Line #81 Trivia/PokemonTheSeries


1	* ActingForTwo:
2	** Many of the principal and secondary voice actors acted for two, or in some cases for three or four, at various times. Creator/MegumiHayashibara and Creator/ShinichiroMiki did it in many episodes, as they were the voices of Jessie and James, in addition to the minor/supporting characters they voiced (such as Hayashibara's Pidgeot and Bulbasaur, or Miki's Charizard). Creator/YujiUeda and Creator/RikakoAikawa did it regularly throughout the series, for instance in episodes featuring Brock, Quilava and Wobbuffet, or Vulpix and Squirtle. Creator/UnshoIshizuka also voiced the Oaks, the narrator as well as some secondary characters (including Kingler and Muk) until his 2018 death.
3	** For the English dub:
4	*** In the first eight seasons, Veronica Taylor (Ash), Eric Stuart (Brock) and Rachael Lillis (Misty) respectively voiced Delia Ketchum (Ash's mom) and May, James, and Jessie, in addition to providing some of the Pokémon vocal effects.
5	*** Starting with the final ''AG'' season, this aspect carries over into [=TPCi=]'s dub, with Creator/JimmyZoppi (the longtime voice of Gary Oak since 1998) also voicing James and Meowth before he retired in 2023.
6	*** Dawn and Cynthia are both voiced by Creator/EmilyJenness.
7	* AdoredByTheNetwork:
8	** The Watch Disney XD app (later rebranded as Disney NOW) and website may have more episodes of the show than their original shows, although no show Disney XD has ever run comes close to Pokemon's episode count. The app has almost every dubbed episode up to the present (except for the banned and undubbed episodes), as well as many of the movies.
9	*** The impressive part of this is that fellow anime acquisition, ''Franchise/{{Beyblade}}'', doesn't get this kind of treatment with seasons just appearing and vanishing, and [[Series/WizardsofWaverlyPlace that]] [[WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb original]] [[WesternAnimation/KimPossible shows]] [[Series/TheSuiteLifeOfZackAndCody with]] [[Series/HannahMontana far]] [[Series/LizzieMcGuire fewer]] [[Series/ThatsSoRaven episodes]] do often show up on the apps in their entireties with much fanfare, but usually vanish after a few months. When Pokemon was acquired, they started with Season 1, then continued adding seasons and the entire series had been there for quite a while. Certain seasons go missing from time to time though.
10	** The anime was this for Creator/KidsWB back in the day, with frequent marathons and back-to-back episodes.
11	** The anime was also this for Creator/CartoonNetwork in the mid-to-late 2000s with the movies airing routinely and the show getting several marathons. Then they went in the [[ScrewedByTheNetwork completely opposite direction]] and the rest is [[Creator/DisneyXD history]].
12	** {{Creator/Boomerang}} also treated the show well too. It was given a good time slot and from the schedule change in 2014 to when the show moved to Disney XD, it would air eight times a day.
13	* AllStarCast: As time went on, the English dub began attracting well-known anime dub voice actors. Among them are Creator/ToddHaberkorn, Creator/CheramiLeigh, Creator/XantheHuynh, Creator/EricaMendez, Creator/RichardEpcar, Creator/ZenoRobinson, Creator/JMichaelTatum, Creator/CassandraLeeMorris (who was relatively unknown when she voiced her first character of the day in ''Diamond and Pearl''), Creator/VicMignogna, Creator/ChristopherSabat, Creator/XanderMobus, among many others.
14	* AnimeFirst:
15	** Okay, Video Games First, but the anime did come before the manga it bears the most similarity to; not always the case in the other manga continuities, however.
16	** [[AdaptationFirst Played straight in the US]]. The anime started 23 days before ''Red'' and ''Blue'' were released in the US. And 22 days for ''Black and White''.
17	** Played straight in the UK as well - the anime debuted on March 29th, 1999, whilst the games weren't released until October 5th of that year.
18	* BadExportForYou:
19	** For the longest time, the first eight movies were released on home video in North America with cropped aspect ratios and the occasional change in color and brightness. As of now, the eighth movie has yet to see a widescreen physical home video release Stateside, though it was recently released on digital platforms in HD. The fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh films were released on DVD and Blu-ray by Echo Bridge Home Entertainment (with the [=DVDs=] later reissued by Lionsgate and later Paramount) with widescreen versions on the Blu-ray releases and some of the [=DVDs=][[note]]At first, only ''4Ever'' and ''Deoxys'' got separate widescreen [=DVDs=], though Echo Bridge would later release ''Heroes'' and ''Jirachi'' on DVD in widescreen, both in quadruple features and on separate [=DVDs=][[/note]], and, after six years of being in licensing limbo [[http://www.amazon.com/Pokemon-The-Movies-1-3-Collection-Pokemon-The-First-Movie-and-Pokemon-The-Movie-2000-and-Pokemon-3-The-Movie-Blu-ray/dp/B019GE15PY?SubscriptionId=AKIAIY4YSQJMFDJATNBA&tag=bluray-012-20&linkCode=xm2&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=B019GE15PY&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER the first three movies were rereleased on DVD and Blu-ray in February 2016.]]
20	** The American home video releases of ''Heroes'' have [[DigitalDestruction a distracting bluish tint throughout that wasn't present in the theatrical version]]. This was eventually fixed.
21	* BannedEpisode: So many that [[BannedEpisode/PokemonTheSeries it has its own page.]]
22	* BannedInChina:
23	** Briefly banned in Sweden, under a law that banned [[MerchandiseDriven television advertisements targeted at children]].
24	** For similar reasons, the Finnish dub stopped including the Pokérap and "Who's That Pokémon?" segments beginning with "[[Recap/PokemonS1E22AbraAndThePsychicShowdown Abra and the Psychic Showdown]]". Some parents were less than happy with the MerchandiseDriven nature of the show and accused it of surreptitious advertising, with the Pokérap and its "gotta catch 'em all" message in particular being seen as blatantly telling children to collect all the toy versions of the monsters in the show. After the matter went so far as to warrant an inspection from the Finnish Communications Regulatory Authority, the network [[OurLawyersAdvisedThisTrope stopped showing the Pokérap and "Who's That Pokémon?" to be on the safe side.]]
25	** On a lesser note, a number of overtly Japanese culture-focused episodes were removed from the {{UsefulNotes/South Korea}}n dub, which created plotholes since several included Ash getting Gym Badges; the earliest featured his Metapod evolving into Butterfree. It's worth noting that this occurred before the government eased its restrictions on Japanese imports, though.
26	* CashCowFranchise: While the games are a juggernaut hit, the anime is just as, if not more, popular when it comes to merchandise.
27	* CelebrityVoiceActor: In the Japanese version, Meowth/Nyarth is voiced by theater actress Inuko Inuyama.
28	* ChannelHop: For the dubs in various countries:
29	** In the U.S, it Started off in syndication on UPN affiliated channels (and affiliates of other networks in markets with no UPN affiliate), then it was picked up by Kids WB starting in the second half of the original Kanto season until the end of the eighth season. Cartoon Network (who had been airing reruns since 2002; Creator/{{Boomerang}} took over rerun duties in 2006) became its home from the ninth season until the end of the nineteenth, in the ''XY'' series. In 2016, the show moved to Disney XD with the U.S. debut of the nineteenth movie and the ''Sun and Moon'' series, previewing before the ''XY'' series even finished on Cartoon Network. Following the end of ''Sun and Moon'' the series left U.S. televisions entirely, with ''Journeys'' opting to just stream on Creator/{{Netflix}}, with episodes being released in batches every three months.
30	** In Canada, the series continually aired on ''Creator/{{YTV}}'' from the first episode (1998) all the way to the first quarter of ''X and Y'' (2014), where it was moved to ''Creator/{{Teletoon}}'' and continues to air there.
31	** In Australia, from the original series up to ''XYZ'', the show was aired on [[Creator/NetworkTen Ten]] (the show moved to sister channel Eleven in 2012) as part of its Toasted TV (formerly Cheez TV) block. In 2017, the series' free-to-air rights were picked up by [[Creator/NineNetwork Nine]], airing on its youth-focused sister channel 9Go!, which has aired both ''Sun & Moon'' as well as ''XY'' reruns. 9Go! also reran both the Indigo League and Orange Islands seasons.
32	** The UK broadcast has also bounced around a fair bit - the show originally launched on Sky One and the Creator/{{ITV}} network in 1999, and it aired all seasons up to ''Advanced Challenge''. Cartoon Network then took over, airing ''Advanced Battle'' through to ''Diamond & Pearl'', as well as repeating the older seasons on its sister channel Toonami (Later Cartoon Network TOO). The show then hopped once again to Jetix, which started with ''Diamond & Pearl: Battle Dimension'', and it continued to air when the channel was rebranded as Disney XD, but it was pushed into a graveyard/early morning slot by the time that the ''XY'' season started airing, eventually vanishing from the lineup. Pop MAX (A kids TV channel formally known as Kix! that shows cartoons that used to air on other networks alongside newer seasons of Power Rangers) started showing episodes from ''Black & White'' onward since the start of 2018. On the terrestrial side of it all, it used to air on ITV's CITV kids block, but in its original run several episodes were awkwardly cut into two ten-minute segments. It aired on and off, originally only showing the first couple seasons and a small handful of ''Pokémon Advanced'' episodes. Around 2009/10, it started airing on the dedicated CITV free-to-air channel, where new episodes aired long in advance to those on satellite networks, with some episodes airing weeks ahead of their US broadcast. Whilst it focuses on showing the current season, they air older seasons from time to time, with ''Advanced'' getting a proper run back in 2015. This only lasted until 2020 when ''Anime/PokemonJourneys'' made its debut on Pop instead (although they had been airing older episodes since 2018) and CITV stopped airing the show at all. This isn't getting into the fact that CBBC and the BBC iPlayer have also been airing several of the older series from ''Diamond and Pearl'' onwards since 2021, with ''Anime/PokemonHorizonsTheSeries'' making its debut on the BBC iPlayer in December 2023.
33	* CreativeDifferences: Creator/TakeshiShudo's vision of the series as one that could be enjoyed by both children and adults led to a lot of disagreements with the anime staff. He eventually got fed up with how the show became overly kid-focused. This and his own failing health were the reasons why he ultimately left during the Johto League. The show did eventually began trying to draw in more older viewers starting late into ''Advanced Generation'', [[BrokenBase to varying degrees of success.]]
34	* CreatorBacklash:
35	** Takeshi Shudo (the original head writer) disliked how the series became StrictlyFormula, which is why he left the show during the Johto League.
36	** The Japanese voice actors for the Team Rocket trio have been very vocal on how much they ''hated'' their characters' [[TookALevelInBadass serious characterization]] in the ''Black and White'' series. They also were disappointed in their characters no longer appearing in every episode, a complaint that would last for the remainder of their run in the entire anime.
37	** Creator/EricStuart, the dub voice of Brock, was initially accepting of his role; but grew tired of how people would seldom acknowledge his other work and only talk to him about voicing Brock. This was seen as a significant factor in his decision to retire from anime voice acting to focus on his music career. To a lesser extent, Creator/VeronicaTaylor (Ash) and Creator/RachaelLillis (Misty) were also weary of how fans would bring up voicing Ash and Misty when they both had many other anime roles; they, however, at least seem pleased that people enjoy watching ''Pokémon''.
38	** While Creator/AndrewRannells, the dub voice of Morty from the Johto region and Harley from the Hoenn region, was grateful for his voice-over work in Pokemon, he's not very fond of the series due to finding its concept bizarre and confusing. [[CreatorsPest He also didn't like the character James]] because he found him an [[CampGay offensive depiction of a gay man]] due to his purple bob cut hair and over-the-top feminine voice.
39	* CreatorsFavorite: Takeshi Shudo stated Musashi/Jessie and Kojiro/James to be his favorite of the characters he created, which made him all the more irritated when ExecutiveMeddling resulted in them becoming {{Harmless Villain}}s.
40	* CreatorsFavoriteEpisode: Creator/RicaMatsumoto (Ash's Japanese voice actress), Creator/ShokoNakagawa (a prominent actress and singer for the Japanese version), and Creator/SarahNatochenny (Ash's current English voice actress) [[https://dogasu.bulbagarden.net/features/translations/corocoro_online_matsumoto_alola-league-victory.html have]] [[https://dogasu.bulbagarden.net/features/translations/corocoro_online_nakagawa.html all]] [[https://twitter.com/sarahnatochenny/status/1605916849987760130 stated]] their favorite battle in the anime to be the Sinnoh League battle between Ash and Paul.
41	* CreatorsPest: Creator/AndrewRannells, the [=4Kids=] voice of Harley, doesn't like Team Rocket member James due to finding him to a bad representation of a gay man. He went into greater detail about his experience of playing said character in the show's musical ''Theatre/PokemonLive'' in his 2019 memoir, ''Too Much is Not Enough: A Memoir of Fumbling Toward Adulthood''.
42	* CrossdressingVoices:
43	** One of the most famous examples in modern anime, with male character Ash voiced by women in Japanese, English, European Portuguese, Dutch, Finnish, Russian, Greek, and Catalan.
44	** In German, Ash was voiced with Caroline Comrinck (Seasons 1-3, 12-19) and the late Veronika Neugebauer (Seasons 4-11).
45	** Ash was voiced by Hanna Kinder-Kiss for the first six seasons of the show and returned to the role in the eleventh season.
46	** Meowth is voiced by Inuko Inuyama in Japan. His initial English VA, Maddie Blaustein, was transgender.
47	* TheDanza: Creator/YukoSanpei voices Sanpei.
48	* {{Defictionalization}}: Y'know what infamous Jelly Doughnut line from the dub meant to sub in for mentioning Rice Balls or Onigiri? At [[https://imgur.com/gallery/Yobwui3 least]] [[https://prettycakemachine.com/recipetutorial-pokemon-inspired-jelly-filled-donuts-for-pokenom-month/ two]] recipes have been released to make Jelly Doughnuts that actually look like Onigiri ([[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RentKWlhUXc three]] if you don't mind the not!seaweed looking lighter than it should).
49	* DelayedReleaseTieIn: The first season of ''Anime/PokemonTheOriginalSeries'' features several episodes which lead into ''Anime/PokemonTheFirstMovie''. However, due to the infamous [[Recap/PokemonS1E38ElectricSoldierPorygon "Electric Soldier Porygon"]] seizure incident, the show was taken off the air for a few months. The movie's release date did not move to compensate for the schedule delay, meaning the Mewtwo tie-in episodes ended up airing a few months ''after'' the movie had already come out.
50	* DirectedByCastMember:
51	** All of the English dub's voice directors are known to have lent their voice to the series on at least one occasion:
52	*** Michael Haigney, who was one of the main voice directors of the first three seasons as well as a script adapter, is better known in the fandom for providing the original voices of Ash's Charmander and Misty's Psyduck (among a few dozen other Pokémon). He also voiced the Kanto Gym Leader Blaine.
53	*** Jim Malone, the other main voice director up to the end of season four (as well as the director and script adapter of the [[Anime/PokemonHeroes the fifth movie]]'s dub), voiced the Orange Islands Gym Leader Danny.
54	*** Jason Bergenfeld, a script adapter for season two, assistant voice director for season three and four and the main voice director for season five, voiced a few incidental characters, such as an assistant to Giovanni in season two as well as the pizza delivery man seen in "[[Recap/PokemonS2E22TheMysteryMenace The Mystery Menace]]".
55	*** Creator/EricStuart, who provided "additional direction" during seasons four and five as well as directing [[Anime/PokemonJirachiWishmaker the sixth movie]]'s dub, is of course known for voicing Brock and James during Creator/FourKidsEntertainment's time with the series, as well as Butch, the male Pokédex and Ash's Squirtle (among several other Pokémon). Creator/TedLewis, the voice of James (before Eric Stuart took over), Giovanni and Tracey, also occasionally directed.
56	*** Creator/DarrenDunstan, who took over as the primary voice director at the beginning of season six, was the original voice of Mr. Sukizo, as well as Loudred, Grovyle, Swellow, Blaziken, Munchlax and many other Pokémon. Even after he lost that position at the end of season eight, when 4Kids' rights to the series lapsed, he still has provided voices for the series from time to time, most notably that of Ash's Unova rival Stephan.
57	*** During the time Pokémon was dubbed by TAJ Productions in seasons nine and ten, Armen Mazlumian served as voice director and also provided a few additional voices, including one of the Sinnoh Now crew members.
58	*** Tom Wayland was the voice director of [[Anime/PokemonTheRiseOfDarkrai the tenth movie]] and the series proper from eleventh season all the way until early on in the eighteenth season, where he lost the role following [[RoleEndingMisdemeanor his rape accusation]]. During his run, he voiced "about 80" Pokémon, including Ash's Charmander ([[FlashbackWithTheOtherDarrin taking over the role from]] Michael Haigney), Gible and Goodra, Cilan's Dwebble and [[Anime/PokemonArceusAndTheJewelOfLife Arceus]]. He also voiced several human characters including Paul's brother Reggie, Sinnoh Elite Four member Flint and Clemont and Bonnie's father Meyer.
59	*** Theresa Buchheister took over for the rest of the eighteenth season as well the first third of the nineteenth season, providing several human voices with their most prominent being Team Flare scientist Aliana.
60	*** Creator/LisaOrtiz, the current voice director, is a longtime cast member, having provided the voices for Misty's sister Daisy, Kanto Gym Leader Sabrina, Hoenn Gym Leader Flannery, Team Galactic commander Mars, Kalos Gym Leader Korrina, and Ash's Oshawott and Fletchling, as well as numerous {{One Shot Character}}s over the years. Since taking on the role as voice director, she has also voiced Ash's Litten and Poipole, Chloe's mother Talia and Team Rocket's Rotom Phone.
61	** The Latin American voice actress of Jessie, Diana Pérez, also directed the series' dub for Latin America from season seventeen until she passed away in April 2021.
62	* DistancedFromCurrentEvents:
63	** After the April 2011 earthquake in Japan, the Team Rocket vs. Team Plasma episodes were shelved, presumably due to scenes where there are earth tremors and a scene where a lot of Castelia City is destroyed by a fiery energy blast (the earthquake had also caused a meltdown at the Fukushima Nuclear Plant).
64	** A similar earthquake caused a filler episode of ''AG'' to be completely cancelled. According to [[http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Earthquake Bulbapedia]], the move Earthquake was never used after the Earthquake corresponding to the AG episode; the more recent disaster not helping matters.
65	** A DVD release of the first three movies took place in the United States in Spring 2009—just after Noriko Sakai [[note]]who did the narration for "Pikachu and Pichu"[[/note]] was convicted of drug possession. Needless to say, the set, which included ''Pikachu and Pichu'' (which was taken out of circulation in Japan on Sakai's account), was soon pulled, and the international distributor ultimately lost the rights for good in part as a result of the set's failed release. Its foreign dubs are still clear for circulation, since Sakai's narration was dubbed over by different voice actors, with Rodger Parsons dubbing over her narration in the English version.
66	* DuelingDubs: The show has been pretty lucky with one consistent dub for the whole franchise (though handled by more than one company). However, the 10th Anniversary Special (''Mastermind of Mirage Pokemon'') got two dubs. The first was for the initial television broadcast, and was notable for being the first production to use [[TheOtherDarrin the new voice cast]] following a change in companies. This dub was so detested that the voice cast was re-evaluated, and a few recasts took place (most notably Ash) for future media. The special was later redubbed with the updated cast (and others, who were now better used to their roles) and included as a special feature on the original Movie 8 DVD.
67	* DuelingWorks: Over the years, many anime have tried to emulate ''Pokémon'''s success, most notably, ''Franchise/{{Digimon}}'', ''Anime/MonsterRancher'', ''Anime/YuGiOh'' and ''VideoGame/YokaiWatch''. The results vary, but all of them faded from the mainstream's consciousness to various degrees, while ''Pokémon'' manages to endure.
68	* ExecutiveMeddling:
69	** The show was toned down a bit in terms of risque content after episodes like "Holiday at Acopaulo/Beauty and the Beach" and "The Legend of Dratini" were banned outside Japan and caused a few {{Dub Induced Plot Hole}}s.
70	** After the Pokémon Shock, the animators were forced to make a new episode, "Pikachu's Goodbye". Fortunately, it ended up being one of the most memorable episodes in the series.
71	** Executive Meddling also removed most Japanese culture elements and text from the show so Creator/FourKidsEntertainment wouldn't have to edit them out themselves ([[ShaggyDogStory they ended up removing the made-up text they replaced it with as well]]). Some of the anime's staff didn't appreciate this. This "culturally neutral" rule is still mostly present today, even though [=4Kids=] have long lost their rights to the series.
72	** After the announcement of ''VideoGame/PokemonBlack2AndWhite2'', the Unova arc was forced to be revamped to promote the new games. This is especially evident when looking at Ash's badge case from the earliest episodes, the final slot is clearly for the Legend Badge, meaning Ash would have fought Iris or (more likely) Drayden for his last badge. But in [=BW055=], ''Scraggy and the Demanding Gothita!'', which was aired in Japan November 10, 2011, around the time the anime staff would be notified in advance of the sequels, the badge slots were suddenly {{Retcon}}ned into generic circles, and right before the games' release, Roxie was indeed the last Gym Leader Ash battled instead of Iris/Drayden, among other things.
73	** As of ''Journeys'' at the latest, the series is under a direction from the higher ups to depict the Pokemon World as the real world, but with Pokemon, a change from previous depictions of the setting where the world was depicted as being a lot more distinct from the real world. The decision from Gen V onward to base regions on other countries outside of Japan was likely a contributor to this.
74	* ForeignDubAsBasis: Most dubs besides the Chinese version are based on the English release, so whenever any episodes are banned, that episode will not be dubbed in other languages either.
75	* FranchiseZombie: The anime was intended to only last one season, with head writer Takeshi Shudo even planning a GrandFinale episode in which Ash would beat Lance and achieve his dream of being a Pokemon master, but the series was extended past that and continues to this very day, although it has had many ups and downs.
76	* HeAlsoDid: In 1983, Kunihiko Yuyama, director of the ''Pokémon'' anime, directed ''Plawres Sanshiro'', an anime TV adaptation of a manga by Jiro Gyu. The series also has a theme of proxy battles, albeit using handmade model robots instead of animal-like creatures. In addition, the protagonist of the series, Sanshiro, resembles Ash Ketchum both in terms of looks and personality, and has a love-hate relationship with the series female lead, Kyoko, similar to Ash's with Misty (and Kyoko, like Misty, is a ponytailed {{Tsundere}}, though also a MsFanservice as she is quite a bit older than Misty is). Unlike Pokémon, Sanshiro had limited distribution outside Japan, though it was very popular in Greece and the Arab world.
77	** Both Yuyama and Takeshi Shudo both worked on the 1982 MagicalGirl series ''Anime/MagicalPrincessMinkyMomo'', which also had a major merchandise push.
78	** Serena's English VA, Haven Paschall, was part of the original cast of ''Theatre/ShrekTheMusical'' as Gingy and Sugar Plum Fairy, later playing Princess Fiona on the national tour. She has also been in ''Theatre/LegallyBlonde'' as the first replacement for Elle Woods, as well as ''Theatre/{{Rent}}'' and ''Theatre/KinkyBoots'' in numerous roles. Serena was her first foray into voice acting, and she has since focused completely on it, having voiced other humans and Pokémon, as well as being the current English voice of Bloom on ''WesternAnimation/WinxClub''.
79	** Kathryn Raio, who was the female vocalist on the theme songs for the [[Anime/PokemonTheSeriesBlackAndWhite Black & White]] seasons, has written several songs for ''Series/SesameStreet''.
80	* IAmNotSpock: Creator/VeronicaTaylor seems to have encountered this sort of problem herself as the original voice of Ash Ketchum. Yet, she ''did'' enjoy her time as Ash, anyway.
81	* KeepCirculatingTheTapes: "Electric Soldier Porygon" was permanently removed from the air and never given any sort of legal release due to the seizure incident it caused. Stories vary as to whether an English dub of this episode was ever made, but either way, it's gone for good.
82	* LateExportForYou:
83	** It took until the mid-2010s, when VIZ Media re-released their earlier "Indigo League" and "Orange Island" sets (albeit with [[BannedEpisode the three episodes featuring Jynx in its original design]] removed), that they began to release more Complete Collections in North America. With this, two previously-unavailable "Johto Journeys" episodes finally hit disc.
84	** Australia never received releases for the sixth or seventh movies, even though all others have been or are still available. That was until 2016 when the aforementioned movies were released on DVD, over 10 years after their releases in other western counties.
85	* MeaningfulReleaseDate: Netflix in the United States added each season of Sun & Moon on April 1 of 2018 to 2020. April 1 is the anniversary of the anime’s premiere in Japan in 1997.
86	* NoExportForYou:
87	** The UK has never got DVD releases of ANY of the main series. Movies eight and nine have never been released there either. However it DID get ''Pokémon Chronicles''.
88	** In the USA, ''Pokémon Chronicles'' still hasn't been released on DVD yet.
89	** The UK, for the longest time, saw little in the way of official releases. ''Pokémon Chronicles'' had a complete release, as did the first six movies (Warner Bros. released the first three movies, Miramax handled ''4Ever'' and ''Heroes'', and Paramount (under license from Miramax) released ''Jirachi Wish Maker''. Miramax eventually released ''Destiny Deoxys'' in 2012). This wasn't helped by the fact that the distribution license kept jumping about between companies - Network (A company that specializes in re-releasing shows from the BBC and ITV libraries among others) released ''The Rise of Darkrai'' on DVD, and had plans to release other movies and seasons (The website itself had a short-lived Pokémon section), but nothing came to pass. Universal Pictures Home Entertainment UK started distributing the movies years later, with ''Zoroark: Master of Illusions'' being the first release, and their last release was ''Kyurem VS. The Sword of Justice'', after which there were no other releases from them. Eventually Manga Entertainment started releasing the films on DVD and Blu-Ray, starting from ''Hoopa & The Clash of Ages'', also having re-released the first three movies and everything from Diamond and Pearl onwards, leaving ''Lucario & The Mystery of Mew'' and ''Pokémon Ranger & The Temple of The Sea'' as the only movies to not have a physical release (As well as being unable to issue rereleases of ''4Ever'' through ''Destiny Deoxys'' as Miramax still hold the rights)). The ''Indigo League'' season was released on DVD and Blu-Ray as well, but no other seasons have been announced so far.
90	** Malaysia never got the ''Advanced Generation'' anime. Any anime after that were hit or miss and were prone to getting ScrewedByTheNetwork after several episodes had aired.
91	** The Japanese OST has not been officially distributed overseas post-''Best Wishes''. This is likely because of the change of music companies to [=SonyMusic=] Japan, who is notorious for their tight hold on the properties they own.
92	** There is currently no single hub through which every episode can be watched digitally, with the rights to various seasons and movies being held by Netflix, Amazon and the BBC. The official Pokémon website used to have a section titled "Pokémon TV" which showed a rotating selection of series, but this was shut down for unknown reasons in February 2024.
93	* TheOtherDarrin:
94	** After Creator/UnshoIshizuka died, his roles of Professor Oak and Samson Oak were voiced by Creator/KenyuuHoriuchi for the rest of the series.
95	** In the Latin American dubs of the Mega Evolution specials, Steven is voiced by Miguel De León instead of Alfredo Gabriel Basurto.
96	** The Italian dub had multiple voice changes.
97	*** Gary was initially voiced by Nicola Bartolini Carrassi in the first episode, but in his later appearances he was replaced by Paolo Sesana, as in the meantime Carrassi was already voicing Brock. Sesana was briefly replaced by Creator/RenatoNovara at the end of ''Ruby and Sapphire'' and came back one last time during the ''Diamond and Pearl'' seasons, when he was finally replaced by Creator/MassimoDiBenedetto.
98	*** Meowth was voiced by Giuseppe Calvetti for the first six seasons, and was then replaced by Creator/PietroUbaldi.
99	*** Brock was voiced by Nicola Bartolini Carrassi for most of the Kanto arc, only to be replaced by Creator/LucaBottale after the character comes back at the end of the Orange Islands arc.
100	*** Misty is usually voiced by Creator/AlessandraKarpoff, but Creator/BenedettaPonticelli took the role for the redub of the earlier seasons because Karpoff didn't want to redo her old work. Ponticelli later came back for a brief appearance of Misty in [[FlashbackWithTheOtherDarrin a flashback sequence]] in a ''Black and White'' episode, but Karpoff returned on the character in her successive appearances.
101	*** Giovanni was initially voiced by Creator/TonyFuochi, with Creator/RiccardoRovatti and Creator/OlivieroCorbetta briefly replacing him for an episode each. Fuochi kept the role until the early part of the ''Ruby and Sapphire'' seasons, then he retired from voice acting. Giovanni was then briefly recast with Sergio Romanò for a single appearance, and later Federico Danti took the role for the ''Diamond and Pearl'' series. In the ''Black and White'' series he was recast with Creator/GiovanniBattezzato, but halfway through first he was briefly replaced with Pietro Ubaldi (who also voiced the character in the redub of the first season) for a single episode and then Danti came back. Battezzato then took the role again in the second half of the ''X and Y'' series and remained on the character until his death, with Danti taking the role again after that.
102	*** Dawn was voiced by Creator/TosawiPiovani for her first two seasons. After Piovani retired from voice acting, Ludovica De Caro took the role.
103	*** Paul was initially voiced by Massimo Di Benedetto, but after a season he was replaced with Creator/MaurizioMerluzzo.
104	*** Cynthia was voiced by Alessandra Karpoff for her first few appearances, but Creator/ElisabettaSpinelli took the role for the reminder of the ''Diamond and Pearl'' series and most of the ''Black and White'' episodes she appears in. Her last appearance in ''Black and White'' had her voiced by Creator/RenataBertolas instead, while in ''Journeys'' she was again recast with Creator/ElisaGiorgio.
105	*** Kiawe was voiced by Alessandro Capra during the ''Sun and Moon'' series, but was recast with Renato Novara in ''Journeys'' as Capra moved to Rome in the meanwhile.
106	*** Early on, every Nurse Joy and every Officer Jenny had a different voice actress (albeit repeats happened here and there), but towards the end of the ''Ruby and Sapphire'' series this was changed to giving a single voice actress to all of them. Joy has been voiced by Laura Brambilla up until ''Diamond and Pearl'', by Creator/TizianaMartello from ''Black and White'' to ''Sun and Moon'' and by a yet unknown voice actress in ''Journeys'', while Jenny has been voiced by Renata Bertolas until ''Black and White'' and by Creator/JolandaGranato from ''X and Y'' onwards.
107	* PromotedFanboy: [[Creator/ChrisNiosi Chris "Kirbopher" Niosi]] as Khoury. Though she was already a promoted fangirl by the time she made her mark, Creator/CristinaValenzuela as Layla also counts.
108	* RealLifeRelative:
109	** In Brazilian Portuguese, May and Max were voiced by sister and brother (Tatiane and Thiago Keplmair).
110	** In Hebrew, Daniel Magon replaced his older brother Jonathan as the voice of Ash.
111	** In Czech, Jan Skvor (the voice of Tracey), replaced his younger brother Radek as the voice of Ash during ''XY''.
112	* RecycledScript: For a long-running series like this one, [[StrictlyFormula certain storylines usually end up getting used over again]] over the years:
113	** One notable example is an episode where the majority of the cast and/or their Pokémon get paralyzed with Stun Spore, and the unaffected cast must search for the only plant that can cure the ailment. This usually also leads to the focused Pokémon (always a Water-type) of that episode either joining the cast or learning a new skill and overcoming its own problem. (Black and White did both, even!)
114	** Another famous example is repeating a VillainEpisode dedicated to Team Rocket breaking up, but then suddenly realizing by the end of the episode that they need each other to accomplish their plans.
115	** Episodes where Pikachu temporary leaves Ash for some reason (attempted release, brainwashing, amnesia, etc.), only for Ash to reignite their bond to continue traveling together, is also quite prominent.
116	** How some Pokemon captures went down in later seasons. Turtwig's capture for example, was seen as an exact copy of how Bulbasaur's capture went about where both grass-starters were trying to protect Pokemon from humans. Not to mention the Fire-type starters Ash has captured minus Cyndaquil all having [[TheWoobie rough backgrounds]].[[note]]Though even this is debatable; in its capture episode Ash ended up saving Cyndaquil from another trainer who would almost certainly have ''given'' it a rough background.[[/note]]
117	** The cancelled Celebi and GS Ball arc from Johto was reused for the Meloetta arc in Unova, which resulted in Ash battling Giovanni for the first time over a decade after the series' debut. In this case, Administrivia/TropesAreNotBad.
118	** Many, many episodes (notably the Johto episodes) can be boiled down to "Ash and company meet a new friend who has a new Pokémon that they haven't met yet, Team Rocket tries to steal the Pokémon; Ash and Pikachu defeat Team Rocket".
119	** Not to mention, that [[http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/DP006 sev]][[http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/DP051 er]][[http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/EP155 al]] [[http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/AG057 epi]][[http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/XY035 sodes]] had [[BearsAreBadNews Ursaring]] threatening the main characters (both the heroes and Team Rocket), or other Pokémon, [[http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/EP186 one even]] had the Ursaring start out as a Teddiursa.
120	** A ''Diamond and Pearl'' episode involved Jessie coming down with a fever before a Contest and James having to crossdress as her to replace her (it was the first time he had crossdressed in years as well). A few years later, an ''XY'' episode had Ash coming down with a fever when a Trainer challenges him. Serena ends up crossdressing as Ash in order to battle and make the Trainer go away.
121	** The plot of Ash's first Gym Battle episode in Kanto is redone 2 times each, with Brock in a different role in the rehashes. In addition the plot of Ash's second gym battle is also rehashed two more times, and Ash even [[LampshadeHanging mentions the original episode the third time the plot is used]]. Also the plot of Ash's Gym Battles against both Lt. Surge[[note]] a Trainer running with a sick Pokémon[[/note]] (itself being one of two rehashes of Ash's very first Gym Battle against Brock) and the Striaton trio[[note]] Iris not liking Roxie being a SmugSnake is just like how she originally viewed Cilan, before getting to know him better[[/note]] are combined and rehashed in the gym battle against Roxie in season 15.
122	** Ash has encountered a lost and injured Lapras twice. The first time was early into the ''Orange Islands'' arc and the Lapras ended up being Ash and company's primary transportation that season. The second encounter occurred years later during the ''XY'' season though that episode ended with the Lapras getting led back to its herd.
123	** The end [[TournamentArc Pokémon league arc]] tends to have a BreatherEpisode {{Filler}} placed in the middle of it that has Ash and the gang running around the location of the league searching for something that they need. In the Kanto tournament, it was a night search looking for a Pokémon Center for Ash to rest his Pokémon, and in the Unova and Masters 8 tournaments, it was to search for Iris' lost Axew and a lost little girl respectively. A lot of viewers came to view these types of episodes as the "Lost at the League" formula.
124	** An odd use of {{Filler}} that the anime has repeated multiple times is the "stuck Wailmer needing to be freed" plot. [=DP109=] was about a Wailmer trapped in a sewer while [=SM031=] and [=JN143=] had Wailmers that got stuck in rock formations.
125	* RefittedForSequel: The footage from the [[DistancedFromCurrentEvents cancelled]] "Team Rocket vs. Team Plasma" two-parter - where the Relic Castle's mechanism is activated, revealing the Meteonite - was reused for the scene in ''Best Wishes Season 2'', when the Abyssal Ruins are activated to uncover the Reveal Glass.
126	* RoleReprise:
127	** English Dub:
128	*** Jimmy Zoppi (credited as Billy Beach) continued to voice Gary even after [=TCPi=] took over production of the dub from ''4Kids''.
129	*** Andrew Paull, who voiced Steven in his one-shot ''Advanced Generation'' appearance, was brought back to reprise the role in ''XY'', making him one of the very few English voice actors who were able to reprise their role in the TPCI dub without having been replaced between occurrences. In comparison, they had a new voice actor for the Japanese version.
130	*** Creator/DanGreen voiced Chuck when he reappeared in ''Journeys'' a whopping ''19 years'' since he last appeared in Johto. This does not apply to his Japanese voice actor professional wrestler Nobuaki Kakuda being replaced by Takahiro Fujiwara.
131	** For the Latin American dub, Alfredo Gabriel Basurto retook his role as Steven too, but only for one episode.
132	** For both the original Japanese version and the English dub, Creator/SusumuChiba and Creator/WayneGrayson returned their role as Wataru/Lance in ''Journeys'', whose last appearance was back in the ''Advanced Battle'' season.
133	** For the Swedish dub, Joakim Jennefors returned to reprise his iconic performance from the first seasons opening with the season 17 remix after having been absent since season 7.
134	* ScheduleSlip: The "[[Recap/PokemonS1E38ElectricSoldierPorygon Electric Soldier Porygon]]" incident delayed airing of new episodes in Japan for four months to make sure future episodes did not cause mass seizures. It also resulted in two episodes airing out of order. Because of the delay associated with Creator/FourKidsEntertainment producing the English dub, it was only noticeable outside of Japan due to the two episodes that aired out-of-order, and the lack of the offending episode.
135	** The UsefulNotes/CoronavirusDisease2019Pandemic caused a delay in production of the anime, resulting in Season 23 pausing in mid-April 2020 after 22 episodes in Japan, resuming later in June.
136	* ScrewedByTheNetwork:
137	** According to Bill Rogers, side story episodes post-''Chronicles'' are "passed over" by the dub, possibly for not focusing on Ash.
138	** Kids' WB! in the U.S. and [=TF1=] in France screwed around with Pokémon, airing as many new episodes as they could, and then airing reruns for several months (often airing episodes Out of Order or certain ones to death) when they exhausted them. They did this for a few years until fans started to get annoyed and move on to other shows, while the anime itself declined in popularity.
139	** On Cartoon Network, the anime eventually stopped being promoted and was relegated to early Saturday mornings. With the ratings continuing to fall, Cartoon Network opted to drop the series entirely in early 2017, and Disney XD quickly scooped up the rights when they got the chance, treating it much better by giving it better timeslots.[[note]]Some suggest ExecutiveMeddling and not CN's [[AdoredByTheNetwork/TeenTitansGo infamous obsession]] with ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitansGo'' played a role in the ChannelHop, however; CN sibling Creator/WarnerBros lost a bidding war that year for the ''Pokémon'' movie rights to their former financing partner Creator/LegendaryPictures, who promptly gave a piece of the pie to their then-current partner, [[Creator/{{Universal}} Universal Pictures]]. This turn of events may have caused CN to walk out of contract renewal talks in revenge. It ultimately may have been a bad move, though, as Legendary later came calling back to Warner Bros., who agreed to take Universal's piece of the pie in their place.[[/note]]
140	** When it Pokemon first debuted in first-run syndication, none of the station in the Mobile-Pensacola TV market has picked up the anime (that applied to Robocop: The Alpha Commando) [[note]]FOX affiliate WALA, former UPN affite WJTC (now independent for the second time), nor former independent-then-WB-then-independent station WFGX (now Creator/MyNetworkTV)[[/note]]. When Pokemon was moved to Kids’ WB, it was finally aired in the market via WFGX but the station wasn’t available in the Alabama side (including Mobile) of the TV Market [[note]]It's likely due to weak signal WFGX had which was why Comcast of Mobile refused to pick it up, considering WFGX was licensed in Fort Walton Beach). WFGX wouldn't be available to the Alabama side until 12 years later.[[/note]]. When WBPG [[note]]Now WFNA and affinited with Creator/TheCW[[/note]] launched in September 2001 taking Creator/TheWB affiliate from WFGX, Pokemon can be finally shown in the Alabama side.
141	** In January 2021, after the anime had moved to Creator/{{Netflix}}, it was pulled from Creator/{{Disney XD}}'s line-up.
142	* ShipperOnSet:
143	** The former English voice actresses of Ash (Creator/VeronicaTaylor) and Misty (Creator/RachaelLillis) have shown their support for Pokeshipping. The two would hang out and act in-character off set.
144	** The current voice actress of Ash (Creator/SarahNatochenny) and the voice of Serena (Haven Paschall) have shown their support for Amourshipping, with Sarah even tweeting "[[https://twitter.com/sarahnatochenny/status/1039962118970396675?lang=en my favorite #armourshipping]]" in response to a Pokemon official tweet about the greatest love story.
145	* ThrowItIn: According to the first of the Creator/TakeshiShudo-authored [[Literature/PocketMonstersTheAnimation novelizations]], Team Rocket's line said every time they're defeated, 「やな感じ」 "ya na kanji," lit. "bad feeling," was ad-libbed by their Japanese voice actors.
146	* TorchTheFranchiseAndRun: Considering one of the planned endings for the anime originally, Pikachu leading a revolt against the humans with Meowth as his ambassador, Misty becoming a FauxActionGirl, Ash putting away his childish ToBeAMaster dream, and playing up ''Pokemon'' as fantasy dog fighting, it seemed like Takeshi Shudo was planning to do this once the original anime is up. Probably best for the games that Creator/GameFreak [[ExecutiveMeddling understandably stepped in upon hearing this.]]
147	* TroubledProduction: OLM lost a hefty portion of its workforce during the COVID-19 pandemic, and one of the animators revealed in October 2022 that [[https://i.redd.it/3hamdullm7r91.png being understaffed and insubstantial communication between the production teams]] had a tremendous impact on a series as constant as this one, not limited to the number of clipshow[=/=]recap episodes ''Journeys'' has compared to previous seasons or increases in stock footage usage.
148	* WhatCouldHaveBeen:
149	** Originally, all Pokemon were supposed to talk, but Game Freak nixed the idea, so Meowth ended up as the only regularly-appearing Pokemon that talks.
150	** Takeshi Shudo [[http://pokebeach.com/2008/07/second-pokemon-interview-with-masamitsu-hidaka-many-interesting-points had story plans for Johto including Celebi being inside the GS Ball]] and finding out more about Ash's father. He also had plans on ending the anime with the Pokemon revolting against humans with Pikachu as the leader and Meowth as an ambassador, Misty being an invocation of FauxActionGirl, and a general implication that Pokemon training is as much Fantastic Cockfighting as MoralGuardians feared. All these ideas were scrapped and we ended up with the show we have now because of it, for better or worse.
151	** [[https://33.media.tumblr.com/41e83f579340ade569fca7c61040517a/tumblr_nd93mz8OXM1s3uawvo2_1280.jpg The early]] [[https://33.media.tumblr.com/a428e5ab59083af383e5ae1ef01653e9/tumblr_nd93mz8OXM1s3uawvo1_1280.jpg Pokémon previews from Nintendo Power]] provided different English names for the titles and organizations we come to know of, as well as unused concept art from the anime. For starters, the shortened name Pokémon was originally "Poke-Mon", with a hyphen in the middle and no ''é''. Pokémon Trainers were also going to be called Pokémon hunters as well, while Team Rocket was originally going to be called the Rocket Society. Jessie and James were originally wearing the black Rocket uniform with white gloves and boots, being more closer to the Rocket Grunt designs instead of their classic white uniform and black gloves and boots (with the exception of early BW).
152	** Ash's original partner was supposed to be a Clefairy instead of a Pikachu. Isamu from ''Manga/PocketMonsters'' (which is the second adaptation of the series, predating the anime) has both a Clefairy and a Pikachu as a reference to Clefairy being the original series mascot. Think about it: if successful as a franchise icon as Pikachu has been, ''Videogame/SuperSmashBros'' players could have been able to play as a Clefairy that could Metronome other fighters' Final Smashes for its own Final Smash... Another choice for Ash's original partner was also a Jigglypuff, but one who couldn't sing.
153	** [[http://bulbanews.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Masaaki_Iwane:_Pokémon_anime_originally_slated_for_18-month_run The anime was originally just supposed to last through Kanto]], with an assumed ending of Ash defeating Gary and winning the Pokémon League. Here's one to consider in light of that 18-month report: ''Videogame/PokemonGoldAndSilver'' was originally scheduled for release in late 1997, but was delayed to be adapted for the Platform/GameBoyColor. The first episode of the Anime aired on April 1, 1997, and because of the delay to ''Gold and Silver'', the Orange Island filler arc was created.
154	** The [[http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x4pmwla very first trailer]] for the movie ''[[Anime/PokemonTheFirstMovie Mewtwo Strikes Back!]]'' in Japan, it is completely made out of [[MissingTrailerScene scenes that didn't make it to the final product]]; the grown-up Misty segment, in particular, is a huge source of speculation and discussion withing the fandom, specially by taking account the movie would be the GrandFinale for the anime.
155	** Media Blaster wanted to release uncut [=DVDs=] in America at one point, but of course Viz got the rights and they were unable to do this.
156	** There was originally going to be an episode (probably just a ClipShow based on its title, "It's New Year's Eve! Pocket Monsters Encore") that celebrated the Japanese New Year during the Kanto run. This episode was intended to air soon after the infamous Porygon "seizure" episode, so production was halted, and after a while simply cancelled.
157	** The GS Ball was originally going to contain a Celebi that was to star in a large portion of the Johto arc. After ''Anime/Pokemon4Ever'' came out, it was decided that having a Celebi in the anime right after a movie featuring Celebi would be redundant, so the idea was shelved.
158	** ''Anime/Pokemon3'' was [[http://dogasu.bulbagarden.net/movies/pm_lord_unknown_tower_entei/lord_unknown_tower_entei_mythical_third_movie.html originally set to address the question of "What happened to real-world animals in the Pokemon universe"]] and instead of Entei and the Unown (Gold and Silver had been delayed at this point of development and they were unsure about doing another movie debut Pokemon) the focal point would be the reanimated fossils of a ''Tyrannosaurus rex''.
159	** According to ADR director Tom Wayland, in ''Anime/PokemonArceusAndTheJewelOfLife'' Arceus was originally going to be voiced by actor Vincent D'Onofrio of ''Film/FullMetalJacket'' and ''Film/MenInBlack'' fame. However, before his recording session, there were difficulties with D'Onofrio's agent and he was unable to record for the movie. After re-auditioning, Tom Wayland himself was chosen to voice Arceus instead.
160	** Team Plasma was supposed to make their debut appearances in Castelia City during ''Best Wishes'', but their episodes were indefinitely postponed after the 2011 earthquake and tsunami disaster, as the episodes featured Castelia City being destroyed. This plus the ''Black 2 / White 2'' games utilizing a different incarnation of Team Plasma led to the originally intended arc for Team Plasma being scrapped altogether.
161	*** A related episode about a fishing competition in Castelia City was also postponed, but was broadcast without any references to the original setting of Castelia City.
162	** When the ''Advanced Generation'' was in pre-production, there was a discussion on who would get PutOnABus, Misty or Team Rocket. Misty leaving the show was controversial enough, but one wonders how much the fandom would have flipped their lids if [[EnsembleDarkhorse Team Rocket]] left.
163	*** Team Rocket was also going to be PutOnABus in ''Best Wishes'', but their fans in the production staff vetoed the decision. Ironically, their intended write-off was ''still'' advertised as their GrandFinale, just to test the waters with fans as to how the idea of them leaving would pan out. [[SavedByTheFans The answer was "not well".]]
164	** Takeshi Shudo had story plans for finding out more about Ash's father. This idea was scrapped and we ended up with the show we have now because of it.
165	** According to voice actress Veronica Taylor, they were originally going to hire a child actor to voice Ash. Those plans fell through, apparently, because they called her back in.
166	** Early previews for ''[[Anime/{{Pokemon 3}} Spell of the Unown]]'' refer to it as ''Tower of the Unown''.
167	** ''Anime/PokemonRangerAndTheTempleOfTheSea'' was supposedly going to focused on Jackie Walker as the protagonist, along with Manaphy as his sidekick, but this shifted around as May became a more interesting viewpoint for the story and they realized how May and Manaphy's Mother/"Son" dynamic might appear to be recycling Misty and Togepi.
168	** Latias from ''Anime/PokemonHeroes'' was originally meant to join Ash for at least the remainder of the Johto season, but that plan was scrapped possibly due to the staff not willing to work with [[InterspeciesRomance a serious Pokémon/Human relationship]] on a kid's show (then again Bayleef did like Ash too, so it's also possible that they didn't want to risk having it seem redundant). It could also have been a result of not wanting the events of movies to interact with the events of the main anime itself; anybody who wasn't able to see the movie would have effectively been locked out of the loop, so no movie ever features any new main character captures or evolutions. Aside from the delayed tie-in episodes for the first movie, there are ''very'' few times the events of movies are ever referred to in the main anime, usually only as an implied bonus for fans (such as Ash seeming to recognize certain Pokémon he'd only met previously in movies).
169	** The podcast bumper for the original Japanese airing of "Unova's Survival Crisis" gave the audience a telephone poll over which Pokemon they wanted to [[TheBusCameBack return to Team Rocket]]; Wobbuffet, Mime. Jr or Dustox. While Wobbuffet won the poll, one has to wonder how ''XY'' would have played if Mime. Jr or even Dustox inexplicably rejoined.
170	** Another bit of Shudo-related early days trivia came to light in 2016: aside from the possible ending shown in the earliest ''Mewtwo Strikes Back!'' trailer, he also [[https://www.reddit.com/r/pokemon/comments/5d496d/new_translation_of_takeshi_shudos_idea_for_final/ had an idea for an ending]] that involved an old Satoshi reminiscing about his childhood, and remembering the series; yet it was clear that it had mostly been the fantasy of one young boy and it had faded as he had aged. It would end, then, with Satoshi closing his eyes, hearing his mother's voice... and a young Satoshi running off to another adventure, [[OrWasItADream raising the question of whether being a dream even mattered]]. That would have been quite a tone shift for the anime series and taken successor series in a much different direction.
171	** Ash's original dub name was "Casey". This was shown in an early trailer and later re-confirmed by Veronica Taylor. The name was later given to a recurring female character in the Johto seasons, who is, [[Literature/CaseyAtTheBat quite fittingly]], a baseball fan.
172	** Several pieces of promotional art for the ''Diamond and Pearl'' series featured Paul alongside Ash and Dawn, with near to zero mention of Brock. Whether this meant he was intended to be a traveling companion rather than rival is unknown, however, although Paul does seem to be significantly less sour looking in those pictures when compared to his usual default expression in the anime proper.
173	** Seeing as the majority of the show is now available on Disney's streaming apps, there is the possibility that, had Turner Broadcasting not lost the rights, the show would have ended up on their Creator/{{Boomerang}} streaming service.
174	** [[https://twitter.com/cassio_buson/status/1446806977779228682?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1446806977779228682%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fforums.serebii.net%2Fthreads%2Fpocket-monsters-2019-speculation-thread.670382%2Fpage-3086 A poster from Banpresto 1999]] implies that originally Ash's Bulbasaur was meant to evolve into Venusaur, but this plot point was eventually discarded.
175	** [[https://twitter.com/Ringo1748607337/status/1532490022112448524?s=20&t=sFHneSotjDtnF_yOrt2wqg An interview with Tomioka]] revealed two changes from the initial plan of the later ''Journeys'' series, the first being that Paul's return was not originally planned but added in to expand on what was originally a Oak Lab training episode and show off Paul's growth since we last saw him. The second is that originally, non-Ash Master Eight battles were going to be underfocused on to focus more on Ash's unpredicatable battle style over their more focused ones, but the producers quickly told Tomioka doing that would be a waste.
176	* WriteWhoYouKnow: According to [[http://www.4gamer.net/games/999/G999905/20151225009/index_3.html an interview]] with The Pokémon Company's president Tsunekazu Ishihara, Max's design is based on Creator/SatoruIwata's son, with his glasses being the same model that Satoru Iwata wore then.
177	* WordOfGod: Storyboarder Masamitsu Hidaka said that Ash's father is on his own Pokémon journey, and his character would be explored if it is necessary to further Ash's CharacterDevelopment. The later "Clear Blue Sky" special episode later clarifies that this "Pokémon journey" also involves a professional job which keeps Ash's father [[ParentalNeglect too busy to be present in his son's life.]]

Context Trivia / PokemonTheSeries