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In some anime, though there's logical placement for the movies to happen, it
does not necessarily mean that the story of the movie really happened in the
series timeline; an example is that for [Naruto's movies, some of them clearly
didn't happened in the anime
timeline](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/3127/where-do-the-naruto-
movies-fall-in-the-timeline), though there's clearly some place to put it (due
spoilers, events and stuff). Is it the same case with Pokemon?


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question
pokemon
Do the Pokemon movies occur in the series timeline?


The answer is - Yes, the Pokemon movies do occur in the series timeline, and
there's clear evidence for some of the movies in the series.

[NOTE: contains major spoilers; only for those who watched most of the Pokemon
anime and movies]

**1st Movie - Mewtwo strikes back**

This movie not only has a direct connection to the series timeline, but it
seems that the studio meant to create this story only in the form of a movie
after being shadowed in the anime.

Let's start with ep63, where Gary battles with Giovanni. Giovanni chooses to
fight with Mewtwo, though it wasn't revealed at the time, only in the movie
you realise that. It seems clearly that the studio wanted you to ask - "Who's
that Pokemon?"; the answer for that is only in the movie.

[![Mewtwo](https://i.stack.imgur.com/4Ztoc.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/4Ztoc.png)

_In the battle against Gary_

And it continues for a couple of episodes after that in ep65, with Team Rocket
seeing their HQ destroyed by a mysterious force, aka Mewtwo as revealed in the
movie, as the movie takes place after the events in this episode.

[![enter image description
here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/Siz15.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/Siz15.png)

_Blasting off in the Anime_

[![enter image description
here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/Zqc5V.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/Zqc5V.png)

_Blasting off in the Movie_

You can see clearly in that episode that the anime were foreshadowing not only
Mewtwo, but his relationship with Giovanni, that being revealed only in the
movie after the anime made hints to it. So the movie clearly takes place in
the timeline of the anime.

[![enter image description
here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/HlL67.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/HlL67.png)

Some may come and say - the 1st movie was exceptional, first movie and all.
Here's more evidences.

**The Power Of One**

This one actually have direct reference in the Anime. in ep222 (Japanese
count. 220 in the international count) where Team Rocket and Ash are seeing
Lugia, they are declaring that they saw one on the Orange Islands, in other
words, in the movie.

[![enter image description
here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/zlmFD.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/zlmFD.png)[![enter
image description
here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/KIpUl.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/KIpUl.png)

**Destiny Deoxys**

This one was actually pretty hard to find, but with kinda simple observation,
this is clearly a reference to the movie.

The movie takes place in a city called LaRousse city, where Deoxys starts
attacking it. In the Battle Frontier season ep448 (444 in international count)
Solana is telling the gang about Deoxys appearing in the past in LaRousse
city, clearly referring to the movie.

[![enter image description
here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/JRRQU.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/JRRQU.png)[![enter
image description
here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/ImxBn.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/ImxBn.png)

_Movie
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Anime_

There's actually another referring to the movie - mentioning Prof. Lund, which
is another addition for this evidence.

This is actually my most hard evidence that though the movies are offering big
and mighty events, they won't be mentioned in the anime. Probably from the
obvious reason that though the movie occurring in the anime storyline, they
are still considered extra, and besides the 1st movie that actually have
strong basis in the anime, the other movies are not must-see, and those who
haven't watched them will probably get confused, especially new audience.

And that actually will answer the immediate question that burst once claiming
the movies taking place in the anime storyline, that it seems that the
characters not remembering events from the movies such as legendaries
encounters, like in the above example.

But it's quite clearly as we saw, on one occasion or another, that there's
some references to the movies, and might be even more references to them in
the anime that I haven't observed yet and may help this answer.

With that being say, it is still possible that **not all movies took place** ,
so if there's more references and evidences it might help this answer to say
that indeed **all** movies taking place in the series timeline. But since I
haven't saw in the anime some contradictions to the movies I believe that
those evidences took the point.

Linked: [When do the Pokemon Movies occur chronologically to the
plot?](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/35757/when-do-the-pokemon-
movies-occur-chronologically-to-the-plot)


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