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How long have you been watching the anime?

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Good topic to discuss while waiting for new episodes. (b' ')b How long have you guys been watching the Pokémon anime? Which series did you start with? Have you taken any breaks watching any time in between, or were you consistent watching since you started?
 
I started when the show first released in English (I believe Pewter Gym was the first one I saw).
It's been off and on since the middle of Johto, though.
 
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I was in the target demographic when OS started airing in 1999 in the UK (I feel like the very first episodes I saw were the St Anne arc but I saw the beginning when it looped back round for endless repeats lol). Missed most of Johto and half of AG due to lack of cable and then the mid-chunk of BW for obvious, TRio related reasons...
 
I started watching it in 2000, so it was Kanto (I don't remember which episode was my first). I stopped watching it religiously in mid-Johto (I'm pretty sure I watched all of the league, and filled in on the important blanks later) and then only watched about 15 Hoenn episodes and most of the Battle Frontier. DP, BW and SM were similar to Hoenn, while XY barely appealed to me. I've been watching every episode of the current series.

I've always been up to date about what's going on in Japan. I watched Mewtwo Returns and The Legend of Raikou without any subtitles.
 
I started watching it in 1999 when I was 5 and I remember my very first episode being The Bridge Bike Gang. Watched it all the way through Kanto and Johto. Then lost interest around AG. I still kept up with what was happening from time to time but hardly watched it. Hopped back on the train when BW started and I've loyally watched it weekly ever since.
 
I used to not like Pokémon at all until the XY games came out because as a kid, anything not in 3D was too pixelated and old for me, which was around when the end of the BW anime was happening. I didn’t even know the XY anime was a thing, but somehow I was watching Cartoon Network when the first XY episodes aired. Started watching it when the new episodes aired but I think I stopped around Goomy’s capture because that’s the last episode I remember watching live. I originally didn’t like SM’s art style so I didn’t watch it, and would only check Bulbapedia to see if he caught or evolved anything. Started loving the new art style around the end of SM and now I watch Journeys the same day the episode comes out.

Along with this, I set out to watch every episode and movie of the anime. I’m currently around 18 episodes into Hoenn.
 
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Since the English dub debuted but with some hiatuses, the biggest one being due to the voice actor change - I think I went around 4 years without watching new episodes.
 
Started watching OS in 1999 and dropped out mid-Jhoto. At that point I became more interested in the games and only ended up watching a handful of AG episodes. I only got back into the series in 2018 when I decided to marathon every season for a laugh, but DP blew me away and got me fully invested in the series again.
 
I started watching back when the show first premiered in the US. I was 4 years old and I was obsessed from the start. I wanted Pokemon everything: my lunchbox, my clothes, my toys, my walls, my books...everything. I ate the cereal, the Pop Tarts, the macaroni and cheese. The 90s were especially great because back then, they made a bunch of girl targeted merchandise for the series. Butterfree was one of my favorite Pokemon as a kid and I had pajamas and a bathing suit with Butterfree on them. You never see that kind of stuff anymore! My favorite lunchbox of all time was also a Pokemon one: it was pink and purple (my favorite colors) with Pichu on it (my favorite Pokemon). I found it at a flea market in like 2001/2002 and felt like I'd found gold, lol.

I stayed pretty loyal to the anime throughout most of it's run. I skipped out on some of AG (partially because I was getting busier with activities, partially because it became less "cool" to be watching it around that time) but I picked right back up when DP started. I actually remember Cartoon Network was showing that huge "every Pokemon episode ever" marathon leading up to it and I got sucked back into the watching the show through that; I forgot how happy it made me!

The only other time I stopped watching it was the second half of XY. I was in college at that point, had gotten very busy, and wasn't liking the series enough to keep up with it. But again, I started to miss the show and picked it back up once XYZ started.

This has also made me feel very old o_O
 
Damn, reading all these replies, I feel young. I started watching when I was around 5 or 6, midway through AG. If memory doesn’t fail me, I had caught commercials of it in Cartoon Network, but only actually gained interest after my first episode: Where’s Armaldo? (AG 102)
 
I don't remember when I started, but it was on local TV, probably 1999 or 2000 when I was 2 or 3-years old. I do remember also having a VHS with "A Chansey Operation" and "Holy Matrimony" that I'd watch over and over though.
 
It is cool to see there are so many oldies like me Here, i’ve been watching this show since it started back when many of the fans today were just a twinkle in their dad’s eye.
 
I started when I was 12. The first episode I watched was the second episode of Pokémon. The creation stuck in my heart and I wanted explore more mon's and started watching every episode. Till Orange I watched each and every episode. I have missed half of Jhoto arc.
Then I watched some 10 to 20 episodes of AG and DP and BW..XY.. SM. I have watched every episodes of Pokémon Journeys.
I wanted to watch each and every episodes of Pokémon but it didn't aired in my country. And another problem is that everyone near me thinks that watching Anime is childish.
 
I started with the first episode of the OS. And it became my favorite tv show really fast.

I was 8-9 years old back then and I remember wishing to be as old as Ash (now I’m almost three time his age).

I still remember the airtime in Cartoon Network back then, it was at 2:30 p.m. with the rerun at 7:00. Also telling my mom if I could change school so I could watch the same episode two times.
 
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When the very first episode of pokemon aired in Germany, 1999 I think, I was right on board. I even anticipated the first episode after my trusted anime Magazine from way back wrote an article about the show and how it wasnt as bad as expected for a merchandise Show.

It also helped that the original Dragon ball started airing 3 days right before pokemon went on air. And due to DBs censoreship, Pokemon was more enjoyable to me.
Damn, I was 14 back then...how time flies by...

I switched to the japanese version during the johto league and never went back to the, in my opinion, lackluster dub.
 
Back in 1999 when it premiered in my homecountry. As a pre-schooler I remember how much of a hit it became really fast among my classmates and friends. I remember having Pokemon-related parties, one in which I was dressed like Satoshi (I used to call him Ash back then lol).
I don't really remember which was my first episode, but I record watching it into open TV before it also premiered on CN in late '99.

I watched my local dub until AG was done and the first few episodes of DP, when I moved to both subbed Japanese and English versions (my English was starting to get better). Eventually I stopped with the anime as it grew old to me (I was tired of the same formula over and over again), and that's when BW brought me back (how differently it looked, how the status quo got broken, etc). From BW onwards I watched the Japanese version entirely unsubbed only.

Also it's funny to think that by the time I started watching it I was less than half of Satoshi's age and used to look up to him. Now I'm way older than him xD
 
From the very beginning but I did take a break in Johto and Kalos and skipped some episodes and then went back to watching it.
 
I started around 1998/1999 personally, and watched almost all or all of Kanto/Orange Islands/Johto <3 may have missed some episodes here or there since it wasn't easy to watch things back then with the internet not being as advanced as it is now, but I was still an obsessed enough kid that I watched likely every epi from those three sagas. but then with Hoenn it got a bit hard to catch every episode, especially in proper order, since they aired so early and I couldn't get myself up all the time. what was even worse was the TV in my room at the time was connected to my parents', so whatever channel they were last on before turning it off would be what mine would be on. having to sneak into their room early in the morning when they were still sleeping to change to the 4Kids channel so my TV would be able to watch was a struggle, hahaha.
 
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