The first Pokémon anime episode premiered on TV Tokyo in Japan.
TV Tokyo broadcast the first season, originally titled simply Pokémon in Japan, beginning on April 1, 1997. The season followed Ash Ketchum as he traveled through the Kanto region with Pikachu, Misty and Brock.
The series was produced by Oriental Light and Magic, now commonly known as OLM. Kunihiko Yuyama served as chief director, while Takeshi Shudo was the head writer for the early anime. Their work transformed a handheld role-playing game into a continuing television adventure.
TV Tokyo remained closely associated with the Pokémon anime as later series expanded the world into new regions and generations. International broadcasts used localized titles, voices and episode orders, which can cause confusion about the number of episodes in the first season. The Japanese run contained 82 episodes, while the English version of the first season contained 80.