The Shared (International) Journey of One Piece and Pokémon

If one of the festival events last weekend is an indication, I've been on a One Piece mood lately, which as I've disclosed at one point in time, is something else I appreciate to a good extent other than Pokémon. The latter's actual ties to the former are scant, other than a downplayed collaboration and a shared voice actress between them. Yet considering other related matters, the two may be considered to share some "spiritual" ties among them. As a result, they may be regarded to have a shared "journey" - one that also takes them beyond their origin of the Land of the Rising Sun.

As with that of Pokémon, the English dub for the One Piece anime was initially worked on by 4Kids Entertainment, but whereas the one for the former was mostly intact compared to the original Japanese, the latter's was shredded and reformed to remove the more mature aspects. Later on, the rights for the English dub transferred to another party - also just like Pokémon - but instead of continuing where it left off, the dub essentially started over, this time with closer following; it was arguably for the best, to mend the mangled nature of the predecessor. In any case, both franchises (series) at least now have English dubs of good quality.

They also (now) have pretty good major live-action renditions. Whereas Pokémon already had it earlier four years ago with the Detective Pikachu movie, One Piece just had a recent foray with a TV show-style series composed of a season of eight episodes. They've been released for streaming on Netflix, and they have received substantial praise for production and casting, a rarity for such efforts. In fact, so good is the series that it has been renewed for a second season, also a rarity in this regard. As for Pokémon, while there have been indications of continuing the live-action rendition, that seems to be still up in the air at this moment.

Speaking of Netflix, the English dub of the Pokémon anime can also be streamed through the same service, at least for episodes of the most recent Journeys sub-series and all its iterations, which includes a rather pivotal moment for its main character. This applies well to the first few hundred episodes of the One Piece anime, making this another part of the shared "journey".  This doesn't cover the entire breadth of either series, but it may be significant enough that those who haven't subscribed to the service may become interested to subscribe to gain access to all of either that is offered.

Perhaps most importantly, their shared "journey" is nearly of the same age. The first chapter for the One Piece manga was published on July 22, 1997, which means it celebrated its silver anniversary last year, given this as its "epoch". Meanwhile, that of Pokémon transpired a year and a half earlier, meaning that it's also older by that amount of time. Regardless, the long run of both franchises (series) means that a lot has transpired for both, even with their different origins, with Pokémon being initially a game. They also have their legions of fans, for which some individuals like me are in both camps.

Regardless, it ought to be considered that the theme of "journey" is firmly embedded in both franchises (series), even if this is realized in different ways according to the particular story facets of both, as well as their various incarnations as above. And yet, those incarnations also have parallels in many aspects, moreover as both are hugely appreciated by their fans - and will continue to be so - outside of Japan as the country of their origin. Spiritually, that's all the more reason for fans of both (who might be double fans, again like me) to remain as such and continue the shared "journey" wherever it might take them.

One year ago: Pokémon Go Community Day, 9/18/2022

Two years ago: To Care and To Protect

Three years ago: GOtcha Podcast Episode 1: Mega Evolution in Pokémon Go

Four years ago: Raid Failures

Five years ago: A Restarted Fever?

Six years ago: What I (Really) Like About You - Pokémon