It's finally becoming possible to watch the Pokémonanime again, thanks to the new "Pokémon TV" YouTube channel, which picks up the torch dropped earlier this year by the shutdown of the Pokémon TV app. The channel is only just starting to upload the first season, but promises much more down the line.
In January 2024, the long-running official Pokémon TV app was announced to be shutting down, removing one of the easiest legal ways to watch classic Pokémon online. Following the shutdown, the contents of the Pokémon anime were scattered to the winds, with some seasons available on some services, while other seasons were exclusive to other services, and still other seasons were completely impossible to watch at all. The Pokémon Company released a complicated chart explaining where everything could be viewed, but the complexity led many fans to despair.
The Pokémon TV YouTube Channel Has Begun Uploading Full Episodes
The Hit Series Has Begun Its Rollout on YouTube
On December 3, 2024, it was revealed that Pokémon TV would be back in the form of a YouTube channel. The YouTube channel, @OfficialPokemonTV, began uploading full episodes of the first season on December 6, 2024, with 25 episodes uploaded as of time of writing. Episodes are uploaded in their entirety, including iconic elements like the original PokéRap. The channel also advertises that it will dive into live streams of episodes and create original compilations as it gets going, offering fans more content to interact with.
While the first season of Pokémon was still available on Netflix, the Pokémon TV channel is said to have the rights for the entire series, from the first episode on to Journeys' conclusion, although at the current rate of uploads, it may be quite a while before fans see Journeys available on the channel. It won't take long before the YouTube channel has uploaded more than is available on Netflix, making some of these episodes available to stream for the first time in years.
Pokémon TV Answers Fans' Prayers For Easier Viewing
The Entire Series, in One Place, Would Be Extremely Valuable to Fans
It may be a while before most of the 1200+ episode series is available on Youtube, given the rate of 4-5 episodes a day that the channel seems to be going at. However, even the idea that the entire anime will one day be accessible in one place is an exciting one for fans, who've long had to deal with a complicated streaming situation. Even the original Pokémon TV app would only feature certain seasons at a time, meaning that if what you wanted to watch wasn't there, you simply couldn't watch it.
The channel may still be in its early days, but it's already accrued over 80,000 followers, showing that fans really are excited at the prospect of the classic Pokémon series being more available. For now, fans will have to be patient as the channel gets up and going, but Pokémon TV on YouTube promises to one day be THE destination for the classic Pokémon anime.
Ash Ketchum, a ten-year-old from Pallet Town, embarks on an adventure to become a Pokémon Master. With his first Pokémon, Pikachu, Ash sets out to capture and train Pokémon while battling other trainers in Pokémon Gyms to earn badges. Joined by his friends Brock and Misty, Ash consistently thwarts the plans of the nefarious Team Rocket, all while making new friends and encountering Pokémon across various regions.
Main Genre Adventure
Network TV Tokyo , TV Osaka , TV Aichi , TVh , TVQ , TSC
English (US) ·