Pokémon in South Asia

Pokémon in South Asia
Flags of Bhutan, Afghanistan, India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Nepal.
Language	Hindi Tamil Telugu English
Continent	Asia
Original anime airdates
EP001	May 12, 2003[1] May 19, 2014 August 7, 2016
AG001	May 9, 2006 September 16, 2015
DP001	November 9, 2009 November 16, 2009
BW001	June 17, 2013 July 2, 2014 November 3, 2014
XY001	May 9, 2015
SM001
JN001
HZ001

The Pokémon franchise (Hindi: पोकेमोन, Tamil: போகிமொன், Telegu: పోకీమాన్, Urdu: پوکيمون) made its debut in the Indian subcontinent in 2003, with the broadcast of the first anime episode in both English and Hindi on Cartoon Network India. In Pakistan, the anime aired on Cartoon Network Pakistan.

Pokémon games

While Nintendo has no official market presence in the Indian subcontinent, the Pokémon games and some Pokémon merchandise, as well as other Nintendo products such as consoles and games, are available on online retail sites.

Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire were available in India just a week after the US release.^[2]

Pokémon anime

Bulbanews has multiple articles related to this subject:

• Anime in Indian subcontinent shifted to Pogo
• Anime in India shifted back to Cartoon Network
• Pokémon anime going strong in India
• Pokémon anime viewed by nearly 100 million in India
• 'Pokémon the Series: XY' debuts in India

The Pokémon anime is available in the following South Asian territories: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

In India, the English dub of select episodes from the first and third seasons were made available on Voot, a streaming service by Viacom 18, making it the first time the anime has been available through streaming in India.

TV series

Cartoon Network and Pogo

Cartoon Network India and Pakistan logo

Pokémon: Indigo League premiered on Cartoon Network India on May 12, 2003 as a part of its Toonami block, airing on weekdays at 8:00 AM and 5:00 PM in both Hindi and English. The anime soon became one of the highest-rated shows on the channel. Immediately after the first season, Pokémon: Adventures in the Orange Islands made its Indian debut in late 2003 and ended its run in mid-2004. In 2004, Pokémon: The Johto Journeys made its premiere on Cartoon Network. A separate Cartoon Network feed affiliated with Cartoon Network India was launched for the Pakistani audience in 2004, and was also later made available in Afghanistan and Bangladesh. Due to this affiliation, both channels broadcast the anime simultaneously. With Pokémon: Master Quest, Cartoon Network India introduced two additional dubs for Indian viewers, Tamil and Telugu. The original series concluded its first complete run in mid-2005.

Pokémon: Advanced made its South Asian debut on May 9, 2006 and concluded in July of the same year. After four months of reruns, Pokémon: Advanced Challenge was simulcast on November 6, 2006, and ended its first run on January 4, 2007. Almost a year later, in 2008, Pokémon: Advanced Battle made its way to South Asia with two back-to-back episodes. The final season of the Advanced Generation series, Pokémon: Battle Frontier, debuted in November 2008. It began airing on Cartoon Network Pakistan two weeks after its Indian debut. From January 8, 2007 to late 2008, Cartoon Network introduced a new block called Dastaan-e-Pokémon, a one-hour block that aired reruns from each of the previous seasons, from the first through seventh seasons.

Unprecedentedly, the first season of the Diamond & Pearl series premiered in Pakistan on November 9, 2009, before its debut in India a week later on November 16. Due to unknown reasons, Cartoon Network Pakistan wrapped up the season prematurely in just five weeks. As a result, around 23 episodes were skipped, from O'er the Rampardos We Watched! to A Stand-Up Sit-Down!. However, all the episodes were aired in order during reruns. The eleventh season, Pokémon DP: Battle Dimension, aired during 2010. After eight years, Cartoon Network India dropped the Pokémon anime in early 2011.

Pogo TV logo

The anime was then picked up by its sister channel Pogo, staring with the season premiere of Pokémon DP: Galactic Battles for the Indian audience, which later made its Pakistani debut on August 1 and concluded on October 11, 2011. On October 3, 2011, Pokémon DP: Sinnoh League Victors premiered on Pogo. However, The Fleeing Tower Of Sunyshore! and Teaching the Student Teacher! were skipped and later debuted during reruns. The series finale, Memories are Made of Bliss!, aired on October 25 of the same year. The thirteenth season completed its first run on Cartoon Network Pakistan from February 1 to March 19, 2012.

After almost twenty months, Pogo premiered the fourteenth season of the anime on June 17, 2013. Many changes were introduced, including new voices for the narrator and Delia Ketchum, a new time slot for the show, and the keeping of several of the move's English names. Pogo skipped the episodes The Dragon Master's Path! and Cilan Versus Trip, Ash Versus Georgia!, but they were later broadcast during reruns. The channel completed its run of the season with the season finale, Battle for the Underground, on September 5, 2013.

On June 27, 2014, after more than three years since Pokémon shifted to Pogo, Cartoon Network India made an announcement through its official Facebook page that Pokémon would be returning to Cartoon Network. The channel began airing Pokémon: Black & White up to Mewoth's Scrafty Tactics from July 2 to August 6, 2014, airing two new episodes on the weekdays. Cartoon Network later completed the season by airing it at a late-night time slot of 10:30 PM without promotion on the channel. The channel continued airing reruns at various time slots, including airing various marathons during that time. The Best Wishes series premiered on Cartoon Network Pakistan on November 3, 2014.

Hungama TV and Disney XD India

Hungama TV logo

Disney XD logo

Around the beginning of 2014, Disney bought the rights to Pokémon. However, Disney did not acquire the rights for the anime's previous Hindi dub, so the anime was re-dubbed.

With Pokémon, I Choose You!, Hungama TV began airing the original series on May 19, 2014. Hungama TV introduced a block for Pokémon reruns called PokéThon. Starting with the second season, Hungama TV began to include the Who's That Pokémon? segment in episodes, and also introduced another block called PokéVaar (literally PokéDay). As with the Cartoon Network airings, several episodes were skipped or aired out of order. During the third season, the channel also started using a red logo for Pokémon, instead of the yellow one used internationally. Another block for reruns PakdoThon (coined from Pakdo, Hindi for catch, and marathon). Some episodes of the third season were aired with additional Tamil and Telegu dubs, but all episodes would not be aired with them until the premiere of fourth season. Starting with Two Hits and a Miss, Hungama TV began skipping parts of the episode before the title card, including the theme song and scenes before the theme song. After You're a Star, Larvitar!, Hungama TV took its first break from airing new episodes. The remaining original series episodes would later be aired as part of the sixth season starting on August 31, 2015.

The Hoenn portion of Pokémon: Advanced aired on Hungama TV from September 16, 2015 to November 18, 2015. From February 15, 2016 to April 28, 2016, episodes from Pokémon: Advanced Challenge premiered on Hungama TV.

Pokémon XY logo used in India

The first two episodes of Pokémon the Series: XY, Kalos, Where Dreams and Adventures Begin and Lumoise City Pursuit, debuted on Hungama TV on May 9, 2015 without any promotion on a weekend time slot. Hungama TV later announced that more episodes of the series would air during the weekend time slot, with earlier episodes continuing during the weekday time slot. From the start of the season, Hungama TV skipped the title card of the episodes and started using a new logo for the series, replacing the one used in other dubs. After a month-long hiatus, Hungama TV resumed airing new episodes on August 1, 2015 with A PokéVision of Things to Come!. From the middle of the season, the episodes aired as a part of a block named Pokemon Full On. Hungama TV completed the initial run of the season on November 14, 2015.

Disney XD India currently airs reruns of the original series that previously aired on Hungama TV, starting with the first 10 episodes of Pokémon: Indigo League on August 7, 2016.

Pokémon movies and specials

On November 14, 2006, Cartoon Network India aired Mewtwo Returns as a part of its Children's Day programming.^[5]

Cartoon Network began airing Pokémon Chronicles on June 11, 2009. That year, the movie Lucario and the Mystery of Mew also premiered on both Cartoon Network India and Pakistan. The movie Pokémon Ranger and the Temple of the Sea premiered on Cartoon Network Pakistan in 2009, but would not debut on Cartoon Network India until the following year. Cartoon Network India has aired several Pikachu shorts; however, they were not aired alongside their accompanying movies. The Pikachu shorts Christmas Night and Kanga Games were aired together as Pikachu's Winter Vacations. The shorts Winter Games and Pikachu & Pichu were also aired together.

In 2011, Cartoon Network and Pogo TV aired The Rise of Darkrai. Starting in 2014, the movie aired on the CN+ service of Tata Sky. That year, Cartoon Network Pakistan also aired the movies Giratina and the Sky Warrior and Arceus and the Jewel of Life, as well as Zoroark - Master of Illusions the following year. However, these three movies were not aired in India.

Hungama TV has so far aired the first seven movies, creating a new logo for each movie. Many scenes, including the opening and ending themes, are skipped. Despite the fact that Hungama TV airs the English dub of the anime, the movies were based on the original Japanese version. Pokémon movies have also been aired in blocks with Beyblade and Crayon Shin-chan. The Pokémon movies also air on Disney XD India using the same version that aired on Hungama TV; for example, on April 19, 2017 the first seven movies aired as part of a marathon on Disney XD.

Mega Evolution Special I aired on November 21, 2015.

• Mewtwo Ka Badla.png

  Mewtwo Ka Badla

• Ash Pikachu aur Lugia in Danger.png

  Ash Pikachu aur Lugia in Danger

• Unown ka Tehelka.png

  Unown ka Tehelka

• Khatre ka Jungle.png

  Khatre Ka Jungle

• Soul Dew ka Raaz Latias and Latios.png

  Soul Dew Ka Raaz: Latias and Latio

• POKEMON MOVIE 6 HINDI LOGO.png

  Jirachi Ka Wonder

• Deoxy aur Tori ki Story.png

  Deoxy aur Tori ki Story

Cast and crew

Hindi dub

Tamil dub

Music

Main article: List of Hindi Pokémon themes

Main article: List of Tamil Pokémon themes

Main article: List of Telugu Pokémon themes

Like most dubs based on the English dub, the Hindi, Tamil, and Telugu dubs under both Cartoon Network and Hungama TV generally dub the original English openings into the respective language. Songs used in episodes have also been dubbed.

From the middle of the second run of the season, Cartoon Network replaced the opening Black and White with an original Hindi song.

Hungama TV has made a Pokérap as an ending theme for the anime series and the movies. They also made Pokéraps for the Ornage Islands, Johto, and Hoenn arcs to promote upcoming seasons of Pokémon.

Pokémon manga

English-translated Pokémon manga was distributed in India by Chuang Yi. It is also available on online stores such as Amazon.

This section is a stub. You can help Bulbapedia by expanding it.

Pokémon merchandise

• Pokémon was an instant hit in India and was one of the number one kids shows on TV. Due to its huge popularity, many pirated Pokémon products are sold in India.^[8]
• Pokémon Rakhis were available in India, with Pikachu and the starter Pokémon of Unova region.
• Pokémon collectibles were available for free in Cheetos snack packs.^[9]
• On the Toonami block, Cartoon Network hosted a contest titled "Toonami-Game On Video Game Championship" in 2006, with Pokémon merchandise given out as prizes^[4].
• Pokémon Toys were available as toy gifts of McDonald's Happy Meals. These toys were spoons featuring Pikachu and other starters. However no advertisements were made by McDonald's.^[10]
• Pokémon Black and White merchandise is available in India from Reliance Home video and games.
• Pokémon XY merchandise is launched in India by Dreamtheatre, available in physical stores and online sites such as Flipkart and Snapdeal.
• Pokémon merchandise like books, toys, etc are available on on-ground shops as well as online sites.
• Holi Pichkaris (Water Guns) were available during 2014 and 2015^[11].
• Pokémon Kites were available for sale^[12].
• A Pokémon contest was held by Hungama TV in 2015, which gave out Pokémon merchandise as prizes.^[13]
• Pokémon XY Products/toys with the original logo are distributed by Funskool India.^[14]
• Pokémon Evolution Cards and 3D figurines of Pikachu, the Kanto starter Pokémon, and Jigglypuff were distributed with the breakfast cereal Chocos.

External links

• Cartoon Network India official site
• Cartoon Network India official Facebook page
• Pogo TV official site
• Hungama TV official site

References

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