When did the first Pokémon animated episode debut in Japan?

The first Pokémon animated episode debuted in Japan on April 1, 1997.

The episode, “Pokémon, I Choose You!”, aired on TV Tokyo and introduced Ash Ketchum's journey with Pikachu. It followed the release of the original Japanese Game Boy games by just over a year, helping expand Pokémon from a video game series into television, merchandise, music, and films.

The anime was produced by OLM, with direction by Masamitsu Hidaka and writing by Takeshi Shudo. Its character-driven storytelling gave Pokémon a different structure from the games, adding recurring companions, rivals, and longer-running journeys.

The date is sometimes confused with February 27, which marks the debut of the first video games. April 1, 1997 is specifically the Japanese television premiere date for the anime's first episode.