Pokémon in Germany
- Pokémon in German redirects here. For Pokémon names in the German language, see List of German Pokémon names.
| Pokémon in Germany | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ||||
| Language | German | |||
| Continent | Europe | |||
| Original animated series airdates | ||||
| EP001 | September 1, 1999 | |||
| AG001 | June 8, 2004 | |||
| DP001 | May 27, 2008 | |||
| BW001 | May 1, 2011 | |||
| XY001 | October 19, 2013 April 3, 2014 | |||
| SM001 | November 20, 2016 April 29, 2017 | |||
| JN001 | July 5, 2020 | |||
| HZ001 | February 9, 2024 | |||
The Pokémon franchise first reached Germany on September 1, 1999, with the first airing of Pika - Pikachu on RTL II in the German language. The German release of Pokémon Red and Blue Versions followed shortly afterwards, on October 8, 1999.
Pokémon video games
Most of the core series and spin-off Pokémon games have been released in Germany. All Pokémon games sold in Germany, as well as in Austria and German-speaking part of Switzerland have been translated into the German language. As in the rest of Europe, Pokémon Trozei! is sold under the title Pokémon Link! In Austria, all Pokémon games prior to 2014 were sold by Stadlbauer which was Nintendo's distributor in that region.
With some exceptions such as Pikachu, most of the Pokémon species names are completely localized into the German language. For more information on these translated names, see list of German Pokémon names.
FFF Grupe, the studio behind the German Pokémon animated series dub for awhile, is credited in Super Smash Bros. alongside Mara Winzer (the German voice of Jigglypuff) and Frank Wolfel (the German announcer), and was where the German dubs of Pokémon Channel, PokéPark Wii: Pikachu's Adventure, and PokéPark 2: Wonders Beyond were recorded. Additionally, the German, French, Italian, and Spanish Pokémon-related voices in Super Smash Bros. Brawl were recorded here at MSM GmbH. Meanwhile, Pokémon Battle Revolution's German dub was done in the United Kingdom.
Pokémon animation
The German dub of the main Pokémon animated series was recorded and produced by FFF Grupe up until Season 17. SDI Media became involved as early as Season 14, then took over dubbing entirely starting with Season 18 at their Munich studio. The German dub is based on the English adaptation produced by 4Kids Entertainment and The Pokémon Company International. Most characters who did originally appear in the video games in some form or another, such as Brock, Dawn, and Iris, have had their names changed to mirror their respective name-changes in the German localisation of said games. Most animated series original characters meanwhile—such as the main character Ash Ketchum—do retain their English dub names in German, with a handful of exceptions, such as Officer Jenny being renamed to Officer Rocky.
In Germany, the animated series was initially aired on the RTL II weekday afternoon children's programming block, where it was aired along with other popular Japanese import shows, such as Sailor Moon and Dragon Ball. New Episodes ran from the debut of the original series up to Pokémon the Series: Black & White, when RTL II terminated all of its children’s programming on February 24, 2013.
Disney XD and ProSieben MAXX picked up the broadcasting license for the animated series in 2012 and 2013 respectively, and had aired the animated series until their broadcasting rights expired in 2017 and 2018, respectively.
From there, Super RTL picked up the series for its Toggo programming strand, starting with Pokémon the Series: Sun & Moon—Ultra Legends. They, along with Nickelodeon, best known for it's longest-running animated show SpongeBob SquarePants, have also been rerunning many older seasons.
In Austria and Switzerland, the German dub airs on Nickelodeon Austria and Nickelodeon Schweiz.
In Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, the animated series is also available on Netflix and Prime Video.
Music
All theme songs used in the German dub of the Pokémon animated series are translated versions of the songs used in the English dub, with the exception of The Power of One, which was replaced by an original German song.
At least five Pokémon soundtrack albums have been released in Germany. The first album, released in 2000, is Pokémon - Schnapp' sie dir alle, a translated version of Pokémon 2.B.A. Master. It was released by KOCH Records (catalogue number 333 33-2). Also in the same year, the Pokémon the Movie 2000 score was released with the title Pokémon 2: Die Macht des Einzelnen - Original Musik aus dem Kinofilm (catalogue number 333 88-2). Two albums were released in Germany in 2001: Pokémon - Die Johto Reisen, a translated version of Totally Pokémon, and Pokémon 3: Der Ultimative Soundtrack, a translated version of Pokémon 3: The Ultimate Soundtrack. The fifth album is Pokémon Weihnachtsparty, the only international translation of Pokémon Christmas Bash.
Three singles have been released in Germany as well. The first, Pokémon Welt, is a translated version of the English Pokémon World single. There were also two different singles released for the song In der Dunkelheit der Nacht (Misty's Song). One single with a pink cover has the original instrumentation in English and German, while a version with a blue cover has a remixed version in English and German. Both singles also contain a karaoke version. All versions on these singles are performed by Barbi Schiller. Many of the television theme songs in the German dub have been performed by Noel Pix and were also released on CD through compilation albums of the broadcasting channel titled RTL II: Anime Hits.
Cover artwork for Pokémon - Schnapp' sie dir alle
Cover artwork for the In der Dunkelheit der Nacht CD single
Cover artwork for the Pokémon the Movie 2000 score
Cast and crew
Many voice actors and actresses have contributed to the production of the German dub of the Pokémon animated series.
Ash Ketchum was originally voiced by Caroline Combrinck from EP001-EP157 before she quit the show to study in New York City. Ash was voiced by Veronika Neugebauer from EP158-DP104. Neugebauer had earlier provided the voices of Marina in the Orange Islands episodes and Lisa in the third movie. After Neugebauer's sudden death, Combrinck returned to voice Ash beginning with episode DP105. As of SM001, Ash is now voiced by Felix Mayer.
During most of the first season, Ash's Pikachu was dubbed over by Sabine Bohlmann. Starting with the Orange Islands season, Ikue Otani's Japanese voice has gone undubbed. However, Bohlmann returned to voice Pikachu in M20.
Misty was voiced by Angela Wiederhut and Brock (Rocko) was voiced by Marc Stachel. Tracey Sketchit was voiced by Dirk Meyer.
May (Maike) has been voiced by Nicola Grupe-Arnoldi throughout the series and was voiced by Stephanie Kellner in movies six and seven. Grupe-Arnoldi has also voiced Erika's Gloom (Duflor), Jessie as a child, Rebecca, Misty's Horsea (Seeper), Sabrina as a child, and Misty's Togepi. May's brother, Max, has been voiced by Ute Bronder in the series and by Solveig Duda in the sixth and seventh movies. Dawn (Lucia) was voiced by Jana Kilka.
Iris (Lilia) was voiced by Marieke Oeffinger and Cilan (Benny) by Tim Schwarzmaier. Both of them have voiced several characters before.
Serena is voiced by Gabrielle Pietermann, Clemont (Citro) by Tobias Kern and Bonnie (Heureka) by Shandra Schadt.
James has been voiced by Matthias Klie. Jessie has been voiced by Scarlet Cavadenti for the series but by Claudia Lössl in a few movies (4–7 & 10). Meowth (Mauzi) has been voiced by Gerhard Acktun for the entire series.
Gary Oak (Gary Eich) is voiced by Niko Macoulis. His grandfather, Professor Oak (Professor Eich), is voiced by Achim Geisler. Another of Ash's rivals, Paul, is voiced by Johannes Wolko.
Nurse Joy (Schwester Joy) has been voiced by four voice actresses: Christine Stichler (season 1–6 & 8), Melanie Manstein (season 7 & 9), Tatjana Pokorny (season 10–13) and Katharina Iacobescu (season 14–present), who currently voices her. Officer Jenny (Officer Rocky) has been voiced by five different voice actresses: Stefanie von Lerchenfeld (season 1–6 & 8), Beate Pfeiffer (season 7 & 9–13), Solveig Duda (season 14), Nina Kapust (season 15) and Angela Wiederhut (season 16–present), who currently voices her.
Pokémon Trading Card Game
The Pokémon Trading Card Game has been sold in Germany since December 1999 with the introduction of Base Set. The game was originally distributed by Wizards of the Coast and later by The Pokémon Company International after Wizards of the Coast lost their license to distribute the TCG. Both partnered with local board and card game company Amigo to utilise their distribution channels and for game store-centred organised play.
Most expansion sets released in English are also available in German, with only a handful of exceptions, such as Gym Heroes and EX Team Rocket Returns. Prior to the release of the XY base-set, German TCG product typically became available about two or three months after it had been in English, mirroring the then-staggered international release schedule of the video games. Since XY, German TCG product now releases concurrently with the English product. German-language cards are recognized as tournament legal by Play! Pokémon.
Pokémon manga
The first three volumes of the Pokémon Adventures manga were released in German language by Egmont Manga & Anime. The names of characters such as Professor Oak and Lt. Surge were switched to their German names from the games and animated series. Additionally, Red and Blue were renamed to "Ash" and "Gary" to match the animated series.
Publisher Panini Comics, who has already distributed an official Pokémon Magazine, acquired the rights to Pokémon Adventures in 2013. It began releasing the manga, starting with Black & White arc under the title Pokémon: Schwarz und Weiss. Then in May 2015, before the final volume of Black & White chapter released, the first volume of X & Y arc (adapted from the Japanese mini volume edition) hit store shelves. The following January then, Panini started releasing the series from the very beginning, with Red, Green & Blue arc and following chapters being released with the title Pokémon: Die Ersten Abenteuer. New volumes from different chapters were released monthly between 2016 and 2021. As of December 2021, the publication is (with the exception of HeartGold & SoulSilver arc, scheduled to be released in 2022) up to current with the Japanese publication.
Like with Egmont’s version beforehand, Panini’s German edition changes the characters’ names to their localised equivalent from the German version of the video games wherever one exists. As such, characters like Red, Blue and Green are named “Rot”, “Blau” and “Grün” respectively. Nicknames for Pokémon, on the other hand tend to be reinterpreted, such as Sun’s convention for naming his Pokémon: While in the English version he names them after common names for US-coins and bills, in German he names them after common slang words for money: “Moos”, “Kies” and “Knete”, just to name a few.
Community
One of the largest German-language Pokémon sites is Filb.de. Filb offers Pokémon-related news, game, and animated series information, a forum and a wiki named PokéWiki.
Other notable German-language Pokémon communities include Bisafans and Pokefans, who also offer Pokémon-related news and host their own forums.
Events
Like in other European countries, a German Pokémon Day is held every year. This event celebrates Pokémon and distributes items, trading cards, and event-exclusive Pokémon to participants.
To commemorate the release of the XY Trainer Kit from the Pokémon Trading Card Game, a small promotional tour was announced, with stops in Germany and Austria. The tour began on March 15, 2014 and ended April 19, 2014. On this tour, attendees were able to exchange 50 cards from a non-Pokémon-related trading card game and would receive an XY Trainer Kit in return. The intention of the tour was to introduce new players to the TCG and offered them the opportunity to learn how to play the Trading Card Game.
External links
- The official Germany Pokémon website (full website)
- Pokémon on RTL II's website (in German)
Related articles
| The Pokémon franchise around the world | |
|---|---|
| Africa: | South Africa |
| The Americas: | Brazil • Canada • Latin America • United States |
| Asia: | Greater China • Indonesia • Japan • Malaysia • Philippines • Singapore • South Asia • South Korea • Thailand • Vietnam |
| Europe: | Albania • Belgium • Bulgaria • Croatia • Czech Republic • Denmark • Finland • France • Germany • Greece Hungary • Iceland • Ireland • Italy • Latvia • Lithuania • Netherlands • North Macedonia • Norway • Poland Portugal • Romania • Russia • Serbia • Slovakia • Spain • Sweden • Ukraine • United Kingdom |
| Middle East: | Arab world • Israel • Turkey |
| Oceania: | Australia • New Zealand |
|
This article is part of Project Globe, a Bulbapedia project that aims to write comprehensive articles on the Pokémon franchise around the world. |
