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Long-time fans of the English dub of Pokémon, or even just those who've gone back to the beginning after watching more recent episodes, will surely notice that the voices of Ash and the rest of the cast aren't the same as they used to be. While that might seem like a natural change over 25 years, the fact is that the show at one point dumped its entire voice actors cast for very controversial reasons.

The Pokémon anime was originally dubbed by 4Kids Entertainment, a now-defunct company that localized many anime series, repackaging them for younger children, much to the chagrin of certain fans. While many fans had their bones to pick with 4Kids, they quickly grew used to the existing voice cast. That's why there was an uproar in 2006 when it came about that 4Kids was losing the license to Pokémon, and that a plan was in place to recast...

Pokémon is the highest-grossing multimedia franchise of all-time and the series’ long-running anime represents a popular pillar of its fandom. Pokémon has produced more than 1200 episodes and two-dozen feature films. The Pokémon anime has recently experienced a seismic shift through the conclusion of the original series and the start of a new anime, Pokémon Horizons: The Series, that explores Pokémon Scarlet and Violet material.

Related: 10 Times Pokémon Got Too Real

In honor of this new material, it’s the perfect time to revisit the first anime’s earliest episodes to look at some of its strange changes during production, with plenty of weird details that Pokémon fans may have forgotten about in the many years since.

Text On Signs

The process of localizing an anime can be quite tedious, especially when it comes to background details and any text that sneaks onto the screen. The original episodes feature signs with Japanese text on them,...