This video series takes a look at the Japanese and English versions off the original Pokémon
anime and compares some of the changes that 4Kids made to the show when they brought to
the West.
Due to the large amount of differences, these videos will be mainly taken a look at the
visual changes between the episodes.
However, sometimes they will also bring up differences to other things such as the translation
as well.
One thing important to point out though is that to avoid potential copyright issues,
footage will have to be kept to a minimum and only what is needed to be shown will be
displayed.
But, with that out of the way, let's take a look at the English and Japanese versions
of the very first Pokémon episode - or, as Pokémon is known in Japan, Pocket Monsters.
The first episode is titled "Pokémon - I Choose You" and interestingly, the Japanese
version has the exact same name.
This is typically the case for the earlier episodes but, after a while, it seems that
4Kids decided to take more liberties when it came to the English episodes' names.
4Kids also sometimes tended to make jokes with the English script were there were none
originally.
The scene where Ash first gets Pikachu, for example, was more serious in the Japanese
version.
In the English release, Professor Oak instead makes various electricity puns, such as Pikachu
having an "electrifying personality" and how "shocking" this is.
Ever wondered how Ash knew which Pokémon were contained in the Poke Balls?
You may recall how he picks Squirtle first, then Bulbasaur and lastly Charmander, but
gets told that all of the balls are now empty.
Well, over in Japan, the balls actually had the Pokemons' names written on their sides,
as shown here.
Next up we have a change made to a banner held by the crowd of people cheering Ash on.
This banner displays Japanese text reading "good luck Satoshi " - Satoshi being Ash's
name over in Japan.
Rather than removing the text, this time 4Kids translated it for the English versions into
"go Ash go".
Another change that was made to the first episode appears to be a case of 4Kids feeling
that the original was too violent for Western viewers.
In the English release, when Ash first meets Misty she asks them if they're ok, but then
screams that she didn't mean him but Pikachu.
In the Japanese version however, you can actually see Misty slapping Ash for putting Pikachu
in harm's way, with also the slap sound effect being removed from the dub.
Moving on to episode 2, which is titled "Pokémon Emergency!" over in the West and, in the Japanese
version, "Showdown!
Pokémon Center!".
This episode had various forms of translation differences, the first of these being found
when Ash receives a phone call from his mother.
In the Japanese version, his mother tells him to make sure to brush his teeth every
morning and evening.
Over in the West though, she asks him whether he's been changing his underwear.
The next change highlights a common edit that 4Kids made to the show outside of Japan - this
being the removal of Japanese food references.
Whereas in Japan, Ash, when talking to Professor Oak on the phone, asks whether the professor
is cooking ramen, in the English version he makes no mention of the ramen boiling in the
water and instead just says that he didn't recognise the back of the Professor's head.
In fact, ramen was changed a little later as well.
The professor ends the phone call by exclaiming that "the ramen is overcooking".
Not only did the English version change this to his "pizza" being delivered, but it even
added in a doorbell sound effect.
Episode 3 is called "Ash Catches a Pokémon" in the West and, over in Japan, "I got a Pokémon!".
It features multiple instances of graphical changes being made and for various reasons.
The first of these can be seen when Caterpie gets yelled at by Misty for being gross, which
makes them sad and upset.
Over in Japan, the shot of Caterpie looking sad actually contained Japanese lettings scrolling
across the screen.
These letters spell out a Japanese sound effect, which mean something like "big, horrible revelation".
Whilst not a graphical change, another edit was made to Ash's dialogue when he first catches
Caterpie.
He says that when "Pokémon are in heaven", referring to their comfortable life inside
the Poke Balls, he's "in heaven" too.
Misty replies to this by saying, "when you guys are in heaven, I'm in hell".
4Kids however, likely felt that the religious heaven and hell references were too inappropriate
for Western audiences, with the removal of even small religious themes being a very common
edit during this time period in not just TV shows, but also video games and other media.
So when the lines were dubbed in English, Ash instead says "I love my new little pokémon",
and then Misty replies "I guess it takes a worm to love a worm".
Next up is yet another case of Misty slapping Ash, which 4Kids decided to remove in the
English versions.
Misty gets mad at Ash for using a bug type Pokémon against a bird type and scolds him
for being careless.
In the English version, the slap part was cut out but interestingly, if you listen closely,
you'll still be able to hear the slap sound effect.
Lastly we have a graphically change that made towards the end of the episode, when Pidgeotto
fights Ekans and Koffing.
First though, I'd like to warn those of you who are sensitive to flashing lights to proceed
with caution when viewing this next section.
You see, when Ekans and Koffing attack Pidgeotto, there were originally fast flashing lights
in the background.
Over in the West though, these flashing lights were slowed down considerably, as shown here.
This episode didn't broadcast in the US until more than a year after the Japanese release
and during this time span was Japan's infamous Electric Soldier Porygon incident.
Electric Soldier Porygon is the name of a later episode, which caused hundreds of kids
to have seizures because of its use of flashing strobe light effects.
Amongst other things, this led to the episode being pulled and never shown again.
Thus, despite no seizures being reported due to this scene in episode 3, everybody involved
wanted to be extra careful about flashing lights following the Porygon incident and
so the lights were toned down.
That's all for this time though, but, with over 270 episodes to go and that's only talking
about the original series, there are many more changes still left to be uncovered.
If you're interested in seeing more then please leave a comment below and hit that subscribe
button and, until next time, thank you for watching.