Games Vs Anime

The differences between the Pokemon Games and Anime is something a lot of Pokemon fans debate or rather rant about. In this article I have explained the general origins of them, and summed up the classic difference between them.


Unlike most Japanese franchises, Pokemon did not follow the classic formula of starting from a Manga, which turns into an Anime and in turn starts a Game franchise.
Pokemon was created by Satoshi Tajiri and actually began life as the Games Pokemon Red and Blue owned and created by Nintendo.

Although Nintendo were at first skeptical about the idea when it was 'pitched' to them by Satoshi Tajiri, they decided to take a chance, little did they know it would become as of today the second biggest game franchise, second only too there mascot Mario.

Once The first games Pokemon Red and Blue (originally red and green in Japan, however changed to blue for the worldwide market)took the world by storm, many products and lines of the Pokemon franchise started, including both the Anime and the Manga.

Again unlike the classic formula of the Anime following the previously made Manga, both the Pokemon Manga and Anime were created around the same time, and ended up taking a slightly different roots/story's, but both followed the Game's storyline (although fairly loosely).

The Manga took the main character from the original Red and Blue and called him Red, following the Game's story line fairly closely. Other characters were later added, baring the names of the games they originated from, such as Blue, Gold and Silver. The Manga still continues today, and is generally considered a good Manga many consider it superior to the Anime.

The Anime also followed the Game's story line, however took a slightly different approch than Manga, so the Pokemon Manga and Anime although loosely based on the same Games had different story lines which ended up quite different to one another.

In the Anime the main character is named Ash rather than Red. It begins on Ash's tenth birthday (the age required to become a pokemon trainer), where Ash is excited to start his journey and receive his first Pokemon from Professor Oak. But this is where the Anime starts taking its own direction. In the Games the player must choose either Bulbasur, Squirtle or Chramander, however the anime does not follow this. Ash having been overly excited oversleeps on the day he is to get his first Pokemon, and when arriving at Professor Oaks Lab, finds out all three Pokemon have already been claimed. Ash is upset, but Professor Oak reveals he has one more Pokemon, a rather lively natured Pikachu, which Ash takes as his first Pokemon.

Now this is the first of many differences the Anime has to the original Games. Although The Manga also has Red receive a Pikachu, other than this the Manga's story remains fairly close to the Games, whereas the Anime makes many more changes to its story line.

Main Differences

Here are some examples of the differences between the Games and Anime.

Anime	Games
Ash receives Pikachu as his first Pokemon	The player chooses Bulbasaur, Squirtle or Charmander
Ash is joined by Misty and Brock in his journey	Brock and Misty are the first two gym Leaders
Ash enters the Pokemon League after obtaining eight badges	The player battles The Elite Four after obtaining eight badges
Ash travels to the Orange Islands after the Pokemon League	The Orange Islands never appear in a Game

These are some of the changes made to the story, although I feel these were good changes, as they helped make the Anime more exciting.

There was however a special addition game for the original Red and Blue, called Pokemon Yellow, this game actually took the Red and Blue games, but made it follow the Anime. Such as by giving the Player Pikachu as their starter Pokemon, adding Jessie and James of Team Rocket, and making Bulbasaur, Squirtle and Charmander obtainable in the same way Ash received them in the Anime.
This was the only game that really followed the same story as the Anime.

Anime Logic

This is probably the thing most people see as silly. The Games have a lot of in battle effects and rulings, that in many cases the Anime just completely ignores.

For example, electric moves do not effect ground types, however in the Anime, there have been various occasions where they have, although in some cases the Anime does follow this fact. As one of the biggest flaws of the Anime is its inconsistency.

Not only the effectiveness of attacks, but the general power of Pokemon. The most common case being around Ash's Pikachu. In many cases Pikachu will defeat an opponent Pokemon with ease, and as stated even against Pokemon who are ground type ignoring the fact it's electric moves should have no effect. On the other hand when Pikachu should have the clear advantage of both level and type he gets defeated. One example being, in a fairly recent episode Pikachu was defeated by a Magikarp.

At this point in the Anime Ash's Pikachu should be a very high level judging by all the battling it has done, and therefore should beat almost anything, however this said obviously it would not make much of a show if Pikachu just beat all the Pokemon with ease. However this does not mean they need to make him lose obvious fights he should win. This is a classic example of the Anime using a very lose basis from the Games and its general inconsistency.

These are just some points, there are many flaws in the Anime, but trying to keep a open mind, some of this is to make the Anime remain exciting. Referring back to the Manga many feel it is far better at following the Games and that the Anime is sometimes just silly.



Well that pretty much summarizes the common differences people dislike about the Anime.

To Finish off here are some funny examples of the Anime:

Pikachu, The Horn!

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