Joined by his partner Pokémon Pikachu and a rotating cast of human characters, Ash goes on a journey to become a 'Pokémon Master', traveling through the various regions of the Pokémon world and competing in various Pokémon-battling tournaments known as the Pokémon League. The show originally followed Ash Ketchum, a young trainer of fictional creatures called Pokémon. In the international broadcasts, these series are split across 26 seasons. The anime franchise consists of eight sequential series in Japan, each based on a main installment of the Pokémon video game series. Pokémon ( Japanese: ポケモン, Hepburn: Pokemon), abbreviated from the Japanese title of Pocket Monsters ( ポケットモンスター, Poketto Monsutā) and currently branded in English as Pokémon the Series ( テレビアニメ「ポケットモンスター」シリーズ, Terebi Anime 'Poketto Monsutā' Shirīzu, TV Anime 'Pocket Monsters' Series), is a Japanese anime television series, part of The Pokémon Company's Pokémon media franchise, which premiered on TV Tokyo in April 1997.
