What would be considered canon in the Pokemon franchise?

Question

Usually we would treat the manga as canon for most works, but as most people usually only have watched the animation or played the video games, would in this case the manga still be considered canon over the anime? Or would it be the videogame and manga based on it?

Could the downvoter explain how I should improve my question? — Peter Raeves, Sep 30 '15 at 11:42

score 6 · Accepted Answer · edited Aug 21 '14 at 08:11

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Canon usually refers to the original work rather than the most popular one. As such, I would imagine that the original Japanese manga is canon.

The other mediums can be canon as well; the anime for example is a very important part of the franchise. Stil, the manga would probably still take precedence.

Canon is a very broad term that can be as strict or lenient as the user who uses it, so it's hard to answer this question definitively.

edited Aug 21 '14 at 08:11

Maroon

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answered Jul 29 '14 at 22:55

Toshinou Kyouko

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Canon is what the copyright owner wants to. Some even reverse canon (retcon) at a whim. So to wrap around what is canon and what is not as a definite boundary is almost impossible. – Mindwin Remember Monica Jul 30 '14 at 18:27
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+1 for "it's hard to answer this question definitively". Over at SFF, many of the major franchises have defined levels of canonicity, e.g. Star Wars has A, B, and C-canon. The movies take precedence over the novels and video games and animated series, but some of the novels are considered more canonical than some of the other media. So far as I know, there's no such definition for Pokemon, making canon conflicts hard to resolve. – Torisuda Aug 23 '14 at 23:12
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Re-reading your answer, seeing how the (Pokemon adventures) manga is based on the games, I would assume the games to be *most canon*, but I found [this page](http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Canon) on the bulbapedia on what they see as canon and it looks like it is way more complicated than we had first thought. – Peter Raeves May 12 '15 at 09:54
While you explain what canon is in your answer, your answer fails to answer the question in regards to Pokemon. What's canon to what? While the terms is broad, the canonical nature of each different Pokemon series (the different manga series vs. anime vs. OVAs/Specials vs. the game) can be inferred objectively. – кяαzєя Sep 30 '15 at 00:32
There is no set rules of what's canon, but it's typically the came first is generally accepted amongst the fans as canon. The only exception the word of the author or creator. The Pokemon series has many different continuities, few of which coincide with one another. So in terms of the franchise, all of them are canon, but of different continuities. – кяαzєя Sep 30 '15 at 00:33

score 4 · Answer 2 · answered Sep 30 '15 at 00:07

The video games, manga, and anime are all different stories. Each is canon only to it's own plot. Since the video game came first however, we can assume the video game is considered canon unless you are speaking directly about the anime or manga, in which case that universe takes precedence. In the absence of information from the video game, I would say information from the anime comes next, since it came out before the manga. (Though arguably the manga fits the games better then the anime, therefore it takes the spot at second most canonical.) It entirely depends on how you see the Pokemon universe.

Correct. I'd point out that Pokémon the main anime series, together with Pokémon Chronicles, are set in their own universe. While Pokémon Origins and Pokémon Generations series are in same world as that of main series games. — Prateek Jain, Dec 01 '16 at 10:09

score 1 · Answer 3 · edited Dec 01 '16 at 06:17

Pokemon adventures is often considered to be more canon to the games. Even though the manga was not made by Satoshi himself, you can see how canon it is to as Satoshi Taijiri once stated, "This is the comic that most resembles the world I was trying to convey."

While the current producers of the Pokemon cartoon series have tried to make all the official movies to be canon to the cartoon series. As the series is only canon to things relating to Ash Ketchum.

What would be considered canon in the Pokemon franchise?

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