History ANime / Pokemon

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[[quoteright:327:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/pokemon_the_series.png]]
[[caption-width-right:327:The story of [[Characters/PokemonAnimeAshAndPikachu Ash Ketchum and his partner Pikachu]]...]]

->''"I wanna be the very best, like no one ever was!\\
To catch them is my real test, to train them is my cause!"''
-->--'''"Pokemon Theme"''', originally performed by Jason Paige

The ''Pokémon'' anime series, currently marketed in English as ''Pokémon: The Series'', is a somewhat loose adaptation based on the ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' games by Creator/{{Game Freak}}. Given the success of the games, this series managed to make it to America as part of the marketing push, and, combined with the concurrent American airings of ''Anime/SailorMoon'' and ''Anime/DragonBallZ'', helped keep the new wave of Western anime adaptations (which started after ''Franchise/PowerRangers'') going.

It features the tale of Ash Ketchum and his pals (who change every saga), as well as the perennially ubiquitous Team Rocket trio of Jessie, James, and Meowth, who attempt to steal Pikachu or another rare Pokémon/item [[OncePerEpisode nearly every episode]] and are, with even greater frequency, sent flying sky-high with the CatchPhrase "Looks like Team Rocket's blasting off again! [[ATwinkleInTheSky *Ding!*]]"

The seasons are as follows:

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder: ''Pokemon the Series: The Beginning'' and ''Pokemon the Series: Gold and Silver'', originally known to fans as the ''Original Series'' (Kanto and Johto)]]
English dub:
* Season 1: ''Indigo League'' (Episodes 1-80)
* Season 2: ''Adventures in the Orange Islands/Orange Archipelago'' (Episodes 81-116)
* Season 3: ''The Johto Journeys'' (Episodes 117-157)
* Season 4: ''Johto League Champions'' (Episodes 158-209)
* Season 5: ''Master Quest'' (Episodes 210-273)

Japanese version:
* ''Indigo League'' (Episodes 1-82)
* ''Orange League'' (Episodes 83-118)
* ''Johto League'' (Episodes 117-276)

Specials:
* ''Pokémon Chronicles'' (Episodes 1-19)
[[/folder]]

[[folder:''Pokemon the Series: Ruby and Sapphire'' a.k.a. ''Advanced Generation'' (Hoenn and Kanto's Battle Frontier)]]
English dub:
* Season 6: ''Advanced'' (Episodes 1-40)
* Season 7: ''Advanced Challenge'' (Episodes 41-92)
* Season 8: ''Advanced Battle'' (Episodes 93-145)
* Season 9: ''Battle Frontier'' (Episodes 146-192)

Japanese version:
* ''Hoenn League'' (Episodes 1-131)
* ''Kanto Battle Frontier'' (Episodes 132-192)
[[/folder]]

[[folder:''Pokemon the Series: Diamond & Pearl'' (Sinnoh)]]
English dub:
* Season 10: ''Diamond & Pearl'' (Episodes 1-52)
* Season 11: ''Diamond & Pearl: Battle Dimension'' (Episodes 53-104)
* Season 12: ''Diamond & Pearl: Galactic Battles'' (Episodes 105-157)
* Season 13: ''Diamond & Pearl: Sinnoh League Victors'' (Episodes 158-191)

Japanese version:
* ''Sinnoh League'' (Episodes 1-191)

Specials:
* ''Pokémon Mystery Dungeon'' (Episodes 1-3)
* ''Pokémon Ranger: Guardian Signs''
* ''Dawn and Brock After Sinnoh'' (Episodes 1-2)
[[/folder]]

[[folder:''Pokemon the Series: Black & White'', a.k.a. ''Best Wishes!'' (Unova)]]
English dub:
* Season 14: ''Black & White'' (Episodes 1-48)
* Season 15: ''Black & White: Rival Destinies'' (Episodes 49-97)
* Season 16 (Part 1): ''Black & White: Adventures in Unova'' (Episodes 98-122)
* Season 16 (Part 2): ''Black & White: Adventures in Unova and Beyond'' (Episodes 123-142)

Japanese version:
* ''Best Wishes!'' (Episodes 1-84)
* ''Best Wishes! Season 2'' (Episodes 85-108)
* ''Best Wishes! Season 2: Episode N'' (Episodes 109-122)
* ''Best Wishes! Season 2 Da! (Decolora Adventure)'' (Episodes 123-142)

Specials:
* ''Mewtwo Movie Prologue''
* ''Cilan and Iris After Unova'' (Episodes 1-2)
[[/folder]]

[[folder:''Pokemon the Series: XY'' (Kalos)]]
English dub:
* Season 17: ''XY'' (Episodes 1-49)
* Season 18: ''XY: Kalos Quest'' (Episodes 50-93)
* Season 19: ''XYZ'' (Episode 94-140)

Japanese version:
* ''XY'' (Episodes 1-93)
* ''XY & Z'' (Episodes 94-140)

Specials:
* ''Mega Evolution Acts'' (Episodes 1-4)
* ''Diancie Movie Prologue''
* ''Hoopa Movie Prologue''
* ''After XY Specials'' (Episodes 1-2)
[[/folder]]

[[folder:''Pokemon the Series: Sun & Moon'' (Alola)]]
English dub:
* Season 20: ''Sun & Moon'' (Episodes 1-43)
* Season 21: ''Sun & Moon: Ultra Adventures'' (Episodes 44-92)
* Season 22: ''Sun & Moon: Ultra Legends'' (Episode 93-146)

Japanese version:
* ''Sun & Moon'' (Episodes 1-146)

Specials:
* ''Where Are You Going, Eevee?'' (Episodes 1-6)
[[/folder]]

[[folder:''Pokemon Journeys'']]
* Season 23: ''Pokémon Journeys: the Series'' (Episodes 1-present)

* Japanese version: ''Pocket Monsters'' (Episodes 1-present) [[note]]Creator/{{Netflix}} exclusive in America. Unlike previous eras, this series has no subtitle in Japan, and has had episodes involve travel between all existing regions -- although locations, Pokémon, and aspects of ''VideoGame/PokemonSwordAndShield'' have been prominently featured.[[/note]]
[[/folder]]

For more information on the [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters many, many characters]], see the [[Characters/PokemonAnime character sheet]]. '''Save all character tropes there, not here.'''

A list of the various movies can be found [[{{Film/Pokemon}} here]]. A LightNovel adaptation of the series was written by its original head writer Creator/TakeshiShudo. For more information, see [[LightNovel/PocketMonstersTheAnimation here]].

Has a [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/crowner.php/BestEpisode/Pokemon Best Episode Crowner.]]
----
!!This show is the TropeNamer for:
* GottaCatchThemAll: Which was also the slogan of the games, before the ever-expanding number of creatures made this AwesomeButImpractical. Creator/GameFreak revived the slogan upon release of ''VideoGame/PokemonXAndY''.
* PokemonSpeak
* TeamRocketWins
* ToBeAMaster
----
!!This show provides examples of:
%% HIDDEN COMMENT: Please make sure your example is not already on the character sheet before adding. Thank you.

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:#-C]]
* TwoDVisualsThreeDEffects:
** The Gear Pokémon Klinklang was CGI rather than traditional animation, which made its rotating parts look unusually smooth.
** Eternatus is completely animated in CGI, giving it an otherworldly feeling in comparison to the more traditional animation of the main cast.
* AbandonedCatchphrase: Early English dub episodes tried to translate Meowth's Japanese VerbalTic as "meow" or "Meowth". This was scrapped several episodes in.
* AbilityMixing:
** During the Sinnoh arc, Dawn came up with a Contest strategy using Buneary's Ice Beam and Buizel's Aqua Jet, called "Ice Aqua Jet". When Ash became Buizel's trainer, he adopted this custom move as part of his unique battle strategy set for the season.
** This trope is what Double Performances in Contests are all about. Two Pokémon work together under the instructions of their Coordinator to create a unique, beautiful, and awe-inspiring combination move that showcases the special abilities of both Pokémon well. Even in regular Contests, combining two moves in an inventive way is an ubiquitous strategy among Coordinators the world over.
** The Freestyle Performances in Pokémon Showcases also make heavy use of this trope, as it is very similar to Contests. As such, Serena has quite a few intricate ones of her own.
** "Volt Tail", a move used by Pikachu, was the combination of a Volt Tackle ending with an Iron Tail.
** "Flaming Seismic Toss" is a move used by Charizard, in which he used both Seismic Toss and Fire Spin at once.
* AbortedArc:
** The original series conclusion to the anime was meant to be a climactic final battle between Ash and Gary... except by the time the conclusion was approaching, ExecutiveMeddling forced this all-important finale to the side, and launched Ash on a perpetual journey and the show into being a LongRunner with no real conclusion in sight.
** The unopened GS Ball that appears in the original series is built up to be important, but after it's dropped off at Kurt's place it's never brought up again. It was originally going to contain Celebi, but it was decided to be the star of ''Anime/Pokemon4Ever'' and the idea was scrapped.
** Speaking of Kurt, Ash, Misty, and Brock each received two special Apricorn Poké Balls from Kurt, but while Ash and Misty actually ended up using their Lure Balls to catch Totodile and Corsola, respectively, neither ever used their Fast Balls, while Brock never used the Heavy Ball he was given.
** In the beginning of ''Black & White'', Team Rocket were collecting shards of a meteorite called the Meteonite for one of Giovanni's plans. The Meteonite is never brought up again after "A Venipede Stampede", as the final episodes involving them were never aired because of the Tohoku earthquake. [[spoiler: Various trailers and a synopsis based on leaked information show that it went pretty much how one would expect it to go - with Team Plasma stealing the Meteonite from Team Rocket, the two teams fighting over it, and Ash intervening and having Pikachu destroy it to end the conflict.]]
** Any plot involving Jessie's MissingMom Miyamoto being reunited with her will likely never be resolved. She hasn't been heard of since ''Radio/PokemonTheBirthOfMewtwo''.
* AccidentalMisnaming: At the start of the Hoenn era, Max says he remembers seeing Ash on tv competing in the Johto League Championships, but thought he was named Alf, to Ash's embarrassment.
** The few times Butch and Cassidy appear, everyone will call Butch something wrong.
** In Unova, a Running Gag is Stephan's name is mispronounced by everybody no matter how many times he corrects them. It's supposed to be Stef-on, but everyone says Stef-en.
* ActorAllusion:
** “Showdown in Pewter City” contains one during a rather elaborate ShoutOut to Episode 48 of ''Manga/FushigiYuugi'': In ''FY'', during the fight between Tamahome and Suboshi, Suboshi ends up getting [[HoistByHisOwnPetard killed by his own weapon]] when he finds himself pinned down by the ghosts of Tamahome's brothers and sisters (whom Suboshi had killed) and unable to get out of the way. In ''Pokémon'', just as Satoshi (Ash) is about to order Pikachu to deliver the finishing blow to Takeshi's (Brock's) Onix, he imagines himself being held back from giving the order by Takeshi's many younger siblings (though it turns out they really ''are'' holding Satoshi back). What makes this an example is that in the Japanese version of their respective shows, Takeshi and Suboshi are both voiced by seiyuu Creator/YujiUeda.
** The dub gets to pull this when Maylene is introduced. Jessie comments that it's "A meeting of old and new!", likely referencing that Maylene's voice actress was Jessie's 4Kids [=VA=] -- Creator/RachaelLillis. A Hoenn episode also had a very sneaky one for the same actress, titled "A Different Kind of Misty", where she voiced the character of the day
** In the Japanese version, Saori (Solidad), the pink-haired Pokemon Coordinator, is voiced by Creator/RieTanaka, who was the voice of [[Anime/MobileSuitGundamSEED Lacus]] [[Anime/MobileSuitGundamSEEDDestiny Clyne]], the pink-haired Coordinator.
** The episode where Jessie tries to train to become a nurse is a reference to her voice actress Music/MegumiHayashibara, who was also training to be a nurse in the early days of her career.
** In "Air Time", the role of the hero's Charizard is given to James. In the Japanese version, Creator/ShinichiroMiki plays both.
** It's possible that this was in mind for Tobias in the dub, given that he shares traits with both [[Manga/OuranHighSchoolHostClub Kyoya Ohtori]] and [[Manga/BlackButler Sebastian Michaelis]].
** In the Alolan Motto, James mentions "A fallen angel that seeks revenge on this miserable world". Could this be a reference to another [[Anime/DragonBallSuper Shinichiro Miki]] character?
** Piplup’s Japanese voice actress Creator/EtsukoKozakura has also voiced [[WesternAnimation/CatsDontDance another penguin several years before.]]
** In the Sun & Moon episode “Lillier and the Staff!“ near the end of her motto, Jessie is seen dressed as other characters that Hayashibara also voiced, including [[Anime/{{Slayers}} Lina Inverse]]. For this moment Lisa Ortiz, who was Lina’s dub voice, steps in to reprise.
** The garbled noise Kartana makes in the Japanese and English versions after cutting something is actually "once again, I have cut a worthless object" played backward, a stock phrase associated with samurai which was popularised by [[Franchise/LupinIII Goemon Ishikawa]], who both are voiced by Creator/DaisukeNamikawa in Japanese.
* ActuallyIAmHim: In "Fighting Flyer With Fire", Ash and friends have a long conversation with Falkner without realizing he's the Violet City Gym Leader they were looking for.
* AdaptationalBadass:
** Practically ''all'' of the heroes' Pokémon, as they tend to mostly consist of unevolved or partially-evolved Pokémon. And yet, they can go toe-to-toe with and sometimes ''beat'' fully-evolved and/or powerful Pokémon that would otherwise [[CurbStompBattle smash]] them in the games. The biggest and most famous example by far is Ash's Pikachu, for among the many opponents he toppled in his long battling career are a [[OlympusMons Regice]], a [[GameBreaker Tyranitar]], and TWO [[InfinityPlusOneSword Metagross]]! Meanwhile in the games, a Pikachu would be lucky to still be standing after a single strong STAB move. [[note]] In Pikachu's case, it is explained early on by the Team Rocket trio that his power is way beyond his evolutionary level, which is the reason they try to steal him, so apparently Ash lucked out and got an very abnormally powerful Pikachu.[[/note]]
** Pokémon moves can get this as well. To name a few examples of numerous, Razor Leaf can slice through adult trees and metal like they were paper, Gust can create full-size tornadoes, Seismic Toss is a spinning piledriver from hundreds of feet in the air, and when Cut (A situational HM move with pathetic base power) is used by Ash's Greninja, it becomes a glowing white wakizashi blade that can shear through almost any long-range attack!
* AdaptationalHeroism: Lusamine receives one of the more significant cases of this, going from ''VideoGame/PokemonSunAndMoon''[='=]s controlling, emotionally abusive and borderline insane[[labelnote:*]]Or in the case of ''VideoGame/PokemonUltraSunAndUltraMoon'', so obsessed with saving Alola to the point of obliviousness[[/labelnote]] BigBad... to a bubbly, [[AmazinglyEmbarrassingParents embarrassingly-affectionate]] [[{{Manchild}} womanchild]] with no overpowering obsession with Ultra Beasts/stopping Necrozma.
* AdaptationalJerkass:
** This is utilized with several Gym Leaders. Many, most notably Lt. Surge, Erika, and Skyla, are egotistical {{Jerkass}}es with a condescending demeanor towards their challengers (or, in Erika's case, towards those who don't appreciate the perfume her gym makes). Pryce is a JerkWithAHeartOfGold who is cold towards Pokémon due to a misunderstanding with his Piloswine long ago, although he ''does'' get better when the Piloswine is found and the situation explained. In particular in the games, Pryce is a perfectly pleasant and decent man, Erika is a laid-back {{Ojou}}, Skyla is a NiceGirl, and Lt. Surge, while cocky in the games, isn't nearly as mean about it as he is in the anime (being a Type 2 {{Eagleland}}er instead of a Type 1). All of them [[DefeatEqualsFriendship make friends with the heroes]] in the end to downplay the trope.
** Misty downplays this more than the others, as her anime counterpart is a {{tsundere}} with a temper (though she calms down once Togepi enters the picture) while her game counterpart doesn't seem to be that way except for one occasion in the Gen 2 games. The English dub also toned down her narcissism compared to the Japanese version.
** Iris in the games is very peppy and nice; however in the anime, while heroic and perfectly capable of being peppy and nice, she's far more smug and bratty - especially to Ash. Her CatchPhrase is calling Ash "just a kid" for his immaturity ([[HypocriticalHumor despite being the same age as him]]). Like Misty, she winds up respecting Ash far more in his journey.
** Inverted with Gary in the English dub. In Japan, he and Ash are friendly rivals and Gary is respected, if infuriatingly cocky. The dub has Gary start out far more insufferable and rude in general and he is a jerk towards Ash, though does gradually develop and mellow in line with the Japanese depiction. This makes his depiction more akin to that of the games.
** Due to EarlyInstallmentWeirdness as a whole, most of Kanto is depicted as something of a CrapsaccharineWorld, with many civilians overzealous as trainers and apathetic towards Ash's hassles from being a rookie. This was toned down in later regions, with subdued exceptions (Petalburg City of Hoenn is shown to have a whole northern area populated by aggressive Norman fanboys for example, though Norman himself and the area of Petalburg he resides is largely as friendly as in the games).
** Downplayed for Sophocles, who is much more of a know-it-all and a DeadpanSnarker than his more introverted games counterpart, but still usually friendly and helpful.
* AdaptationalNiceGuy:
** Clair's anime personality is far nicer and more professional than her [[{{Arrogant Kung Fu Guy}} game]] [[{{Sore Loser}} one]].
** This happens with Gladion:
*** In the ''VideoGame/PokemonSunAndMoon'' games, Gladion is an enforcer for Team Skull who is incredibly abrasive in conversation and a perfectionist in battle [[spoiler: due to being disowned by Lusamine as a result of not wanting to follow her example]]. While his counterpart in the ''Sun and Moon'' series has shades of these traits, he is also shown to have a more noble attitude towards his relationships with people; such as treating Ash in a more friendly manner and fighting off Team Rocket and the recurring Team Skull grunts.
*** On the subject of Lusamine, she is far nicer to her children compared to the games, albiet frequently [[MyBelovedSmother overbearing]] and [[AmazinglyEmbarrassingParents embarassing]]. In fact, she is virtually devoid of any vanity that pits her against them, and helps Lillie and her friends with coralling the Ultra Beasts.
*** He also doesn't seem to have any relation to Team Skull and has a different reason for running away from home, almost solely revolved around his BigBrotherInstinct towards Lillie. Also while he is occasionally standoffish towards Ash's own protectiveness towards Lillie, it is either for genuine errors or simply because he doesn't want him involved in their dangerous matters.
* AdaptationalVillainy:
** Almost every villain team from Magma/Aqua onwards (who weren't exactly nice to begin with) up until Team Skull have been given a significant boost in cruelty.
*** Team Magma made their anime debut by cutting the power to a Pokémon Center, coercing a professor to guide them to set of ruins by effectively taking the entire Center hostage, and scaring off Team Rocket. Team Aqua follows suit by infiltrating and stealing creation fluid from Devon Co., and while the good guys retrieve it, the Aqua grunt in question manages to evade the police and Ash's group and reunite with his cohorts (which was aided by the capture of Mr. Briney's Peeko, adapted from the games). Both teams regularly employ kidnapping and screw over several side characters in pursuit of their destructive goals, which culminates in Team Aqua using espionage to release Kyogre for Archie, who has been made much more antagonistic and evil.
*** Team Galactic stole the Lustrous Orb and Adamant Orb by attacking the helicopter the latter was being transported in, and created an elaborate plan to filch the former that included strategic detonation and using Team Rocket as pawns. They also made the Steel-type Pokémon on Iron Island go berserk in their drive to find Spear Pillar, and attempted to ''blow it up with everyone still on it'' when they were unsuccessful. Lastly, they commissioned [[KnightOfCerebus Hunter J]] to capture the Lake Trio, held Ash and co. hostage in case they managed to rebel, and almost destroyed the world with Dialga and Palkia.
*** Colress of Team Plasma went from "morally-gray scientist who'll do anything to unlock a Pokémon's true potential" to "stock MadScientist who draws out Pokémon power by simultaneously robbing them of their free will and turning them into rampaging destruction machines and taking delight in it." Team Plasma themselves were also adapted from their ''Pokémon Black and White 2'' iterations, meaning that they are devoid of their redeeming qualities from ''Black and White''.
* AdaptationalWimp: Cute-looking Legendary and Mythical Pokémon. In the games, Pokémon like Celebi, Manaphy, and Victini have impressive stats and movepools that easily outshine those of any run-of-the mill Pokémon. Simply put, they're very strong. Pick any movie or multi-parter starring them in the anime, however, and chances are they'll be put in a situation that'll require them to be rescued or saved by Ash and co. And when the bad guy comes to capture the cute Legendary or Mythical Pokémon, expect them to either get significantly nerfed or be turned into a complete noncombatant and easy pickings for the villain.
* AdaptationDistillation:
** [[LawOfConservationOfDetail Most of the time]], only one element of a dual-typed Pokémon is mentioned. Often times, circumstances where the secondary typing would have an impact would not be encountered by the Pokémon with the secondary typing.[[note]]e.g. Poison Immunity but increased damage taken by Psychic attacks in the case of [[Videogame/PokemonRedAndBlue Bulbasaur]], whose secondary type in the games in {{Poison|ousPerson}}.[[/note]] Similarly, Abilities are not mentioned unless applicable to the plot. If an applicable circumstance ''does'' come up, either the encounter plays out per game logic and we learn about the secondary factor ''[[YouDidntAsk then]]'', ([[AdaptationExplanationExtrication or not]],) or the encounter plays out as though the secondary factor isn't there at all.[[note]]e.g. Normal-typed Pokémon getting hit by Ghost-type attacks, when they normally wouldn't in the games.[[/note]]
** No distinction is made between Physical and Special stats. An Attack-boosting move like Swords Dance will also boost the power of "special" attacks (such as Weavile's Blizzard), and a Defense-boosting move Iron Defense is effectively the same as Protect and will defend against all moves.
** As a side effect, most Pokémon in the anime have moves that deal in both short and long-range combat, even if the Pokémon in question would only be effective with one of them in the games: For example, Team Rocket's Mimikyu knows both Shadow Ball (for long-ranged combat) and Shadow Claw (for short-ranged combat) despite being mainly a physical attacker in the games (and thus would normally only have Shadow Claw, which uses its physical attack).
** In the ''Sun & Moon'' series, Ash is only required to defeat one Pokémon per island in order to face the Kahuna, so that he doesn't receive Z-Crystals he can't use (he receives a Fightinium Z from Hala, but Tapu Koko swaps it out for the Electrium Z since none of his current team know any Fighting type moves, and Lana is the one to take the Water Trial due to Ash having no Water types).
* AdaptationExpansion:
** Ever since the early days, the anime has used the extensive time frame between new generations to develop the Pokémon world, sometimes even giving interesting CharacterDevelopment for established personas. This was particularly handy back when the games had more of an ExcusePlot. Conversely, any adaptations of the anime (such as ''Manga/TheElectricTaleOfPikachu'') inevitably suffered from ''massive'' CompressedAdaptation.
** Of special note is the Pokémon School from the ''Sun and Moon'' anime. There's a Trainer's School on Route 1, but it doesn't have much story focus. Here, it's the main location of the region.
* AdaptedOut: Quite a few characters get removed from certain events they were present for in the games, and sometimes they flat-out don't exist in the anime.
* AdaptationPersonalityChange: [[AdaptationPersonalityChange/{{Pokemon}} Discussed here]].
* ADayInTheLimelight: ''Pokémon Chronicles'' serve as this for multiple side characters such as Ritchie and Tracey; it's a series about their own adventures while Ash is journeying in Hoenn.
* AdultsAreUseless: Averted. Unlike the games, the gym leaders, elite four, and the officer Jennys are much more competent and tend to help out more.
* AnAesop: The series is ''rife'' with these, all the way back to the original adventures in Kanto. Many of them involve the proper treatment of Pokémon, which is a delicate-enough line to walk even before you factor in all the new problems involved in translating it (which has raised more than a few eyebrows, especially where the movies are concerned).
* AIIsACrapshoot: A few times in the anime's history. The most notable example being Clembot going haywire and locking Clemont from his own gym.
%%* AlienGeometries: The Reverse World.
* AlternativeForeignThemeSong: As with a number of other anime dubs, the series has numerous English theme songs, all of them different from the Japanese version. For example, here's the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WC_JcLYzl3k original opening]]. For those who don't read Japanese, "ポケモンＧＥＴだぜー！" ("Pokémon Get Da Ze~!", yes with the quiggy) translates to (appropriately) "Pokémon Gotta Catch 'Em All".
* AllCheeringAllTheTime: In the Kanto League, Gary's cheerleaders did this.
* AllLoveIsUnrequited: Moreso in the English dub, but despite it being fairly obvious that Misty has a crush on Ash, he remains oblivious and seems to only regard her [[PlatonicLifePartners as a very good friend]]. It's implied this is more due to immaturity than an outright lack of interest on his part though.
* AllMythsAreTrue: Every storyline about a Legendary Pokémon will include somebody saying that they thought they were just fake legends. The 50th time it turns out the Pokémon is real, you'd think they would know better.
* AllianceWithAnAbomination: Several of the movies involve Legendary Pokemon, some of whom are basically [[PhysicalGod Physical Gods]], aiding the heroes against the BigBad. This is especially the case for Giratina, a ghost-dragon Pokemon that even dwells in an EldritchLocation.
* AlwaysSomeoneBetter: It's a recurring point of the anime that Ash lose tournaments by at least two fights... whoever beats Ash in a tournament tends to lose during their next match. Ritchie lost after beating Ash in the Indigo League, Misty lost in the Whirl Cup after beating Ash, and Harrison lost in the Silver Conference finals after beating Ash. Sometimes subverted, as Tobias beat Ash and went on to win the Lily of the Valley Conference and Ash lost to Alain in the finals of the Lumiose Conference, but double-subverted in Alain's case by his own admission to himself that Ash is a better trainer due to Alain's actions in helping Team Flare.
** [[spoiler:Finally averted in Alola, when Ash becomes its first Champion by defeating Gladion.]]
* AmateurFilmMakingPlot: Two of them in the Black & White era, thanks of recurring character Luke: the first one (which also marks Luke's debut) is "Movie Time! Zorua in 'The Legend of the Pokémon Knight'!", where Ash and pals join in the cast of Luke's amateur movie after he failed to do it using only his Zorua as every character in the film (since Zorua is a female and she wants to do only the female characters), and later "An Epic Defense Force!", where Ash and pals join Luke in a amateur movie contest at Pokestar Studios, making a film that is hogged with references to the Showa Era ''Franchise/{{Godzilla}}'' films.
* AmbiguouslyAbsentParent:
** Ambiguously absent parents seem to be the norm for the protagonists for the anime. Ash's father was mentioned once in the second episode, but its famously not elaborated on any further, but that's still more than his friend's parents.
** No mention of Dawn or Serena's fathers has been made. Clemont and Bonnie's mother isn't mentioned.
** Neither of Misty's, Tracey's, Iris's or Cilan's parents are mentioned at all. Misty's parents are said to have abandoned Misty and her older sisters according to ''LightNovel/PocketMonstersTheAnimation''. Cilan and his brothers somehow run a gym by themselves despite being not that much older than Ash. Tracey and Iris apparently have no revealed blood relatives at all.
** [[AvertedTrope Averted]] with Goh and Chloe in ''Journeys'', who both possess full nuclear families.
* AmbiguouslyBrown: As the series (and franchise as a whole) experienced an EarthDrift over the years, it's hard to apply what ethnicity the human characters are:
** In the [[Characters/PokemonAnimeOriginalSeries original anime series]] Brock varies in color from light brown to dark brown. There's been a gag a few times where he dances in a sombrero and maracas, but most fans consider him Asian.
** Ash always had a skin tone was always slightly darker than other characters, though he's undeniably Japanese. Starting in Hoenn he's just barely lighter than Brock and has stayed that way since.
** Skyla is given a darker skin tone in the anime, however it's ambiguous if it's a tan or not.
** As in the games, there is Iris. Fans usually consider her either black or Native American, but there isn't much to go on besides her being darker than Ash.
** Tracey was designed to seem white and replace the more Asian-looking Brock. Despite this, Tracey has a Japanese name in the Japanese version and nothing in-series suggests he's a different ethnicity from any other Kanto character (who are most likely all Japanese bar Lt. Surge).
** The ''Sun and Moon'' anime has quite a few characters with varying skin tones, such as Professor Kukui, Kiawe, Mallow and Olivia. However, this is a subversion since Alola is a region based on the tropical Hawaii, characters with darker skin tones actually aren't out of place here at all.
** Goh is notciably of darker skin tone, but is a Kanto native.
* AmbiguousGender: Probably an artifact from [[VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue The Indigo League saga]], but most Pokémon that appear in the anime aren't explicitly mentioned to be a certain gender. Even Pikachu's gender was debated for years until it was finally settled as male. Debates are often conducted in the fandom on whether certain Pokémon are male or female and they're often only settled when a human character mentions that the Pokémon is male or female or if the move Attract is used by or on a given Pokémon. If it works, then the Pokémon is the opposite gender of the user while unaffected Pokémon are the same gender.
* AndIMustScream:
** [[BountyHunter Hunter J]] captures Pokémon by [[TakenForGranite turning them into statues]].
** One episode dealt with a trainer who lost her Pokémon after her town was flooded, the Pokémon was in the Poké Ball for decades deep under the water. If Ash and friends hadn't rescued it, who knows how much longer it would have stayed there.
* AndTheAdventureContinues: The movies tend to conclude on this note, typically featuring Ash and friends walking off into the distance while the camera pans to the sky.
* AndroclesLion: In "A Chansey Operation", when Team Rocket tries to take the Pokémon at the hospital, Chansey stands in the way. Arbok and Weezing refuse Jessie and James' orders to attack because Chansey treated their injuries earlier in the episode.
%%* AnimalChickMagnet: Used often enough--sometimes not just for how cute the Pokémon are but for the type of Pokémon too.
* AnimalTalk: Nearly all Pokémon are capable of understanding each other and usually what humans are saying. Meowth is also able to translate what they're saying for people's convenience. The only exception so far concerns Ultra Beasts, whose speech apparently cannot be translated by Meowth, which adds to their alien nature.
* AnimationBump: Battles are usually the recipients of this trope, but [[LongRunners as the show went on]], {{Animation Bump}}s began to occur for certain non-battle-centric episodes as well:
** Several battles are much better animated than others, especially Gym Battles and battles against important opponents. If you see [[http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Category:Episodes_animated_by_Masaaki_Iwane Masaaki Iwane]] listed in the credits as the animation director, expect a damn good looking episode.
** XY's animation is notably different from the previous anime incarnations, and for a good reason; The people who animated ''Origins'' took over the animation work of the main series anime. This is welcome news to a lot of people.
** A notable Bump occurred in the ''XY'' episode, "A Showcase Debut!", which had no battles take place in the episode. Before the episode ends, the animation had bumped up to near ''Pokémon'' movie-like quality, with more frames and smoother animations given to the characters in particular.
** One of the most noted things people said was that "Ash looks older" at first fans couldn't place it, but it turned out, he is now drawn with his sideburns overlapping his ears (before, his hair was tucked behind the ears), visible teeth and fingernails, and a less baggy outfit which makes him look thinner, sharper, and more mature than before.
** Prior to that, the Johto seasons (starting from "Here's Looking At You, Elekid") introduced digital animation, while the start of the Diamond and Pearl seasons upgraded the animation frame rate to 30 frames instead of 24. In general, each era also becomes increasingly crisper and more detailed.
** Sun and Moon switched to 2DCG style animation, causing a design change for Ash's character model but also increasing the quality of action scenes in the Japanese version, which were inexplicably slowed down in the English dub.
* TheAnimeOfTheGame: Probably the most successful adaptation of a game to another media.
* {{Animorphism}}: A witch turns Ash into a Pikachu for a short time at the end of the episode "Hocus Pokémon!".
* {{Anticlimax}}:
** The rivalry between Ash and Gary is set up in the show's very first episode and establishes that a victory over Gary is one of Ash's important long-term goals. After "Showdown at the Po-ké Corral" has Ash promise Gary that they would finally fight during the Indigo League, Gary is eliminated in a fight against a different trainer in the fourth round of the tournament; Ash goes out in the following round. The later Johto League, however, ties up loose ends with Ash and Gary's Full Battle which ends in the victory of the former.
** Team Aqua and Magma's two-part finale suffered from a rushed pace and horrid animation.
** In ''Diamond & Pearl: Galactic Battles'', Team Galactic is thwarted by Cyrus disappearing into a portal after he nearly succeeds in his plans to remake the universe. There is no real explanation as to why this happens and no climatic battle to lead up to this, he just up and vanishes. Then Dialga and Palkia are stopped from going out of control by Ash, Dawn and Brock just...wishing really hard.
** In ''Black & White: Adventures in Unova'', Ghetsis never battles with Reshiram, who is brought back to his senses with one shot from Pikachu. N then stops Reshiram from rampaging by [[TalkingTheMonsterToDeath talking it down.]] The promised Reshiram vs Charizard battle never happens either, though that could be a case of [[NeverTrustATrailer Never Trust an Opening]].
** PlayedForLaughs with numerous [[IneffectualSympatheticVillain Team Rocket]] face offs, especially if they ham up their introduction more than usual.
* ArcHero: While Ash is the show's constant protagonist, each new region after Johto switches up the team he travels with -- after Misty and Brock in Kanto and Johto, it's May, Max, and Brock in Hoenn, Dawn and Brock in Sinnoh, Iris and Cilan in Unova, and Clemont, Bonnie, and Serena in Kalos. Each new {{Deuteragonist}} has their own arc, personality, and motivations, and more relationships with the natives of each region.
* ArtEvolution:
** Kind of a given since the show has [[LongRunners probably outlasted]] much of its original art staff. You don't even need to look that far. Just compare the [[GratuitousJapanese Dare Da?]] (The "Who's That Pokémon?" of the original Japanese version) from the [[http://cdn.bulbagarden.net/upload/9/92/Dare_da_EP001.png first episode]] to that of the [[http://cdn.bulbagarden.net/upload/7/7b/Dare_da_EP039.png thirty ninth.]]
** The ''Sun and Moon'' season has by the most drastic shift in art style, being looser and more expressive than previous seasons.
* AshFace: Being set on fire appears to be just a minor inconvenience in the Pokémon world.
* AskAStupidQuestion: In the episode "Dues and Don'ts" Team Rocket tries to catch a Delibird which throws snow at them.
--> '''Jessie:''' It's a Blizzard attack!\\
'''James:''' How do you know it's a Blizzard attack?\\
'''Jessie:''' Maybe because we're in a blizzard?\\
'''James:''' Oh. That makes sense.
* AscendedMeme: The OnTheNext from Japanese version of ''Sun and Moon'''s 126th episode has Jessie and James quarrel whether donuts are round with a hole or triangular without, referencing the infamous Brock edit from original series.
* AttackReflector: The Counter and Mirror Coat moves.
* BailEqualsFreedom: At the end of their first appearance, Butch and Cassidy are in jail for their crimes. At their next appearance, they're free and tell Jessie and James it's because their boss bailed them out.
* BaitAndSwitchSilhouette: The characters take a quiz identifying Pokémon based on their silhouettes. One silhouette is a perfect circle. Most assume that it's a Voltorb or an Electrode, two spherical Pokémon, but it is actually "Jigglypuff, as seen from above."
* BabiesEverAfter: [[spoiler: In the CreditsMontage of ''Sun and Moon''’s finale, the final shot before the episode ends is of a pregnant Professor Burnet with Professor Kukui by her side.]]
* BalletEpisode: "The Misty Mermaid" centers on an underwater synchronized swimming show in which Misty gets involved through a series of circumstances. Reinforced by Team Rocket's disguises in the episode.
* BalloonBurstingBird: It's quite common for Team Rocket to try to make a getaway in their hot-air balloon, only to have one of the good guys use a bird Pokémon to pop the balloon and send them crashing down to Earth.
* BananaPeel: Misty and Ash's Bulbasaur both fall prey to this prank while working in a beach restaurant in [[BeachEpisode "Beauty and the Beach"]], courtesy of Meowth. Worse yet, they're carrying trays of food, which go flying everywhere.
* BangFlagGun: Haunter had one in "Haunter vs. Kadabra." (the actual "BANG!" flag appears too quickly to be easily made out though)
* BattleCouple: Oscar and Andi, from the ''Advanced'' season episode "The Bicker The Better."
* BeachEpisode: Complete with swimsuit competition! And [[BannedInChina Banned In America]]!
%%* BecauseDestinySaysSo
* BellyDancer:
** In ''Pokemon: Sinnoh League'', May wears a outfit that wouldn't look out of place on a real belly dancer for her return for the Wallace Cup.
** In the ''XY'' episode "Mega Revelations", the Team Rocket trio poses as "Mega Evolutions consultants" to snag Korrina's Lucario and Ash's Pikachu, with James and Meowth appearing as mystics and Jessie dressing closer to a belly dancer.
* BewareTheSuperman: A lot of episodes have antagonistic trainers that use their Pokémon for ulterior motives or in some way that threatens innocent bystanders. Downplayed in that the show doesn't go anywhere with it.
* BigDamnMovie: When legendary Pokémon get involved, the fate of the world is often at stake.
** Complete with at least one DisneyDeath! That is, unless they're KilledOffForReal (see below).
* BigEater:
** Ash himself is shown throughout the series as being one, usually being the one who consumes the most amongst his various groups.
** May is the biggest offender amongst Ash's travelling companions, showcasing legitimate anger toward being robbed at a handful of occasions.
** Team Rocket's Morpeko manages to eat them out of house more than one occasion, which they use to their advantage during an eating contest until it felt satisfied and lost its Hangry Form.
* BilingualAnimal: Meowth of Team Rocket can speak to both humans and Pokemon, making him useful for [[Main/MrExposition relaying information]] to the characters and audience.
* BlindingBangs: The ghost-girl in "Ghoul Daze!"
* BioweaponBeast: The origin of Mewtwo. He was cloned from the DNA of the mythical and nigh-allpowerful Pokemon Mew by scientists for Giovanni, the boss of Team Rocket. Right after his birth CloningBlues sets in, but Giovanni did manage to trick him for a while into serving as his attack animal.
* BlockingStopsAllDamage: Not only do the blocking moves appear, it seems meeting any attack with another produces results. This has led to Flamethrowers being karate-chopped.
* BodyUploading: In "Electric Soldier Porygon", Ash and his friends use some sort of cylindrical "transfer machine" go into cyberspace with a Porygon to stop Team Rocket from stealing trainers' Pokemon.
* BodyWipe:
** "Bad to the Bone", where Professor Oak tells Ash that he should leave his lab.
** "Berry Berry Interesting", where Munchlax walks into the Pokémon Center and to a berry bush.
** In "A Fishing Connoisseur in a Fishy Competition", Bianca ''runs'' through the camera.
** "A Shipful of Shivers", one of the ghost's tongue fills the screen as he is licking Jessie and Meowth.
** "Address Unown", in Larvitar's mind, the Slowking's mouth fills the screen as Pikachu and Togepi are entering it.
* BookEnds:
** Johto begins and ends with Ash facing off against Gary.
** Misty began traveling with Ash after he stole her bike and got it destroyed, and in the episode where she leaves the group, she receives her rebuilt bike.
** Ash's Battle Frontier journey begins and ends with one of his Pokémon defeating a legendary Ice Type (Charizard defeats Articuno the first time, Pikachu defeats Regice the second).
** Dawn's first and last Trainer battles in the Sinnoh region were against Team Rocket.
** Pokémon X and Y begins with Ash and a Dragon/Ground-type Pokémon under the control of an evil team at the top of Prism Tower. Pokémon X and Y's ending arc has Ash and a Dragon/Ground-type Pokémon under the control of an evil team at the top of Prism Tower.
* BootstrappedTheme: A region specific case. The English dub's first opening theme was quickly replaced after the Kanto season was over, though has became iconic to English fans of the anime (as the page quote demonstrates), so much that the ''XY'' dub used a cover for its first season opening. For the [[Anime/PokemonIChooseYou 20th movie]]'s dub (much like the Japanese version of it with their first season's theme, as it was the anime's 20th anniversary there), a new, more faithful cover is used in the beginning during the montage of Ash's first moments of his journey. Makes sense as the movie was an AlternateContinuity interpretation of Ash's early Kanto journey from the moment he saw Ho-Oh.
* BreakingOldTrends: The anime, for all its tendencies to patterns, is not above breaking them from time to time, especially being on the air for over two decades.
** The first four Pokemon movies each had an opening theme sequence which used a remix of the then current opening theme from the show. The 5th movie broke this trend by having the opening be another remix of "Mezasei Pokemon Master" instead of the 5th opening "Ready Go". The following 6th movie broke the trend further by having no opening theme song at all, and since then the opening themes have been more sporadic with the movies.
** Due to Hoenn bringing an end to the "original" series, this region is where you start to notice the first notable breaks to certain trends.
*** After wearing the same outfit for the Kanto, Orange Islands, and Johto arcs, Ash has a new outfit. It would be the default trend to switch up Ash's clothes for every new series.
*** In both Kanto and Johto, Ash caught the three regional starters. Starting with Hoenn, the starters were divided between him and his companions, and Ash wouldn't end up obtaining all three again until Unova.
*** Hoenn is the first series where the core cast is made up of more than three people by adding a TagalongKid.
*** This is the first region where Ash only starts off with just Pikachu instead of bringing over his current team from previous arcs, as in the Orange Island and Johto arcs. Starting with the Unova arc, it would be the standard procedure from then on once a new generation of Pokémon is launched.[[note]]For the Sinnoh arc, Ash only meant to take just Pikachu, but the Aipom he caught near the end of the Battle Frontier arc left Oak's lab to join Ash on the Sinnoh journey.[[/note]]
*** In Japan, the series would actually begin [[NewSeasonNewName to change titles for each generation]] starting with Hoenn, after being just known as ''Pocket Monsters'' for the Kanto, Orange Islands, and Johto arcs.
** Streaks that were broken in Sinnoh.
*** Ash finally catches a pseudo legendary Pokémon, or at least a member of its line.
*** Sinnoh was also the first series where another Pokémon shared the spotlight with Ash's Pikachu as the series mascot. This being Dawn's Piplup, who spent almost all of his time outside of his Pokéball.
*** Previously, the Pokémon League Conference were held in locations that existed in the game. For the Kanto and Hoenn Leagues, they were in the locations where the player fought the EliteFour and the Champion. For Johto, it was held on Mt. Silver, where the BonusBoss battle against Red was. For Sinnoh however, it was an anime original location and no where near where the EliteFour and Champion were fought in the games. In fact, future league tournaments never took place where the final battles of the game's main storyline took place.
*** Previous arc conclusions had Ash learn of another region and deciding to go there follwing his return to Pallet Town. The Sinnoh arc was the first arc to not mention anything of the next generation of games, with Ash just returning to Pallet Town.
** The Unova arc broke some notable trends. In particular:
*** Ever since their introduction in the 2nd episode of Kanto, it was a given to have the [[GoldfishPoopGang Team Rocket trio]] make an appearance in ''every'' episode, even if it's just a small 30-second cameo. This trend is finally broken in the 16th Unova episode where they don't make any appearances whatsoever.
*** Since Kanto Ash either had Misty or Brock traveling alongside him, with Johto being the only other region he had both. Unova was the first region where neither of them were among his companions.
*** With every League tournament Ash either improved or stayed on par in terms of performance. However, in the Unova League, he ended up Best of 8, vs Best of 4 in Sinnoh.
*** Unova was the first region where Ash doesn't encounter the regional villain team until after completing the league, where they got a short arc dedicated to them.
*** Usually there's a few breather episodes between major arcs/series. However, after finishing the Unova League and taking care of Team Plasma, there is twenty episodes long filler arc about Ash getting home from Unova and setting up his journey to Kalos.
** Kalos broke several streaks.
*** First region where Ash doesn't catch the Grass-type starter. He doesn't even catch a Grass-type at all in Kalos.
*** First evolution of a Water-type starter, as well as a Water-type Pokémon finally evolving ever since way back in Kanto when Krabby evolved.
*** First generation where Ash doesn't cross-dress.
*** Talonflame did not learn Flamethrower like all the rest of his Fire-types.
*** First region where all of Ash's Pokémon (save for Pikachu, of course) fully evolve.
*** First region where Ash does not reunite with an old companion from the previous region's journey. Cilan did appear, but it was in a post-epilogue episode meaning he only met Clemont and Bonnie.
*** Kalos also broke a trend involving the villains, namely that they didn't target either one of the initial cover legendaries, but rather the third Legendary Pokémon connected to them.
*** The trainer who beat Ash at the League, Alain, also broke some trends. He became the first rival Ash never beat in a battle and first rival who was not introduced during the League to beat Ash.
** Alola also broke several streaks.
*** Alola changed up the overall series formula where instead of being an ongoing adventure around the region, it's now more of a SliceOfLife series where Ash goes to school. He still has adventures all over the region, but he only goes there as part of a school field trip. Ash still does take on a variant of the game's Island Challenge, but only faces off against the Island Kahunas.
*** The core cast that adventures around the region was usually made up of 3 or 4 human characters. Alola is the first series that goes beyond that by having up to 6 characters that the show focuses on, these being Ash, Lillie, Kiawe, Mallow, Lana, and Sophocles.
*** After six regions, Alola is the first where Ash doesn't catch the regional bird Pokémon, or a Water-type Pokémon.
*** Ash's outfit is different from all previous versions: shorter pants, no jacket/sweatshirt, and no FingerlessGloves.
*** This is the first region where the main cast are given Mythical Pokémon. Ash caught a Meltan, and at one point had a temporary Poipole in his party. In addition, Mallow is seen caring for a Shaymin.
*** With a few notable exceptions, such as the main cast using some of the special Kurt balls in the original series, the creators of the Alola series finally take advantage of the fact that there are a variety of Poké Balls that the cast can use apart from the basic red-and-white ones. Some examples include Jessie catching Mimikyu with a Luxury Ball, Gladion using an Ultra Ball, Premier Ball, Heal Ball and Dusk Ball for his Lycanroc, Silvally, Umbreon, and Zoroark respectively, and Lana catching Eevee (Sandy) with a Dive Ball.
*** The Alola League breaks multiple trends that have been prevalent across all previous regional tournaments. Previously, the only important characters of note that enter are Ash and his rivals, with the standard 3-on-3 battles gradually building to full 6-on-6 as the tournament progresses. Here, all of Ash's companions, Team Rocket, Team Skull, and a Pokémon Professor (Samson Oak) also participate, with a gradual shift from 1-on-1 at the start and 3-on-3 at the end.
*** [[spoiler:The biggest shake-up of all: [[ThrowTheDogABone Ash finally wins the league and becomes regional champion]], not to mention the first of that region, breaking his 22-year losing streak contested only by the anime-original Orange League sandwiched between the Kanto and Johto Leagues.]]
*** There are no guest appearance of any of Ash's companions from the immediate predecessor series, unlike before, though the long retired Brock and Misty from the original series do make a couple return appearances to continue shaking things up. Also not appearing are EarlyBirdCameo of Pokémon from the next generation of games in either the TV series or any of the movies released during the time.
** The anime series that debuted alongside ''VideoGame/PokemonSwordAndShield'' has already broken a few trends.
*** In Japan, it'll be referred as just ''[[RecycledTitle Pocket Monsters]]'' instead of having a series subtitle.
*** Similarly, the English title is ''Pokémon Journeys'' instead of sharing the names of the recent games, which it had done since the 4th generation games ''Diamond'' and ''Pearl''.
*** The plot has Ash traveling on all of the known Pokémon world, not just the Galar region, as a research assistant instead of getting involved with the Galar Pokémon League. Although he does later get involved in something called the World Coronation Series in order to challenge Leon from ''Sword'' and ''Shield''.
*** The primary supporting cast is made of {{Canon Foreigner}}s instead of adaptations of existing game characters.
*** Ash's traveling companions have a least consisted of one guy and one girl. Here only Goh accompanies him on his travels. While Chloe fits the role as the token girl of the supporting cast, said role is less prominent compared to previous series.
*** Ash first captures for the series aren't any of the Generation VIII additions to the Pokédex, but rather Pokémon from previous generations.
*** Related to Ash's first capture, the Dragonite he catches breaks several traditions. 1) Breaks the tradition of the first catch in the new series being the regional bird, a Bug-type, or a starter Pokémon. 2) First capture of a Pokémon in their final stage since Noctowl all the way back in Johto. 3) First time Ash catches a Pokémon that one of his companions (Iris) also owns.
*** Related to Ash's second capture, the Gengar he catches turned out to have been abandoned by its previous trainer, which breaks the tradition of Ash's abandoned Pokémon catches all being Fire-type starters (Charmander, Chimchar, and Tepig).
*** Similar to Ash, Team Rocket doesn't get any Pokémon from Galar to train personally. Instead, They use a gacha matchine loaded with Team Rocket-loyal Pokémon, so the Pokémon they use in their plans are randomized for each episode they appear in.
*** Voice acting wise, the English dub often used actors based mainly in New York. Here, some Los Angeles based voice actors are thrown into the mix, such as Creator/ZenoRobinson and Creator/CheramiLeigh, due to the production of the dub being moved from NY to LA.
** Then there's the [[Film/{{Pokemon}} numerous movies for the Pokémon anime]]. The first nineteen are essentially [[TheMovie big screen adventures]] of Ash and his friends, depending on the season the movie debuted in. [[Anime/PokemonIChooseYou The twentieth movie]] isn't a movie for the ''Sun and Moon'' seasons, but instead an AlternateContinuity version of the series' first ever episode, namely it due to being a MilestoneCelebration. [[Anime/PokemonThePowerOfUs The following movie]] would stay in that continuity and [[Anime/MewtwoStrikesBackEvolution the movie after that]] was a 3D CG remake of ''Anime/PokemonTheFirstMovie''.
* BreakThemByTalking:In Sun and Moon, Nanu uses this as a tactic when battling Ash, using taunts and insults to bait Ash into making strategic mistakes and letting his emotions get in the way of the battle. He eventually learns to overcome this.
* BreathWeapon: The anime has 9 different breath attack types that are commonly used over the course of the series. [[note]]The traditional, and most common of the nine breath attack types being [[https://archives.bulbagarden.net/wiki/File:J_Salamence_Flamethrower.png Fire Breath]], the second most common of the nine breath attack types being [[https://archives.bulbagarden.net/wiki/File:Sycamore_Garchomp_Hyper_Beam.png Laser Breath]] with the seven other breath attack types being as follows, [[https://archives.bulbagarden.net/wiki/File:Snowy_Powder_Snow.png Wind Breath]], [[https://archives.bulbagarden.net/wiki/File:Sawyer_Sceptile_Dragon_Pulse.png Energy Breath]], [[https://archives.bulbagarden.net/wiki/File:Dawn_Buneary_Ice_Beam.png Ice Breath]], [[https://archives.bulbagarden.net/wiki/File:Ash_Totodile_Water_Gun.png Water Breath]], [[https://archives.bulbagarden.net/wiki/File:Groudon_Mud_Shot.png Mud Breath]], [[https://archives.bulbagarden.net/wiki/File:Jessie_Arbok_Acid.png Poison Breath]] and finally [[https://archives.bulbagarden.net/wiki/File:Sanpei_Greninja_Smokescreen.png Smoke Breath]].[[/note]]
* BrickJoke: A cartoonish picture of Chloe drawn by her mother in Episode 11 of Journeys is later used in an advertisement in Episode 29, something the former is [[MessyHair not happy about]].
* BrokenAesop:
** "Viva Las Lapras." There's a group of people who chase after a herd of Lapras, send out their Pokémon to weaken them, throw their poke balls and... [[{{Hypocrite}} wait a minute.]]
** At various points, people try to drill in Ash's head that trainers should train their Pokémon, and cannot expect to win with untrained ones. Despite this, he used completely untrained Pokémon like Kingler, Muk or Tauros at various ''Pokémon League'' matches, and ''they actually performed better'' than those he had with him his whole journey and had participated in dozen of battles.
* TheBusCameBack: Occasionally, a story arc will feature a main character from the previous series who makes a guest appearance. They invariably meet and become good friends with the newer cast members:
** In ''Advanced Generation'', Misty met with May and Max. They would meet up once more when they traveled to Kanto.
** ''Diamond and Pearl'' had May met Dawn and they both competed in the Wallace Cup.
** ''Best Wishes'' had Dawn travel to Unova where she met Ash, Iris, Cilan and Meloetta.
** A special episode had Cilan encounter Brock (without knowing that they both traveled with Ash at some point).
** Another special episode had Cilan encounter Clemont and Bonnie (again without knowing that they both knew Ash).
** ''Sun and Moon'' had a two-part story arc where Ash went back to Kanto, alongside his Alola classmates and met with Misty and Brock.
** In ''Journeys'', Ash and Goh meet up with Mewtwo from the original series where they do battle. It's also featured episodes in which past companions from previous series have appeared, so far including Korrina from Kalos and the entire cast from Alola.
* ButtMonkey: Several cases, but most prominently:
** Team Rocket, being the perennial {{Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain}}s of the show, fall victim to constant Pokémon attacks and "blasting offs" OnceAnEpisode. Sometimes even when they aren't causing trouble, they're still punching bags to the cast or just cosmic fate (it plays a large part into their tragic backstories).
** Ash started off as such due to his ineptness and impulsiveness usually causing him to humiliate himself or get into danger. It downplayed following CharacterDevelopment, though still appears every now and then, especially during the ''Sun and Moon'' series.
** Out of Ash's many companions, Misty was near equally prone to slapstick and ego-denting humiliation as he was. Possible runners up include May due to being most liable to hold the DistressBall and get endangered, kidnapped or tied up, as well as Clemont, being an Adorkable BunglingInventor with several jokes based around his poor physical condition.
** Brock may not have been as bad, unless it comes to his chances with a pretty hot woman in the episode...
** Due to the Team Rocket trio [[TookALevelInBadass being taken more seriously]] in the ''Black and White'' Series, the role of "Butt Monkey" was transferred to different characters. The most prominent being Burgundy, who was introduced as Cilan's main rival but in this case, she's trying to measure up to him unlike the rivalries between Iris vs. Georgia and Ash vs. Trip. The poor girl gets humiliated and abused in various ways in most of her appearances.
** For an evolved Psychic-Type, Starmie seems to get the snot beaten out of it in every battle it's in. It even becomes a literal ChewToy when fighting a Raticate in the episode "Battle Aboard the St. Anne." No wonder Misty prefers Staryu.
* CallingYourAttacks: A variation; the calls are commands by a Trainer for the Pokémon to execute a specific technique/attack, as the Pokémon can use them without human intervention.
** The Pokémon showboat episode implies that the Pokémon do this, but we can't tell because of PokemonSpeak and the dubbing process.
* CallOfTheWildBlueYonder:
** In episode "Let Bagons Be Bagons" a Bagon tries to learn how to fly. It eventually does so with a jetpack before evolving into Shelgon.
** Another example was "Fly Me to the Moon" about a Pidgey named Orville who dreams of flying higher than any other Pokémon. Even Meowth was touched by the dream and decided to help him.
* TheCameo: The zany Clefairy from ''Manga/PocketMonsters'' appears in Episode 360.
* CanonForeigner:
** Jessie, James and Meowth of Team Rocket were invented to be the main antagonists of Ash and Pikachu. They would make appearances in ''Pokémon Yellow'' as reoccurring bosses. Ultimately inverted into CanonImmigrant with the ''Let's Go'' games including them.
** Of Ash's friends, Tracey is the only one with no real main game equivalent. His only game appearance was in ''Pokémon Puzzle League'', which is a DolledUpInstallment of ''VideoGame/PanelDePon''. Max is a borderline example as he resembles the male Schoolkid [=NPC=]s in ''VideoGame/PokemonRubyAndSapphire'' and the young child inhabiting Littleroot Town.
** Nurse Joy and Officer Jenny are perennial supporting characters that have appeared in every series. They were also invented for the anime. Nurse Joy, however, quickly became something of a downplayed CanonImmigrant, in that the unnamed Nurse [=NPC=]s from ''GSC'' forward began taking design cues from the Joys down to the iconic looping pink hair.
** As part of it [[{{retool}} shake-up of the formula]], the main supporting cast for ''Pokémon Journeys'' are all original to the anime.
* CanonImmigrant:
** Due to the anime playing a large part in the promotion of the games series, there is ''a lot'' of RecursiveAdaptation. For example, ''Pokémon Yellow'' is a modified version of ''VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue'' that emulates the anime by having Pikachu as its only starter.
** For the main game series in particular, Ash's Pikachu and Team Rocket's Meowth were made as downloadable content for ''VideoGame/PokemonBlack2AndWhite2''. Other Pokémon based on other characters have also been available from time to time.
** Ash-Geninja was a demo gift for ''VideoGame/PokemonSunAndMoon''. This Greninja was specifically based on Ash's Greninja as its Original Trainer is Ash and was caught on the same date of its debut episode and as a moveset similar to one he had in the anime.
** The Pokémon Center Nurses were originally indistinct [=NPC=]s that treated your Pokémon. Later games would have them look more and more like Nurse Joy from the anime.
* CastingGag:
** It's not the first time Rolando de la Fuente ([=RotomDex=]'s Mexican VA) voiced a robotic character, except the last time [[Anime/DragonBallZKai he was an android from the Red Ribbon Army]].
** Creator/KaitoIshikawa (Kiawe's Japanese VA) previously voiced Falcon, another dark-skinned character with a red color theme, in Anime/MarvelDiskWarsTheAvengers.
* CatsAreMean: Feline-inspired Pokémon in the anime are recurrently prone to attitude problems or untrustworthy behaviour, even if it ranges from being [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold somewhat rough natured heroes]] or outright antagonists. The main villain Pokémon is Team Rocket's Meowth, a cat, which of course complements the fact that the anime's flagship Pokémon, Ash's Pikachu, is a mouse.
%%* ChainOfPeople
* CharacterisationClickMoment:
** In his first few appearances in the anime, Brock was fairly cool-headed and serious, often just posing as TheStraightMan to Ash and Misty. "The School of Hard Knocks" however establishes Brock's tendency to fall quickly for pretty girls, setting up his CasanovaWannabe persona that would define him in later episodes. Curiously Ash falls for the same girl in the episode, which in an opposite fashion counts as CharacterisationMarchesOn for his usual CelibateHero personality.
** The Team Rocket trio started off more sinister and graceful villains, and even after their quick conversion into more bumbling antagonists, their individual characters were not quite fully formed yet. From around the introduction of Giovanni in "Battle Aboard St. Anne", they are established as downtrodden flunkies of the organisation, with more focus on their pathos and frustrations. Some of their personality traits also begin to fully form around this time, with Jessie becoming more hot headed and replacing the now more insecure Meowth as the LeaderWannabe and James becoming more of a bumbling nebbish.
* CharacterSignatureSong: Most of these are from the "[=XY&Z=] TV Anime Character Song Project Collection" series of albums.
** Perhaps the most famous would be Jigglypuff's iconic song.
** The Team Rocket trio has "Team Rocket Forever", "Look Forward, Team Rocket!", "Team Rocket's Team Song", and "Double Trouble" in the dub.
*** Meowth specifically has "Meowth's Song", "Meowth's Party", "Polka O Dolka", and "Meowth's Ballad".
** Brock has "Brock's Paradise" and "Two Perfect Girls" in the dub.
** May has "I Won't Lose!" and Dawn has "By Your Side".
** "Squishy's Song" for Bonnie and Squishy.
** "Brilliantly" for Clemont.
** Serena has "[=DreamDream=]".
** Even Pikachu has his own song, with the lyrics of course being in PokemonSpeak.
** Pretty much ''any'' of the openings in both the original and the dub count as Ash's song.
** Misty has two songs in the dub: "Misty's Song" and "Misty Most of All".
** So far, Tracey, Max, and Ash's friends from both Unova and Alola are the only main characters without character songs.
* ChildProdigy:
** In "The Ancient Puzzle Of Pokemopolis", the trio meets an archaeologist who has earned her [=PhD=] at the age of ''eight''.
** Far later in the anime's life, Clemont joins the team. While most of his regular inventions tend to blow up as a running gag, he has managed to develop various facilities devoted to energy production in the Kalos region, including Kalos's power plant and Lumiose Tower.
* TheChosenOne: Ash frequently ends in this role, for better or for worse, both in the main anime (particularly in later eras) and the side films.
** In ''Best Wishes'', Ash is the scion of Ideals, while N is the scion of Truth.
** In ''XY'', Lysandre attempts to force Ash to be his DarkMessiah.
** In ''Sun and Moon'', the Guardians take an interest in Ash from the start. It is eventually revealed that they brought Cosmog to Ash so he can get a Solgaleo. Tapu Koko also personally gifts him a Z-Ring, which all the Tapus later convert into a Z-Power Ring.
* ChristmasEpisode: "Holiday Hi-Jynx!", which due to two unfortunate circumstances, did not air when originally intended in Japan and internationally.
** The ''Pikachu's Winter Vacation'' shorts.
* CirclingBirdies:
** While the games usually feature generic birdies, the ''Pokémon'' anime sometimes features characters seeing circling bird-like Pokémon; the anime has shifted to frequently utilizing Pidgey or Torchic for this effect. Often, it indicates when a Pokémon is succumbing to the effect of the Confusion status. There is also a low chance of circling stars.
** Also, the Ditto at the beginning of ''Pikachu's Ghost Carnival'', in which the Ditto gets circling stars when it got hit on the head by a Cubone while Ditto was disguised as a Cubone.
* CircusEpisode: The episode "It's Mr. Mime Time!" deals with the ringmaster of a traveling circus and her lazy Mr. Mime. When Ash is recruited to take the place of the Mr. Mime in the circus (in order to convince the Pokémon to come back to work) he gets mistakenly kidnapped by Team Rocket.
* ClamTrap: In the episode "Clamperl of Wisdom!", a Clamperl (an oyster-like Pokémon) bites down on Meowth's tail at one point. This scene currently serves as the trope's page image.
* ClipShow: Three of them (one in Hoenn, two in Sinnoh), all skipped in the dub.
* ClockworkPrediction: In "Island of the Giant Pokemon", Ash, Misty, Brock and Team Rocket end up on a mine cart where they're reunited with their Pokemon while dragging a few huge Pokemon (really robots) behind them. When Ash wonders what they can do, both Jesse and James, no strangers to bad luck, pretty much predict what'll happen next. Namely their cart will go off the rails, the line snagging the giant Pokemon will snap, and they'll get flung into the sea. And indeed, one by one, that's what happens the moment they call it.
* ComicBookTime: Confirmed to be the case in an [[https://www.reddit.com/r/pokemon/comments/6ov8wh/some_trivia_from_yuyama_concerning_the_anime_and/ interview with the series' executive director]].
--> '''Kunihiko Yuyama:''' ''Time has not passed since the start of the journey. Ash is eternally 10 years old.''
* ComicTrio: Team Rocket, combined with a TerribleTrio. This was averted in ''Black and White'', in which they became much darker and more serious (they even traded their trademark white uniforms for black ones), and also only started appearing occasionally, taking a back seat to other antagonists. However, as of ''X&Y'', they have returned to their comical old selves, and are the main antagonists once again.
* ConfidenceBuildingScheme: One episode sees Ash and friends teaming up with Team Rocket to deliberately lose Pokemon battles in order to boost the confidence of a weak and scrawny Paras so that it can evolve more quickly into Parasect.
* ContinuityCameo: [[VideoGame/PokemonSnap Todd Snap]] joined the main cast as a GuestStarPartyMember during the Indigo saga to advertise his home game, [[Manga/PocketMonsters Isamu Akai]] (better known as the main character of the ''Pocket Monsters'' manga, Red) starred in a movie featured in an episode during the ''Advanced Generation'' saga, Jimmy and Marina (based off of the male and female protagonist of VideoGame/PokemonGoldAndSilver and Crystal) starred in a special featuring Raikou (rival Silver, whose anime incarnation [[FanNickname is often called "Kamon"]] to distinguish him, appears in the Japanese opening for the special)[[note]]Marina would also go on to make several understated cameos later in the series[[/note]], and Lyra would become her own Guest Star Party Member during the DP saga. [[VideoGame/PokemonRubyAndSapphire Brendan]] and [[VideoGame/PokemonDiamondAndPearl Lucas]] appeared in the introductory shots of several movies in the Advanced Generation and DP sagas, always battling in an arena of some sort.
* ContinuityCavalcade:
** One of the first shots from the first episode of ''Black and White'' shows that Ash keeps all of his various achievements in a section of his room. The premiere of ''Journeys'' updates it to include things from Unova, Kalos, and Alola.
** One of the ''Best Wishes'' ending has [[http://i.imgur.com/P0nweCa.jpg this]] pic of all the main characters and nearly all their mons.
* ConvectionSchmonvection: Pretty much any time someone gets hit with a move like Flamethrower at close range.
* ConvenientlyTimedDistraction:
** During the Original series, when Ash is trying to catch a Weedle, Samurai tries to challenge Ash to a battle. While Ash is talking with Samurai, the Weedle escapes.
** During the Diamond and Pearl saga, when Dawn makes a second attempt to catch a Buneary, the Pokeball that she plans to use slips out of her hand and hits Ash in the face leading him to angrily scold Dawn which results in an argument between the two. While they argue, the Buneary slip away which Piplup notices and alerts everyone that it escaped.
** During the Diamond and Pearl saga, when Paul and Electabuzz are trying to catch a wild Drapion, they both get distracted when Ash's Gligar falls from the sky after being blown by a gust of wind in front of Paul and the Drapion escapes when it sees Paul and Electabuzz distracted.
* CookingDuel: In "Hail to the Chef", Rhoda and Rhonda face off against each other with their Mr. Mime and Sneasel, respectively, to see who's the best.
* CooldownHug: Several examples, but one notable instance is in "Glory Blaze", when Ash's Chimchar went berserk with rage after its ability Blaze activated. In spite of Chimchar's rampaging, it biting Ash, and being ''surrounded by fire'', Ash hugged it and begged it to stop until Chimchar finally regained itself and calmed down.
* CoolAirship: The favored method of transport/base for many Pokémon villains, especially movie villains. Team Rocket also regularly retrofit their Meowth-inspired hot-air balloon with all manner of weapons, thrusters, and anti-Pokémon gadgetry.
** Hunter J's main method of transport. It's not only massive, but can turn invisible.
* CoolAndUnusualPunishment: In ''Chronicles'', Professor Oak is at one point kidnapped by Team Rocket, and then interrogated. When he failed to give the answers they looked for, they punished him by scratching a piece of glass with a nail. HilarityEnsues.
* CordonBleughChef: In ''[=JN050=]'' while making curry one of the researchers decides to use Chloe's whipped cream for the special ingredient much to the horror of the rest. Surprisingly, they find it [[TastesBetterThanItLooks delightful]].
* CostumeEvolution:
** The main party members switch outfits whenever they go into a new region. Johto and the Orange Islands avert this, though.
** Despite being PutOnTheBus, Misty had two costume changes: one for ''Pokémon Chronicles'' and one for her Hoenn appearances. Neither design originate from the games.
* CreatorCameo: Creator/IkueOtani appears in the episode "Lights! Camera! Pika!" as a voice actor for, who else, a Pikachu. Supposedly, next to her is Yūki Kaji, the Japanese voice actor for Clemont.
* CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass:
** Marilyn is a girl that goes gaga over any Pokémon she says is cute, though not as bad as Gardenia with Grass Pokémon. So anybody watching the episode would've [[http://serebii.net/anime/pictures/shinou/593ps4.shtml never guessed that she's]] [[http://serebii.net/anime/pictures/shinou/593ps11.shtml good in Pokémon battles.]]
** Ash, and generally most newcomers start off this way before CharacterDevelopment kicks in, being more inept and flawed but with their potential obvious.
* CrossCounter: Used in quite a few match-ups between Pokémon, but though the episode "Pasta La Vista" was set up for one, Team Rocket interrupted before the two fighting Pokémon could hit each other.
* CulturalTranslation: Most often with food. During the earliest ''Indigo'' episodes, rice balls are repeatedly referred to as donuts despite very clearly not being donuts. In another, the ''onigiri'' in Team Rocket's lunch basket (eaten by a gang of Squirtle) are referred to as both donuts ''and'' eclairs. Until Hoenn, rice balls were sparingly called rice balls. Later seasons would edit out Japanese food items and replace them with sandwiches and the like. The practice sort of stopped by Sinnoh when snacks were featured less prominently or started to be based on items that could be found in the games.
** In another ''Indigo League'' episode, Team Rocket's lunch is renamed - Jessie is said to be eating Chinese food instead of curry, and James' ''ochazuke'' (rice flavored with green tea and other toppings as desired) becomes "tea and crumpets."
* CurtainsMatchTheWindow: Quite a few characters, be they lifted from the games or anime-original characters.
* CuteBruiser: Any cutesy Pokémon with fight in them may count.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:D-G]]
* DarkIsNotEvil:
** Pick any [[CastingAShadow Dark]], [[SoulPower Ghost]] or [[PoisonousPerson Poison]]-type Pokémon. "Houndoom's Special Delivery" is one of the best examples.
** ''XY'' introduced a Malamar as a DastardlyWhiplash villain. Their next appearance made sure to reveal benevolent Malamar, who became enemies with the villainous group after they [[PapaWolf attacked the Pokémon they watched over.]]
* DarkerAndEdgier:
** The movies tend to be darker than the main anime, with high stakes, body counts that don't always get undone, and vile villains.
** The Diamond and Pearl saga: Paul's treatment of Chimchar in an effort to control Blaze in an attempt to invoke HeroicSecondWind leaves the poor thing traumatized and scared for many episodes; Hunter J is a sociopathic BountyHunter who tries to kill Ash on numerous occasions; Team Galactic is given a case of AdaptationalVillainy, including trying to destroy Iron Island and kill all the humans and the Pokémon on it when in the games they wanted to catch the Pokemon, and Pokémon were shown badly injured more often; [[DeuteRagonist Dawn]] falls into depression after a losing streak, and spends several episodes as a StepfordSmiler while contemplating if she should quit on her dreams.
** The X/Y saga's Team Flare crisis has the regional evil team attempt to use Zygarde to slowly destroy the Kalos region, starting with Lumiose City. They capture Ash and many of his friends to forcibly study the Mega Evolution bond between Pokemon, were using the powerful trainer Alain as a pawn, and the leader, Lysandre, pulls a SuicidalGotcha after being defeated in battle before appearing again to continue his goals. [[spoiler:He ends up dying for real at the climax of the fight]].
* DeadlineNews: At one point in Journeys, a live news report is cut off by a beam from Eternatus fired in the camera's general direction. This is not commented on at all.
* DeadlyDoctor: Dr. Proctor from the Indigo saga, who fought Team Rocket armed with nothing but a [[BadassLongcoat labcoat full of scalpels]].
* {{Deconstruction}}: The anime can be seen as the one for the games.
** The PlayerCharacter being a complete novice. Not only Ash ''doesn't'' clean up the local crime team operating in the local region, at least by himself, he also loses the regional leagues as they operate under TournamentArc rules in where every trainer is just as powerful and skilled as him. This is a far cry from the games in where a complete novice InUniverse can spontaneously succeed in disbanding the local crime group and defeat the top five trainers (The Champion and Elite 4) in the region while other countless trainers more competent and experienced have failed in doing so due not being the protagonist. This gets subverted over time due to experience kicking in though.
*** When moving to a new region, it's still possible for a veteran trainer to lose if he gets cocky and gets caught off guard by the new meta-gimmicks implemented in each generation.
** Pokémon have their own emotions, personalities, hobbies and interests. You have to treat them as actual living beings instead of collections of pixels. Treating them like chess pieces is a one-way ticket to getting them to hate you. Many of Ash's pokemon disobey him because of personal preference or have to leave due to their own personal obligations. Ash is not stupid enough to release a powerful pokemon without (usually) a good reason.
** Regions are '''HUGE''', not a stroll in the park. It can take days to get from one city to another.
** Battles are fought in real-time instead of turn-based. Numbers and stats can only take you so far. Creativity with moves and usage of terrain is the key to victory, something that the games rarely apply.
** When learning new moves, one does not become an InstantExpert nor it can be learned with discs (the [=TMs=] and [=HMs=]) as shown in games. It's possible for moves to fail due to inexperience in using them. On the plus side, moves can have multiple variations with enough creativity instead of just being one-note.
* DefeatEqualsExplosion: Team Rocket find themselves on the receiving end of this trope in virtually every episode they’re in, mainly to trigger their blast-offs even when the attacks used to cause said blast-offs [[FridgeLogic shouldn’t logically]] [[MadeOfExplodium create an explosion]] without a giant mech to justify it.
* DefeatMeansFriendship: This happens almost all the time for captured Pokémon. This is especially true for those who befriend the group, but demand to fight before they are formally caught. Among those this applies to are Ash's Treecko in AG, Ash's Snivy and Krokorok in BW, and Serena's Pancham in XY.
* DefeatingTheUndefeatable: The Elite Four, as well as several other characters.
* DemotedToExtra:
** Brendan and Lucas, {{Player Character}}s from the games the series is based off of, only show up as [[TheCameo cameos]] in a couple of the movies.
** In ''VideoGame/PokemonBlackAndWhite'', Bianca is one of the player character's friendly rivals and makes frequent appearances. In the anime, she does show up fairly often but never rises above the level of supporting character. The other rival from those games, Cheren, only shows up in one episode.
** With the anime cast itself, most former companions, after their tenure journeying Ash is over, will be PutOnTheBus besides a return episode the following era and a few very minor cameos.
** Legendary and Mythical Pokémon often suffer this. Sure, they may get a movie to shine in as major characters, but afterwards [[UniquenessDecay they will simply show up as if they were nothing special]], and almost no attempt at depicting them as SingleSpecimenSpecies is made. Multiple Darkrai have appeared with little significance, the legendary birds ([[Anime/Pokemon2000 once harbingers of destruction]]) have made numerous appearances, and [[Anime/PokemonGenesectAndTheLegendAwakened there's a second Mewtwo]] just because.
** Despite being the other mascot of ''VideoGame/PokemonBlackAndWhite'', Zekrom only makes one major appearance in the ''BW'' series to act as a glorified ResetButton for Pikachu. Afterwards, it never appears again in the series itself, while its opposite Reshiram received a major role in the ''Episode N'' arc.
** Pick a villainous team. Any villainous team. You can be sure that even if they get a big climax, it will be undermined by the organisation being ignored for the lion's share of the series, [[SpotlightStealingSquad with the Team Rocket trio usurping their roles as the recurring bad guys]]. The leaders also [[AdaptationalWimp rarely get into fights, instead letting their grunts and admins do the dirty work]].
*** Ironically, Team Rocket ''themselves'' were sidelined hard for much of the original series in favor of the iconic trio. In the Indigo League season, none of their plotline from ''VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue'' (such as taking over Silph Co. or their Game Corner hideout) was adapted into the series, Ash rarely battled Rocket Grunts, and Giovanni was TheUnfought, even at the Viridian Gym (he's also, bizarrely enough, [[NoNameGiven almost never called Giovanni]] outside the first movie!). This also means they never got a big climax where they were defeated for good.
*** Team Magma and Team Aqua also made sparse appearances, with the latter group appearing fifteen episodes after the former -- who debuted in the second episode of ''Advanced''. Furthermore, Maxie and Archie are demoted to {{Non Action Big Bad}}s, and Courtney and Matt [[AdaptedOut don't even exist]].
*** Out of 191 episodes in ''Diamond/Pearl'', Team Galactic only appear in just above ten. Cyrus, again, doesn't use Pokémon himself, and his defeat is... [[AmbiguousSituation open to interpretation]], and also [[SelfDisposingVillain had nothing to do with the heroes]].
*** Team Plasma is completely absent from the first season of ''Black/White'', though not for lack of trying -- they would have appeared earlier, if not for the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, and the destructive content of their debut episodes. Said episodes would still have had them as bit players next to Team Rocket, [[SpotlightStealingSquad who were pushed more heavily as Unova's villains over Team Plasma for over half the series]]. When they and N finally ''did'' make a proper appearance, it was as their ''VideoGame/PokemonBlack2AndWhite2'' selves, with much of their original depth and grey morality ignored. And their episode count still paled next to Team Rocket's.
*** Team Skull's focus in ''Sun/Moon'' seems token at best. While they're a recurring group of bumbling {{Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain}}s in the games, that role is taken from them by, again, the Team Rocket trio. Not only has this cut their screentime significantly, but Gladion doesn't have a connection to them here, and the series even adapts the climax of ''VideoGame/PokemonSunAndMoon'' long before Guzma and Plumeria appear! (Guzma, at least, gets a character arc incorporated into the show, though it is very late in the last season and he only appears in two scenes following his defeat.)
* DenserAndWackier:
** The Advanced Generation was noted for this, having far zanier plots in filler episodes, Meowth's boss fantasies becoming a OncePerEpisode thing, and Team Rocket's VillainDecay reaching its peak.
** The Sun And Moon season is significantly more cartoony and light-hearted than previous installments, especially the previous ''XY'' season.
* DeusExMachina: It would be impossible to count the number of times Team Rocket or an opponent had the heroes on the ropes until a random Pokémon appeared, evolved, or learned a new move and cleaned house for them. ''XY'' adds onto this with the Mega Evolutions, which verge as the Pokémon equivalent of Super Saiyans.
* DiabolusExMachina: The "League Rivals", characters typically introduced near the end of each arc who all have a knack for being the one to eliminate Ash from the Tournaments. Of particular note is Tobias, who had (at least) two OlympusMons and swept the entire Sinnoh League, which Ash was actually doing pretty well in up until that point. Ash merely failed less than everyone else by managing to knock both out at the cost of all six of his Pokémon.
** In the XYZ episode “An Explosive Operation”, Team Flare pursue a Zygarde core (codenamed Z2) while Team Rocket fend them off with the intention of protecting it so they can bring Z2 back to their own headquarters. Eventually, they are beaten, but Z2 transforms into its 50% Form, leveling the whole area around it into a giant crater... Only for [[spoiler: Alain and his Charizard]] to suddenly appear and defeat Zygarde under [[spoiler: Lysandre]]’s orders, forcing it to disperse and leaving it too weak to resist being captured by Team Flare anymore.
* DisguisedInDrag: James [[RunningGag tends to do this]] as part of Team Rocket's disguises, mostly in the original series. Most of the time in the dub he will also speak in a [[LarynxDissonance cheesy falsetto voice]] that can be quite funny, ''especially'' in "Battle Aboard the St. Anne" (which was the first instance of James dressing like a girl)...
--> "Like wow, don't I make, like, the COOLEST girl?"
** Ash has done this a few times, most notably in "Pokémon Scent-Sation", where he dresses as a girl named "Ashley", with the help of Jessie and James, to get into Erika's gym where he had initially been kicked out for criticizing Erika's perfume.
* DistractedByTheSexy:
** [[LovableSexManiac Brock]], ''every time'' a [[InexplicablyIdenticalIndividuals Nurse Joy or Officer Jenny]] shows up. Every time a ''pretty girl'' shows up.
** During a festival centering around Oshawott, Ash's Oshawott is using [[NotQuiteFlight Aqua Jet]] during an event. One glimpse at his crush, Osharina, caused him to lose control and crash into his trainer head first.
** One episode has Chespin having to run an errand for Clemont. Chespin continually ends up distracted along the way and one of the gags involved it being distracted by a Marill riding with its owner on a bike.
* DismissiveKick: There are two episodes where James does this to a Pokemon, and both times the Pokemon evolves right after he kicks it. The first time is in "Pokemon Shipwreck", where he kicks his Magikarp off the raft because it not only can't swim well, but it can't even be eaten. It then evolves into Gyarados, leading to both Ash's group and Team Rocket getting caught in a tornado created by Gyarados's Dragon Rage attack. The second time is in "Primeape Goes Bananas", when he kicks away a wild Mankey that interrupted him and Jessie when they were about to battle Ash. The Mankey then evolves into Primeape and goes on a rampage, eventually being caught by Ash by the end of the episode.
* ADogNamedDog: Almost all Pokémon that appear in the anime are not nicknamed. There are a few exceptions that belong to minor human characters especially when they own more than one of the same species but the number that are owned by main or re-occurring characters can probably be counted on one hand:
** Ritchie has nicknames for his Pokémon. He has a Charmeleon named Zippo, a Butterfree named Happy, a Pikachu named Sparky, a Pupitar named Cruise and a Taillow named Rose.
** In "The Pi-Kahuna", Victor owns a Pikachu named Puka.
** Marina has a Feraligatr named Wani-Wani, a Misdreavus named Little Miss and a Jigglypuff named Pink.
** Misty obtains a Luvdisc named "Caserin", James has a Growlithe named "Growlie" at his parents' home, Lillie nicknamed her Alolan Vulpix "Snowy" (The reason for this is due to Samson Oak obtaining another Vulpix that hatched at the same time as Snowy), and Lana named her Eevee "Sandy".
** Ren has a Magnemite who he calls Francois.
* DoomDoors: A door in Professor Oak's lab has this sound in the Chronicles episode ''Showdown At The Oak Corral''.
* DoubleStandard: Ash and his friends will always get angry at a trainer who release their Pokemon for being weak, and the narrative will take their side: in fact,it was a big part of the rivalry between Ash and Paul. Now, if a Pokemon decides to leave their trainers because they see them as weak? Well, that's just fine for them, and Ash will happily try to snatch them for himself; both Snivy and Froakie were captured this way.
* DramaPreservingHandicap: One of the recurring oddities of the show, especially of the early era under Takeshi Shudo's pen, was the fact that events kept conspiring to ''submarine'' Ash's journey ToBeAMaster by preventing him from having Pokémon that were both powerful (read: fully-evolved) and competent -- they could be one or the other, not both.
** Ash's Butterfree, the first Pokémon he'd ever fully evolved, was released to go participate in his mating season. [[PutOnABus He hasn't been seen since outside of rare flashbacks.]]
** Ash's Primeape left Ash's team to receive training from a professional boxing coach to become a P-1 Champion... except Primeape had already become a P-1 Champion in ''that very episode''[[note]]As a matter of fact, the reason Ash entered the P-1 competition in the first place was to convince the coach to retire from training Pokémon and spend more time with his family[[/note]]. Insultingly, this was also the episode in which the normally belligerent and disobedient Primeape finally bonded with Ash and began to listen to commands. He also hasn't been seen much outside of cameos in future Japanese openings.
** Ash's Pidgeotto evolved into Pidgeot and was left with a flock of other Pidgey and Pidgeotto in the very first episode of the Orange Islands arc. (Couldn't have Ash ''flying'' around the islands, now could we?) Despite his promise to return after he was done in the islands, Ash's writers haven't bothered with the bird in years.
** Misty had some of this, too -- when she returns to Cerulean City to briefly star in her sisters' underwater ballet, the episode ends with Misty's sisters relieving her of Starmie and Horsea.
** When Ash was allowed to ''keep'' powerful Pokémon, they would often have personality quirks, flaws, or foibles designed to prevent them from operating at maximum (or even remotely decent) efficiency. Most famously, Ash's Charizard was temperamental and often simply refused to lift a finger to help Ash in his battles. Late in the Orange Islands ([=EP105=]), Charizard is moved by Ash's devotion and finally decides to get its butt in gear. However, in the Johto arc, Ash is told that Charizard is too powerful and that he's been abusing its superiority, and the writers have him leave Charizard in the [[HiddenElfVillage Charicific Valley]] for training ([=EP134=])[[note]]The writers had apparently been planning this for a while, writing scenes to downplay Charizard's actual strength, such as when the Chikorita Ash would eventually catch managed to ''slam it into a mountainside''[[/note]]. So, for the 89 episodes Ash had a Charizard (he first achieved the form in [=EP046=]), the lizard was loyal for less than 30 of them before the writers did away with him. This made room for Cyndaquil, a little badger cub with powerful fire attacks... hampered by serious ignition problems, though Ash actually worked with Cyndaquil to overcome this problem a few episodes later.
** Ash's Sceptile is another good example -- it evolved from Grovyle to protect a Meganium it had fallen for... only to learn Meganium loved another. Its heartbreak crippled it so completely it couldn't use any special moves, though it got over this problem after only a couple of episodes.
** More recently, in XY, Ash's Goomy quickly evolved into a Sliggoo and then into a Goodra, a powerful pseudo-legendary Pokémon, and it had no issues obeying Ash. Soon after it fully evolved, Ash released it so that it could be with its friends at its swamp home.
** This eventually led to the writers utilizing the BagOfSpilling with the start of each new series, from ''Advanced Generation'' on -- Ash leaves his entire team, sans Pikachu, at Oak's lab just before he enters a new region. The narrative justifies this (somewhat) by him ''wanting'' to start from scratch and learn new things, and can (usually) be counted on to find some new way to DePower Pikachu accordingly. At least he brings back his old team members for tournaments....
** Greninja's "Ash-Greninja" form is strong enough to defeat Champion Diantha. However, Ash doesn't have full understanding of the transformation or even how to activate it. Furthermore, during the transformation Ash shares Greninja's pain and fatigue and they'll both pass if they push the form too hard. This obstacle is finally overcome after his first battle at the Snowbelle Gym.
* DubInducedPlotHole: In one episode, Shiftry kidnaps Nurse Joy by hitting her with Sleep Powder. However, the gang keeps referring to it as Stun Spore; a move that paralyzes a foe, not put them to sleep. Whoops.
* DudeNotFunny: InUniverse, international dub only, in "The Kangaskhan Kid". After the events of "Hypno's Naptime", Misty reacting to being asked if she was a Pokémon or a person as though she'd just been asked about her rack (as she was in the Japanese version) makes perfect sense, seeing she'd been hypnotized into believing she was a Seel in that episode.
* DeusExMachina: There were many episodes where Team Rocket have the upper hand against the “twerps”, but still lose due to an outside force:
** In the episode “Charmander, The Stray Pokemon,” Team Rocket managed to trap the “twerps” in a pit and capture Pikachu in a rubber ball. (rubber insulates electricity) Cue Damian’s Charmander arriving and using flamethrower on Team Rocket.
** In “The Pi-Kahuna,” Team Rocket successfully steal both Ash’s AND Victor’s Pikachu and put them in a glass cage that is immune to electricity. Shortly after, they get attack by Gyrados during mating season, which wasn’t mentioned ANYTIME in the episode. Cue Team Rocket blasting off again.
** In a Johto episode, the “twerps” are playing in the park and Team Rocket manages to capture ALL OF THEM. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a pack of Ursaring use Hyper Beam, popping the balloon.
* DumbassNoMore:
** In the first season, Ash was, to put it bluntly, a rather [[IdiotHero immature idiot]] who wasn't even that skilled a trainer; half his badges were given to him for some feat he performed rather than actually beating the Gym Leader, and Charizard's refusal to obey him was a long-running plot point. Beginning with the Orange Islands arc, he began to show more common sense and genuine skill, and from ''Advanced Generation'' to ''Diamond & Pearl'', while he was still [[HotBlooded reckless]] and occasionally naïve, it was clear he had matured, and he ended serving as a [[BigBrotherMentor mentor]] to [[NaiveNewcomer May and Dawn]], respectively.
** While he oddly returned to being an IdiotHero during ''Best Wishes'', this trope was taken even farther in ''XY'', where he hardly ever showed idiocy and was consistently depicted as a more than competent trainer.
** While his depiction in ''Sun & Moon'' has so far been more comedic, immature and idiotic than in ''XY'', he's managed to retain his battle competence from the latter, making him something of an IdiotSavant.
* EarlyBirdCameo: Plenty in the lead-up to each new generation, both in the series and the movies.
** [[VideoGame/PokemonGoldAndSilver Second]]: Ho-Oh (a literal example, appearing at the ending of the first episode ''two and a half years'' before appearing in the games), Togepi, Marill, Snubbull, Donphan, Elekid, Ledyba, Slowking, Hoothoot, Lugia.
** [[VideoGame/PokemonRubyAndSapphire Third]]: Azurill, Kecleon, Wailmer, Latias and Latios, Blaziken, Wynaut.
** [[VideoGame/PokemonDiamondAndPearl Fourth]]: Munchlax (in ''2004''), Lucario, Weavile, Bonsly, Mime Jr., Chatot, Buizel, Mantyke, Manaphy, Electivire.
** [[VideoGame/PokemonBlackAndWhite Fifth]]: Zoroark, Zorua.
** [[VideoGame/PokemonXAndY Sixth]]: Sylveon (and the [[OurFairiesAreDifferent Fairy-Type]] in general), Mega Mewtwo Y (and by extension the new [[SuperMode Mega Evolution]] mechanic), Gogoat, Helioptile, Noivern.
** [[VideoGame/PokemonSunAndMoon Seventh]]: Magearna.
** New forms also make their debut in the anime before any games. ''Anime/PokemonGiratinaAndTheSkyWarrior'' debuted Giratina's Origin Forme and Shaymin's Sky Forme prior to the release of ''Platinum''. ''Anime/PokemonDiancieAndTheCocoonOfDestruction'' featured Mega Diancie before ''Omega Ruby'' and ''Alpha Sapphire''. The second ''Mega Evolution'' special episode featured Mega Evolutions of Metagross and Rayquaza, also before ''Omega Ruby'' and ''Alpha Sapphire'', and ''XY&Z'' introduced Zygarde's alternate formes months before their official debut in ''Sun'' and ''Moon''.
** Additionally, in an example concerning humans, Gym Leader Roxie made her debut in the Pokémon anime nine days prior to the Japanese release of ''VideoGame/PokemonBlack2AndWhite2'', the games where she is introduced. This also extends to her bandmates, Billy Jo and Nicky, who are her guitarist and drummer in the games as well.
** Alexa, a character from ''X and Y'', appears during the Decolore Islands arc of ''Best Wishes''.
** Mewtwo appears in the Kanto League saga's intro for roughly half a second (at the very beginning, no less). It wasn't until 59 episodes later that he made his first physical appearance, setting him up to be the main antagonist in Anime/PokemonTheFirstMovie.
** The end of SM098 shows Detective Laki and his partners filming in an unnamed city that resembles London, England. 3 months later, the [[VideoGame/PokemonSwordAndShield Galar region]] was announced.
* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness:
** The entire Kanto saga can be considered this. Compare this saga, which only took around 80 episodes to complete, to later game-based League sagas. Another point is that the only Gym Leader of the Kanto League to dress ''remotely'' like his game counterpart was Koga, and even then his tunic was the wrong color (blue instead of black).
** The first season made mention of real animals existing alongside Pokémon multiple times: cows, mongooses, chickens, etc. The concept was dropped after Kanto.
** There was also a reference to Christianity when Misty tried to ward away a talking Gastly with a cross. Keep in mind, this was before [[OlympusMons Arceus]] existed.
** Other weirdness includes the occasional mention of real-world locations such as France, England, and most famously, Hollywood, which was the setting of an entire episode devoted to telling Meowth's backstory. That one in particular was actually just confined to the dub, since the original episode took place in a Kanto city that just happened to be ''called'' Hollywood.
** A few early Gym Leaders gave Ash their badges for helping them out in different ways, even though he didn't officially defeat them (the Cerulean and Celadon Gym Battles were interrupted by Team Rocket and a fire respectively, sprinklers that gave Pikachu an edge, and the Haunter that Ash led back to the Saffron Gym snapped Sabrina out of her EmotionlessGirl[=/=]CreepyChild persona)— starting with Lt. Surge, and later with Koga, no other leaders have made exceptions like these. The closest exception that was made was in Sinnoh when Ash and Maylene battled to a draw, where it was at the discretion of the Gym Leader as to whether the trainer deserved a badge.
*** This was {{lampshaded}} at the Cinnabar Gym, when Ash expects to receive his badge for helping solve a problem, but Blaine only intended to let him re-challenge him for it.
*** The Pewter Gym challenge itself is another example of this trope. Pikachu setting off the sprinkler was seen as cheating, but in later episodes when a Pokémon would do something similar to that, such as destroying Maylene's roof or turning off the lights in the battle with Anabel, it was seen as using the field to their advantage and was perfectly legal. Somewhat lampshaded in the Chronicles episode "A Family That Battles Together, Stays Together!" when Brock mentions that Ash defeated Onix using a Pikachu when talking to his family about type advantages not being everything, then going ahead and doing something similar (having his Onix Dig a hole in the floor of the gym to remove the water).
** It also seemed that the Kanto Gym Leaders could freely substitute their own Pokémon during a Gym battle. The rule that only a challenger could make substitutions was first introduced in Ash's Orange League Championship battle. This rule was carried over to the Johto gyms and has been a standard gym battle rule ever since, with the odd exception of Lenora at the Nacrene Gym.
** Emphasis on RuleOfFunny also led to some bizarre situations, like a talking Gastly which godmodded by conjuring up illusions (rather than using typical moves) to counter any Pokémon attack.
** The episode "Bad To The Bone" has Jessie try to catch Otoshi's Doduo with a Poke Ball despite the fact he already owns it. In later episodes, when a character tries to catch a Pokémon under the ownership of someone else already, the Ball refuses to work, so Jessie should've known she's wasting her time. But the ball was knocked away by Marowak's bone club, so we don't know what would've happened. Interestingly, this is averted in the Japanese CD drama based on [[Anime/PokemonTheFirstMovie the first movie]], in which Giovanni steals a defeated trainer's Magmar.
** There was also the Pokédex, who is usually just a computer spouting off information about Pokémon. In the first episode, it seemed to have a personality as a DeadpanSnarker, acting like a dick toward Ash when he found a Rattata going through his bag. This is different in ''Sun and Moon'' where the Rotom Pokédex is its own character.
** Levels were also mentioned in [[Recap/PokemonS1E9TheSchoolOfHardKnocks one episode]], such as saying Pidgey would evolve at level 18 or that Pikachu should be at level 25 after two months.
** There are lots of variants seen before Shiny Pokémon became a canon mechanic in Johto, and alternate formes in Alola. Even then, the ''term'' "Shiny" itself isn't canon until Unova.
** The very first episode is the ''only'' episode, until "[[Recap/PokemonS14E16RematchAtTheNacreneGym Rematch at the Nacrene Gym]]" (#673, in the ''Best Wishes'' arc), in which Team Rocket does not appear.
** On a meta level, episodes written by Creator/TakeshiShudo, most of which are from the first two seasons (and became increasingly rarer before he left during Johto), are noticeably more mature in tone, focusing on the darker aspects of the Pokémon universe. The clash between these and the vast majority of episodes, which are far more lighthearted, is quite jarring to viewers.
** The first season, in general, has an overall ... ''[[WorldGoneMad different]]'' feel to it than the vast majority of what followed, having zanier episode plots and a more openly comedic-- sometimes bordering on [[KafkaKomedy Kafka Komedic]]-- tone, including several BreakingTheFourthWall moments. Possibly subverted now that this style has resurfaced once again in the ''Sun and Moon'' series.
** The first three episodes of the Orange Islands arc used the original theme for the English dub. Starting with "[[Recap/PokemonS2E4TheLostLapras The Lost Lapras]]", each episode opened with "Pokémon World" until the arc's conclusion.
** Pokémon with a weakness to Water-type attacks were originally treated as being averse to water in general. This was later retconned, as Fire, Ground, and Rock type are regularly shown drinking, swimming, and bathing in water with no ill effects.
* EarthDrift: Just like the game series, the anime has been subject to this over the years. The Indigo seasons, Orange Islands and some Johto seasons reference a number of real world locations and concepts (like real holidays), but later seasons pointedly do not.
* EggMacguffin: Starting in the first series, one of the members of the cast find or are given a Pokémon egg. This egg eventually hatches into a Pokémon that joins the cast. Usually the egg has a pattern that indicates what species it'll hatch into.
** Ash has had a Phanpy, Larvitar, Scraggy, Noibat and [[spoiler:Riolu]] hatch from eggs over the course of the anime.[[note]]In a subversion of the egg patterning that had appeared for all eggs prior to it, the last of these was simply white with blue spots, similar to the ones that can be found in ''VideoGame/PokemonGo''.[[/note]]
** Misty adopted Togepi, the very first egg ever seen in the anime.
** Brock was given an egg that hatched into a Happiny in the Diamond and Pearl saga.
** May was given an egg that hatched into an Eevee.
** Dawn was given a Cyndaquil egg.
** At the beginning of the ''Sun and Moon'' series, Ash and his mother were given an red egg by Professor Oak to deliver to his cousin, who lives in the Alola region. This egg would be later used in an assignment alongside a white egg that was found on Mt.Lanakila. Lillie chose the white egg to raise while Samson Oak took care of the red egg. Both would eventually hatch into Vulpix. Lillie received the Alolan Vulpix, which she would name Snowy while Samson obtained the Kantonian Vulpix.
* EldritchAbomination: Toned down some from the games' Pokédex descriptions, but some of the Pokémon remain delightfully creepy.
* ElementalHair: The Eevee brothers -- the yellow-haired Sparky having a Jolteon, the redhead Pyro a Flareon, the blue-haired Rainer a Vaporeon, and brown haired Mikey has an unevolved Eevee.
* ElementalRockPaperScissors: Following with the game's rules, though these can be [[LoopholeAbuse bent sometimes]] (Pikachu being able to harm Ground Pokémon with Electric moves, just for starters).
* EmpathyPet: A lot of Pokémon behave in a similar fashion to their trainers, or at the very least their primary Pokémon does. Serena's Fennekin for example has a similar [[TheFashionista personality]] to her trainer.
** Cameron's Riolu is an unusual case: They had a tight bond and it and had a habit of mimicking him, making Riolu appear to be the straightest example of one, but it subverts this by being visibly exasperated whenever Cameron's scatterbrained nature gets him in a pickle.
* EraSpecificPersonality: Most recurring characters' personalities tend to fluctuate with each change of region. The competence of both Ash and Team Rocket tends to be the most prominent victim.
* EverybodyCries: All of Gary Oak's cheerleaders cry whenever Gary loses a match.
-->'''Misty:''' If I cried every time Ash lost, I'd be waterlogged.
* EveryoneCanSeeIt: Serena has a crush on Ash, and nearly every girl around them (notably Alexa, Miette, Bonnie, and Shauna) catches on [[ObliviousToLove long before Ash does]].
** Everyone can see that Ash and Misty care for each other despite their constant fights (or maybe ''because'' of it...) as pointed out by several characters in the show (Nurse Joy, Tracey and even Danny).
* EveryoneOwnsAMac: Of the HoldYourHippogriffs variety, even. As [[http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/PC Bulbapedia]] has pointed out, if a PC appears in this series, chances are it's running the Pokéverse equivalent of Mac OS.
* EverythingsBetterWithSparkles: In a Contest battle, anything + everything = sparkles.
* EvilerThanThou: Most arc villains tend to bitch slap Team Rocket out of the picture to prove their villainous cred. This was especially bad in the Hoenn era, where even most minor comical antagonists reduced Team Rocket to their ButtMonkey. Downplayed with odd cases such as Team Plasma and Team Flare, who were more sinister but fell to Team Rocket following an EnemyMine, and flat-out subverted by Team Skull, who are even ''more'' LaughablyEvil than Team Rocket.
* EvilVersusEvil: Teams Magma and Aqua [[VideoGame/PokemonRubyAndSapphire as]] [[Manga/PokemonAdventures always]], and Teams Rocket vs. all the other regional evil teams as well.
* EvolvingCredits: From the ''Battle Frontier'' season onwards, the Japanese opening sequences (and some ending sequences) would start changing to reflect the team's Pokémon that had evolved over the course of the season. In the vast majority of cases, the dub openings/endings drop all forms of evolution, generally using the first version of any evolving sequence in question.
** Alongside the evolving Pokémon in ''Battle Frontier'' (and the third opening for that series, ''Spurt'') the openings hid the Frontier Brains in silhouettes until they made their official appearances.
** Done rather interestingly with the first ''Black and White'' opening, where, in the opening for the first episode, everything, including all the Pokémon, are in black and white, except for Pikachu who shows up fully colored. In the second episode's opening, as Pikachu passes the Pokémon, any that were seen in the previous episode start filling in with color to show who's been seen so far.
** The dub plays it straight for ''Adventures in Unova'''s opening -- the footage changed to the opening used in the Episode N and then the Decolore arc when it reached those points.
** The ''XY'' episode cards were later updated to have Serena's attire change.
** The first ending for ''Sun and Moon'' changes the image of Lillie when she obtains her egg, and again when the egg hatches into [[spoiler:Alolan Vulpix]] and becomes her partner.
** A minor switch occurred for the ending in ''Journeys'', where after the first 19 episodes Pokémon Shiritori: Pikachu -> Mew Version was replaced by the Mew -> Zamazenta Version of the same song. It then immediately had its own evolution an episode later after [[spoiler:Riolu]] hatched (the episode 20 version simply featured [[spoiler:Riolu]]'s egg, [[SpoilerOpening which hadn't appeared yet]]).
* ExponentialPlotDelay: The relatively straightforward journey to each AdventureTown to get a badge, and later Victory Road for the tournament of champions, can take more than one season to complete. See {{Filler}} for more details.
* ExtremelyShortIntroSequence: The English dub intro has shortened over time. The Alola intros are half the length of the Kanto intros. They're on average 30 seconds, which is shorter than most intros.
* ExtremeMeleeRevenge: While ToonPhysics prevented any serious injuries, the heroes were sometimes left ''very'' pissy from Team Rocket's schemes. Cue a no holds barred barrage of Pokémon attacks on the Pokémon and their trainers for as much as it takes to make them blast off, be they attacking, retreating or begging for mercy.
* FailureIsTheOnlyOption. The writers have ''never allowed'' Ash to win a ''regional'' tournament (with the exception of the Orange League, which doesn't exist in the games). He'll always lose no matter what. Their logic behind this thinking is that if he wins one single tournament, from one single area of the world, his entire journey ends. [[spoiler: Mercifully averted at long last with Ash's much-celebrated victory in the Alola League.]]
** Similarly, Team Rocket will never hold onto Pikachu long enough to deliver him to Giovanni. Nor will they ever steal any other Pokémon and/or goods without them getting taken back and subsequently being launched into the stratosphere. Even if they have a legitimately genius plan and come close to succeeding, ''something'', whether it’s their own [[SmugSnake cockiness,]] [[DeusExMachina the protagonists getting lucky,]] [[IgnoredEnemy their failure to account for their other Pokémon,]] or any combination of the three, something will always ensure that they are perpetually empty-handed. And once the Hoenn saga rolled around, Team Rocket became a trio of delusional, pathetic, and annoying clowns who get their asses beat by [[IronButtmonkey literally everyone.]]
* {{Fainting}}: Mostly in the first season.
* FantasyKitchenSink: At various points we've had psychics, [[KiManipulation aura]], ghosts, HumongousMecha, Magic (albeit very little), HardLight Holograms, a few superheroes (an aged Franchise/{{Batman}} parody, and a Franchise/KamenRider parody), ToonPhysics, WeirdScience, Cloning, {{Pirate}}s, {{Ninja}}s [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking and a talking cat]]. And that's just the stuff that doesn't apply to the Pokémon themselves (though most of these do).
* FemaleMonsterSurprise: When the Togepi from ''Where No Togepi Has Gone Before!'' uses Attract, affecting Pikachu, Croagunk and Meowth, confirming that this Togepi is female, as James points out. Jessie realizes her Yanmega wasn't affected, asking "You are a girl?!", surprised, while Yanmega glows red.
%%* FightingSeries
* {{Filler}}: Throughout every season, but more noticeable after Kanto. Justified on a meta-level by multiple concerns -- one, Filler allows the anime to lend the spotlight to the increasingly vast number of Pokémon; two, the games themselves tend to be so sparsely-plotted ([[StrictlyFormula some kid from some backwoods town goes on a journey to become Champion, fighting a rival and an evil organization along the way]]) that the anime would be at constant risk of [[OvertookTheManga Overtook the Games]] if it ''[[Administrivia/TropesAreTools didn't]]'' employ Filler. Regardless, it ''still'' [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools drags on]] -- [[http://bmgf.bulbagarden.net/f228/filler-percentages-saga-saga-71342/ fifty percent of Ash's travels in Johto were filler.]]
** ''Black & White'' is a unique example: the show originally ''was'' plotted to be much more like the games, especially the plot arc of the first of the set, and would have even culminated in N's Castle rising dramatically from the ground as it does in the games... and then the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_T%C5%8Dhoku_earthquake_and_tsunami Tohoku Earthquake]] happened. As can be imagined, any plans to have a castle rise out of the ground via an earthquake were ''immediately'' thrown in the dumpster and the entire generation's plot arc was immediately and hastily re-plotted to try and get around having to address the end sequence of ''[=B&W=]'''s game version. This resulted in a fair bit of obvious filler where the original N arc was going to be, and the eventual Team Plasma and N arc being a continuous string of episodes set after the League, combining elements of both the original games and their sequels. The ongoing ''Team Rocket'' arc, on the other hand, managed to go by unscathed, concluding with [[spoiler: Ash finally facing Giovanni.]]
* FillingTheSilence: The dub has ''very'' few moments of silence, the maximum being about three seconds of silence per episode. The old episodes were short on silent moments as well, but the silent moments were much easier to find back then.
* AFistfulOfRehashes: "Showdown at Dark City" is basically ''Film/{{Yojimbo}}''...[[RecycledINSPACE with Pokémon!]] And two rival gyms going too far with the SeriousBusiness! [[LighterAndSofter And rated TV-Y7!]]
* FlamingMeteor: The move 'Draco Meteor' is depicted as the user summoning dozens of flaming boulders from the sky. This is in contrast to the [[VideoGame/{{Pokemon}} games]] where the same move calls down a number of non-flaming blueish-green meteors.
* FluffyFashionFeathers: A few feather boas are worn, one by a Socialite on the St. Anne.
* ForgedMessage: In "Wherefore Art Thou, Pokémon?", two young Trainers, Emily and Ralph, hate each other even though the Nidorans they own are in love with each other. Misty schemes to write Emily and Ralph each a letter supposedly from each other so that they will fall in love too. It backfires very badly as the gifts Misty sends with the letters are unintentionally insensitive, causing Ralph and Emily to accuse each other of playing a sick joke.
* ForgottenFramingDevice: The movies tend to start with narration, but unlike episodes of the show, the narrator doesn't come back at the end.
* FreeRangeChildren: No one finds it disconcerting that ten-year olds run about the world by themselves - except [[OverprotectiveDad Bianca's father,]] and he gets over it by episode's end. That's what they do in the world of Pokémon so it's usually never a problem.
* FrenchMaidOutfit: The "Tanks for the Memories!" episode sees the gang helping out at a Maid Cafe because the joint was temporarily understaffed (Brock was training one of the maids working there). This results in Dawn, Ash (again!) and even some of their mons dressing up in these outfits.
* FunnyAfro: Everybody wears afro wigs in "Baffling The Bouffalant!", because the Bouffalant won't attack anybody who has a similar hairstyle to their natural afros.
* FunnyOctopus: James' Inkay gets in on the slapstick and mischief as much as any Team Rocket member.
* GRatedSex: Though the occasional egg pops up, the game's Breeding mechanic hasn't really been covered in the anime. That probably has to do with the fact the anime is made for kids. Then, all of a sudden, [=SM044=] features the legendaries of Alola, Solgaleo and Lunala, pretty much procreating a brand new Cosmog. ''[[WhatDoYouMeanItsForKids Right in front of Ash]].'' Of course, the way it comes about involves both Legendaries [[BizarreAlienReproduction dissolving into space dust and mixing together to instantaneously form a brand new Cosmog]].
* GagDub: While not technically a parody, the English dub usually results in RuleOfFunny and tons of Lampshading.
* GenderEqualEnsemble: The X/Y and Sun/Moon seasons do this with the main characters.
** X/Y has 2 boys and 2 girls as main characters.
** Sun/Moon has 3 boys and 3 girls as main characters.
* GenderSeparatedEnsembleEpisode: Most series partake in the odd one of these, though the ''Sun and Moon'' series in particular had a fair amount of development episodes with the group divided, helped by being three boys and three girls. More commonly, Ash, Kiawe and Sophocles' agenda got the main bulk of screen time, with only one or two episodes focused primarily on Lillie, Lana and Mallow as a unit.
%%* GenreShift: Due to the fact that Alola doesn't have gyms and/or a Pokémon League, and centers on Ash attending a trainer's school, the Sun and Moon series of the Pokémon anime might be incorporating elements of SliceOfLife alongside the Action the series is mostly known for.
* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff: An InUniverse example in the Sun and Moon anime. Pikachu, a Kanto-native Pokémon, is quite popular in Alola.
* TheGhost: The two other trainers who started their adventures at the same time as Ash and Gary are mentioned a couple of times, but never seen, and despite having been ahead of Ash on the badge collecting front halfway through his journey, it's noted that they drop out before the Indigo League even starts and they completely disappear.
* GhostLegLottery: In the XY series episode "An Undersea Place to Call Home", Clemont creates a computer program that draws up a ghost leg to determine which two of the four of them would get to occupy the two empty spots on-board the researchers' mini-submarine and go investigate the ship wreck underwater. Ash and Serena end up winning.
* GoKartingWithBowser: Team Rocket interchange between trying to steal Pokémon and trying out legitimate contests and businesses on the side. Especially apparent in the Sinnoh era where they actually become much better at it than their usual villainous job.
* GoodIsNotSoft: Ash and most of the other heroes are sweet, charitable, and have a suicidally forgiving streak. Keep crossing them however, and expect a NoHoldsBarredBeatdown from their most powerful Pokemon. Team Rocket are at the brunt of [[FriendlyEnemy both]] [[ExtremeMeleeRevenge extremes]] of this trope on a regular basis.
* GoodVersusGood: Routinely shows Ash battling against his friends and travel companions, typically for sport or for training purposes. More often than not these battles are zero-stakes, but occasionally he does have to battle a friend with a lot on the line, such as battling Misty for the Cascade Badge not long after she started traveling with him, or the various friends he makes during his League Tournament runs that he inevitably battles (to various results), such as Ritchie, Morrison, Alain, Stephan, and Cameron. In general, the very nature of Pokémon battling in the series means that 99% of battles are between "good" people, battling for fun or for glory.
* GottaCatchEmAll:
** Despite this being the series' CatchPhrase, actually completely averted in regards to the Pokémon. Ash isn't interested in capturing every Pokémon, he's just on a journey to explore his limits. He catches a few Pokémon, enough to fill up a team, in each region but he doesn't just throw a pokeball at every new Pokémon he comes across. The main reason for this is because Pokémon are treated as characters in their own right and the cast size would be ''[[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters bloated]]'' if Ash did attempt to catch them all.
*** ...at least until ''Journeys'', in which Ash's new companion Goh is specifically on a quest to catch as many different Pokémon as possible.
** The series does have actual {{Plot Coupon}}s for Ash to actually quest for, namely he needs to acquire 8 gym badges from a region in order to compete in that region's Pokémon League. And during the Advanced Generation and Diamond and Pearl series, May and Dawn had to win 5 Contest Ribbons in order to compete in the region's Grand Festival. Serena also required 3 Princess Keys to reach the Showcase finales in the XY series.
* GrandfatherClause: Brock's main RunningGag is to [[LovableSexManiac fall in love and embarrass himself by flirting with any pretty girl he sees]]. Such a character trait can't be tacked on to later characters in a children's series without it coming off as creepy or demeaning to the woman in question, but Brock can get away with it since that's his most well-known character trait -- and because his flirtations are incredibly goofy and end with him being dragged away by Misty/Max/Croagunk, making them explicitly comedic rather than sinister.
* GratuitousEnglish: Oh so very much. And the Japanese opening themes amount to little more than this and boatloads of random Pokémon terms with a catchy tune. Case in point: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=weMviilwDGg&feature=related Everyday is spelled evierdai]] Lyrics are [[http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/The_Greatest_-_Everyday! here]].
** The seasons based off of ''Black/White'' is called ''Best Wishes'' in Japan.
** Clips from 4Kids' English dub were even repurposed in Japan as ''Pokémon de English'' (the title of which itself is an example of this trope, as the word "English" is used instead of its Japanese equivalent, "eigo"), an [[UnconventionalLearningExperience English-teaching segment]] hosted by characters from the show.
* GravityIsAHarshMistress: In "Pokémon Shipwreck", Ash wakes up on the floor of the capsized S.S. Anne, and stays there until Misty and Brock tell him he's on what's now the ceiling. Only then does he fall to the ground, landing on Pikachu.
* GreenAesop: Almost unique for both the series and the trope in that it ''doesn't'' drop the proverbial anvil (a few exceptions exist here and there). Beyond the obvious demonizing of poachers and animal abusers, it really just provides an example of humanity gone right. Animal rights are rarely an issue (especially because TheDogBitesBack with a ''vengeance'' if you kick one too hard). It's rare that smog from vehicles is even seen despite the existence of personal automobiles and heavy air transport, the skies are perennially clear and blue even over the largest metropolises, and huge tracts of land go free of harm. Even when pollution is referenced (outside of the Koffing, Grimer, and Trubbish families), it's never actually seen, or else is promptly cleaned up. And no one says a word. ''Because no one has to.''
** One example is [[PollutedWasteland Gringy City]] found in an early episode in the first season, whose air and water is so polluted from the extremely exaggerated number of factories most of which seem to exist only to pollute the air and water. The water is green and polluted with multiple [[MuckMonster Grimer and Muk]] (because of all the factories), the air is dark and filled with soot (because of all the factories), and there's no grassy area to speak of ([[RuleOfThree because of all the factories]]). Misty and Brock then end the episode by telling Nurse Joy and Officer Jenny that the Sludge Pokémon are a good indication that they should probably clean the place up a little.
** Another example is the early Diglett episode, in which Pokémon even refuse to come out of their Poke Balls to stop the Diglett. It turns out they already knew that the Diglett would be harmed by the dam construction, so shouldn't be stopped. It is also shown that the Diglett created the valley forests, and implied that they [[PaintingTheFrostOnWindows create ALL the forests in the world]] (even though we NEVER see any evidence of this outside this episode).
** Most mentions of environmentalism are played for laughs when Team Rocket mentions how certain aspects of their schemes are good for the environment.
* GreyAndGreyMorality: This was the case in the Kanto arc in ''Pokemon''. Ash was portrayed as a brash, arrogant, and immature trainer who would act like a jerk to others sometimes (and Misty who was a frequent target of his roasts, either provoked or not). On the other hand, when Ash ''wasn't'' being a jerk, the others would be unnecessarily cruel to him by not only insulting him, but insulting his training skills when Ash was just a rookie trainer.
* GullibleLemmings: As often as the heroes outmatch Team Rocket, you can almost always expect them to fall hook, line and sinker for a booby trap or PaperThinDisguise beforehand. Played with for Meowth's HeelFaceMole stunts, since the heroes have become increasingly suspicious and prone to LampshadeHanging as they've continued. Even then though, he usually still manages to wheedle his way in eventually.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:H-M]]
* {{Hammerspace}}: This appears in several varieties:
** The backpacks, which are not very big, but contain anything from large food supplies to camping tables and even an umbrella (in ''Anime/PokemonTheFirstMovie'', for example).
** Poke Balls are usually worn on the trainer's belt, but are usually not visible, and trainers grab Poke Balls from under their jacket.
** The Poké Balls themselves serve as technological hammerspace for Pokémon. Interestingly, any size Pokémon fits in a Poke Ball, but each ball can only fit one Pokémon. Poke Balls can also shrink and grow in size.
** Where does Team Rocket get the materials to create their giant mechs, nifty gadgets and other toys? Come to think of it, where does Clemont keep all of his materials for his inventions?
* HamsterWheelPower: The bicycling variant shows up with Brock trying to provide power in "The Fleeing Tower Of Sunyshore", because Team Rocket stole the power source for the city.
* HauntedHeadquarters: Cerise Laboratory was known to Professor Cerise as being haunted by a Gengar, but he bought the place anyways believing it would be more amusing than anything.
* HeIsNotMyBoyfriend / SheIsNotMyGirlfriend: Ash and Misty in the original series.
--> '''Nurse Joy:''' You know, they say that if two people fight, they really care about each other.
--> '''Ash/Misty:''' ME? Care about HER/HIM? Hmmph!
* HeroOfAnotherStory: The fate of the supporting characters when they inevitably [[TheFellowshipHasEnded depart Ash's company at the conclusion of each saga]]; they still carry on their own journeys to see their own goals through, but do so offscreen.
%%* HexagonalSpeechBalloon
* HumanPopsicle: If you count Pokémon, Pryce's Piloswine counts. In "As Cold As Pryce", we learn it was frozen in a glacier for many years, and defrosted harmlessly.
* HumblePie: If Ash starts acting cocky once the episode gets underway, he is ''guaranteed'' to get served one by the time it ends.
* HurricaneOfPuns: The 4Kids dub did this frequently, especially in the early episodes of Season 1.
** Puns are quite frequent in the original Japanese version too. The Diglett episode from the original series had an endless stream of bad puns in the original, far more so than its dubbed version. Blame the lack of knowledge of this on the lack of available fansubs.
* HypnosisProofDogs: Inverted in a later episode where Team Rocket used a Drowzee's hypnosis specifically to brainwash Pokémon but not their trainers.
* IKnowYouAreInThereSomewhereFight:
** In Pikachu Re-Volts, When Ash's Pikachu, Misty's Togepi and Team Rocket's Pokémon were put under Butch and Cassidy's control, their Trainers tried to get through to their Pokémon friends but they weren't able to hear their voice. However, Ash decided to taunt Pikachu into attacking him then had him destroyed the machine that was controlling him and the other Pokémon, which worked.
** In Gathering the Gang of Four!, Ash called out to his Charizard when it was under Brandon's Dusclops Confuse Ray as he was able to snap it out of its effects. Although, in the next episode, Ash's Bulbasaur went through the same thing and he successfully got though to it.
** In A Conspiracy to Conquer!, Jessie, James, their Pokémon, Ash's Pikachu, Bonnie, Clemont and Serena were hypnotized by a rouge Malamar. Although Mewoth tried to reach out to his friends but too no avail, Ash had more success in reaching out to Pikachu as he was able to hear his voice and tried to fight back through strong will power.
** In the Aura Storm!: Korrina's Lucario had trouble controlling its Aura as it would go berserk whenever it Mega Evolved and it would ignore Korrina. However, in the next episode, during an attack from Team Rocket, Lucario heard Korrina calling out to it and was able to control its Aura long enough to finish them off before losing control again. After some training and hearing Korrina's voice in the following episode, Lucario overcame it and no longer loses control.
** In A Slippery Encounter!, Ash's Pikachu and Talonflame, while it was a Fletchinder, got hit by James' Inkay Psybeam attack as it made them confused. Because they were confused, they attacked each other until Ash grabbed both of them as he tried to calm them down but it wasn't until the effects wore off that got them back to their senses.
* IceCrystals: the Ice Stone as it appears is a completely polished translucent icy-blue stone with a snowflake contained within.
* ImagineSpot: Meowth's "boss fantasies", where he outlines why Team Rocket should steal the Pokémon of the day and give it to Giovanni. Despite their ludicrous nature, they invariably convince Jessie & James. They were especially prominent during ''Advanced Generation'' and still occasionally feature to this day.
* ImprobableInfantSurvival: Generally the cuter the Pokémon is, the less liable they are to get knocked about in battles or other threats (Ash and Team Rocket, being the mainstays and most active characters, are usually the exceptions to this rule, though not always). To exemplify, the Team Flare arc demonstrated the ongoing threat level by having most of Ash's fully evolved Pokémon [[TheWorfEffect quickly knocked out by Lysandre]]. Clemont and Serena's teams, despite being far less experienced and largely consisting of more childlike unevolved Pokemon, fought throughout the entire climax without suffering a single scratch.
* ImprovisedLightningRod: Grass types, which are only resistant to electricity in the games, sometimes use a strategy of digging roots or vines into the ground to disperse electric attacks.
* InescapableNet:
** Pokémon caught inside Team Rocket's nets will only rarely manage to free themselves, despite them usually being pretty powerful in battle. Usually handwaved as being electric/whatever proof nets. The peak of this trope may be when Team Rocket captured Cresselia, a ''Legendary Pokemon'', with an ordinary net. Granted, Cresselia's main power is to grant good dreams, which is useless for escaping from a net.
** Notably averted in one ''Advanced''' episode: Ash simply had Grovyle cut the net with Leaf Blade.
* InexplicablyIdenticalIndividuals:
** Nurse Joy and Officer Jenny were the original TropeNamer (under the name "Nurse Jenny"). Both of them are an extensive and very widespread family of pink haired nurses and blue haired police officers who look mostly identical save for small differences in their hats. After the ''Diamond and Pearl'' series, they started to deviate a bit in their general designs and what Pokémon they use but they're all just as dedicated to their jobs.
** ''Best Wishes'' had two male examples in the form of Don George and Porter. The Don Georges run faculties known as Battle Clubs where trainers battle and often hold tournaments. The Porters run a ferry service in the Decolore Islands. Neither have been seen since the ending of the ''Best Wishes'' series though.
* InstantCostumeChange: Team Rocket often partake in such to achieve their PaperThinDisguise dupes. At one point Meowth did a rapid multi costume change to mimic a transform ability.
* IntelligibleUnintelligible: Most Pokémon use Pokémon Speak that humans don't understand, but most all Pokémon understand each other. Since Meowth can also speak English, he often serves as a translator for humans when the other Pokémon are trying to communicate something.
** Also averted with most Legendaries who speak through telepathy. Oddly not averted with Victini in its two movies, though justified as a major part of the plot was Ash discovering Victini's tragic past, which if Victini just told him at the beginning the movie would be cut in half.
* InterspeciesFriendship: Friendship, trust, and understanding between trainers and their Pokémon are recurring themes on the show.
* InterspeciesRomance: Tropius/Meganium, Golduck/Azumarill, Bulbasaur/Gloom etc. Breeding group is also not important (Lombre/Mawile; Lombre is in the Water 1 and Plant groups, while Mawile is in the Ground and Fairy. Marill/Elekid: a Water 1 and Ground and a No Eggs who evolves into one in the Humanshape). There are also some Human/Pokémon examples (Ash/Pikachu, Ash/Bayleef, Ash/Aipom, Ash/Latias, Cassandra/Meowth, Harley's Cacturn/Jessie). Most of the love is one sided and on the human/Pokémon it's always on the Pokémon's side, except for [[TooKinkyToTorture Gardenia and her fetish]].
* IsleOfGiantHorrors:
** After surviving the sinking of the St. Anne, Ash's party and Team Rocket end up stuck on an island made up of malfunctioning giant animatronic Pokémon, separated from their Pokémon.
** Another episode during the OI season has Meowth and Pikachu [[ChainedHeat tied together]] in the middle of Fairchild Island, an island containing giant Rhydon and Pidgeot who attack anyone that comes near.
%%* ItMakesSenseInContext: Most of the examples on this page. Can also happen in RealLife as well.
* JourneyToTheCenterOfTheMind: In "Address Unown!", a Unown puts Ash and friends into Larvitar's mind to help it get past traumatic events.
* JumpedAtTheCall: Happens on occasion. Misty's Psyduck, James's Mime Jr., and Ash's Froakie all literally caught themselves by activating unused Poké Balls.
* {{Justification}}: In the games, the AI rarely ever switches Pokémon, even when it would benefit them to do so and even though it's essential to player vs. player battling strategy. For this reason, most Gym Battles in the anime have the referee announce that the Gym Leader is not allowed to switch Pokémon. One exception was Ash's Gym Battle with Lenora, where switching was ''explicitly allowed''.
* {{Kaiju}}: Legendary Pokémon are anywhere from "extra-large" to "titanic" in size, especially if it's a more "beastly" Legendary (Groudon, Rayquaza, Giratina). Non-Legendary examples include the cliff-sized Dragonite in "Mystery at the Lighthouse" and the skyscraper-tall Tentacruel in "Tentacool and Tentacruel".
%% * KidsRock: 2 B A Master
* KilledOffForReal: While deaths are rare in Pokemon, unlike most other animes, Dr. Fuji is vaporized when Mewtwo destroys his lab. Which is impressive considering Team Rocket only gets sent [[JokerImmunity blasting off]] from explosions.
** In the sixth movie, [[spoiler: Latios [[HeroicSacrifice sacrifices himself]] to save the city.]]
** In ''Lucario and the Mystery of Mew'', [[spoiler: Lucario also sacrifices himself, but in a [[FamilyUnfriendlyDeath more graphic way]] than Latios.]]
** In ''Diamond and Pearl'', [[spoiler: Hunter J]] is blown up when [[spoiler: Uxie and Mesprit take out her ship and cause it to crash into Lake Valor]]. And in the following episode, [[spoiler: Cyrus [[SelfDisposingVIllain enters a portal to a newly created dimension that is destroyed by Dialga and Palkia shortly after]] ]].
* KnifeOutline: In "No Stone Unturned", Hau's Dartrix uses a Razor Leaf attack, causing this effect on Ash, Pikachu, and Rotomdex.
* {{Kodomomuke}}: The series is mainly intended for children, which is even more prominent in later seasons when the FleetingDemographicRule starts to show. That said, in Japanese, the older seasons (especially the movies) were a bit more family-oriented thanks to Takeshi Shudo's work on the show.
* LateArrivalSpoiler: The series doesn't particularly care about plot threads that were presented as twists in the games. For example, the identity of Lillie's family, which was a major twist not revealed until two-thirds of the way into ''VideoGame/PokemonSunAndMoon'', is given away a mere eight episodes into the Alola series. And [[spoiler:Ultra Necrozma]], the surprise OneWingedAngel form of Necrozma? It's the very first form of it seen in the series! [[spoiler: Interestingly, the big reveal behind the nature of Necrozma is that Ultra Necrozma (known as "The Radiant One" in Alolan Legends) and the large black crystalline thing (regular Necrozma) are one in the same and that its name is "Necrozma"]].
* LaterInstallmentWeirdness: Each era adds new main characters and stipulations according to the games they adapt. ''Best Wishes'' in particular offered a few formula breakers, such as making the Team Rocket trio more minor, but far more competent and serious antagonists. Another formula breaker of ''Best Wishes'' was Ash's capture of nine new Pokémon, which he kept in regular rotation and stored at Professor Juniper's lab, rather than Professor Oak's, if they were off his active party. ''Sun & Moon'' features the biggest departure from the standard formula; instead of traveling around Alola, Ash attends a Pokémon School with Lillie and four of the Trial Captains (but they aren't Trial Captains as the job doesn't exist in the anime's canon) from the games.
** In an odd mix of Early ''and'' Later Installment Weirdness, Ash would usually have a full party of six by the later parts of his adventures. In Kanto, Ash NEVER had a full party for more than a few episodes at a time until the Orange Islands; they had a tendency to be [[PutOnABus released/given away and given little to no mention ever again.]] Kalos and Alola by contrast had Ash catch three Pokémon (Pikachu making four) and have another one make Team Member #5, which he would later release. Ash would then catch another Pokémon to fill the hole, and near the saga's end, Team Member #5 would return to Ash's party, making it a full six.
** ''Journeys'' has much less to do with its corresponding games, though it does introduce elements, characters, and Pokemon from the ''VideoGame/PokemonSwordandShield'' games somewhat with a decent degree of frequency. The focus is put much more on what Pokemon is about, with episodes focusing on things like evolution and shiny hunting, and leans towards ''VideoGame/PokemonGo'' more than anything.
* LaughOfLove: In the episode "[[Recap/PokemonS18E10UnderThePledgingTree Under the Pledging Tree]]", when Ash asks Serena what gifts she's planning to get while she's thinking that the two of them are on a date, she quickly replies "I'm not sure yet!", while chuckling nervously.
* LawyerFriendlyCameo: There have been a few over the course of the series' run.
** Don't [[http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/File:Sakura_and_Tomoyo_DP077.png these two]] [[Manga/CardcaptorSakura look familiar]]?
** [[http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Doyle Doyle]] in "Where Did You Go, Audino?" bears a resemblance to [[Manga/DetectiveConan Conan Edogawa]].
** Here's one example that managed to draw ire from lawyers anyway: [[https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Hamilton Hamilton]] from "Cream of the Croagunk Crop" was originally supposed to be one for Hiroshi from ''Manga/DokonjoGaeru''. Even his Japanese name was originally "Hiroki". However, it was deemed a bit too close to be a Lawyer Friendly Cameo and he was subsequently redesigned and renamed (to Takuya) for DVD release and international markets.
* LemonyNarrator: Not during the main anime so much, but he does during ''Pokémon Chronicles'' and such.
* LensmanArmsRace: Ash and Team Rocket's rivalry has slowly becomes this, due to the trio's constant quest to one up the twerps and Ash's team gaining ceaseless abilities and pointers from thwarting them. By the time the two sides enter the Kalos region, their rivalry earns an InUniverse JustForFun/HolyShitQuotient from the locales, just from the ridiculous skill and power displayed from an unfanfared rookie and a bunch of small time criminals.
* LethalChef: Whenever a character who doesn't normally cook meals attempts to cook, expect the results to be catastrophic. This is justified as most of the cast members are pre-teens and thus wouldn't have much experience with cooking. The ones who do the cooking are usually the older members.
* LighterAndSofter:
** Generally speaking, the tone of the anime is more zany and humorous than the games that it's based on, as they avoid the dark undertones the games include. That said, the anime has had its moments of seriousness and darkness too, especially with some of the movies (notably Takeshi Shudo's early movies), and the ''Mega Evolution'' specials take a ''hard'' turn toward the much more serious.
** ''Sun and Moon'' is an exaggerated trope. The show is the lightest it's ever been, as a SliceOfLife show with lots of light-hearted comedy. [[spoiler: Subverted in that it also features two of the saddest episodes to date, with one involving the death of an elderly Stoutland. In general, this season doesn't shy away from seriously discussing more complicated relational topics between people, and also Pokémon, in a way the anime previously did only rarely. And then there's when the Aether Foundation and Ultra Beasts come into play...]]
* LighthousePoint: Episode 13, "Mystery at the Lighthouse".
* LimitedWardrobe: Although [[TrueCompanions Ash & co.]] usually get new outfits for each new journey.
** [[AvertedTrope Averted]] with Chloe who when outside of school will tend to have a unique outfit outside of her school uniform.
* LineOfSightAlias: In "Showdown At Dark City", Ash tries to hide his real name. When he looks at Pikachu playing with a ketchup bottle, Ash announces his name is "Ketchup" before he quickly changes it to "Tom Ato".
* LiterallyPrizedPossession: It's revealed in a Kanto episode that Ash's NiceHat is an official Pokémon League hat he won by sending in hundreds of entries to a sweepstakes (making it clear that he's wanted ToBeAMaster for a very long time).
* LivingDinosaurs: Several episodes of the anime have had the cast dealing with living examples of fossil Pokémon that weren't the result of time travel or cloning.
* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: And that's just the ''human'' cast, excluding the hundreds of one-shots. Since Pokémon themselves also need characterization, the cast usually ends up being much larger than you would expect:
** Ash catches the highest amount of Pokémon within his group of friends, but the show has handled this trope not quite as good as it should be. Since Ash's team he has on hand will always be the SpotlightStealingSquad of the travel group, most of Ash's travel companions and his classmates don't catch too many Pokémon, since there wouldn't be enough screetime left for all Pokémon.
*** The original series is especially guilty of this, since the Pokémon he doesn't carry in his party (Krabby/Kingler, Primeape, Muk and Tauros) are OutOfFocus and barely get any development or screen time. The 30 Tauros he has caught in the Safari Zone are a notorious victim of this trope, since it makes it difficult to determine whether he either uses one of different ones in battle and all of them seem to have the same personality. Furthermore, Brock's and Misty's Pokémon, with the exception of Misty's Psyduck, are mostly put OutOfFocus and barely get development since the focus is on Ash's team. However, Misty's Starmie and Horsea are left behind later on to give her fewer options for her team while also giving her the opportunity to catch new Pokémon in later seasons. Later seasons would cut supporting character's teams from six to three at most. Team Rocket's Pokémon would also follow this restriction, with both Jessie and James having at most two each (apart from Wobbuffet, who is officially Jessie's Pokémon but is mostly a permanent member like Meowth).
*** The Johto journey makes it clear that is a bad idea for the series to start a new regional journey if Ash has too many Pokémon has on hand. Given the merchandise-driven nature of the series, Ash is required to catch new Pokémon and raise a full team of them (minus Pikachu). This results to Charizard and Squirtle being PutOnABus in a way that makes it a bit difficult to bring them back, and the recently caught Heracross stays at the lab to give room for Ash's new regional bird Noctowl (and it keeps him from having a member that is too strong). But this also leads to Bulbasaur being OutOfFocus for the majority of the journey since he's never replaced by his Johto counterpart, and when he does leave, not only doesn't Heracross come back, Ash gets a newly hatched Pokémon (Phanpy) which doesn't get enough screentime in the end. This time however, he doesn't catch more than six new Pokémon. When it comes to Misty's and Brock's Pokémon, only a selective few of them get some development: Brock's Zubat (which was caught off screen in the 5th episode of the original series and was promptly forgotten about unless they needed a second flyer) [[AscendedExtra gained more screentime]] as it evolved into the new Crobat and Misty's Poliwag became her main battler (alongside the new addition Corsola) when it evolved into Poliwhirl and then Politoed.
*** Starting from ''Advance Generation'', Ash starts every new regional journey with just Pikachu (except in Sinnoh, where Aipom tags along as well), which prevents him from having the same issues he had in Johto. While he doesn't catch too many Pokémon, Torkoal and Glalie are PutOnABus in the Battle Frontier arc, giving enough room for the returning Phanpy who didn't get enough screentime last time and the new member Aipom, who is deliberately not given enough screentime since she would join Ash in his next journey and would receive her evolution introduced in that generation (albeit with another trainer). Meanwhile, Brock also starts to enter a new region with only one Pokémon and he would always catch not more than three Pokémon per series, but in turn they get more development than Pokémon he has caught in the original series. May never travels with a full roster of six Pokémon in ''AG'', but as the series' deuteragonist, May and her team get more focus than Brock and his team, and the number of her team is small enough to give each of them enough characterization. However, a few of May's and Brock's Pokémon are PutOnABus during the transition between the Hoenn League and the Battle Frontier to give more room for newer additions. In ''Diamond & Pearl'', Dawn's team would get a similar treatment like May's, although she does end up with a full team. Coincidentally, both of the girls end up having seven Pokémon during their tenure -- May rotates her team in her Johto journey, while Dawn's Ambipom is PutOnABus á la Primeape.
*** ''Best Wishes'' does a better job than what the original series did with his Kanto roster, but Ash's Unova roster however still suffers from the large number of rotating members, resulting that around half of them don't receive enough development to flesh them out or give them enough screentime to show off their glory. Charizard's late return doesn't make things better, with two of the six slots being occupied by two Kanto Pokémon and the Unova Pokémon having to share the remaining four slots while Unfeazant is effectively PutOnABus. Charizard himself isn't a SpotlightStealingSquad either, so he has to share his limited amount of screentime with his teammates as well. Cilan's team gets a similar treatment as Brock's, and Iris never gets a full team, though as of her post-series special she's just ''one'' short of having one.
*** Due to the very small number of brand new Pokémon in ''X and Y'', the cast size was not too big but not to small, averting this trope. Notably, Serena only ever obtains three Pokémon, despite being based on a player character like May or Dawn.
*** With a set of ''six'' main characters on the good side, Ash's classmates have each a very small number of Pokémon on hand (generally one or two), not counting their Ride Pokémon (although Kiawe's Charizard is a borderline case as [[WolverinePublicity it's a Charizard]], [[RetiredBadass but an aged one who rarely battles]]). And thanks to the school setting, Ash's classmates don't all need to appear in every episode the way his travel companions did.
*** Given that Goh's main goal is to [[GottaCatchEmAll catch as many Pokémon as he can]] - and he demonstrates this immediately by catching every single Kanto Bug-type in the same episode - ''Journeys'' puts this into full swing, even if this means some of his Pokémon remain mostly out of focus at the Cerise Institute. Team Rocket's formula is also adjusted, as they use a Gacha system that selects random Pokemon rented from the rest of the team. As with the previous series though, Ash's Alola-specific team gets [[PutOnABus left with Professor Kukui]].
** In regards to human characters, there are so many of them that the fans, and probably the writers themselves, have a hard time judging who is going to be important to the plot in the long run.
*** Characters who are also important in the main games are generally well-regarded, even if they only appear in a single episode. While characters who only exist in the anime tend to not be regarded as such... Unless they make an important impact. It also depends on when they were introduced. People who have watched the anime since the beginning can tell you who A.J is [[note]]The trainer with the Sandshrew who appeared in episode 8 and only episode 8.[[/note]], but will probably struggle to tell you who Nicholai is [[note]]For those wondering, he's a trainer introduced in ''Advanced Generation'' who likes to dress up as Pokémon. He also appears in two episodes, which disqualifies him as a One-shot character.[[/note]].
* LongRunners: Has been running almost nonstop since April 1997 in Japan, with 23 seasons spanning over 1000 episodes and 23 movies - with every episode having been on TV Tokyo.
* LoveHurts: Both Ash and Jessie end up releasing Pokémon to take part in breeding migrations with their own kind; Butterfree, and Dustox, respectively. This was particularly painful for Jessie, who had to crush Dustox's Poké Ball to convince her to go through with it.
* MacGuffin: The infamous GS Ball; also badges and ribbons to some extent. There's also the handkerchief that Serena kept after Ash gave it to her when they were little and used it to bandage her hurt knee. When she showed it to him in Kalos, that's when he remembered who she was.
* MadeOfIron: Almost every named human character. Also, virtually any Pokémon: while they can be critically injured, almost Pokémon has been seen to be killed in a battle. The only exception being Jan's Talonflame, who was turned to stone from Yveltal's Oblivion Wing.
* MagicalComputer: Pokédexes. Pretty powerful ones, too, at least for the nineties.
* MagicalGirl: Shades of this in the Ultra Guardian costume change sequence in Sun and Moon and Ultra Sun and Moon. Played straight when Mallow, Lily, and Lana are cast as the "Refreshing Trio", a show within a show magical girl series in Ultra Sun and Moon.
* MerchandiseDriven: One of the most well-known and successful shows of this type. The direction that the show takes is usually determined by marketing and marketability.
* MessyHair: Chloe is shown to possess bedhair wildly different from that of her usual style of braids, and she has little love for it.
* MidBattleTeaBreak: In "Ka Boom With A View!", Ash and Palace Maven Spenser take a break in the middle of their fight to enjoy lunch.
* MidSeasonUpgrade: New captures, attacks, and evolutions are typically gained throughout a season rather than being localized near the beginning or the end. This is mostly because the ungodly amounts of {{Filler}} act as huge buffers between plot points and wind up distributing them fairly evenly.
* MightyRoar: If a Pokemon in a episode appears with its Japanese voice intact, and it's not saying its name (like Pikachu, Aipom or Donphan) then there's a very good chance it will have a roar (the only exception is Staryu/Starmie).
* MirrorUniverse: Ash travels into one in the episode "The Cave Of Mirrors". As expected, the inhabitants have opposite traits of their normal selves (i.e., Ash is timid and is shown to be a crybaby, Team Rocket are heroes who supported Ash from behind, Clemont is athletic and is into magic, etc.).
* MiserableMassage: In one especially weird episode, [[ItMakesSenseInContext an evil Togepi enters Team Rocket's base]], and uses its Psychic powers to control the Giovanni robot that Meowth installed in his room to massage himself. This causes the robot to start massaging him so fast it burns him.
* MistakenForUndead: In "[[Recap/PokemonS1E16PokemonShipwreck Pokémon Shipwreck]]", had Ash's gang and Team Rocket working together to escape the sunken ship. Ash's friends all use water Pokémon to escape, while Team Rocket uses James' useless Magikarp and nearly drown. When Team Rocket wash up unconscious, Ash and co. believe they have drowned and are about to give them a water burial. However Team Rocket awakens and are angry at almost being pushed in the water, while Ash and friends scream out "ZOMBIES!"
* MonsterOfTheWeek: They're usually kind or misunderstood, though.
* MoodMotif: The episode "A Chansey Operation" has the doctor be hit with a tranquilizer dart. He very quickly falls asleep as the background music is the rhythm of Jigglypuff's Lullaby.
* MovingBuildings: One of Team Rocket's mechas.
* MsFanservice:
** Jessie gets this as a cross between ParentalBonus and EvilIsSexy.
** The female companions also get this often. Misty [[SheCleansUpNicely cleans up nicely]] while May and Dawn have this as a side-effect of their Contest arcs. Among other things...
*** Word of God has pointed out that this was Misty's entire reason for being on the show in the first place, not anticipating how popular she'd become with fans, especially in the west.
** The [[FairCop Officer Jennies]] and [[HospitalHottie Nurse Joys]] are subject to this too, deliberately lampshaded in the show with [[LovableSexManiac Brock]], who falls in love with each one he meets.
* MookChivalry: Even bad guys such as Team Rocket tend to obey the turn based ethics of Pokémon matches and rarely use more than one Pokémon at once, only really ganging up on a character for an exceptional KickTheDog moment. Played with since the heroes [[StupidGood do this just as often]], only using fuller forces to wrap things up or to show [[BewareTheNiceOnes they've been truly pissed off]]. This is likely a DramaPreservingHandicap in their case, since the combined army of all three companions could likely trounce anyone with ease.
* MusicalEpisode: Though not really an episode of the show nor even canonical to it, the stage show ''Pokémon Live!'' would seem to fit in this trope.
** "Gotta Dance!", the short before the sixth movie.
* MythArc: Ash's goal ToBeAMaster. [[LongRunner In each and every saga.]] But perhaps because this has no set conclusion and pay-off in sight, starting with Sinnoh, each major saga/series began to have their own Myth Arc that would be resolved by the end:
** In Sinnoh, the Myth Arc is based around the region's Time-Space Legend featuring Dialga and Palkia, the Legendary Lake Trio Pokémon and their mysterious connection to Ash, Dawn and Brock, and the machinations of Team Galactic as it attempts to use this legend and its Pokémon to create a new world for themselves that will replace the old one. Strangely, despite starting in the first episode (where Dawn catches sight of Mesprit), it concludes in episode 151, leaving 40 episodes still left to go.
** In Unova, the Myth Arc is based around the legend of the Black Hero and White Hero representing Ideals and Truth respectively, their Pokémon companions Zekrom and Reshiram, the new "chosen ones" Ash (with Pikachu) and N, and Team Plasma attempting to use this legend to advance its plan for world domination. While starting in the first episode, it only resurfaces in episode 64 and the ''Episode N'' story arc near the end of the series. It was supposed to have progressed through more episodes more routinely, but [[RealLifeWritesThePlot some real-life factors got in the way and changed this.]]
** In Kalos, the Myth Arc is based around the phenomenon of Mega Evolution, its origins and the characters who utilize it in the present day, and Team Flare desiring to use the energy of Mega Evolution and the Legendary Pokémon Zygarde to wipe out most of the world's population and preserve its "beauty". This arc not only progressed through many episodes but also through four "The Strongest Mega Evolution" side-story specials starring Alain (who would later become Ash's friend and rival in the actual anime), and concluded at the very end of the series.
** In Alola, the Myth Arc is based around the region's ancient mysteries and how they affect Ash and his friends in the present day: mysteries such as Z Crystals, the "Tapu" Guardian Pokémon, the legendary Solgaleo and Lunala, and the Ultra Beasts that come from Ultra Space.
* MythologyGag:
** A lot of {{Canon Foreigner}}s in the early show are actually obviously derived from trainers in the games -- Samurai is a riff on the Bug Catcher class[[note]]His samurai stylings appear to be an exaggeration of the common Japanese VisualPun on the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kabuto Kabuto]] helmet (cf. the ''kabutomushi'', the Rhinoceros Beetle[[/note]], AJ is a Cooltrainer, Giselle is based on the Lass, Duplica is based on Saffron City's Copycat, ''etc.''
** A minor, easy-to-miss one, but when Misty's Staryu is knocked out, it sometimes makes a sound similar to the [[CriticalAnnoyance low health beep]] from the games.
** Misty's bike is also a subtle allusion to the games. One may think that her constantly pestering Ash about it qualifies as DisproportionateRetribution, but her reaction seems a lot more justified considering they cost 1 million Pokébucks in ''VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue''. This is even lampshaded in ''Manga/TheElectricTaleOfPikachu'', where she points out it was custom-built, and that's why it costs so much.
** In [=DP094=], "Doc Brock", a Zapdos makes a quick cameo. In ''[[VideoGame/PokemonDiamondAndPearl Pokémon Platinum]]'', Zapdos can be found roaming Sinnoh in the post-Elite Four storyline. Notably, this was the first episode to air in Japan after the release of ''Platinum.''
*** Repeated in [=DP142=], "Where No Togepi Has Gone Before", where the evil KillerRabbit Togepi knows Extrasensory. In Japan, this was the last episode to air before the release of ''[[VideoGame/PokemonGoldAndSilver Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver]]''. In those games, guess which move Togepi can use for the first time?
** In "Ya See we Want an Evolution!", the organization dedicated to showing the strength of Pokémon without evolving them is called the "B-Button League", referring to the actual ''game mechanic'' used for the very same purpose.
** The ''[[VideoGame/PokemonBlackAndWhite Best Wishes]]'' series has one ''[[http://cdn.bulbagarden.net/upload/archive/c/c7/20100911021916%21BW001.png in the first episode.]]''
** Also in the first episode of ''Black and White'': the plane Ash takes to Unova is flight number [[Characters/PokemonGenerationIFamilies 151]].
** ''Black and White'' also has episode 6's classic "ding-ding-ding-a-ding!" chime when healing Pokémon in the games.
** In the Pokémon themed single for fourth ''XY'' ending [=DreamDream=], the B-side track is a cover of KISEKI (the credits theme for the ''XY'' games).
** One of Ash's t-shirts in ''Sun and Moon'' has [[https://twitter.com/JoeMerrick/status/806800362397048832 the icon used for Water Pokémon in the first generation games.]] Another shirt has the flower icon for Grass Pokemon.
** The backpack Lillie wears while going outside in the episode in [=SM014=] closely resembles the one her [[VideoGame/PokemonSunAndMoon game counterpart]] wears [[spoiler: after her SignificantWardrobeShift]].
** During their guest appearance in ''Sun and Moon'', [[spoiler:Brock and Misty [[https://twitter.com/wofal_haitei/status/910810838176432128 do their Red and Blue poses.]] Misty also changes into her original bikini swimming with Lana.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:N-R]]
* NamedAfterSomeoneFamous: Jesse and James take their names from UsefulNotes/JesseJames.
* NeverSayDie: Rarely brought up in the series, but there have been a few cases, for dramatic purposes at least:
** This is actually averted in many instances (mostly the movies), even while Creator/FourKidsEntertainment was handling it. For example, ''Anime/Pokemon4Ever'' actually has Sammy say that Celebi was going to die. However, it's still softened a bit -- in the original, it's already dead by that point. They also didn't make any attempt to cover up [[spoiler:Latios's]] death in ''Anime/PokemonHeroes'' or Lucario and Sir Aaron's deaths in ''Anime/PokemonLucarioAndTheMysteryOfMew''.
** Human deaths are also a rare event. They vary from a relative that died due to illness, accident or old age, historical figures, or the main characters actually encountering human ghosts.
** While the episode doesn't outright say it, it's made very clear in [=SM021=] that [[spoiler:Stoutland]] died.
** [=SM079=] reveals that Minior don't really last very long in their core form. They [[DisappearIntoLight disintegrate into space dust]] after a day or two after breaking out of their shell. The Minior dust becomes food for other Pokémon like Rayquaza.
** With the help of Tapu Fini in [=SM108=], Ash's Torracat and Mallow manage to briefly meet loved ones that had passed on. [[spoiler:It outright confirms Stoutland's fate and also reveals that Mallow's mother had passed away due to an unspecified illness when she was younger]].
%%* NewSeasonNewName
* NoHarmRequirement:
** During Johto in the episode ''Once In A Blue Moon'', a Quagsire steals the GS Ball. When Ash gets it back by battling it with Squirtle, the gang almost get arrested by Officer Jenny because Quagsire in the town is a [[EndangeredSpecies protected species]]. So when the Quagsire steals the ball again, they have to follow it to waterfall where it conducts its waterfall ritual and wait for it to finish with the ball.
** In the Hoenn episode, ''You Can Never Taillow'', Ash and Pikachu find themselves having to square off against the leader of a fierce Taillow flock. However, is a [[TheDeterminator determined]] BloodKnight and keeps battling despite taking numerous powerful Electric attacks from Pikachu. Fearing that he may cause it too much damage, Ash ends up capturing.
** In Sinnoh, the gang had to deal with Hunter J who was an EvilPoacher that poached Pokemon, whether they were owned or rare, and sold them clients via a black market. To ensure maximum pay for her quarry, she would zap the Pokémon with a [[AndIMustScream petrification ray]] and seal them in clear pods.
** In the Unova episode, ''A Home for Dwebble'', the gang help a Dwebble get its home back from a bigger, bully Dwebble that attached its shell to its bigger one. Eventually, Dwebble gets to fight it mono-et-mono, but it has to restrain itself out of risk of damaging its own shell. Eventually it's able to use [[LimitBreak Shell Smash]] to destroy the rival Dwebble's shell and send it packing while leaving its own shell unharmed.
* NoHuggingNoKissing: The best you'll get for any main characters is ShipTease. [[spoiler:Unless you're Serena.]]
* NonchalantDodge: Due to the turn based battle methods being imported from the games, the anime adds the ability to "dodge" command a Pokémon. Whenever a CurbstompBattle is demanded for the plot, expect this to get spammed a lot.
* NonDubbedGrunts: Some Pokémon, mostly the ones who kept their Japanese names.
* NoSell: In the Sun and Moon episode 43, Sophocles tells Togedemaru to use Zing Zap on Brock's Geodude. Togedemaru's attack hits Geodude straight on, but Sophocles is shocked when Brock's Geodude simply grins and flexes its biceps. Sophocles forgot that that Kanto Geodude is Rock and Ground-type, and is immune to Togedemaru's electric type attacks.
** Whenever a Pokémon is hit by a move that its typing or Ability would make it immune to, this trope is usually the result, followed by an explanation for that occurrence by a character on the sidelines. [[AdaptationDistillation Unless of course, a Pokémon's immunity in the games would make complications in an anime battle's script.]]
* NonSerialMovie: ''Pokémon'' has a bunch of these; at present they number in the low twenties. Unlike other examples of the trope, however, a few of them are known to be canon to the series (such as ''Anime/PokemonTheFirstMovie'' and ''Anime/PokemonGenesectAndTheLegendAwakened'', both of which were foreshadowed in episodes), though their events are rarely if ever referenced in the series itself, or indeed between themselves (the first three ''D/P'' movies being a rare exception). While it's generally assumed all of them are canon, ''Anime/PokemonTheMovieBlackAndWhite'''s [[OneGameForThePriceOfTwo dual-movie]] gimmick makes it difficult to fit in continuity, while ''Anime/PokemonIChooseYou'' is a full-on AlternateUniverse.
* NoodleIncident: Cilan is terrified of Purrloin because of an incident in his past involving one that he refuses to talk about until the voyage across the Decolore Islands. And even then, it is never explained to the audience, with only Ash and Iris's shocked reactions to go off of.
* NotAllowedToGrowUp: Over the course of 20+ years of airing, none of the characters in the anime have actually aged despite occasional but clear references that indicate there is a passage of time (Ash keeps all of his badges and achievements from previous seasons, Brock's life goal has definitively changed from being a breeder to being a doctor, etc). Most obviously, Ash is perpetually referred to as being 10 years old, but this also applies to the rest of the recurring cast members who are locked into being whatever age they were when they met Ash.
* NotSoHarmlessVillain: Team Rocket always get at least a handful of occasions per era they are good battlers or have a genuinely intricate and tight scheme. In some cases they genuinely have the heroes all but defeated until the Pokémon of the Week intervenes. This was especially apparent in ''Best Wishes'', which gave them [[TookALevelInBadass a temporary competence boost]].
* {{Novelization}}: Certain anime episodes (some books even compile several episodes within its pages) and at least two of the movies (some of the later movies have been released in manga format).
* NowYouTellMe: In the episode "Dues And Don'ts", Ash checks Delibird in the Pokedex. It says Delibird has a attack called Present. Delibird gives Ash and friends glowing ball "presents", which a couple seconds later go off as bombs. Dexter adds that some of Delibird's Presents explode. Ash says "now you tell me".
** Misty gets a double shot of this in "Pokémon Fashion Flash" when she picks up Vulpix to coo about how cute he is, ignoring Susie's warning, and gets [[AshFace Ash Faced]] from the fox Pokemon's fire breathing. Apparently Misty didn't know that Vulpix (a) breathes fire (as explained by Dexter after the fact) and (b) doesn't like to be touched by strangers (as explained by Susie after the fact).
** "Pokémon Shipwreck": A hungry Ash, Brock and Team Rocket consider eating Magikarp. Meowth even attempts to take a bite of the fish Pokemon, only to recoil in pain.
--> '''Misty:''' ''[sternly]'' I wouldn't try that again if I was you. Check your Pokedex, 'cause Magikarp is nothing but scales and bones.
--> '''Meowth:''' It would have been nice to have known that sooner!
* {{Objectshifting}}: In the episode "Ditto's Mysterious Mansion", the titular character transforms into a cannon in order to launch Pikachu at Team Rocket's balloon.
* OddlyNamedSequel2ElectricBoogaloo: The dub changes names every season except for between the first two, so whereas the original Japanese series has ''Pocket Monsters'' (seasons 1-5), ''Pocket Monsters Advanced Generation'' (seasons 6-9), ''Pocket Monsters Diamond & Pearl'' (seasons 10-13), ''Pocket Monsters Best Wishes!'' (seasons 14-15), ''Pocket Monsters Best Wishes! Season 2'' (seasons 15-16), ''Pocket Monsters XY'' (seasons 17-18), ''Pocket Monsters XY&Z'' (season 19), and ''Pocket Monsters Sun Moon'' (seasons 20+), the dub has ''Pokémon'' (seasons 1-2), ''Pokémon: The Johto Journeys'' (season 3), ''Pokémon Johto League Champions'' (season 4), ''Pokémon Master Quest'' (season 5), ''Pokémon Advanced'' (season 6), ''Pokémon Advanced Challenge'' (season 7), ''Pokémon Advanced Battle'' (season 8), ''Pokémon Battle Frontier'' (season 9), ''Pokémon Diamond and Pearl'' (season 10), ''Pokémon Diamond and Pearl: Battle Dimension'' (season 11), ''Pokémon Diamond and Pearl: Galactic Battles'' (season 12), ''Pokémon Diamond and Pearl: Sinnoh League Victors'' (season 13), ''Pokémon Black and White'' (season 14), ''Pokémon Black and White: Rival Destinies'' (season 15), ''Pokémon Black and White: Adventures In Unova and Beyond'' (season 16), ''Pokémon The Series: XY'' (season 17), ''Pokémon The Series: XY Kalos Quest'' (season 18), and ''Pokémon The Series: XYZ'' (season 19).
** The DVD releases have remedied the problem for the first two seasons: season 1 is now "Indigo League" and season 2 is now "Adventures on the Orange Islands."
* OffModel: As often as we have the AnimationBump, there's plenty of instances of this too. ''Black and White'' and beyond managed to cut back on occurrences, though.
* OhCrap: Lots of instances (Team Rocket are pretty prone to them, after all). In the episode "Pallet Party Panic", a Fearow that's been bullying the local Pidgey and Pidgeotto showcases a great example when it realises that the other Pokemon, after a confidence boost from Pidgeot, have [[NotAfraidOfYouAnymore finally had enough.]]
* OlympusMons: The early series generally defied this, rarely giving the main characters elusive tier Pokemon like Mythicals or Legendaries, though secondary characters started to appear with them under their command as the series continued. The show finally bucks the trend completely by the ''Sun and Moon'' series, with Ash officially capturing his first Mythical Pokemon, Meltan. Mallow also unofficially owns a Shaymin in the same series.
* OminousFog: Results in a ShipTease with holding hands.
* {{Ondo}}: Do-do-dogaasu, Do-doga-do!
* OneSteveLimit: In the vast majority of cases, if a Pokémon is caught by one of the main characters, that precludes that species also being caught by another one of the main characters. To date this has only occurred with Bulbasaur (Ash's and May's, the latter of which evolved to preserve the limit), Squirtle (Ash's and May's again, the latter of which evolved to preserve the limit), Pikachu (Ash's and Goh's, the latter of which [[RuleOfThree evolved to preserve the limit]]) and Dragonite (Ash's and Iris', which are separated by several series).
* OnlyOneFindsItFun: In the "Sun and Moon" saga, when formatting the Ultra Guardians, Lusamine designs suits for the heroes that are Super Sentai-based because she thought it would be cool. Ash is the only one who agrees, while everyone else finds the suits embarrassing.
* TheOtherDarrin: The entire American voice cast (with a few exceptions among the recurring cast) is changed three-quarters of the way through Advance Generation.
** In-universe, there was an episode where Bonsly and Mime Jr. are mistaken for actors and dropped into a movie in place of the real ones. [[DittoAliens Sure they look kinda the same to us, but one imagines any Pokémon viewers would tell instantly]] and have this reaction.
* OutOfFocus: Most of the villain teams get this treatment. The ''Advanced Generation'' had almost 200 episodes but Team Magma and Team Aqua only featured prominently in less than a dozen. The same goes for Team Galactic in ''Diamond and Pearl''. Team Plasma was supposed to have a greater role than they did but due to the Tohoku earthquake and release of ''Black 2 and White 2'', those plans were shelved. Team Flare do have a more consistent presence in ''XY&Z'', the third year of the ''XY'' series, but were totally absent from it in the two years prior. And ''Sun and Moon'' sidelines Team Skull for much of its run, with Gladion hving no apparant relation to them, and both Lusamine and Necrozma (both of whom undergo AdaptationalHeroism) getting arcs long before Guzma and Plumeria show up.
* OutSick:
** In "Dressed for Jess Success", Jessie is sick so James has to cross-dress as her "Jessalina" persona to win one of her contests. Not only does he fool the audience, but he wins, so Jessie feels a bit offended that he might've done a better job than her.
** In "Battling at Full Volume!", Ash is sick, so Serena takes care of him. When a trainer named Jimmy wants to battle with Ash, Serena knows that Ash is in no condition to battle but Jimmy won't leave if he doesn't battle with Ash, she puts Ash's clothes on and fights him herself.
* OverlyLongGag: Professor Westwood V's (a colleague of Professor Oak in "The Evolution Solution") constant apologies to his ancestors, [[InexplicablyIdenticalIndividuals Westwood I-V]] before remembering that he's the fifth one.
* PantsPullingPrank: At one point, Sabrina's father psychically pulls Ash's pants down.
%%* PaperFanOfDoom
* PartyInMyPocket: They're called "'''Pocket''' Monsters" for a reason.
* PitTrap: Ash & his friends have fallen into several of these, that were set up by Team Rocket, but there has been a few exceptions, including the Rocket trio falling into one set up by Ash, May, Max & Brock and Ash falling into one set up by a [[AntlionMonster Trapinch]] which was [[https://www.filb.de/content/anime/dp/145/274.jpg waiting at the bottom of the trap]].
* PluckyGirl: All of Ash's female friends to varying degrees, but May, with her spunky optimism, fits it the best.
* PoliceAreUseless: Officer Jenny and her many, many, ''many'' [[InexplicablyIdenticalIndividuals look-a-like family members.]] She tends to rely on children to do her work for her. [[https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/EP007 Get accused of stealing a giant vacuum?]] Just flash your pokedex or gym badge and you're off the hook.
* [[TalkingIsAFreeAction Pokédex Is a Free Action]]: No matter whether it's a friendly encounter with a Pidgey or they're being chased down by an angry wild Ursaring, no Pokémon ever attacks while a trainer is using their Pokédex. Ever. Well…except for that one filler which started off with a '''very''' random Giratina attack (caused by a Murkrow's illusion).
* PokemonSpeak: Most, but not all, Pokémon in the series speak a "language" consisting entirely of their species name. This is probably one of the best-known examples in fiction, especially with Pikachu. In fact, due to the anime's prominence, this was used as Pokémon species' ''de facto'' method of communication in most non-anime media too (other than the games) prior to the early 2010s.
* PoorPredictableRock: The point of every Gym Leader ever, except for the Orange League (which wasn't based on a game) and the Viridian City Gym, because the plot for the TV show was different than the game - since Team Rocket won't be defeated on the tv show, you don't have Giovanni and his ground-type Pokémon on the anime. However, being experts at their chosen type means they find ways to subvert this.
* PopCulturePunEpisodeTitle: Many, starting with the second half of Ash's Orange League Championship battle, "Enter the Dragonite," and continuing up through the end of the Diamond & Pearl saga.
* PowderTrail: "Attack of the Prehistoric Pokémon", coupled with IndyEscape...sort of.
* ThePowerOfFriendship: All Pokémon companions.
* PromptingNudge: In the first-season episode "Showdown at Dark City", Misty suggests making up pseudonyms so the group won't blemish their reputation by essentially taking sides in a gang war. Ash and Misty come up with names fairly quickly, but Misty has to nudge Brock to make him speak since he's too busy gawking at the female recruiter.
* PunBasedTitle: The American episode titles, sometimes going to "gems" such as "Doin' What Comes Natu-rally" and "Smells Like Team Spirit". Japan sometimes fall to this ("Do Coil[[note]]Magnemite[[/note]] Dream of Electric Mice!?") Most episodes in the early days were just English versions of the Japanese titles, but starting with the Johto seasons, many many episodes were given silly names in the American translation when the Japanese name was dull.
* PunnyName: ''Best Wishes'' is both initialized "BW" (Black and White), and in Japanese "Wishes" would be pronounced very similar to "Isshu", the Japanese name of Unova, the region the series is set. Also, the GratuitousEnglish is - goes without saying - a totally JustifiedTrope in this series given that Unova is based on North America rather than Japan.
* PutOnABus:
** Most of Ash's companions change after one era, the former ones disappearing outside the rare reappearance or cameo. Brock returned and lasted two more eras, but ultimately returned to this state after.
** Most if not all of Ash's Pokémon from each era are sidelined when he moves on to the next one, the only exception being Pikachu. This also counts for Pokémon like his Pidgeot, who he released at the start of the Orange Islands, promised to come back for, and has yet to do so twenty years later.
* RaidersOfTheLostParody: A couple examples. ''Battling the Enemy Within'' has the aforementioned "boulder rolling down a hall" parody. ''Explorers of the Hero's Ruin'' in ''Best Wishes'' goes much further by including the "boulder rolling down a hall" bit and Cedric Juniper keeping a log of the ruin that is similar to the Grail Diary in ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheLastCrusade''. Cedric already had the appearance of Henry Jones Sr. in the games, the anime also gives him his characterization. There are also traps styled after those found in ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheTempleOfDoom'', and the behavior of the Sigilyph found in the ruin is akin to the science fiction elements of ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheKingdomOfTheCrystalSkull''.
* RealityEnsues: [[RealityEnsues/{{Pokemon}} Has its own page]].
* RecognizableBySound: {{Subverted|Trope}}. Every individual Pokémon, besides those that speak English (or whatever the dub language)or speak in unintelligible noises (such as Ash's Rowlet from ''Sun and Moon''), makes a noise either identical or near-identical to its name. However, even if they've already heard the PokemonSpeak, no one in that universe has any idea what the Pokémon in question is unless they consult the Pokedex.
* RecurringElement: The series has quite a few. Onix often finds himself being one among Rock-type Gym Leaders, where nearly every Rock-type gym leader that made an appearance has an Onix, save for Roxanne.
* RecurringExtra: Downplayed. The anime will on occasion recycle character designs, but for the myriad background characters, like [[https://www.pinterest.com/pin/435301120209113464/ this mother-daughter pair from the movies]]. Here's [[http://www.pokesho.com/mobu.html a slightly more comprehensive list]].
* RedemptionPromotion: Team Rocket are generally {{Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain}}s with the occasional NotSoHarmless moment. Whenever they fight for the side of good however, their competence completely skyrockets. By the time of Sinnoh they can actually beat Ash's team in contests just by playing by the rules.
* RememberTheNewGuy: ''Pokémon'' tends to employ this trope whenever they introduce a character who’s part of a main character’s backstory, such as Christopher from the ''Diamond And Pearl'' saga. (An ex-Team Rocket member who Jessie and James would cheer up with ramen, who would then go on to open a highly-successful chain of ramen restaurants in the Sinnoh region, his home.)
* {{Retcon}}: In the original series, it was stated that were only 150 Pokémon known to humans (In keeping with the games at the time). Further down the line though, there are episodes showing newer Pokémon that were owned or captured by characters before the series began (Such as Tracy's Marill, or the Carnivine James caught when he was a boy).
* {{Retool}}:
** Due to Gyms not existing in the Alola region in ''VideoGame/PokemonSunAndMoon'', the ''Sun and Moon'' anime series follows a drastically different plot from the previous series: Instead of traveling from town to town with 2 or 3 companions, Ash and Pikachu are instead attending a Pokémon School alongside several classmates, thus it plays a bit more like a SliceOfLife anime (well, with Pokémon included). The Island Trials are being included, though, and Ash does challenge the Kahunas.
** Over the course of the anime's lifespan, the anime has been retooled more subtly. For example, Gen III changed the formula by having the female companion to be based on the female protagonist and the anime be about their growth as a trainer in addition to Ash's Gym battle quest, Gen IV added a series-running MythArc, and Gen V introduced story arcs that ran for well over 10 episodes within the larger saga (the Meloetta arc and the Team Plasma arc). Gen VI took all these to the highest degree possible, which explains a lot about the nature of Gen VII's retool.
** ''Pokémon Journeys'', the series that debuted alongside the Gen VIII games ''VideoGame/PokemonSwordAndShield'', has an even bigger shakeup compared to the previous series. Instead of being purely focused on the region and its native Pokémon from the new games, it features all the known regions and Pokémon so far, as the plot now involves Ash and his new friend Goh traveling around the world on the behalf of Professor Cerise. Ash still does competitive battling, but instead of the Galar League, Ash particpates in the anime-original World Coronation Series, facing trainers from all around the world, with the goal of challenging Leon, who is not only the champion for the Galar region, but the number one trainer in the world.
* RevisitingTheRoots: Both ''Black and White'' and ''Sun and Moon'' attempt to ape the original Kanto saga in different ways and to varying degrees of success. The series following ''Sun and Moon'' took it one step further and actually was named simply ''Pokemon'', just like the original Kanto through Johto series of the anime.
* RhymesOnADime: One segment in "2.B.A. Master":
-->So you've reached the Plateau, but not yet a hero. \\
Are you ready to meet and defeat...the Elite?\\
Can I expect survival...against your rival?
* RiddleForTheAges: The true meaning of Ash's [[ToBeAMaster goal]] has been deliberately kept ambiguous and vague by the creators. Pokemon.com stated as much in a response to an email asking them about it.
-->I'm very sorry, but the Pokémon Company does not answer questions of this nature. It is the intent of the Pokémon creators that such questions be left to the imaginations and interpretations of Pokémon fans, adding more excitement and mystery to the Pokémon universe.
* RidiculouslyCuteCritter: Too many to list. Even some Pokémon you wouldn't think as cute to begin with.
* RunTheGauntlet: The Orange Crew and the Frontier Brains are non-villainous versions of this. While League tournaments involve hundreds of trainers, a participant in either of these special "Leagues" only ever battles each of the Orange Gym Leaders or Frontier Brains one at a time.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:S]]
* SamusIsAGirl: Due to Pokémon genders being [[AmbiguousGender ambiguous]], a plot twist can occur where a Pokémon is revealed to be a certain gender after it is assumed to be the other, such as Jessie's Yanmega (a big scary dragonfly with a very deep reverberating voice), who was revealed to be a female.
* SandBridgeAtLowTide:
** In the episode called "The Crystal Onix", Ash and the gang find that the way to the mythical cave is a sandbar that only appears at certain times of the day.
** One of the Decolora Islands episodes has one of these as well.
* SawStarWars27Times: In "Guarding The Guardian Of The Mountain", Cilan meets Brycen and says he's seen the film Brycen starred in, "Enter The Beartic" at least 25 times.
* SceneryPorn: Every single movie has at least one positively epic set piece in fully rendered CG. And they are ''gorgeous''.
** You're also likely to see that set piece get absolutely [[SceneryGorn trashed]] at some point when the local OlympusMons get pissed.
** The movies also tend to open with gratuitous, sweeping shots of wild Pokémon. These are also typically gorgeous.
** The entire three part mini arc with the resolution of Team Galactic, from Hunter J's ship [[spoiler: getting sucked up with water]] to the Spear Pillar...whoa. Just whoa.
** The regular series isn't too bad, either. The backgrounds have gotten a ''lot'' better: just compare the forests as seen in the Orange Islands arc to those in ''Black and White''. The trees, riverbeds, and cliffsides are more meticulously painted, and so are some of the city areas.
* SchizoTech: You have Poké Balls that transmute living beings to light and store them in containers, which are used and sold in rural forest and mountain towns with little transportation.
* ScrewTheRulesIMakeThem: Jessie tries to do this in "The Battle Of The Badge" episode.
* SecondEpisodeIntroduction: Jessie, James, Meowth, Officer Jenny, and Nurse Joy.
* SecondPersonAttack: Used frequently in the fight scenes.
* SecretTestOfCharacter: A few of the Gym Leaders do this, which makes sense as their job is to test trainers in a multitude of ways.
* {{Sentai}}: In the ''Sun and Moon'' anime, Ash and his Alola classmates are tasked to protect Alola from the Ultra Beasts as the "Ultra Guardians". They also wear uniforms that resemble Sentai uniforms.
* SequelHook: A few of these appear at the end of each era:
** A trainer from Hoenn appears in the Silver Conference at the end of the Johto era, and this causes the original series ending with Ash travelling to Hoenn. The last episode ends with Pikachu sick.
** The Hoenn era ends with Gary re-appearing with an Electivire, a Pokémon discovered in Shinnoh and Ash travelling to Sinnoh.
** Not much is gleaned at the end of Sinnoh for Unova, except for Giovanni's newly-introduced secretary giving Jessie, James, and Meowth a promotion for a mysterious "new project", since their role in destroying Team Galactic had renewed Giovanni's faith in them.
** The last arc of the Unova era sees Ash, Iris, and Cilan accompanied back to Unova by Alexa, a reporter from Kalos, and her Helioptile, a Pokémon native to Kalos, thus causing Ash to travel to Kalos.
** Again, very little can be gathered from the end of the Kalos era about Alola, save for Team Rocket dropping souvenir trinkets of Solrock and Lunatone at the Lumiose City airport in the last episode.
* SeriesFranchise: Six distinct series (original: 1997-2002; Advanced Generation: 2002-2006; Weekly Pokémon Broadcast's sidestory episodes (US: Pokémon Chronicles): 2002-2004; Diamond & Pearl: 2006-2010; Best Wishes: 2010-2013); XY (2013-2016); Sun & Moon (2017-present) and 20+ annual movies. The anime franchise is just about as big, if not bigger, than the actual video game franchise; see below.) In the English dub, the main series anime gets divided up even more, in a setup like typical television seasons.
* SeriousBusiness:
** The fourth episode of the anime has a Bug Catcher type Pokémon trainer who dresses and acts like a ''samurai'', treating his bug Pokémon catching profession as seriously as a samurai would treat his duties.
** In general, if there's an evil scheme or world endangering dilemma going on, rest assured it will always involve capturing some powerful Pokémon.
* SettingOffSong: "Viridian City".
* ShouldntWeBeInSchoolRightNow: [[ZigzaggedTrope Zigzagged]]. Certain children such as Ash simply head out into the world as trainers, but characters such as Chloe do attend normal academia. It is noted, however, that Goh is allowed to travel the world yet still be enrolled so long as he attends mandatory testing, though it isn't known if this is a norm or a special privellege.
* ShoutOut: Originally, Double Team in the anime used the rapid afterimage trick. After ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'' became popular, now it works like Shadow Clone Jutsu. At the very least, it ''is'' called "Kage Bunshin" (Shadow Clone) in Japan.
** Has its own page; see above.
* SicknessEqualsRedness: Ash has a red nose and cheeks upon catching a cold while fighting Greninja.
* SickeningCrunch: In "Cream of the Croagunk Crop", Meowth (disguised as a Croagunk) attempts to shatter a stack of bricks with his bare paw as part of the Croagunk Festival. The result is NOT pretty to watch or hear.
* SighOfLove: In one of many ShipTease moments between Ash and Serena in ''X and Y'', in the episode "The Cave of Trials", the group has a photo taken, with Serena standing really close to Ash. Serena is later seen looking at the photo and sighing happily before Ash calls for her.
* SigilSpam: The stylized Poké Ball emblem appears everywhere.
* SillySpook: The first ghost-types to appear turned out to be pretty funny. They're fond of Creator/TexAvery-esque {{Eye Pop}}s and {{Wild Take}}s and clearly see their hauntings as pranking Ash & Pikachu, not attacking them.
* SingleSpecimenSpecies:
** Due to the [[LongRunner length]] of the anime, this is averted for some Legendary Pokémon as Ash has met different individuals of some species over the course of the anime. But is played straight with others, such as Dialga, Palkia and Giratina.
** Ash's Lycanroc is apparently the only one to become the Dusk form, as opposed to the Midnight or Midday forms.
* SkeletonGovernment:
** Besides Officer Jennys, and a few one-shot mayors of random towns and cities, there seem to be no form of government at all.
** In one Orange Islands episode there's the mayor of the city running for re-election, but he turns out to be paranoid about hiding the fact that he abandoned his Bulbasaur in the sewer.
** Episode XY108 of the Kalos arc shows that Kalos has monarchs present in the form of Princess Allies of Parfum Palace and Lord Shabboneau of Shabboneau Castle, however there is no evidence of them holding any sort of governing power. Other characters with royal titles have appeared plenty of times in the series but again, nothing about politics is mentioned.
* SlapstickKnowsNoGender:
** Most trainers in the series, male and female, suffer a fair amount of slapstick abuse or awkwardness, usually caused by their Pokémon. Jessie in particular is assaulted indiscriminately with the rest of her Team Rocket buddies each and every time.
** Burgundy in the ''Black and White'' series got a bit of slapstick and humiliation. In her debut episode she inadvertently insulted each of Ash's Pokémon, and each [[BerserkButton responded by attacking her.]]
** Non-trainers aren't safe, either, e.g. in the first episode, before Pikachu warmed up to Ash, it blasted the crowd of people cheering for Ash going on his journey with an electric attack when Ash's mother called it "a little weird".
** Absolutely every main character has been shocked by Pikachu at least once. No exceptions.
* SlasherSmile: If a Pokémon has sharp teeth and isn't UglyCute, expect its grin to look like this.
* SleepsWithBothEyesOpen: Misty's Psyduck did this once, making Misty think he was immune to Jigglypuff's singing.
* SliceOfLife: In some episodes, Team Rocket don't antagonise Ash's team directly (or come ''Best Wishes'', sometimes don't appear at all), leading to full laid back plots concerning the heroes.
* TheSmurfettePrinciple:
** Up until 2013, whether it was Misty, May, Dawn, or Iris, only one girl was allowed in the group at a time. WordOfGod has admitted it's mainly done for FanService purposes.
** Averted in the XY series, as its group consists of two female characters: Serena and Bonnie (though only Serena carries around any Pokémon due to Bonnie's age).
** Usually both Ash and Team Rocket have one female Pokémon on their team following gender mechanics being introduced in the games.
** The Sun and Moon series averts this as well as Ash's class is evenly split with 3 boys (Ash, Sophocles and Kiawe) and 3 girls (Mallow, Lana and Lillie).
* SomethingCompletelyDifferent: ''Pokémon Chronicles'' and the ''Mega Evolution'' specials focus on other characters.
** ''Sun and Moon'' looks to be this in both art style and setting.
* SnakeVersusMongoose:
** The page image is from the episode ''The Ghost of Maiden's Peak'', in which a Gastly transforms into a mongoose (as in, an ''actual'' real-world, non-superpowered mongoose, and not a mongoose-like Pokemon) to scare Jessie's Ekans.
** Jessie herself later acquires a Seviper, a snake Pokemon noted for its rivalry with the mongoose-based Zangoose, resulting in a minor RunningGag where Seviper would drop everything and disobey Jessie if there was a Zangoose around.
* SneezeCut: In [=SM020=], a Cutiefly lands on Pikachu's nose as Ash was wishing Rotom was there with them to scan it. As Pikachu started to sneeze, cut to the [=RotomDex=] sneezing at the same time at Kukui's house.
* SoundtrackDissonance: The Gen IV saga did this a few times, playing absurdly epic and dramatic music as the backdrop for [[{{Filler}} chasing Pachirisu around for several minutes]], or [[EpicFail Team Rocket's evolution machine sputtering out repeatedly]].
* SpannerInTheWorks: Whenever another villain appears, expect the Team Rocket trio to find a way to interfere with that villain's plans in ways that they don't see coming. It might even be main reason that Giovanni still keeps them around.
* SpinOff: The ''Pokémon Mystery Dungeon'' specials, and ''Pokémon Chronicles''.
* SpiritualSuccessor: The early '80s manga and anime ''Plawres Sanshiro'' is also the story of a young underdog who aims to become a champion of a competitive sport in which a "pet" (or in this case, a model robot) does the fighting. In addition, the 1983 anime adaptation was directed by none other than ''Pokemon'' chief director Kunihiko Yuyama.
* SpoilerCover: Posters for the films are usually released around February in Japan, with the actual movie being screened in July. This often means that either the main poster or the "Pikachu the Movie" one[[note]]The poster that shows Ash's Pikachu and part of the other Pokémon owned by Ash and pals plus Team Rocket's Meowth and Wobbuffet plus some random ones, that is made even when there is no short before the film[[/note]] will spoil every single change in the teams of Ash and his friends in the next 5 months.
* SpoilerOpening: The openings are pretty notorious for this. It only got worse when they started making one per year, which means most of the plot points of the next year are spoiled in one go.
** Generally they're pretty good at avoiding this, at least in Japan. When a Pokémon evolves or is captured, it's [[EvolvingCredits added to the opening]] where empty space was before. The dub, however, tends to use visuals form the final version of the Japanese openings, so played straight there.
** Played straight in ''The Greatest - Everyday!'', however. We see Ash with Infernape and Torterra, and Dawn with ''Togekiss''. We also saw all of Ash's old Pokémon that eventually returned for the League (even though not all of them ended up actually being used). Gliscor's return was still a surprise though.
** The ''Advanced Challenge'' opening spoils the evolution of Ash's Taillow into Swellow. In fact, in that spoiler shot that includes all of the group's Pokémon, Swellow flies in for a close-up!
** The first ''Black and White'' opening soundly averts this. Only Pokémon which have appeared in previous episodes are revealed, and there is no way to tell which Pokémon the main characters will catch.
** Averted with ''Spurt!''-- TONS of Ash's old Pokémon appear in this opening (including Butterfree), but, with the exception of Charizard, Squirtle, and Bulbasaur (who don't appear until near the very end), NONE of them actually appear in the show itself. Still, this isn't the first time we've been teased with possibilities of old characters showing up again, only to have the rug pulled out from under us...
** Third ''Best Wishes'' ending ''Seven-colored Arch'' brings this back with a vengeance, spoiling four future evolutions (Unfezant, Pignite, Leavanny, and Crustle) and a capture ([[spoiler:the Sunglasses Krokorok!]]).
** The remixed opening and new ending for ''Episode N'' gives away the return of Ash's Charizard.
** The opening for ''Decalora Adventure'' has a few hints of episodes in that arc, but the one that really counts is the return of Blackthorn Gym Leader Clair.
** In the XY series, "Mega Volt!" gives away the capture of Ash's Hawlucha and the evolution of his Fletchling into Fletchinder.
** "Mad-Paced Getter!" spoils not only the capture of Ash's Goomy, but its evolution into Sliggoo and then into Goodra. The later updated version spoils the capture of Ash's Noibat.
** "Alola!" reveals that Lillie will receive a Pokémon egg at some point.
** The version of "Pokémon Shiritori: Mew -> Zamazenta" that played in episode 20 of ''Journeys'' included a random egg for seemingly no reason at all. [[spoiler:That was resolved an episode later when that egg appeared and subsequently hatched into Riolu, which then took its egg's place in the ending.]]
* SpotlightStealingSquad: Team Rocket. Even ignoring the famous trio who appear in almost every episode, Team Rocket is the only villain team to not be disbanded and is the only one that is featured prominently in every season. What's more, their plot line in ''Black and White'' arguably has more time and attention devoted to it than Team Plasma's.
* StalkerShot: During the "Black & White" a.k.a "Best Wishes" seasons, when Ash meets the starter Pokemon of the Unova region, he comments Oshawott looks cutes, and when Trips chooses Snivy over him, he took an interest in Ash. Later in the episode, the camera would reveal Oshawott following Ash and hiding from a distance several times with Ash and Pikachu unaware of him. It's not until the third episode that Oshawott officially becomes apart of Ash's team.
* StarCrossedLovers: The male and female Nidoran from the Orange Islands episode "Wherefore Art Thou, Pokémon?", an obvious ShoutOut to ''Theatre/RomeoAndJuliet''. As a bonus, they are named Tony and Maria after the protagonists of ''Theatre/WestSideStory'', a modern take on the original play.
* StockFootage: Each season has a bunch of Ash poses that are constantly reused during battles. There are also a bunch of poses or motions that are often reused when a Pokémon is called out of its Poké Ball or executes a move.
* StockSoundEffects: The last few movies keep using sounds from ''Franchise/{{Godzilla}}'' monsters: Dialga and Palkia use the roars of Rodan, Ghidorah and Godzilla, Giratina has Mothra sounds and the ship of the 11th movie's villain sounds like [[Film/GodzillaVsMegaguirus Megaguirus]].
** When one considers that it's Toho Studios (the same company that makes the Godzilla films) that distributes the films...the rest speaks for itself.
** Palkia also has the roar of [[Film/RevengeOfTheSith Boga, Obi-Wan Kenobi's varactyl mount]], in the films and in ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosBrawl''. Boga is the first part of the roar, with either Heisei King Ghidorah (films) or Godzilla 1954 (''Brawl'') at the end.
* StoryBreakerPower: Many Pokémon have abilities that would quickly make the anime dull to watch if not unchecked.
** Most Legendary Pokémon are portrayed as very strong demigod-like beings in the anime. Naturally, this means that Ash will never have the chance to actually capture and own them in the same way player characters can in the games. He can befriend them (and has done so many times, especially in the movies), and has beaten a few that do belong to other trainers, but actually capturing them would not only be disastrous for the world, but it would also make Ash almost invincible.
** Many of Ash's Pokémon from previous regions such as Charizard, or Sceptile. He could have easily won most of his gym battles in the new regions, and might give him a higher chance of winning in the Pokémon Leagues. But that would remove the need to catch and train newer Pokémon (which is kind of bad for a MerchandiseDriven Show).
** [[SuperMode Mega Evolution]]. In the games, Mega Evolution is powerful, but only a select few Pokémon benefit enough from it to be a GameBreaker. The mechanic as a whole is balanced out by the fact all Mega Evolved Pokémon (except Rayquaza, who was so powerful, Smogon had to [[UpToEleven ban it from their banlist]]) have to give up their held item to hold a Mega Stone. In the anime, where held items are nonexistent, Mega Evolutions are a free powerup, and the only Pokémon qualified to fight them are other Mega Evolved Pokémon, the above-mentoined Legendaries, and [[TheHero Ash's]] [[StrongAsTheyNeedToBe Pikachu.]]
** Ash-Greninja, the unique Mega Evolution-like transformation exclusive to Ash's Greninja. It provides a power boost on par with a Mega Evolution, perhaps even stronger, and allows Ash to see the battle from Greninja's POV, which is an immense tactical advantage. At first, Ash and Greninja still had some trouble with it and tended to [[PowerStrainBlackout pass out]] from fighting too hard. However, as their proficiency with the form improved, they were able to challenge [[WorldsBestWarrior Diantha]] to a close fight, and upon completing the forme, not even Wulfric's Mega Abomasnow, which had a ''massive'' Type Advantage, had much of a chance. The only real drawback is that Ash [[{{Synchronization}} shares Greninja's pain]], but even this becomes manageable after mastering the form. [[spoiler: By the very end of the XY anime series Ash [[PutOnABus releases Greninja]] so it can protect Kalos alongside Squishy and Z2. Thus Greninja isn't likely to be recalled for future League battles.]]
** In a similar vein to Mega Evolutions, Z-moves are extremely powerful techniques that a Pokémon can perform if its trainer has the appropriate Z-crystal. Z-moves can very easily turn the tide of a battle if performed correctly, but using the powered-up move leaves the Pokémon exhausted. Like Mega Evolution, the limits in the anime aren't the same as the game - The only limit on Z-moves appears to be how much energy the Pokémon has, while in the games Z-moves can only be used once per battle and require it to be holding a Z-Crystal.
** Woah! Ash and his friends manage to catch an [[OlympusMons Ultra Beast]]! That'll surely help him in his Island Challenges right? Oh wait, they released it so it can go back to its home dimension...
* StrictlyFormula:
** Most episodes of Pokémon that aren't Gym battles or other plot point from the game follows the formula: Meet person of the week and/or Pokémon of the week, this person/Pokémon will either have a problem or cause someone in Ash's group to see a problem in themselves, Team Rocket will [[note]] though not so much in ''Best Wishes''[[/note]] plot to steal Pikachu and/or Pokémon of the week, Team Rocket unleashes their plan and is defeated in short order, the problem of the week is solved either by Team Rocket's defeat or some unrelated event.
** Since ''Black and White'', this formula has been getting less strict due to certain retools such as Team Rocket not being required in every episode. ''Sun and Moon'' barely follows the above formula due to Ash attending a school rather than traveling around to meet people and Pokémon, and more main characters to develop.
* StrongAsTheyNeedToBe: The actual competence and strength of characters and Pokémon is highly dependent on the plot.
%%* SuperEmpowering
* SupremeChef: In nearly every cast ensemble in each of the series, at least one of Ash's friends handles the cooking duties, and they're frequently very talented in that respect, so the main cast doesn't go hungry, especially on long journeys.
** Before joining Ash on his journey, Brock was forced to the main caregiver to his brothers and sisters (all 10 of them) so naturally his domestic skills are above par, including cooking.
** The Striaton Gym has a restaurant theme. Naturally this means that Cilan, Chili and Cress are all dressed as waiters and presumably know a thing or two about cooking.
** ''X and Y'' has a twist in that Clemont is the one that handles most of the cooking. He approaches cooking in the same way that he handles inventions, gather the appropriate ingredients and plan accordingly. Serena is also decent at cooking, but she prefers to make desserts. She's also very good at making Poképuffs.
** Since Mallow's family owns a local restaurant, she's naturally that group's cook. One of her goals is to add a signature dish to her restaurant's menu.
* SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute: Quite a few of the characters, both human and Pokémon, introduced in later seasons are based on characters from earlier ones. To list them all would take up most of the page.
* SweetPollyOliver: In "Battling At Full Volume!", Jimmy wants to have a Pikachu vs. Pikachu battle with Ash. Ash is sick and sleeping, so Serena dresses as Ash to battle in his place.
* SyndicationTitle: The first season aired on Creator/{{Boomerang}} as ''Pokémon: Indigo League''.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:T-X]]
* {{Taps}}: At the beginning of the episode "Pokémon Shipwreck", Officer Jenny and the other survivors of the sinking of the St. Anne are mourning the apparent deaths of Ash, Misty, Brock, Pikachu, Jessie, James, and Meowth, after they were unable to get off the ship. After Jenny tosses a bouquet of flowers overboard, she tells everyone to give a salute while a trumpeter starts playing Taps, as the flowers sink into the ocean waters.
* TastesBetterThanItLooks: In an ''Advanced Generation'' episode, the main characters come across two competing restaurants whose chefs are Pokémon, a Sneasel and a Mr. Mime. The Sneasel's food looks bland but tastes great, while the food cooked by Mr. Mime is visually appealing but tastes terrible.
* In ''[=Journeys=]'' a paleontologist decides to steal whipped cream meant for dessert to add as to a curry much to the group's shock, though they end up finding it incredible.
* TeamRocketWins: Being the TropeNamer, this occurs a fair few times for the trio, almost always when they start playing fair or side with Ash's team. "Dressed for Jess Success" and "A Dancing Debut" are the only episodes where they defeat any of the twerps and it sticks, however.
** They finally defeat Ash in a legitimately fair battle in in the 12th episode of the ''Sun & Moon'' series, which is the ''950th'' episode since their initial debut in the anime. Needless to say the trio are absolutely shocked and ecstatic about this (although true to form, outside circumstances prevent them from actually capturing Pikachu).
* TeeteringOnTheEdge: In ''Pokémon Shipwreck'', the second part of a three-part arc, Ash, Misty, Brock and Team Rocket end up trapped on a cruise ship that capsizes in a storm. The ship ends upside down and the middle section ends up stuck on a rock structure above a very big crevasse with any heavy movements threatening to tilt it over. This forces the groups into an EnemyMine situation to find a way out.
* TextualCelebrityResemblance: The episode "Arriving In Style" is about dressing Pokémon in costumes. The "famous fashion designer Hermione" looks a lot like iconic costume designer Edith Head.
* ThemeTuneExtended: Occurs with several of the English theme songs (and the majority of Japanese songs). Some of the extended versions can be heard in select episodes, but such extended songs are typically heard in [[{{Film/Pokemon}} the Pokémon movies]]. Usually, the movie in question will feature the theme song of the season that is airing at the time of the movie's release. The first original series' theme song is probably the most notable example, though - it received [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZdzY9TGu1c an extended version of the regular show theme]] ''and'', for ''Anime/PokemonTheFirstMovie'', [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hvqFZzbV24 a remix of said extended edition.]]
* TheresNoPlaceLikeHome: "I Keep My Home in My Heart," a duet between Eric Stuart (as Brock) and Rachael Lillis (as Misty) on the American ''Pokémon Christmas Bash'' CD, in which Brock and Misty reminisce about Christmas in their hometowns. Surprisingly given the title and lyrics, it's not a syrupy ballad.
* TheyveComeSoFarSong: The "Adventures in Unova" arc has the following in its theme song...
-->It's the next chapter, the ultimate goal
-->Ready for battle, brave and bold
-->I know we're gonna make it, we will find a way
-->We've come so far, we've fought so hard to get where we are
-->We belong together, it's always you and me, Pokémon...
* ThinlyVeiledDubCountryChange: During the early days, despite taking place in a FantasyCounterpartCulture, it was far more numerous with its Japanese set pieces, a fact that Creator/FourKidsEntertainment did its best to try and "correct". [[Memes/{{Pokemon}} Jelly filled donuts]], anyone? However, once the series started to become the cultural phenomena it is today, the writers started to make a better effort to make it more 'cultural neutral' to make it more easier on dubbers... though examples still pop up from time to time.
* ThreeAmigos: Ash, Brock/Tracey/Cilan/Clemont, and Misty/May/Dawn/Iris/Serena. Advanced Generation and XY both add a TagalongKid- Max and Bonnie, respectively.
* ThroughAFaceFullOfFur: In "Primeape Goes Bananas", a wild Primeape turns red with rage briefly when Ash's Squirtle sprays it with the water gun attack.
** In "Abra and the Psychic Showdown", a man's face turns red as he strains and struggles to bend a spoon with telekinesis.
** James in "The Punchy Pokemon". His face turns red for a moment from the weight of carrying Jessie on his shoulders.
** Brock in "Battle Aboard The S.S. Anne". His face glows pink upon seeing a woman introduced by a Gentleman to him and his friends.
* ToBeContinued: Even though most episodes don't end in cliffhangers.
** At the end of the last episode of every "series" in Japan[[note]]The episodes [[http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/EP274 "Hoenn Alone"]], [[http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/AG192 "Home is Where the Start Is"]], [[http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/DP191 "Memories are Made of Bliss"]], and [[http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/BW084 "Rocking the Virbank Gym! (Part 2)"]][[/note]], it ends with "Next Time... A New Beginning!" instead.
** Edited out of most of the dub "Chronicles" episodes.
* TooHungryToBePolite: When all of Goh's pokemon go crazy due to their food going missing, they all start to attack each other and almost put his 3 Cascoon at risk. Only averted with his Farfetch'd, Skwovet, Pidgy and Cubone who manage to stay calm and help get everyone back to normal.
* ToonPhysics: Oddly character specific to Team Rocket. While the heroes suffer AmusingInjuries as well at times, the trio tend to bounce back from ceaseless brutality that would usually risk seriously injuring other characters, being little more than comically dazed or scuffed (one episode places genuine drama from May risking falling down a cliff, despite Team Rocket shooting down it Road Runner-style just seconds before). They also tend to be the only characters allowed to show MediumAwareness about being in a cartoon.
* TotallyRadical: Several characters and instances in the dub, including [[SurferDude Brawly]], Misty's sisters, and a one-shot ''DP'' character named Sho, who the dub made into a JiveTurkey turned UpToEleven. And Team Rocket in "Battle Aboard the St. Anne," in which Jessie (in disguise) even ''says'' "radical," leading Ash to ask Misty, "Do you know ''anyone'' who says 'radical' any more?"
* TraitorShot: The Teddiursa in episode "[=UnBEARable=]" has ''five'' of them.
* TransformationSequence: Pokémon evolution.
* TroublemakingNewPet:
** A Johto episode, ''[=UnBEARable=]'', had Ash and friends come across a cute and seemingly innocent Teddiursa, whom they temporarily take under their wing. However, when Ash, Misty, and Brock are not around, Teddiursa is not as innocent as it seems as it frames most of the Pokémon (Totodile, Chikorita, Psyduck, and Bulbasaur) for eating all the food, which it actually did itself.
** An Alolan Meowth plays around with this when it joins Team Rocket in an Alola episode. While it maintains the trope's usual BitchInSheepsClothing act, it is smart enough to only pick on their original Meowth and be genuinely helpful to Jessie and James, bewildering them into thinking the latter is paranoid. When it finds better digs at their boss Giovanni's headquarters however, it quickly drops the act and abandons them, and mocks all three of them through communicator.
* TournamentArc: The point of every region, both the League (called Conference for some reason) and the Grand Festival.
* TuftOfHeadFur: The show has used this trope to distinguish between two Pokémon of the same species:
** Ritchie had a Pikachu named "Sparky" who had a tuft of fur to distinguish him from Ash's Pikachu.
** In "Battling At Full Volume" a guitarist trainer with a mohawk exclusively battled powerful Pikachu. His Pikachu had his fur styled like [[DelinquentHair a fauxhawk]].
** In an episode featuring Slakoth and Snorlax, one of the resident Slakoth of a resort has a larger tuft of fur than the others. This one volunteered to evolve into a Vigoroth to deal with a Snorlax that moved in was eating all of their food.
* TwinkleInTheSky: Almost every episode has "Team Rocket blasting off again" with them getting by an explosion that launches them into the sky, which always ends with a twinkle and a "ting!" sound effect.
* TwoGuysAndAGirl: The human protagonists in Kanto, the Orange Islands, Johto, Sinnoh and Unova:
** Ash, Brock and Misty in Kanto and Johto
** Ash, Tracey and Misty in the Orange Islands
** Ash, Brock and Dawn in Sinnoh
** Ash, Cilan and Iris in Unova
* TwoTeacherSchool: In ''Sun and Moon'', the only members of the school faculty we ever see are Professor Kukui and Principal Oak. It's also extremely rare to see other students aside from Ash's classmates attend the campus despite being big enough.
* UnbuiltTrope: The early Pokémon seasons are the first and most famous examples of {{Mon}} anime. However they also deconstruct certain aspects of the Pokémon world. At the beginning of Ash's journey, he is an inexperienced child. He gets his food stolen, is disobeyed by his starter, and is nearly killed by a flock of Spearow, ''all in the first episode''. Other early episodes showed other darker issues like Pokémon abandonment, disobedience, the existence of a crime syndicate. Mewtwo's backstory is a tragic and terrifying example of the experimentation that can exist. However, as Ash became more experienced, he ended reconstructing the Pokémon world by showcasing the virtues: loyalty, bravery, teamwork, and love.
* UndersideRide: This was a favored method by Ash and whoever was with him at the time to sneak on board [[KnightOfCerebus Hunter J's]] [[CoolAirship base]] via her [[CoolCar ground vehicles]].
* UnderTheMistletoe: The Christmas Bash CD has a song with the same name as this trope. Misty sings about how she wants it to happen, Ash sings about how he doesn't want to be caught under it. [[ShipTease You know the rest....]]
* UnexpectedlyDarkEpisode: Mixed with BizarroEpisode, "Time Warp Heals all Wounds!" fits this, featuring May and Meowth traveling back in time in order to stop a man before he takes the train where he will die before his wife can tell him that she is pregnant.
* TheUnintelligible: Most Pokémon, although many of the human characters understand them just fine; actions speak louder than words, after all.
* UniquenessDecay: In the early days, Legendary and Mythical Pokémon were depicted as one of a kind, untameable and [[PhysicalGod extraordinarily powerful]], and were largely confined to movies outside of cameos or representations. Later on, however, they became far more common with the idea of them being [[SingleSpecimenSpecies one of a kind]] freely disregarded, and frequently appeared either under the control of Trainers or as ordinary wild Pokémon; both times with considerably less power than what they originally had. This came to a head with ''Anime/PokemonGenesectAndTheLegendAwakened'', which nonsensically featured a second Mewtwo in spite of [[NoPlansNoPrototypeNoBackup several factors]] logically making such a concept impossible.
* UnrelatedEffects: The show likes to use the [[PowerGlows "shining light"]] variety of effects. Any attack involving a body part causes that part to glow, beam attacks charge by SuckingInLines, and anything that's about to explode [[PreExplosionGlow shoots out rays of light]].
* UnsettlingGenderReveal: The titular Purrloin in the episode ''Purrloin: Sweet or Sneaky!'' caught the attention of Oshawott and Meowth (confirmed to be male in earlier episodes) and both of them competed to see who would be Purrloin's boyfriend. Only for that Purrloin's owner to point out that it was male and the whole act was just a ruse to steal stuff.
* UnusuallyUninterestingSight: Most people and Pokémon don't seem to react to Team Rocket's Meowth, who is able to talk and act just like a human. It's occasionally noticed up from time to time, but for the most part, a lot of people are unfazed by the talking animal.
** Zigzagged in one of the Johto episodes where Team Rocket tries to cash in on Meowth's unique ability at a festival. At first it fails due to Meowth suffering from stage fright and remaining silent. The second time it initially works, however, Meowth's comedy routine is so bad that the audience stops caring about the miraculous talking animal and walk away disappointed.
** Averted by Go, who doesn't believe the news reports about Meowth until he speaks right in front of him, making him (Go) freak out.
** Similarly, few people respond to the appearance of very unique or elusive Pokemon unless the plot calls for it. This is especially evident in later series, where the protagonists are allowed to capture [[OlympusMons Mythical or Legendary Pokemon]].
* VersusCharacterSplash: Introduced in the XY series.
* VideoPhone: A common feature in the anime, Video phones in Pokémon centers appear to be the main way that trainers communicate with others while traveling.
* VillainDecay: Jessie, James and Meowth debuted as formidable, cool headed baddies. After their obsession with capturing Pikachu was established they slowly and gradually devolved into a pitiful GoldfishPoopGang, all the way until ''Best Wishes'', which abruptly upgraded them into far more serious and dangerous villains. ''XY'' and ''Sun and Moon'' have gone the middle road, making them comical again but keeping ''some'' of their power boost.
* VileVillainLaughableLackey: While Team Rocket members aren't always competent, only the TerribleTrio, and later Butch and Cassidy due to VillainDecay, are actually [[GoldfishPoopGang goofy]]. Most more elite members are some level of dangerous with only moderate comical qualities. Their boss Giovanni has a case of AdaptationalVillainy as he is more sinister and vicious than in the games, especially in earlier appearances.
* ViolenceIsNotAnOption: This is a recurring situation with the Ultra Guardian missions in the ''Sun and Moon'' series of the anime. Most of the Ultra Beasts are too powerful to be taken out by the heroes through battling, their attacks usually only causing a distraction at best, so more often methods resort to trickery or, in the cases of the [[NonMaliciousMonster less antagonistic ones]], even appealing to the personalities of the beasts so they'll willingly be captured and sent back to their world.
* WalkingTheEarth: Except when returning to Pallet Town, most series of the anime follows this. The ''Sun and Moon'' anime is the main exception as Ash and most of his friends stay in Hau'oli City and attend the Pokémon School on Melemele Island. They occasionally visit other locations such as the other Islands of Alola and even Kanto.
* WasntThatFun: Pretty much every Pokémon movie. Characters arrive at destination, all happy and sunshine for a good 10 minutes, figures out the threat or central plot, danger happens, barely survives the threat, then, live happily ever after for another year.
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse:
** Ash frequently makes several friendly rivals and leaves several Pokémon behind, claiming he'll see them again someday. Sometimes he does, usually he doesn't.
** When Ash and Gary return to Pallet Town to prepare for their first tournament, Professor Oak mentions that there were two other trainers who collected the other two starters (later revealed to be Charmander and Bulbasaur since Gary was later revealed to have Blastoise in the Johto Conference), who failed to collect eight gym badges in time for the Indigo Pokémon League. These two trainers are never seen and are never mentioned again.
** The GS Ball was a ball that cannot be opened that was discovered in the Orange Islands and was given to Ash to take to Johto. It was left with Kurt to study its contents but nothing came from it and was promptly forgotten about.
** When the 2011 Tohoku earthquake occurred and the network pulled the conclusion of the Meteonite arc from the ''Best Wishes'' saga. While people know what happened to the Meteonite due to a pre-existing trailer that shows Pikachu destroying it, it had the unintended side effect of leaving Castelia City overrun with Venipede that were driven from the desert due to Team Rocket activating the Meteonite. Nothing is mentioned of whether the Venipede were returned.
* WhatMeasureIsANonCute: In general, most remotely sinister-looking Pokémon, like Arbok and Murkrow, play antagonistic roles in the series, whereas all the "cute" ones are usually on the good side. This has been subverted on occasion, however, especially with James' Pokémon in later seasons.
* WhatsUpKingDude: Over the course of his adventures, Ash and his friends have met with dozens of characters who have royal titles. Just like other characters of the day, they're helped out or antagonize the cast but don't have much lasting impact on the series.
* WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes: A few of Ash's friends throughout the series started off as being scared or just disliking certain Pokémon:
** Misty was famous for being scared of Bug Type Pokémon, although she's willing to make exceptions for cute ones like Butterfree, Venonat or Ledyba. She also used to have a dislike of Gyarados before she obtained one for herself.
** Iris had a dislike of Ice Types due to being a Dragon Type trainer. It was noted In-universe for being unfounded as Dragon Types are also weak to other Dragon Types. She eventually got over her fear when she had to work with her rival's Vannilluxe to deal with a dangerous moss outbreak.
** Cilan had a dislike for Purrloin and all he mentioned was that he had a bad experience with one.
** Poor Lillie is afraid of touching or being close to ''any'' Pokémon. She is getting better after receiving a Pokémon egg and hatching it into an Alolan Vulpix, but she's still spooked by other ones. The reason why has partially to do with TraumaInducedAmnesia, and she eventually gets over her fear completely.
** It's revealed that Sophocles is afraid of the dark (possibly a reference to his fight in the games which takes place during a blackout). He is forced to confront his fear later on for the sake of both his Vikavolt and his dream of being an astronaut.
* WhyDontYouJustShootHim: Team Rocket would frequently try to surprise their targets in early episodes by ganging up on them with multiple Pokémon (which at the time was against the rules, which were limited to 1v1). This often backfired when their target returned the favor.
** In the third episode, Ash attempts this by trying to attack James in a normal fist fight after all his Pokémon (save for Caterpie) were knocked out. James effortlessly restrains him.
* WildChild: Tommy in the anime, and twice in the manga.
* WingdingEyes: Heart eyes showed up a lot when Brock saw a beautiful girl.
** And heart eyes have shown up on Pokémon at least a couple times, in the episodes "A Better Pill To Swallow!", and "Claydol, Big And Tall".
* WomenAreWiser: To a subtle extent with most female companions. While they still have [[NotSoAboveItAll profound moments of humility or hypocrisy]], they usually have at least a small cut of clarity over [[IdiotHero Ash]]. [[BigBrotherMentor Brock]] initially balanced this [[{{Flanderization}} until,]] [[ChivalrousPervert well...]]
** Clemont mostly subverts this - besides his inventions going haywire, he's probably the sanest and most straightforward member of the ''XY'' crew (more than even Serena, much of the time).
** Jessie tends to subvert this. While maybe more focused as a villain than James and Meowth, she is still a KnowNothingKnowItAll compared to them. WordOfGod is that Misty was supposed to be similar for the hero side. She's not ''totally'' incompetent however, just not smarter than Ash as often as she believes.
* WorfBarrage: In the Alola saga, Z-Moves that fail to defeat their target are very often this. Kiawe and Turtonator’s Inferno Overdrive became one in their battles against Brock and Gladion, and Guzma’s Golisopod easily withstood Ash and Pikachu’s Corkscrew Crash as well as Lana and Primarina’s Oceanic Operetta.
* WorfEffect: Whenever a powerful Trainer is introduced to the show (either heroic or villainous), Ash and/or Team Rocket are frequently victims of this trope in order to demonstrate their strength. Examples include Drake of the Hoenn Elite Four, Pokémon Hunter J, and [[spoiler: most of Ash's League rivals]].
* WorstWhateverEver: The Japanese title for one episode translates to "The Worst Togepi Ever!" The English dub changed it to "Where No Togepi Has Gone Before".
* WrongContextMagic:
** Ash's Greninja is capable of attaining a SuperMode that is as strong as Mega Evolution, but the exact mechanics (apart from involving a form of {{Synchronization}} between Ash and Greninja) are unexplained. It's an alien concept that didn't exist in the games (save a unique Greninja that comes with the ''Sun and Moon'' demo, meant to emulate the anime) and many people In-universe wonder if it counts as a Mega Evolution or not.
** Back in the Johto saga, Ash and his friends came across a magician named Lily (who may or may not be a reference to ''Literature/HarryPotter'') who after gathering a bunch of magic ingredients, accidentally turned Ash into a Pikachu. While a few Pokémon (like Ditto) can transform into other Pokémon, there aren't any that are capable of turning another individual into one. It's not referenced again, but it flies in the face of what's established before or since.
* TheXOfY: There have been at least 16 instances of this: Challenge of the Samurai, Island of the Giant Pokémon, Attack of the Prehistoric Pokémon, The Case of the K-9 Caper, The Battle of the Badge, Tricks of the Trade...
* YourSizeMayVary: Just like ''Franchise/{{Transformers}}'', scale in ''Pokémon'' is often more of a suggestion than a fact. Many times, a Pokémon will be smaller than their actual height (the 4'11"[[labelnote:*]]1.5m[[/labelnote]] Dunsparce is sometimes shown as being smaller than the 1'00"[[labelnote:*]]30cm[[/labelnote]] Pidgey), and just as frequently a Pokémon will be even larger (Charizard is 5'7"[[labelnote:*]]1.7m[[/labelnote]], yet is usually larger than Ash). Not even humans are exempt; sometimes Misty's taller than Ash, other times they're around the same height.
[[/folder]]
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''Minna no Pokémon, getto da ze!''\\
''Gotta Catch 'Em All! Pokémon!''
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** The Diamond and Pearl saga: Paul's treatment of Chimchar in an effort to control Blaze in an attempt to invoke HeroicSecondWind leaves the poor thing traumatized and scared for many episodes; Hunter J is a sociopathic BountyHunter who tries to kill Ash on numerous occasions; Team Galactic is given a case of AdaptationalVillainy, including trying to destroy Iron Island and kill all the humans and the Pokémon on it when in the games they wanted to catch the Pokemon, and Pokémon were shown badly injured more often; [[Deuteragonist Dawn]] falls into depression after a losing streak, and spends several episodes as a StepfordSmiler while contemplating if she should quit on her dreams.

** The Diamond and Pearl saga: Paul's treatment of Chimchar in an effort to control Blaze in an attempt to invoke HeroicSecondWind leaves the poor thing traumatized and scared for many episodes; Hunter J is a sociopathic BountyHunter who tries to kill Ash on numerous occasions; Team Galactic is given a case of AdaptationalVillainy, including trying to destroy Iron Island and kill all the humans and the Pokémon on it when in the games they wanted to catch the Pokemon, and Pokémon were shown badly injured more often; [[DeuteRagonist Dawn]] falls into depression after a losing streak, and spends several episodes as a StepfordSmiler while contemplating if she should quit on her dreams.

* VileVillainLaughableLackey: While Team Rocket members in aren't always competent, only the TerribleTrio, and later Butch and Cassidy due to VillainDecay, are actually [[GoldfishPoopGang goofy]]. Most members are some level of dangerous. Their boss Giovanni has a case of AdaptationalVillainy as he is more violent than in the games.

** Ambiguously absent parents seem to be the norm for the protagonists for the anime. Ash's father was mentioned once in the second episode, but its famously not elaborated on any further, but that's still more then his friend's parents.

** Neither of Misty's, Tracey's, Iris's or Cilan's parents are mentioned at all. Misty's parents are said to have abandoned Misty and her older sisters according to ''LightNovel/PocketMonstersTheAnimation''. Cilan and his brothers somehow run a gym by themselves despite being not that much older then Ash. Tracey and Iris apparently have no revealed blood relatives at all.

** Another example was "Fly Me to the Moon" about a Pidgey named Orville who dreams of flying higher then any other Pokémon. Even Meowth was touched by the dream and decided to help him.

* ADogNamedDog: Almost all Pokémon that appear in the anime are not nicknamed. There are a few exceptions that belong to minor human characters especially when they own more then one of the same species but the number that are owned by main or re-occurring characters can probably be counted on one hand:

* KidsRock: 2 B A Master

* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: And that's just the ''human'' cast, excluding the hundreds of one-shots. Since Pokémon themselves also need characterization, the cast usually ends up being much larger then you would expect:

* PoorPredictableRock: The point of every Gym Leader ever, except for the Orange League (which wasn't based on a game) and the Viridian City Gym, because the plot for the tv show was different then the game - since Team Rocket won't be defeated on the tv show, you don't have Giovanni and his ground-type Pokémon on the anime. However, being experts at their chosen type means they find ways to subvert this.

** Since ''Black and White'', this formula has been getting less strict due to certain retools such as Team Rocket not being required in every episode. ''Sun and Moon'' barely follows the above formula due to Ash attending a school rather then traveling around to meet people and Pokémon, and more main characters to develop.

** In an episode featuring Slakoth and Snorlax, one of the resident Slakoth of a resort has a larger tuft of fur then the others. This one volunteered to evolve into a Vigoroth to deal with a Snorlax that moved in was eating all of their food.