pokmon

Pokmon (Japanese: ポケモン Pokemon, pronounced Poh-Kay-Mon or by some people Poh-Kee-Mon) is a video game franchise, created by Satoshi Tajiri and published by Nintendo for several of their systems, most importantly the Game Boy. It has been merchandised into anime, manga, trading cards, toys, and much more. The name Pokmon is a portmanteau of the words Pocket Monsters (ポケットモンスター Poketto Monsutā), which is its Japanese name. Pokmon is also the collective name for the creatures within the Pokmon games. The franchise has 386 unique monsters that lie at the heart of the Pokmon series (388 including currently known Pokmon from future games, and 390 including the glitch-based Missingno. and 'M Block). The Pokmon games are strategy games with a small RPG element which allow players to catch, collect, and train pets with various abilities, and battle them against each other to build their strength and evolve them into more powerful Pokmon. Pokmon battles are based on the non-lethal Eastern sport of fighting insects; the Pokmon never bleed or die. The game's catchphrase used to be "Gotta catch 'em all!", although now it is no longer officially used. (In an "in-joke" used in the English version of the Pokemon anime movie "Destiny Deoxys," Brock says this as he catches hot dogs from a machine as he grabs the wieners in mid-air.) The Pokmon characters have become pop-culture icons, with a Pikachu balloon in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, thousands of merchandise items, and in 2005, a theme park in Nagoya, Japan. The satirical cartoon South Park spoofed Pokmon in Episode 312, entitled "Chinpokomon", in which the bosses behind the creation of the toys were revealed to be Japanese ultranationalists bent on avenging Japan's defeat in World War II. Because of the unprecedented popularity of the franchise, Nintendo formed a subsidary company called The Pokmon Company to handle the franchise. The subsidary handles everything from publishing the games in Japan to running the official merchandise stores, the Pokmon Centers. The Pokmon Company in turn has a U.S. based subsidary called Pokmon USA, of which a minority owner is 4Kids Entertainment, the international distributors outside Japan of the popular Pokemon anime series.

Video games

right Main article: Pokmon (video games) The Pokmon franchise originated with a series of Japanese video games created by Satoshi Tajiri for the Game Boy. The first games in the series were the RPGs Pokmon Red and Blue (Red and Green in Japan). These games were nearly identical, save for the fact that each version had a select group of Pokmon that the other version did not. The ultimate goal of these games was to catch all the different species of Pokmon, (150 at the time, 151 including one that could not be obtained during regular gameplay) and to do this players had to trade for Pokmon not available in the version they had. The games have had many RPG sequels, as well as diversifying into various spin-offs, such as pinball, virtual pets, and simulated photography.

Anime

Main article: Pokmon (anime) There are two Pokmon anime series based on the video games. The first, and the more familiar one, Pokmon or Pocket Monsters tells the adventures of Ash Ketchum (Satoshi in the original Japanese) as he travels through Kanto, the Orange Islands, and Johto to become the greatest Pokmon Master. The saga continues into Pocket Monsters Advanced Generation (in Japan). The English version of the series uses Pokmon under various subtitles. The second, entitled Shūkan Pokmon Hōsōkyoku, is a spinoff of the first, and tells the adventures within the continuity of Pocket Monsters Advanced Generation, starring many of the recurring characters in Pocket Monsters. Although this series has not aired outside of Japan, an English version is in the works, under the title Pokmon Chronicles that will air on Kids' WB in the fall of 2005.

Card Game

Main article: Pokmon (card game) The Pokmon Trading Card Game was first introduced to North America in 1999, and in Japan at an earlier date (exact date unknown). It is a collectible card game based off the famous Pokmon video game. At the time, it was published by Wizards of the Coast, the company most famous for . However, with the release of Pokmon Ruby and Sapphire Game Boy video games, Nintendo took back the card game from Wizards of the Coast and started publishing the cards themselves. The latest incarnations of the card games is known as Pokmon-e Trading Card Game, the cards of which (for the large part) are compatible with the Nintendo e-Reader.

Manga

There are various Pokmon manga series, four of which were released in English by Viz Communications, and seven of them released in English by Chuang Yi.

Manga released in English

Pokmon (The Electric Tale of Pikachu a.k.a Dengeki Pikachu), a shōnen manga created by Toshihiro Ono. It was divided into four tankōbon, each with four separate titles in North America: The Electric Tale of Pikachu, Pikachu Shocks Back, Electric Pikachu Boogaloo, and Surf's Up, Pikachu. In the English Singapore manga, the titles of volumes are the same. The series is based on the video game and anime.
Pokmon Adventures, a shōnen manga based on the video games.
Magical Pokmon Journey (a.k.a. Pokmon: PiPiPi Adventures), a shōjo manga
Pikachu Meets the Press (newspaper style comics, not released by Chuang Yi)
Ash & Pikachu (a.k.a. Satoshi to Pikachu, not released by Viz)
Pokmon Gold & Silver (not released by Viz)
Pokmon Ruby-Sapphire and ''Pokmon Pocket (not released by Viz)
(not released by Viz)

Manga not released in English

Pokmon Card Ni Natta Wake (How I Became a Pokmon Card) by Kagemaru Himeno, an artist for the TCG. There are six volumes and each includes a special promotional card. The stories tell the tales of the art behind some of Himeno's cards (the tale of Persian from the Jungle set is particularly popular).
Pokmon Getto Da ze! by Satomi Nakamura
Poketto Monsutaa Chamo Chamo Puritei by Yumi Tsukirino, who also made Magical Pokmon Journey.
Pokmon Zensho

Pokmon Live

Main article: Pokmon Live! A live action show called Pokmon Live! toured the United States in late 2000. It was based off of the popular Pokmon anime, and was well-liked among fans of the franchise (in spite of some continuity errors relating to the anime). In late 2002, it was scheduled to tour Europe, but was cancelled for unknown reasons.

Controversy

Many Protestant Christian groups in the United States believe Pokmon to be Satanic in origin. After the US release of Pokmon Yellow, there was a sudden widespread criticism of it passed through Christian congregations primarily by word-of-mouth. The claimed parallels between Pokmon and Satanism include:

Pokmon parallel daemons. They are captured and must be invoked to perform tasks.
Magical "talismans" (gym badges) are necessary to control many of them.
"Magical" stones are used to evolve certain Pokmon
Pokmon "evolve". Evolution allegedly denies the most extreme and fundamentalist versions of creationism, therefore Pokmon denies some forms of Biblical interpretation.
Many Pokmon have paranormal or psychic powers. These powers are not derived from God and therefore must stem from Satan.
Many Pokmon embody or practise Asian spiritual and mystical concepts. For example, some practise martial arts, which some Christian groups denounce as pagan. The game world also incorporates Asian traditions about elemental forces.

Still, most people (including other Asian Christian congregations) believe these claims to be nonsense, and note that they are spread as urban legends. While this criticism has been a widespread phenomenon in the United States, little about it has been committed to print. It would be incorrect to state that the Christian religious community has an official opinion on this, but its widespread nature makes it a legitimate topic of study. Pokmon has been criticised by some members of the Jewish community for its use of the swastika, the most widely known symbol of Nazism. Nintendo says that this is a matter of cultural misunderstanding, as the swastika used to be used in East Asian cultures as a symbol for "good fortune" by the Buddhist religion. If a Japanese map of any major city is examined, little clockwise swastikas, or "manji", where Buddhist temples are located, can be seen. Many Jewish groups hold that it is inappropriate to use this symbol on children's toys. The manji was shown only on a Japanese version card and was excluded from the North American release with due consideration of the cross-cultural issue. However, these Jewish members attacked the Japanese version distributed in the U.S. by unauthorized import. As a result of this controversy Nintendo stopped using this symbol even in the Japanese version. http://www.adl.org/presrele/Mise_00/3511_00.asp This raised a public backlash in Japan for being intolerant towards the symbols of the Buddhist religion for the sake of avoiding controversy. An image of the controversial card may be seen here. Many Islamic religious speakers in the Arab-Muslim nations of Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Egypt hold that Pokmon is part of a "Jewish conspiracy" to corrupt Muslim children. They claim that the word "Pokeman" is a Japanese word which means "I am Jewish." This claim is patently false. One Saudi Arabian Sheikh (Sheikh Abdel Moneim Abu Zant) has written "The Pokmon craze is a Jewish plot aimed at forcing our children to forgo their faith and values and to distract them from more important things such as scientific ambitions." The Anti-Defamation League has spoken out against these conspiracy theorists. http://www.adl.org/presrele/IslME_62/3791_62.asp

Lawsuits

In November of 2000 it was reported that Uri Geller, an Israeli psychic-magician who claims to bend spoons with his mind, sued Nintendo over the Pokmon "Yungerā" (ユンゲラー or "Yungeller"; "Kadabra" is the English name of this Pokmon) which he claimed was an unauthorized appropriation of his identity. http://news.zdnet.co.uk/hardware/emergingtech/0,39020357,2076058,00.htm http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/1003454.stm The Pokmon in question has psychic abilities and carries bent spoons. The name is a pun; the katakana letter 'n' (ン) looks quite like the letter 'ri' (リ) (the translation of Mr. Geller's name into Katakana would be 「ユリゲラー」 or "Yurigerā"). Geller sued for the equivalent of 100 million dollars, but lost. A parents' group is suing Nintendo of America and other manufacturers of collectible cards (such as baseball card makers), claiming that the collectible nature of randomly purchased cards constitutes illegal gambling. Two other parents also set up a site named Pokmon Kills after their son choked to death on a Burger King Pok Ball toy. The toy had two pieces, and the top red lid piece could easily fit over the mouth of a child. Burger King issued a voluntary recall of the toys in exchange for food.

Miscellaneous

Although Pokmon was originally intended for younger children, it also has made an appeal to teenagers. Some older North American children and teenagers shun the Pokmon franchise, seeing it as made for a younger age group. A few claim Pokmon shouldn't be recognized as anime, but as children's TV. Today in North America, Pokmon is often claimed for young children only, although Pokmon is thriving in all age groups in Japan. A mammalian oncogene was named "Pokemon"http://www.mskcc.org/mskcc/html/54387.cfm (no "") by its discoverers – however, this may or may not actually be a reference to Pokmon.