28 Years Ago, Pokemon Changed the U.S. Forever With a Mania Never Seen Since

There’s no denying Pokémon‘s iconic status worldwide, with the franchise celebrating its 30th anniversary in 2026 while still being one of the most recognizable names in pop culture. While the series enduring popularity can be greatly attributed to the success of the flagship video game series, Pokémon‘s anime adaptation hit the west on September 8, 1998, debuting the first episode of the Indigo League season, resulting in a pop culture phenomena anime fans may not ever see again.

Dubbed Pokémania by fans, the simultaneous release of the anime, video game, and TCG caught like wildfire in the United States. Despite taking two years to make it to the west after the franchise’s 1996 launch in Japan, the franchise became so popular so quickly that by 1999, Pokémon had become a multi-million dollar franchise worldwide.

What Made Pokémon So Special?

When the Pokémon anime originally released, the United States was just being introduced to the concept of anime, with Dragon Ball and Sailor Moon steadily making their own marks on pop culture during the 90s, but Pokémon offered something completely unique from those stories. While all three of these shows placed a narrative emphasis on the power of friendship, Pokémon‘s unique inclusion of adorable, collectible monsters — especially the show’s mascot and Ash’s partner, Pikachu — gave new fans something to seek out, which made the show’s obvious tie-in to the game even easier to move copies.

Pokémon follows Ash Ketchum, an aspiring Pokémon trainer who sets out, alongside his childhood rival Gary Oak, to become a Pokémon Champion. The original Indigo League series primarily focuses on Ash’s uphill climb to befriend his new partner Pikachu. The series’ mascot was often defiant toward Ash and even electrocuted him multiple times before an iconic, heartbreaking episode wherein Pikachu is attacked by a flock of Spearow. Ash risks his life to save his reluctant companion, and in an attempt to save him, Pikachu uses Thunderbolt to chase the flock away.

It’s clear to see why these early episodes of Pokémon were able to ensnare the hearts of so many early anime fans in the west. Pokémon‘s unabashed show of friendship between Ash and Pikachu, not to mention the bond between Ash and his human companions Brock and Misty (who he meets later in the show) were so earnest in their portrayal of companionship and problem-solving that it’s easy to fall in love with their adventures. Plus, even the show’s antagonists, Team Rocket members Jesse, James, and their own Pokémon companion, Meowth, are ridiculously charming.

Pokémon‘s Rapid Domination of Western Media Became a Staple For Millennial Childhoods

To prove just how much Pokémon had cemented itself for early anime fans in the west, just one year after its United States debut, Pokémon the Movie: Mewtwo Strikes Back hit North American theaters on November 10, 1999, and became the 23rd-highest-grossing film that year, ranking just below other massive studio releases like Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace, Tarzan, and Toy Story 2. Around the time the second generation of Pokémon games made their way to western game stores in 2000, Pokémon Live!, a musical featuring characters from the anime, began touring around North America.

The games were just as popular, with the Pokémon franchise being heavily-attributed to a 250% spike in GameBoy hardware sales during the first quarter of 1999. The first generation of Pokémon games dominated sales charts in the United States, moving 11.2 million copies on launch. By 2000, Pikachu secured a permanent spot at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade. In the following decades, Pokémon‘s initial popularity began to taper off, mostly relegating itself to dedicated fans until 2016, when the launch of Pokémon GO in the United States brought a second wave of popularity for the series, and completely took over the number one spot on Apple’s App Store, being downloaded over 130 million times within its first month.

Needless to say, with the Pokémon TCG being more popular than ever and plans on the horizon for more anime adaptations planned that move away from Ash Ketchum’s story, Pokémon isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.

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