Pokémon in the Arab world

The Pokémon franchise widely reached the  in late 2000, with the first broadcast of بوكيمون، لقد اخترتك انت! in Arabic language on. Although, Pokémon video games were initially distributed in various places, particularly within the countries, since 1998.

The word Pokémon is written as ' and pluralised as '. Pokémon are always referred to as either male or female, since Arabic has no neutral grammatical gender.

While almost all characters, Pokémon, and most of the locations have kept their English names in the Arabic version, some objects in the franchise received Arabic names. The Poké Ball, for example, has been dubbed as كرة البوكي (Kurt Al-Poké), and the Poké Flute received the name مزمار البوكي (Mizmar Al-Poké) and so on. One of the Arabic names that are different from the English dub is Team Rocket, which has been translated as: عصابة الرداء الأبيض . Also, the name of Pallet Town got changed to قرية شورباك  which sounds interestingly similar to the Cantonese name of the town.

Controversy
In 2001, the of, who is the highest religious authority in the kingdom, issued a  banning the Pokémon franchise, claiming it encourages gambling and promotes. High Muslim authorities in and  then joined the ban. As this happened during the, a ian newspaper printed a caricature of Israeli Prime Minister sitting in a tank and laughing at an Arab man chasing a Pokémon. This is meant to convey that Arabs are distracted from their conflict with the Israelis by popular franchises, with Pokémon as an example of such "distractions."

Despite the initial banning, which quickly wiped away Pokémon merchandise (especially the card game) from markets in Saudi Arabia, Pokémon video games quickly returned to be sold normally, but under much less demand from local consumers. Some Pokémon merchandise such as the TCG Expedition Base Set reappeared in stores a few years later, but newer sets were never brought. Generation III and Generation IV games seem completely unaffected by the ban.

A fatwā was also issued in the emirate of, however no bans officially occurred. Although the U.A.E. takes its Islamic identity seriously like most Arab states, actions based solely on fatwā would however violate. Regardless of this, the licensed local distributor ceased importing Pokémon cards into the U.A.E. until the early 2010s, when the TCG experienced a resurgence among local players. In 2016, the U.A.E. became the first Arab country to be officially sanctioned by The Pokémon Company International to hold official Play! Pokémon events.

Pokémon anime
Pokémon airs or has aired in the following countries:, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , and.

In the Arab world, the anime is available on Netflix.

The Pokémon anime was originally dubbed to Arabic by Syria-based Venus Corporation ( مركز الزهرة,  Markaz Az-Zuhra), but they had since ceased production due to the controversy in 2001. After that Lebanon-based Super M Productions continued dubbing the anime. In the first year the anime was aired exclusively on , a channel broadcasting from Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, but after the end of the first season, it spread rapidly to other channels. It was aired mainly in MBC, ' (also broadcasted from Dubai), ', and  (broadcasting from Lebanon). The total number of Arabic dubbed episodes so far is 366 episodes, with the latest episode being AG092.

As of the 2010s, none of the Arabic-language TV stations in any country is airing or rerunning the Arabic dub of the Pokémon anime, most likely to wane audience interest, and also possibly because of the fact that the dubbing production has long been discontinued (circa 2005) for reasons unknown. All forms of home video releases are also virtually nonexistent in the Middle Eastern market, despite the fact that Region 2 DVDs can be imported, usually from the United Kingdom, should any production lack a licensed local distributor. However, there is currently at least one TV channel that airs the Pokémon anime in the local region with newer episodes, albeit only in English: subscription-based channel, as provided by for the region. This broadcast of the anime series is not well-known though, most likely due to, if not for the language barrier, then to the relatively low participation of the expensive subscription TV model in the region overall. Regardless, Disney XD's airing of the anime is not officially recognized for the MENA region specifically.

As most global Internet-savvy users do, people in the region can have access to the anime via alternative means. They use unconventional methods such as episodes, or dubious methods such as accessing the official Pokémon TV service either via website or app since it is not region-restricted, unlike most similar video streaming services. The former method is very common overall since many of the Arab states are lenient on pirated content, not due to lack of related laws, but more likely due to lack of enforcement.

Venus Corporation
Ash Ketchum was voiced by Buthaina Shia (بثينة شيا), was voiced by Majd Zhazha (مجد ظاظا), and Rafat Pazo (رأفت بازو) provides the voice of.

For, James has been voiced by Ziad Rifaee (زياد الرفاعي), and Jessie has been voiced by Fatima Saad (فاطمة سعد), and finally was voiced by Adel Abu Hassoun (عادل أبو حسون).

Professor Oak is voiced by Marwan Farhat (مروان فرحات). Other notable voice actors in the Arabic dub include Amaal Saad Adin (امال سعد الدين) as Nurse Joy and Fadwa Suleiman (فدوى سليمان) as Officer Jenny.

Pokémon merchandise
After the Pokémon anime started airing in the Arabic language, it became one of the most popular anime series in the Arab world. Therefore, the demand for Pokémon-related merchandise among Arab children was high. Thus, several video game retailers began to sell a wide variety of Pokémon merchandise as they were best sold. Additionally, many restaurants offered promotional toys with their meals, such as Burger King in 2000. Due to the controversy in 2001, however, a lot of the merchandise was withdrawn from the main retail shops. After the controversy subsided, many game stores started selling Pokémon goods again without incident.

As of the 2010s, various distributors imported certain official Pokémon merchandise from either Europe or North America, such as outlets selling Poké Dolls and other kinds of toys. Many high-end bookstore chains, especially those that rely heavily on imported materials, may sell an assorted variety of books and magazines. For example, a outlet situated in  (the sole Kinokuniya outlet in the entire region), which is known to sell large volumes of varied stock, has been retailing children's magazines, video game guides, game books, film novelizations, as well as most of the Pokémon manga series, available in both English and Japanese, with the latter being distributed exclusively via this store.

In early 2013, Active Gulf, Nintendo's officially licensed distributor in the Middle East, have collaborated with their retail partners to locally sell authentic packs for the Pokémon Battle Disc Game.

Many smaller toy and variety stores found in the grey market may often sell unlicensed and counterfeit products, with many of them imported from China. It is also possible to find pirated trading card packs, but in much smaller volumes than when initially released, as in prior to the 2001 controversies. Overall, the current legal status of the official trading card game itself remains vague in any case.

Pokémon Live!
Despite ending its run in January 2001 in the United States, Pokémon Live! was invited to perform on an open stage in, Dubai, U.A.E. in the duration of the whole month of March that same year, coinciding with the annual. Whilst the musical was mostly identical to its performance elsewhere, the female actors had a slight change to their wardrobe which covered their exposed abdomens and thighs, likely to avoid sensitivity issues with a mostly Islamic audience. Since the musical featured the same cast from its American run, it was performed solely in English. The musical, albeit received very positively by its audience, ended its run just days before the 2001 controversies began in the region overall.

Pokémon: Symphonic Evolutions
On March 31, 2017, Pokémon: Symphonic Evolutions was performed at the in, United Arab Emirates as part of the Mother of the Nation Festival. It is the first Symphonic Evolutions concert to be performed in the the Arab world.

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