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Episode Comparison:  "Bye Bye Psyduck"
December 31st, 2021

Dogasu @ 00:58 JST -- I had to squeeze one more of these out before the end of the year so here we go; a comparison between the Japanese and English versions of the Orange Islands episode "Bye Bye Psyduck!"


The episode has its good moments, in regards to it being faithful to the Japanese original, but there was also quite a few significant rewrites worth writing about as well. So in other words, it was your typical 4Kids episode!

And that's a wrap on 2021! I realize that this year wasn't a super productive one when it comes to episode comparisons -- I only managed to do seven episodes and one movie -- but I did manage to get a few cool features out that I had been planning for years so I'm happy about that. In any event, I'm going to do everything I can to post more of these comparisons in 2022 than I did in 2021.

But before that, I'll be taking a look back at the predictions I made for the year 2021 to see how well I did. Until tomorrow!


Movie Comparison: "Pokémon The Movie: Secrets of the Jungle"
December 25th, 2021

Dogasu @ 09:00 JST -- It is now December 25th here in Japan, which means it's officially the one year anniversary of the release of Pocket Monsters The Movie "Koko"! To commemorate this I decided to finally tackle the one major thing I was missing in my coverage of the film; a comparison between the Japanese version and the English dub!


So today's update is my write-up on Pokémon The Movie: Secrets of the Jungle. It's generally a very, very good adaptation of the Japanese original but there are still some issues with the version they put out so I have plenty to talk about. The days where I can say "this adaptation is great, there is nothing much for me to say" aren't here yet but I do feel like we're getting closer, little by little. I've gotta say that, as someone who's been waist deep in 4Kids Pokémon dubs lately (yes, my comparison of "Bye Bye Psyduck" is coming soon) getting the chance to look at something with good voice acting where every other line of dialogue isn't rewritten is a nice little break.

As always, let me know what you think via any of the links below!


Pocket Monsters: The Arceus Who is Known as a God
December 15th, 2021

Dogasu @ 20:18 JST -- Earlier today Amazon Japan announced a number of special promotions for the upcoming Nintendo Switch game Pokémon Legends Arceus. These include special in-game clothing items for pre-ordering the game through them as well as a four-part animated special called Pocket Monsters: The Arceus Who is Known as a God (ポケットモンスター神とよばれしアルセウス).

The Amazon Japan website offers this brief summary:

In this cartoon set in the Sinnoh Region, Satoshi and Gou are joined by Hikari and other friendly faces we haven't seen in a while, as well as members of the Ginga-Dan who are working on a mysterious scheme and an Arceus who is known as a god. This is a series of special episodes that'll get you pumped up for the release of Pokémon Legends Arceus. シンオウ地 方を舞台にしたこのアニメは、サトシとゴウに加え、ヒカリをはじめとする懐かしの仲間たちや、謎の計画をたくらむギンガ団、神とよばれしポケモン・アルセ ウスが登場。『Pokémon LEGENDS アルセウス』の発売を盛り上げるスペシャルエピソードとなっています。

(This tweet from the animated series' official Twitter page clarifies that the "friendly faces we haven't seen in a while" come from Sinnoh)

The following four promo images were also released with the following text:

Satoshi, Gou, and Hikari are wearing the Gablias kimono sets you can only by ordering Pokémon Legends Arceus from Amazon.co.jp. And what is this person holding in their hands? Monster Balls we've never seen before that made out of wood...? 『Pokémon LEGENDS アルセウス』のAmazon.co.jpオリジナル特典であるガブリアスの着物セットを着ているサトシ、ゴウ、ヒカリ。 その手には、木でできた見慣れない形のモンスターボールが…？

Those special Gablias kimono sets, by the way:


The promo images continue:

What connection does the Mythical Pokémon Arceus have to the cataclysm befalling the Sinnoh Region? The Legendary Pokémon Agnome, Yuxie, and Emrit show up as well. シンオウ地 方で起こる異変に、幻のポケモン・アルセウスがどう関係するのか。伝説のポケモン・アグノム、ユクシー、エムリットの姿も。

The special four-part special will be streamed exclusively on (the Japanese) Amazon Prime Video service. Parts 1 & 2 come out Friday, January 21st and Parts 3 & 4 will come out Friday, January 28th (the same day Pokémon Legends Arceus is released).

Amazon Prime Video is the streaming service in Japan that hosts (basically) every single episode of every single Pocket Monsters series to date and so it's not all that surprising that Amazon and Pokémon would strike a deal to offer new animated content exclusively on the streaming service. Could we see more exclusive content like this in the future...?



Kaori and her hiatus from voice acting
December 6th, 2021

Dogasu @ 12:10 JST -- This is another one of those "I've had an idea for an article for years and years but just never got around to writing it" type updates; a page entitled Kaori and her hiatus from voice acting.


Kaori is a former voice actor / singer who's probably best known among Pocket Monsters fans as the voice of Haruka in Pocket Monsters Advanced Generation and Pocket Monsters Diamond & Pearl. She's since taken a hiatus from voice acting, with most fans in the West vaguely understanding she has some sort of medical issue keeping her from continuing on as a voice actor, but there's not much else out there about what happened or how she's doing now. So for today's update I took various blog entries, most of them written by Kaori herself, to provide you with that information. I'm positive the overwhelming majority of the information in this article will be brand new to you.

As always, feel free to contact me via any of the methods below if you have any feedback on this or any other article I've posted on the site.