The latest series of Pokémon anime, Pokémon Horizons: The Series, is set to have its Indian premiere with Hindi, Tamil, and Telugu dubs from May 25th on Hungama TV, with new episodes releasing each Saturday and Sunday. This milestone celebrates 10 years of collaboration between the Disney-Star India-owned Hungama TV network and Pokémon, since it obtained the rights to the anime and started airing a redubbed version since May 2014. This will also mark the quickest debut of a new Pokémon anime series in India (406 days from the Japanese release and 78 days from the US release), surpassing the previous record held by Pokémon The Series: XY (569 days and 567 days from the Japanese and US releases).
Hungama and its sister networks Disney Channel India and Super Hungama (formerly Disney XD India) have engaged millions of fans through the years with dubs of the Pokémon anime's various seasons and movies, generating 87 million views across Disney Kids channels in India in 2023. Since 2021, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, and for the first time in the franchise's Indian history, Bengali dubs of Pokémon Journeys: The Series have been released on Pokémon Asia YouTube channels. Hungama TV currently airs the 19th season, Pokémon The Series: XYZ, while the YouTube channels are nearing the end of the 25th season, Pokémon Ultimate Journeys: The Series, with the 12-episode Pokémon: To Be A Pokémon Master arc pending release.
The premiere of Pokémon Horizons: The Series was announced at an event held last month on April 30th in Mumbai by The Pokémon Company and Hungama TV. The event also announced a unique collaboration with Indian music superstar duo Vishal-Shekar to compose original soundtracks for the Hindi, Tamil, and Telugu dubs, with vocals provided by Bollywood stars Armaan Malik for the opening song and Shirley Setia for the ending theme in all three languages. Vishal and Shekhar wanted to "bring fun and unique Indian flavour to the energy of the whole show" while Armaan and Shirley were thrilled to be a part of Pokémon and said "their younger selves would be very excited and happy to be contribute to one of their favourite shows". Both of the singers have collaborated with the composer duo previously, and apparently enjoyed to get to work with them again. For earlier seasons, the themes of the English version were directly dubbed into Hindi, Tamil, and Telugu, keeping the soundtracks intact. Although a Bengali dub of Pokémon Journeys: The Series was released, there have been no announcements on a Bengali dub for Pokémon Horizons.
The Hindi dub of Pokémon Horizons: The Series will be the first season of the main series anime to use the localized Hindi names of Pokémon, such as म्याओहा Myāohā (Myahoja or Meowoja) for Sprigatito, गरमच्छ Garmacch (Garmacch) for Fuecoco, and क्वैक्सी Kvaiksī (Quaxy) for Quaxly, which were introduced with the launch of Hindi language support for Pokémon GO in September 2023. Previously, most dubbed spoken media used the English names of Pokémon. The Hindi dubs of the web shorts The Journey of One Dream, which was released in India before its English or Japanese release, and , were the only media to use the Hindi names of Pokémon. The currently airing anime continues to use the English names of Pokémon, as these dubs were produced before the release of the Hindi Pokémon names. The Tamil, Telugu, and Bengali dubs of the above anime shorts also used the English Pokémon names, and it is unknown whether those dubs of Pokémon Horizons will use the Hindi names as well or stick to using the English names.
Sharing thoughts on the launch, Susumu f*ckunaga from The Pokémon Company, remarked,
“The new series comes with a brand-new storyline, new Pokémon and human characters, so there is a lot to look forward to. You will enjoy a fascinating adventure on an airship and see how secrets unfold due to the mysterious objects the main characters possess. All this is packed into a heartwarming story of friendship and self-discovery. We have also created original opening and ending tracks just for India for the very first time. This has been a challenging and interesting journey as we wanted to ensure that the music and lyrics align with Indian sensibilities. I think the songs capture the essence of Pokémon very nicely. We are also delighted to air our new series on the hugely popular Hungama channel. Their reach is bound to take our content to viewers across the entire country.”
Devika Prabhu, Business Head – Kids and Infotainment at Disney Star, said,
“Hungama has established itself as a popular platform for Japanese anime and Pokémon, especially has been garnering immense love and appreciation over the years. With a devoted fan base of Pokémon enthusiasts in the country, our network has been their go-to destination when they want to immerse themselves in a world of captivating stories from the franchise. Through our dedicated localization efforts, we have customized the Pokémon viewing experience to align with the preferences of our audience, ensuring its continued relevance and appeal. The series and movies have consistently ranked among our top-performing content, and we are happy to introduce a new series as one of our key summer tentpoles on Hungama.”
For a complete list of all Pokémon names in Hindi, see the Bulbapedia article List of Hindi Pokémon names. For the history of the Pokémon franchise in India and neighbouring territories, see Pokémon in the Indian Subcontinent. For themes used in the Indian dubs, see List of Hindi, Tamil, and Telugu Pokémon themes.
UPDATE: An official reel has been released on the Indian Instagram channels for Disney and Pokémon.
