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| Welcome to Dogasu's Backpack, a fansite for the Japanese franchise Pocket Monsters! For 26 years this website has been your guide for the Japanese version of Pokémon and contains content you can't find anywhere else. Here you'll be able to find detailed comparisons between the Japanese and English versions of the animated TV series, interview translations, information on the latest comics to come out of Japan, 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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| Follow along with
my (re)watch of the Johto portion of the TV series using the #DogasusWatchesJohto hastag over on Bluesky! |
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Rumor Guide: The Pocket Monsters animated series was originally only supposed to last about a year and a half
November 11th, 2026
Dogasu @ 23:39 JST -- For a while there's been this rumor that the Pocket Monsters animated series was originally planned to run for only a year and a half, and that if the show hadn't become the runaway success we all know and love then its story would have wrapped up around the end of Kanto. But is this true? Let's all find out together in the newest entry to the Rumor Guide, "The Pocket Monsters animated series was originally only supposed to last about a year and a half."
With this rumor in particular, there's a widely cited news article based on a post made to a Japanese message board 20 years ago, but that original post no longer seems to exist online and so I spend a lot of the article looking for print sources that corroborate the original claim. Was I able to find enough out there to prove this year-and-a-half timeframe? And are we sure we all understand the original plan?
Manga Guide: Pocket Monsters Special Chapter 038
November 7th, 2026
Dogasu @ 15:21 JST -- The newest chapter of the Pocket Monsters Special comic came out yesterday and so I've added a summary to the Manga Guide.
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Pocket Monsters Special Scarlet & Violet, Chapter 38: The teachers at the academy wonder what they should do about Scarlet and her mission to awaken the Calamitous Pokémon. Elsewhere, Botan and Scarlet conclude a battle that will determine the future of the Star-Dan!
Manga Guide: CoroCoro Ichiban!, CoroCoro Online
November 1st, 2026
Dogasu @ 22:43 JST -- Let's take a look at the rest of the Pokémon related manga that came out in October 2026.
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Poco a Pokémon 4-Koma Biyori, or "Poco a Pokémon: It's a Perfect Day for a Four-Panel Comic." In the latest collection of comic strips based on the Nintendo Switch 2 game, the Pokémon learn how to use art to make their town more beautiful.
Pokémon Frienda Oshiete! Friender-Man, the comic based on the current Pokémon arcade game Pokémon Frienda. In the newest chapter Renda works to max out his Pokémon's Ex Power to improve his chances of getting himself the Mythical Pokémon Arceus.
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Pokémon Card Game Yarouze~! Mega Chapter, the "Pokémon tries its hand at a Yu-Gi-Oh! type manga" series. In the latest chapter Retto battles his old rival Kotarou with the 30th Anniversary Celebration Pack. Can his opponent find a way to get around Gangar's seemingly invincible "Fainting Spell" Ability?
Kousaku Anakubo's Pocket Monsters, Chapter 64: Red and Pippi struggle to take advantage of a mass outbreak of Pokémon going on right now.
Manga Guide: Weekly CoroCoro Comics, Pokémon Fan Issue 100
October 20th, 2026
Dogasu @ 23:37 JST -- It's time for another new batch of updates to the Manga Guide! Let's start off with the comics posted to the Weekly CoroCoro Comics website:
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Kousaku Anakubo's Pocket Monsters, Chapter 63: The group reunite with Lillie, who offers to make them some more of her awful curry. Can they find a way to get out of having to choke down this truly dangerous food!?
Pocket Monsters Special Scarlet & Violet, Chapter 37: Scarlet faces off against Botan, the true boss of the Star-Dan! Meanwhile, Violet continues his quest of pulling up the Calamitous Pokémon stakes.
Next, let's look at the new comic featured in the 100th (!!!) issue of Pokémon Fan:
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Poco a Pokémon 4-Koma Biyori, or "Poco a Pokémon: It's a Perfect Day for a Four-Panel Comic." In the latest collection of comic strips based on the Nintendo Switch game, the Pokémon test out playground equipment.
There are two other comic series running in Pokémon Fan but I'm not really covering them at the moment.
The first one is Pokémon Chou Dajare Club (ポケモン超だじゃれクラブ), or "The Pokémon Super Pun Club," by TAK.BR / Santa Harukaze (TAK.BR/春風邪三太). It's yet another four-panel comic strip series, only this time its punchlines are all centered around untranslatable Japanese puns that make coverage of the series take way, way more time and effort than it's probably worth.
The other series is Pokémon Quiz Puzzle Land Pikachu no Takara Sagashi (ポケモンクイズパズルランド ピカチュウの宝さがし), or "Pokémon Quiz Puzzle Land: Pikachu's Treasure Hunt," with the comic portion being done by Kemon Kawamoto (河本けもん) and the puzzles by Hiroshi Takase (嵩瀬 ひろし). In the current iteration of this series, Pikachu and the Paldea starters help whatever Pokémon needs help that issue, with the twist being that every page has a quiz or puzzle that readers are invited to solve. So the comic will be something like "Let's try looking under this rock...oh look! A Pokémon themed word search!" And then half that page will taken up by a word search, or a maze, or a rebus, etc. And this repeats over and over for like nine pages. Covering a series like this would require me to translate and/or post all the puzzles, something that, again, takes more time and effort than it's probably worth.
Hayashibara, Miki, and Inuyama reunite for Rocket-themed party game commercial
October 16th, 2026
Dogasu @ 21:15 JST -- Yesterday, a commercial was released for an upcoming Pokémon related party game that reunites the Rocket trio's voice actors for the first time since 2023.
The game is called "Hey, You're Not in the Rocket-Dan Are Ya?" (お前、もしかしてロケット団？), released by the company Yoka Games. In this card-based party game, you're assigned one of four roles -- Gym Leader, Gym Trainer, Challenger, or Rocket-Dan Member -- and, through a series of Pokémon battles, it's up to you to try to figure out which of the other players are regular Trainers and which of them are members of the Rocket-Dan. Based on the game's official website this does seem to be very much like a Pokémon version of the classic party game Mafia.
The commercial released earlier this week features the Rocket trio's voice actors Megumi Hayashibara (Musashi), Shin-ichiro Miki (Kojirou), and Inuko Inuyama (Nyarth) together again for the first time since the end of the Pocket Monsters (2019) series. The three actors don't really do much in the commercial -- Inuyama provides the narration, and Hayashibara and Miki join in at the very end to recite the name of the game -- but it's still new Rocket trio adjacent content in the year 2026. Nearly all the YouTube and other social media comments attached to the commercial are talking about the Rocket trio voice actors, so their inclusion here is definitely giving the game the attention it was aiming for.
As part of the article on the Oricon News website promoting this new ad, the three voice actors provided the following statements:
| Megumi
Hayashibara This game provides a one-two punch of fun by not only having elements of trying to see through who's who, but also those of trying to predict what card they'll pull next. The game's based on luck as well as skill; actually, the first time I played I was able to make it all the way until the end as a Rocket-Dan member. It was really a lot of fun! If you play this game and end up being a Rocket-Dan member then no matter what happens, just play dumb and leave everyone in your dust! (laughs) |
| Shin-ichiro
Miki Even a beginner like myself was able to enjoy the game, and even though we had a mix of players of different skill levels we all had a lot of fun. When playing a game where you have to hide your true identity as you battle then, just like Rocket-Dan members who are masters of disguise, you have to talk your way out of sticky situations and pretend like you're best friends with everyone. There really are so many different ways to play a game like this. I really hope you'll pick up this game and enjoy it with your family and friends. |
| Inuko
Inuyama In a party game where you have to sniff out who's a Challenger, a Gym Trainer, or a Rocket-Dan member, winning as a member of the Rocket-Dan is the most difficult! I hope you'll notice that difficulty gap and think to yourself "Wow, that Rocket-Dan sure is cool Nya!" (laughs). For me, the "Leftovers" card is one I really liked a lot. I really hope you enjoy this over your winter and New Year's break. |
"Hey, You're Not in the Rocket-Dan Are Ya?" is set to be released in Japan on November 12th, 2026.
Celebrating 30 Years of Pokémon, The Pokémon Short Movie Festival ~ Pocket Monsters The Movie Short Movie Masterpiece Selection 2 ~ On-Location Report
September 20th, 2026
Dogasu @ 7:31 JST -- Continuing on from the last update, the second of these movie festivals (Celebrating 30 Years of Pokémon, The Pokémon Short Movie Festival ~ Pocket Monsters The Movie Short Movie Masterpiece Selection 2 ~) started up yesterday September 19th and, just like last time, I actually got a chance to go to this showing myself. So, here's my write-up of the event!
Like last time, the report details what it was like at the theater itself, what the 35mm presentation of the films was like, and all about the exclusive ads that played before each film. This is the sort of thing that's super easy to get lost to time so I'm happy to be able to document this all here, albeit several months after the fact.
Celebrating 30 Years of Pokémon, The Pokémon Short Movie Festival ~ Pocket Monsters The Movie Short Movie Masterpiece Selection ~ On-Location Report
September 12th, 2026
Dogasu @ 12:38 JST -- Back in May I went to the Celebrating 30 Years of Pokémon, The Pokémon Short Movie Festival ~ Pocket Monsters The Movie Short Movie Masterpiece Selection ~ event in the Jimbocho area of Tokyo, Japan. I know this is about four months late, but here's my on-location report of the experience.
The report details what it was like at the theater itself, what the 35mm presentation of the films was like, and all about the exclusive ads that played before each film. This is the sort of thing that's super easy to get lost to time so I'm happy to be able to document this all here, albeit several months after the fact.
I'm planning to go to the second one of these festivals, Celebrating 30 Years of Pokémon, The Pokémon Short Movie Festival ~ Pocket Monsters The Movie Short Movie Masterpiece Selection 2 ~, this coming Saturday the 19th and so I'll be doing a similar write-up for that as well.
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