The aim of this project is to create a maintainable collection of metadata
concerning the Pokémon anime. This came about due to my frustration when trying
work out where various movies and specials (and even some episodes) fit
chronologically with regard to the ongoing series.
The starting order is based on the original Japanese airdates (taken from
Bulbapedia. Over that is layered a collection of annotated edits
that can be found in data/edits.json, to form the final presented
ordering.
Annotations
Annotations are links back to this site where the thought process and evidence
for each edit is provided for review. This information necessarily includes
spoilers, as details such as rosters and evolutions form large parts of some
continuity edits.
Contributing
Contributions are very welcome! Please provide some reasoning behind your edit,
and if available, a citation. Some common reasons for edits are:
Original/intended Japanese airdates
Schedule changes due to real world concerns
Continuity Errors
Pokémon unevolving
Pokémon not having been caught yet
Flashbacks to future episodes
Mentioning future events in the past tense
The best place to open a discussion about a new or existing edit is GitHub
Issues. Please do a quick search of existing issues before creating
a new one.
Notes
It’s worth knowing that the movies in particular play it pretty loose with
regard to continuity. It’s not uncommon for Ash and his friends to “forget”
major events that have taken place within them. Some are better than others in
that respect, but it does mean that while this project seeks to minimise this
sort of thing, it’s not always possible.
MV Sewol Ferry Disaster
In the wake of the disaster, XY024 was postponed (at the
time indefinitely) due to it’s subject matter. The episode, originally
scheduled to air in Japan a mere week after the disaster, sees the main
characters exploring the shipwreck of a luxury liner on the ocean floor.
The episode eventually made it to air in Japan on November 20th.
The Diancie movie, much to the disappointment of some fans, spoiled the
evolution of Ash’s Fletchling by incorporating Fletchinder a week
prior to the evolution taking place on TV screens. The temptation is to solve
this by simply pushing the movie and it’s related specials back a week to solve
the continuity issues and ensure that future viewers will not be spoilered in
the same way.
However in a slightly later episode Xerneas appears and goes
unrecognised by all but Clemont, who seems ready to name that Pokémon just
before being interupted by Tierno.
Astounding! Is that–
– a pokémon? Amazing!
This also fits with Clemont’s familiarity with the legend of Xerneas portrayed
in the film. Since there’s no roster changes and no real change in geography
(still being on Route 11) it seems acceptable to push the movie back until
the close of the PokémonSummerCamparc,
just before Ash’s arrival at Shalour City.
Movie Fifteen was released at a time when Dawn was travelling
with Ash in the anime, yet she does not appear in the film so some
movement is required. Meloetta is also absent, yet during the time Meloetta
follows Ash it makes frequent appearances especially when Ash is in peril, so
the movie likely occurs outside of thisarc.
Making the assumption that the movie occurs before the Meloetta arc, it must
also occur prior to BW081 which sees the group board a boat until
BW082. This appears to be best place, as geographically there doesn’t seem to
be enough space between Twist Mountain and Icirrus City
for Roshan City (setting of the movie) to exist in.
Summer Bridge Story was released in the middle of theClubBattletournamentarc, and as a result
needs moving. Placing it just prior to M14 which was moved for the
same reason seems to be the most expedient solution.
At most only one of these movies can be considered even close to cannon
due to fundamental contractions. Both will be scheduled together so that the
watcher may choose which to incorporate into their own personal experience.
As the original release date places them in the middle of the
NimbasaCityClubBattletournament, moving them just prior to that arc seems as good
a solution as any.
Originally released in the middle of the Sinnoh League this Pikachu
short needed to be relocated. The opening shot features a built up city
on the edge of a body of water, which doesn’t match what gets seen of either
Sunnyshore or Lily of the Valley Island.
Since DP181 shows the ferry stopping along the way for supplies,
it’s possible that this unnamed city is another one of these stops, so lets
place it in that window.
The thirteen movie left to it’s own scheduling interrupts Ash’s
participation in the Sinnoh League competition. Ash also makes significant
changes to his roster at the start of competition, signaling that this movie
takes place before the competition rather than afterward.
Although these events occur in DP182, another problem is that the
league takes place on Lily of the Valley Island whereas the movie features
Crown City as it’s setting, which shows no sign of being on an island.
Finally, the episode in which Ash & friends board the ferry from
Sunnyshore Port to the island immediately follows an episode also
set in Sunnyshore, pushing the movie back one more episode.
The GuardianSigns arc of specials aired interleaved with the
SunyshoreCity arc. Since the plots don’t crossover, this
is likely a symptom of TV scheduling rather than intent, so there’s no reason
not to group them by arc. Since Guardian Signs started later, it makes sense to
move that arc.
PK16 doesn’t quite fit with it’s release date due to the inclusion of
Ash’s Aipom. The mischevious pokémon first appears one episode later,
but is not captured until AG182.
The trailer appears to show Aipom fully integrated with the group, so it seems
likely that this takes place after her capture. It’s worth noting that other
lists prefer to place this short immediately after Aipom’s debut, however due
to the trailer evidence it will be placed post-capture.
This special was made to order at the behest of The Pokémon Company
International, as a result despite being produced in Japan, it aired first in
the United States. When it finally did air in Japan it did so just after the
start of the Diamond & Pearl series, despite featuring characters from the
Advanced Generation.
Even trying to place it using the US airdate, there’s still continuity issues.
The airdate places it just after AG136, however Pikachu uses Volt
Tackle, a move he won’t learn in the anime for another thirteen
episodes.
Taking Pikachu learning Volt Tackle as a starting point, the next limiting
factor is that May’s Combusken evolves in AG191 so it must take
place before that. Unfortunately this results in a huge fourty episode window
in which MoMP could have taken place.
Given the lack of other landmarks to help place it, the concensus seems to be
to place it as early as possible in that window, that being closest to where it
aired in the dub’s broadcast.
Plot alone doesn’t offer any compelling reason to alter the placement of
M07, however geography does. The anime movie map shows that it’s set
in a city north-west of Lilycove City, which locks down a placement window of
between AG085 and AG090.
The airdate placement meets these criteria, however the map also suggests (via
the depiction of Plusle and Minun), that PK13 occurs just north of
the movie’s setting. As Ash and friends are travelling south-east, it seems
logical to place M07 just after PK13.
Unfortunate scheduling meant that this special about Team Rocket aired
between two consecutiveepisodes with a story arc focusing on
Misty and Togepi.
As it begins with Team Rocket already in the middle of a blast-off, it makes
more sense to place it just before the Togepi arc, as while the
preceding episode concludes with them blasting-off, the Togepi arc
sees them escape realtively unscathed.
This movie was released as the anime was airing an arc of episodes in
which Ash and friends stayed in SlateportCity. The movie
occurs outside of any built up area, so it’s pretty certain this is not
a correct placement.
The anime movie map shows that the movie takes place just south of
Fallarbor Town, so it would make sense for it to take place around the same
time as May’s Pokémon Contest there. However the absence May’s Skitty suggests
it probably takes place prior to AG047. The solution that seems to
fit best is that it took place during a detour south on the way to Fallarbor
Town.
This leaves a window of possibility between AG040 and AG047. Given
the location’s proximity to Fallarbor Town, the later in that leg of the
journey, the better. Thus ideal placement seems to be just prior to AG047.
No debate about this one, Trouble In Big Town forms the third part of
Pichu’s and Pikachu’s WinterVacation 2001. All three aired on
the same day in Japan, this edit is simply to ensure it occurs third.
Going strictly off of air/release dates, M02 gets listed immediately
prior to EP105 where Ash’s Charizard finally becomes obedient. The
problem with this is that in the movie, Charizard shows no signs of being
disobedient. At one point Charizard even ends up pulling a sled being ridden by
Ash. These actions taken together make more sense if Charizard is already
obedient, which can be fixed by pushing M02 back one episode.
However there’s some speculation that the original airdate placement
is correct, based on the geography of the Orange Archipelago. Ash
and friends visit Trovita, Cleopatra and
Ascorbia islands in that order. While the movie takes place on
Shamouti Island which is logically visited while travelling between Trovita
and Cleopatra islands.
While this argument makes sense, the reason given in the movie for them
visiting Shamouti at all is being dragged there by anomalous bad weather seen
all the way to Palet Town. It’s therefore not beyond the realm of possibility
for this to have occured just after leaving Cleopatra rather than before, so
for now at least Charizard’s behavior wins out.
Unfortunately there is another continuity error introduced by Prof Oak’s and
Tracey’s meeting at the end of the movie. In subsequentepisodes Tracey expresses excitement at meeting Prof Oak in person.
This is unresolvable (by reordering) as attempting to place the movie after
these episodes leads to other errors. Namely that Lapras, who appears in the
movie, is released during EP113 and that Ash and friends leave the
Orange Islands (the location of the movie) at the end of EP114.
Seemingly the best explanation available for this is simply that Tracey didn’t
get much chance to speak to Prof Oak immediately following the movie, and that
his excitement is more about that than merely meeting the professor in person.
Since it was released in mid-1999 a ten minute prequel has been added
to the begining of M01. Therefore move it to immediately preceed the
movie as intended.
In what appears to be the last bit of fallout from the previous year’s
hiatus, Pikachu’s WinterVacation aired smack-bang in
the middle of the Indigo League competition story arc.
It’s probable that had it been possible to follow the original schedule, the
Indigo League would have already concluded by the Winter Holidays, and not
ended up spanning the new year. Given this and lack of other significant
markers, it seems to make sense to place these specials after that arc.
However, story progresses somewhat rapidly toward the Orange Islands once the
league wraps up, and there’s not really a fitting place for these specials to
live post-league without breaking that flow. Others have deigned to remedy this
by placing them before the league starts instead, which works due to the lack
of landmarks within them.
In the absense of a “better” or more concrete solution it makes sense to follow
that line of reasoning. If you know of a better/more accurate one, please get
in touch!
Even the first Pokémon movie didn’t manage to escape the turbulence set
in motion by the four month hiatus. A trioofepisodes feature Mewtwo in what was to be the build up to the movie,
however due to the hiatus, these episodes eventually aired several months after
the movie’s release.
The easiest way to fix this is to simply move Mewtwo Strikes Back, and the
pikachu special associated with it to just after EP065; the final
episode of the trio to showcase Mewtwo.
After movingEP052, it becomes conspicuous for it’s
lack of reference to the egg found in the now previous episode. To
solve this issue without disturbing the Hinamatsuri episode, we simply swap the
epsiodes now adjacent to it.
Thankfully EP047, doesn’t mention the egg or have other problematic
external refences, so swapping it with EP046 serves as a painless fix.
Another casualty of the hiatus was EP053, the Children’s
Day episode. Having missed May 5th, it eventually aired on July 28th 1998.
Unfortunately placing this based on intended airdate (arrived at by counting
Tuesdays and episodes forward from the new location of
EP052) interrupts the Toddstoryarc.
Speculation is that there would have been a double broadcast at some point in
the preceding months, meaning this episode would air the week after the arc
concluded.
While unconfirmed, this seems like a reasonable guess and as such will be
included here. As it does not impact the story (it’s basically zero-sum filler)
there is some debate on whether it should be moved or left in place where it
eventually aired, as such consider this edit somewhat optional.
When Pokémon came back on air (following the hiatus) the schedule
suffered accordingly. The Hinamatsuri episode, ended up airing on July
9th, four months after the festival on which it focused (March 3rd). This also
introduced continuity errors, as it featured the debut of Jessie’s Lickitung
a pokémon referenced several episodes prior with no introduction.
As we know the planned airdate for EP044, and that new
episodes were to broadcast on each Tuesday, we only need to count forward three
weeks until we hit March 3rd. This tentatively allows us to place EP052, just
after EP046. Unfortunately, this doesn’t solve all problems in their
area, but a future edit will take care of that.
Strobe effects in EP038 lead to an unplanned four month hiatus of the
Pokémon anime. Due to this two winterspecials were skipped
over (they eventually made it to air in the Fall of 1998), and a PSA
was created to explain the incident.
Therefore in order to fix the continuity, the two specials get placed
immediately after the PSA.
