User reviews

A 4. something on IMDb? It was better than that. If everyone's going to diss their childhood, w/e. But I'm not going to act like I didn't like I didn't watch the show and play the games every Saturday. The early episodes were best. Best episodes where the ones involving Charmander (and his forms to come), Primeape, The Cinnabar Island gym match, and the Indigo Plateau finals. Also that one where Ash fights the gym owner that has the Dragonite. The Johto episodes were just too drawn out. I mean, there are like 20 cities inbetweeen EACH gym battle, when they're all so close together in the games. It's ridiculous. And yes, those damn Pokemon were damn cute. By the end Team Rocket was just really annoying. But I just stopped caring near the end of it. They just kept adding to the list of Pokemon. First it was 150, than 250, and the list just kept growing higher and higher.......The games where better by the end of it. But it was still a fine fad, and still good for little kids.

Whenever I think of Pokemon my heart sinks, but in a good way! It reminds me of my younger life (this is like four years ago by the way:P) This was easily my first and most-loved animes because it outlines my childhood from 10 - 14 when everyone liked it, not that everyone carried on liking it like I did. The original series of Pokemon is by far the best, and I really enjoyed the Johto saga, however recently Pokemon has gone down hill.

The story lines are repetitive and so similar to the original series, and the newest one (Diamond and Pearl) looks to make things worse. I saw the first episode of it (in Japanese) and I loved it until the last 5-10 mins where I thought "Yey! No Ash or Team Rocket!" I should have kept my mouth shut. They crammed Ash AND Team Rocket trying to steal Pikachu.

But afterall, it really is a children's epic story:) I just feel so bad that they've changed the voice actors after 10 years. It's really ruined it for me and I'm sure many other fans of the programme.

Pokémon is entertaining and fun. The XY and earlier episodes were the best. All of it is interesting and you get invested in the character although it has quite a few problems like resetting the series every few seasons and refusing to advance the plot. It does not seem to be ending anytime soon. The animation and battles are cool. It still is a good watch.

Is there really any of us who doesn't suddenly feel nostalgic, with countless memories invoked, at the slight muttering of the words, "I want to be the very best, like no one ever was"? For those who lived in a cave, those are the first two lines of the theme song to the awesome anime, Pokemon. Most of us just remember the original Kanto Pokemon (Charmander, Squirtle, Bulbasaur, Pikachu...), as the franchise's popularity embarked on a steady decline come the Jhoto Pokemon. Although still relatively popular today, let's face it-- Pokemon was, essentially, a fad.

If you were like me, your life was pretty much based on Pokemon at the height of it's popularity. On the bus ride to school, you'd talk to friends about how you were able to catch Missingno. the following night and how your Charizard leveled up to 58. You'd hide your Gameboy in your bookbag during SSR (sustained, silent reading) or free time and play those games. At recess time, It was a rare occurrence you'd hear plain English speak on the playground... it sounded more of a zoo of "pika-pika!" and "meowth!" that we all just seemed to comprehend. While at home, you'd avidly tear open endless packs of Pokemon cards, then smuggle them to school, as they were illegal, and trade them on the blacktop, drug-dealer style. On the bus ride home from school, you'd secretly do a few more last-minute trades before racing home to catch the Pokemon anime series on the now-defunct Kid's WB. Glued your eyes would be to the television screen, even though you've seen the same episode numerous times and even had it on videotape. You'd eat Pokemon cereal, wear a Pokemon bathing suit, and you jumped for joy upon release of Pokemon: The First Movie. You obviously raced to the theater to watch it, and, of course, loved every second of it.

Somewhere after that movie; however, your love disintegrated.

Mentality drifted from "you're a freak if you don't like Pokemon," to "you're a freak if you do like Pokemon". Pokemon cards were handed down to younger siblings, thrown away, or sold; videos were ripped out and used as streamers; plushies were gifted to the family dog; and the games slowly lost their battery life sitting in your drawer. In many people's eyes, Pokemon were a thing of the past. Others stayed loyal to the franchise.

This show/franchise totally needs a comeback. I don't know what's wrong with it now, but a reinvigoration of the craze would be awesome and totally interesting. Ash, Brock, and Misty need to ditch whatever lame friends they have now and just stick together, and Jessie and James need to become again a force to be reckoned with, not just the comic relief characters they are currently. I want to see Pokemon card booster packs being way over priced (I'm talking' 7.99, people!) and impossible to find due to popularity, not lack thereof. No matter how cool you think you are, you know you're at least somewhat interested in this craze making a comeback.

The games are great, merchandise is readily available, and there's not much to improve about the cards-- I wonder if the problem lies in the show?

I still remember watching episodes from gen I through IV when i was younger on TV... I still watch it sometimes when there's nothing else on ^_^

The first season has some thing ridiculous like 54 episodes and each season after that has the same amount! The original series of 151 Pokemon were by far the best, though for those of you that Finnish a show and go aweee i wish it wasn't over.....don't worry with Pokemon it never is.

I grew up with this show and was recently at a friends house who has a 8 year old kid, his parents had been downloading the first season and this kid was LOVING it! Needless to say i proceed to sing the thyme song with him (which i still remember word for word and will bust out at parties when im drinking. why yes, i am 21) and totally kicked his ass at all the "whats that pokemon" ad breaks.

Even now 15 years later kids are still loving this show, they don't care about any dodgy animation, what the hell does an 8 year old care about cutting edge HD animation for anyway? its the story line (admittedly a little repetitive, yet easy for its target audience of 3-14 year olds to follow) Even as a kid i remember loving this show more over any of the more advanced cartoons.

If you've got a kid in the 4 - 14 age range, DOWNLOAD this show for them NOW! like i said with a stupid amount of episodes per season it will keep them entertained throughout their childhood and give them some great memories, in fact one of my best friends of 16years and i met over a pokemon card battle in the local park. I completely intend to introduce my kids, my grand kids and all my friends and family's kids to the show, to an 8 year old the graphics are irrelevant but the story is timeless.

*Side note* re watching the show now.... theirs actually a lot of adult content covered by double meanings that kids will take innocently. Clearly written well for those adults out their being forced to sit through the show:P oh and Brock appears to get laid.......A lot!

It's obviously declined in quality (in my opinion) Very slowly. The first 10 years of this show was Great then I started watching after, now the new ones make me cringe.

It was a good show, and it's surprisingly still running. Inevitably, it got stale later, but the first few seasons were fresh and good.

I'm a 37 year old dad and was never into Pokémon as a kid. That being said, my kids have really gotten into the world of Pokémon. What I enjoy most about the series is the one to one interaction of new Pokémon throughout the series. I'm learning and seeing some of these characters for the first time ever. I'm hooked and want to see all 151 (original) Pokémon. My 3-year old son can name more Pokémon than letters of the Alpha bet. It's really been a nice bonding experience with my kids as I am a big gamer. What makes the show very enjoyable is it's easy pacing, repetition of human characters, and the timelessness of the world it creates. I see moments of the 90s in there, but to my kids, it's just part of the quirkiness of the show. It does have a few rough edges here and there, but they tend to reset on the next episode.

I think it's a misconception about Pokemon being extremely better in Japanese. That's partially true, but here's how it really is.

Pokemon, in the beginning, is slightly better in Japanese everything's translated well,(apart from names of Pokemon and characters being changed), but the story is not hurt as the same plot points are kept and even the same words from the Japanese version are repeated in the English version. The voices aren't bad either, for the people in the main cast, the side characters and guest stars have horrible voices in English. The only out of place Main charter voices in the English version I would say are Meowth's, Officer Jenny's and Gary's. The Japanese version makes Meowth sound like a talking cat with fits more to me, since his a cat and not a New Yorker. Officer Jenny's and Gary's English voices are just bad in comparison to Japanese though. The original music is kept for the most part. There are times when the music breaks in the Japanese version. The English version fills those in with "in-house" music. The "in-house" music is decent but you can tell the difference between the original music and the in-house music because the quality is drastically different. The original music would be anything that you hear in the Pokemon video games. There are a few originally made musical pieces for the anime too, and they are left in the English version too,(minus the vocal songs). The sequences where they say, "Who's that Pokemon" are really in the Japanese version. They are called, "Dare Da?", which means, "Who is it?". The only things that are different about them are that the video is different and they make them English. The video is also uncut in the beginning too(minus the paint edits). And there are a large handful of episodes that could have been dual-audio(Japanese language & English Language selectable) because everything is shown.

However, Once you start getting into the era where, Pokemon the Movie 2000 comes out, everything the English version does a 180 degree turn and gets embarrassing to listen to. They add way too many silly puns and jokes and the Japanese version overtime gets a bit more serious but the tone in the English version is still "comical". I know that this show is marketed for kids, but this same show was doing so well with keeping the original plot line and tone and was still marketable to kids, but it makes the Japanese version look bad past a certain point. That certain point would be after the Orange League. After the Orange League, in both versions, it seems like every episode's goal is to, "show the Pokemon from the game in the anime", rather than story, but the English version handles that a lot worse.

Pokemon overall is still slightly better to watch in Japanese though. You really could watch the English version for the first two seasons once Johto happens then you're screwed if you liked the English version. The Japanese version is better in the presentation and voices, but for you're one of those people who think, "The Japanese version's gonna p*** over the English version because the dub is crappy", that's not going to happen.

Dont get me wrong I love pokémon and the anime but sometimes i wish it would end. The manga and games are better obviously, the manga just deserves to be animated.

But about the on going anime it really is great. Over the years it has changed and i really just dont like rivals anymore. They are too friendly now ingame and in anime. I miss the attitude and character development of people like silver. It really is childish and as i grow up i don't enjoy it anymore but ill still watch it.

This show is one of the best on the air! It is also the best Game Boy game ever made! It remains partially true to (the game.) It tells the adventures of Ash, Misty, and Brock as they search for all 150 Pokemon. There is only one word to describe this show: Great!

How do you even address a franchise as massive as "Pokémon"? The weirdest thing about this show is that I actually first started watching it during Season 4 or Johto League Champions. Nearly everyone agrees that was the worst season of the entire show but it was the one that actually got me hooked. I actually felt daring watching the anime and even started over a decade ago on a forum where I eventually became a character created by Kirbopher. Yeah, it's a very long story. I could probably write volumes about how much this show (or the franchise as a whole) has affected me. It reminds me of when Doug Walker said that people might act like they hate Disney when everyone really does love it and it's not some evil organization taking over the world.

That's what a lot of people have said about Pokémon. In fact, that's even what I thought at one point, that it was some evil thing trying to take over the world, but I have seen so many people who love Pokémon and appreciate it as a work of art, which is what it should be. Something that has created literally millions of beloved fan drawings and animations should hold a special place in your heart. The reviews for this show were actually some of the first I read on this website, literally over a "decade" ago. It was interesting to see everyone's opinion and how everyone was complaining, but yet still coming back to it. It's ranked here as one of the best video game adaptations ever.

I remember a kid or two at school who kept complaining about how pokemon fit inside pokeballs. People here have asked where pokemon come from and what their purpose is. They say it's childish and as an adult, it's just stupid to be into. That's the exact same thing people say about religion! I think they even have the same defense. People (I am religious, BTW) outright say that it doesn't make any sense, but if this is someone that fits your life and makes you happy, then just go with it. There was even a Simpsons episode that compared pokemon to religion. Every person should be allowed to live their lives as they see fit.

Looking back here, I notice that this show has a higher rating all the time. Why? Because after over a decade, they finally put romance on the show! Yep, people went wild with the introduction of Serena. The main writer originally said he didn't like the idea of there being romance on the show and then he died and THEN they put romance on the show! It's hard for me to catch it nowadays, but I can always find it online. I was also fascinated by the sheer number of shippings this show brought. There are literally THOUSANDS of official names.

My favorite would be Rocketshipping (though AmourShipping's great too) with Jessie and James. It's simply incredible the huge number of romantic hints people have found between these two characters as listed on Bulbapedia. I admit to losing count of the pokemon after the first 500. The show really does have great characters and memorable scenarios. Pokémon is even more popular than "Star Wars" on most websites. More voices should have cried out when the Nostalgia Critic crapped over it than when "The Phantom Menace" came out. I enjoy these characters and hope to catch up on the infinite number of episodes. May something so beloved live on forever. ****

NOTE: So I was here to make my daily visit to do another reviews when I noticed to my surprise that the XY series seems to not have got a lot of good reviews with people saying the new characters are annoying, nothing has changed, to even one person hating the show just because it's not got any creatures from Diamond & Pearl. Bloody hell guys, what did you expect? It's goddamn Pokémon for crying out loud, either bugger off and stop wasting our loyal time or stop watching the show.

Sorry about that anyways, I'm more or less here to quickly say that XY to me is possibly the best Pokémon series of all time. Honestly we loyal Poke fans needed a more refreshing series after the disastrous and not very fun at all trainwreck that was Black & White and this series delivered on every level.

The characters are charming, Serena one of the finest Poke girls to come since I don't know, Dawn from D&P, Bonnie quite a funny characters that made me laugh my socks off and Clemont a really interesting character.

Not to mention Ash being the most confident he's ever been in the franchise.

Other characters are great with Professor Sycamore being my favourite Professor of all time and Alain one of my all time favourites and most of Ash's rivals were good too. (Did feel sorry for Trevor though, got knocked out of the league pretty early.) Team Flare are HANDS DOWN (and I do mean that) better here than in the games. Little old me felt their plan, their motivations were more developed and done better than in the games. Lysandre truly was a mastermind and he was pretty damn menacing to say the least.

The animation is truly brilliant with episodes like the battle against Olympia, Kalos League battle against Sawyer and the finale of the Team Flare arc some of the highlights.

And voice-acting from both English and Japanese sides were great (do have to admit, not too much of a fan of the dub's music though).

So overall, XY is probably hands down the best Pokémon series of all time.

There, I said it. Just don't throw tomatoes or broken TV's at me though because it's not gonna change my opinion.

Pokemon is a series aimed towards children, but many teenagers and adults (myself included) absolutely love the show, or at least it's first season. Many of us believe that the first season was the only good season, and that the rest of the seasons were horrible. Personally, I think that the first season was the only good one because it was the first season. You see, Pokemon is basically a repetition of the same sort of things happening over and over again. Every episode (sometimes group of episodes) presents a new adventure, and when that adventure over, there's another one, and then another one, and then that continues forever. There's no major adventure that encompasses more than a few episodes or a significant portion of a season, though all adventures connect to the progress of the protagonist in the Pokemon world.

Pokemon keeps repeating itself, which is why many people find the first season most appealing -- it was the first one they watched, and there's nostalgia associated with it. In reality, all seasons are equal; they might be getting better over time, but they're essentially repetitions of themselves. That's why from the second season onwards, it gets too boring to continue watching Pokemon, cause the second season's exactly like the first!

Of course, there's a reason why Pokemon keeps repeating itself, and it makes perfect sense (in case you were thinking that all the writers, directors and producers were stupid). Pokemon is targeted towards kids, and the idea is that a kid should be able to start watching Pokemon from any episode and get hooked into the show for at least a few seasons. That's also the reason why each episode begins with an introduction. Now, if there had been a particularly large subplot occurring within the show, a kid new to the show would not have been able to understand it from any random episode. Since there's a new adventure every episode, anybody can pick up from any episode without having to watch any previous episode(s). This makes perfect sense to me.

So if you want to watch Pokemon, go ahead, watch it! You do not need to start from the very beginning, since it doesn't really matter which episode you start from. You might as well watch random episodes from across the ~900 episodes, it does not matter! You might love it at first, but I promise you, you'll eventually find it boring and repetitive. It's supposed to be repetitive, so if you find it to be so, it is neither your fault for choosing to watch this anime, nor is it the fault of the directors for creating a boring anime. It's a great show, and I'm sure you'll love at least the first few episodes you choose to watch. Bon voyage!

Back at the end of the 1990s a show was born.

That became the anime Pokemon.

The show and movies is fresh after the end of the millennium.

Ash is a young trainer that are out to fetch Pokemon.

Now still other young trainers follows him.

From Viridian City to the beaches and forests.

You will root for the many different types of Pokemon.

The villains Jesse and James steals the show.

And a lot of Pokemon memes was born.

If you seek some old school animated action and adventure see this.

10/10

Starting of season 20 it seems like non-sense. And the idea of Ash not growing up after so many experiences is unbelievable.

When I think of childhood, first thing that pops up in mind is Pokemon anime. I am a big fan of Pokemon games and anime. Pokemon is not limited only to catching and training them, but the bond which is shown between trainers and Pokemon makes you think about your love for animals as well. The friendship shown between Ash, Misty and Brock is an important aspect of anime.This is the cartoon that I would suggest for children of 7 years and above. In India Pokemon has made a special place in many childhoods including mine. Even if the Pokemon games are not played in India as they are played in Japan or US, but anime were successful in being the talking issues in school. For those who have not watched Pokemon and want to watch, I would suggest you to start from very first Episode, and after completion of every season watch the movie based on that season. Pokemon is not only limited to virtual world, but it also creates love and affection for nature and animals in young minds. So with an overall aspect of adventure, comedy, fighting, friendship, nature Pokemon ranks first in my list. When we think of first 5 seasons, they are like 'most awesome'. After the 5th season the two new friends of Ash (May and Dawn) played a nice role, but after 13th season the anime doesn't seem to go the way it use to go. The new characters are not as good as trio of Ash, Misty and Brock. If the company want to give importance to game characters then it is fine, but even the games are single character games, so keeping that way they can introduce Misty back. There are many unanswered questions in mind of Pokefans like 'Who is Ash's father?', 'What is in GS ball?'. The old Pokefans like me are finding the new seasons a bit disturbing, because we knew the craze of Pokemon for initial seasons. The fighting of Ash and Misty, madness of Psyduck. I sometime really hope to see Richie and Sparky back, even he can be great companion of Ash along with his journey. We really hope to see a great comeback of Pokemon anime.

I used to be obsessed with this show when I was younger, I still remember the first Pokémon episode I ever watched. Back then, it was in fact my favourite cartoon - actually, favourite TV show ever. Used to collect the cards, play the games, buy the figures, plushies, books, movies etc and wake up praticulary every morning to watch this, and tape all the episodes I could...

Then, I lost interest a few years later...

Pokémon has always been a great franchise when it was released, and the anime I thought was amazing. But of course, obsessions end sometime. Gave away my card, my toys, games, most things Pokémon (apart from the movies and a Meowth plushie I still have:D) I'm 16 now... and only a few months earlier did all the nostalgia of this show come back when I watched the originals online, and it was so cheesy and childish but I loved it anyway. But, the new series...

The series has dragged on too long now. How long is it? 12 years? More? As much as I loved this show, it has to end sometime. I stopped when Misty left, to be honest. The episodes are repetitive, the character's new VA's are... not good... the plot is dull, the characters aren't as great as they used to, and once my favourite and beloved characters of Team Rocket have become a shameful nuisance... and there are WAAAY too many Pokémon.. I lost track after 250th...

It isn't as good as it used to be, the fad as died, no point in bringing it back for the 21st century generation.. it's a memory of the 90's, and should stay like that.

I give this a 7 out of 10, for the originals (Kanto, Orange, Johto) but the newer ones (Advanced, D&P) not so much.

Pokémon was once a great children's anime. Now it's lost it's charm.

If you've seen one episode, you've seen them all. Nothing changes in the course of 30 years. This show is rated highly due to nostalgia and the pokemon games, that's it. If you are a child, it is entertaining. Not quite sure how people can get through 1000 episodes without getting bored.