Summary
- Early plans for the Pokemon anime involved Pikachu speaking human language, confirmed by producers and voice actors.
- Pikachu’s ability to speak was later scrapped to maintain charm and focus on non-verbal communication with Ash.
- Pikachu briefly speaks in the movie “Pokémon the Movie: I Choose You!” (2017), reflecting the initial idea of making him talk.
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A rumor about the production of the Pokemon anime has recently been confirmed. It turns out that in early plans for the series, Pikachu would be able to speak human language, just like Meowth does.
While Pikachu is able to talk in some Pokemon productions, such as the Detective Pikachu movie, some fans have long claimed that there were actually plans for Ash’s favorite Pokemon to talk in the series. However, there has been little evidence of this. But now, Dogasu’s Backpack website has compiled plenty of evidence to prove this rumor is true.
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Producers First Wanted Pikachu to Learn How to Speak
While the original games suggest Pokemon can’t speak human language, the anime producers tackled the issue of whether Pokemon are able to speak. According to Dogasu, the Pocket Monster manga by Kosatsu Anakubo (1996-2019) was the first series in the franchise to show Pokemon speaking.
Both Pokemon‘s director (Kunihiko Yuyama) and Pikachu’s voice actress (Ikue Otani) have confirmed that Pikachu was supposed to speak. Yuyama stated in Pokemon Story, a databook released in 2000, that, despite guidelines defining that Pikachu shouldn’t be able to speak, they wanted to make him talk in the series – but later changed plans. Otani said in an interview with Manga University that Pikachu would learn to speak, but she was later informed that the plans had changed.
Meowth’s ability to speak is apparently a remnant of plans for other Pokemon to also be able to talk.
Why Doesn’t Pikachu Talk in the Anime?
In Pokemon Story, Yuyama declared that they abandoned the original plan because if Pikachu could speak, it wouldn’t be an animal anymore, and it would also take away some of its charm. However, in 2011, voice actor Keiichi Nanba stated on a TV show that what made them abandon this idea was that Otani managed to convey emotions without words – which is not entirely consistent with Otani’s statement in the interview previously mentioned.
In another interview in 2021, Yuyama added that having Ash and Pikachu communicate through gestures is a key feature of their relationship, and that this was the reason they decided that Pikachu wouldn’t speak in the series.
The alleged reasons are seemingly different in each interview (although Yuyama’s interviews might be supplementary to each other), but everyone agrees that Pikachu was supposed to talk in the early plans of the anime. As time goes by, it is natural that those involved in the anime production will not remember things accurately, so early interviews are likely to be more aligned with the facts – although producers may not have been allowed to fully answer some questions. Anyway, Pikachu does speak once in the anime. In Pokémon the Movie: I Choose You! (2017), the series’ mascot briefly speaks (though it’s only in Ash’s imagination).
Source: Dogasu’s Backpack Bulbagarden
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Pokémon
- Release Date
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1997 – 2022
- Network
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TV Tokyo, TV Osaka, TV Aichi, TVh, TVQ, TSC
- Directors
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Kunihiko Yuyama, Daiki Tomiyasu, Jun Owada, Saori Den
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Rica Matsumoto
Pikachu (voice)
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Mayumi Iizuka
Satoshi (voice)
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Tomokazu Seki
Pichu Younger Brother (voice)
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Pokemon
Pokemon is a franchise that needs no introduction. One of the most successful media empires in history, Pokemon spans games, television, films, manga, merchandise, music, and more.
