Poketoons are finally coming west

Here’s where to watch them

In case you missed it, The Pokemon Company has been producing a series of Poketoons: cartoons that are generally centered around a specific creature per episode, and showcase side stories not related to the “trainer” or mainline mythos. They’ve been available in Japan for some time now, gradually rolling out since 2020, but now they’re coming westward.

So this western rollout is a two-tiered release system: here’s how it’ll shake out!

You can watch the first western release Poketoon now on Pokemon TV

The first Poketoon is live now on Pokemon TV, and each week, we’ll get one more (for eight weeks, until the entire season is complete). As a reminder, Pokemon TV can be accessed via a browser, as well as through a mobile or Switch app.

You may recall that the first episode, “Chase the Beans,” came out in 2020. This is referred to as “Scraggy and Mimikyu” for the official western release. If the calendar is the same as the Japanese rollout, we’ll get the more emotional Pancham episode next.

They’ll also come to YouTube in the west later this year

Expect this Pokemon TV exclusivity to last a while. This is what The Pokemon Company had to say about Poketoons rolling out to platforms other than Pokemon TV :

“The series will appear on the official Pokémon YouTube Channel later this fall.”

Or, you can watch them now in Japanese on YouTube

Or, if you’re OK with Japanese-language episodes, you can just watch them all right now, unfettered, via YouTube.

The link to the entire playlist of all eight episodes is here. Note that the first episode, Chase and Beans, has no real spoken dialogue; so it’s universal in any language.

Chris Carter

Reviews Director, Co-EIC – Chris has been enjoying Destructoid avidly since 2008. He finally decided to take the next step, make an account, and start blogging in January of 2009. Now, he’s staff!