The Pokémon Company International
Founded in 2001, Pokémon USA, Inc. Is a subsidiary of The Pokémon Company in Japan, they are responsible for managing the property outside of Asia which includes licensing, marketing, the Pokémon Trading Card Game, an animated TV series, home entertainment, the official Pokémon website, and the Pokémon Center website, and store in New York City.
History
In 2003 Pokémon USA's distribution agreement with Wizards of the Coast for the Pokémon trading cards ended. After this, Pokémon USA took over as the manufacturer and distributor of the Pokémon TCG.
In January of 2006, the licensing and merchandising agreement between 4Kids Entertainment and Pokémon USA expired. This agreement included production of the anime so Pokémon USA switched to in-house dubbing using the facilities at TAJ Productions which had worked with 4Kids on seasons one through five of the previous dub.
In May of 2006 Kids WB announced that it would be dropping all anime from it's fall lineup in its move to The CW Network, which included the Pokémon anime. Pokémon USA went into negotiations with Cartoon Network to air past and future episodes of Pokémon, which came out successful.
Criticisms
Mirage Special
Pokémon USA was under fire after the special was aired. They were accused of telling lies that they couldn't use the old voice actors because there was contract issues, which isn't true because the orginal voice actors state that theres no contract issue and that they could work on the dub for Pokémon USA.
Pokémon USA revealed that they will redub the Mirage Special with improved voices. This redub became availiable on the eigth movie DVD, and aired on October 28th, 2006 on Cartoon Network.
Hiring of Inexperienced Voice Actors
Revealed at the Comic Con, the new voice actor for Ash Ketchum would be Sarah Natochenny, who while a talented actress, was fresh to the field of anime voiceover. Some fans have criticized Pokémon USA for the choice they made, claiming that Sarah was too inexperienced for the role.
Interesting Facts
- Pokémon USA frequently checks out the Pokémon fansites and forums to get a general idea of what the fans feel.
- Many senior employees, VPs are required to play the game and complete their Pokédex as a part of their job.
- The rooms and offices in the building are filled with Pokémon posters, plush toys, figures, all of the rooms are even named after Pokémon (E.G the Zapdos room)
- That Pokémon USA has produced two original anime specials.
See Also
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