#Pokémon20 on Daily Experiences Recount

[Guest123_x1]

When I first got into Pokémon (by getting the Yellow Version for Christmas in 1999), I quickly made it a point to check out the anime, which was airing on Kids' WB (which I was able to get via what was then WDWB Channel 20 in Detroit). I even set the VCR timer to record the anime when it was to air, on both the weekday afternoon repeats (of the Indigo saga) and Saturday mornings' first-run episodes (which had already gotten into the Orange Islands by the time I started watching). I even remember developing an anime crush on Misty very shortly after I started watching.
Later in 2000, I was really excited to be able to get the first movie on VHS, as I never bothered to see that movie when it was in theaters. I thought about going to see Pokémon The Movie 2000 in theaters, but passed up on that opportunity, instead waiting until it too came out on video. Ditto that for the third, which I didn't bother to see until New Years' Eve 2005 with my cousin, who had it on VHS. It was at that time that I fell in love with that movie's central antagonist, Molly Hale, whom I still am a fan of to this day.

When the anime dub was in the Johto Journeys season, I remember eagerly waiting for Ash to get his third badge, which didn't happen until A Dairy Tale Ending aired in August 2001, which was the actual start of Johto League Champions (though the aforementioned episode, the one before it, and then the next several as well aired with The Johto Journeys opening titles).

Very shortly after I got internet access at home for the first time, I found out through a Misty fan site that said character was going to be leaving the show. Needless to say, I was very shocked and couldn't believe that she was going to be leaving. While I continued to watch the anime through the end of Johto on Kids' WB to see Misty leave, I stopped altogether not long after the Hoenn run started, primarily due to Misty leaving, but also because I was starting to get bored with the increasing amount of 'filler' episodes with no major events for a long period of time.

Even though I had already long since stopped watching by that point, I was also saddened to learn that Kids' WB was going to drop Pokémon and that it would move permanently to Cartoon Network as part of The WB's shutdown and merger with UPN to form The CW. I didn't really buy the claim that the cancellation was due to soft ratings, but it was essentially an anime version of CBS's "Rural Purge" of the late 1960s and early 1970s (which resulted in the cancellation of many still-popular rural-themed shows, including The Beverly Hillbillies, Petticoat Junction, and Green Acres, among others).

When I finally got to see the early TPCI-dubbed episodes online, I was shocked to find out that Ash and Brock's new voices sounded like chain smokers, essentially justifying the recasting controversy that resulted from 4Kids ending their dubbing arrangement.

Nowadays, I have the Orange Islands saga DVD boxset, as well as the 2001 DVD of the third movie, plus a couple of three-episode VHS tapes and the first two movies on VHS, all of which I transferred to DVD. I'm really looking forward to getting the first three movies in their remastered forms on DVD or Blu-ray, the release of which I had been anticipating since these three movies were shown on Pokémon TV for a couple of weeks each last summer (I did catch these movies via that service, which was the first time I got to see any of them in widescreen, since, as I said before, I never bothered to see any of them when they were in theaters).

 

[Pinkie-Dawn]

After being introduced to Pokémon via Smash Bros., I stumbled upon VHS videos of the anime from a Circuit City store (R.I.P.) and was curious to watch it since I knew who Pikachu was. The Cerulean Gym episode was the first I ever watched, and I've started trying to get all the VHS tapes to watch the anime, since I never had access to Kids WB. I ended up stop collecting the VHS tapes due to how much rarer they became once DVDs dominated the market, so I ended up watching Pokémon on TV when it was moved to Cartoon Network, making it easier for me to catch up via reruns. Years later, I started watching the original Japanese version online since XY.

 

[Melody]

As a child, and even now as an adult...the show still gives me feelings! Pokemon makes me cry more than any other anime I know.

I cry in sorrow when Ash cries. Every time. When things make HIM legitimately cry over something other than a lost battle, you know it's bad and I cry a lot.. I cry when he loses, particularly in a spectacular fashion after giving it all he's got, and you can see him hurting for his Pokemon's injuries and his failure.

I laugh when Ash laughs. When he does something silly! When he forgets something he shouldn't! Ash is such an eternal and hopeless kid! It's cute! His energy and passion knows no boundaries! His love and compassion for Pokemon is unlimited too!

I cry in joy when Ash triumphs! Especially I cry in a lot of joy when he finally defeats a trainer who has defeated him before. I full on cried my eyes out, sobbing and crying after he beat Paul! ;~;

I love to cry for Ash! He's such an amazing character. Sure he has his flaws, but I really can relate and understand him. :3

 

[Hikamaru]

To me, original series was nostalgic childhood at its finest, AG was least memorable because I had school getting in the way, DP was my fave so far with the epic battles (and of course Dawn), BW was mixed thoughts due to Ash being turned into a mega-noob again, and XY for its amazing group chemistry.

DP was my fave series because I was an aforementioned massive Dawn fan and the battles were very good, especially the three-part Sinnoh League battle against Paul which literally came down to the wire, and Ash wins thanks to Infernape, who was definitely a Pokemon who went through a lot after being abused and then raised under the friendlier trainer, and that showed its hidden strength.

XY has the cutest companions so far, Clemont and Bonnie always care for each other like a brother and sister should, and Serena started off uninteresting but she got better and I liked her more as the series progressed.

As for the moment that sticks out to me the most, it's this epic moment involving Serena when she cut her hair and changed outfits that definitely still gives me the feels. I remember when I heard about Serena getting an apparent redesign and I was skeptical on how they were going to handle it, but after watching that episode I feel like it's a good character development moment for her, and that was why I started getting more interested in her. It's also something fresh to see in Pokemon, because until this moment no major character had ever gone through a drastic redesign before their saga ended. Ash changing outfits in every new region doesn't count, I'm afraid.

 

[CuteDawn]

My earliest memories of Pokemon were from when I was around 4 or 5 from the anime. We had VHS for the early episodes. I played Pokemon Stadium and had pokemon toys, so it was pretty important to my childhood. I always mildly kept interest.

I had regained an interest in Pokemon in 2007 from seeing the early episodes on Boomerang and Cartoon Network. Around late April of the next year I gained a significant interest in following Diamond and Pearl after the trade episode. I also got into AG from watching episodes in the morning on Cartoon Network.

I started watching Pokemon amvs on Youtube, as well as Pokemon rant videos. I also watched most of the Pokemon episodes on Megavideo in the following years.

One moment that stuck out from what I can think of I guess was the Manaphy movie, but not from the movie itself. When I was 13 and I was dreaming and the movie was playing while I was sleeping so it affected my dream. I got a crush on May after that, and then Dawn after watching an amv on Youtube.

 

[Margot]

I started watching the show because a kid I had a crush on watched it. So I watched it and tried to memorize as many pokemon as I could to impress him (this was back when the show first aired, so really, I only needed to know Pikachu and a few others Ash had). We'd play Team Rocket together, and would run around singing their song. My love for the show long outlasted my crush on the kid though. I obsessed over the show and watched until Misty left. As a hardcore PokeShipper, it was too much for me. Actually during the episode Misty came back to visit in Hoenn, I had some friends over and I literally left them to go watch the episode because I couldn't miss it! Then I went back to not watching.

My all time favorite episode is The Waterflowers of Cerulean City. I can STILL almost recite that whole episode from memory because I watched it so many times. My first ever forum name was named after the episode: CeruleanWaterFlower. I also owned many of the Pokemon episodes on VHS, but now that we don't have a VHS player anymore, I only have Netflix to watch some of the old episodes.

I loved Orange Islands and Master Quest and still listen to the theme songs from this era from time to time :)

 

[FireSnow]

Where do i begin...

So I started either towards the tail end of the Indigo League or right at the beginning of the Orange League on Saturday morning way back when. I remember just being mesmerized by the all the adorable, amazing creatures that were called Pokemon. This show sparked an absolute love for the game series and set me off on a journey where I haven't missed a single episode of the anime.

Some special memories I have are of when Ash battled Drake for the championship and that epic battle he had with Dragonite that wiped out most of his team. It was in that moment that Ash won though that I knew I wanted to be a Pokemon Master myself (still do). I especially fell in love with Squirtle, Bulbasaur and Tauros during this season.

Going backwards now, I remember my first time watching the first Pokemon movie adn never have i ever felt more emotion watching a movie or TV show. When Ash was turned to stone, I definitely cried. I thought it was over for him (i didn't know Orange League was after this movie at the time) and thought the series was over. I especially felt bad for Pikachu. The feels were just too much during this movie.

Flash forward to my favorite saga, Diamond and Pearl and here is where the anime really took off for me. Most of my favorite Pokmeon are introduced, Buizel, Chimchar line, Gible, Lucario among many others. The antics of Piplup and Pikachu were amazing and the emotion from Piplup at the end was tough to handle. Dawn was amazing as the co-star, next to only Misty in my mind, as she chased her dream of becoming Top Coordinator. This is even where I even thought about changing my dream profession to be like Dawn instead and win at the Grand Festival. The development of the characters and especially the Pokemon was superbly done to me and the final battle with Paul was just awe-inspiring, making me fall in love with Pokemon all over again. (I watched the saga over this past summer)

A few other great memories, both sad and happy, are when the original gang of Ash, Brock and Misty broke up and went their separate ways finally (come back Misty!!!!) again bringing on the feels. The episode where Ash almost gave up Pikachu so he could live in the wild. That episode really did a number on me when i first watched it. It was an emotional rollercoaster! And most recently, Ash's bonding episodes with his current team of Pokemon in XY are all great, as well as his battle with the Anistar City Gym Leader, Olympia.

Just so many great memories from this series. From the high to the lows, the happy endings to the sad ones. The Pokemon anime has been one of my favorite shows for 15 years and I look forward to the many other memories it will bring.

 

[ProjectMisfit]

Although I have always had horrible memory issues, I remember the first day Pokemon aired on the television. I had a little retro TV, stereotypical 90s gamer TV. Some cracker jacks, a soda and I was set directly in front of the TV. The opening clicked with me, my first thought was "This is the start of something amazing."

Growing up, I had always lived in bad situations. In east Nashville, I had attended a school that was very harsh towards me for my color(I am white) and to be honest, I didn't have any friends for a long time. In saying that, seeing the bond of friendship between Pikachu and Ash had always given me a sense that I can have similar bonds someday. And thankfully, that was the case.

I loved Brock, always found him amusing. I had always wondered about his eyes too.. but two things in Pokemon really caught me. The ghost trio(Gastly, Haunter, Gengar), my favorite Pokemon, and Sabrina. Her character was just all around interesting, even more-so now that I've read Pokemon Adventures/Electric tale of Pikachu.

I could say so many things about the anime, but I can just say that I love all of it. I fell out of the anime during Black/White, but later picked it up after watching Pokemon Origins, something that really called out to me as an older Pokemon fan. But speaking generally now, my all-time favorite thing about Pokemon is that this forum was made.

To clarify on that, I loved Pokemon. My buddy Necro got me to come on here, which led me to meet the woman I love and am with, now. I've met the one person that could bring me into the light, and it's all thanks to Pokemon/Pokecommunity. So thank you Satoshi. And thank you, Pokecommunity.