From Bulbapedia, the community-driven Pokémon encyclopedia.

This article is about the song. For the single, see Aim to Be a Pokémon Master (CD).

This article is a featured article. This means that it has been identified as one of the best articles produced on Bulbapedia.

The subject of this article has no official English name.

The name currently in use is a fan translation of the Japanese name.

Aim to Be a Pokémon Master (Japanese: めざせポケモンマスター Mezase Pokémon Master) is the first Japanese opening theme of the original series, with a cover by Whiteberry being the fourth. An arrangement made to commemorate the anime's 20th anniversary replaced Alola!! as the second opening theme of Pokémon the Series: Sun & Moon.

A verse from this song was featured in the third opening theme of Pokémon the Series: Ruby and Sapphire, Pokémon Symphonic Medley, and a synthesized version was used during captures and evolutions in Pokémon Pinball. It is also one of the songs featured in the Japan-only game, Donkey Konga 3.

Versions

Aim to Be a Pokémon Master is the most re-used theme song in the Pokémon anime's history, having no fewer than seven versions including the original:





Opening animation: TV OP 1

Synopsis

Mew

The type symbols appear in a circle, and the series logo appears on the screen. The final evolutions of the three starters, Pikachu, Ash and an unnamed Lass are seen. This is followed by three scenes showing random Generation I Pokémon.

Ash is then seen with a Poké Ball. After that, he is riding on the back of a Lapras with Pikachu while a Gyarados and Dragonair are seen jumping out and in the water. Next, Ash and Pikachu are looking at Pallet Town. It cuts to a scene with them walking, and then Ash throws a Poké Ball with a Pidgeot inside. The Pokémon then begins battling with a Fearow.

Ash appears looking at the screen, when Misty and Brock appear on either side of him. This is followed by Jessie and James rising up in front of them. Koffing, Meowth and Ekans jump up next, followed by Gary holding a Poké Ball. Ash and his friends are seen running from the rain. This is followed by a short clip of Nurse Joy, Professor Oak, Officer Jenny and Delia Ketchum.

The next scene shows Ash and his friends in Viridian Forest. Then, Ash and Pikachu are seen running with an Arcanine and a Rapidash. The latter Pokémon jumps up, and the three Legendary birds are seen flying in the sky. A clip of Mewtwo and Mew in space is shown, followed by Ash in a stadium holding a Poké Ball. His friends appear with him.

Characters

Humans

Pokémon

Variants

This section is incomplete.

Please feel free to edit this section to add missing information and complete it.

Reason: Episodes in which the fourth variant ended (EP039 - ???) and the fifth started (??? - EP080).

EP001 - EP002: The original animation. During the Pokémon images scene, there's a picture of a Kadabra, but it reads "Foodin" on it. EP003: The Kadabra error is corrected, and an actual Alakazam picture is put in its place. EP004 - EP038: The TCG types symbol background keeps rotating after the "Pocket Monsters" logo appears in the title screen, and after the executive production credits appear on the final shot. EP039 - ???: After the "Pokémon Shock" incident of EP038, the opening was changed to be broken up into four images per screen. This change was also applied to reruns of the first 37 episodes. ??? - EP080: A shot where Ash throws a Poké Ball is slowed down, removing part of the scene where the spinning Poké Ball covers the entire screen, and Ash holding another one was edited to remove one frame where it glows over the entire screen. Two frames were also removed from the battle between Ash's Pidgeot and Fearow. Several frames were removed from the scene starring Zapdos.

In reruns (including on Kids Station and in Pocket Monsters Premier 10), the fifth variant with a CGI-animated title screen is used for all episodes from EP001 to EP080.

EP001 - EP038

EP039 - EP080

The hand drawn logo

The CGI logo

Kadabra on the first variant

Alakazam on the next variants

Trivia

The TCG types

Errors

When Meowth, Ekans, and Koffing jump onscreen, Meowth's right fang disappears for a split second.

When Ash and his friends are running from the rain, Poliwrath's eyelid is white instead of blue.

Meowth's missing fang

Poliwrath's white eyelid

Opening animation: TV OP 4

めざせポケモンマスター Mezase Pokémon Master

Aim to Be a Pokémon Master TV OP 4 Artist Whiteberry

Whiteberry Lyrics 戸田昭吾

Akihito Toda Composer たなか ひろかず

Hirokazu Tanaka Arrangement 坂井紀雄

Norio Sakai Sony Music Records single Title かくれんぼ

Hide and Seek Catalog no. SRCL-5131

OP text

Japanese English この物語は少年サトシと

ポケットモンスターとの

友情と冒険のお話である。 This story is about a boy, Satoshi and

Pocket Monsters, and

Their friendship, adventures and meetings.





Synopsis

Ash is holding a Poké Ball towards the screen. The logo appears, followed by Pikachu fighting a Tyranitar and using Thunderbolt. Ash and his friends are then seen jumping into the water. There, a Mantine, Lanturn, Lapras, and Lugia swim alongside them. Ash turns his hat and faces left.

This is followed by Ash and Pikachu running with Ho-Oh flying in the background. The Trainer looks at a stadium and clips of his Pokémon appear on the screen. A scene then follows, showing Ash and the others looking at a city in which the Legendary beasts, Celebi, Mewtwo and Mew are seen.

Ash and the others are then shown walking into a cave where Misdreavus and Crobat appear. Ash and the others stood at a bridge. Then, the Pichu Brothers are under it. After that, Ash tried to chase after his Pokémon. Then, Team Rocket chased after Ash and his friends. Finally, Ash and his friends chased after Team Rocket with Togepi in front of them.

Four Pokémon and five people are on top and Larvitar stood in front of them. Ash and Pikachu ran up a flight of stairs together with the Legendary birds and reached the Plateau. Ash and Pikachu stood in front of many Pokémon. Ash, Misty, Brock and Ash's Pokémon stood together.

Characters

Humans

Pokémon

Trivia

The fact that this, the fourth Japanese opening, is a cover of the first one is mimicked in the English dub, where Born to Be a Winner, the fourth opening, borrows heavily from the first one.

This is the first opening theme to not be performed by Rica Matsumoto.

Opening animation: SM OP 2

Digital single cover

Synopsis

This section is incomplete.

Please feel free to edit this section to add missing information and complete it.

Characters

Humans

Pokémon

Variants

SM030 - SM037: The original animation. SM038 - SM043: The clip of Olivia is cut short to show Ash using Continental Crush with Lycanroc.

Trivia

This is the first Japanese opening to be made up almost entirely of episode clips.

This is the first Japanese opening featuring humans in which Team Rocket does not appear.

Lyrics

The lyrics for all versions of the song are identical with the exception of formatting, backup singers, and the ad-libs shown in parentheses below.

The original 1997 version includes all ad-libs except for 「 待ってる 」. However, it is still displayed in the lyrics on-screen during the opening animation. The first line of the second stanza is formatted as 「 なかなかなかなか、なかなかなかなか 大変だけど 」 and the second and third line of the third stanza are formatted without spaces.

」. However, it is still displayed in the lyrics on-screen during the opening animation. The first line of the second stanza is formatted as 「 」 and the second and third line of the third stanza are formatted without spaces. The Whiteberry cover includes all ad-libs except for 「 待ってる 」. The initial 「 ポケモン ゲットだぜーッ！ 」 is included only in the TV size version and not in the full version. The first line of the second stanza is formatted as 「 なかなか なかなか なかなか なかなか 大変だけど 」.

」. The initial 「 」 is included only in the TV size version and not in the full version. The first line of the second stanza is formatted as 「 」. The 20th Anniversary version includes only the 「 ポケモン ゲットだぜーッ！ 」 and 「 ピカチュウ～！ 」 ad-libs, the latter of which is formatted with an exclamation mark. The first line of the second stanza is formatted as 「 なかなか なかなか なかなか なかなか大変だけど 」. The last two lines of the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth stanzas are displayed as one line. In SM042 and SM043, Misty, Brock, and Professor Oak say the 「 きゃ～～～！！ 」, 「 待ってる 」, and 「 そりゃそうじゃ 」 ad-libs respectively, although they are not displayed in the lyrics on-screen.

」 and 「 」 ad-libs, the latter of which is formatted with an exclamation mark. The first line of the second stanza is formatted as 「 」. The last two lines of the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth stanzas are displayed as one line. In SM042 and SM043, Misty, Brock, and Professor Oak say the 「 」, 「 」, and 「 」 ad-libs respectively, although they are not displayed in the lyrics on-screen. The 1998 movie version and its 2019 remaster include all ad-libs except for 「 待ってる 」.

」. The 2001 movie remix, 2002 movie remix, and the 20th Anniversary Ballad ver. do not include any of the ad-libs.

TV size

Japanese English （ポケモン ゲットだぜーッ！）



たとえ 火の中 水の中 草の中 森の中

土の中 雲の中 あのコのスカートの中（きゃ～～～！！）



なかなか なかなか

なかなか なかなか 大変だけど

かならずGETだぜ！

ポケモンGETだぜ！



マサラタウンに さよならバイバイ

オレはこいつと 旅に出る（ピカチュウ～）

きたえたワザで 勝ちまくり

仲間をふやして 次の町へ（待ってる）



いつもいつでも うまくゆくなんて

保証はどこにも ないけど（そりゃそうじゃ）

いつでもいつも ホンキで生きてる

こいつたちがいる



ああ あこがれの ポケモンマスターに

なりたいな ならなくちゃ

ゼッタイなってやるーッ！ (I'll get you, Pokémon!)



Even if in fire, in water, in grass, in forests

In ground, in clouds, in that girl's skirt (Eek!)



It's very, very,

Very, very difficult but

I'm sure I'll get you!

I'll get you, Pokémon!



Farewell, bye-bye, Masara Town

I'm leaving on a journey with him (Pikachu!)

Racking up wins with the moves we've trained

Making friends, and then off to the next city (We're waiting!)



Always and forever doing well

Though there's no guarantee of that... (That's true!)

Forever and always, I'll live true

Because they're here



Ah! I long to be a Pokémon Master

I want to be, I have to be

I know I'll be one!

Full version

Japanese English （ポケモン ゲットだぜーッ！）



たとえ 火の中 水の中 草の中 森の中

土の中 雲の中 あのコのスカートの中（きゃ～～～！！）



なかなか なかなか

なかなか なかなか 大変だけど

かならずGETだぜ！

ポケモンGETだぜ！



マサラタウンに さよならバイバイ

オレはこいつと 旅に出る（ピカチュウ～）

きたえたワザで 勝ちまくり

仲間をふやして 次の町へ（待ってる）



いつもいつでも うまくゆくなんて

保証はどこにも ないけど（そりゃそうじゃ）

いつでもいつも ホンキで生きてる

こいつたちがいる



たとえ 火の中 水の中 草の中 森の中

土の中 雲の中 あのコのスカートの中（しつこーい！）



なかなか なかなか

なかなか なかなか 大変だけど

かならずGETだぜ！

ポケモンGETだぜ！



たたかいつかれて おやすみグッナイ

まぶたを閉じれば よみがえる（ピカチュウ？？）

ほのおが燃えて 風が舞い

鳴き声とどろく あのバトルが



きのうの敵は 今日の友って

古いコトバが あるけど（古いとはなんじゃ～っ！）

きょうの友は あしたも友だち

そうさ 永遠に



ああ あこがれの ポケモンマスターに

なりたいな ならなくちゃ

ゼッタイなってやるーッ！



ユメは いつか ホントになるって

だれかが歌って いたけど

つぼみがいつか 花ひらくように

ユメは かなうもの



いつもいつでも うまくゆくなんて

保証はどこにも ないけど（そりゃそうじゃ）

いつでもいつも ホンキで生きてる

こいつたちがいる



ああ あこがれの ポケモンマスターに

なりたいな ならなくちゃ

ゼッタイなってやるーッ！



ああ あこがれの ポケモンマスターに

なりたいな ならなくちゃ

ゼッタイなってやるーッ！ (I'll get you, Pokémon!)



Even if in fire, in water, in grass, in forests

In ground, in clouds, in that girl's skirt (Eek!)



It's very, very,

Very, very difficult but

I'm sure I'll get you!

I'll get you, Pokémon!



Farewell, bye-bye, Masara Town

I'm leaving on a journey with him (Pikachu!)

Racking up wins with the moves we've trained

Making friends, and then off to the next city (We're waiting!)



Always and forever doing well

Though there's no guarantee of that... (That's true!)

Forever and always, I'll live true

Because they're here



Even if in fire, in water, in grass, in forests

In ground, in clouds, in that girl's skirt (You're persistent!)



It's very, very,

Very, very difficult but

I'm sure I'll get you!

I'll get you, Pokémon!



Tired from battling, good night, good night

If I close my eyes, it all comes back (Pikachu?)

How flames burned, winds blew

Cries echoed, in that battle



An enemy yesterday is a friend today

Though there is such an old saying... (What do you mean by "old"?!)

A friend today is also a friend tomorrow

Yeah, and for all eternity



Ah! I long to be a Pokémon Master

I want to be, I have to be

I know I'll be one!



Dreams will someday become reality

Though someone sang that...

Like a bud that will someday bloom

My dream will come true



Always and forever doing well

Though there's no guarantee of that... (That's true!)

Forever and always, I'll live true

Because they're here



Ah! I long to be a Pokémon Master

I want to be, I have to be

I know I'll be one!



Ah! I long to be a Pokémon Master

I want to be, I have to be

I know I'll be one!



