Adapting Pokémon for US Audiences: How Adapting the Pokémon TV Series Launched the Franchise on a Global Scale

Abstract

This project focuses on how the adaptation of Pokémon from a Japanese audience to a US audience paved the way for the global success of the anime franchise. The project is an in depth analysis of the television series, characters, fan subcultures as well as the changing aesthetic and interactive focus on the environment in the Pokémon franchise in the decade leading up to and following Nintendo's transfer of its rights in 2003 and the creation of The Pokémon Company. This project argues that the adaptation of the Pokémon TV series tested the viability of anime as a global export, and was crucial to growing the Pokémon franchise on a global scale.