History Anime / PokemonTheSeries

* BellyDancer:
** In ''Pokemon: Sinnoh League'', May wears a outfit that wouldn't look out of place on a real belly dancer for her return for the Wallace Cup.
** In the ''XY'' episode "Mega Revelations", the Team Rocket trio poses as "Mega Evolutions consultants" to snag Korrina's Lucario and Ash's Pikachu, with James and Meowth appearing as mystics and Jessie dressing closer to a belly dancer.

* AnAesop: The series is ''rife'' with these, all the way back to the original adventures in Kanto. Many of them involve the proper treatment of Pokémon, which is a delicate-enough line to walk even before you factor in all the new problems involved in translating it (which has raised more than a few eyebrows, especially where the movies are concerned).

It features the tale of Ash Ketchum, his loyal companion Pikachu, and their many pals (who change every saga) as they set out across the world to become the very best (like no one ever was), as well as the perennially ubiquitous Team Rocket trio of Jessie, James, and Meowth, who attempt to steal Pikachu or another rare Pokémon/item almost [[OncePerEpisode every episode]] and are, with even greater frequency, sent flying sky-high with the CatchPhrase "Looks like Team Rocket's blasting off again! [[ATwinkleInTheSky *ding!*]]"

It features the tale of Ash Ketchum, his loyal companion Pikachu, and their many pals (who change every saga) as they set out across the world to become the very best (like no one ever was), as well as the perennially ubiquitous Team Rocket trio of Jessie, James, and Meowth, who attempt to steal Pikachu or another rare Pokémon/item [[OncePerEpisode every episode]] and are, with even greater frequency, sent flying sky-high with the CatchPhrase "Looks like Team Rocket's blasting off again! [[ATwinkleInTheSky *Ding!*]]"

The ''Pokémon'' anime series, currently marketed in English as ''Pokémon: The Series'', is a loose adaptation based on the ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' games developed by Creator/{{Game Freak}}, produced by animation studio Creator/OLMIncorporated. Given the success of the games, this series managed to make it to America as part of the marketing push, and, combined with the concurrent American airings of ''Anime/SailorMoon'' and ''Anime/DragonBallZ'', helped keep the new wave of Western anime adaptations (which started after ''Franchise/PowerRangers'' which is a Western tokusatsu adaptation) going.

* ArcHero: While Ash is the show's constant protagonist, each new region after Johto switches up the team he travels with -- after Misty and Brock in Kanto and Johto, it's May, Max, and Brock in Hoenn, Dawn and Brock in Sinnoh, Iris and Cilan in Unova, and Clemont, Bonnie, and Serena in Kalos. Each new {{Deuteragonist}} has their own arc, personality, and motivations, and more relationships with the natives of each region.

* CurtainsMatchTheWindow: Quite a few characters, be they lifted from the games or anime-original characters.

After Ash's departure from the main protagonist of the anime, a new series, ''Anime/PokemonHorizonsTheSeries'', debuted on April 14th, 2023. '''Since this page follows the continuity of Ash's journey, and he is no longer one of the protagonists in ''Horizons'', any and all tropes relating to ''Horizons'' should go on its page.'''

** Ash-Geninja was a demo gift for ''VideoGame/PokemonSunAndMoon''. This Greninja was specifically based on Ash's Greninja as its Original Trainer is Ash and was caught on the same date of its debut episode and as a moveset similar to one he had in the anime.

** Creator/KaitoIshikawa (Kiawe's Japanese VA) previously voiced Falcon, another dark-skinned character with a red color theme, in Anime/MarvelDiskWarsTheAvengers.

After Ash's departure from the main protagonist of the anime, a new series, ''Anime/PokemonHorizonsTheSeries'', debuted on April 14th, 2023. '''Since this page follows the continuity of Ash's journey, and he is no longer one of the protagonists in Horizons, any and all tropes relating to Horizons should go on its page.'''

** ''Anime/PokemonToBeAPokemonMaster'': [[EndOfAnAge After 25 years, Ash and Pikachu will retire]] as the main protagonists, and will be sent off in this miniseries, which contains the final episodes of ''Pokémon Journeys: The Series''.

** Speaking of Kurt, Ash, Misty, and Brock each received two special Apricorn Poké Balls from Kurt, but while Ash and Misty actually ended up using their Lure Balls to catch Totodile and Corsola, respectively, neither ever used their Fast Balls, while Brock never used the Heavy Ball he was given.

** The few times Butch and Cassidy appear, everyone will call Butch something wrong.

** Charmander during the [[Anime/PokemonTheOriginalSeries Indigo League]] was left on a rock by his former trainer and left to almost die in the rain.

* AshFace: Being set on fire appears to be just a minor inconvenience in the Pokémon world.

* BeachEpisode: Complete with swimsuit competition! And [[BannedInChina Banned In America]]!

** May is the biggest offender amongst Ash's travelling companions, showcasing legitimate anger toward being robbed at a handful of occasions.

** Johto begins and ends with Ash facing off against Gary.

** Pokémon X and Y begins with Ash and a Dragon/Ground-type Pokémon under the control of an evil team at the top of Prism Tower. Pokémon X and Y's ending arc has Ash and a Dragon/Ground-type Pokémon under the control of an evil team at the top of Prism Tower.

*** In both Kanto and Johto, Ash caught the three regional starters. Starting with Hoenn, the starters were divided between him and his companions, and Ash wouldn't end up obtaining all three again until Unova.

*** Sinnoh was also the first series where another Pokémon shared the spotlight with Ash's Pikachu as the series mascot. This being Dawn's Piplup, who spent almost all of his time outside of his Pokéball.

*** Since Kanto Ash either had Misty or Brock traveling alongside him, with Johto being the only other region he had both. Unova was the first region where neither of them were among his companions.

*** First region where Ash doesn't catch the Grass-type starter. He doesn't even catch a Grass-type at all in Kalos.

*** First generation where Ash doesn't cross-dress.

*** After six regions, Alola is the first where Ash doesn't catch the regional bird Pokémon, or a Water-type Pokémon.

*** Ash first captures for the series aren't any of the Generation VIII additions to the Pokédex, but rather Pokémon from previous generations.

*** It's the first series in which Ash has caught none of the current generation's starters. After having previously caught all of them in Kanto, Johto and Unova, two of them in Sinnoh and Alola, and just a single one each in Hoenn and Kalos, all three of Galar's starters were caught by Goh instead.

** ''Diamond and Pearl'' had May met Dawn and they both competed in the Wallace Cup.

* CatsAreMean: Feline-inspired Pokémon in the anime are recurrently prone to attitude problems or untrustworthy behaviour, even if it ranges from being [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold somewhat rough natured heroes]] or outright antagonists. The main villain Pokémon is Team Rocket's Meowth, a cat, which of course complements the fact that the anime's flagship Pokémon, Ash's Pikachu, is a mouse, essentially making Meowth and Pikachu a Japanese ''WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry''.

** In his first few appearances in the anime, Brock was fairly cool-headed and serious, often just posing as TheStraightMan to Ash and Misty. "The School of Hard Knocks" however establishes Brock's tendency to fall quickly for pretty girls, setting up his CasanovaWannabe persona that would define him in later episodes. Curiously Ash falls for the same girl in the episode, which in an opposite fashion counts as CharacterisationMarchesOn for his usual CelibateHero personality.

** Far later in the anime's life, Clemont joins the team. While most of his regular inventions tend to blow up as a running gag, he has managed to develop various facilities devoted to energy production in the Kalos region, including Kalos's power plant and Lumiose Tower.

** During the ''Diamond and Pearl'' saga, when Paul and Electabuzz are trying to catch a wild Drapion, they both get distracted when Ash's Gligar falls from the sky after being blown by a gust of wind in front of Paul and the Drapion escapes when it sees Paul and Electabuzz distracted.

** The Diamond and Pearl saga: Paul's treatment of Chimchar in an effort to control Blaze in an attempt to invoke HeroicSecondWind leaves the poor thing traumatized and scared for many episodes; Hunter J is a sociopathic BountyHunter who tries to kill Ash on numerous occasions; Team Galactic is given a case of AdaptationalVillainy, including trying to destroy Iron Island and kill all the humans and the Pokémon on it when in the games they wanted to catch the Pokémon, and Pokémon were shown badly injured more often; [[DeuteRagonist Dawn]] falls into depression after a losing streak, and spends several episodes as a StepfordSmiler while contemplating if she should quit on her dreams.

** Regions are '''HUGE''', not a stroll in the park. It can take days to get from one city to another.

* DefeatingTheUndefeatable: The Elite Four and Champions were initially portrayed as borderline Demigods who stood leagues above the average trainer. The first instance of this trope was made with Ash defeating Drake in the Orange Isles, as Drake had been consistently referred and shown as a massively powerful trainer who had never lost a battle ever since becoming the Orange Isles Champion. [[spoiler:In ''Sun and Moon'' Ash also managed to defeat Kukui, Alola's strongest trainer who up to that point had been undefeated; even the mighty [[SignatureMon Incineroar]] and [[OlympusMons Tapu Koko]] end up falling to Ash's Pokémon in the end.]]

** In ''VideoGame/PokemonBlackAndWhite'', Bianca is one of the player character's friendly rivals and makes frequent appearances. In the anime, she does show up fairly often but never rises above the level of supporting character. The other rival from those games, Cheren, only shows up in one episode.

** Ritchie has nicknames for his Pokémon. He has a Charmeleon named Zippo, a Butterfree named Happy, a Pikachu named Sparky, a Pupitar named Cruise and a Taillow named Rose.

->''"I wanna be the very best, like no one ever was!\\
To catch them is my real test, to train them is my cause!"''

** Jessie gets this as a cross between ParentalBonus and EvilIsSexy.

* AndTheAdventureContinues:
** The movies tend to conclude on this note, typically featuring Ash and friends walking off into the distance while the camera pans to the sky.
** The series itself ends up ending this way as well, with Ash getting ready to head out on another adventure somewhere. The only difference being this time, we don't get to see it.

The ''Pokémon'' anime series, currently marketed in English as ''Pokémon: The Series'', is a loose adaptation based on the ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' games developed by Creator/{{Game Freak}}. Given the success of the games, this series managed to make it to America as part of the marketing push, and, combined with the concurrent American airings of ''Anime/SailorMoon'' and ''Anime/DragonBallZ'', helped keep the new wave of Western anime adaptations (which started after ''Franchise/PowerRangers'' which is a Western tokusatsu adaptation) going.