Pokemon Animation Errors You Probably Missed

The Pokemon anime has aired over 1,200 episodes since it debuted on April 1, 1997. With that much animation produced on a weekly schedule for nearly three decades, mistakes are inevitable. Some are subtle, like a Pikachu with a missing patch of color. Some are famous, like an entire generation of fans misremembering Pikachu with a black tail tip that never existed. And some are dub errors, where the English script called a Pokemon by the wrong name and nobody caught it before the episode aired.

This list pulls 12 of the most documented Pokemon anime errors, runs each one through Bulbapedia, the PokemonDB community, or fan-verified frame analysis, and explains what went wrong and why. Every entry has a specific source. If you like this kind of thing, our 12 strange Pokemon facts that are actually true follows the same sourcing rules for franchise lore, our 10 weirdest bugs in video game history covers the game side of Pokemon weirdness, including the famous MissingNo glitch, and our bizarre things found in video game code digs into leftovers still sitting in ROMs.

On this page

• How We Verified These Errors
• Error 1: The Pikachu Black Tail Mandela Effect
• Error 2: Pikachu’s Missing Brown Tail Base (EP039)
• Error 3: Pidgeot Called Pidgeotto in Mewtwo Strikes Back
• Error 4: Ash’s Hat Backwards Continuity Errors
• Error 5: Officer Jenny’s Growlithe Called Arcanine
• Error 6: Scyther Called Alakazam in the First Movie
• Error 7: The Pink Butterfree Proto-Shiny
• Error 8: Backpack Shrink Errors in Mewtwo Strikes Back
• Error 9: Pikachu Cloned in Group Shots
• Error 10: Team Rocket’s Pokeball Mixup
• Error 11: Color Palette Errors in Early Kanto
• Error 12: Dub Name Swaps Throughout the Series
• Why Pokemon Had So Many Animation Errors
• More Pokemon Rabbit Holes
• Sources

How We Verified These Errors

Three rules before any error made the list. It had to be documented on Bulbapedia, the PokemonDB community, or a verified frame analysis. It had to be a real error, not a fan theory or an animation choice someone disagreed with. And it had to be reproducible, meaning you can go watch the episode or movie and see it yourself.

We deliberately included one Mandela Effect, the so-called Pikachu black tail tip, because it is one of the most-discussed Pokemon animation “errors” even though it is technically a collective false memory rather than a real animation mistake. The distinction matters. If you want more verified Pokemon content, our 12 strange Pokemon facts that are actually true follows the same sourcing rules, and our 10 weirdest bugs in video game history covers the MissingNo glitch in depth.

Error 1: The Pikachu Black Tail Mandela Effect

This is the most famous “animation error” in Pokemon history, except it is not an animation error at all. It is a collective false memory. Millions of people who grew up watching the Pokemon anime in the 1990s swear they remember Pikachu having a black tip on its tail. Pikachu has never had a black tail tip. The official design, since the very first episode, has a yellow tail with a brown patch at the base.

Bulbapedia’s Pikachu entry confirms the design. Pikachu’s tail is yellow with a brown base. The black tips on Pikachu’s body are only on its ears. The tail tip has always been yellow. The Reddit thread on r/MandelaEffect documenting this has thousands of comments from people who vividly remember a black tip that never existed.

The reason this matters for an article about animation errors is that many lists of Pokemon animation errors include the black tail tip as a real mistake. It is not. Pikachu was never drawn with a black tail tip in any official episode or movie. The false memory is so widespread that wikiHow and CBR have written about it as a textbook example of the Mandela Effect. If you remember Pikachu with a black tail, your brain filled in a detail that was never there. For a nearby episode that does contain a real Pikachu tail color mistake, skip to Error 2.

Error 2: Pikachu’s Missing Brown Tail Base (EP039)

Episode 39 of the original Pokemon series, “Pikachu’s Goodbye,” is one of the most emotional episodes of the Indigo League season. Ash considers releasing Pikachu into the wild to live with a group of wild Pikachu. The episode is also a goldmine of animation errors, because the wild Pikachu group scenes required dozens of Pikachu on screen at once.

Bulbapedia’s entry for EP039 documents the specific error. In one scene where the wild Pikachu are running, the leader Pikachu is missing the brown patch at the base of its tail when its rear end is facing the viewer. The tail is solid yellow instead of yellow with a brown base. Later scenes in the same episode are inconsistent about which Pikachu have the brown base and which do not.

This kind of error is common in anime production. When dozens of identical characters need to be drawn in a single shot, individual artists may forget which color details go where, especially when the characters are small on screen. Bulbapedia notes that later scenes are inconsistent, which suggests multiple animators worked on different cuts of the same episode and did not perfectly match the design. The first episode page, EP001, is also a good place to compare the official Pikachu design against later slips.

Error 3: Pidgeot Called Pidgeotto in Mewtwo Strikes Back

The first Pokemon movie, Mewtwo Strikes Back, released in Japan in 1998 and in English in 1999, contains one of the most famous dub errors in the franchise. In one scene, a Pidgeot is shown on screen, but the English dub refers to it as Pidgeotto. Pidgeot is the final evolution of the Pidgey line. Pidgeotto is the middle evolution. They are different Pokemon with different names.

The PokemonDB community Q&A thread on anime errors documents this mistake, along with several others in the same movie. The error is in the English dub, not the Japanese original. The Japanese script presumably used the correct name, since the voice track matches the animation. The English localization team either misidentified the Pokemon on screen or made a typo in the script that was not caught before recording.

This error is more visible than most because Pidgeot and Pidgeotto look noticeably different. Pidgeot is larger, with a longer crest and different coloration. Anyone who played the games would catch the mistake immediately. The fact that it survived into the final theatrical release suggests the dub team was working under time pressure and did not have a Pokemon expert reviewing the script.

Error 4: Ash’s Hat Backwards Continuity Errors

Ash Ketchum’s hat, with its green and red Pokeball logo on a white and red cap, is one of the most recognizable pieces of clothing in anime history. Ash wears the hat backwards throughout most of the original series. The hat has a specific orientation, with the brim pointing backwards and the logo facing forward. Continuity errors involving the hat are some of the most common animation mistakes in the Indigo League season.

TheGamer documented several of these errors in a 2021 article on Pokemon anime continuity errors. In some shots, Ash’s hat is drawn forwards instead of backwards, with the brim pointing forward and the logo on the back of his head. In other shots, the logo itself is misaligned or missing. MovieMistakes, a site dedicated to documenting continuity errors in film and television, has multiple entries for Ash’s hat in the early Pokemon episodes.

The reason these errors are so common is that Ash appears in almost every shot of almost every episode. Any time an animator drew Ash from a new angle, they had to remember which way the hat was pointing. Over 80 episodes of the Indigo League season, mistakes were inevitable. Some are subtle enough that you have to pause the video to catch them. Others are obvious, like Ash’s hat flipping between shots in the same scene.

Error 5: Officer Jenny’s Growlithe Called Arcanine

This is one of the oldest documented Pokemon dub errors, and it appears in the original Indigo League season. In one episode, Officer Jenny, the recurring police officer character, is shown with a Growlithe, the puppy-like Fire-type Pokemon. The English dub refers to it as Arcanine, the evolved form of Growlithe. The Pokemon on screen is clearly a Growlithe, not an Arcanine.

The PokemonDB Q&A thread mentions this mistake as one of the most well-known. Growlithe and Arcanine look different. Growlithe is small, orange and striped, with a fluffy mane. Arcanine is larger, more lion-like, with a different color pattern. Anyone familiar with the games would notice the error immediately.

This kind of dub error happens when the scriptwriter is working from a description of the scene rather than the actual footage. If the description said “Officer Jenny’s fire dog,” the writer might have guessed Arcanine because it is the more famous of the two. The error made it into the final English dub and has been documented by fans for years.

Error 6: Scyther Called Alakazam in the First Movie

Another dub error in Mewtwo Strikes Back involves Scyther being called Alakazam. In one scene, a Scyther, the green mantis-like Bug and Flying type, is shown on screen. The English dub refers to it as Alakazam, the Psychic type with spoons. The two Pokemon look nothing alike. Scyther has wings, blades for hands, and a green insectoid body. Alakazam is a humanoid Psychic type with a mustache and spoons.

The same PokemonDB thread lists this alongside the Pidgeot and Pidgeotto error as one of the dub mistakes in the first movie. The implication is that the English localization team either did not have access to a complete Pokedex reference or was working under tight deadlines and made multiple name errors in the same script.

What makes this error interesting is that Scyther and Alakazam do not even share a type. Scyther is Bug and Flying. Alakazam is Psychic. They do not look similar, they do not have similar moves, and they do not appear in similar contexts in the games. The error is purely a script mistake, not a visual misidentification. The dub team either wrote the wrong name from scratch or confused two unrelated Pokemon in their notes.

Error 7: The Pink Butterfree Proto-Shiny

Episode 21 of the original Pokemon series, “Bye Bye Butterfree,” features one of the most emotional scenes in the anime. Ash releases his Butterfree so it can mate with a pink Butterfree. The pink Butterfree is the first Pokemon with a different color scheme to appear in any Pokemon media, predating the introduction of shiny Pokemon in the games by several years.

A widely shared history write-up by kanto-jhoto on Tumblr documents this timeline. The pink Butterfree appeared in episode 21, which aired in Japan in 1998. Shiny Pokemon were introduced in Pokemon Gold and Silver, which released in Japan in 1999. The pink Butterfree was not called a shiny Pokemon at the time, because the concept did not exist yet. It was just a pink Butterfree.

In retrospect, the pink Butterfree is considered a proto-shiny, an early example of the alternate coloration concept that Game Freak would formalize in Generation 2. Whether this counts as an animation error is debatable. The pink color was intentional, not a mistake. But it is included in many error lists because it is a deviation from the standard Butterfree design, and because it is one of the most-memorable visual quirks of the early anime. The honest framing is: intentional design choice that later fans read as a shiny precursor, not a goof in the same sense as a wrong name or missing color patch.

Error 8: Backpack Shrink Errors in Mewtwo Strikes Back

The first Pokemon movie has more documented animation errors than almost any other Pokemon media, partly because it is the most-watched Pokemon production and partly because movie budgets allowed for more detailed animation, which meant more opportunities for mistakes. One of the more subtle errors involves backpacks shrinking between shots.

The PokemonDB Q&A thread documents that Fergus and Corey’s backpacks shrink in one scene of Mewtwo Strikes Back. Fergus and Corey are two of the trainers who travel to New Island to battle Mewtwo. In one shot, their backpacks are a certain size. In the next shot, the same backpacks are noticeably smaller. The change is not acknowledged in the script, and the backpacks return to their original size in later shots.

This is a classic anime continuity error, caused by different animators drawing different cuts of the same scene without a strict size reference. The error is subtle enough that most viewers miss it on first watch, but it is visible if you pause and compare frames. MovieMistakes has additional entries for similar continuity errors throughout early Pokemon media.

Error 9: Pikachu Cloned in Group Shots

The PokeCommunity forum thread on Pokemon animation errors documents a recurring mistake that fans call Pikachu cloning. In group shots that feature Ash, Misty, Brock, and their Pokemon, there are occasionally two Pikachus visible on screen at once. This is not a plot-relevant clone. It is an animation error where the same Pikachu was drawn twice by different animators working on different layers of the same shot.

The error appears most often in early Kanto episodes, where the production schedule was tight and the team was still figuring out the workflow. In some shots, the duplicate Pikachu is partially obscured by another character, which suggests it was supposed to be hidden behind them but ended up visible due to a layering mistake.

This kind of error is not unique to Pokemon. Anime production involves multiple studios and freelancers working on different cuts of the same episode, and layering mistakes are common. But Pokemon, with its recognizable yellow mascot, makes the error more visible than it would be in a show with a less distinctive character design.

Error 10: Team Rocket’s Pokeball Mixup

MovieMistakes, the continuity error database, has a documented entry for a Team Rocket scene in the early Pokemon season. In one episode, Team Rocket takes off in a boat that sinks. Their Pokeballs float away, and Jessie, the female member of Team Rocket, cries out that Arbok and Lickitung are floating away.

The error is that Arbok and Lickitung are not the only Pokemon whose Pokeballs are shown floating away. The animation shows additional Pokeballs that should contain Weezing, James’s Pokemon. The script either forgot about Weezing or was written before the animation was finalized. The result is that Jessie names two Pokemon but the animation shows three Pokeballs, with no explanation for the third.

This kind of script and animation mismatch is common in long-running anime, where the scriptwriters and animators may not be in direct communication. The error made it into the final episode and has been documented by fans for years.

Error 11: Color Palette Errors in Early Kanto

The early Kanto episodes of the Pokemon anime, especially the first 30 or so, are full of color palette errors. These are mistakes where a Pokemon or character is drawn with the wrong colors for a shot or two, then returns to the correct colors in the next shot. Bulbapedia documents many of these on individual episode pages, including early entries like EP001 and EP039.

Some of the most common color errors include Cyndaquil being drawn with the wrong flame color in later seasons, Pikachu’s cheeks being colored yellow instead of red, and various Pokemon having their eye colors swapped. These errors are usually caused by the colorist misreading the character design sheet or by an animator using the wrong color reference.

Color palette errors are particularly visible in Pokemon because the character designs use bright, distinct colors. A Pikachu with yellow cheeks instead of red cheeks looks wrong immediately. The PokeCommunity forum thread has multiple screenshots of these mistakes, and Bulbapedia notes them on individual episode pages.

Error 12: Dub Name Swaps Throughout the Series

Beyond the famous Pidgeot and Scyther mistakes in Mewtwo Strikes Back, the Pokemon English dub has a long history of calling Pokemon by the wrong name. The PokemonDB thread lists several, and Bulbapedia documents others on individual episode pages.

Some of the most notable include: a Pidgeotto being called Pidgeot in an early Indigo League episode, a Growlithe being called Arcanine (as mentioned in Error 5), a Scyther being called Alakazam (Error 6), and various cases where Pokemon are referred to by their Japanese names in the English dub because the localization team missed a translation. There are also cases where the dub refers to a Pokemon by the wrong species entirely, like calling a Butterfree a Pidgey.

These errors are surprisingly common for a franchise as careful about its branding as Pokemon. The reason is that the English dub was produced on a tight schedule, often with the scriptwriters working from translated Japanese scripts that may not have included visual references. The voice actors would record the lines as written, and the error would only be caught in post-production, if at all.

Why Pokemon Had So Many Animation Errors

Looking at this list, a pattern emerges. Most of the errors fall into a few categories.

Weekly production schedule. The Pokemon anime has aired almost every week since April 1997. That is a punishing schedule for any animation studio, and it leaves little room for the kind of quality control that a movie production can afford. Errors that would be caught in a film production slip through in a weekly TV show.

Multiple animation studios. Pokemon, like many long-running anime, was animated by multiple studios and freelancers working on different episodes and different cuts within episodes. When Studio A draws Ash’s hat backwards and Studio B draws it forwards, the inconsistency makes it into the final episode.

Localization under time pressure. The English dub was produced on a separate schedule from the Japanese original, often with the scriptwriters working from translated scripts rather than the actual footage. This led to name errors like Pidgeot being called Pidgeotto and Scyther being called Alakazam.

The Mandela Effect magnifies small errors. Some “errors” are not errors at all. The Pikachu black tail tip is a collective false memory, not an animation mistake. But it gets included in error lists because so many people remember it. The Pokemon franchise is large enough that any inconsistency, real or imagined, gets documented and discussed by fans.

The lesson, if there is one, is that producing 1,200 episodes of anything is hard, and producing 1,200 episodes of an anime based on a video game franchise, with hundreds of character designs to keep track of, is harder. The errors on this list are a small fraction of the total documented mistakes, but they are the most visible and the most interesting.

More Pokemon Rabbit Holes

If you read this whole list and want more, here are a few directions to go.

• Bulbapedia has an animation errors section on almost every episode page in the Indigo League season. If you want to fall down a wiki hole, pick any early episode and read the errors list.
• The PokeCommunity forum thread on Pokemon animation errors has screenshots and discussion of dozens of additional mistakes.
• MovieMistakes has a dedicated section for Pokemon, with continuity errors catalogued by episode and movie.
• The PokemonDB Q&A on anime errors is a community-maintained list that covers the entire series.
• Our 12 strange Pokemon facts that are actually true covers the Mew secret, the Porygon incident, and 10 other verified franchise weirdnesses.
• Our Pokemon episodes never aired in English guide covers banned, skipped, and disaster-pulled episodes with legal watch notes.
• Our 10 weirdest bugs in video game history covers the MissingNo glitch, which is the game-side equivalent of these animation errors.
• Our bizarre things found in video game code covers leftovers found by reading game files rather than watching frames.
• Our 15 lost video games you will never get to play covers cancelled Pokemon games and other lost media.

Sources

• EP001 Pokemon I Choose You, Bulbapedia
• EP039 Pikachu’s Goodbye, Bulbapedia
• Pikachu (Pokemon), Bulbapedia
• What are some anime errors, PokemonDB
• Animation error thread, PokeCommunity
• Pokemon (1998) mistakes season 1, MovieMistakes
• Pokemon (1998) continuity mistakes season 1, MovieMistakes
• 10 Continuity Errors Fans Found About Ash, TheGamer
• Pikachu’s Tail and the Mandela Effect, wikiHow
• Pikachu’s Black Tail Mandela Effect, CBR
• Pink Butterfree proto-shiny, Tumblr kanto-jhoto
• Pikachu black tail Mandela Effect, Reddit r/MandelaEffect