Pokémon TV Is Back! Observations From Its First Days On YouTube
One thing I forgot to mention about Pokémon’s streaming availability was how complete it was on DisneyNOW but that is not really for here
On Friday, December 6, Pokémon TV relaunched on YouTube, 8 months after its standalone app that was available for multiple platforms closed. Those aware were certainly curious how it would go about operating. With most of the online series like Generations, Evolutions, Paldean Winds, Path to the Peak, and Twilight Wings already hosted on the main Pokémon YouTube channel, and tournament livestreams hosted there or Go’s channel, it was made most apparent that the Pokémon TV channel would focus on the over 1200 episodes of the original anime fronted by Ash Ketchum and his partner Pokémon Pikachu. 1200 episodes is a lot, so it makes one wonder how long it’s going to take to get them all up. From its first two days of operation, here’s what’s gone down so far.
Before full episodes began uploading, one short was posted to hype the coming adventure. Day 1 saw the first five episodes, “Pokémon— I Choose You!” to “Showdown at Pewter City” uploaded practically together. On the video listing, they’re out of order but of course there is a playlist with them in the proper order. Episodes six to nine were then uploaded in order, concluding the uploads for the day. On Saturday, December 7, uploads resumed at noon Eastern and were singular hourly until 4 PM, five episodes bringing the total to 14, up to “Electric Shock Showdown”, interestingly leaving the St. Anne two-parter “Battle Aboard the St. Anne” and “Pokémon Shipwreck” together in the same batch. The five-episode upload on day 2 certainly gave off the idea that day 1 was essentially given a 2-day start, even if short by an episode, and that we should expect five episodes per day. As of writing Sunday, uploads began in much the same way, “Battle Aboard the St. Anne” at noon “Pokémon Shipwreck” at 1 PM, and “Island of the Giant Pokémon” at 2 PM, reinforcing the findings. It will lack the next episode “Beauty and the Beach” as it doesn’t currently circulate, jumping right to "Tentacool & Tentacruel", and Sunday’s last upload being "The Ghost of Maiden's Peak".
The playlist description for season 1 reads “It’s Ash Ketchum’s tenth birthday, and he’s ready to do what many 10-year-olds in the Kanto region set out to do—become a Pokémon Trainer! Things don’t go exactly the way he planned when he ends up with a Pikachu rather than one of the usual first partner Pokémon, and winning Gym badges turns out to be much tougher than he thought. Luckily, he’s got former Gym Leaders Brock and Misty at his side, along with a bevy of new Pokémon friends, including Bulbasaur, Squirtle, and Charmander.” If the pace continues, the uploads of the main anime should conclude after around 243 days somewhere around August. Maybe just maybe we’ll get answers about the Mega Evolution specials from the XY era or Chronicles from what is chronologically a mix of Johto and early Hoenn era but didn’t hit the States until late Hoenn. It would be nice to have everything together.
Funnily enough, it seems the official Japanese Pokémon YouTube channel, which releases every new episode on YouTube after they air, in its domestic Friday timeslot, for a limited time, probably dating back to Journeys at least, did not geolock the 76th and latest episode of Horizons. It will be the 31st episode of The Search for Laqua when it comes Stateside. It is known as “Sohnano? Sohdayo!” in Japanese, which is the Japanese name for Wynaut and the episode’s particular Wynaut trainer respectively. It seems that this is the first episode to ever be released legally in Japanese in the States. The uploads tend to be for a limited time even when geolocked, but the opportunity is still appreciated whether intentional or not.
