I'm trying to figure out exactly when Pokemon Adventures, The Electric Tale of Pikachu, and the Pokemon Anime premiered in Japan.
Bulbapedia has the Pokemon anime premiering in Japan on April 1st, 1997. Source
Bulbapedia also mentions that The Electric Tale of Pikachu started serialized in the April 1997 issue of Bessatsu CoroCoro Comic Special. Source
However, the issue date for Bessatsu CoroCoro Comic Special is always ahead two months and releases on the 28th, so that would mean that the Electric Tale of Pikachu first released February 28th, 1997.
Pokemon Adventures is said to have begun serialization on March 3rd, 1997, rather than just the March edition of Bessatsu CoroCoro Comic Special. So that would mean…
The Electric Tale of Pikachu came first on February 28th, 1997
Pokemon Adventures was next on March 3rd, 1997
And finally the Pokemon anime came April 1st, 1997.
The reason this seems confusing to me is because The Electric Tale of Pikachu is based on the anime…but if it premiered over a month before the anime, I'm curious how the manga would know what was going to happen within the anime. It's not like they were worked on by the same people.
Is there something I'm missing here that someone can clear this up?
by capnjclaw