Dogasu's Backpack 25th Anniversary
January 31st, 2025

Dogasu @ 22:49 JST -- Well, we made it: this website is now officially 25 years old! Every year I do a write-up to commemorate the occasion and so here's this year's entry:


As I say in the write-up itself, I want to thank you all so much for visiting this little website of mine. And I can't wait for you all to see what I have in store!


Episode Comparison: "Pokémon Double Trouble"
January 28th, 2025

Dogasu @ 22:49 JST -- In what will be my last site update before Dogasu's Backpack turns 25 years old later this week, here's the Episode Comparison for the Orange Islands episode "Pokémon Double Trouble."


This one is a doozy. I mention this in the comparison itself, but when I sat down to work on this comparison it felt like I was working on a Pokémon Chronicles episode because of the sheer number of rewrites and other edits present in this single 22 minute piece of television. There are some fairly substantial rewrites in this one so definitely check it out!


Manga Guide: Kousaku Anakubo's Pocket Monsters
January 26th, 2025

Dogasu @ 20:50 JST -- Earlier today the latest, well, "chapter" of Kousaku Anakubo's Pocket Monsters manga was posted on the CoroCoro Comics website and so I've updated the Manga Guide accordingly.


This month, Pippi tells readers that the manga's going on a short hiatus for the next couple of months. To find out more about what he says, and to hear speculation as to why the series is taking a break in the first place, check out the newest entry in the Manga Guide here.

The next chapter of Kousaku Anakubo's Pocket Monsters is now scheduled to be released March 30th, 2025.


Manga Guide: January 2025 Updates
January 23rd, 2025

Dogasu @ 23:10 JST -- This month's issue of CoroCoro Ichiban! came out this past Tuesday and so here are the Manga Guide updates for this month!


Pocket Monsters Special, aka "Pokémon Adventures" in the West. In this month's chapter Scarlet and Peper face off against Mimizuzu, the Lurking Steel! Elsewhere, Botan overhears some Star-Dan grunts expressing their frustrations with the way the organization's being run.

Pokémon Card Game Yarouze~!, the "Pokémon tries its hand at a Yu-Gi-Oh! type manga" series. This month's chapter is unique in that instead of featuring a card game match, it gives us a series of questions related to the "Battle Partners" expansion packs that Retto and Letto have to answer. Can they get all five questions correct?


Pokémon 4-Koma Gakuen, one of the current series of Pokémon related comic strips. In this month's collection the Pokémon students enjoy playing outside in the snow.

Pokémon Frienda Oshiete! Friender-Man, the (soon to be monthly?) comic based on the current Pokémon arcade game Pokémon Frienda. In this month's chapter, Renda learns how to use his very first Terastal Pokémon pick.


Episode Comparison: "Pokémon Food Fight!"
January 12th, 2025

Dogasu @ 10:06 JST -- One of my goals for 2025 is to finally, finally finish up the rest of the episode comparisons for the Orange Islands arc (so, ten episodes in twelve months) and so here's the first step toward that -- the comparison for "Pokémon Food Fight!" is now up on the site!


The episode has an unusually high number of rewrites as well as the first in a new series of digital paint edits and so there's actually quite a lot to talk about in this deceptively low-key episode.

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


Look Back - Predictions 2024
January 5th, 2024

Dogasu @ 22:35 JST -- Every year, as a sort of fun little game, I make a list of predictions of what I think will happen in the World of Pokémon during the next twelve months and then post them on this website. Part of that game is to then check back in a year later to see how many of those predictions came true. And so, let's take a look at the stuff I thought would happen in 2024 in my 2024 Predictions Check-In!


How many of these did I guess right? And how many of them did I completely bomb? Let's find out together!