How Pokémon Became a Global Phenomenon: Anime

It’s really hard to imagine a world without Pokémon. For the better part of 25 years, the series has absolutely dominated the video game and trading card landscapes… But maybe its most notable accomplishment is that of the anime – an industry titan with over 1,100 episodes to its name all revolving around one little boy, a yellow mouse and their quest to become the very best like no one ever was. But how did we get here? How did Pokémon become the universally known name it is today? Let’s take a little look. In 1997, Japanese animation studio OLM, or ‘Oriental Light and Magic’ was tasked with creating a new animated series for TV Tokyo that capitalized on the burning hot video game series that had taken over Japan. They created Satoshi as the lead of the series, whose design was heavily based on Red, the hero from the video games. But still, they needed a mascot – a Pokémon who could carry the franchise with its easily recognizable design and merchandise-selling adorability... and who better...than Clefairy? Oh what? Were you expecting someone else? Clefairy had already proven to be popular in the CoroCoro Comic manga adaptation of the series, so why not make him the anime’s hero too? Well, somewhere during production, they realized that Clefairy’s appeal was skewed towards their female demographic. They wanted something that would be a hit with both boys and girls - so they flipped through the Pokédex in search of a character with bright colours and pet-like charm. And that’s when they stumbled upon the electric mouse. Pikachu was the perfect blend of cute, eye-catching, and recognizable. The production committee signed him up as Satoshi’s partner and they went off on their journey together. So, yeah. It's thanks to the anime that Pikachu became the mascot of the entire franchise. OLM changed a few things from the video games, like the whole Pokémon-only-saying-their-names thing. Yeah, apparently OLM wanted Pokémon to speak the same as humans, but Game Freak hated the idea, and this was their compromise. But for the most part, they stuck to the same roadmap as Pokémon Red and Blue - only with the protagonist losing frequently and seldom catching any Pokémon let alone ‘all’ off them. The show proved an instant success in Japan, with children tuning in every week to watch Satoshi travel with his companions Kasumi and Takeshi, meeting new monsters, winning gym badges, and thwarting the efforts of Team Rocket as they tried to steal his beloved Pikachu. However, all this progress came to a screeching halt on December 16th 1997, in an incident that could’ve ended the Pokémon dream for good. On this day, the episode titled “Cyber Soldier Porygon” aired and the results were dire. During the climax of the episode, the Pokémon Porygon causes an explosion that was animated with flashing strobe lights. As a result, 685 children across Japan watching the episode experienced seizure-like symptoms and had to be rushed to hospitals. It was a major controversy and the show was taken off the air. After a four month hiatus, Pokémon was back to right its wrongs. They aired an informative apology segment and the new episode “Pikachu’s Goodbye”, which is cited by many as one of the most important episodes of the series due to its emotional impact. The series quickly recovered from the bad press and Pokemania was back. And that’s about the time the West started to take notice. The series was licensed by the company ‘4Kids Entertainment’ - a studio that’s been criticized for their eagerness to censor localized content. Unsurprisingly, they did just that - but that didn’t deter young Western audiences from falling in love with the Pokémon television series as it aired on CW Kids in America, Teletoon in Canada, Sky One in the United Kingdom, and many more across the globe. Here Satoshi became Ash Ketchum, Kasumi became Misty, Musashi and Kojiro became Jessie and James, and so on and so forth. For every piece they left on the cutting room floor, 4Kids, to their credit, replaced it with something equally as memorable - the music videos. To this day, the Poke-rap pops up in many bars at late hours across the globe - almost any fan can bust out every lyric. And no one can deny the impact of Pikachu’s jukebox with hits like Together Forever, What Kind of Pokémon are You, and the iconic ‘2.B.A Master’. We have to appreciate the gravity of the Pokémon anime’s success. While shows like Dragon Ball Z did a lot of the heavy lifting, it can be said that Pokémon truly introduced a whole generation of Western audiences to Japanese Animation. Pokemania at this point dominated not only Japan, but also the rest of the world. Then something unprecedented happened: “Pokémon: The First Movie”. While the film was released to wild success in Japan in 1998, it wasn’t until a year later that it reached the States and became the first anime movie to receive a wide release in the country. For a time, “Pokémon: The First Movie” held the record as the highest-grossing opening to an animated film - making over 10 million dollars on its first day. You probably remember those awesome Burger King promotional toys around that time. From there, Pokémon was able to reach new heights - as the anime even started to influence the video games, with a rerelease of Pokémon Red and Blue as “Pokémon Yellow”. It featured Pikachu as the starter Pokémon and several cameos from the television series. They even made a live stage play based on the anime series but uh...the less said about that the better. As the years passed, the Pokémon anime would maintain its solid audience - perhaps not quite as intense as in its Kanto heyday but still passionate enough - as Ash travelled through Johto, Hoenn, Sinoh, and so on, following each new video game release. The anime would eventually draw more eyes towards it with the ‘X & Y’ series in 2013, which many cite as the strongest in the entire franchise thanks to its focus on storytelling and high quality Sakuga animation. But in Japan in 2014, something was changing. Pokémon was waning in popularity compared to a new rival series - Yo-kai Watch. Many young children began to put down their Pikachu plushies and pick up a Jibanyan instead. Yo-Kai Watch’s focus on humor and creatures packed with personality was drawing eyes away. But The Pokémon Company wasn’t going to take it sitting down. They decided to take a page out of the Yo-Kai book with the Sun and Moon series, which saw Ash halt his travels to kick back in the paradise-like Alola region, tackling smaller mysteries with his school friends. They also adopted a more simplistic art and animation style, allowing for goofier reactions and humorous interactions. Old school fans weren’t so keen on the changes, but it managed to grasp an entire new generation of young viewers. However, fans of every age came together with the series’ conclusion, which saw Ash Ketchum, after over 20 years, finally achieve his dream of winning a Pokémon League. Pocket Monsters was big again. With the series that’s followed, they’ve returned a little closer to their roots - proving that they simply refuse to sit still. What’s more, Journeys is the first series to be exclusive to Netflix in the US - a massive change in direction that’s proven that streaming services are perhaps becoming the more dominant medium over television. Yes, Pokémon continues to grow and adapt. While the anime has, these days, taken third place in popularity behind the video games and card game, it has no signs of slowing down. It’s undeniably the secret to the franchise’s success - and let’s be honest, the anime series will probably continue to air until the sun burns out! We hope you’ve enjoyed our series. If you’ve missed any episodes, click the link to go back and watch!