I had a different encounter with Pokémon than what most people would have. It's a long one but because of my story, I think I'll cut it off at about just when Pokémon exploded in 1999.

During my childhood, my dad was part of the US Navy, so it would mean there's cases I would be moving around and stationed elsewhere. For what amounts to my elementary school years (including kindergarten), my family would end up stationed on a US military base in Japan. I would have a mixture of what pop culture stuff I would exposed to during that time, from what I would expect if I was living in the US plus the stuff in Japan that people in the US probably wouldn't hear of during the 90s. I did get exposed to Dragon Ball, I was into Power Rangers and would end up encountering the Japanese series Power Rangers was based off of, and during my final two years living there, my early encounter with Pokémon.

During a good amount of time living there, I was able to have a subscription to Nintendo Power and its July 1997 issue did a four page spread of this game that ended up taking Japan by storm called Pocket Monsters. It talked about having an animated series, merchandise and all that stuff. That would be the first time I hear about it. One Tuesday night, I found myself channel surfing the various US military broadcast channels and the Japanese channels. I found myself deciding to stop on one Japanese channel during commercials and then went into the credits of a show, where I saw this yellow rodent bouncing around a ball, half red, half white. I was able to recognize it as that "Pocket Monsters" thing I read about in Nintendo Power and then showed a preview of the episode the following week. So, I decided to take notes of the time and be on that channel the following week. Did I know Japanese? No, but I didn't really care. I ended up watching it, particularly out of curiosity (it was nothing new to me, since I did watch Super Sentai this way during my childhood Power Rangers phase). It was the episode where the main character (which I would later after some time learn during that time was named Satoshi) challenged Erika (who I didn't know her name). After that, it was something I decided to watch whenever I was able to catch it. I would eventually learned the yellow rodent was called Pikachu. I probably would have a hard time remembering which episodes I did see during this time. Like, I know I saw the Kangaskhan episode, only to miss the following episode (which, wouldn't that be something). I would have vague recollection of the notorious Porygon episode and remembering the next episode preview being Holiday Hi-Jynx (since I remember something Christmas themed). It was because I would not see it again for a while (because of how infamous that episode became) until someone at school told me about it being back on, telling me about a new episode featuring a creature called Purin (Jigglypuff). I will also say that the original Japanese opening is probably the only Japanese opening I have any kind of nostalgia for.

During that time in 6th grade, some others had know about the "Pocket Monsters" thing and had those casual encounters. I even remember having a music class where the I knew this staff member as a counselor but was the one that had to be a long term substitute teacher for said class until the regular teacher was able to come back. She actually had this plushie of Pikachu where tapping the head would activate it saying its name. In a different moment, my class did a mock auction, submitting items for it. Someone submitted a keychain of Pikachu on a surfboard. When that item went up, I already blew my play money used for the mock auction. A friend ended up getting it for me but got in trouble because he ended up getting play money that wasn't assigned to be his during this mock auction. If this was the lower grade levels like the teacher said, "Finders keepers" would apply in regards to the play money but it was 6th and that did not apply here. The settlement of the dispute was that I was allowed to keep the Pikachu keychain but the friend would have to reimburse the play money that wasn't his to a different student. One field trip, a friend (the same one that tipped me off on Pocket Monsters being back on) had his Gameboy on hand playing that. He did let me just do a battle for him to look at the game (Though RPGs were nothing new to me since I played Final Fantasy II IV and ~~III~~ VI before, I wouldn't be able to handle this game on a full scale since I didn't know enough Japanese). I can say I still wanted to get more into this series. Last bit of thing I had was three trading cards featuring the anime (two related to Purin and one just with Satoshi and Fushigidane)

In July 1998, my family would move back to the US (specifically California). Though, in a way, you can say Pikachu would follow me back to the US since Nintendo was looking to launch the franchise in a few months. I did read about it with the last few Nintendo Power issues I would get before I would not subscribe for a while. One included a mini walkthrough for Red/Blue, a comic adaptation of the first episode, and listings of the stations the Pokémon animated series was going to be broadcasted on. Oh right, just shorten Pocket Monsters to Pokémon since that's what they're doing here. I was having to adjust to a new location and even something for the rest of my mandatory school years...year around school. So much for a summer vacation.

Early September 1998. I already was informed that Pokémon Red/Blue would be released in the later part of that month. I also would have to adjust to different names (Okay, he's Ash now. Pikachu kept his name. That Purin is now Jigglypuff. The starter I would want? Well, Fushigidane is Bulbasaur). I also looked up the TV schedule to see when I can expect this series to start airing. So I ended up waking up that early September before 6AM, ready to watch the debut of the Pokémon series in the US...after sitting through a Robocop cartoon (something I was willing to do just to see Pokémon debut on TV). Interestingly enough, they were airing the St. Anne episode in a more sneak preview style for the series. Pokémon hasn't exploded yet but I was watching it weekday mornings. September would be the first of these breaks I have in a year round school. I was also counting down the days until Pokémon Red/Blue came out in the US. I was able to finish Final Fantasy VII during that time so I was free for Pokémon during the last days of that break. My mom even took me to Toys R Us around the release date. Normally, you would buy a video game at this store by grabbing the ticket to the game you want, pay for it, then redeem ticket at the back. Well, they didn't have tickets set up to buy Pokémon Red/Blue. However, my mom did ask the staff about having copies of it. Instead of redeeming a ticket, I was handed Pokémon Red (which was the version I wanted) and told to make sure to pay for it, which my mom did. My break was almost over but at least I get to start playing the game I only got to see in a Japanese version and starting out with Bulbasaur.

Well, I was in middle school (yeah, just that) and Pokémon hasn't exploded yet. Trying to find someone to trade with was going to be hard. When I thought I got someone, he was trying to hand me floppy disks, which I had no clue what that was about (and in hindsight, was probably related to something I'll learn about the following year...emulation). But then, I found a few people and ended up loaning my Red version out for a bit to one of them. My save got deleted by someone's little sibling (even though I was clear not to start a new game on it) but even then, it seems like I found some people to play Pokémon with. I still have that Red version around, even if that original save is long gone (I had ways to keep the following save safe).

With that long story up to before Pokémon exploded, where do I end it? Well, I got one of the KFC promotional beanie of Seel first, then for my thirteenth birthday, I ended up getting the rest (Vulpix, Dratini, and Zubat). After that, I would say that Pokémon exploded and wasn't something that was unfamiliar with others.

That's my early exposure to Pokémon. I'm not sure if there's anything else I can call out for Pokémania.