The Original ‘Pokemon’ Series Is Coming To Blu-ray This Fall

The premiere season of the Pokémon anime is coming to Blu-ray for the first time ever.

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Pokémon: Indigo League — originally just Pokémon — will be collected in a five-disc, 52 episode Blu-ray box set by VIZ Media on November 14 in the US. VIZ Media lists the "Champion's Edition" for $69.99, but you can pre-order from Barnes & Noble and Best Buy with prices starting at $57. You can get a closer look at the sets in the gallery below.

In the UK, Manga Entertainment will release the Pokémon: Indigo League box set on October 30. As noted in a statement, the release will include English audio only at a retail price of £59.99. The set is also available for pre-order from Amazon UK for £49.99.

In the U.S., the first season was comprised of 52 episodes and followed Pokémon trainer Ask Ketchum, his sidekick Pikachu, and friends Misty and Brock in their journeys across the Kanto region in pursuit of the young Ketchum's goal to become the very best (like no one ever was). In his adventures to collect Gym Badges and become a Pokémon Master, the ten-year-old Pokémon trainer and friends warded off notorious pocket monster thieves — the villainous Team Rocket — and encountered and collected new Pokémon along the way.

VIZ Media previously released 78 episodes of the anime series on DVD in October 2014. The arrival of original Pokémon episodes on Blu-ray was foreshadowed earlier this year, when the entire inaugural season of Pokémon the Series was made available digitally in HD (720p) for the first time ever.

The Pokémon franchise continues to thrive, with Pokémon Sun and Pokémon Moon becoming the fastest-selling games launched by Nintendo in the US. Pokémon-related software has sold more than 280 million units worldwide (as of May 2016) since 1996 and the long-running anime franchise has released nearly 1,000 episodes since its debut in Japan in 1997.

It's Ash Ketchum's tenth birthday, and he's ready to do what many 10-year-olds in the Kanto region set out to do--become a Pokémon Trainer! Things don't go exactly the way he planned when he ends up with a Pikachu instead of a standard first Pokémon, and winning Gym badges turns out to be much tougher than he thought. Luckily he's got former Gym Leaders Brock and Misty at his side, along with a bevy of new Pokémon friends, including Bulbasaur, Squirtle, and Charmander.

The Pokémon: Indigo League box set releases October 30 in the UK and November 14 in the US. Pokémon the Series: Sun & Moon, the newest iteration of the anime, airs Thursdays on Tokyo TV in Japan and Saturday mornings on Disney XD in the United States.