The first opening to the series features Rica Matsumoto (松本梨香) singing one of the most popular songs of the entire animated series.

The intro slash screen was replaced on the DVD's released and rerun episodes with a CGI updated one but returns to the originally animated intro once its scene is completed. The Pokémon type symbols circle around the logo as it zooms in.

The original three starters final evolutions: Charizard, Blastoise and Venasaur are quickly seen as Ash and Pikachu come on screen. Lass, a trainer from the games, makes a brief cameo in the opening as Ash's Pikachu run in between her legs as "or that girl's skirt..." [(あの子のスカートの中（きゃー）] is sung and the karaoke is displayed.

A tiled 4 box Pokémon sequence is displayed, showing a bunch of different Pokémon until it transitions back to Ash seen throwing a Poké Ball in preparation to get a Pokémon.

Ash and Pikachu are then seen on a Lapras traveling on the sea as Gyarados and Dragonair jumping out of the water. The intro then transitions back to Pallet Town as Ash overlooks it from a hill.

Misty and Brock make a brief appearance beside Ash as the friends are grouped together for the shot which is then followed by a similarly setup shot of Team Rocket grouped together. Gary, Nurse Joy, Officer Jenny, Professor Oak and Ash's mom Delia Ketchum are also shown.

One of the final scenes in the opening shows, Ash and his friends in a forest for the night camping out for the. Soon afterwards, the three Legendary Birds: Zapdos, Articuno and Moltres fly in the sky as it transitions to Mewtwo and Mew floating around in space.

The final sequence shows Ash in a large stadium holding a Poké Ball as Pikachu and is friends appear beside him. The Pokémon type symbols circle around Ash this time as the animated video shrinks to a small box new the top of the video.

Uta no Rakuen - 2010-10-24

Rica Matsumoto was accompanied on stage by Shoko Nakagawa and they both sang together on Uta no Rakuen which aired on October 24th, 2010 on TV Tokyo.

Violinist Ryoma x Rica Matsumoto Club333 Live (ヴァイオリニスト竜馬 × 松本梨香 Club333ライブ)

On Sunday, January 31st, 2021 at 17:00 JST, Violinist Ryoma and Rica Matsumoto performed at Tokyo Tower TV Club333 live and the concert was available to watch online for 3000 yen. The broadcast was available to purchase until February 14th, 2021 at 23:59 JST via TwitCasting LIVE. She performed two Pocket Monsters songs during the event: Mezase Pokémon Master and her cover of the movie 9 ending theme Mamoru Beki Mono. More pictures from the event have been added to an Imageboard thread.

Monitoring - April 8th, 2021

On Thursday, April 8th, 2021, Monitoring episode #258 aired on TBS from 20:00 to 21:57 JST. Rica Matsumoto participated in a transparent karaoke booth blitz during a segment on the show. She sang Mezase Pokémon Master using the ClubDam system which tracks the pitch and she scored 95.032 points singing the song live in the booth on the street. She also sang Soul's Refrain from Neon Genesis Evangelion. More pictures from the event have been added to an Imageboard thread.



A preview of this episode was posted on the TBS official YouTube channel and also on Rica's official Twitter account.