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Anime Language

As featured prevalently in Pocket Monsters Best Wishes, the anime began using another new made up language to obviously reduce the costs of paint editing the show in the various different languages that it is now distributed in. Originally the series had Japanese text and it was painted out by the English dub. Later, a made up language debuted in the Orange Islands but it did not show signs of it being a distinct interpretable language.

How the Symbols were Deciphered

The easiest spot to begin to decipher the symbols was found in Pocket Monsters Best Wishes episode #49 when Dent is going down the stairs to the subway station. A sign above the stairs can be seen that says "POKEMON" in the symbols. The O symbol is repeated twice in the word and from there the letters can be expanded upon to other parts of the episode. Another good spot is in the first episode of the series when Satoshi looks down at a magazine. The first line states: "ISSYU CHIHOU".

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Main Language

This main new language that is used in Best Wishes is actually a simple substitution cipher where one basic modern Latin alphabet letter is replaced with a symbol from the made up language.

Letters 1 - 13
A B C D E F G H I J K L M
symbol symbol symbol symbol symbol symbol symbol symbol symbol symbol symbol symbol symbol


Letters 14 - 26
N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
symbol symbol symbol symbol symbol symbol symbol symbol symbol symbol symbol symbol symbol

Second Language

Like the main language, the second language is also a simple substitution cipher where one basic modern Latin alphabet letter is replaced with a symbol from the made up language. The second language is often seen accompanying the main language as smaller font sized text compared to the main language as seen in the "ISSYU CHIHOU" example above but it also is used on its own for signs and labeling.

Letters 1 - 13
A B C D E F G H I J K L M
symbol symbol symbol symbol symbol symbol symbol symbol symbol symbol symbol symbol symbol


Letters 14 - 26
N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
symbol symbol symbol symbol symbol symbol symbol symbol symbol symbol symbol symbol symbol

Third Language

The third language used in the Best Wishes series is basically just a slight font change of the modern Latin alphabet with some of the letters getting a dot. No cipher is used with this language.

Letters 1 - 13
A B C D E F G H I J K L M
symbol symbol symbol symbol symbol symbol symbol symbol symbol symbol symbol symbol symbol


Letters 14 - 26
N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
symbol symbol symbol symbol symbol symbol symbol symbol symbol symbol symbol symbol symbol

Fourth Language

The Fourth language is used in the XY series and it is also a simple substitution cipher where one basic modern Latin alphabet letter is replaced with a symbol from the made up language. It was discovered in the 17th Pocket Monsters movie on Serena's dex. Diancie's name uses the letter "I" twice which makes it easy to identify the other characters. The Fourth language also has many symbols that are very similar to the First language, with only a few modifications to its look. SM88 also helped finish off figuring out this language when a screenshot of Sauboh's tablet had the entire keyboard listed.

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Letters 1 - 13
A B C D E F G H I J K L M
A B C D E F G H I J K L M

Letters 14 - 26
N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z


Fifth Language

The fifth language is a simple substitution cipher that is a modified version of the second language. It it used in Movie 21 and 22 as well as some Sun and Moon episodes.

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Click on image for higher resolution

Letters 1 - 13
A B C D E F G H I J K L M
symbol symbol symbol symbol symbol symbol symbol symbol symbol symbol symbol symbol symbol


Letters 14 - 26
N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
symbol symbol symbol symbol symbol symbol symbol symbol symbol symbol symbol symbol symbol

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Last updated 18 Dec 2019 16:42 by Sunain.
Revision #51
Page Tags: Anime Language