Pokemon Anime
The Pokemon Anime is the general term used for the long-running Pokemon Cartoon , Pokemon Movies and other shorts that have been airing since 1997, in Japan, the United States and now in 74 different countries around the world. The Pokemon anime focus is on Ash Ketchum (a variation of Catch-em, alluding to the idea of catching all of the Pokemon), as he departs his hometown of Pallet, and seeks to become a “Pokemon Master.”
While the Pokemon Anime was initially directly based off of the Pokemon games, they have themselves ended up impacting the games themselves, such as leading to the development of Pokemon Yellow, bringing in Pikachu as the starter, and allowing the other 3 ‘starter’ Pokemon to be obtained in similar ways that their Pokemon anime counterparts were obtained.
The earlier seasons saw Ash and Pikachu form their relationship together, and with other trainers they meet along the way – learning lessons on life, what it takes to be a compassionate and strong Pokemon trainer, and what it takes to overcome the challenges they face in not only Pokemon battles, but in life as well. It was a common objective of Ash to overcome his Pallet Town rival, Gary Oak, and to foil Team Rocket’s evil (though amusingly incompetent) schemes.
As the show advanced, Ash would capture (and even release for the well-being of certain Pokemon) new species of Pokemon, as he evolved as a trainer and sought to not simply rely on one Pokemon team, but rather to utilize Pokemon specific to certain regions, as he formed bonds with those Pokemon, showing them their true potential. Pikachu though, has so far stayed beside his side and has become a staple in the Pokemon Anime.
Pokemon Anime Series
The Pokemon Anime has been running since 1997 and has been broken up into many different series, with each series comprising of several seasons.
The original series consisted of Indigo League, Adventures in Orange Island, The Johto Journeys, Johto League Champion and Master Quest.
The Advance Generation series followed the original series and consisted of Advanced, Advanced Challenge, Advanced Battle and Battle Frontier.
The Diamond and Pearl series included Diamond and Pearl, Battle Dimension, Galactic Battles, and Sinnoh League Victors.
The Best Wishes included Black and White, Rival Destinies, Adventures in Unova, and Adventures in Unova and Beyond.
The currently running series is the XY Series, which has so far included the Pokemon the Series: XY.
Pokemon Movies
In addition to the Pokemon Anime has been a long running addition to the story through a set of Pokemon movies .
The strong> Pokemon movies have been being released since 1998, with most of them having plot lines in which the current generation’s legendary Pokemon play central roles, beginning with Mewtwo and Mew.