Pokemon - You Think You Know Cartoons?

You might think you know Pokemon, but here are 12 facts you might not have known about Nintendo's Pocket Monsters. The Pokemon anime debuted with the episode Pokemon I Choose You, which first aired on April 1st, 1997 in Japan and on September 8th, 1998 in the United States. As of this writing, the series is in its 20th season and has aired over 950 episodes. The anime is based on the popular video game series created in 1995 by Satoshi Tajiri, inspired by his childhood hobby of insect collecting. Nevertheless, the anime is considered a separate canon from the games, except Pokemon Yellow, which is loosely based on the plot of the anime. Although it's all considered the same series, the Pokemon anime has had different subtitles to indicate the different versions of the game they are inspired by. Besides the original seasons, the subtitles have so far been Advanced Generation, Diamond and Pearl, Best Wishes, XY, and Sun and Moon. The main character, Ash Ketchum, known as Satoshi in Japan, was originally going to have a Clefairy as his starter Pokemon, but this was soon changed to Pikachu, who was considered more visually distinctive and more likely to appeal to both boys and girls. Pokemon Breeder Brock was briefly removed from the series during Season 2 out of fear that US audiences would view him as a caricature of Asians. However, after positive reception for the character, he was brought back as a regular cast member through Season 13, making him Ash's longest-lasting travel partner. The members of the villainous Team Rocket are named after notorious outlaws from the American Old West, Jesse and James after bank robber Jesse James, and Butch and Cassidy after notorious bank and train robber Butch Cassidy. The Pokemon anime made headlines around the world after the December 1997 episode Cyber Soldier Porygon caused almost 700 viewers to experience epileptic seizures due to visual effects. Even though the sequence in question was a scene featuring Pikachu, the episodes featured Pokemon Porygon was almost never used again on the series. Several other episodes from the series have been removed as well, usually due to plot elements that are felt to be too similar to real-world tragedies, including the episodes Tentacool and Tentacruel and the Tower of Terror being temporarily removed due to similarities to Hurricane Katrina in 9-11. Some episodes of the English dub of Pokemon use sound effects from Star Trek The Next Generation, including the door chime sound of the Enterprise D being used for Ash updating his Pokédex and the transporter sound being used for Voltorb's self-destruct attack. In addition to the regular episodes of the series, the Pokemon anime has also featured a number of special episodes, including full-length specials like Mewtwo Returns, regular-length specials like Explorers of Time and Darkness, and shorts like Pikachu's Winter Vacation. Most of these are aired to English-speaking audiences as Pokemon Chronicles. Besides Pokemon Chronicles, there are a number of other spinoffs from the Pokemon anime, including Pokemon Origins and Pokemon Generations, and variety shows aired only in Japan, such as Weekly Pokemon Broadcasting Station, Pokemon Sunday, Pokemon Smash, and Pokemon Get TV. Each season of the anime has been accompanied by a feature-length film, meaning there have been 19 as of this writing. The first one, Mewtwo Strikes Back, debuted July 18, 1998, and the most recent, Volcanion and the Mechanical Marvel, debuted July 16, 2016. That's it for this episode of You Think You Know Cartoons! Don't forget to like this video, subscribe to Comics Alliance for more cartoon facts, and check out ComicsAlliance.com for more cartoon awesomeness!