29074


I was watching [this video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rD6EQNfxPVg) of
the Japanese-YouTuber Hikakin beatboxing the first English Pokemon song. It
made me wonder: was the English dub theme song more well-known than the
original Japanese opening?


CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-01-18T16:24:09.967
29070
2023-04-27T20:35:38.483
2016-01-21T08:04:16.917
2604
17758
question
pokemon theme-song
Is the English Pokemon theme song more well known than the Japanese version?


The following answer is based on the results I got on Google [from my country
(France)].

* * *

Keeping the following elements in mind, one can say that their popularity
level is more or less the same.

The comparison is made between the [first Japanse
theme](http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Aim_to_Be_a_Pok%C3%A9mon_Master)
めざせポケモンマスター (Aim to be a Pokemon Master) and the [first English
theme](http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Pok%C3%A9mon_Theme) "Gotta catch
them all." I take into account only the official versions.

**Google Trends**

>
> [![trends](https://i.stack.imgur.com/SHD4C.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/SHD4C.png)
[code]

>     In red : the English, in blue : the Japanese
>  
[/code]

Except for the year 2005, the search trends looks to be pretty similar.

Surprisingly enough, the countries which searched the English opening on
google were the following ones :

>
> [![en](https://i.stack.imgur.com/bTovS.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/bTovS.png)

For the Japanese opening, the searches come only from Japan.

>
> [![jp](https://i.stack.imgur.com/l2WOz.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/l2WOz.png)

* * *

**Youtube**

[The most viewed youtube video of the Japanese
opening](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54Ra3mURKgs) (in my country) views ~1
million views.

[The most viewed youtube video of the English
opening](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVp-zIONsrs) (in my country) views ~1
million views


CC BY-SA 4.0
2016-01-18T17:16:38.267
29074
2023-04-27T02:37:44.560
2023-04-27T02:37:44.560
19307
15542
29070
answer


In North America, the English Theme is more popular, but in Japan, the
Japanese one is. This is because Japanese people hear the Japanese theme on TV
and Americans hear the English one. In Germany, the German version of Gotta
Catch Em All is most likely more popular.

Furthermore, people prefer the one they can understand. For English speakers,
it is Gotta Catch Em All. For Japanese speakers, it is Mezase Pokemon Master
or Aim to be a Pokemon master.

English is more widespread so more people will prefer English. I am a native
English speaker and prefer the Japanese theme. This is because I got sick of
the English one.


CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-12-04T00:18:52.983
49958
2023-04-27T20:35:38.483
2023-04-27T20:35:38.483
2516
43739
29070
answer


Using the same methodology that [Ikaros did when they answered the
question](https://anime.stackexchange.com/a/29074/102), I can definitively say
that **the North American version of the song wins by a country mile.**

# Changes from original approach

Instead of just searching on a few key parts of the katakana, I chose to use
めざせポケモンマスター as the full search text, and "Pokemon Theme" as the other one.
This way, we narrow it down to what people are more likely to search for when
looking up Pokemon songs.

# Graphed results

This data goes back all the way from 2004 to the present day. It's not even
close.

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

On average, for every 1 person looking up the Japanese song title, 14 people
look up the NA version.

The map doesn't change much; the majority of people looking at the JP version
are based in Japan (also Taiwan, surprisingly enough), and the NA version is
significantly more prominent world-wide.

[![enter image description
here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/MgJO1.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/MgJO1.png)

# Additional information

Growing up I recall hearing a Norwegian version of the song. On reflection,
the lyrics of the song were different but the melody was preserved, which is
also notably different from the JP version.

[Bulbapedia maintains a list of these
themes](https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Pok%C3%A9mon_Theme#In_other_languages_2),
and this particular theme was likely dubbed across all of these listed
languages.


CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-04-27T18:21:28.817
67942
2023-04-27T18:21:28.817
102
29070
answer