Pokémon in the Arab world: Difference between revisions

Pokémon in the Arab world
Flag of the Arab League
Language	Arabic
Continent	Arab world
Original anime airdates
EP001	2000
AG001	2005
DP001	Never aired
BW001	Never aired
XY001	Never aired
SM001	Never aired
JN001	July 1, 2021
HZ001

The Pokémon franchise widely reached the Arab world in late 2000, with the first broadcast of بوكيمون، لقد اخترتك انت! in Arabic language on MBC Channel. However, Pokémon video games were initially distributed in various places, particularly within the GCC countries, since 1998.

The word Pokémon is written as بوكيمون and pluralised as بوكيمونات. Pokémon are always referred to as either male or female, since Arabic has no neutral grammatical gender.

While almost all characters, Pokémon, and most of the locations have kept their English names in the Arabic version, some objects in the franchise received Arabic names. The Poké Ball, for example, has been dubbed as كرة البوكي (Kurt Al-Poké), the Poké Flute received the name مزمار البوكي (Mizmar Al-Poké) and so on. One of the Arabic names that is different from the English dub is Team Rocket, which has been translated as: عصابة الرداء الأبيض 'isabat Ar-Redda Al-Abiadh. Additionally, the name of Pallet Town got translated as قرية شورباك Qaryat Shoreback.

Controversy

In 2001, the Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia, who is the highest religious authority in the kingdom, issued a fatwā banning the Pokémon franchise, claiming it encourages gambling and promotes Zionism. High Muslim authorities in Qatar and Egypt then joined the ban. As this happened during the second Intifada, a Jordanian newspaper printed a caricature of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon sitting in a tank and laughing at an Arab man chasing a Pokémon. This is meant to convey that Arabs are distracted from their conflict with the Israelis by popular franchises, with Pokémon as an example of such "distractions."

Despite the initial banning, which quickly wiped away Pokémon merchandise (especially the card game) from markets in Saudi Arabia, Pokémon video games quickly returned to be sold normally, but under much less demand from local consumers. Some Pokémon merchandise such as the Expedition Base Set reappeared in stores a few years later, but newer sets were never brought. Generation III and Generation IV games seem completely unaffected by the ban.

Bulbanews has an article related to this subject:

BattleZone to hold first National Championships in United Arab Emirates

A fatwā was also issued in the U.A.E. emirate of Dubai, however no bans officially occurred.^[1] Although the U.A.E. takes its Islamic identity seriously like most Arab states, actions based solely on fatwā would however violate its federal constitution. Regardless of this, the licensed local distributor ceased importing Pokémon cards into the U.A.E. until the early 2010s, when the TCG experienced a resurgence among local players. In 2016, the U.A.E. became the first Arab country to be officially sanctioned by The Pokémon Company International to hold official Play! Pokémon events.

Pokémon video games

Before the earliest Pokémon games, Nintendo's products did not have much presence in any Arab country, as most countries faced various political and economical challenges that made them unattractive markets at the time. Throughout the 1980s, most demographics considered 8-bit home computer products a preferable choice for gaming before their gradual decline. However, by the early 1990s, as particular economies in the GCC countries thrived, various independent distributors based in those countries pushed to introduce gaming consoles after becoming hot and competitive commodities in Western markets, including Nintendo's products. Albeit the video game market grew in the GCC countries, for many years there was little effort for standardization among distributors and retailers, causing a discrepancy as both PAL and NTSC hardware and software were sold off the same shelves. Consequently, by the time Pokémon Red and Blue launched the first time in 1998, units available were imported from both Europe and North America. To this day, Nintendo-published products, including Pokémon video games, remain the only gaming products to be imported from both regions into the GCC, despite other publishers focused on importing units solely from Europe.

Nintendo have long considered the GCC markets as part of the greater Asia, thus officially opting to localise NTSC-U North American (NA) products for these markets de jure by the late 1990s, albeit both PAL and NTSC^[2] Nintendo products de facto continued to co-exist. Itochu Corporation's Dubai branch was originally assigned to officially distribute Nintendo's NA products within the GCC markets,^[3] before ending its collaboration in 2000. By the early 2000s, Active Boeki, distributor for Southeast Asian countries, gradually took over NA distribution duties, albeit it took a while to release Pokémon games due to the controversy against the franchise after the 2001 fatwā was issued against it. No official bans against the games were made however in any country. Working alongside the local resellers, in 2010 Active Boeki founded Dubai-based affiliate Active Gulf to represent them alongside Nintendo and The Pokémon Company within the GCC markets. Albeit the NA Wii and Nintendo DS hardware did have localized packaging made for the U.A.E., the NA Nintendo 3DS became the first Nintendo console officially released under Active Gulf, and it launched in all GCC countries on the same day as the United States in March 2011. However, it was not until the NA launch of Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire became the first Pokémon games authorized by The Pokémon Company to be distributed specifically by Active Boeki for the GCC and Southeast Asian markets.

In August 2016, the GCAM introduced the official video game age rating system for Saudi Arabia; Pokémon Sun and Moon were the first Pokémon games released under Saudi Arabia's official age rating, although Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon were the first to feature the age rating hard-printed on the case cover. In January 2018, the NMC introduced the official video game age rating system for the United Arab Emirates; Pokémon Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee! were the first Pokémon games released under the U.A.E.'s official age rating.

In the 1990s, Nintendo Co., Ltd. were involved with distribution in Africa,^[4] although did not particularly focus on the Arab countries. In 2002, Nintendo of Europe took on executive control to supply Nintendo's PAL products for various low-key distributors within the GCC and other Arab countries in the Levant region and Egypt. In the case of the latter two, the markets remain mixed for gaming in general, let alone Nintendo and Pokémon, due to on-going political and economical challenges. Regardless, NOE continues to import its products into all these countries to this day.

Pokémon anime

The Pokémon anime has aired in every country in the Arab world.

Currently, the anime is available on Netflix. S01 retains the original Arabic dubbing done by Venus Corporation while M22, S23, M23, S24 and The Arceus Chronicles feature new dubbing by Netflix.

The anime was originally dubbed to Arabic in late 2000 by Syria-based Venus Corporation (مركز الزهرة, Markaz Az-Zuhra), and distributed by KM productions and was aired exclusively on MBC (Middle East Broadcasting Center), a Saudi owned channel broadcasting from London^[5]. But after the end of the the first season, it spread rapidly to other channels due its immense popularity. Then due to the controversy in 2001 they stopped production after S02. and many channels dropped it from air.^[6]

After that Lebanon-based Super M Productions took over dubbing the anime starting with EP106, and it now aired mainly on the Lebanese channel New TV^[7], and occasionally on other channels such as ART teenz, Tunisian Radio and Television (TRT), as well as The Algerian Television, and the Moroccan channel 2M.

New TV continued airing the anime until the end of S07 when production was cancelled around 2005 due to its drop in popularity.

The total number of Arabic dubbed episodes thus far is 364 episodes, with the latest episode being AG092.

The pokémon movies that were distributed by Miramax were also dubbed into Arabic, but featured an entirely different cast of voice actors from the series and were released straight-to-DVD in Egypt.^[8]

The first 3 seasons were also released on home media.^{[9][10][11][12]}

In 2020 after acquiring the worldwide distribution rights of the anime, Netflix released M22^[13], the first Pokémon-related media dubbed into Arabic since the cancellation of the main series' Arabic dub in 2005. Netflix later released S23^[14], M23^[15], S24^[16] and The Arceus Chronicles^[17].

The dub was done in Lebanon by Image Production House Studios^[18], and featured some old voice actors from the Super M production reprising their roles such as Jumana Al-Zangi as Misty, Abdo Hakim as James, Hassan Hamdan as Meowth, Jihan Mulla as Nurse Joy and Iman Bitar as Officer Jenny.

S01 is also available on Netflix retaining the original Arabic dubbing done by Venus Corporation, except EP020 which was redeubbed since it was heavily censored in the original Syrian dub.^[19]

Cast and crew

Venus Corporation

Ash Ketchum was voiced by Buthaina Shia (بثينة شيا), Misty was voiced by Majd Zhazha (مجد ظاظا), and Rafat Pazo (رأفت بازو) provides the voice of Brock. For Team Rocket, James is voiced by Ziad Rifaee (زياد الرفاعي), Jessie is voiced by Fatima Saad (فاطمة سعد), and Meowth is voiced by Adel Abu Hassoun (عادل أبو حسون). Professor Oak is voiced by Marwan Farhat (مروان فرحات). Other notable voice actors in the Arabic dub include Amaal Saad Adin (امال سعد الدين) as Nurse Joy and Fadwa Suleiman (فدوى سليمان) as Officer Jenny.

Super M Productions

Ash Ketchum was voiced by Mona Majzoub (منى مجذوب), Misty was voiced by Jumana Al-Zangi (جمانة الزنجي), and Nabil Assaf (نبيل عساف) provides the voice of Brock. For Team Rocket, James has been voiced by Abdo Hakim (عبدو حكيم), and Jessie has been voiced by Iman Bitar (إيمان بيطار).^[20]

Netflix

Ash Ketchum was voiced by Rana Rifaii (رنا رفاعي), Misty was again voiced by Jumana Al-Zangi, and Brock was voiced by Hisham Abu Suleiman (هشام أبو سليمان). For Team Rocket, James is again voiced by Abdo Hakim, Jessie is voiced by Asmahan Bittar (أسمهان بيطار), and Meowth is voiced by Hassan Hamdan (حسن حمدان). In addition to Jihan Mulla (جيهان ملا) as Nurse Joy, Iman Bitar (إيمان بيطار) as Officer Jenny, Sam Ghusen (سام غصن) as Mewtwo, Ibrahim Madhi (إبراهيم ماضي) as Giovanni, and Osama Oley (أسامة العلي) as Dr. Fuji.

Pokémon movies

Pokémon movies were released in some capacity in Arab countries throughout the years. All of the movies that were distributed in American theaters by Warner Bros. were also released in theaters in certain Arab countries by Warner Bros.' Middle East agent Shooting Stars LLC (also known as Joseph Chacra & Sons in Lebanon).

Pokémon merchandise

After the Pokémon anime started airing in the Arabic language, it became one of the most popular anime series in the Arab world. Therefore, the demand for Pokémon-related merchandise among Arab children was high. Thus, several video game retailers began to sell a wide variety of Pokémon merchandise as they were best sold. Additionally, many restaurants offered promotional toys with their meals, such as Burger King in 2000. Due to the controversy in 2001, however, a lot of the merchandise was withdrawn from the main retail shops. After the controversy subsided, many game stores started selling Pokémon goods again without incident.

As of the 2010s, various distributors imported certain official Pokémon merchandise from either Europe or North America, such as Toys "R" Us outlets selling Poké Dolls and other kinds of toys. Many high-end bookstore chains, especially those that rely heavily on imported materials, may sell an assorted variety of books and magazines. For example, a Kinokuniya outlet situated in The Dubai Mall (the sole Kinokuniya outlet in the entire region), which is known to sell large volumes of varied stock, has been retailing children's magazines, video game guides, game books, film novelizations, as well as most of the Pokémon manga series, available in both English and Japanese, with the latter being distributed exclusively via this store.

In early 2013, Active Gulf, Nintendo's officially licensed distributor in the Middle East, have collaborated with their retail partners to locally sell authentic packs for the Pokémon Battle Disc Game.^[21]

Many smaller toy and variety stores found in the grey market may often sell unlicensed and counterfeit products, with many of them imported from China. It is also possible to find pirated trading card packs, but in much smaller volumes than when initially released, as in prior to the 2001 controversies. Overall, the current legal status of the official trading card game itself remains vague in any case.

Events

Pokémon Live!

Despite ending its run in January 2001 in the United States, Pokémon Live! was invited to perform on an open stage in Al Mamzar Park, Dubai, U.A.E. in the duration of the whole month of March that same year, coinciding with the annual Dubai Shopping Festival.^[22] Whilst the musical was mostly identical to its performance elsewhere, the female actors had a slight change to their wardrobe which covered their exposed abdomens and thighs, likely to abide with Dubai's public dress code. Since the musical featured the same cast from its American run, it was performed solely in English. The musical, albeit received very positively by its audience, ended its run just days before the 2001 controversies began in the region overall.

Pokémon: Symphonic Evolutions

Bulbanews has an article related to this subject:

Pokémon: Symphonic Evolutions to be performed in United Arab Emirates

On March 31, 2017, Pokémon: Symphonic Evolutions was performed at the Corniche in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates as part of the Mother of the Nation Festival. It is the first Symphonic Evolutions concert to be performed in the Arab world.

Related articles

• List of Arabic Pokémon themes

References

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