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| Welcome to Dogasu's Backpack, a fansite for the Japanese franchise Pocket Monsters! For 23 years this website has been your guide for the Japanese version of Pokémon and contains content you can't find anywhere else. Stuff like detailed comparisons between the Japanese version and the English version of the animated series, interview translations, information on Japan-only manga, a lyrics database, a home video guide, and much more! So whether you're a seasoned veteran or a newbie just getting into Pocket Monsters, this site has something for every fan to enjoy. | ||
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Voice Actors React to the Pocket Monsters (2019) series ending
March 26th, 2023
Dogasu @ 12:56 JST -- This past Friday the final episode of Pocket Monsters: Mezase Pokémon Master aired on TV-Tokyo. After the episode aired lot of the show's cast and crew took to social media to voice their appreciation for the show that's been a part of their lives the last 26 years or so and so for today's update I thought I'd archive them all in one place for you!
The Cast / Staff Reactions to the end of Pocket Monsters Mezase Pokémon Master page collects all the social media and blog posts I was able to find from the show's cast and crew regarding the end of the current animated series. Since these posts are all in Japanese I have, of course, translated each and every one of them into English.
If you know of any other social media / blog posts from the people behind the original version of the show that I haven't included on this page then please let me know and I'll be sure to add it.
While the current "anipoke" series has come to a close a new series, Pocket Monsters (2023), is set to start airing Friday, April 14th, 2023 with an hour-long special.
Pocket Monsters (2023) Manga
March 15th, 2023
Dogasu @ 16:18 JST -- The monthly Japanese kids' magazine CoroCoro Comics is going to start running a brand new manga based on the upcoming Pocket Monsters (2023) animated series soon, and to commemorate this the manga anthology featured a special sneak peek of the new series in the April 2023 issue that went on sale earlier today. While there isn't a lot to go off of at the moment, I did take the information I could and put it all in its own section of the Manga Guide.
The Manga Guide's page on Kei Yamadaka's Pocket Monsters (not to be confused with Kosaku Anakubo's Pocket Monsters or Machito Gomi's Pocket Monsters) boasts the usual; a detailed plot summary of the preview, a page on the characters who appear, and information about the manga's author.
The first official chapter of the manga will appear in the May 2023 issue of CoroCoro Comics set to go on sale April 14th, 2023.
Pokémon Shock: Retro Japanese News Report
March 8th, 2023
Dogasu @ 23:51 JST -- Remember that big Pokémon Shock feature I did back in December? Well, on the third day of that week I posted links to fansubs I made of a bunch of old Japanese TV news reports that I had found online, and while there was a lot there I didn't actually have the time to translate all the news reports I had available to me at the time. One of those reports is a 12 minute segment from a show called Sunday Morning, and so for tonight's update I present that segment, fully translated.
The segment, which seems to have taken place nearly a week after the incident, features more victim testimony, more brain wave measurements (I guess every network was subjecting its reporters to this kind of theater, huh?), and more commentary from the BBC. It's a pretty fascinating watch so check it out!
And if you like this video then check out all the other old Japanese TV news reports I've translated as well.
Episode Comparison: The Pokémon Shock Edits, Episode 003
March 1st, 2023
Dogasu @ 23:51 JST -- Back in September I started this new thing where I go through the first 37 episodes of the original Pocket Monsters TV series -- the ones that aired before the "Pokémon Shock" incident -- and document all the edits that were made between the episodes' original 1997 airing and the edits released from 1998 onwards. Well I'm back on it tonight with a new comparison, this time for Episode 003 "Get Pokémon."
Even though there are not a lot of electric attacks in this (Pikachu's incapacitated for most of the episode!) there still manage to be a ton of flashing lights, quick cuts, and other special effects that kept the editors quite busy!
List of Pokémon: All Generation 9 Pokémon Added
February 18th, 2023
Dogasu @ 20:27 JST -- I'm about three months late to the party but today I've finally updated the List of Pokémon section to include all 103 species that were introduced in the Pocket Monsters Scarlet & Violet video games!
As always I've included each Pokémon's Bestiary number, its official artwork, its name in both the original Japanese and rendered into the English alphabet, a breakdown of what its Japanese name means, and the name used by TPCi for their version of the franchise. You can check out the full list here!
I went through each Pokémon, one by one, and chose what I personally felt was the best way to render each species' name in our alphabet while keeping as much of the wordplay from the original intact as possible. Some of them I think turned out pretty good, while a few of them might end up getting changed whenever I can come up with a better spelling. A lot of the Generation 9 Pokémon do not have their official romanizations revealed yet but whenever they do come out I'll go back over this list and make whatever adjustments are needed.
CD Guide: Pokémon The Animated Series Theme Song Best of Best of Best 1997 - 2023 Blu-ray details
February 13th, 2023
Dogasu @ 09:16 JST -- I finally got my copy of Pokémon The Animated Series Theme Song Best of Best of Best 1997 - 2023 in the mail the other day (the delay was apparently caused by stock issues; so many people have been buying this set that Sony has to keep ordering reprints) and so for today's update I'm taking a closer look at the Blu-ray that comes with the "Limited Edition First Print (8 CDs + Blu-ray + Gorgeous Package Version."
We've known for a while what videos were going to be included on the Blu-ray / DVD that comes with this set, but what we didn't know was what versions of those videos we were going to get. For Spurt!, for example: do we get the very first version of the video, with half the Frontier Brains hidden in shadows and the Battle Pyramid at the end, or the one with all the Frontier Brains revealed and the Pokémon Rangers at the end? Things like that. So I went through, video by video, and documented which versions of each video are on this particular disc (where applicable).
Is this the kind of information you'd like to see me add to the site's listings for other CDs that come with DVDs like this?
Episode Comparison: "A Way Off Day Off"
February 6th, 2023
Dogasu @ 21:57 JST -- Let's start off Dogasu's Backpack 24th year on the Internet with its first episode comparison, the Orange Islands episode "A Way Off Day Off."
"A Way Off Day Off" is pretty light on rewrites, at least as far as 4Kids Pokémon episodes go, but there are still a few interesting tidbits I think are worth talking about. It's actually the perfect episode to start off the new year, I think; the next Orange Islands episode will be "The Mandarin Island Miss-Match," an absolute dumpster fire of an episode edit-wise, and so this light little jog of an episode comparison here has been a great warm up for me.
As always, let me know what you think via any of the links below!
Dogasu's Backpack's 23rd Anniversary
January 31st, 2023
Dogasu @ 23:28 JST -- Twenty-three years ago today -- January 31st, 2000 -- I started a little Geocities website that would eventually become Dogasu's Backpack. I've been doing yearly round-ups for most of that time and so today I've done the same thing with my "review" of 2022!
Thank
you everyone for continuing to visit this creaky old website over the
years. I can't wait to show you all what I have in store for 2023!
Discuss this on Facebook | Twitter | BMGf
Pokémon Radio Show! The Rocket-Dan's Secret Empire -- Vol. 7
January 28th, 2023
Dogasu @ 09:47 JST -- Mamoru Miyano returned to voice Dent in last night's episode of Pocket Monsters Mezase Pokémon Master and so now seems like the perfect time to bring you the write-up for the Mamoru Miyano episode of Pokémon Radio Show! The Rocket-Dan's Secret Empire!
Episode 7 features a chaotic interview with Mr. Miyano where "Musashi" spends the majority of the time mercilessly teasing her younger co-worker as he talks about doing PR work, what it's like to voice one of Satoshi's traveling companions, and his fondness for a certain Kanto starter. He also reveals, for the first time ever, that he was the voice behind a few different Pokémon in the show...? The episode also features a dramatic space opera, a Double-Q segment, and a surprise interview with Shoko Nakagawa!
As always, my write-up also features a ton of footnotes and notes about CD exclusive content related to the episode.
Look Back - Predictions 2022
January 1st, 2023
Dogasu @ 21:43 JST -- Every year I make an attempt to predict what will happen in the World of Pokémon and then post those predictions on my website as a sort of fun little game. Part of that game is to then check back on those predictions a year later to see how many of my predictions came true. So let's take a look at the stuff I thought would happen in 2022 in my 2022 Predictions Check-In!
I'll be posting my predictions for 2023 when I do my website's anniversary write-up later this month
Pokémon Shock In Japan: Day 5
December 16th, 2022
Dogasu @ 23:11 JST -- I wrap up my "Pokémon Shock In Japan" feature for the week with something we almost never hear about; how were Japanese fans reacting to all that was happening back then? Let's take a look at the Fan Response section to find out!
In tonight's update, I comb through the "Letters to the Editor" sections of a bunch of old Japanese magazines to see what anime fans were writing about in late 1997 / early 1998. You have to remember; back then nobody know when, or even if, the show was ever going to come back. I think the uncertainty people felt, especially back in an era where we couldn't just hop on social media to see what everyone else thinks, can be heard loud and clear through these letters and postcards.
I meant to also post feeback from the May 1998 issue of Animedia but I unfortunately ran out of time. Some other day then!
And that's it for Pokémon Shock In Japan week! I hope you enjoyed this really in depth look at an incident that I'm afraid not that many people know that much about. I literally spent six months working on everything you saw me upload this week and so I hope you'll think it was all worth it. The Pokémon Shock holds a special place in my heart, as weird as that sounds, since those initial Reuters reports are how I was introduced to the franchise in the first place!
I may make a few more little tweaks to the pages in this section over the next week or so but other than that I'm going to take it easy for the next few weeks.
Pokémon Shock In Japan: Day 4
December 15th, 2022
Dogasu @ 19:07 JST -- For Day 4 of "Pokémon Shock In Japan" I've got another long form translation for you: translations of Takeshi Shudo's Blogs on the subject!
Takeshi Shudo was the series organizer for the original Pocket Monster TV show back when "Cyber Soldier Porygon" aired on TV-Tokyo. Years and years later, Mr. Shudo would go on to run a blog, How to Craft a Story: Takeshi Shudo, How Anyone Can Become a Screenplay Writer (シナリオえーだば創作術 だれでもできる脚本家 首藤剛志) in which he told stories about his life as a screenplay writer. In 2008 he wrote a bunch of entries related to the Pokémon Shock incident and so I translated all of those into English.
The blog entries are all really, really long and are probably about 80% filler, as far as Pokémon Shock content goes, and so I took the liberty of picking out only the relevant parts and presenting them on the pages linked to above. If you'd prefer to read complete, unabridged translations then I've got you covered as well; you can download those translations here. These full translations probably took me just as long, if not longer, than that Pokémon Story translation I posted Monday night so there's a lot there for you to go through, if you choose.
The blog entries offer a lot of insight about the incident from a side of the franchise we hadn't heard from until now so definitely be sure to check them out!
Pokémon Shock In Japan: Day 3
December 14th, 2022
Dogasu @ 19:00 JST -- We're now at the halfway point of the site's "Pokémon Shock In Japan" and so I thought I'd shake things up a bit by providing you with some video content for a change!
For today's update I took all the Japanese TV news reports related to the Pokémon Shock incident I was able to find on the Internet, added subtitles to them, and then uploaded them to my YouTube channel! You can see links to all the videos in the "Japanese TV News Reports" page. The six videos I uploaded have a total runtime of nearly an hour so I think you'll be able to get a pretty good glimpse of what the reporting looked like back then.
And just in case you're wondering yes, fansubbing the news is really effing difficult LOL.
Do you know of any other Japanese news programs from that first week (December 16th - December 22nd, 1997) that I haven't translated? I know of a 12 minute "Sunday Morning" broadcast that I didn't have enough time to finish translating but other than that I think I maybe got them all...? If you know of any others floating around out there then please let me know and I'll see what I can do!
Pokémon Shock In Japan: Day 2
December 13th, 2022
Dogasu @ 19:13 JST -- Day Two of my "Pokémon Shock In Japan" week is a translation of a part of an interview with none other than Satoshi Tajiri himself!
"Satoshi Tajiri World" ~ Long Interview is a 33-page interview printed in Pokémon Story, the same book I translated all those chapters from in last night's update. It's broken up into eight parts, and Part Five, "The TV Incident," provides us with roughly three pages of Mr. Tajiri's (somewhat scattered) thoughts on the Pokémon Shock incident. And so I translated those three pages! To my knowledge this is the only interview in which Satoshi Tajiri talks about what happened the night of December 16th, 1997 and so I'm really excited to share something so rare with all of you.
I know people are probably going to ask me to translate the rest of the interview but quite frankly I do not see myself doing that in the foreseeable future. Sorry, but I'm a fan of the Pokémon anime first and foremost and so that's where I'm putting all my energy moving forward.
With this, I've now done everything with the book Pokémon Story that I have planned for the week. I know for sure I'll be going back to it over and over again so don't worry, you haven't seen the last of it!
Until tomorrow!!
Pokémon Shock In Japan: Day 1
December 12th, 2022
Dogasu @ 19:00 JST -- For the past six months or so I've been working on a big project for the site that I'm happy to finally be able to reveal to you all today: today is the start of Pokémon Shock In Japan week at Dogasu's Backpack.
Every single day from now until this Friday the 16th I'll be posting a new translation of something related to Pokémon Shock, the name given to the incident that took place on December 16th, 1997 in which hundreds of kids were sent to the hospital after watching Pocket Monsters Episode 038 "Cyber Soldier Porygon." This Friday will mark 25 years since that fateful day and so I wanted to do something special to mark the occasion.
I had about a million ideas of what I could do to commemorate this milestone but I eventually decided that, for the 25th anniversary, I would highlight the voices of a group we rarely hear about in the English speaking world; the Japanese people who actually lived through this whole ordeal. There is actually a ton of information out there about the incident -- it was a major, MAJOR news story, after all -- but most of it had been inaccessible for literally decades due to the language barriers in place. The goal of this week is to change that.
For Day One, I've translated something that provides the most thorough run down of the incident I've ever come across; the three chapters of a book called Pokémon Story that are dedicated to the Pokémon Shock incident. You can read my translation here. "Pokémon Story" is a 543 page beast of a book released back in December 2000 that goes through the early history of the franchise, from the formation of Game Freak through Pocket Monsters Red & Green's development, the franchise becoming a national sensation, and Pokémon's break into a worldwide phenomenon. It's a book a lot of fans in the West haven't even heard about for a variety of reasons (it's only available in Japanese, it's more than 20 years out of print, its name isn't very Google friendly, etc.) but after today's update I hope this book will appear on more fans' radars because Pokémon Story is an absolute treasure trove of information I haven't seen anywhere else.
The translation is a bit long (40 pages!) and so it's not something you'll be able to skim through in five minutes. But if you do take the time to read through everything presented I'm confident you'll walk away knowing way, way more about what happened 25 years ago than you ever knew was even out there.
As always, any and all feedback about my translation work is welcome. With this translation in particular, I've read and re-read what I've written so many times over the last few months that the words have just about lost all meaning to me and so it's very possible some some strange or unusual phrases managed to squeak through. If you have any notes or questions about this translation then please let me know.
Pokémon The Animated Series Theme Song Best of Best of Best 1997 - 2022
November 4th, 2022
Dogasu @ 23:49 JST -- Earlier tonight Sony announced the upcoming release of Pokémon The Animated Series Theme Song Best of Best of Best 1997 - 2022, a massive eight CD set that contains a whopping 78 opening / ending themes from the very first 1997 Pocket Monsters TV series all the way to the 2019 Pocket Monsters TV series!
A full track listing for the upcoming release can be seen here. A few observations:
- We don' t know if the songs included will be the
full sized or the TV versions of the songs, but if I had to guess I'd
say they'll all be the full versions.
- This set will include all the major opening and ending themes to the TV series, even those that were only used for a single episode and then never seen again. Rocket-Dan yo Eien ni, for example, was used as the ending theme to the initial TV broadcast of BW 097 "The Reijuu Formes Advance! Isshu's Greatest Crisis!!" but then was changed to Mite Mite ☆ Kocchicchi for all subsequent home video / streaming releases. Regardless, it's thrown onto this release! The set also includes Yajirushi ni Natte 2013, a song I don't think has ever been released on CD before.
- Only the regular TV series is a part of this
release, meaning songs like Aratanaru
Chikai from the Pocket
Monsters Crystal: The Legend of Thunder special, the movie
openings / endings, or the live action variety shows are all MIA.
- So what's missing? An alternate version of a Pocket Monsters (1997) ending
theme, Pokémon Hara Hara2
Relay (Hard Version) isn't on the set, and alternate versions of
the
three Diamond & Pearl
opening themes -- Together 2008,
High Touch! 2009, and Saiko
Everyday (Band Version) -- and the first two Diamond & Pearl ending themes
-- Kimi no Soba de ~Hikari no
Theme~ Pop-Up Version, Kimi
no Soba de ~Hikari no Theme~ Winter Version, and Kaze no Message PokaPoka Version --
are MIA as well. This release has a ton of other remixes on it (Yajirushi ni Natte 2013, all the 1, 2, 3 versions) so their
omissions
here is a bit odd. Maybe it was just some oversight? A rights issue?
Despite these odd little hiccups, this looks like it'll be a must-have for any collector. I'll be adding the cover image, list of the contents of the Blu-ray, etc. whenever that information becomes available.
Found an error? Spot an omission? Please help me keep this page current and error-free by e-mailing me with a description of the error or omission.
