Take a scan of the top TV anime titles in Japan and what is there to find? EVANGELION? RANMA? GUNDAM anything? No, No, and No. All popular titles among anime fans on both sides of the Pacific, but what most fans outside of Japan forget is the fact that TV anime viewership in Japan consists of a sizable population of casual viewers who think nothing more about watching one or two anime titles a week than Americans here would about putting on SEINFELD, ER, or THE X-FILES.
Thus, many of the titles that dominate the ratings from month to month and year to year are family-oriented with an all-ages audience. They also have some of the longest broadcast runs in history. The king of TV Anime, SAZAE-SAN, has been running not for years, but for decades. Popular children's show DORAEMON recently aired episode 760 at the beginning of the year. So, which title unassumingly climbed into third place for the month of October (1997)? Newcomer POCKET MONSTERS, which, until recent unfortunate events, showed great promise in becoming the next popular TV mainstay.
So, what is a pocket monster? Imagine a small sphere about the size of a baseball or tennis ball. Inside resides a small creature, the monster, with special powers, often elemental-related. Consider a portable dragon which can be carried around in pocket. Or maybe a water elemental. Or some other fantastic creature. Thus, literally, a pocket monster. Throwing the sphere summons the monster to do its owner's bidding while conversely, there is a small button on the ball that recalls the creature back into the globe. One basic premise of this show is that a tournament atmosphere exists, in which the owners pit their monsters, or "pokemon," against each other in one-on-one duels.
Satoshi, Kasumi, and Takeshi are three young friends. At the beginning of the series, Kasumi and Takeshi already have their own pokemon, but not Satoshi. Satoshi receives his first pokemon, Pikachuu, a squat, yellow, rodent-like creature (in some Japanese circles, Pikachuu is referred to as the "Yellow Rat") with the power to generate and control electrical charges. In his first contest, Pikachuu defeats a bird-like pokemon and, in the process, bonds with Satoshi. This bond is strong enough that Satoshi, unlike his two friends, typically leaves Pikachuu out rather than confined to his spherical origins (though, in Kasumi's defense, her pokemon is water-based, an intelligent fish-like creature of sorts).
As the series progresses, two things happen. First, Pikachuu continues to win, much to Satoshi's delight, a simple plot device to bring on more adventures. And second, the three friends have chronic run-ins with the two principal antagonists of the series, Musashi and Kojiro, minions of the organization, Rocket Gundan (no, not Gundam). Rocket Gundan is run by the stereotypical unseen "big bad boss," whose faceless figure appears in occasional scenes when Musashi and Kojiro report in. Rocket's goal appears to be control of all the pokemon.
The animation is not spectacular. The plots are simple. The characters are at best, two-dimensional. But, the original target audience does not care about things like that. On the other hand, the series maintains a charm of its own with its intriguing premise and very likable (and dare I say, in the case of the pokemon, cute) characters. This is just a fun title all the way, which likely explains its crossover appeal from young children to all-ages. Seiyuu fans can catch Matsumoto Rica as Satoshi; hot up-and-comer Iizuka Mayumi (best known as Nanaka from MAHO TSUKAI TAI!) as Kasumi; and the ubiquitous Hayashibara Megumi as Musashi.
At the time of the infamous episode 38, the series existed in broadcast and commericial rental forms only, though a commercial sale version was in the works. But, just days after that airing, TV Tokyo decided to postpone episode 39 indefinitely. Commercial plans are also on hold until either the Japanese equivalent of the FCC or POCKET MONSTERS's producers can determine the cause of the seizures that afflicted over seven hundred children in Greater Tokyo. This is a shame, since POCKET MONSTERS showed signs of going the distance in broadcast anime. Meanwhile, the original POCKET MONSTERS is a video game by Nintendo, and despite the negative publicity, they still plan to bring over some version of the game. Those readers who have access to the series will be in for a surprising reward.

POCKET MONSTERS Copyright © Nintendo / Creatures / Game Freak / TV Tokyo / Sho-Pro / Jr Project Aired TV Tokyo, Tuesdays, 1830-1900