Little-known Pokémon fact: Pikachu originally planned to become more adept at human speech

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The most famous Pokémon was supposed to become disturbingly eloquent.

When Pikachu broke tradition and actually uttered a line of intelligible dialogue during a defining moment in the Pokémon movie I Choose You! it certainly took the world by surprise. And with the new Pokémon Switch game confirmed to be released this year, the chubby rodent’s linguistic ability has once again become the talk of the town.

But according to Japanese Twitter user @MOROMORO315 not many people know that Pikachu’s creators originally intended for it to slowly become more capable of speech.

▼ Pikachu blew our minds back then, but that was its original intent.
(Translation below)

元々ピカチュウはサトシと旅をするにつれてニャースのように言葉を少しずつ話せるようになる予定だったけど、大谷育江さんのピカチュウの演技が完璧すぎて没になったんだよね まさか20年越しにその案を映画に持ってくるとは思わなかったよ（号… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

—
MORO MORO（モロ モロ）@リメイクバイオ2、KH3待機勢 (@MOROMORO315) July 12, 2018

“Traveling with Ash, Pikachu was initially planned to slowly gain the ability to speak like Meowth, but Ikue Otani (Pikachu’s voice actress) did such a stellar job that they abandoned the idea. I didn’t think they would implement it in the movie after 20 years. *cries*”

This little-known fact was confirmed in a reply referencing a 2011 special two-hour TV segment by the name of Onegai! Ranking Gold where the most respectable voice actors in the industry were ranked.

The TV program revealed that Otani was so good at expressing a myriad of emotions with Pikachu’s trademark “pika” that plans for speech were promptly scrapped.

▼ She was ranked the sixth most respected voice actress of all time.
(Translation below)

『キミにきめた！』でピカチュウが喋ったって話題になったけど、 もともとアニポケではピカチュウはそのうち喋るようになる予定だったっていう裏話 #みんなの物語前夜祭 https://t.co/C9LQM3xYp5

—
ぼの☆3oH (@RomancedawnBono) July 12, 2018

“People are now discussing about Pikachu speaking in I Choose You! but as a matter of fact, the producers actually intended for it to talk in the anime TV series.”

The fact that our cute yellow buddy still runs around uttering “pika” or “pikachu,” and doesn’t have awkward discussions about the weather with Ash, is actually a testament of Otani’s remarkable talent.

And if you think that saying the same lines over and over again would be a walk in the park for a professional voice actor, it’s surprisingly challenging considering the wide range of emotions Otani has to produce off of two words.

Source: Twitter/@MOROMORO315, Twitter/@RomancedawnBono via Hachima Kiko
Top image: Pakutaso