Pokemon Anime Brings Back Late Narrator in New Special

By Megan Peters

Pokemon is making headlines these days, and we have the anime to thank for all the buzz. If you have not heard by now, the series is gearing up for its move to the Paldea region, but it will make that transition without its star. After all, Ash Ketchum is leaving the anime, and he just began his farewell tour. And to help see him off, the anime brought back its original narrator, the late Unsho Ishizuka.

The update was given this weekend when Pokemon posted a special involving Ash and Pikachu. The cute episode, which takes place in an alternate universe, follows Ash as he and Pikachu hang out near their hometown. As the special goes on, fans are treated to some scenes involving Ash's mom and dad. However, as fans listened in, they noticed a familiar voice speaking to them from the background.

As it turns out, the special brought back Ishizuka to voice this special. After all, the actor was an integral part of the Pokemon anime, and they narrated it for decades. From 1997 to his death in 2018, Ishizuka was involved with the anime in some form, so the team wanted to give the actor's legacy a proper sendoff.

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Obviously, the question stands how the anime was able to bring Ishizuka's voice to this episode? According to the end credits, Ishizuka's voice was used exclusively for narration, and fans dug deep to piece together the performance. It seems the actor's narration was pieced together in clips and snippets from original performances. So as fans suspected, technology brought Ishizuka's voice to life once more.

For those who aren't familiar with the actor, you should know the star was known best for their work on Pokemon. Ishizuka began working in 1984, and he had quite a run of roles. From Cowboy Bebop to Dragon Ball and JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, Ishizuka was a popular voice in the industry, and his work as Pokemon's narrator and Professor Oak was renowned. Following his death in August 2018, Kenya Horiuchi took over the actor's roles.

Are you keeping up with Ash's final Pokemon episodes? Share your thoughts with us in the comments section below or hit me up on Twitter @MeganPetersCB.

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