Pokémon in the Philippines

Pokémon in the Philippines
Flag of the Philippines
Languages	Filipino and Philippine English
Continent	Asia
Original anime airdates
EP001	October 1, 1999
AG001	April 29, 2008
DP001	April 26, 2010
BW001	N/A
XY001
SM001
JN001
HZ001

The Pokémon franchise first arrived in the Philippines around 1999, with the first broadcast of Pokémon - I Choose You! in English on GMA.

Pokémon video games

All internationally released main series games have been available in the Philippines beginning Pokémon Red and Blue. Ever since Diamond and Pearl, the games have been released during the same day as their release in the United States.

All spin-off games that are released in the United States have been also released in the Philippines. These games are available within weeks after their American releases.

Many pirated copies of hack games, as well as official games, are also sold in the Philippines. Examples of these pirated games include ChaosBlack, Darkcry and Naranja Versions.

Pirated copies of official games come in a variety of ways. One would be in fan translations of the original Japanese game. For example, a copy of Pokémon Gold and Silver once sold only allowed Pokémon to have a maximum of five letters in their names (i.e. A Typhlosion is named Typhl.) due to certain limitations. The names of locations and people are also translated from Japanese, such as Azalea Town being called Hiwada Town and Jasmine being called Mikan. Pirated games may also just be the games placed in different cartridges and sold at a different price. These cartridges would just be black, not the color the official games' cartridges come in. These types of pirated games were prevalent for the Game Boy, Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance games. Nintendo DS games are usually sold legitimately.

Pokémon anime

English dub

The first episode of the anime first aired on Philippine television October 1, 1999. GMA aired the English dub every Friday from 7:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. to compete against another station which aired the Filipino English dub of Digimon at the same time. They continuously aired episodes until Charizard Chills when they suddenly stopped airing the anime.

Years later, Cartoon Network aired the English dub, starting with the first episode, weekdays from 12 p.m. to 12:30 p.m. and from 7:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. It ended after the season Johto League Champions finished repeating once last January 30, 2008.

On April 29, 2008, Pokémon: Advanced was shown during the same times after their airing of Master Quest finished. However, the afternoon airings were changed to 2 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. They continually showed the anime until the final episode of Advanced Challenge. They then repeated from the first episode of Master Quest and ended again with Advanced Challenge early 2009.

In early 2009, they continued with episodes from Advanced Battle and Battle Frontier. They now showed two episodes, so the schedule changed to 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. It ended after Battle Frontier finished repeating once last October 27, 2009. The show was replaced by Dinosaur King, which, coincidentally, had a main character who is voiced by Veronica Taylor, Ash's initial voice actress.

During weekends, a segment called Pokémania, which showed seasons previously aired, aired from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. It ended with Pokémania 7, which showed the season Advanced Challenge.

Pokémon returned to Cartoon Network on January 29, 2010 with the airing of Address Unown! and Mother of All Battles from 6-7 p.m. Cartoon Network will once again show the Advanced Generation series after finishing Master Quest.

The tenth season of the anime premiered April 26, 2010, airing one episode 7 p.m. during weekdays. Since June 26, two episodes of the tenth season are shown from 9 to 10 a.m. during weekends. After the airing of Smells Like Team Spirit! July 5, the show was replaced by a mix of the original Japanese dub and the American dub of Metal Fight Beyblade two days later.

The first episode of the eleventh season, Pokémon Diamond & Pearl: Battle Dimension, premiered September 6, 2010, airing 6:30 p.m. during weekdays. Beginning November 6, repeated episodes are shown once again from 9 to 10 a.m. during weekends, starting with Clamperl of Wisdom.

Pokémon Diamond & Pearl: Galactic Battles premiered April 29, 2011 7:30 p.m. Starting The Lonely Snover! (instead of Classroom Training!, unexpectedly), episodes are shown in letterbox format. Meanwhile, four episodes, starting with the first episode of the ninth season, are played consecutively from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sundays beginning June 5.

As part of Cartoon Network's major overhaul two days prior, Sinnoh League Victors premiered October 3, 2011, with episodes airing Mondays to Thursdays at 7:30 p.m. It airs alongside Power Rangers Samurai and Adventure Time on the same days.

Early on, Cartoon Network aired the episodes as they first aired in the United States, so mistakes, such as the title Hooked on Onyx, are retained. They also do not normally air specials or movies. This changed with the premiere of Mewtwo Returns mid 2009. Also, Pikachu Shorts, such as Gotta Dance, started to be shown, though not necessarily before or after their corresponding movie. Last December 12, 2009, Cartoon Network aired a movie for the first time. They showed Jirachi: Wish Maker to commemorate the Christmas season. On the other hand, Lucario and the Mystery of Mew aired September 10. A year after first showing the sixth Pokémon movie, the seventh Pokémon movie, Destiny Deoxys premiered December 25. The ninth Pokémon movie premiered February 11, 2011, the tenth premiered March 25, and the eleventh premiered April 22. Arceus and the Jewel of Life premiered July 9, 2011 at 9 p.m., just in time for the premiere final episode of the twelfth season July 11.

Pokémon episodes and movies are also sold in DVDs and CDs on some part of the Philippines, although they are not exactly official. In Luzon, Quiapo is the most popular place to find these DVDs.

Filipino dub

GMA Network's logo

The Pokémon anime is dubbed in the Philippines by Alta Productions and broadcasted on the GMA Network. Pokémon episodes are broadcasted on weekdays on GMA, 8:40 a.m., originally 9:30 a.m. (PST). Pokémon Specials, a collection of movies and Pikachu shorts, also air on Saturdays and Sundays, 10:30 a.m.

No Pokémon movies have premiered in Philippine theaters; instead, they are aired on the GMA Network on Saturdays and Sundays, along with some Pikachu shorts.

The anime series did not continuously air and took several breaks until 2008, when GMA started airing the Filipino dub of the original series. In 2009, the channel finally aired the last episode of the Johto series, Hoenn Alone! last June 19, 2009 and began the next series, the Advance Generation series, which ended after some time afterwards.

Since April 17, 2011, the series started airing only every Sunday mornings. However, last May 9, 2011, the series re-aired during weekday mornings as part of GMA's morning anime block.

Cast and crew

In the Filipino dub, Pokémon that appeared in the anime use the same voices in their English dub, with the exception of talking Pokémon such as Meowth.

The dub director, script writer and translator of the Pokémon anime is Arlene Bacay, who also voiced minor characters such as Tommy. She is also a dub director of the Slayers series and a voice actress of various characters in the Filipino dub of Doraemon.

Arlene Bacay

The main role of Ash Ketchum was given to Klariz Magboo, a professional singer and a model. She also voices Ash's mother, Delia Ketchum. Klariz also dubbed several other one-time character, including Dr. Abby. She also dubs in other anime series, such as Tenma Tsukamoto in School Rumble and Yoko Nakagawa in Cardcaptor Sakura.

Klariz Magboo

Jefferson Utanes voices several major characters in the Pokémon anime: Professor Oak, James, Giovanni, Professor Birch and Drew, as well as the narrator, the announcer and the Pokédex. He also dubbed supporting characters such as Harrison, Mr. Shellby, Anthony and Nicholai and the movie characters Entei and Professor Spencer Hale. Jefferson is a well-known voice actor, voicing numerous role in the Filipino anime including the main roles of Yami Yugi in Yu-Gi-Oh!, Red Alert in Transformers: Armada, and Son Goku in Dragon Ball. He lives with his wife and twin children.

Charmaine Cordoviz was hired as the voice of Gary Oak, Jessie and May. She also dubs Kanto Gym Leaders Erika, Lily, Sabrina and Lt. Surge, and the Elite Four Prima. She voiced the movie characters Maren and Lisa. Other characters Charmaine Cordoviz voiced are Lara Laramie, Giselle, Calista, Juliet, Ramona, Rebecca, Marissa, Wendy, Jeanette Fisher, Casey, Mariah, Sandra, Millie and Timmy Grimm.

Jefferson Utanes

Misty is dubbed by a longtime voice actress Candice Arellano, who also voices Officer Jenny. She also voices several characters of the day, like Katrina. She is famous for voicing different major characters in Sailor Moon series including Sailor Saturn, Sailor Neptune and Sailor Venus.

The third main character, Brock, and the third member of Team Rocket, Meowth, are dubbed by Julius Figueroa. In Advance Generation series, he started dubbing other characters such as Joshua. His most famous non-Pokémon role in Nobita Nobi in Doraemon.

The couple voice actors, Jenny Bituin and Julius Figueroa

Ahlee Reyes gave her voice to Nurse Joy, as well as to other characters Carol, Shelly and Princess Sara. Amongst her non-Pokémon role are Natsui Mahana in Bleach, Gundamusai in SD Gundam Force, and various characters in Powerpuff Girls Z and Doraemon.

The voice actors for another main character, Tracey, is Ely Martin, who also voices Lugia in The Power of One and Butch, one of the Team Rocket duo. In Advance Generation series, he voices Dewford Gym Leader Brawly, Shane, and Forrest and Forrester Franklin. Mailes Kanapi voices Butch's partner, Cassidy.

Max, May's brother, and Caroline, their mother, are voiced by Rona Aguilar. She voices various characters of the day such as Alanna, Alyssa, Andi, Grace, Julie, Mary, Michelle, Mrs. Grimm, Natasha, Nicole, Rose and Shauna. She also voice the two Hoenn Gym Leader Winona and Roxanne, and the female variation of the Pokédex's voice. Rona Aguilar's only known male character he dubbed is Max.

Jenny Bituin, a teenage mother and Julius Figueroa's wife, is known to have replaced the roles of the dubbers of Officer Jenny and Caroline, and voiced the Lavaridge Gym Leader Flannery. Aside from them, she have also voiced minor characters like Anita, Janet, Natalie, Rita and Tommy. She also voiced Molly Hale in the Spell of the Unown.

Another voice actress is Hazel Hernan, though she haven't voice any character in the main series of the anime as of yet. Her only known roles are as Domino and Melody.

Two other dubbers started dubbing in the Advance Generation series: Mark Aspiras who voiced Elijah, Guy, Jimmy, Sullivan, Tommy Grimm, and Vito Winstrate; and the dubber of Eliza and Kelly, Rachel Cordoviz, Charmaine's relative.

Pokémon Trading Card Game

Many card sets of Pokémon Trading Card Game have been sold in the Philippines' convenience stores and malls starting from the very first TCG set, Base Set. Neutral Grounds stores are one of the popular place to find Pokémon trading cards. Tournaments are held within the stores' locations.

Pokémon merchandise

Chuang Yi distributes many of its Pokémon manga translations, including Pokémon Adventures and some manga adaptations of the Pokémon movies, in the Philippines. These Pokémon manga can be found at stores such as National Book Store, the largest bookstore chain in the Philippines.

Several Pokémon toys, plush toys and collectibles are available in the Philippines. Toys and other merchandise can be found in many malls, at National Book Store, and at Comic Alley stores. The magazine K-Zone sometimes updates with news about the franchise. Occasionally, the magazine also comes with promotional items. McDonald's has also distributed Pokémon Happy Meals in the Philippines.

Trivia

The eyecatch

• Similar to Veronica Taylor and Sarah Natochenny, Klariz Magboo voices Ash as well as his mother.
• On Cartoon Network, an eyecatch of Dawn throwing a Poké Ball during her Piplup fantasy in Following a Maiden's Voyage! and an eyecatch of Alan's Probopass were shown before the Diamond & Pearl series had premiered in the Philipines.
• A commercial on Cartoon Network for the earlier episodes of Pokémon Diamond & Pearl: Galactic Battles, such as Hold the Phione!, mispronounces Buneary by pronouncing the first syllable as boo.

External links

• Anime News Network Encyclopedia (Original series cast)
• Anime News Network Encyclopedia (Advanced Generation series cast)
• Neutral Grounds Philippines
• PKMN-ph: Pokémon Philippines, an unofficial Pokémon site for the Philippines

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