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What about doing what Disney, another company protective of their brand, did with their classic material, for Pokémon? Release specially packaged collector's editions, with a respectable personality (Disney used Leonard Maltin) giving commentary and wholly unnecessary (but legally defendable) "perspective" on the show.

None of these take the place of proper language study. You simply need real Japanese study materials at some point. But if being into Japanese pop culture helps you stay engaged (the toughest part of studying), by all means use them. But do recognize their shortcomings.

While that is the true purpose of the Pokémon anime, in the west, the anime came before the video games or anything else, which meant that not only did a lot of people get started with the anime first, but there are still lots of people who think that the video games were an adaptation of the anime, rather than the other way around. As a result, the Pokémon anime largely became its own thing in the west, with many people who watch the anime having nothing to do with the rest of Pokémon.

That being said, I do agree that the sales to be had from such a release would be minuscule, between most western fans having grown up with the 4Kids dub and the anime having faded from popularity long since due to changing trends in US television (though I don't know how it is for the west outside of the US).

I've had a conversation with some rather obnoxious Japanophiles in the distant past about this, telling them that subtitled anime and games with Japanese audio are not the proper way to learn the language, and that they need to learn with actual written materials such as textbooks, listen & repeat exercises, and so on. Do you know how they responded?

"But learning like that is boring. It’s not exciting at all."

I was insulted by the part where Pikachu talked. I understand it was supposed to represent its bond with Ash, but it was still unnecessary. Did the people at OLM really think we were that stupid? It was really hard to take I Choose You seriously.

As for streaming, 4kids streamed Sonic X uncut for years while the show was also running on Saturday mornings and I don't recall any complaints.

Yeah but that's Sonic X. You're talking about Pokemon. Pokemon. Sonic's a fairly large brand but that's faded over recent years.

Pokemon is a juggernaut that will never die with a constant influx of new fans and/or customers.

First off, let me preface my post by saying that I agree with Justin 100% that if you want to learn a language seriously then there is no substitute for formal instruction. But that having been said, I agree--to an extent--with the people you quoted.

Learning a language formally (in a classroom setting) certainly can be boring. Finding a way to make that more appealing is very powerful because it motivates students to learn. To that end I think that games, anime, TV drama, etc, can be a great learning tool. Sure, it is not a substitute for actually learning the grammar, etc, but it is motivational and can teach a lot of extra vocabulary (and more). I studied Japanese at university, but I also watched a lot of Anime at the same time. I didn't believe for an instant that watching anime would magically teach me Japanese, and I knew right off the bat that Animespeak is not the same thing as real-world conversation. However, Anime did teach me an awful lot: I'd be watching something and think: what does that word I just heard mean, exactly?...so that would motivate me to go get the dictionary and look it up. I'd wonder why certain words or phrases were translated (via sub or dub) one way sometimes and other times differently--then I'd ask my teacher or consult a textbook to learn why. I'd see signs or other text in the background of a show, wanted to know what it meant, and got a lot of practice with the Kanji dictionary looking those things up. And so on.

So yeah, you certainly won't learn proper Japanese by trying to parrot what you heard in an Anime, game, TV drama, etc. But, if your love for those things gets you listening to more Japanese speech, motivates you to bust out the dictionary and look up new words, memorize new Kanji, etc, then that certainly is a good thing. Motivation is a powerful learning tool, and if anime or games or whatever motivate you, then go for it. Just understand that it should be an accessory to, rather than a replacement for, formal study of the language.

That's the thing though: You had formal training, in that you went to classes and had an instructor. The original point is that there is no substitute, when it comes to learning a language, for socially interacting with people who know the language well (whether that be scholars, like an instructor, or native speakers), and that consuming Japanese media alone will not be enough.

I agree 100% with the original point: there is no substitute for formal training. But that said, I think Justin's answer doesn't give full credit to how powerful a learning tool media can be. Just because it's not the most important thing doesn't mean it lacks any sort of value.

Don’t learn Japanese from novels. No one talks that way.
Don’t learn Japanese from scientific journals. No one talks that way.
Don’t learn Japanese from manga. No one talks that way.
Don’t learn Japanese from newspapers. No one talks that way.
Don’t learn Japanese from sports. No one talks that way.
Don’t learn Japanese from comedy. No one talks that way.
Don’t learn Japanese from young people. You’ll sound like a chav.
Don’t learn Japanese from advertisements. No one talks that way.
Don’t learn Japanese from anime. No one talks that way.
Don’t learn Japanese from women. You’ll sound like a transvestite.

(I also want to point out that said instructor has to actually be good at teaching the language. I've encountered some...less than good foreign language instructors. I had at least one who treated any language other than English and French not as skills to be used, but as knowledge to be had. He could speak and write in at least 6 different languages, but he considered it more as a hobby and never actually put them to practical use.)

Depending on what you want to learn Japanese for, learning through media might work.

First, a formal class will almost certainly push you much harder than you would go on your own, and your vocabulary will grow accordingly.

Second, conversational Japanese is much, much faster than what you'll hear in anime or games. If you're accustomed to the pace of voiced dialogue, the first time you try to keep up with an actual speaker, you're going to be hopelessly lost by the end of the first sentence. It takes practice to get used to that, and even the audio accompanying Japanese textbooks can only do so much.

I learned English without any formal study just by using the internet and playing videogames in English for about 10 years. When I decided to learn Japanese I noticed it would be much harder than English. Mainly because Japanese doesn't use the Roman alphabet and also due to the relative lack of cognates if compared to English relative to my native language.

Though this brings to mind a question: Why not import the Japanese releases if one wants the original uncut edition? I don't have a lot of personal interest in pokemon, but I have done that for countless other shows that I couldn't find a satisfactory copy of domestically. And Pokemon is pretty easy to understand, especially for an established fan who knows the show. I can't imagine lack of subtitles being a big hurdle for a hardcore Pokemon fan.

Though this brings to mind a question: Why not import the Japanese releases if one wants the original uncut edition? I don't have a lot of personal interest in pokemon, but I have done that for countless other shows that I couldn't find a satisfactory copy of domestically. And Pokemon is pretty easy to understand, especially for an established fan who knows the show. I can't imagine lack of subtitles being a big hurdle for a hardcore Pokemon fan.

And if I were running Pokémon Company, I certainly wouldn't seem like sound business to me.

And if I were running Pokémon Company, it certainly wouldn't seem like sound business to me.

Shiflan wrote:

Though this brings to mind a question: Why not import the Japanese releases if one wants the original uncut edition? I don't have a lot of personal interest in pokemon, but I have done that for countless other shows that I couldn't find a satisfactory copy of domestically. And Pokemon is pretty easy to understand, especially for an established fan who knows the show. I can't imagine lack of subtitles being a big hurdle for a hardcore Pokemon fan.

This is only an option for the movies. The TV-series of Pokémon, believe it or not, doesn't have a home video release in Japan. I mean, they have rental DVDs, but no purchasable DVD- or Blu-ray-releases of the series exists.