Pokémon in Finland
Flag of Finland
Language	Finnish,Swedish
Continent	Europe
Original animated series airdates
EP001	November 6, 1999
AG001	September 5, 2004
DP001	June 2, 2008 September 26, 2008
BW001	April 22, 2011 August 13, 2011
XY001	May 4, 2014
SM001	August 26, 2017
JN001	November 27, 2020 January 1, 2021
HZ001	March 7, 2024

ThePokémon franchise first reachedFinland on October 21, 1999 in the form of the first English Pokémon games,Pokémon Red and Blue Versions. ThePokémon animated series followed shortly after with the first broadcast ofPokémon! Minä valitsen sinut! in Finnish on MTV3 on November 6, 1999. Finland was the first Nordic country to air the Pokémon animated series.Denmark,Norway, andSweden followed after in spring 2000.

Pokémon video games

All of thecore series andspin-offPokémon games have been released in English in Finland, usually the same day as the release in the rest of Europe. The first ones werePokémon Red and Blue, which arrived in Finnish stores on October 21, 1999.

As in the rest of Europe,Pokémon Trozei! was sold under the titlePokémon Link! andPokémon Rumble Blast was sold under the titleSuper Pokémon Rumble.

All games have their instruction booklets translated into both Finnish and Swedish. The only game released in Finnish isPokémon Trading Card Game Online, but only the interface had been translated and the cards themselves remained in English.

Stores known for distributing Pokémon events in Finland areGameStop,Anttila,Prisma,Stockmann, andPelimies.

Pokémon animation

Generally, episodes of the Pokémon animated series air on Saturday and/or Sunday mornings onMTV3, a Finnish commercial TV channel.

Pokémon Diamond & Pearl: Battle Dimension has aired in Finnish onJetix. When Jetix was replaced by Disney XD, Disney XD began to show reruns of Battle Dimension as well. Disney XD has also aired thetenth,eleventh, andtwelfth movies.

MTV3's net-TV known asKatsomo started to upload the 11th season beginning on 11 May 2010 and finished the season in July 2010. New episodes were downloaded Mon-Fri by 18:00.

The12th season was broadcast by MTV3 from September 2010 to August 6th 2011.Katsomo started to upload the 13th season since 18 April 2011 and finished on August 11th 2011. New episodes were uploaded Mondays and Thursdays by 18:00.

Like some other European channels, MTV3 showed the first two episodes ofPokémon the Series: Black & White as a "sneak peek" before the seasons actual airing. These episodes were shown on 22 and 25 April, respectively. The season officially started airing on August 13, 2011.

Sub Juniori has started to return the first ten seasons of the series since 12 April 2010. Currently, it is broadcasting the reruns ofPokémon: Advanced.

Many episodes were not aired in Finland for unknown reasons. Thelast episode of the first season and the entiresecond season were skipped; and only about a half of theJohto Journeys,Johto League Champions, and the last 12 episodes ofMaster Quest were shown. This happened also to Pokémon Advanced, as only the first 26 episodes were shown.

This changed duringAdvanced Challenge, as it was the first-ever season to be shown completely in Finland. Every season after that has been broadcast in their entirety as well.

In Finland, the animated series is available onNetflix.

Dubbing

The aired episodes were originally dubbed in Finnish byOy PVP-Voice Ab fromSeasons 1 to7, a dubbing company known of its numerous dubbings on different cartoons. Seasons 5 to 7 were recorded in a former small municipality ofKisko (nowadays part of the town ofSalo) in Southwest Finland instead of capital Helsinki.SDI Media has dubbed the series sincePokémon: Battle Frontier; Season 8 was dubbed byDubberman.

A unique feature of the Finnish dub (and other Nordic dubs) is that the names of Pokémonmoves have been left in English. This hasn't always been the case, but this came into effect when the Seasons 9 and 10 were aired in Finland. The reasons behind the change are a bit hazy, but it has been assumed that this is because the Pokémon games and TCG are published in English in Finland as well. At the same time, it has been inconsistent whetherAbilities are translated or not. Until Season 8, the names of the moves were said in Finnish. The Finnish dub is currently the only ongoing dub of the Pokémon animated series in an Uralic language, following the cancellation of theHungarian dub after Season 12.

Cast and crew

In the Finnish dub, several different voice actors have appeared.Sari Ann Moilanen was the original voice actress forAsh Ketchum in first and third seasons and the first four movies, though now he is voiced byHanna Leino.Kiti Kokkonen is the most recent voice actress ofMisty, and alsoJessie's voice actress in some seasons before Season 11, though both of these characters have had a few other voice actresses in some point: Misty has also been voiced byOuti Alanen,Marjut Heikkinen (also May's voice actress in Seasons 9 and 11, as well asFennel inBW036) andPauliina Virta, while Jessie has been voiced byMari Laari,Karolina Blom andSusa Saukko. Kiti Kokkonen has, though, also been the first of Misty's voice actresses. Brock was originally voiced byJuha Paananen in the first six seasons and after that byJari Salo. Paananen made a surprise comeback in the beginning of Season 12 with voicing Canalave City's Gym LeaderByron in two episodes.

Velimatti Ranta isJames's original voice actor. Other voice actors for James areAnssi Känsälä,Antti Jaakola,Saku Mäkynen andPeter Pihlström, who is his current voice actor.Meowth has been voiced byPauli Virta and currently byArto Nieminen.

May has been voiced byAksa Korttila in Seasons 6, 7, and the most of Season 8, whileElise Langenoja has voicedMax from Seasons 6 to 8.Mirjami Heikkinen is the voice actress forDawn, whileIris' voice actress isSaara Aalto.Cilan is voiced byPetrus Kähkönen, who has previously voiced some recurring characters andcharacters of the day.Gary Oak has been voiced byPasi Ruohonen, among other voice actors. Pasi Ruohonen had also voiced thenarrator for many years, but starting with Season 18 the narrator is voiced byMarkus Bäckman.Serena is voiced byAlina Tomnikov,Clemont is voiced byHenri Piispanen (who had previously voicedShamus andKeldeo), andBonnie is voiced byHenni-Liisa Stam (except the last 3 episodes ofPokémon the Series: XY, where she was substituted bySaara Lehtonen). Stam had also voiced May in the last seven episodes of Season 8, and some minor characters.

InPokémon the Series: Sun & Moon,Lana is voiced byElla Tarvonen,Kiawe is voiced byVili Orava,Lillie is voiced bySaara Lehtonen,Sophocles is voiced bySusa Saukko (also Jessie's current voice actress), andMallow is voiced byYasmine Yamajako, who previously voicedAlexa andHoopa Confined.Rotom Pokédex is voiced byMarkus Niemi.Professor Kukui is voiced byIlkka Villi, whose previous major roles includeStephan,Colress, andProfessor Sycamore.

Also, the Eleven to Fourteen bracket winner inPokémon Trading Card Game2006 World Championships,Miska Saari, has voicedShane, thecharacter of the day in the episodeThat's Just Swellow.^[1]

The theme songs have been sung in Finnish by following singers:

• Anssi Känsälä (Pokémon Theme,Pokémon World (movie version only),Born to Be a Winner)
• Mika Turunen (Pokémon Johto)
• Jari Salo (Believe in Me,I Wanna Be a Hero,This Dream,Unbeatable)
• Antti Matikainen (Battle Frontier,Diamond and Pearl,We Will Be Heroes,We Will Carry On!,Black and White,Rival Destinies)
• Marika Tuhkala (Battle Cry - (Stand Up!))
• Raili Raitala (Black and White,Rival Destinies)
• Saara Aalto & Petrus Kähkönen (It's Always You and Me)
• Samuel Harjanne (Pokémon Theme (Version XY))
• Jon-Jon Geitel (Be a Hero)
• Tero Koponen & Salli Helminen (Stand Tall)
• Heljä Heikkinen & Antti L. J. Pääkkönen (Under The Alolan Sun)
• Elias Kaskinen, Katja Aakkula & Mikko Laiho (Under The Alolan Moon)

Pokémon movies

All the movies up to thetwenty-third movie (excludingLucario and the Mystery of Mew andPokémon Ranger and the Temple of the Sea), as well as the animated series specialsMewtwo Returns andThe Mastermind of Mirage Pokémon have been dubbed in Finnish. Thefifth,sixth, andseventh movies were dubbed by a completely different dubbing group and cast, similar tothe Netherlands.

Shorts and special episodes

Out of all thePikachu shorts,Pikachu's Vacation,Christmas Night,Kanga Games,Pikachu's Rescue Adventure,Winter Games,Stantler's Little Helpers andPikachu & Pichu have been dubbed in Finnish, as well asPokémon Mystery Dungeon: Team Go-Getters Out of the Gate!.

Pokémon manga

Some series, published byVIZ Media, are sold in English by Fantasiapelit, a company that also has other Pokémon merchandise, such as TCG cards, in their product range.

On July 25, 2014, Finnish publisher Pauna Media started publishing theRed, Green & Blue arc and theYellow arc ofPokémon Adventures under the combined titlePokémon Adventures: Red, Blue & Green. The first volume was published on July 25, 2014. There were plans to release the entire series, but the original publishing schedule of one volume per month didn't hold up, and only the first five volumes have been released, with no new releases having been announced in years.

Three movie adaptations,Pokémon Ranger and the Temple of the Sea,Giratina and the Sky Warrior, andZoroark: Master of Illusions have been licensed by another publisher, Sangatsu Manga. The mangas were published on January 13, March 11, and May 6, 2016, respectively.

No Pokémon manga has been translated intoSwedish, Finland's other national language.

Pokémon Trading Card Game

Many card sets ofPokémon Trading Card Game, starting withBase Set, have been sold in Finland in many different kiosks and convenience stores.Lehtipiste stores, the most common beingR-Kioski, are known as one of the most reliable places to find Pokémon Trading Cards.Theme Decks are also sold in Finland.

The cards sold in Finland are in English, and the price of one booster pack is typically around five or six Euros.

At least one Masters divisionWorld Champion,Tom Roos, is from Finland. Roos's deck was later printed in promotional form and namedLegendary Ascent.

External links

• The official Finland Pokémon website (partial website)
• Pokémon at Nintendo.fi
• Netflix
• Viaplay
• The official Finnish forum

Trivia

• Saara Aalto, the Finnish voice actress forIris, gained international recognition by finishing in second place in the thirteenth season ofThe X Factor UK, and representing Finland in theEurovision Song Contest in 2018.
• Henri Piispanen, the Finnish voice actor forClemont, represented Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest in 2024 as a featuring artist for Windows95man.

References

Related articles

• List of Finnish Pokémon themes

This article is part ofProject Globe, aBulbapedia project that aims to write comprehensive articles on the Pokémon franchise around the world.

• Pokémon around the world