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Episode Comparison: "The Underground Round-Up"
August 31st, 2025

Dogasu @ 11:00 JST -- The next Episode Comparison's here! Let's take a look at the episode "The Underground Round-Up" to see just how different 4Kids' version is from the Japanese original.


This episode features a ton of text edits (more than any other of the season so far!), as well as the usual collection of baffling rewrites and story changes, so there's definitely a lot to talk about here! This is also a somewhat momentous Episode Comparison for the site because "The Underground Round-Up" happens to be the last episode to take place in the actual Orange Islands itself! We'll be in Kanto again starting from the episode I'll be writing about next month, and then Johto in the ones later on, making this the last time I'll be comparing an episode set in this filler region. It's a bit bittersweet, actually!


Takaya Hashi, 1952 - 2025
August 29th, 2025

Dogasu @ 22:19 JST -- Earlier today it was announced that voice actor Takaya Hashi (土師孝也), most well known to Pocket Monsters fans as the voice of Takeshi's father Munoh, has passed away. He was 72 years old.


Apte Pro, the voice acting agency for which Mr. Hashi served as the President and CEO, broke the news:

Our company's President and CEO, Mr. Takaya Kato (aka Takaya Hashi) passed away suddenly at the age of 72 on the morning of August 27th, 2025 due to a myocardial infarction.

In Pocket Monsters, Mr. Hashi played Takeshi's father Munoh, from his very first appearance in Pocket Monsters (1997) all the way up to his most recent appearance at the end of Pocket Monsters Diamond & Pearl.


Mr. Hashi is a veteran voice actor who has also voiced Toki in Fist of the North Star, Jubei Mitsuyoshi Yagyu in Yaiba (1993), John Bacchus in Future Diary, Shido Yurizaki in Dimension W, Mordin Orjes Gyunei in Dances with the Dragons, Venturi Leroy in Space Battleship Tiramisu, Vearn in Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Dai (2020), Slava Korovin in Irina: The Vampire Cosmonaut, Phoenix in The Family Circumstances of the Irregular Witch, and many, many more.

Condolences to Mr. Hashi's family and friends. May he rest in peace.


Weekly Shonen Jump x Pokémon
August 22nd, 2025

Dogasu @ 09:58 JST -- At the end of July it was announced that Weekly Shonen Jump, the world famous manga anthology magazine, would be having a special collaboration with Pokémon. And while this isn't really Pokémon manga, per se, it does kind of fall into the realm of "original Pokémon artwork done by manga artists," and so today I've updated the Manga Guide with a break down of the Weekly Shonen Jump x Pokémon Collaboration.


There are a total of 20 pieces of original artwork created for this celebration and so I go through each piece, one by one, and do my best to provide you with everything you need to enjoy them. Who are the artists? What are these manga series about? Who are the human characters featured? Why were they paired up with this particular Pokémon? etc. I haven't seen anyone break down each piece of art in as much detail as I go into here (either in Japanese or English) and so I hope this is a resource you'll all find useful.


Tomo Sakurai, 1971 - 2025
August 16th, 2025

Dogasu @ 23:19 JST -- Earlier today it was announced that voice actor Tomo Sakurai (櫻井 智), most well known to Pocket Monsters fans as the voice of Shirona, the Champion of the Sinnoh Region, has passed away. She was 53 years old.


The actor's official X (Twitter) page posted the news:

Notice of Tomo Sakurai Passing Ms. Tomo Sakurai has been getting treatment for multi-organ cancer for a long time, but her symptoms suddenly got worse and so on August 4th she was admitted to the hospital. Unfortunately her symptoms did not improve, and we regret to inform you that on August 13th she passed away. We would like to sincerely thank everyone for all their messages of support and sympathy received throughout her lifetime. Tomo Sakurai had always worked with the goal of making a complete recovery from this disease and had always approached her treatment with optimism, and so we are both deeply frustrated and incredibly heartbroken by this outcome. We would like to thank everyone for all their support during this time. A funeral service will be held exclusively for her close friends and family, and so we ask to please refrain from making any inquiries about the arrangements or requests for interviews at this time. We are considering possibly holding a farewell party with fans at a later date, though nothing's been confirmed yet. Tomo Sakurai Agency, Feathered Co., Ltd.

While most well known for playing Shirona, Ms. Sakurai also provided the voices of Yoshino, Koharu's mother, from Pocket Monsters (2019). She also provided the voice of a minor character Kimi from the Pocket Monsters Advanced Generation episode 151 "The Day Care Worker and the Pokémon's Egg!"

Shirona in one of her final appearances in Pocket Monsters (2019)

Yoshino, Koharu's mother, in Pocket Monsters (2019)

Fellow Pocket Monsters voice actors shared their condolences on social media.

Voice actor Rica Matsumoto (Satoshi):

智ちゃんが音響監督に沢山だめ出しされて、シ ロナさんの役で悩んでいた時、 「大丈夫、ちゃんとシロナになってるし、どう転んでも智ちゃんしかやれない役なんだから、これが私！ってけつまくって堂々やっちゃえ」と背中おしたつもり で言ったのが 最後になってしまった。 また会えると信じていたのに…

One time Tomo-chan kept getting asked to do a bunch of retakes by the sound director, and she started worrying if she could still had it in her to do Shirona-san. And so I said to her "Don't worry, you'll become Shirona you know you can be, and no matter how many times you fall remember that this is a role only you can play, Tomo-chan. So get in there, tell the world 'This is me!,' and show them what you've got!" And...that was the last time I saw her. I really did believe we'd meet each other again...

Voice actor Mayumi Iizuka (Kasumi):

櫻井智さん。 声優としてお仕事させていただいて 間もない頃、 ご一緒させていただいた時の 煌びやかな立ち振る舞いや存在感。 いつも背中を見て憧れの存在でした。 久しぶりにスタジオでお逢いした時も 優しい笑顔をありがとうございます。 またご一緒したかったです。 ご冥福をお祈りいたします。

Ms. Tomo Sakurai It was shortly after I had become a voice actor that I got to experience your dazzling demeanor and presence. You were someone I always looked up to. Thank you for your kind style that time we met in the studio again after a long while. I wish we could have worked together again. May you rest in peace.

Voice actor Mika Kanai, who'se voiced various Pokémon over the years:

智、長いお付き合いでしたね。 中学生の時に出会い、いろいろな話しをしたね。 近々美顔器あげる約束してたのに渡せずだったね。 可愛くて頑張り屋さんだった智。 また会える日まで、ご冥福をお祈りします。 #櫻井智

Tomo, you and I have known each other a long time. We met when we were in middle school and have talked about all sorts of things over all these years. Guess I won't be able to give you that facial therapy machine I promised you after all, huh? Oh, my cute, hard-working Tomo. Until we meet again, rest in peace. #TomoSakurai

Outside Pocket Monsters, Ms. Sakurai played Mylene Flare Jenius in Macross 7, Meimi Haneoka in Saint Tail, and Licca-chan in Super Doll Licca-chan, among many others.

Condolences to Ms. Sakurai's family and friends. May she rest in peace.


Manga Guide: Pocket Monsters Special, Pokémon 4-Koma Daihyakka
August 15th, 2025

Dogasu @ 11:18 JST -- I've fallen a bit behind on posting summaries to the Manga Guide of the newest chapters -- a week long business trip will do that to ya -- and so today I'm playing catch up.


Pocket Monsters Special, aka "Pokémon Adventures" in the West. In this month's chapter Scarlet warps up her match with the Team Tsih base leader while Violet and Peper look for the next Gym Leader.


Pokémon 4-Koma Daihyakka, that other collection of four panel gag comics that runs in the magazine Pokémon Fan. In this newest collection the Pokémon enjoy a day at the beach.

There are two other comic series running in Pokémon Fan but I'm not really covering them at the moment.

The first one is Pokémon Chou Dajare Club (ポケモン超だじゃれクラブ), or "The Pokémon Super Pun Club," by TAK.BR / Santa Harukaze (TAK.BR/春風邪三太). It's yet another four-panel comic strip series, only this time its punchlines are all centered around untranslatable Japanese puns that make coverage of the series take way, way more time and effort than it's probably worth.

The other series is Pokémon Quiz Puzzle Land Pikachu no Takara Sagashi (ポケモンクイズパズルランド　ピカチュウの宝さがし), or "Pokémon Quiz Puzzle Land: Pikachu's Treasure Hunt," with the comic portion being done by Kemon Kawamoto (河本けもん) and the puzzles by Hiroshi Takase (嵩瀬 ひろし). In the current iteration of this series, Pikachu and the Paldea starters help whatever Pokémon needs help that issue, with the twist being that every page has a quiz or puzzle that readers are invited to solve. So the comic will be something like "Let's try looking under this rock...oh look! A Pokémon themed word search!" And then half that page will taken up by a word search, or a maze, or a rebus, etc. And this repeats over and over for like nine pages. Covering a series like this would require me to translate and/or post all the puzzles, something that, again, takes more time and effort than it's probably worth.

The next issue of Pokémon Fan (and therefore, the next chapter of Pokémon 4-Koma Daihyakka) is scheduled to come out September 30th, 2025.