With over 800 attacks, over 900 monsters including forms, and over 1000 episodes of the anime, the Pokemon series has been going on for quite some time now. Many series don’t make it to three mainline games, let alone eight.
When a franchise has been going for over twenty years, occasionally there’ll be a couple of inconsistencies in the content it puts out. Sometimes design changes, sometimes stories contradicting others, and sometimes Submission is depicted as a flaming wheel of death. Interesting sprite choices and confusing names for attacks are often due to the original Japanese name being very different, occasionally referencing cultural phenomenon that, while common knowledge in Japan, isn’t so well-known in the West.
10 Hard To Swallow
Aerial Ace is a flying-type move that never misses and does 60 base damage. While pretty common now, it was first introduced to us as an attack learned by the handful of flying types of generation three.
The Japanese name for the attack is つばめがえし or tsubame gaeshi, meaning ‘swallow return’ - this references the trademark technique of 16th century Japanese swordsman Sasaki Kojirō, in which he would bring down his katana as swiftly as a swallow landing (hence the flying type!).
9 Assistance Please
Assist is a move given to us in generation three, where it selects an attack at random from the player’s team and uses it in battle. Pretty handy, right? A little like Metronome. So, why then, can over 30 Pokemon learn Metronome but Assist is mostly cat Pokemon exclusively?
Well, Assist’s Japanese name can provide the answer - ねこのて or neko no te means ‘cat’s hand/paw’. This is a reference to the Japanese phrase 猫の手も借りたい, read as neko no te mo karitai and meaning ‘I even want to borrow a cat’s hand’ — in other words, they need help so badly they’ll even ask a cat for help. Mystery solved!
8 A Cut Above
Cut is a move that new players and aged veterans of the series alike are familiar with. Used to fell trees (and cut the grass in a couple of gens, try it out!) and not much else. With a pretty measly damage output, it’s not the move players usually reach for when tackling the Elite Four.
This is a shame, as the Japanese name makes it sound pretty cool. In Japanese, Cut is named いあいぎり or iai giri, referencing the sword-based martial art Iaido, and the way the sword is drawn from the sheath, used and quickly re-sheathed.
7 Faker
Another cat reference? Oh yes, found in Fake Out’s Japanese name. Fake Out is a quick move that does very little damage but often strikes first and causes flinching.
In Japanese, Fake Out is ねこだまし or neko damashi. Neko and damashi are cat and deception respectively, but together they refer to a sneaky technique used by sumo wrestlers in which they will clap loudly in front of their opponent’s face to disorient them.
6 Hot Stuff
Throughout the games, Fire Blast has been represented by a very satisfying T-shape explosion appearing over the opponent’s face. It’s interesting that it stayed the same shape, as if it was just any burst of flame, it could take an infinite amount of shapes.
The reason for its adherence to this familiar shape is because it’s a reference to the Daimonji festival (the attack’s Japanese namesake) in Kyoto, Japan — a festival in which a large 大 (among other characters) are lit on fire to send off the visiting spirits of family members.
5 At A Crossroads
Night Slash has a rather grisly reference in its Japanese name — as if the high-crit Dark move wasn’t threatening enough!
Night Slash’s Japanese name is つじぎり or tsujigiri. Tsujigiri is made up of the word for street/crossroad but also slash/cut. Together, the translation is something close to ‘crossroad killing’. This is a reference to the reported act of some 17th-century samurai testing out new weapons on passers-by at night. Now Weavile seems a heck of a lot more threatening.
4 Operatic
On a slightly nicer note, we have Oceanic Operetta, the signature Z-move of generation seven’s water starter Primarina.
Oceanic Operetta is an incredibly high-damage move, as most Z-moves are, and what better move to select to represent a God of the sea? The Japanese name of the move is わだつみのシンフォニア or wadatsumi no shinfonia, which translates to Wadatasumi’s Symphonia. Wadatsumi is the name of a Japanese sea God, often depicted as a long, fierce dragon, similar to Gyarados.
3 Blowin’ In The Wind
Razor Wind has been part of the series since generation one — a two-turn normal move with reasonable damage output and a pretty scary-sounding name.
Razor Wind is usually learned by flying-type Pokemon or Pokemon with sharp claws/horns/cutlery/whatever and for good reason — the Japanese name, かまいたち or kamaitachi, is the name of a Japanese spirit that takes the form of a weasel-like creature, riding upon gusts of wind and slicing people with long claws. This probably contributes to Razor Wind’s tie with the sharp, weasel-y Absol.
2 Pulseman Fan
Game Freak, while best known for the many Pokemon games they’ve produced, also developed several other games prior to their flagship series. Examples of these games include Mendel Palace, Mario & Wario, and Pulseman. Occasionally, Game Freak sneak little references to their other projects into Pokemon, the most obvious of which being in Pikachu’s Volt Tackle.
Volt Tackle in Japanese is ボルテッカー or borutekka, which can be read as Volteccer, this happens to be the name of Pulseman’s signature move.
1 Storm Throh
Several fighting-type Pokemon are based around particular martial arts. For example, Hitmonchan for boxing, Hariyama for sumo wrestling, and Throh for judo. Bulky and dressed in a judogi, Throh is a wonderful representation of the martial art.
One of Throh’s signature moves — Storm Throw — loses its reference to judo when translated to English, but its Japanese name, やまあらし or yama arashi, is the exact name of a particular judo throwing technique.
NEXT: 10 Best Pokémon Card Attack Names
