The latest episode of Pocket Monsters Diamond & Pearl 148 - Muma and Yamikarasu and the Dark Stone!(ムウマとヤミカラスとやみのいし!), aired on Thursday in Japan.

While heading to Nagisa City to get his 8th gym badge, Satoshi and friends got lost in a forest. They encounter a Yamikarasu but suddenly a Giratina appears and tries to squish Satoshi. What is happening in this forest?!

Characters and Pictures from this episode have been added to the episode guide. You can also comment and discuss this episode. Also be sure to rate this and other episodes in the episode guide.

Experience the new Pokemon movie which took more than $US 47 million at the Japanese box office last year, more than any other Pokemon film to date! The latest movie - The Rise of Darkrai (PG) - starring Pokemon trainer Ash and his faithful companion Pikachu, is available from all good retailers nationwide for the first time in the U.K. on 29th September 2008, RRP 12.99 GBP. This DVD comes with an exclusive limited edition Pokemon Trading Card.

Join Ash on his quest to become the greatest Pokemon Trainer in the universe! Pokemon: The Rise of Darkrai will see us heading off with Ash, Pikachu, plus Brock and Dawn on an epic journey through Alamos Town. Guided by local resident Alice, the trio and Pikachu are much enchanted by the beautiful and seemingly idyllic sights of the town. But their enjoyment is rudely interrupted when confronted by the devastation of the town's beautiful gardens. The mysterious Pokemon Darkrai is accused of the destructive chaos. Yet the real trouble for Ash and his friends really begins when a fierce battle breaks out between the two mythical legendary Pokemon Dialga and Palkia.

But who is Darkrai? Is it friend or foe? As the sky tears above Alamos Town and Dialga and Palkia struggle through the rips in a newly created dimension, their ensuing battle threatens to tear a hole in the time-space continuum! Will Ash and his friends survive this showdown and learn Darkrai's true nature?

The Pokemon series of Trading Cards and video games are arguably the most successful in the world. The videogames have sold over 180 million copies worldwide and more than 14 million units of the Pokemon - Diamond and Pearl computer game has been sold since April 2007. Pokemon - Diamond and Pearl toys are also selling very well in the UK with exciting new products to be added to the range in autumn 2008. More than 490 characters now exist in the Pokemon universe and the number of Pokemon characters is growing all the time.

Pokemon is ranked in the top ten amongst children's programmes on all commercial channels, and currently airs on CITV and ITV4, with Pokemon - Diamond and Pearl also broadcasting on Cartoon Network and CNTOO as well.

The last Pokemon movie to be released on DVD in the UK was Movie 6, so this will be a welcomed surprised for many British Pokemon fans.
For more information about this DVD you can visit the DVD database.

The DSvision is a flash cart similar to the R4 and M3 that allows people to copy files onto a SD card for use on the Nintendo DS. Earlier this year, the DSvision was launched in Japan and they have now announced that some of the Pokemon movies will be available for purchase for use on the DSvision.

The first Pocket Monsters movie will be available for download at the DSvision.jp site on August 20 for 500 yen. Four other Pocket Monsters movies will be available as special bundles. Movie 8 will be bundled with all the hardware required for the DSvision service for 4,280 yen. Movie 2, Movie 3, and Movie 4 will be sold as individual 512MB microSD cards for 2,980 yen each and will be available on September 11.



The prices seem quite high considering you can buy the DVD's for approximately the same price as these low quality DS videos.

Press Release: http://dsvision.jp/
Press Release #2: http://dsvision.jp/

AMSTERDAM/LONDON, August 14: Jetix Europe has completed a deal with Pokemon USA to air the 11th season of Pokemon on its channels across Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Pokemon: Diamond & Pearl: Battle Dimension will air on Jetix in the U.K. for the first time. The deal also gives Jetix Europe pay-TV as well as TV VOD rights in certain territories for the 52-episode season.

In the Pokemon: Diamond & Pearl season, Ash continues his adventures in the Sinnoh region, where he reunites with Brock and they join up with Dawn, a Pokemon coordinator just beginning her journey to become a contest champion like her mother. Together the trio travels through the Sinnoh region.

Marc Buhaj, the senior VP of programming for Jetix Europe, said: “We are excited and honored to have struck this partnership with Pokemon USA Inc. Pokemon is one of the most iconic animated series ever and is loved by kids across Europe. It’s a coup for our audience that we have secured the pay-TV rights to Pokemon: Diamond & Pearl: Battle Dimension particularly in the U.K., where we’re sure it’s going to be a big hit with Jetix viewers.”

Olivier Marmillot, the head of TV, home entertainment and digital contents for Pokemon UK, added: “This pan-European partnership deal we forged with Jetix Europe is an extension and result of our successful partnership over the years in countries such as France, the Netherlands and Spain. We believe Jetix’ profound knowledge and commitment to Pokemon will translate to a winning broadcast both for us and the fan base of millions of kids across Europe.”

Source: http://www.worldscreen.com

According to the movie series distributor Toho, the 11 Pocket Monsters movies have collectively broken the 50 billion yen ($455 million) barrier at the Japanese box office to become the highest-earning domestic animated feature film series ever.

Movie 11 dropped to 3rd place overall in box office sales this weekend as the latest Batman movie 'The Dark Knight' made its Japanese debut. Even Batman wasn't enough to dethrone Ponyo which retained its number one spot. The latest Naruto movie, which was seen by many as competition for Movie 11 dropped to seventh place after only its second week.

Gamestop has announced they will be selling a Limited Edition Pokemon DP DS Lite featuring Dailga and Palkia on the case lid. The extras include: A matching DP DS carrying case, Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time and Darkness DVD, a special Grovyle poster, and an exclusive Gamestop Pokemon t-shirt. Pokemon Diamond and Pearl are sold separately, but this is an amazing deal none the less.

Included as one of the extras is Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time and Darkness which recently aired in the UK. The episode will be making it North American debut with this bundle.

Press Release:
Anyone who loves Pokemon knows a rare treasure when they see one. A treasure that is sure to be sought after is Nintendo’s new Nintendo DS Limited Edition Pokemon Pack, which includes a Pokemon-themed Nintendo DS game system and exclusive Pokemon premiums.

Available on Aug. 17, the Nintendo DS Limited Edition Pokemon Pack features a custom Onyx Nintendo DS emblazoned with images of Dialga and Palkia, two of the most legendary characters from the Pokemon Diamond and Pokemon Pearl games. The set also includes a never-before-released animated special - Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time and Darkness (based on the story of the two newest Pokemon DS titles) - plus a cool Dialga and Palkia carrying case, and collectible mini-poster.

The Nintendo DS Limited Edition Pokemon Pack will be available at a suggested retail price of $129.99. For more information about Pokemon, visit www.Pokemon-Games.com.

More pictures are available on the Imageboard: http://imageboard.pocketmonsters.net/
Source: http://www.dsfanboy.com/

Ponyo found itself struggling to get to first place in it opening day as the 11th Pocket Monsters film Diamond & Pearl: Giratina and the Sky's Bouquet: Shaymin opened on the same day in Japan. Shaymin took in a respectable $7.3 million and was second in the Saturday box office sales behind Ponyo which raked in $8.2 million.

Ponyo was also released on July 19 on 481 screens and was expected to dominate while Pocket Monsters opened on 359 screens.

Sources: http://www.cinematical.com/
http://eiga.com/ranking/

Toho, the company that distributes the Theatrical Version of Pocket Monster has applied to Guinness Book of World Records for "The movie series with the most number of advance ticket sales in the world".

The last two Pocket Monsters movies have had at least 2 million pre-order ticket sales, mainly due to the fact that viewers get the ability to download a special Pokemon as part of the pre-order ticket sale.

Source: http://www.chunichi.co.jp

Pocket Monsters Diamond & Pearl Special Selection - The Beginning of a New Adventure DVD's have been announced and will be available for purchase on September 25. The price including tax will be 3654yen and the catalog number is ZMBS-991. The DVD's will have a total running time of approximately 144 minutes.

The two DVD's in the set will contain the following episodes: Disk 1: Satoshi's Gym Battle History - DP18 Return to Kurogane Gym! Decisive Match with Rampard!!, DP37 Hakutai Gym! VS Natane!, and DP68 Tobari Gym! Lucario VS Buizel!!.



Disk 2 will contain the Hikari Contest Episodes: DP12 Contest Battle! Rival Confrontation!!, DP27 Deciding Match! Pochama VS Pottaishi!! and DP49 Pokemon Contest! Yosuga Convention!!.



Source: http://www.mediafactory.co.jp/poke/sp_selection/

Now that many pre-showings of Movie 11 have concluded in Japan, many people have already watched the latest Movie, Giratina and the Sky Bouquet: Shaymin. At the end of each movie they air a preview for the next years movie. According a Japanese blog user who attended one of the pre-showing, Movie 12 will be called 'Theaterical Version Pocket Monster Diamond Pearl Platinum'. This title also brings up another interesting bit of information. The titles of the movies generally reflect the title of the current anime series, which means its possible that the current 'Diamond & Pearl' series in Japan will be replaced with 'Diamond Pearl Platinum'. It is also assumed that Arceus will also be in the movie title but that won't be confirmed until around March 2009.

We will be able to confirm this information later this week, but there is no reason to discredit this information as many people in Japan have already seen the movie and would have reported the information as inaccurate.

Source: http://ameblo.jp/mineie-hikozaru/entry-10113487206.html