The official Korean website has announced that Bolteuroseu (볼트로스) and Toneroseu (토네로스) will be distributed via the Korean Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection from May 14th, 2012 @ 10:00 until July 5th, 2012 @ 23:59. Like the Japanese distribution, the Pokémon are being distributed to promote the two anime episodes Tornelos VS Voltolos VS Landlos! that air on Tooniverse May 24th, 2012. Players of Pokémon Black can receive Bolteuroseu while players of Pokémon White can receive Toneroseu.


Bolteuroseu (볼트로스) is level 70, is holding a Revival Herb and knows: Thunder, Hammer Arm, Focus Blast and Wild Charge while Toneroseu (토네로스) is also level 70, is holding a Revival Herb and knows: Hurricane, Hammer Arm, Air Slash and Hidden Power.

Source: http://pokemonkorea.co.kr/html/event/event_Off_view.asp?IDX=215

Earlier this campaign year, Republican nomination candidate Herman Cain quoted lyrics from the Donna Summer song The Power of One which was used in the English dub movie Pokémon: The Movie 2000. Now Jason Paige, the singer of the original English dub theme song for the Pokémon anime has remixed his original song to promote Republican nomination candidate Ron Paul and posted it on YouTube.

Jason Paige said on his YouTube comments that: "The Pokemon theme is a perfect song for the Ron Paul Revolution, as he racks up the delegates. Almost all the original lyrics fit as is. I Sang the original theme song in 1998 and thought this would be a great update on a classic. Share if you care. There are MILLIONS of Pokemon fans who'll join the revolution. Go Ron Paul!"


Source: http://jasonpaigeshow.com/

On May 5th, 2012, Shoko Nakagawa, one of the hosts of Pokémon Smash, celebrated her 10th Anniversary in the entertainment business and her 27th birthday by having a concert celebration called "10th Year Celebration! SHOKO NAKAGAWA LV UP LIVE Super☆Outdoor Music Festival (10元突破！SHOKO NAKAGAWA LV UP LIVE 超☆野音祭) at Osaka Castle. She sang 27 songs for the concert and Pikachu was one of the guests. Approximately 3100 people attended the event which started off with a bit of rain but ended in good weather and 25C temperatures. An additional performance was also held on May 6th, 2012 in Hibiya, Tokyo.


Shoko-tan will also be having her first Asia tour to celebrate her 10th anniversary. Concerts will be held in five cities in Asia with her bands, starting in Hong Kong on Saturday, July 7 and Sunday, July 8, 2012. Sunday, July 22, 2012 she'll be perforiming in Taipei, Sunday, August 5th, 2012 in Singapore, Friday, August 31st, 2012 in Shanghai and finally Sunday, Setptember 2nd, 2012 in Guangzhou. She stated about the tour that: "I want to sing to make Japan and the world happy and let people know that Japan is doing well."

A bunch of special CD's were released in Japan on May 2nd, 2012 titled: Shoko-tan Best――(°∀°)――!! (しょこたん べすと――(°∀°)――!!). The CD's have been added to our database as they include the album version of the 12th Pocket Monsters theme 'Antenna of the Heart' (心のアンテナ). There are four variants for sale, each has different things included. Details of each CD set is available in the CD database.


Sources: http://www.oricon.co.jp/news/deview/2011216/ and http://ameblo.jp/nakagawa-shoko/entry-11242536066.html

Momoclo Matome, a fansite for the idol group Momo-iro Clover Z (ももいろクローバーZ), reports that an entry for their upcoming, unnamed CD single at online shopping site Shinseido initially mentioned that the unnamed third track on this CD was both the ending theme to a "Pokémon" movie short and the ending theme to the "Pokémon" TV series. This note has since been removed, presumably due to this being an unintended, accidental leak.

The CD will be released June 27th and retail for 1200 yen.


Sources: http://momoclomatome.com/archives/6229005.html and http://www.shinseido.co.jp/cgi-bin/WebObjects/Catalog.woa/wa/detail?r=KICM-1400

A new Pocket Monsters DVD boxset has been announced for release on July 12th, 2012 in Japan. Pocket Monsters Best Wishes Pokémon TV Animation Collection DVD Exciting! Thrilling!! Volumes! (ポケットモンスター ベストウイッシュ ポケモンTVアニメコレクションDVD ～ワクワク！ ドキドキ！！編～) includes 8 episodes from Best Wishes and 8 episodes from the original series. Each disc has 2 episodes, one from Best Wishes and one from the original series. The 8 disc set can be purchased for 3192yen. The set has been added to our DVD database. Below is the information for each disc.

Episode Information

Disc # Ep Name Disc 1 SL 20 The Ghost of Maiden's Peak / Pokémon Ghosts and the Summer Festival Disc 1 BW 40 Movie Time! Zorua in 'The Legend of the Pokémon Knight'! / Zorua the Movie! Legend of the Pokémon Knight!! Disc 2 SL 33 The Flame Pokemon-athon / The Blazing Pokémon Race! Disc 2 BW 45 Meowth's Scrafty Tactics! / Nyagotiator Nyarth! Operation: Persuade Zuruzukin!! Disc 3 SL 36 The Bridge Bike Gang / The Stormy Cycling Road Disc 3 BW 46 Purrloin: Sweet or Sneaky? / Beware of Choroneko! Nyarth and Mijumaru!! Disc 4 SL 37 Ditto's Mysterious Mansion / Metamon and the Copycat Girl Disc 4 BW 48 Beartic Mountain Feud / Nyagotiator Nyarth! Break Through the Tunbear Forest!! Disc 5 SL 40 The Battling Eevee Brothers / The Four Eievui Brothers Disc 5 BW 51 Enter Elesa, Electrifying Gym Leader! / The Gym Leader is a Charismatic Model! Enter Kamitsure!! Disc 6 SL 62 Clefairy Tales / Pippi VS Purin Disc 6 BW 52 Dazzling the Nimbasa Gym! / Raimon Gym! An Electric Shock Battle of Splendor!! Disc 7 SL 69 The Pi-Kahuna / Legend of the Surfing Pikachu Disc 7 BW 53 Lost at the Stamp Rally! / Satoshi and Dent VS the Subway Masters! Disc 8 SL 71 Lights, Camera, Quacktion! / Pokémon the Movie! Disc 8 BW 55 A Maractus Musical! / Go Over the Rainbow! A Maracacchi Musical!!

Source: http://www.amiami.jp/top/detail/detail?gcode=FIG-COL-4222

The other day, it was announced that fashion model and singer Rola (ローラ) would be doing her first voice acting role for the 15th Pocket Monsters movie Kyurem VS the Sacred Swordsman Keldeo (キュレムVS聖剣士ケルディオ) voicing a cheerful and innocent girl named Malin (マリン) who meets Satoshi while he is on his journey.

Now the official Japanese movie site has announced four more voice actors for the movie. Returning are Pocket Monsters voice acting veterans Shoko Nakagawa (中川翔子) and Kōichi Yamadera (山寺宏一). Joining them will be Katsumi Takahashi (高橋克実). Shoko-tan announced on Pokémon Smash 80 that she would play the voice of Keldeo. What roles Katsumi Takahashi and Kōichi Yamadera will play will be announced in the future. Natsuna Watanabe (渡辺 夏菜) will be the narrator for the 15th movie short Meloetta's Sparkling Recital (メロエッタのキラキラリサイタル).


Source: http://www.pokemon-movie.jp/news/index.php

Photos of this month's Corocoro were recently made available online, revealing a lot of new information on Pocket Monsters Black 2 White 2. The games will be released in Japan on June 23rd, 2012 for 4800yen each. The game will take place in Isshu 2 years after the original BW game and feature an all new plot, new areas including Hiougi City (ヒオウギシティ), where your new adventure will be starting and a new Regional Pokédex with roughly 300 Pokémon total. The game will have two new playable characters and a new rival, as well at least two new gym leaders, the Water type leader Shizui (シズイ) and the Poison type leader Homika (ホミカ). A mysterious researcher named Achroma (アクロマ) will also figure into the plot somehow.

New Miscellaneous Information:

• Homika will be appearing in the Best Wishes anime series in an episode to air June 14th, 2012.
• Black Kyurem knows Freeze Shock and White Kyurem knows Ice Burn.
• New Unova Pokédex: Psyduck is #026, Riolu is #033 and Metagross is #254

Fashion model and singer Rola (ローラ) will sing the ending theme for Kyurem VS the Sacred Swordsman Keldeo (キュレムVS聖剣士ケルディオ) which premieres in Japanese theaters on July 14th, 2012. The theme song is titled Memories (メモリーズ). Rola is 22 years old and was born on March 30th, 1990. Her father is from Bangladesh and her mother is half Japanese and part Russian so that gives Rola her unique features and is why she is a popular model in Japan currently.


Rola was quoted saying, "I've loved Pokémon since I was little, I always played the games and I love Pikachu, I was very happy when I heard the theme song! Really happy happy! Come see the movie!" 「ポケモンは小さいころから大好きだったし、いつもゲームしてたし、ピカチュウも大好きで、主題歌歌うって聞いたときはすごく嬉しかった！ 本当にハッピーハッピー！ 映画も見に来てね！」

Director Kunihiko Yuyama (湯山邦彦) said about the theme, "Before hearing it, considering the title is "Memories (メモリーズ)", it was a very grand image, but when I heard it I felt a sense of large-scale and it works perfectly." 「『Memories（メモリーズ）』というタイトルからして、聴く前からとても壮大なイメージだったのですが、聴いてみてまさに作品にぴったりの大きなスケール感を感じました」

Rola will also be doing her first voice acting role for the movie as she voices a cheerful and innocent girl named Marin (マリン) who meets Satoshi while he is on his journey.

Source: http://www.zaikei.co.jp/article/20120410/100468.html

Oha Suta - April 12th, 2012

Oha Suta aired a new trailer for the upcoming movie Kyurem VS the Sacred Swordsman Keldeo (キュレムVS聖剣士ケルディオ) on April 12th, 2012. The trailer confirmed the new theme song Memories (メモリーズ) and the Pirouette forme of Meloetta was shown for the first time in anime form.


The pre-order tickets for this summers Pocket Monster Movie 15 - Kyurem VS the Sacred Swordsman Keldeo (キュレムVS聖剣士ケルディオ) go on sale April 14th, 2012 and was showcased on Oha Suta. General admission is 1300yen, youth admission is 800yen and a parent/child combo is 2000yen. The tickets can be purchased at participating: 7/11's, Ito-Yokado, Aeon, Aeon Supercenters, Toys 'R' Us, Apita, Piago, Al-Plaza, Heiwado, Daiei, Fuji, Pokémon Centers and Toho cinemas nationwide. If you purchase the ticket from 7/11, players need to bring the voucher and movie ticket to a participating distribution location as Keldeo will not be distributed at 7/11. Keldeo can not be received by non-Japanese versions of Black and White and it cannot be traded on the Global Trade Station.

The details of Keldeo are as follows:

Pokémon	Info
	Level: 15
	Poké ball: Cherish Ball
	Ribbon: Wish Ribbon
	Ability: Justified
	Held Item: PP Max
	Attack 1: Aqua Jet
	Attack 2: Leer
	Attack 3: Double Kick
	Attack 4: BubbleBeam

On March 6th, 2012, Shoko Nakagawa posted three pictures on her blog that showed a banner on the Pokémon Smash set that said: Pokémon Anime 15th Anniversary Special (ポケモンアニメ１５周年スペシャル). On Sunday April 1st, 2012's episode of Pokémon Smash, Pokémon! I Choose You! (Digitally Remastered Version) / A Special Celebrating the 15th Anniversary of the 'Pokémon' anime, with an Appearance from Rica Matsumoto! / A Feature of 15 Years Worth of Movies / The Dearly Missed Pokémon Join the Celebration! (ポケモン！きみにきめた！ (デジタルリマスター版) / アニメ「ポケモン」15周年記念スペシャル、松本梨香さんが登場！ / 15年間の映画情報 / 懐かしいポケモンたちがお祝いに！), a special episode was broadcast which was also the exact anniversary date of the anime which began airing in Japan on April 1st, 1997. Shoko-tan posted back stage pictures with the Pokémon Smash cast and Rica Matsumoto (松本梨香) who appeared in the special. Hikozaru also was reunited with Shoko-tan.


Source: http://ameblo.jp/nakagawa-shoko/entry-11184556192.html

Pokémon 15th Anniversary Special Episode Summary

After introducing the various segments making up today's episode, the show's announcer started it off with the words "Good morning! We will celebrate 15 years of Pokémon TV series! It's time for Pokémon Smash!" After Golgo, Shoko-tan, Robert and the International Division collectively greeted the viewers with a "Pokémorning!", Golgo mentioned that today was April 1st, and asked the others if they knew what day that was. Hana said it was April fool's day, and Golgo answered that while that's true, it's also a Pokémon-related commemoration day. Maria suggests it's the day Akiyama started playing Pokémon and got fat, while Baba suggests it's the day the Pokémon Center got listed on the stock market. Golgo can't believe they don't know and asks Shoko-tan to tell them, and she explains how, on this date, 15 years ago, the very first episode of the Pocket Monsters anime was broadcast. Right after she says this, Professor Red walks in with a package, explaining how the digitally remastered version of the first Pocket Monsters episode is finally complete. After he shows a clip from the old version and a clip from the new version played side by side to highlight the differences, Golgo explains that they'll show this digital remaster right now, propting Red to use a special go-to phrase: "OK! Digital Remaster!"

After the episode airing, the announcer explained that today's episode is a 15th Anniverary Special for the anime, and how they'll look back at 15 years of adventure together with their special guests. As we cut back to the hosts, they introduce the special properly with banners and posters, and Golgo calls on the first guests: Pikachu and Gonbe. Robert greet their old friend Gonbe, and the announcer explains how he used to work with them earlier. Golgo introduces the next guest as an obvious participant at this celebration, and calls in Rica Matsumoto herself, and Shoko-tan bows down and praises her.

The crew starts listing various key points about the anime: It started airing April 1st 1997, as of today a total of 736 episodes have aired, the highest viewership rating it got was 18.6%, and it currently airs in 77 countries. Additionally, the first opening theme, Matsumoto's "Mezase Pokémon Master" is not only a million seller, but a double million seller, which leads her to perform that very song for the audience.

Next up is the first installment of a segment titled "the Pokémon Anime Playback", which shows various clips from the anime in a manner very similar to the "Strange and Cool Pokémon Plays" segments from the Weekly Pokémon Broadcasting Station show. In the first of these segments, which focuses on Satoshi, we see him dressing up in various manners and being hit by various Pokémon moves.

As we cut back to the studio, Golgo notices that Rica sees to have hidden herself behind a curtain. Throwing it aside, he discovers his old friend Yamirami is there instead, and as the two greet each other, the narrator explains how Yamirami used to work with Golgo and how great friends they were. As Rica reveals herself, having been standing just outside of camera range, Shoko-tan starts explaining the series' history using a giant billboard full of illustrations and references. The crew explains and shows clips referencing the various key aspects of each of the four series, "Pocket Monsters", "Pocket Monsters Advanced Generation", "Pocket Monsters Diamond & Pearl" and "Pocket Monsters Best Wishes", covering aspects such as which region they took place in and who Satoshi's travelmates were. Pochama's popularity as a cast member of Diamond & Pearl is brought up, leading into the introduction of the next guest: Pochama itself.

Another installment of the Pokémon Anime Playback follows, this one focusing on Pikachu, and shows off its power, its (lack of) speed, its love for ketchup and its knack for making amusing faces, as well as its amazing Pokémon mimicry skills.

As the show returns from its commercial break, Robert have prepared a new segment, focusing on several "secret" facts about Satoshi. The first point they bring up is the similar personalities the Pokémon of the same type seem to have. Waninoko and Mijumaru, both Water types, are fun-loving and do things their own way, his Fushigidane and Tsutarja, both Grass types, are serious, no-nonsense Pokémon, and his Fire type Pokémon Pokabu and Hikozaru were both met through dramatic circumstances and were both characters with traumatic histories. This coverage of Satoshi's Pokémon leads them to introduce the next two guests, Leader Kimori and Hikozaru, and the narrator explains how Robert and Shoko-tan used to work with them in the past. As the two Pokémon leave, Robert bring up their next "secret" - Satoshi's amazing strength, which is demonstrated by showing him carrying the 6kg Pikachu on his head while both running at high speeds and jumping great distances, and further by lifting the 49.5kg Hippopotas both in his arms and, again, on his head.

Next we get another Pokémon Anime Playback installment, this one focusing on the Rocket Gang, in particular their various disguises, including Kojiro's Professor Red disguise and Nyarth's Chief Golgo disguise, as well as a showcase of some of their different mechs. As the segment ends, the next guest walks in on his own - it's Nyarth himself, in his first appearance on Pokémon Smash.

Robert asks Rica if she'd be interested in doing a dubbing skit with them, and she agrees, which launches a parody dub of select scenes from the Tornelos VS Voltolos VS Landlos episodes, with Rica voicing Satoshi, Baba voicing Tornelos, Yamamoto voicing Voltolos and Akiyama voicing Landlos, all recorded right there on the spot, as the apparantly partly improvised dialogue changes the Pokémon's battle into one over who ate Landlos' cake.

As the show returns from another commercial break, the International Division introduce their personal segment, a presentation of the 14 Pokémon movies that have been made to date, co-hosted by two new guests, Director Lucario and the Jagged-Eared Pichu. Following this presentation, the girls bring up the latest information of "Kyurem VS the Sacred Swordsman Keldeo", which will debut July 14th: The movie will again have a poster design contest, where Japanese kids can download the black-and-white basic poster design from the official site and design a poster featuring an uplifting message for the people of Japan. The three girls and Shoko-tan show off the example posters they have designed.

Golgo then announces the secret project that has been mentioned a couple times - a 15th Anniversary Roleplay Contest, where Robert as "Team Meloetta" and the International Division as "Team Keldeo" will be competing against each other through viewer support, similar to the Black-White Cheering Showdown from last year. Viewers are given a list of movie Pokémon connected to each team, and can then earn points for the team by sending in pictures of themselves portraying one of these Pokémon. The episode then ends with Rica and the PokéSma crew doing a performance of "Best Wishes" together.

Pokémon! I Choose You! (ポケモン！きみにきめた！) - Digitally Remastered Version

Until the remastered version of Pokémon! I Choose You! (ポケモン！きみにきめた！) aired in Pokémon Smash 78, the highest quality version of the episode was available on DVD in the Pokémon Best Collection DVD Kanto Volume (1) (ポケモンベストコレクションDVD カントー編（１）. The quality difference between the two is very evident and the episode has never looked better. Gone are various defects caused by the inital transfer of the episode from its original film version to a broadcastable version.

The over the air version from TV Tokyo 7, in which this comparison is based off of, broadcasts digitally with a NTSC resolution of 1440x1080, with an aspect ratio flag set to 16:9 and a frame rate of 29.97. While the episode is actually 4:3 and is pillerboxed, the video for the episode has an effective resolution of 960x720. The DVD's resolution is NTSC 720x480, 4:3, 29.97fps. It is quite evident from the remastered broadcast that it was mastered in high definition as the original film is more than sufficient to support high definition. While the OTA resolution and bitrate is not nearly as high as it is possible with Blu-ray, an eventual home release on Blu-ray could correct resolution and bitrate issues. The film grain is a lot more evident in the remastered version but this is very common with shows originally mastered on film and then viewed in high definition.

On September 23rd, 2010, during the Best Wishes debut celebration, Pokémon! I Choose You! (ポケモン！きみにきめた！) aired in the special It's About to Start! It's a Pokémon Festival! Best Wishes (8:00) (もうすぐスタート！　ポケモン祭りだ！　ベストウイッシュ (8:00) on TV Tokyo. While the special was broadcast in high definition, the episode was clearly still in standard definition as comparing this special broadcast to the remastered broadcast clearly shows a difference.

Mastering Changes

The obvious change as stated above is the resolution change. The mastering into high definition gives a lot more detail to the episode than the previous master. This is most evident when looking at text in the episode which is easier to read. The text on the remote in Hanako's hand is a good example of this.


Later in the episode, the Japanese text on Okido's gate is a lot easier to read. The kanji in "Okido Laboratories" (オーキド研究所) is also easier to see.


A color balance and color correction is also clearly evident throughout the remastered version. Gangar's color is more vibrant and the contrast is greatly improved.


The remastering process seems to have scanned in the full frame as the DVD version in comparison is cropped left, top and right. The broadcasted digitally remastered version though seems to have cropped the full frame off a bit at the bottom, possibly to help remove the blackness at the bottom at scene change frames. The Shigeru/Satoshi scene outside the lab is a good place that shows this. In the remastered version, more of the man on the left can be seen and it shows that the tree on the right splits half way up. In the DVD version though, more of Satoshi's arms can be seen as well as the pants of the man on the left.


A direct frame line up from the DVD upscale to match the remastered version shows the difference. The frame on the left is the DVD upscaled frame. The red border is the part of the picture that is in the remastered version but not in the DVD version. The middle frame is what the remastered frame looks like. The frame on the right is the remastered frame with the bottom part of the upscaled DVD version added. The red part in the right frame is the missing part of the full frame scan.


Ghosting from the DVD encoding process is now gone in the remastered version. Reverse Telecine (IVTC) could not fix this issue with the DVD and deinterlacing made it even worse.


Scene change frames that had blackness at the bottom caused by the original telecine process or tape, have been removed from the remastered version. This was one of the most annoying things about watching the original series and it makes it a more enjoyable viewing experience with it being removed.

Episode changes as a result of the Remastering Process

Various small changes to the episode have been incorporated in the remastered version. It is obvious that some of these changes were originally intended to be shown but the original master had transfer problems. Below is a list of these changes and they can also be found in our episode guide edit list for this episode.

Both the Pokémon movie franchise and the Japanese web portal/search engine goo are celebrating their 15th anniversary this year. To commemorate this, goo is hosting a Pokémon movie-related event campaign.


As of today, goo visitors can choose to apply a Pokémon skin to the site. Two skins are currently available, one Pikachu-themed and one Keldeo-themed, with more to come in the future.


If either of these skins are applied, a "Pokémon party" application can be accessed through the main goo site. By signing up for this with a Twitter account, the visitor will be given an empty Pokémon party with 6 slots to be filled, as well as 5 monster balls. Every time the page is visited, a random Pokémon will appear in this application, and the visitor may attempt to get it by clicking on one of their balls. The visitor's stock of monster balls will refill daily.

The application can also be accessed via smart phones, in which case the visitor will be given a more efficient stock of 5 Hyper Balls instead of the usual monster balls.

Once a visitor has gathered a total of 6 Pokémon, he or she is eligible for entering a raffle contest. Three winners will be given a Nintendo 3DS system each, one winner will receive a Keldeo plushie, and three winners will get a "Kyurem VS the Sacred Swordsman Keldeo" movie poster autographed by Rica Matsumoto.

In addition, the site is hosting a Pokémon Movie Star Popularity Vote contest, where visitors may vote for their favorite Pokémon or set of Pokémon starring in one of the 15 movies. The alternatives are Mewtwo, Lugia, Entei, Celebi, Latios & Latias, Jirachi, Deoxys, Lucario, Manaphy, Darkrai, Shaymin, Arceus, Zoroark & Zorua, Zekrom & Reshiram and Keldeo & Meloetta. The winner of the poll will receive a goo skin similar to the Pikachu and Keldeo ones. Visitors who participate in the poll and sign up to follow the goo Twitter account will be entered into another raffle, where one winner will receive a set of all 14 Pokémon movie DVDs, one winner a set of giant Cobalon, Terrakion and Virizion plushies, and one winner a set of 7 soft vinyl figures portraying Keldeo, Kyurem, Cobalon, Terrakion, Virizion and two as-of-yet-unannounced Pokémon.

Source: http://www.goo.ne.jp/15th/