Pokémon the Series

Early anime frame from EP093

The Pokémon anime, often referred to as just "the anime" by Pokémon fans, is a collective term referring to currently 251 main series episodes, 29 movies, and a number of side-story episodes, all focusing on Pokémon. The great majority of these focus on Ash Ketchum, a Pokémon Trainer from Pallet Town, and his journey toward his ultimate goal of being a Pokémon Master, his many friends, and most especially his Pokémon, whom he considers his partners and friends.

Though the anime is ultimately based upon the games and draws heavily from them, many concepts which are only touched on the games are spun in a unique way, and expanded on.

The anime is airing in 98^[1]^[2]^[3] different countries, many times being dubbed into other languages for different locales. It is available on Netflix in 217 countries with different dubs and subtitles, and all countries except Japan have at least English audio.^[4] The Pokémon Company International usually refers to the anime as the "Pokémon animated series" or "Pokémon television series", while some event Pokémon based on Pokémon from the anime have their location set as "the Pokémon cartoon" in the English version of the games.

Overview

From the very first episode, Ash has been the central character, making his goal of becoming a Pokémon Master known to all he meets. Though initially, he only became a Pokémon Trainer with the goal of beating his rival, Gary Oak, the many Pokémon Ash has met over his journey have shown him what being a Pokémon Master really is. Unlike most Trainers from Pallet, and indeed, unlike players of Pokémon Red, Green, and Blue and Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen, Ash did not start his journey with Bulbasaur, Charmander, or Squirtle, as he arrived late to Professor Oak's lab to receive his starter Pokémon. Instead, Ash was given the only Pokémon Oak had left to give, a Pikachu that did not enjoy being inside his Poké Ball, and from there Ash learned to treat his Pokémon as partners, earning Pikachu's trust by keeping him safe from a flock of Spearow he angered.

Since then, Ash has journeyed across all six of the regions that appear in the core series Pokémon games, as well as the Orange Archipelago, a region he visited before beginning his journey in Johto until it was closer in time to the real world release of Pokémon Gold and Silver. In each, he battles against the native Gym Leaders for their Badges, as do Trainers in the core series games, to compete in the regional Pokémon League, a championship tournament, rather than five battles straight against the Elite Four and Champion. While his initial strategy was to continue using the same party over the course of his journey, letting some Pokémon go when they were required to do something or wanted to train, he has, since his journey in Hoenn, changed strategy, and now uses only those Pokémon which he has caught in the region, alongside Pikachu, to battle against Gym Leaders, with his explanation to Dawn being that he wants to prove to the young, unevolved Pokémon he meets in each new region that they can win if they try.

Over the course of the series, Ash has had several friends who travel with him, typically across one region, who assist him in his journey as much as he assists in theirs. Misty, the Gym Leader from Cerulean City in the games, joins him in the original series, as does Brock, Pewter City's Gym Leader, in Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, and Sinnoh. Tracey Sketchit, an amateur Pokémon watcher, joins Ash during his Orange Archipelago journey, but leaves him on Ash's return to Pallet to become an assistant to Professor Oak, his hero. May and Dawn, rookie Coordinators, join Ash for the duration of the Advanced Generation and Diamond & Pearl series, respectively; in these he mentors them much as Brock and Misty did him, while Max, May's brother, who is too young to own Pokémon, looks up to Ash for the duration of the Advanced Generation series. Iris and Cilan travel with Ash in the Best Wishes series. Clemont, his sister Bonnie and Ash's childhood friend Serena travel with Ash in the XY series. Like Max, Bonnie is too young to own Pokémon, but cares for her brother's Dedenne. In the Sun & Moon series, Ash attends the Pokémon School instead of traveling around the Alola region. As such, his new friends—Lillie, Mallow, Kiawe, Lana, and Sophocles—are not traveling companions but classmates.

The anime is produced in Japan, and airs on TV Tokyo nearly every Thursday at 7 PM, as it has since the Porygon incident was resolved. It aired on Tuesdays at the same time prior to this. As of April 7, 2016, the show instead begins at 6:55 PM on Thursdays. Many fans consider the dialogue and events mentioned in the Japanese version to be the "true canon", while the various dubs are regarded to be overridden if something stated in them differs from something said in a Japanese episode.

In Japan, the anime is divided into six series: Pocket Monsters, Pocket Monsters Advanced Generation, Pocket Monsters Diamond & Pearl, Pocket Monsters Best Wishes, Pocket Monsters XY, and Pocket Monsters Sun & Moon. Outside of it, it has been divided into seven series: Pokémon the Series: The Beginning, Pokémon the Series: Gold & Silver, Pokémon the Series: Ruby and Sapphire, Pokémon the Series: Diamond and Pearl, Pokémon the Series: Black and White, Pokémon the Series: XY, and Pokémon the Series: Sun and Moon. The episodes are also further divided into seasons spanning roughly 52 episodes, and currently numbering -1. This concept of a television season was first embraced by the Japanese source with the inclusion of an explicitly second season to Best Wishes.

The show is mainly aimed at children, and as such, mature topics such as death are not often brought up, though sometimes they appear in some episodes, and most notably in movies. Many Pokémon that are implied to be violent or sinister in the games are also made to be less aggressive, where none are considered truly evil. There are generally some references meant for adults, though these are kept to a minimum especially outside of Japan.

Television series

Original series

Japan			United States
Season	Theme song	First episode	Season	Theme song	First episode
Pocket Monsters	Aim to Be a Pokémon Master	EP001	Indigo League	Pokémon Theme	EP001
Pocket Monsters: Episode Orange Archipelago	The Rivals	EP081	Adventures in the Orange Islands	Pokémon World	EP081
Pocket Monsters: Episode Gold & Silver	OK!	EP117	The Johto Journeys	Pokémon Johto	EP117
	Aim to Be a Pokémon Master	EP192	Johto League Champions	Born to Be a Winner	EP158
	Ready Go!	EP239	Master Quest	Believe in Me	EP210

Advanced Generation series

Japan			United States
Season	Theme song	First episode	Season	Theme song	First episode
Pocket Monsters Advanced Generation	Advance Adventure	AG001	Advanced	I Wanna Be a Hero	AG001
	Challenger!!	AG070	Advanced Challenge	This Dream	AG041
	Pokémon Symphonic Medley	AG105	Advanced Battle	Unbeatable	AG093
	Battle Frontier	AG135	Advanced Battle	Unbeatable	AG093
	Spurt!	AG166	Battle Frontier	Battle Frontier	AG146

Diamond & Pearl series

Japan			United States
Season	Theme song	First episode	Season	Theme song	First episode
Pocket Monsters Diamond & Pearl	Together	DP001	Diamond and Pearl	Diamond and Pearl	DP001
	Together	DP001	Battle Dimension	We Will Be Heroes	DP053
	High Touch!	DP096	Galactic Battles	Battle Cry - (Stand Up!)	DP105
	The Greatest - Everyday!	DP158	Sinnoh League Victors	We Will Carry On!	DP158

Best Wishes series

Japan			United States
Season	Theme song	First episode	Season	Theme song	First episode
Pocket Monsters Best Wishes!	Best Wishes!	BW001	Black & White	Black and White	BW001
Pocket Monsters Best Wishes! Season 2	Be an Arrow!	BW085	Rival Destinies	Rival Destinies	BW049
Pocket Monsters Best Wishes! Season 2: Episode N	Be an Arrow! 2013	BW109	Adventures in Unova	It's Always You and Me	BW098
Pocket Monsters Best Wishes! Season 2: Decolora Adventure	Summerly Slope	BW123	Adventures in Unova and Beyond	It's Always You and Me	BW123

XY series

Japan			United States
Season	Theme song	First episode	Season	Theme song	First episode
Pocket Monsters XY	V (Volt)	XY001	Pokémon the Series: XY	Pokémon Theme	XY001
	Mega V (Mega Volt)	XY029	Pokémon the Series: XY	Pokémon Theme	XY001
	Mad-Paced Getter	XY055	Pokémon the Series: XY Kalos Quest	Be a Hero	XY050
Pocket Monsters XY&Z	XY&Z	XY094	Pokémon the Series: XYZ	Stand Tall	XY094

Sun & Moon series

Japan			United States
Season	Theme song	First episode	Season	Theme song	First episode
Pocket Monsters Sun & Moon	Alola!!	SM001	Pokémon the Series: Sun & Moon	Under The Alolan Sun	SM001
Pocket Monsters Sun & Moon	Aim to Be a Pokémon Master	SM030	Pokémon the Series: Sun & Moon	Under The Alolan Sun	SM001

Special episodes

Japanese name	Japanese run	English name	English run
Pocket Monsters Side Stories	December 3, 2002 — September 28, 2004	Pokémon Chronicles	June 3, 2006 — September 30, 2006

Movies

Main article: Pokémon movie

Since 1998 in Japan, and since 1999 in the US, a Pokémon movie has been released annually, most often focusing on a Legendary or Mythical Pokémon. These movies are almost always a large success in Japan, and remain at least somewhat successful in the United States and other countries, having been aired on Cartoon Network as a special since the ninth movie, and having theatrical releases during the first five seasons.

The movies are not considered by all people to be canon to the show, with some preferring to think of them occurring in an alternate timeline. This theory comes from the fact that Ash and his friends do not seem to be profoundly affected in the show by the events of the movies, which tend to have a lot of peril and drama. Others, however, see the movies as being akin to filler episodes, as none of their parties change, and no Gym Leaders are defeated nor Pokémon Contests won. This is presumably the correct interpretation, as not only have most of the events of the movies been referenced at least peripherally in the show, but also, several of the events of even major episodes have been forgotten by the writers of later episodes.