#PokéAni Trivia Tuesday

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PokéAni Trivia Tuesday #36 💧

DID YOU KNOW?

In Pokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee!, the trainers you can battle (before the Gym Leader) inside the Cerulean Gym are actually based on The Sensational Sisters (a.k.a. Misty’s always traveling sisters) from the anime?

In the previous games, the trainers inside the gym were named differently, even the ones from Pokémon Yellow which was the closest game to be based on the anime. Although it’s not been confirmed nor said anywhere else, it’s really obvious that the three Beauty trainers were based of Misty’s sister from the anime who were also named named Daisy, Violet & Lily. Even in the original Japanese versions of the Let’s Go! games their names were Sakura, Ayame & Botan respectively. They may not be exact counterparts, but hey at least they weren’t on vacation in the games and actually battled! Beauties? Sensational? 

...They’re all the pretty water swimming sisters of Cerulean ❀

Source: Bulbapedia

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PokéAni Trivia Tuesday #38

Last week we got Meowth, but for the final trivia of 2018 this week I am going to focus on Jessie & James! DID YOU KNOW? Their English dub names were taken from a well-known American outlaw in the 1800s, Jesse James? He committed crimes of robbery, and being a part of outlaw gangs. Sound familiar right? Well apparently he is sometimes portrayed as a sort of “Robin Hood”-like character in various stories of robbing from the rich and giving to the poor even though there really isn’t any confirmed evidence of him doing that. You could say Team Rocket can be Robin Hood at times doing good deeds to help Ash & friends, thought it is never a permanent alliance and eventually go back to their grimy ways attempting to steal Pikachu and other Pokémon.

On the other hand, their original Japanese names have an even more unique background to it. Jessie is known as Musashi in Japan, and it is actually taken from 宮本武蔵 Miyamoto Musashi, a famous Japanese swordsman. Miyamoto is also the supposed name for Jessie’s mom (based on the Miyamoto and Mew story from the Drama CD). In Samurai Musashi’s most famous duel, he defeated his rival, 佐々木小次郎 Sasaki Kojirō, after whom James got his Japanese name, Kojirō. This could be an indication of how Jessie is usually the dominant one or the leader within their trio. James is usually the softer one out of the two :3

Now if we bring Cassidy & Butch’s Japanese names (their dub names are also based on another American outlaw, Butch Cassidy) into the mix it gets more interesting! Musashi is actually also named after a Japanese battleship during World War II, alongside the Yamato Japanese battleship. Yamato is the original Japanese name for Cassidy, and seeing how these two are sort of rivals can reflect on their battleship counterparts as well (we Kantai Collection now). Also, 二郎 Jirō is a name meaning “second son”, while 三郎 Saburō means “third son”. Kojirō takes advantage of Jirō, while the original Japanese name of Butch, Kosaburō, takes advantage of Saburō. I guess the third son’s name gets forgotten often apparently...but man, the Rocket Gang sure have some stories and extensive origins behind all their names. ‘Twas a BLAST researching these!

Source: Bulbapedia

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PokéAni Trivia Tuesday #39

HAPPY NATIONAL HAT DAY! DID YOU KNOW?

Early concept art of the Pokémon League Expo hat (a.k.a. Ash’s original cap) shows similarities with Red's hat in his original design from the Pokémon Red and Green/Blue games. You can also see other symbols that they originally wanted to put on his hat, but never made the final cut.

Fast forwarding to 2019, we have now seen a total of 7 different designs for Ash’s hat over the past 20 years. But one similarity they all share is the color mix-up of Red and White. Ash & Red again have very close similarities when comparing Ash’s Kalos hat to Red’s redesigned hat and look in the Gen. 3 FireRed/LeafGreen games. So, which one was your favorite Ash hat?

Source: Bulbapedia

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P J’s PokéAni Trivia Tuesday #26

DID YOU KNOW?

There had been some debate between members of the fandom in regards to why the character of Tracey Sketchit was even created? He suddenly replaced Brock at the start of the Orange Islands arc. In an interesting interview with former Pokémon anime director and storyboard artist, Masamitsu Hidaka, he stated that the real reason on why they replaced Brock with Tracey initially is because once they realized that Pokémon was very popular all over the world, there was a chance that Americans (or anyone else outside of Japan) would view Brock as a racist stereotype because of his eyes. So they decided to create a "tall, white, Anglo-looking character to replace him, just to be on the safe side". They later replaced him with Brock again before the start of the Johto saga when they realized there wasn't an actual complaint as to what Brock looks like. In fact, they were really overwhelmed when fans enjoyed his character. Everyone loves Brocko! This also may explain why Tracey was never included in The Electric Tale of Pikachu manga.

Though Tracey has spent the least amount of episodes traveling with Ash (accompanying him only through the 33 episodes of the Orange Islands arc), he is still a unique character that brings something a bit different compared to Ash’s other friends. Tracey is Ash's only friend with an officially revealed last name (for the dub only), and the only traveling companion who is not based on any game character. An anime original! However, he is the only male protagonist who has not had any relatives revealed (the female latter being Iris). Interestingly enough, he is the only friend that his Pokémon never battled against Ash in any way which is quite a bummer. I REALLY want to see that one day...I doubt it will ever happen though since he RARELY even makes a cameo in the anime :’(

But hey, a Pokémon watcher? A sketcher? Has a cool looking Scyther AND a Marill that produced an Egg...how can you not like this guy?! Sure he’s not Brock, but he still played a part in Ash’s story to becoming a Pokémon Master!

Source: Bulbapedia

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PokéAni Trivia Tuesday #37 🌼

Everyone knows that Team Rocket always likes to disguise themselves in pretty much everywhere they go. For Meowth in particular, Sunflora is his most frequently used Pokémon disguise, using that costume 7 times throughout the entire anime. They may need to improve on how it looks though, or Meowth might need to loose a few pounds to make it look more convincing.

Source: Bulbapedia

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PokéAni Trivia Tuesday #35

It’s rare that we see a Legendary Pokémon take the spotlight in an episode, but it’s even rarer when it actually gets used in an official Pokémon battle! In the episode where Ash challenges Factory Head Noland for his first match in the Battle Frontier (dub title “The Symbol of Life”), his Charizard faces off against an Articuno that Noland befriended. We all know what an epic battle that was and how Ash & Charizard were victorious against the Legendary bird, thus earning him his first Frontier symbol (The Knowledge Symbol).

Besides being the only Frontier Brain challenge to be dubbed by 4Kids, this episode also marks the first time ever that a Legendary Pokémon has been defeated in a 1-on-1 battle with a non-Legendary Pokémon. Articuno was beat fair and square with no secondary plot that powered-up either Pokémon to be stronger. On a another interesting note, when Articuno was defeated, it did not have any swirly eyes that viewers are used to seeing when Pokémon have fainted from battle in the anime. Articuno’s eyes merely stayed closed when it collapsed to ground. Perhaps it could have still battled if the judge waited a bit longer, and Articuno wasn’t fully beaten? Or maybe adding the swirl trope to the eyes may look too silly for a serious Legendary such as Articuno. (@_@)

Source: Bulbapedia

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P J’s PokéAni Trivia Tuesday #30

Ever wondered what happened to the GS Ball that Professor Oak was so curious about? Well, here’s an interview with Masamitsu Hidaka (director and storyboard artist for the Pokémon anime) in 2008 about this plot device.

He explained that the GS Ball was originally going to contain a Celebi that was to be the star of a large arc of the Johto saga. In the Gen. 2 games, this was a special event that you had to take to Kurt and later place the ball in the Ilex Forest shrine in order to capture a wild Celebi. However, it was decided that Celebi would be the star of the fourth movie (Pokémon 4Ever - Celebi: The Voice of the Forest), so the story arc was viewed as redundant and completely shelved. The Poké ball was left with Kurt in Azalea Town with the hopes that viewers would eventually forget about it. Apparently Kurt forgot about it too since he has never appeared again after Ash had given him the ball.

In addition to that, did you also ever wondered what happened to the Heavy Ball Brock received from Maizie (Kurt’s granddaughter)? We know that the two Lure Balls were used by Ash (on Totodile) & Misty (on Corsola), but never really knew what Brock did with his Heavy Ball. It ended up being forgotten as well.

Source: Bulbapedia

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P J’s PokéAni Trivia Tuesday #24

Out of all the starter Pokémon that Ash and his friends (past and present) have obtained, Lana’s Popplio is the first and only starter to be owned by a main character prior to the start of a series they appeared in.

We should all be thankful to Lana for saving Popplio against the Team Skull bullies prior to meeting Ash. If it wasn’t for that event, we would not have gotten one of the best trainer-Pokémon dynamics in the anime...at least to me <3

Source: Bulbapedia

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P J’s PokéAni Trivia Tuesday #25

25 is silver number, so today’s trivia will be about Trainer Silver appearing in the anime. For those that have not played any of the Johto region games, Silver (or whatever you decided to name the red-headed dude) was the main rival.

His only appearance in the anime was a brief cameo seen in the original Japanese OP (”A New Oath”) of The Legend of Thunder! special. This was never seen in the English dub since this special was a part of the Pokémon Chronicles spin-off series. In the very short scene, Silver was shown with his Nidoking after beating Kenta’s (Jimmy) Cyndaquil. The camera slowly pans up to Silver as Kenta looks up him in defeat. Nidoking later gets defeated by Typholsion as the OP progresses, but Silver is no longer shown.

Many in the fandom have considered Paul/Shinji to be a close counterpart of Silver. Both trainers believed in raising the power of their Pokémon through harsh training as opposed to forming a friendship, which put was the complete opposite of what Ash is about. Additionally, Paul's official artwork shows him in the same pose as Silver does in an early concept art done by Ken Sugimori.

Source: Bulbapedia

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P J’s PokéAni Trivia Tuesday #22

This was originally supposed to be PTT #23, but this was already prepared way before my foot accident, and the post originally for #22 has yet to be finished.

Happy Shark Sharpedo week everyone! YES, I CELEBRATE IT SO WHAT?! For today’s trivia, DID YOU KNOW that in episode AG019 (dub title “Sharpedo Attack!”) of the anime, Brock says that he wished that he was a Pokémon Doctor some time in the middle of the episode, so he could help the poisoned Sharpedo that was inflicted by Jessie’s Seviper? He took care of it throughout the episode, and it is honestly one of Brock’s shining moments in Hoenn <3

This foreshadowed future events, and in OVER 360+ episodes later, Brock finally makes the decision to study and become a fully-fledged Pokémon Doctor by the end of the Diamond & Pearl saga. We didn’t really have that much Brock-focused episodes in the anime, and I honestly wished that there were more to further develop his character. But one thing is surely evident for being Ash’s longest companion, and it’s that he has a passion (and is GOOD at) for taking care of injured or sick Pokémon. It all started with a Sharpedo, and now Dr. Takeshi is willing to take care of any Pokémon in need to Nurse Joy or Officer Jenny near you! Oh, and ladies...he’s still single ;)

Source: Bulbapedia

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P J’s PokéAni Trivia Tuesday #19

So after no trivia for 2 weeks, Kasumi/Misty gets the spotlight for today’s PTT return! Out of all of Ash’s traveling companions (and classmates), Misty holds the record of having the most Pokémon on hand at the time of her debut, with three! Goldeen, Staryu and Starmie. Clemont could be in the argument for this, but he left all of his Pokémon in the Lumiose gym and only had Bunnelby in hand when he met Ash. In addition to that, Misty also holds the record of having the most Pokémon under her ownership, as well as having largest number of Pokémon owned by a main character with unexplained origins.

This lovely water trainer definitely has a lot of accolades in the anime’s history since she is was the first main Poké gal <3 #MistyMania

Source: Bulbapedia

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PokéAni Trivia Tuesday #31 🎗

In conjunction with Breast Cancer awareness month, today’s trivia will be about different looking Pokémon that have unique physical appearances. We all know that each Pokémon have their own shiny variants, while Alola has their own different forms for certain Pokémon. But in the anime, we had exclusive looking Pokémon that have different appearances that is usually seen in specific episodes. Pinkan Island is the second out of two places that have the resident Pokémon in a different color (the other being Valencia Island).

This island features pink Pokémon inhabiting the island, but only because of the effects of eating the island’s Pinkan Berry. Not everyone is allowed on this island, and anyone caught entering it illegally will be confronted by Officer Jenny. However this was not the first time we’ve seen different colored non-shiny pink Pokémon. Back in Kanto, Ash’s Butterfree left with a pink Butterfree for the breeding season. And the episode before this (although not pink) featured a Crystal Onyx. Orange Islands had a lot of unique color variants, but we rarely see that nowadays ever since shiny Pokémon were introduced in Johto. There are a couple of episodes out there, but not many people notice the physical difference. This is trait is probably even rarer than a shiny appearance.

Source: Bulbapedia

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P J’s PokéAni Trivia Tuesday #23

In Memory of Unshō Ishizuka (石塚運昇) 1951-2018

Today’s trivia will be a short and sweet one since I did this last minute upon hearing Ishizuka-san’s passing last week. For those of you that don’t know, Unshō Ishizuka is the Japanese voice actor for Professor Oak AND the Narrator of the Pokémon anime since the very beginning in 1997. He also did other voices for the anime such as Unova Champion Alder, Principal Samson Oak, Gurkinn (grandfather of Korrina) and numerous Pokémon that he’s voiced over the years! He is also known for lending his voice in other hit series like Naruto, Dragon Ball, Jojo's Bizzare Adventure, Tekken, Persona, Attack on Titan, Digimon Tamers, Initial D, Mobile Suit Gundam 00, Gin Tama, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Yu-Gi-Oh!, One Piece, and Xenosaga to name only a few of his works. His deep and strong voice is what made him a very talented voice actor for mature male characters. This post will be dedicated to him <3

DID YOU KNOW?

Out of over 1,000 episodes of the anime’s history, and being the only Pokémon professor to appear in ALL series/regions that Ash has traveled to, Rotom is currently the only Pokémon that Professor Oak caught on-screen when he traveled through the Decolore Islands meeting up with Ash, Iris & Cilan to help him with research work. It also MIGHT be the only Pokémon he personally owns in hand since we always see Rotom lurking around in the background whenever Ash gets a calls Oak’s lab in Pallet Town, and was even featured in all of Okido’s Holo Casters during the duration of the XY series. However it could be argued that he still owns a Pidgey (caught off-screen in EP245) and a Dragonite (battled with in The Mastermind of Mirage Pokémon special), but the status of those Pokémon are unknown...maybe we’ll them again in future?

One thing’s for sure is that all of Ash’s past Pokémon are under his gracious care at the lab, and we couldn’t have asked a better professor to do so!

Source: Bulbapedia

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P J’s PokéAni Trivia Tuesday #20

The BIG XX trivia! Today’s topic is all about animation :D For any new watchers out there (or maybe those that weren’t really aware), the Pokémon anime originally used hand-colored cel animation for about 260 episodes (and some specials I guess), and their first 9 movies before fully going digital to the standard we see today in almost all anime shows out there.

The last episode to use hand-colored cel animation was in the middle of Master Quest (during the Larvitar story arc) in an episode called A Crowning Achievement. Following that, all episodes of the Pokémon anime were digitally animated. Although digital animation was first used in the Johto opening OK! (or the dub opening known in the U.S. as Pokémon Johto) that happened (a few years back) 144 episodes ago before the permanent change happened.

However even in the first digitally animated episode, the flashback scenes of James's discovering his first Victreebel evolving (and catching it as a Weepinbell), along with the scenes at a hot tub and sleeping on a bed (that were never even shown on the anime before) were still animated on cels. The same goes for the flashback of him receiving a getting ripped-off by Magikarp salesman back in the S.S. Anne episodes from the first season.

And after the animation transition was made, Pokémon movies still continued using hand-colored cel animation up to Pokémon Ranger and the Temple of the Sea, which was the last work of any type of Pokémon media to ever use traditional hand-painted cels again. Whether if it’s the traditional style or the new-age digital look, Pokémon’s animations are always a sight to see!

Source: Bulbapedia

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PokéAni Trivia Tuesday X

For the 🎉 10TH installment under my PTT blog series, I would like to do something a bit different than give your usual trivia. Everyone knows that Ash’s #1 dream and goal in life is to become a Pokémon Master... ..but what does that exactly mean?

People often confuse that Ash wants to win a Pokémon League so he can achieve that dream, but I don’t think that’s really the case. Being a Pokémon Champion is simply winning a Pokémon League and defeating the previous title holder, but Ash desires something more than that. Though not exactly canon, but in movie 20 (Pokémon: I Choose You!), Verity questions if being a Pokémon Master meant being the world's strongest Pokémon Trainer, but Ash responded that its "much more than that".

It could be argued with the game universe, since Lance (as an Elite Four member) mentions the player as a Pokémon Master once they are defeated. From other sources, one achieves that titles once they’ve caught Mewtwo or completes the PokéDex. Speaking of Mewtwo, the Mewtwo in the first Pokémon movie was referred to as a Pokémon Master. Here are some other interesting theories:

The Electric Tale of Pikachu manga states that a Pokémon Master is simply an elite Trainer who is considered a professional and regularly takes part in Pokémon League competitions.

In The Legend of Thunder!, Marina called Lance a great Pokémon Master.

In the Diamond & Pearl series, Cynthia is referred to as a "Champion Master," in the Champion League. They must defend their title against all winning Trainers of the Sinnoh League. Ash states that holding the title of Champion Master is ONE STEP toward becoming a Pokémon Master.

Pokémon Masters are members of the Elite Four.

The anime never really fully explains what the title “Pokémon Master” even means. Even when someone tried to get answers from the official Pokémon website via e-mail, Pokémon.com posted the following:

"I'm very sorry, but the Pokémon Company does not answer questions of this nature. It is the intent of the Pokémon creators that such questions be left to the imaginations and interpretations of Pokémon fans, adding more excitement and mystery to the Pokémon universe."

If that’s the case, then I honestly believe that Ash just wants to catch and make friends with as much Pokémon as he can, pulling out their full potential and take no prisoners in battle by heart! He always plays to win, but cares more for his Pokémon’s well-being. The reason why Ash doesn’t catch all the Pokémon he sees because he cares for their habitat. It is evident in so many instances where he sees that a wild Pokémon that he wanted to catch but didn’t because of the friends or family he saw with it. So what if Ash never wins a League? He can still achieve his dreams without even winning one to be honest. It is a harder mountain to climb, but those losses are the experience and fuel he needs to improve each day to further reach his goals.

Our boy Satoshi may not have the brains of a Pokémon Champion, but he definitely has the heart of a Pokémon Master! NEVER GIVE UP

Source: Bulbapedia

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P J’s PokéAni Trivia Tuesday #17

What month is it? It is still M A Y

As we approach the end of the month (already?), I can’t just leave it without at least sharing some trivia of our favorite Hoenn coordinator (unless you like Drew better or something *booo*). DID YOU KNOW May [Haruka] is the only one of Ash’s main female companions (excluding Ash’s Alolan classmates) who has NEVER borrowed a Pokémon from him in use for battle or a contest? Misty, Dawn, and Serena have all temporarily commanded Pikachu and a few of Ash’s Pokémon at one point or more. Iris borrowed Ash’s Snivy in an episode, while EVEN little Bonnie commanded Ash’s Goomy in a battle against Team Rocket.

Every one of those gals are unique in their own way, but no one is really quite like how May was developed as a character. I now declare today and the rest of the final days of the month, MAY DAY. Happy May Day everyone! ❤

Source: Bulbapedia

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