 

  The Japanese poster

• 

  The English poster

Trailers

English

By Pokemon

This video is not available on Bulbapedia; instead, you can watch the video on YouTube here.

Japanese

By PokemonCoJp

This video is not available on Bulbapedia; instead, you can watch the video on YouTube here.

Trivia

• Unlike the main anime, all of the Pokémon make realistic, animal-like sounds. However, these sounds were still dubbed over and recreated by English-language voice actors in the English dub.
• The sound and visual effects for Poké Balls (such as when a Pokémon is being sent out) differ in comparison to the effects used in the main anime, instead being more loyal to the games. Another example is the three small stars that pop out of a Poké Ball when it has successfully caught a Pokémon.

In other languages

Language		Title
European French		Pokémon Les Origines
German		Pokémon Origins
Italian		Pokémon Le Origini
Korean		포켓몬스터 THE ORIGIN
European Spanish		Pokémon: Los orígenes

See also

• Pokémon Generations
• Pokémon: Twilight Wings

External links

• Pokémon Origins on Hulu (English)
• Pokémon Origins on iTunes (English)
• Official Pokémon English website announcement (archive)
• Official Hulu release announcement (English)
• Official website (Japanese)
• Official Pokémon website announcement (Japanese)
• Dengeki article (Japanese)

References

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