Alongside the launch of Sword and Shield recently was the release of the new anime series (once again) starring Ash and Pikachu as they explore the world of Pokémon.
When the first episode premiered earlier this month, The Pokémon Company also released it on the official YouTube channel in Japan. Surprisingly, fans outside of this region were able to watch this opening episode instead of having to wait months on end for it to be aired here in the west.
It seemed too good to be true at the time, and sure enough, it was – as these full episodes have now been region locked. Here's the full explanation from Comicbook.com:
It turns out TV Tokyo and TPC accidentally shared the premiere to users outside of Japan. The companies have since region-locked the episode and will reportedly do so for all future episodes.
The first episode racked up more than two million views before it was region locked.
Despite the level of interest in the new series over here in the west, we're still waiting for the localised version of the Sun and Moon series to wrap up – meaning it could be some time before we see the new series featuring the Galar region.
Did you manage to catch the first episode on the Japanese Pokémon YouTube channel while it was available? Tell us below.
[source comicbook.com, via twitter.com]
Comments 24
I saw it but naturally, didn't understand what was happening so didn't finish it. I was mostly just curious what it looked like.
Darn... i missed it...
Welp, back to waiting on Fansubs then....
This is the one thing I wish they could globalize about the Pokémon franchise. Having such a large disparity between the English and Japanese makes stuff like this super annoying.
Didn't know this had happened. Would have loved to had checked it out
@Shepdawg1 At this rate, they could just do a marathon of the Alola League and catch up since the new games are out. I agree, in this day and age it’s nonsense to be that far behind.
Kind of nonsense to region-lock this. Aside from lack of translation probably turns off some, it's not like really determined individuals won't find their ways around Internet region locks.
Why is Pikachu still getting kicked around by starters
America wants to protect the rest of us in case Japan pulls another "grey face".
@patbacknitro18 well if you look into his style he isn't a very good pokemon trainer, but even so Pikachu should be way stronger unless team rocket gives no exp.
@Shepdawg1
Yeah, the lack of globalization across all Pokemon mediums is strange.
The Pokemon games started launching worldwide simultaneously back in 2013 with X/Y. 6 years later, and the anime as yet to keep up.
@edgedino But if it was that way, Pikachu (The only pokemon to go from one league/country to the other along with Ash) would be immensely overlevelled, how many leagues has Pikachu been to by now?
@westman98 Because of licenses. The anime is licensed to different companies in different regions. For the games it was because of translations (for instance Europe has a lot more different languages than the US or Japan) but they improved this by starting earlier with the translations.
For TV shows (the anime) it's a lot more difficult.
Scorbunny is so cute I wouldn’t be surprised if it managed to push itself beyond where starters usually end up. Everyone seems to love that bunny.
mew's trolling a random nindoking with mimic & teleport was great.
@MysticX true but he did use other pokemon as well plus I doubt he has an exp share so I doubt Pikachu would have to much exp.
I’ve still got roughly 150 episodes of S&M to watch so, er, no rush.
@edgedino Yeah, but the other pokemon get left behind at the end of the season, Pikachu is the one constant in Ash's pokemon lineup, it should be level 100 three seasons ago...
Luckily I can just go... Elsewhere to watch it.
Ain't ash done cause he got his goal.
@MysticX and yet so many of his other pokemon get stronger fast but ultimately its not like Pikachu is a powerhouse in general unless ash finds and smuggles in a lightball but then a pokemon would use thief every season.
Why do they give a damn if people outside of Japan see this stuff?
I watched it.
It was an okay episode, and one doesn’t really need to know Japanese to understand it as most of it is just Pokémon speech. I’m super hyped for the new show and hope that the dub has a similar premiere (possibly on their website)
Region-locking...the bane of the free internet.
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