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  The Features section is where I put content that don't really fit into any other part of the website. Japanese to English translations, event reports, and information on various Japan-only content can all be found by clicking on one of the sub-sections below.


Directory
Translations | Event Reports | Information: Books / Magazines, Audio Content, Video Content | Miscellaneous



Newest  / Current Features

"Pockets Filled with Adventure" "Cram Adventures Into a Pocket"
Everything there is to know about the new live action Pokémon TV series currently airing in Japan!
Pokémon Shock Pokémon Shock
While pretty much every Pokémon fan knows about Pocket Monsters Episode 38 and the seizure-like symptoms its broadcast caused, a lot of the information that's out there only really scratches the surface of this massive event in the history of television. In this section of the website, I take a deeper dive into the incident, unearthing contemporary Japanese materials and translating them into English for the first time ever.
Pokémon Story
Pokémon Story Translations
In December 2000 a book called Pokémon Story (ポケモンストーリー) was released in Japan. Coming in at a hefty 543 pages, the book 
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.

I've actually translated various parts of the book over the years so click on a link below to read them!

| Full Chapter-by-Chapter Breakdown |
| The Episode 38 Incident (Pages 355 - 391) |
| Bringing Pokémon to America (Pages 397 - 441) |


Translations

Translations of various interviews, comments, and other guides from Japanese to English.

TV station
TV station interviews with the Cast and Staff of Pockets Filled with Adventure
Issue 20 of the magazine TV station, which covers TV listings for September 30th ~ October 13th 2023, features promotional interviews with two of the people involved with the then-upcoming show Pockets Filled with Adventure.

Interview with Producer Koichi Uruma
Interview with actor Nanase Nishino
Cast / Staff Reactions to the end of Pocket Monsters Mezase Pokémon Master After the March 24th, 2023 airing of the final episode of Pocket Monsters: Mezase Pokémon Master, "The Rainbow and the Pokémon Master," a 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. I thought it would be a shame of those messages got lost to time and so I've archived as many of them as I could find on this page.
Nico Nico News Interview with Kensho Ono
Nico Nico News Interview with Kensho Ono
The Japanese website Nico Nico News conducted an interview with Alan's voice actor, Kensho Ono, to commemorate Alan's return to Pocket Monsters (2019).

Oricon News Interview with Mariya Ise
Oricon News Interview with Mariya Ise
The Japanese entertainment website Oricon News posted an interview with Eureka's voice actor, Ms. Mariya Ise, to commemorate Eureka's return to Pocket Monsters (2019).
NewType Web Interview with Yuko Kobayashi
NewType Web Interview with Yuko Kobayashi
The Japanese website NewType Web posted an interview with Shigeru's voice actor, Ms. Yuko Kobayashi, to commemorate Dr. Ookido's grandson returning to the show.
Animedia June 2019
Animedia August 2019 Interviews
The August 2019 issue of Animedia conducted two interviews: a joint interview with Mewtwo Strikes Back Evolution's Masachika Ichimura and Sachiko Kobayashi, and a brief interview with the director of the Sun & Moon TV series Daiki Tomiyasu.

spoon.2Di Issue 63
spoon.2Di Issue 63 Interview
The 63rd issue of the anime magazine spoon.2Di featured an interview with (and assorted comments from) Pocket Monsters (2019) producer Mr. Tomoya Negishi.
How is the show's staff adapting to this post-coronavirus world? How did they decide to have the Kalos Gym Leader Corni be the first "older character" Satoshi faces off against? And who came up with the two-in-one episode idea in the first place? All that - plus an acknowledgment that hey, we're going to have to eventually deal with Gou trying to get legendary Pokémon at some point - can be found here!
CoroCoro Online Interviews - Koko
CoroCoro Online Interviews
CoroCoro Online posted a series of interviews f
ollowing the July 31st, 2020 announcement of who will be the special guest stars appearing in Pocket Monsters The Movie "Koko." Read translations of these interviews here.

| Kankuro Nakamura (Zarude) |
| Moka Kamishiraishi (Koko) |
Animedia (June 2020)
Animedia June 2020 Interviews
The June 2020 issue of Animedia conducted a number of interviews with the cast and crew of Pocket Monsters (2019) to commerate the Gym Leader Kibana's upcoming debut.

Cast
Rica Matsumoto (Satoshi)
Daiki Yamashita (Gou)
Daisuke Ono (Dande)
Tatsuhisa Suzuki (Kibana)

Staff
Daiki Tomiyasu (Series' Director)
Miscellaneous

Buzzfeed Japan Interview
Buzzfeed Japan Interviews
The Buzzfeed Japan site posted an interview with the voice actors for the Rocket trio, Megumi Hayashibara, Shin-ichiro Miki, and Inuko Inuyama!

Jul. 21st, 2019: Can a man and a woman be "just friends"? We ask the Rocket trio
Animate Times interviews
Animate Times Interviews
The entertainment website Animate Times conducted several interviews with the voice actors for the Rocket trio, Megumi Hayashibara, Shin-ichiro Miki, and Inuko Inuyama!

Oct. 25th, 2019: The Rocket trio's going to continue into the new series!

Nov. 2nd, 2019:  Longer interview in which the voice actors discuss who they want to see again, how their characters have changed, and how they want the trio to appear more often.

CoroCoro Online
CoroCoro Online Interviews
CoroCoro Online posted a series of interviews following the airing of the
139th episode of Pocket Monsters Sun & Moon "The Birth of the Master of Alola!!" Read translations of these interviews here.

| Rica Matsumoto (Alola League | Dr. Ookido) |
| Shoko Nakagawa |
Nicole Fujita |
| Okazaki Physical Education |
Pokemon Pia
Pokémon Pia
This magazine / book, which was released to commemorate the release of Pocket Monsters The Movie "I Choose You!", includes a whopping fourteen (!) interviews with various voice actors and production staff. Translations of those interviews can be found here.

(Please note that this is still a work in progress and so all the interviews are not yet available)
Animage Feature on Satoshi Nakano
Animage (May 2017)
Satoshi Nakano Feature

Let's hear from Satoshi Nakano, the character designer of the Pocket Monsters Sun & Moon TV series!

Animage: Masaaki Iwane
Animage (March 2015)
Masaaki Iwane Interview
The March 2015 issue of Animage features a massive interview with Masaaki Iwane, one of the most prolific animators to ever work on Pocket Monsters.

The Memorial Book of Orange Islands
The Memorial Book of Orange Islands
A guide book printed shortly after the Orange Islands arc ended its run on Japanese TV in late 1999. The following content has been translated:

Episode-specific Comments from the Screenwriters for (nearly) every episode

Interview with Chouji Yoshikawa, the associate producer of the original Pocket Monsters TV series

A five-page comic "What it takes to make the Pokémon cartoon" that goes behind the scenes of the animation process!




"Kyurem vs. The Sacred Swordsman Keldeo" Visual Guide "Kyurem vs. the Sacred Swordsman Keldeo" Visual Guide Interviews
This "visual guide" for the second Best Wishes! movie features a number of interviews with the cast and crew of the film.
A Pokémon Music Special Chat
The three-disc release of the soundtrack to HeartGold and SoulSilver came with a booklet that included an interview with the game's sound staff.

Event Reports

I've been fortunate enough to attend numerous Pocket Monsters-related events throughout Japan over the years. Collections of my observations and thoughts about each event can be found below.

Pokémon Fossil Museum
Pokémon Fossil Museum
A collection of photos taken from a Pokémon science museum exhibit in Tokyo, Japan in May 2022

Daniel Arsham "A Ripple in Time" Art Exhibit
Daniel Arsham "A Ripple in Time" Art Exhibit
A collection of photos taken from a series of Pokémon art exhibits held in Tokyo, Japan in February 2022

The Rocket-Dan's Emergency Meeting
The Rocket-Dan's Emergency Meeting
On July 13th, 2017 the Rocket trio hosted an emergency meeting in Tokyo, Japan to announce a super top-secret project.

Pokemon the movie XY Exhibit Pokémon the movie XY Exhibit
The "Pokémon the movie XY Exhibit" was an art installation at the Roppongi Hills Mori Tower in Tokyo, Japan held during the summer of 2014.
Pokkén Tournament
Once upon a time Pokk
én Tournament was an arcade game available exclusively in Japan. These first impressions from before the game was brought overseas may not be terribly useful now but they do offer a unique time capsule of a time when this game wasn't available overseas.

Information: Books / Magazines

Information about books and other written content released in Japan and / or the U.S.

Magazine Guide
Magazine Guide (2021)
A breakdown of the various Japanese magazines from which fans get a lot of their news about the animated series. Includes release dates, where to buy, what each magazine covers, and more.

Sugimori Ken's Work Ken Sugimori's Work - A 25 Year Portfolio from "Quinty" to "Jerry Boy" and "Pocket Monsters"
A portfolio of the work of Ken Sugimori, who most of us know as the man responsible for drawing the official artwork for the Pokémon used to promote the video games.
Nakagawa Shouko "Pokemon Taught Me the Meaning of Life" Shoko Nakagawa "Pokémon Taught Me the Meaning of Life"
Voice Actor / Singer / Pokémon variety show cast member Shoko Nakagawa has written a book about how Pokémon and the effect it's had on her life.
Pocket Monsters in 1996 Pocket Monsters in 1996
Let's take a look at how the media was covering Pocket Monsters during its first year in existence.
Time Magazine
Pokémon shows how mainstream it is by gracing the cover of one of the U.S.'s most highly-circulated magazines.

Information: Audio Content

Information about various audio-only content released in Japan.

Pokemon Radio Show! The Rocket-Dan's Secret Empire Pokémon Radio Show! The Rocket-Dan's Secret Empire
Everything you want to know about the Japan-only radio show that was on-air for the second half of 2012.

Information:  Video Content

Information about various video content released in Japan.

Pikachu The Movie Premium Box Pikachu The Movie Premium Box 1998 - 2010 Review
Everything you'll want to know about the massive fourteen disc Blu-ray set released in Japan in November 2012.
Tsutaya "The Illusionary Conqueror, Zorro'ark" Navigate DVD Tsutaya "The Illusionary Conqueror, Zorro'ark" Navigate DVD
A special behind the scenes DVD available for rental at Tsutaya stores
Pocket Monsters Diamond & Pearl ("Get Pokémon" Version) DVD Review
An in-depth look at the seemingly random assortment of Diamond & Pearl episodes that were sold at convenience stores and supermarkets all over Japan.


Site Archives

Temporary updates to the site I thought deserved to be archived.

April Fools Archive
An archive of all the April Fools pranks I've pulled with this website over the years.
Contests Contests on Dogasu's Backpack
A place where I archive all the contests (as of this writing, only one...) held on Dogasu's Backpack.

Miscellaneous

Miscellaneous other features that don't really fit into any other category.


Kaori and her hiatus from voice acting
The voice of Haruka in Pocket Monsters Advanced Generation, Kaori, has been on a voice acting hiatus since around 2012 or so. What's going on with that and what does that mean for the future of Satoshi's traveling companion?

Pocket Monsters, or "Pockemon" for Short
Pocket Monsters, or "Pockemon" for Short
Did you know that the word we all spell as "Pokémon" used to have an alternate spelling? Let's look at how "Pockemon" was the preferred spelling of the franchise's titular characters back when Pocket Monsters was still a Japan-only franchise.

Pokémon is Racist!
A look at the various accusations made against Rougela.
Rougela in Animation - From Black to Purple
Rougela in Animation -
From Black to Purple
Over the years The Pokémon Company in Japan has been slowly going back and editing old Rougela episodes so that she's purple instead of black. Which episodes have been changed? Check out this guide to find out!

Unshou Ishizuka
Unshou Ishizuka, 1951 - 2018
My tributes to Unshou Ishizuka, one of the most ubiquitous voice actors in the Pocket Monsters animated series.
Recycled Characters
A tribute to those background characters who keep reappearing over and over and over again.
Shudou Takeshi, 1949 - 2010 Takeshi Shudo, 1949 - 2010
On October 29th, 2010, screenplay writer Takeshi Shudo passed away. I found some information about the man that had never been available in English before and have collected that here.
CEOs Say the Darndest Things
CEOs Say the Darndest Things
A tribute to the wit and wisdom of 4Kids' Alfred R. Kahn
The Grand List of Pokémon Video Game Clichés
A humorous look at some of the trends seen in the Pocket Monsters video games.


 

 

 

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