Pokémon's Creators On The Anime: 'We Weren’t Really

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http://www.gameinformer.com/b/features/archive/2017/08/17/pokemons-creators-on-the-anime-we-werent-really-sure-about-it.aspx

>Our discussion began with a simple question: why is Pikachu so popular? "Probably thanks to Pikachu being in the anime and being Ash’s partner," Masuda says. It wasn't Game Freak's decision to make Pikachu the face of the brand, he just sort of fell into it. It was the production company, OLM Inc., that made the anime who recognized the adorable electric rat's potential. "That was a decision, or rather a suggestion, from the company that made the anime," Masuda says, "They originally came to us with the idea that they wanted to feature Pikachu, because Pikachu at the time was really popular amongst kids in school. It is a hard-to-find Pokémon, so kids knew about it."

>The idea of the Pokémon speaking their own names is an idea that can also be attributed to OLM Inc., and Game Freak was hesitant about it at first. "They actually had [Pikachu's] voice actress, Ms. Ikue Ōtani, do a take on the voice and they showed us a clip of it and we listened to the sound of it saying its name over and over in a really cute way," Masuda says, "We weren’t really sure about it, but it worked out." Game Freak came up with the idea for Team Rocket (they were in the games after all) but the characters Jesse and James can also be attributed to OLM, Inc..

>The anime premiered in Japan in 1997, and Game Freakmade sure to watch. "We definitely watched it together," Masuda says, "We were very excited to watch it." They did not, however eat popcorn, "[Laughs] We didn’t have any popcorn. We’re Japanese."