Thoughts on Pokemon Cries

[Akiba]

I've never been bothered or too aware of the fact that in the Pokemon anime, most of the Pokemon speak sentences created with different splices of their own names.

In the games, they'd make more animal-like sounds. Also partly because it was relatively difficult to produce human-like sounds with 8-bit sound technology.

Excerpt from Bulbapedia:

Some Pokémon's cries are entirely unrelated to their names in any language. For example, Victreebel screeches loudly, Staryu quickly yells "Heah!" in an echoing male voice, and Starmie says "Hoo!" in a breathy, echoing female voice. Most Legendary Pokémon that cannot speak to humans instead roar, screech, or make other sounds. Krabby's and Kingler's cry, which sounds similar to "cookie", is sometimes used as an internet meme.

It's cute, creative, and doesn't sound that strange, but it had me thinking about it once I started watching Pokemon in other languages.

A clear example: Bulbasaur would say "Bulba-bulba" in English, and in Chinese it would be "Zhong-zi zhong-zi."

There's quite a lot of variation. The Japanese anime has more consistent and natural sounding cries, and that leads me to my question:

Do you think the Pokemon in the Anime should have more animal-like cries, making it more consistent across languages and with the games, change the game sounds to be more human-like now that we have improved sound technology, or just let it be, as it always has been?

 

[Timbjerr]

I've always preferred the animalistic cries the pokémon emitted in the games. I distinctly remember that the first time I saw an episode of the animé (several months after I first played Red/Blue), I was disappointed and quite frankly annoyed that Pikachu was saying its name over and over as opposed to making that cool little zappy noise it made in the video games.

I'm actually still a little bitter about them importing Ikue Ohtani's Pikachu voice into X/Y to override Pikachu's classic cry.

 

[Rosehip]

I prefer the cries in game than in the anime. It gives each Pokemon a sense of personality and uniqueness (not to mention they sound more like what they are, animals/monsters). I mean, in the anime, all they're doing is basically saying their name, over and over again, while in game, the sounds they make could be based on something like say, their typing.

 

[Hiatus]

I prefer in-game cries, because, well, if Pokémon were real, I'd imagine them to sound similarly to them. Have to agree with Timbjerr here; animals don't call out their names in real world, and neither would Pokémon had they actually existed. d: Anime cries are pretty cute, though.

 

[CliveKoopa]

I quite like the anime cries. It is also good that even though it is mostly variations of their name, it is actually more of a language and quite complex.

 

[moon]

The modern game cries are the best, imo. But also the cries they showed off in the promotional anime for BW2. No saying-your-name there, just like in the later games they made more realistic (and still unique) sounds.

I always wondered, in regards to the anime, what came first? The pokémon's name or the cry? xD

 

[Elaitenstile]

"deleleleWOOOOOP"
Kricketune <3

Pokémon cries are awesome, because they make Pokémon more sensible than simply repeating their names in the anime. Pokémon cries are a unique way of remembering a Pokémon, too, because you hear it every time you view, battle or check it up in the Pokédex. I pride myself in remembering most Pokémon cries, and I remember hearing random Pokémon cries in routes in Ruby, so I think I have good experiences. However, hearing Zubat's cry gives a total letdown XD

 

[Bellsprout]

When I first started playing Pokemon as a lil girl (tehe!!) I was mad that none of the Pokemon's cries where their names. Up till then I had only ever seen the anime and thought Pokemon always said their names (even though as the op stated there are Pokemon even with the anime who don't actually say their name as their cry but whatever!!) so I was very disappointed. But now I'm so used to the sounds in the game that I think it would take some getting used to if they ever all said their names. I actually was kinda annoyed when they just updated the old cries of Pokemon in x&y. I've been so used to hearing the same noises that it just seemed so weird.

Like anything though I'd get used to it eventually. I just hope if they ever do change anything they make them more realistic to animal noises rather than their name over and over.

 

[BadPokemon]

I like the human-like cries of pokemon in the anime. When Pikachu got that voice in 6 gen, I thought that was awesome. It sounds much better than a random computerized cry

 

[antemortem]

I enjoy the animalistic sounds, though ones like Starly's X/Y cry (maybe it's BW2? it's fiercely overexaggerated and pixelly sounding) are a little much. I don't like the anime versions of cries, because they always sound like they were being done super fast by some random voice actor and aren't authentic and... ~_~

 

[LusoTrainer]

I never liked how they changed the cries in the anime, and Origins (japanese version) shows how great the original, animalistic cries can be.

 

[Zeffy]

I quite like the almost intelligible sounds they make in the anime since, for the most part, I don't consider Pokemon as an animal. Though, I don't really think it would make much of a difference. If you're asking for consistency in Pokemon, then I suggest you should look for a different fandom. :p

 

[Lost Lore]

While I have a certain fondness for the anime voices, I've always preferred the in-game cries. The majority of them (especially the newer ones) just suit the Pokemon so well, and quite a few are gorgeous and make my day to hear whenever I send them out.

That being said, it'd be a bit jarring to have all Pokemon suddenly make more animal-esque noises in the anime, just as much as it would be to have them saying their names in the games. So perhaps they should both keep things as they are (...well, save for specials like Origins, since the animal-esque cries sounded much more fitting there).

 

[Hikamaru]

I always liked the in-game cries, particularly the ones for newer-generation Pokemon because their sounds were more diverse compared to the earlier generation Pokemon. However, I did have mixed reactions towards certain Pokemon's updated cries in X and Y. Some sounded better than they previously did but others they made them sound really bad. Raichu, Dugtrio and Karrablast come to mind as some of the "worst" updated 6th Gen cries, at least to me.

For the anime I have mixed thoughts because I feel like some of the voices weren't that good.