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| Rumor Guide
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| Information: Books / Magazines, Audio Content, Video Content | Miscellaneous |
| Information: Books / Magazines, Audio Content, Video Content | Miscellaneous |
| Rumor
Guide |
Let's take a look at some of the rumors swirling around about the Pocket Monsters animated series to try to figure out which ones are true and which ones are not.
| Rumors related to the animated series |
|
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New! Ash's starter was originally going to be
Clefairy, not Pikachu We all know Satoshi's very first Pokémon was Pikachu, but did you know his starter was originally going to be Pippi instead? That's what everybody on the Internet keeps telling us, anyway, but is there actually any truth to this claim? |
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Characters
curse in the Japanese version of the Pocket Monsters animated series Every now and then there are rumors that the characters in the Japanese version of Pocket Monsters are a bit more foul mouthed than they're depicted in the English dub. But is there any truth to this? |
| Rumors related to the "Pokémon
Shock" incident |
|
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The Japanese government banned the episode
"Cyber Soldier Porygon" We all know that TV-Tokyo pulled "Cyber Soldier Porygon" off the air and hasn't aired it since, but did the Japanese government go so far as to ban the episode altogether? And what about the claims the episode's been destroyed...? |
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A second wave of victims was caused by news
reports' coverage of the incident Did news' reports carelessly replaying the problematic clip cause a second wave of victims? |
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4Kids
actually did dub "Cyber Soldier Porygon," they just never aired it Some of the voice actors associated with the show say 4Kids did dub it, while others say they have not. Who are we to believe? |
| Rumors related to the movies |
|
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Mewtwo's blast kills Satoshi at the end of
Movie 1 A lot of fans interpret Satoshi getting turned to stone at the end of the first movie as him "dying," but is that what really happens...? |
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The
Japanese version of the second Pokémon movie confirms Musashi
and Kojirou are 25 years old Does dialogue from the second movie confirm the Rocket duo's age? Or is something simply getting lost in translation? |
| Newest
/ Current Features |
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NEW
Rica
Matsumoto Essays: Love & Peace In early 2024 Rica Matsumoto released an autobiographical collection of essays where she uses stories from her own life to talk about her family, her career, and her desire to bring smiles to everyone's faces. Check out the chapter-by-chapter breakdown of this book here! |
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"Cram Adventures Into a Pocket" Everything there is to know about the new live action Pokémon TV series currently airing in Japan! |
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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. |
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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.
 |
NEW! NicoNico
News Original Interview with Kousaku Anakubo In 2017 Mr. Kousaku Anakubo, the manga creator whose Pocket Monsters series has been running since 1996, sat down for an interview with NicoNico News Original. He discusses how he was chosen to work on the series, what materials he had to work when he first started out, how he chose Pippi as the mascot of the series, and more! |
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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 |
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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. |
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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). |
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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). |
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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. |
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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.
|
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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! |
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CoroCoro Online
Interviews CoroCoro Online posted a series of interviews following 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) | |
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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 |
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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 |
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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. |
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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 | |
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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) |
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Animage (May 2017) Satoshi Nakano Feature Let's hear from Satoshi Nakano, the character designer of the Pocket Monsters Sun & Moon TV series! |
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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. |
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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! | Page
One | Page
Two | Page
Three |
| Page Four | Page Five | |
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"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. |
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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.
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Pokémon Fossil
Museum A collection of photos taken from a Pokémon science museum exhibit in Tokyo, Japan in May 2022 |
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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 |
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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. |
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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. |
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Pokkén Tournament Once upon a time Pokkén 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 (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. |
|
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. |
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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. |
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Pocket Monsters in 1996 Let's take a look at how the media was covering Pocket Monsters during its first year in existence. |
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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.
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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.
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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. |
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Tsutaya "The
Illusionary Conqueror, Zorro'ark" Navigate DVD A special behind the scenes DVD available for rental at Tsutaya stores |
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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.
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April Fools Archive An archive of all the April Fools pranks I've pulled with this website over the years. |
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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.
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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? |
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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. |
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Pokémon
is Racist! A look at the various accusations made against Rougela. |
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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! |
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Unshou Ishizuka, 1951 -
2018 My tributes to Unshou Ishizuka, one of the most ubiquitous voice actors in the Pocket Monsters animated series. |
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Recycled Characters A tribute to those background characters who keep reappearing over and over and over again. |
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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. |
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CEOs Say the Darndest Things A tribute to the wit and wisdom of 4Kids' Alfred R. Kahn |
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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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