POKEMON - THE ANIME

INTRODUCTION

"This story is about a boy, Ash, and Pokemon, as well as their friendships, adventures and encounters." - Fifth Japanese opening, Ready GO!

The story of a young boy from Pallet Town, journeying to become the greatest Pokemon Master ever - we follow the adventures of Ash Ketchum and his Pikachu as they travel around the Pokemon world trying to become the best team they possibly can become. Joining Ash are several friends, including an aspiring Pokemon Breeder and the former Pewter City Gym Leader, Brock, and Pokemon Coordinator Dawn, who longs to be as talented a Pokemon Coordinator as her mother. Ash previously traveled with Misty, the current Cerulean City Gym Leader; May, another Pokemon Coordinator, and Max, the children of the Petalburg City Gym Leader; and Tracey, a Pokemon Watcher who currently assists Professor Oak in Pallet Town.

Ash begins his journey in the Kanto region. He receives his beginning Pokemon, Pikachu, from Professor Oak, the region's leading authority on Pokemon research. After collecting eight Badges from the Kanto region, Ash enters the Pokemon League at the Indigo Plateau and places into the Top 16. Ash and his friends then travel to the Orange Islands, where Ash becomes the region's Champion. After this they travel to the Johto Region, where Ash collects another eight badges and places in the Top 8 at the Silver Conference; Ash repeats these accomplishments in the Hoenn region. The group revisits the Kanto region so that Ash can challenge the Battle Frontier; after defeating the seven Frontier Brains, Ash becomes the Champion of the Battle Frontier as well. Currently, Ash and his friends are in the Sinnoh Region.

However, not everything is fun and games for Ash and his friends, as each of them maintain rivalries with many individuals. Throughout all of the regions, Ash maintains a rivalry with his childhood, hometown counterpart Gary Oak. Other rivalries include Ritchie in the Kanto Region, Casey in the Johto Region, Harrison at the Silver Conference, Morrison at the Ever Grande Conference and Paul in the Sinnoh Region. May maintains a rivalry with two Pokemon Coordinators: Drew and Harley. Dawn also maintains friendlier rivalries with Pokemon Coordinators Zoey and Kenny.

Additionally, Ash and his friends continuously encounter three comically bumbling agents from Team Rocket: Jessie, James and Meowth, who follow Ash across every region in the Pokemon World, attempting to capture his Pikachu to present to their boss: Giovanni, the leader of Team Rocket and the former Viridian City Gym Leader. Other Rocket agents revealed while the series explored the Kanto, Orange Islands and Johto regions include Butch, Cassidy, Mondo, Jessie's mother Miyamoto, Giovanni's mother Madame Boss, Attila, Hun, Professor Sebastian, Tyson, Domino, Wendy, Annie and Oakley. In the Hoenn Region, Ash encounters Tabitha's Team Magma and Shelly's Team Aqua; in the Sinnoh Region, Ash also fights against bounty huntress J and Cyrus's Team Galactic, including agents Mars, Jupiter and Saturn.

The Pokemon anime includes three Japanese series: Pocket Monsters, Pocket Monsters Advanced Generation and Pocket Monsters Diamond and Pearl. These three series have maintained the same continunity and the Ash, Pikachu, Jessie, James and Meowth characters throughout the franchise's entire run. 4Kids Entertainment, for the first eight years of the series, was the company that dubbed Pocket Monsters and most of Advanced Generation. Pokemon USA took over dubbing the show toward the end of Advanced and handles the show to this day. Each dubbed season contains about fifty episodes (what are noted as "seasons" occasionally do not correspond exactly to the show's official production seasons) and receives a new title and opening animation. These seasons include:

Season 1: Indigo League (Pocket Monsters episodes 1-83, with 2 undubbed episodes in America)
-The region arc that started it all, and still viewed as one of the best regions of the show, the Kanto episodes correspond to the Red/Green/Blue/Yellow Pokemon video games; this arc introduces the Kanto Region, its eight Gym Leaders, the Team Rocket organization, the original 151 Pokemon and the primary characters Ash Ketchum, Misty, Brock, Pikachu, Jessie, James and Meowth. In other words, the Kanto arc pretty much lays down the foundation for the entire series to follow. Ash collects eight badges from the Kanto region and places into the top 16 of the Pokemon League, amongst many other adventures.

Season 2: Orange Islands (Pocket Monsters episodes 84-118)
-Used to keep the show going until the release of the Gold and Silver games, the Orange Islands remains the only arc of the show without a video game counterpart. Brock briefly leaves the group and Tracey replaces him. Ash collects the four badges of the Orange Crew and defeats their leader, Drake, to become the Orange League Champion. Before leaving for Johto, Tracey stays behind and Brock rejoins the group.

Season 3: Johto Journeys (Pocket Monsters episodes 119-159 - Ash gets two badges)
Season 4: Johto League Champions (Pocket Monsters episodes 160-211 - Ash gets three more badges)
Season 5: Master Quest (Pocket Monsters episodes 212-276, with 1 undubbed episode in America - Ash gets his last two badges)
-Universally panned as a region packed with pointless filler episodes, the Johto region arc corresponds to the Gold/Silver/Crystal Pokemon video games. These episodes introduce the Johto region, their eight new Gym Leaders and 100 new Pokemon, and nominally recurring supporting characters such as Professor Elm and Casey. Ash collects eight badges from the Johto region and places into the top 8 of the Silver Conference; after losing in the tournament to a trainer from the Hoenn region, Ash becomes inspired to travel there, but Misty and Brock will not be going with him...

Season 6: Pokemon Advance (Advanced Generation episodes 1-40 - Ash gets three badges)
Season 7: Pokemon Advanced Challenge (Advanced Generation episodes 41-92 - Ash gets four more badges)
Season 8: Pokemon Advanced Battle (Advanced Generation episodes 93-145, with one undubbed clip show and one episode unaired worldwide - Ash finishes his Hoenn journey)
Ash heads to the faraway Hoenn region, from the Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald video games, to continue his quest. He leaves all of his Pokemon, except Pikachu, behind with Professor Oak to start fresh. Misty leaves the group permanently to become the Cerulean City Gym Leader but Brock quickly rejoins Ash's quest. Pokemon Coordinator May and aspiring Pokemon Trainer Max are added to compensate for Misty's absence. Also introduced are the Hoenn region itself, its 8 new gym leaders, its 135 new Pokemon, and Team Aqua and Team Magma. Ash collects eight badges from the Hoenn region and places into the top 8 at the Ever Grande Conference. May, meanwhile, follows her own quest: she collects five Ribbons and takes part in the Grand Festival.

Season 9: Pokemon Battle Frontier (Advanced Generation episodes 146-192)
-At the end of Advanced Battle, Ash and his friends conclude their journey in Hoenn and return to Ash's home in the Kanto region. Here, Ash enters the Battle Frontier, which simultaneously bought the anime time until the Diamond/Pearl video games were released and allowed them to showcase the Frontier Brains that were featured in Pokemon Emerald. Ash defeats the seven Frontier Brains and becomes the Champion of the Battle Frontier. He turns down the offer to become a Frontier Brain himself, however, and follows Gary to the Sinnoh region while Max and Brock return to their homes and May decides to travel to the Johto region alone (with May and Max leaving the show).

Season 10: Pokemon Diamond & Pearl (Diamond & Pearl episodes 1-52, with one undubbed clip show - Ash gets two badges)
Season 11: Pokemon Battle Dimension (Diamond & Pearl episodes 53-104 - Ash gets three more badges)
-Much like at the beginning of Pokemon Advanced, Ash heads to the faraway Sinnoh region, from the Diamond/Pearl/Platinum video games, with only his Pikachu and Aipom as his companions. Brock, once again, returns to Ash's side; they are joined by Pokemon Coordinator Dawn. Also introduced are the Sinnoh region itself, its 107 new Pokemon and eight new Gym Leaders, and many new recurring rival characters such as Paul, Zoey and Kenny. Team Galactic serve as the region's villainous team; also added to the cast is bounty hunter J. The Sinnoh-based episodes are currently airing in both Japan and in America.

Watch them as they meet new Pokemon, partake in a variety of adventures, fight for Gym Badges/Ribbons, and compete at the highest-ranking tournaments!