History Anime / PokemonTheOriginalSeries

** [[Recap/PokemonS1E1PokemonIChooseYou The first episode]] opens with the UsefulNotes/GameBoy opening of ''VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue'', featuring Gengar fighting Nidorino. The scene then shifts to a fully animated Pokémon Stadium match, and quickly establishes the various aspects of Pokémon from their extraordinary powers to their trainers to the various shapes and sizes that they can appear as. All of this is happening on TV, in front of a young boy wishing to be a Pokémon Trainer himself.

** In the original ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' games and their remakes (''[[VideoGame/{{PokemonRedAndBlue}} Red and Blue]]'', ''[=FireRed=]'' and ''[=LeafGreen=]'') and the second generation (''[[VideoGame/{{PokemonGoldAndSilver}} Gold and Silver]]''), Brock/Takeshi and Misty/Kasumi are, respectively, the Rock-type and Water-type Gym Leaders who can be defeated by the player at the beginning of their journey and are forgotten about as soon as the player continues on the Victory Road. However, in this first anime series, Misty is introduced right in the first episode and becomes Ash/Satoshi's companion from then on. Come episode 5, Brock is introduced as the Pewter City gym leader, and, in the final minutes, decides to accompany Ash on his journey. The trio make up the ThreeAmigos protagonists and remain as such for the first 5 seasons.

** In the original ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' games and their remakes (''[[VideoGame/{{PokemonRedAndBlue}} Red and Blue]]'', ''[=FireRed=]'' and ''[=LeafGreen=]'') and the second generation (''[[VideoGame/{{PokemonGoldAndSilver}} Gold and Silver]]''), Brock/Takeshi and Misty/Kasumi are, respectively, the Rock-type and Water-type Gym Leaders who can be defeated by the player at the beginning of their journey and are forgotten about as soon as the player continues on the Victory Road. However, in this first Anime series, Misty is introduced right in the first episode and becomes Ash/Satoshi's companion from then on. Come episode 5, Brock is introduced as the Pewter City gym leader, and, in the final minutes, decides to accompany Ash on his journey. The trio make up the ThreeAmigos protagonists and remain as such for the first 5 seasons.
** The same is then also true of Iris and Cilan in [[Anime/PokemonTheSeriesBlackAndWhite the Black and White seasons]], Clement and Bonnie in [[Anime/PokemonTheSeriesXY the XY seasons]]. Aside from Lillie, who is vital to the story of the [[VideoGame/PokemonSunAndMoon Gen 7 games]], the [[Anime/PokemonTheSeriesSunAndMoon Alola season]] adds Lana, Mallow, Kiawe, & Sophocles as major characters as well. Keep in mind, that these four were trial captains in the game, who don't appear much after their trials have been completed.
** Similarly Red is only the protagonist in the gen I games and their gen III remakes while Ash, his anime counterpart remained the protagonist in the seasons that adapt the later games until he was replaced in Horizons.

* AdaptationalProtagonist: In the original ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' games and their remakes (''[[VideoGame/{{PokemonRedAndBlue}} Red and Blue]]'', ''[=FireRed=]'' and ''[=LeafGreen=]'') and the second generation (''[[VideoGame/{{PokemonGoldAndSilver}} Gold and Silver]]''), Brock/Takeshi and Misty/Kasumi are, respectively, the Rock-type and Water-type Gym Leaders who can be defeated by the player at the beginning of their journey and are forgotten about as soon as the player continues on the Victory Road. However, in this first Anime series, Misty is introduced right in the first episode and becomes Ash/Satoshi's companion from then on. Come episode 5, Brock is introduced as the Pewter City gym leader, and, in the final minutes, decides to accompany Ash on his journey. The trio make up the ThreeAmigos protagonists and remain as such for the first 5 seasons.

* DeconstructedCharacterArchetype: Ash is one of HotBlooded {{Kid Hero}}es throughout most of the Kanto seasons. His impetuousness and lack of experience due to being a literal child frequently ends up causing more problems than it solves and gets him in way over his head more frequently than not. It wasn't until his loss at the Kanto League did he start to take steps towards [[CharacterDevelopment developing out of this]] into the AllLovingHero he would become [[Anime/PokemonJourneysTheSeries near the series end]].

* DeconstructedCharacterArchetype: Ash is one of HotBlooded {{Kid Hero}}es throughout most of the Kanto seasons. His impetuousness and lack of experience due to being a literal child frequently ends up causing more problems than it solves and gets him in way over his head more frequently than not. It wasn't until his loss at the Kanto League did he start to take steps towards [[CharacterDevelopment developing out of this]] into the AllLovingHero he would become [[Anime/PokemonJourneysTheSeries near the series end]].

* DeconstructedCharacterArchetype: Ash is one of HotBlooded {{Kid Hero}}es throughout most of the Kanto seasons. His impetuousness and lack of experience due to being a literal child frequently ends up causing more problems than it solves and gets him in way over his head more frequently than not. It wasn't until his loss at the Kanto League did he start to take steps of [[CharacterDevelopment developing out of this]] into the AllLovingHero he would become [[Anime/PokemonJourneysTheSeries near the series end]].

* ''Kanto League'' (Episodes 1-82)
* ''Orange League'' (Episodes 83-116)

* ''Pokémon Chronicles'' (Episodes 1-19)

* SlidingBikeStop: In the episode "Stealing the Conversation!", a [[CowboyCop looser than usual]] Officer Jenny goes at full speed with her motorcycle, jumps from it, takes Pikachu from the hands of Team Rocket and lands in her bike, making the slide with style.

* LiterallyPrizedPossession: It's revealed in a Kanto episode that Ash's NiceHat is an official Pokémon League hat he won by sending in hundreds of entries to a sweepstakes (making it clear that he's wanted ToBeAMaster for a very long time).

** In terms of Creator/TakeshiShudo's darker tone that [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness characterizes the early anime]], that moment is best summed up by Ash protecting his disobedient but injured Pikachu from a flock of vicious Spearow with nothing but his own body, badly beaten but defiant against his odds. It [[{{Deconstruction}} deconstructs]] the whole Pokémon journey with [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome cynical reality]] yet still upholds its optimism with Ash's kindness and determination.