Pocket Monsters "The Arceus Who is Known as a God"
January 28th, 2022

Dogasu @ 18:25 JST -- Earlier today the final two episodes of the four-part Amazon Prime exclusive Pocket Monsters "The Arceus Who is Known as a God" came out and so to commemorate this I've created a section in the Movies & Specials Guide dedicated to it!


The new section has the usual; a story synopsis, premiere date and runtime information, behind-the-scenes tidbit, and a complete translation of each episodes' cast and staff lists! Check it out!

Pocket Monsters "The Arceus Who is Known as a God" is a series of four special episodes released to promote the Nintendo Switch video game Pokémon Legends Arceus. The episodes feature Satoshi, Gou, Hikari, Takeshi, and Shirona working together to stop a rampaging Headran unleashed by the remaining members of the Ginga-Dan. The four episodes are currently streaming exclusively on Amazon Prime in Japan.


Pokémon Radio Show! The Rocket-Dan's Secret Empire -- Vol. 13
January 26th, 2022

Dogasu @ 21:56 JST -- The day after tomorrow is going to be the day the Rocket duo of Yamato and Kosaburou return to anipoke for the first time in over a decade. Most people understand that the last time the duo appeared on the TV series was in a 2008 episode of Pocket Monsters Diamond & Pearl but did you know that this isn't the most recent time Masako Katsuki and Takehito Koyasu played those characters? Four years after that Diamond & Pearl episode first aired the duo would return for the 13th episode of Pokémon Radio Show! The Rocket-Dan's Secret Empire and so today I'll be providing a write-up of that episode in honor of their return to the animated series!


This episode features a brief takeover of the show by Yamato and Kosaburou, an "interview" with Megumi Hayashibara and Shin-ichiro Miki, a segment where Musashi proves just how bad she is at drawing, a music quiz, and a special message from Sakaki-sama himself! I've also added a ton of notes about how Vol. 13 was originally scheduled to be (and promoted as) the final episode of the radio series as well as various other translation notes and trivia about the episode.

Episode Comparison:  "The Joy of Pokémon"
January 24th, 2022

Dogasu @ 09:00 JST -- My first new episode comparison of the year is...well, it's a boring Orange Islands filler episode known as "The Joy of Pokémon" but it has a lot of rewritten dialogue so it at least gave me plenty to write about!


In other news, I am now officially 1/3 of the way through the Orange Islands saga! I know it's taken far too long to get to this point so one of the resolutions I'm making for 2022 is to try to pick up the pace a bit when it comes to releasing these write-ups. Whether or not I'm actually able to do that is another story but I'll certainly give it a try!


Pokémon Radio Show! The Rocket-Dan's Secret Empire -- Vol. 02
January 15th, 2022

Dogasu @ 00:42 JST -- This year is going to be a big anniversary for a number of different animated Pokémon-related things. April 1st marks the 25th anniversary of the first episode of the original Pocket Monsters TV series, April 8th is going to mark the 25th anniversary of the day the world was introduced to the Rocket trio, December 16th will mark the 25th anniversary of the Pokémon Shock incident, and so on.

This year also just happens to mark the 10 year anniversary of the broadcast of  Pokémon Radio Show! The Rocket-Dan's Secret Empire.


For those of you who may not remember, Pokémon Radio Show! The Rocket-Dan's Secret Empire (Pokémon Radio Show! ロケット団ひみつ帝国) was a radio show broadcast on 76.1 interFM in Tokyo, Japan every Sunday night from July 1st, 2012 until December 23rd, 2012. The premise of the radio show is that Musashi (Megumi Hayashibara), Kojirou (Shi-ichiro Miki), and Nyarth (Inuko Inuyama) are trying to recruit the earth's population of 7 billion people into the Rocket-Dan to help their beloved boss Sakaki realize his dream of world domination. To do this, the Rocket trio decide to host a secret radio show every week to entice listeners to join them.

I have some coverage of the 26-episode radio series on the site -- far more than most anywhere else, actually -- but the one thing I never got around to doing was to prepare detailed write-ups of each and every episode. I've got summaries for Episode 01 and Episode 26 but none for any of the episodes in between and so today I'm starting an attempt to fill in that gap.

My first step on this journey is Pokémon Radio Show! The Rocket-Dan's Secret Empire Vol. 02: Unshou Ishizuka!


The episode, which came out July 8th, 2012, features a Little Red Riding Hood parody for an opening sketch, a rare interview with the late Mr. Unshou Ishizuka, a weird product placement segment, music from Pocket Monsters Best Wishes!, and more!

The radio show is a whole lot of fun and I absolutely cannot wait to continue doing these write-ups in between Orange Islands episode comparisons throughout the rest of the year.


Look Back - Predictions 2021
January 1st, 2022

Dogasu @ 21:58 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 I did. So let's take a look to see if any of the stuff I thought would happen in 2021 ended up coming true in my 2021 Predictions Check-In!


I actually did pretty terrible LOL, but half the fun of these is just thinking up of predictions to make in the first place.

I'll be posting my 2022 predictions when I do my website's anniversary write-up later this month