Pokemon Actress Reflects on Anime’s Most Distressing Scene

The Pokemon anime has been running for 20 plus years, and there have been tons of memorable moments introduced over the tenure of the franchise. This is especially true for the original incarnation of the series which set the pace for many of Ash’s future adventures. Whether it is because this original series was the one with the most fan fervor behind, because it was the height of “Pokemania,” or because it simply was first, fans still remember many of the hugest moments from the first series. This includes some especially heartbreaking ones, naturally.

The original actor behind Ash Ketchum’s English voice, the voice much of the fanbase is familiar with, reflected on one of these moments on Twitter, and it’s gotten fans thinking about all of its heartbreaks.

Reflecting on the episode in which Ash was saying goodbye to Pikachu, Taylor had this to say, “I was in the studio…just one of the many incredibly emotional scenes I was lucky enough to voice as Ash” and even noting that she was nine months pregnant at the time. Being able to deliver such a memorable moment that far into a pregnancy certainly cements why Taylor is the voice fans often look to as the definitive Ash Ketchum.

While the original series is full of its own emotional moments, there are tons more spread across the rest of the franchise that fans could look to for effectively hitting anime goodness. There’s definitely a hope that the newest series will do the same, too. Pokemon: The Series is now airing new episodes weekly in Japan, but unfortunately has yet to be officially licensed for an English language release as of this writing.

You can currently check out the first episode on YouTube, however,and the official Pokemon channel will be uploading new episodes following their premiere in Japan. Staff confirmed for the new series include Daiki Tomiyasu serving as chief director for OLM, Maki Odaira as series director, Kunihiko Yuyama as creative supervisor, Shoji Yonemura overseeing series construction, Shuhei Yasuda serving as character designer, Masafumi Mima as sound director, Yuki Hayashi as series composer. Voice cast members include Daiki Yamashita as Go, Yuichi Nakamura as Professor Sakuragi, Kana Hanazawa as Koharu, Megumi Hayashibara as Jessie, Shinichiro Miki as James, and Inuko Inuyama as Meowth.