Pokémon (anime)/Music

Image Songs

• The 2.B.A.Master soundtrack. It's full of beautiful character songs, particularly "Misty's Song" and "The Time Has Come (Pikachu's Goodbye)".
  • Special praise goes to Double Trouble, Team Rocket's theme. Why does Team Rocket keep coming back after failure after failure? Because we're Team Rocket. 'Do Unto Others'...
    • It's almost cliche to mention the foreign versions of music for animation on the Crowner pages, but one must mention just how wonderfully over the top the German Team Rocket is. Yes, James CAN get even campier.
    • Their Japanese theme, Team Rocket Forever (Roketto-Dan Yo Eien Yi) is equally awesome and conveys the same sense of unstoppability. ^[1]
  • "Viridian City", sung by the same guy who did the original dub theme song.
  • "My Best Friends".
  • The album's title song "2.B.A. Master", among others.
  • YOU GUYS READY FOR THE POKÉRAP?!
• Then there's the Totally Pokemon CD:
  • Two Perfect Girls.
  • The Johto Pokerap. P-O-K-E-MON!
  • You & Me & Pokemon

Openings

• Advance Adventure's instrumental remix. It was one of the pieces 4Kids consistently kept making the scenes it was used in just as awesome in the dub.
  • The vocal version is even better.
• Pokémon Symphonic Medley. It's all the earlier opening themes put into an orchestral medley, and it is a thing of beauty.
• David Rolfe did the dub themes for seasons 4-8.
  • "Born to Be a Winner" (Johto League Champions).
  • "Believe in Me" (Master Quest)
  • "I Wanna Be a Hero" (Advanced)
  • "This Dream" (Advanced Challenge)
  • "Unbeatable" (Advanced Battle).
• As its lyrics say, the anime's ninth opening theme, Battle Frontier, certainly does overflow with rising power. Full version given for maximum awesome.
  • "Spurt". There's nothing better than an intro with Rica Matsumoto going Hot-Blooded.
• The seventh opening "Challenger!".
• I wanna be the very best, like no one ever was...
  • Extended version. Come with me, the time is right...
    • Instrumental/Karaoke version of the above. Not bad in its own right.
  • Movie version.
  • The remixed Dance Mix version, a single which is hardly ever heard because it was released unofficially by Robbins Entertainment.
• The original Japanese opening theme to the series (Mezase Pokemon Master): Pokemon, GETTO DAZE~!
  • Related, an 8-bit remix from the Pokémon Pinball game.
  • Whiteberry's version for the fourth opening is pretty great too.
• Holy crap, The Greatest - Everyday was so awesome it leaked out some spoilers!
  • The full version.
    • The full instrumental version!
  • Band. Version.
• Johto Theme Song. A perfect introduction to "a whole new place, with a brand new attitude". And catchy as all hell.
• The theme of Orange Islands, "Pokémon World".
• Then there's OK!, Ready Go! and the 2009 version of High Touch!. Oh, and Together too.
  • High Touch!'s instrumental version, which has a hint of the first opening just to top it off.
• Best Wishes! probably isn't the best opening theme. But damn, is it ever catchy.
• Battle Cry - (Stand Up!) Dang... if that isn't ain't Ear Worm, what on Earth is?

Endings

• The 20th ending, May/Haruka's Hot-Blooded theme Watashi Makenai! (I Won't Lose!) sung by her voice actress, KAORI.
• The 21st ending, Dawn/Hikari's theme Kimi no Soba de (By Your Side)
  • The Winter version.
  • The Image Song remix from Megumi Toyoguchi.
  • This low-key instrumental version.
• Some of the other ending themes like Boku no Best Friend e, Smile, Kaze no Message, Ashita wa Kitto and Kimi no Mune ni LaLaLa are surprisingly moving.
• Soko ni Sora ga Aru Kara (Because the Sky is There) is just... wow.
  • The orchestral version is at least as good.
• Best Wishes' first ending, Fanfare of the Heart, is adorable.
  • Its second ending, Can You Say The Pokemon?, is the combination of the Pokerap and a rave party.
  • No love for its third ending? Nanairo no achi is the most heartwarming ending this troper has seen so far. It's a pleasant reminder that the anime aims to show the main characters' journies together with their pokemon, and having fun and spending time together with them.
• The only english ending song Pokemon Go! Of course they only used the rap part in the actual show.

Series BGM

• "Pokémon - I Choose You!", the Kanto/original series anime variant of the classic title screen theme from the main series games (specifically, Red and Blue's title theme). There have been other similar and amazing anime arrangements of the same theme, such as:
  • The second and third title variants of the original series.
  • The Pokémon: The Johto Journeys variant, modeled after the arrangement from Gold/Silver/Crystal.
  • The Pokémon: Advanced Generation (Hoenn) variant, modeled after the arrangement from Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald.
• The first generation had its music reserved for awesome scenes, too. Basically the regular Gym theme with better guitar licks. Always accompanied a Big Damn Heroes moment.
  • That would be Kanto Gym (Intense action) variant. You hear that, someone is going to have their ass handed to them.
  • It has a remix, Pokémon Gym (Version 2). Say what you will about the series, but with music like this you can't deny that it has its awesome moments.
• The original Team Rocket Motto Theme, maybe not before the Villain Decay set in (that happened very quickly) but certainly from when they were threatening at least. And it shows in the music.
• This anime version of Route 1 is short, but to-the-point. This take on the first generation's credits theme too.
• Two words: Burning Battlefield!. Nice use of electric guitar too!
• Fighting Spirit. The horns are simply amazing.
• "Who is Stronger?: Epic Battle!" is Exactly What It Says on the Tin. The subtitle at least.
• "Real Pokémon vs Copy Pokémon".
• Any time the anime used a remixed version of the game music. Listen to the Kanto, Johto, Hoenn and Sinnoh wild Pokémon battle themes.
• Namida, Nochi Hare/Tears After the Cloudy Weather. Not to mention it always accompanies a Crowning Moment that normally manages both Heartwarming and Awesome at once. Notable examples are Pikachu charging through the lightning to defend Ash in the first episode, the Pokemon breaking out to save Ash's life in "Snow Way Out," and Charizard waking up to see Ash massaging him out of an Ice Beam in "Charizard Chills."
• After an extremely long wait, a badly needed BGM set has come out with some new anime arrangement tracks that were never released:
  • The RBY Champion battle theme.
  • Burning Battlefield second version
  • The Johto Trainer battle theme.
  • The GSC Champion battle theme.
  • The Groudon/Kyogre/Rayquaza battle theme. One of the most epic songs to grace the Pokémon anime.
  • The Regirock/Registeel/Regice battle theme.
  • The Team Magma/Aqua Grunt battle theme .
    • The Team Magma and Team Aqua Encounter themes.
  • The Pokémon Gym remixes mentioned earlier.
  • Special mention goes to the outstanding instrumental version of "OK!", which was used as background music during the epic showdown between Ash's Charizard and Gary's Blastoise in the 271st Pokémon episode, Playing with Fire!, as well as other Johto-era episodes. The fandom was practically in tears when this track finally got an official release on CD.
• I Got a Victory Badge. Especially after the 50-second mark. Three guesses as to what point that's used in.
• Every single Elite Four battle theme:
  • Kanto - also does double duty as the Gym battle. ^[2]
  • Hoenn
  • Sinnoh
• A Meeting and Parting.
• Prayer's a Tear Jerker song.
• To Be Continued has a sort of happy tropical island feel to it.
• Cross the Sea.
• No mention of the BGM for Best Wishes/Black & White yet? The remix of the Gym Leader's Last Pokemon theme is particularly epic; especially noteworthy is it's use during Ash's fifth gym battle.

Movies

• Shinji Miyazaki's It's a Counterattack! from the 8th Pokémon movie.
• The Legend Comes To Life, a.k.a. Lugia's theme from the second movie.
  • It was actually changed from the Japanese version which is stunning too.
  • The whole thing is amazing, but it's the solo flute at the end...
  • Tears of Life from the first movie. Perhaps the most well-done instrumental piece in Pokémon history.
    • That music was only in the dub version of the movie, and apparently it actually made the original Japanese developers of the film tear up. You know you've made dub music history if that happens!
    • "Brother My Brother", another great dub-song-Tear Jerker. Some people think it's unfitting since it plays during a fight to the death, but one has to actually listen to the lyrics. It's not a song about brotherly love, it's a song about how there should be brotherly love instead of what's actually happening: a war in which brothers kill each other. In that light, it is very fitting for the moment, particularly when it comes to Pikachu's train of thought.
• "Oracion".
• ~~Capture On~~ from the 9th movie.
  • Also: As long as I can hold my breath... Urgent yet hopeful and packed to the brim with emotion.
  • And the ending song, Mamoru Beki Mono.
• CELE-B-R-A-T-E^[3]. Bonus points for sounding like Celebi.
• Chiisaki Mono. Made even more awesome when you factor in that Asuca Hayashi was 14 years old at the time the song was released.
  • They even adapted it into English as Make a Wish, including transitioning in and out of the original seamlessly. Wow. We seriously need more bilingual songs like that.
• Search for the Girl from Pokemon: Heroes. You normally have to be Weird Al to sound this awesome with an accordion.
  • Weird Al you say?
• Spell of the Unown Medley is one of the best pieces in the entire anime.
  • From the same movie, I Want Things Real Again. Beautiful.
• Darkrai Inochi wo Kakete (Darkrai's Theme) sounds perfectly fitting for the Master of Nightmares. Ominous with deep horns, drums and organs.
• If We Only Learn from Arceus and The Jewel of Life is one of the most beautiful songs to come out of the anime.
• Behold 4 AWESOME tracks from movies 3 & 5 (Japanese soundtrack)
• "We Will Meet Again" is the ultimate tribute to the friendship of Lucario and Sir Aaron from Movie 8
• The Rescue For Latios from Pokemon Heroes. It's so good it has been used during other epic scenes in the anime, such as the debut of Misty's Flamethrower-using Gyarados (Which she previously had a fear of) and the infamous "They're using Thunder as armor!" scene, which despite being a a "What the heck?" moment, was still undeniably awesome.
• This song from Lucario and the Mystery of Mew.
• "Three on Three" from Mewtwo Strikes Back which includes a horrifying awesome Dark Reprise of the Kanto battle theme.
• Flygon's theme from Jirachi Wish Maker.

Mystery Dungeon specials

• The opening theme of Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Red and Blue was redone with a full orchestra for its animated special. Here.
  • The second and third specials also have pretty epic themes.
• The 3rd Pokémon Mystery Dungeon special has a simply amazing orchestral version of Through the Sea of Time and an even more awesome orchestral version of The Hidden Highland Theme.

1. ↑ The English version wasn't quite so good due to an error in the voice/music sync, but it had potential.
2. ↑ This theme was only used for the Elite Four in the games in FR/LG, but it still counts for this section.
3. ↑ performed by the same guy that did 2.B.A Master