Episode 127 "Nuoh and the GS Ball!?" The GS Ball takes center stage in this charming episode about a bunch of weird salamander things. A story focusing on the then-unique Water/Ground typing would have been better, maybe, but the story they came up with instead is still fun. #DogasuWatchesJohto

Probably not. TPCi actually doesn't rewrite half the show so there aren't that many dialogue differences to report on, and every other type of edit's picked up fairly quickly by fans who saw the initial Japanese airings. The older episodes, on the other hand, aren't anywhere near as well documented.

Episode 126 "The Stubborn Chicorita!!" Satoshi gets his first Johto starter in what's basically a pared down version of that one snowy episode from Kanto. It's a perfectly alright episode, but it could have been better. #DogasuWatchesJohto

I can understand the fans criticizing #anipoke for waiting nearly two years to do an episode based on this DLC but I personally *like* the fact this show's allowed to go at its own pace these days. It's so much better than having to stop everything to cram in elements in an effort to be "current."

Episode 125 "Odoshishi! The Forest of Illusions!?" An injured deer causes everyone to wildly hallucinate. The story the show came up with for Odoshishi's pretty unique, and it's also nice to see Takeshi get such a big role for a change. #DogasuWatchesJohto

Episode 124 "Bulu's Magnificent Life!?" The show's great at depicting hilariously out-of-touch rich people, and Bulu sitting around with *that* face all day makes for some great screengrabs. I can't wait for its next appearance. #DogasuWatchesJohto

Episode 123 "The Itomaru Shakedown!!" This was a really fun one. The legend of the Phantom Thief Cat Eight was a fun bit of worldbuilding, and literally everything from the thieves announcing their intention to steal the silver goblet onwards is pure gold. #DogasuWatchesJohto

【DB Update】 It's Manga Guide update time! You can now read a summary of the newest chapter of Pocket Monsters Special here! dogasu.bulbagarden.net/read/comics/...

Episode 122 "Kireihana's Battle Dancing!" The only story idea the writers had for Kireihana was "can't do a somersault," I guess, so they relied on the Rocket trio to fill up the rest of the show's runtime. Animation director Akihiro Tamagawa's work here is brilliant, as always #DogasuWatchesJohto

Episode 121 "Hoho and the Mysterious Forest!" There's some pretty funny stuff in this one, from the Hoho who just doesn't like Satoshi for some reason to the kids thinking the old woman of the forest is some kind of horrible monster. Plus, we get to see Shigeru again! #DogasuWatchesJohto

Episode 120 "Donphan's Valley!" Donphan are used to sniff out agate (the mineral, not the Explorer) while the Rocket trio hatches yet another get rich quick scheme. The highlight of this one is how Takeshi and Kasumi get to be active participants in the story for a change. #DogasuWatchesJohto

Episode 119 "Clash! Heracros vs. Kailios!!" This one was...fine. The territory dispute plot was whatever, and Morio was a bit of a nothing character, but the Rocket trio and the cute Heracros helped make this one bearable. Oh, and we also get our first capture of the region! #DogasuWatchesJohto

Episode 118 "The Rookie's Chicorita!" We meet Nanako, a new character who allows the show's writers to unleash their inner baseball nerds. Seeing Satoshi take on a mentor-like role is nice, though his choice to go with Lizardon against a newbie seems like a bit of a dick move. #DogasuWatchesJohto

Episode 117 "Wakaba Town! The Town Where Winds Telling of a New Beginning Blow!" A pretty decent start to the new adventure. Not the best, but not the worst either. The unbeatable combo of Tomioka Atsuhiro and Masaaki Iwane help this one a *lot*, but it's still just so-so. #DogasuWatchesJohto

The new chapter of Pocket Monsters Special that was scheduled to come out eariler today has been postponed to Monday, January 5th, according to this tweet from the official PokéSpe account.

【DB Update】 A quick update on my plans for Dogasu's Backpack for the first half of 2026. dogasu.bulbagarden.net#20251231

I understand why this is the case, but Pokémon Manga related updates are really quite unpopular 😅

【DB Update】 It's Manga Guide time! You can now read summaries of the newest chapters of: ・Pocket Monsters Special ・Anakubo's Pocket Monsters ・Pokémon Card Game Yarouze~! ・Pokémon Frienda Oshiete! Friender-Man ・Pokémon 4-Koma Gakuen, Daihyakka ・New Pokémon TCG comic dogasu.bulbagarden.net#20251229

Cover of the December 1997 issue of Animedia magazine. Cover art by Sayuri Ichiishi.

Hard to believe it's been *five* whole years since Pocket Monsters The Movie "Koko" hit theaters 🤯 Dogasu's Backpack has more information on this movie than any other site I know of so check it out if you haven't already! dogasu.bulbagarden.net/movies/2020_...

This is the talent agency used by the Pocket Monsters animated series BTW

【DB Update】 It's new Episode Comparison time! Let's see what changes there are between the Japanese and English versions of the final Orange Islands #anipoke episode "The Rivalry Revival." dogasu.bulbagarden.net/comparisons/...

“Drop your predictions” The newest episode in this batch is going to be over half a year old by the time this comes out 🙃

The next episode preview for the #anipoke Orange Islands episode "A Rival Showdown! Satoshi vs. Shigeru!!" features an odd animation error in which Kasumi just up and disappears at the end of this shot. The mistake was fixed by the time the actual episode aired a week later.

Three #anipoke episodes in December, apparently.

It’s back from hiatus!!

It has now officially been six months since the most recent chapter of Kousaku Anakubo’s Pocket Monsters was released. In June 2025 it was announced the series would be going on hiatus, a hiatus that currently has no end date in sight.

We're back! Firstly, just want to say thank you to everyone for their extended patience with the site being down. We know there was a lot of uncertainty and unanswered questions with the shutdown being so sudden and unannounced.

Found the only volume of the English version of this manga that I have (I have the whole thing in Japanese).

Can’t wait to get this back to Japan so I can scan this random little robot dog from the Deoxys movie adaptation that got updated into a block robot for the graphic novel release.

I’m back in the U.S. for a visit, and while going through stuff at my family’s house I found the Animazement ‘99 programming schedule which is where I would have seen “Mewtwo Strikes Back!” for the first time ever 👀 It was apparently noteworthy enough for me to circle in red 😅

【DB Update】 It's Manga Guide update time! Summaries of the newest chapters of the following series are now up on the site: ・Pokémon Card Game Yarouze~! ・Pokémon Frienda Oshiete! Friender-Man ・Pokémon 4-Koma Gakuen ・Pokémon 4-Koma Daihyakka ・Pocket Monsters Special dogasu.bulbagarden.net#20251103

I guess this theory about only being able to use Pokémon who appeared in the Legends Z-A game ended up not being true after all...

In my @johtotimes.bsky.social interview from earlier this year I brought up the hope that #anipoke will one day switch over from being a yearlong series to a seasonal one, and now that a show as massive as One Piece is making the switch I have renewed hope that it might actually happen someday👍

Today marks the two year anniversary of the TV-Tokyo debut of the very first live action Pocket Monsters TV series “Cram Adventures Into a Pocket,” also commonly referred to as “PokéTsume.” More info dogasu.bulbagarden.net/watch/live_a...

I honestly don't think they put that much thought into it. The artists probably just went "y'know, orange hair kind of looks good on her, let's go with that" and then called it a day.

Japanese 7-11 stores have Pokémon branded food now

Some of the episodes in this batch will be nearly nine months old by the time January rolls around 🙃

【DB Update】 It's new Episode Comparison time! Let's see what changes there are between the Japanese and English versions of the Orange Islands #anipoke episode "A Tent Situation." dogasu.bulbagarden.net/comparisons/...

Still no updates 😥

【DB Update】 It's Rumor Guide update time! Today I take a deep dive into the idea that "Brock left the show because the show was afraid Americans would see him as a racist stereotype." dogasu.bulbagarden.net/learn/rumor_...

【DB Update】 Let's take a look at "The Memorial Book of Orange Islands," a 1999 guide book dedicated to the 30-ish episode #anipoke arc! dogasu.bulbagarden.net/read/books/m...

Assuming Pocket Monsters (2023) "Rising Again" has its own unique opening theme -- and why wouldn't we assume that? -- that will mean we're soon about to be on OP #7 for this series 😶

New #anipoke VA announcements. Matière ("Emma"): Misaki Kuno Master Mayonnaise: Masahiko Tanaka Translations of the comments they released earlier this evening:

Starting Friday, October 31st: Pocket Monsters (2023): Rising Again #anipoke

A reminder that Pokémon Shock was a living nightmare for everyone involved that had actual, real world victims. It really isn't the sort of thing we should be reducing to flippant "Porygon did nothing wrong!" memes. More about the incident: dogasu.bulbagarden.net/learn/resear...

【DB Update】 It's Manga Guide update time! A summary of the newest chapter of the following series has been added to the site: ・Pocket Monsters Special Information about a new promo manga has also been added: ・Let's Protect Nature! Pokémon Ranger dogasu.bulbagarden.net#20250906

This is so important.

I check in on this every now and then, and it’s still on hiatus 🥲

【DB Update】 It's time for a new Episode Comparison! See what was changed between the Japanese and English versions of the #anipoke Orange Islands episode "The Underground Round-Up." dogasu.bulbagarden.net/comparisons/...