Pokemon that talk like Meowth was once considered for the anime

As many fans know, Meowth is the primary Pokemon that talks like a person in the anime. However, there was actually a time when the same thing was considered for other creatures.

The Pokemon Company president Tsunekazu Ishihara spoke about this in a recent interview of Famitsu while discussing Detective Pikachu Returns. Here’s what was shared about that subject which we’ve translated:

Indeed, a talking Pikachu that has the heart of a middle-aged man is definitely something you won’t see anywhere else! (laughs)

Ishihara: At first, we thought “There’s no way we can let Pikachu talk like a human” (laughs). Ikue Otani, who has been Pikachu’s voice actor in the TV anime for a long time, puts on a wonderful performance using only cries. However, there was a time when we considered the possibility that there could be other Pokemon besides Meowth who speak human languages in the future.

Really?!

Ishihara: To add more depth to communication, we thought that language was important after all, so we went through a trial and error process. In the end, we decided to stop and put the matter aside, but still continued thinking about ways we could do this. Making Pikachu have the heart of a middle-aged man was a crazy idea, but we also felt the possibilities in that. After various experiences later on, we finally arrived at Detective Pikachu.

Hiroyuki Jinnai, Detective Pikachu Returns writer: In the end, we think he was well-received, and the process in which us creators solidified this Pikachu’s character made us like him more and more too.

Regarding Detective Pikachu, Ishihara and Jinnai also spoke about how the franchise came to be and what could be possible in the future. You can read those comments that we translated here.

Translation provided by SatsumaFS, Philip Proctor, and Simon Griffin on behalf of Nintendo Everything.