Pokémon in Latin America: Difference between revisions

This article is about the the Pokémon franchise in the Spanish-speaking countries of Latin America. For the franchise in Brazil, see Pokémon in Brazil.

Pokémon in Latin America
File:Latin America Flags.png Flags of Colombia, Chile, Panama, Peru, Venezuela, Argentina, Paraguay, Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Ecuador
Language	Latin American Spanish
Continent	The Americas
Original anime airdates
EP001	September 6, 1999
AG001	January 21, 2004
DP001	February 9, 2008
BW001
XY001
SM001
JN001
HZ001

The Pokémon franchise first reached Latin America in an article that was published and appeared on the cover of the October issue of the Club Nintendo magazine in 1998^[1] and with the release of Pokémon Red and Blue Versions in English and Spanish in the same month.^[2] The Pokémon anime followed after with the first broadcast of Pokémon, ¡Yo te elijo! in Latin American Spanish on Cartoon Network Latinoamérica on September 6th, 1999.

¡Atrápalos ya! is the Latin American Spanish slogan of the Pokémon video games. The slogan is often referenced throughout the Pokémon canon, much like the English slogan "Gotta catch 'em all!" is.

Pokémon video games

All of the main series Pokémon games have been released in Latin American countries, but only Pokémon Red and Blue Versions were available in the Spanish language.^[3] All subsequent Pokémon games have only been available as imported versions of the English-language North American releases. Most of the spin-off titles (such as Pokémon Snap and Pokémon Stadium) have been released in Latin America as well, but like the main series Pokémon games, they are only available as English-language imports.

Commercials

In the late 1990s, Nintendo aired many commercials in Latin America for video games such as Mario and Pokémon. These commercials are not unique to Latin America, they are simply Spanish-dubbed versions of the commercials aired in the United States. However, due to the rise of video game piracy, Nintendo has decided not to invest much money in promoting their franchises in Latin America. This may be a reason why few recent games receive Spanish releases in Latin America. Despite this, Spanish commercials for Pokémon games still appear on cable networks such as Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon.^[4]

Pokémon anime

The Latin American dub of Pokémon airs or has aired in the following countries: Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, and Venezuela. The anime has aired on Cartoon Network Latinoamérica since its debut. In addition to Cartoon Network, which serves many different countries, the anime is also aired on one or more local channels in most regions of Latin America.

Beginning on January 1, 2010, the first season began to air on Tooncast,^[5] a sister network of Cartoon Network and Boomerang Latin America. Pokémon continues to air on Cartoon Network as well, with Diamond and Pearl: Galactic Battles premiering on January 10, 2010 at 7:00 PM with repeats on Wednesdays at 6:00 PM.^[6]

On Cartoon Network

Cartoon Network logo.

Cartoon Network is one of the most popular children's television channels in Latin America due to its original productions such as Cartoon Cartoons as well as international acquisitions like Dragon Ball, Naruto, Inuyasha and other anime series, including Pokémon. Since Pokémon debuted on September 6, 1999, it has become one of the most popular shows on Cartoon Network.

Cartoon Network has aired every episode and season of the anime that has been dubbed into Spanish, including Pokémon Chronicles and all the movies except for 4, 5, 6 and 7. The special episode Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Team Go-Getters out of the Gate! debuted on February 8, 2008, and The Mastermind of Mirage Pokémon debuted on July 13, 2008.

With the premiere of each season, the channel performs special promotions such as marathons of older episodes and, in years past, contests and other events. In December of 2002, to commemorate the premiere of Pokémon: Master Quest on January 1, 2003, the channel held a contest called "Los Elegidos Pokémon". To participate, viewers would vote for their favorite episodes on Cartoon Network's website, the most popular of which would be aired in a marathon on December 31, 2002.^[7]

Dubbing

The Latin American dub of the Pokémon anime is recorded and produced in Mexico. The series has been dubbed by three different companies. Originally, dubbing production was conducted by the company Audiomaster 3000 of Televisa, which dubbed the series from the first season until the first episodes of Pokémon: Advanced Challenge. Audiomaster 3000 went out of business in 2005, leaving the seventh season incomplete. Thus, the series was rushed to Candiani Studios, which dubbed the series until mid-2009. On September 26, 2009, AF The Dubbing House confirmed on their Twitter that they would start dubbing Pokémon Diamond & Pearl: Galactic Battles, indicating that they are now the current dubbing company for the series.

The Latin American dub is based on the English dubs by 4Kids Entertainment and The Pokémon Company International, retaining all of their character names, Pokémon names, and any cuts or alterations present in the English dub. 4Kids entirely distributed their dub, but currently, TPCI only licenses the dub while Televix is responsible for distributing the series in the Latin American market.

Movies

Most of the movies were dubbed in Mexico, except for Jirachi: Wish Maker and Destiny Deoxys, which were dubbed in Argentina with an entirely different voice cast. The movies Mewtwo Strikes Back, The Power of One and Spell of the Unown were licensed and distributed by Warner Brothers. Celebi: Voice of the Forest, Pokémon Heroes (dubbed in Mexico), Jirachi Wish Maker and Destiny Deoxys (dubbed in Argentina) were licensed by The Walt Disney Company. From the eighth movie onward, VIZ Media has been responsible for licensing and distributing the Pokémon movies in Latin America.

Cast and crew

Many different voice actors have worked on the dubbing of Pokémon in Latin America.

Gerardo Vásquez

Gerardo Vázquez was the dubbing director for the series from the first season until the sixth season. He was also the director for Diamond and Pearl and Battle Dimension. He also provides the voices for Team Rocket's Meowth, the Narrator, Koga, Victor, Slowking from The Power of One, and Chatot in AG184. He has worked on several other anime series, dubbing characters such as Raye Penber in Death Note, the Narrator in One Piece, Roberto Hongo in Captain Tsubasa, and other non-anime roles such as Dr. Hibbert, Seymour Skinner, Barney Gumble, Sideshow Mel and Jimbo Jones in The Simpsons (starting from the sixteenth season).

Gabriel Ramos (born September 18, 1986) provided the voice of Ash Ketchum from EP001 until DP090. He then quit voice acting due to commitments to the Latin American MTV, where he works as a VJ. From DP091-DP104, he was replaced by Irwin Daayán. Ramos has since returned to dub Ash starting from DP105. Although Ramos currently resides in Argentina, he is able to record Ash's voice at a recording studio called Sonar Studio and sends the recordings over the internet to the dubbing company in Mexico. Other series Ramos has dubbed for include Ippo Makunouchi in Fighting Spirit, MegaMan.EXE in MegaMan NT Warrior, Remi in the redub of Nobody's Boy: Remi and Gerald (second voice) in Hey Arnold!.

Irwin Daayán

Irwin Daayán (born November 9, 1978) was responsible for the voice of Ash in the absence of Gabriel Ramos from DP091 until DP104. Daayán also provides the voices for Ken, Drew (starting from Pokémon: Advanced Challenge), Conway, Dome Ace Tucker, and Tate. Daayán is a well-known voice actor, voicing numerous roles in other series including the main roles of Yugi Mutou/Yami Yugi in Yu-Gi-Oh!: Duel Monsters, Mugen in Samurai Champloo, Goku in Monkey Typhoon and Pegasus Seiya in Saint Seiya: Hades - Chapter Sanctuary and Hades - Chapter Inferno.

Xóchitl Ugarte

Misty is dubbed by experienced voice actress Xóchitl Ugarte (born April 21, 1979), who also voices for Andi, Kenny, and Angie. She also is famous for dubbing Sabrina Spellman (originally played by Melissa Joan Hart) in Sabrina, the Teenage Witch and Diva in Blood+. She is the sister of Gaby Ugarte and Victor Ugarte.

Gaby Ugarte

Gaby Ugarte (born December 22, 1983) provided the voices for Dawn (from DP001-DP104), Melody, Jasmine and Giselle. She also dubs in other series, such as Kuki Sanban/Numbuh Three in Codename: Kids Next Door, Zatch Bell and Zeno Bell in Zatch Bell!, Saya Otonashi in Blood+ and Gwen Tennyson in Ben 10 and Ben 10: Alien Force. Ugarte left the show when dubbing production was moved to AF The Dubbing House, and Dawn is now voiced by Leyla Rangel.

Gabriel Gama provided the voice of Brock from the character's introduction until DP020, after which he left for unknown reasons. He was replaced by Alan Prieto, who has provided Brock's voice from DP021 onward. Brock is voiced by Arturo Mercado Jr. in Celebi: Voice of the Forest and Pokémon Heroes.

Ana Lobo

May was voiced by Ana Lobo from AG001 until AG044. Lobo also is famous for voicing Kagome Higurashi from Inuyasha. Starting from AG045, May has been voiced by Mariana Ortiz. In Jirachi: Wish Maker and Destiny Deoxys, May was voiced by Agustina Priscila.

Mariana Ortiz

Besides May, Mariana Ortiz has also provided the voices for Nurse Joy, Erika, Lisa, and Marble. Her other voice acting work includes characters such as Fuu from Samurai Champloo, Kaoru Matsubara from Demashita! Powerpuff Girls Z and Meg Griffin from Family Guy (starting from season four).

Diana Pérez

May's younger brother, Max, is voiced by Diego Ángeles. In Jirachi: Wish Maker and Destiny Deoxys, Max was voiced by Enzo Fortuny.

José Antonio Macías

For most of the series, James has been voiced by José Antonio Macías (born September 19, 1967). However, for episodes AG105-AG110, he was voiced by Gerardo García, who also provides the voices of Paul and Harley. Jessie has been voiced for the entire series by Diana Pérez. Pérez is also well-known for her role of Monkey D. Luffy in One Piece.

Tracey Sketchit was voiced by Alfredo Leal from EP084-EP116. Starting from EP225, he has been voiced by Gerardo García.

Gary Oak has had five different voice actors in the Latin American dub. He was voiced by Gerardo del Valle up until the end of Pokémon: Master Quest. For the Advanced Generation series, he was voiced by Ricardo Bautista. He was voiced by Benjamín Rivera in DP045 and by Noé Velásquez in DP085. In Pokémon Chronicles, he was voiced by Victor Ugarte, the brother of Xóchitl and Gaby. Gary's grandfather, Professor Oak, is voiced by Hugo Navarrete.

Nurse Joy and Officer Jenny have both had several voice actresses over the course of the series. Nurse Joy has been voiced by Christine Byrd, Georgina Sánchez, Mildred Barrera, Liliana Barba, and Mariana Ortiz. Officer Jenny has been voiced by Ana María Grey, Mayra Arellano, Isabel Romo, Erika Edwards, and Cristina Hernández.

Music

All of the theme songs used in the Latin American dub are translated versions of the songs from the English dub. A Spanish-language translation of Pokémon 2.B.A. Master was released, entitled Pokémon: ¡Para Ser Un Maestro!.

A translated version of Totally Pokémon was released as well, entitled Pokémon: The Johto Journeys. This album did not contain any of the karaoke songs from the English release, but it did include an extra song, Pokémon Johto 2.

The soundtrack to Pokémon the First Movie was also released in Latin America. This Latin American version contained all the same songs as the English North American release, but with an added bonus track: Pokémon Theme performed in Spanish by Álvaro Véliz.

Pokémon Trading Card Game

Both English- and Spanish-language cards for the Pokémon Trading Card Game are sold in Latin America. Spanish-language cards are recognized as tournament legal for Pokémon Organized Play.

Pokémon merchandise

During the height of Pokémon's popularity in the late 1990s and early 2000s, a great number of collectibles and other merchandise based on the Pokémon franchise was available in Latin American countries, including sticker albums, postcards, plush toys, and figurines.

Pokémon Tazos, collectible discs which resemble Pogs, were available in bags of Frito-Lay chips. These Tazos, which have featured other franchises besides Pokémon, grew in popularity to a level greater than or equal to the early popularity of the Pokémon Trading Card Game in North America.

Pokémon Evoluciones, the latest sticker album of Pokémon that has been published in the country of Peru

The Corporación Gráfica Navarrete S.A., based in Peru, is a company known for publishing a wide variety of Pokémon sticker albums. Stickers for these albums are sold seperately and are distributed randomly in packs. Each sticker is numbered and is intended to be glued to its assigned spot in the album. The album will often have artwork and descriptions that compliment the artwork on the stickers. These sticker albums have been published in several Latin American countries such as Peru and Mexico since the late 1990s. The most recent sticker albums are "Pokédex", which was published in 2007 and was available in Bolivia, Brazil, Mexico, Peru and Puerto Rico; and "Pokémon Evoluciones", was published in 2008 and was only available in Peru.^[8]

Burger King has also brought a few of its Pokémon promotions to Latin America, including the recent TCG promotions.

Trivia

• Cartoon Network Latinoamérica has never banned an episode of the Pokémon anime except for episodes which were banned in Japan and the United States.
• Cartoon Network's "Biografia Toon" segment, which consists of biographies and histories of cartoon characters, has done a two-part segment on Ash's Pikachu. According to the segment, Pikachu is the result of an experiment conducted by Professor Oak and allegedly destroyed the lab where he was created in a momentary loss of control.
• When speaking at an anime event at a school in Buenos Aires, Argentina, voice actor Gabriel Ramos revealed that Pokémon Diamond & Pearl: Galactic Battles will have a total of 54 episodes.^[9] Although the total number of English dubbed episodes for Diamond & Pearl: Galactic Battles has not yet been established, this is likely to be the number of episodes for the English version of the season as well, as the Latin American Spanish dub is directly based on TCPi's English dub.
• Before the premiere of Steeling Peace of Mind! on February 14, 2010, Lucario and the Mystery of Mew was re-aired on February 10 and February 11, 2010. This is likely due to the similarity of Riley and Sir Aaron.
• In the repetition of Cheers on Castaways Isle! on March 3, 2010, instead of Battle Cry - (Stand Up!) being the opening, the opening was Pokémon Theme.

References

External links

• Pokémon on Cartoon Network Latinoamérica's website (in Spanish)
  • History web: 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 - 2005

This article is part of Project Globe, a Bulbapedia project that aims to write comprehensive articles on the Pokémon franchise around the world.