Pokémon

This name is apparently an acronym for "POK Erythroid Myeloid Ontogenic" factor (a cancer causing agent), so the name could be either a backronym or simply coincidence. Schumacher has led 39% of his laps and 59% of his races. A mammalian oncogene was named "Pokemon" [4] (http://www.mskcc.org/mskcc/html/54387.cfm) (no "é") by its discoverers. Fangio led 76.5% of the laps he drove and led 78% of the races he started. See also Jynx and Kadabra for specific lawsuits regarding these characters.. As of the end of 2004 Schumacher has won 39% of his races. They claim incorrectly that the word "Pokemon" is a Japanese word which means "I am a Jew." One Saudi Arabian Sheikh (Sheikh Abdel Moneim Abu Zant) has written "The Pokémon craze is a Jewish plot aimed at forcing our children to forgo their faith and values and to distract them from more important things such as scientific ambitions." The Anti-Defamation League has denounced these theories. [3] (http://www.adl.org/presrele/IslME_62/3791_62.asp). Fangio won 47% of the races he contested, Ascari won 41%.

A few Islamic religious speakers in Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Egypt hold that Pokémon is part of a "Jewish conspiracy" to corrupt Muslim children. In terms of percentages Schumacher still sits behind Juan Manuel Fangio and Alberto Ascari.
. Record to beat: Ayrton Senna's 65 pole positions (Schumacher currently has 63 poles). An image of the controversial card may be seen here (http://www.geocities.com/swastika_webring/pokeswas.jpg). after Brazilian Grand Prix (October 24, 2004). [2] (http://www.adl.org/presrele/Mise_00/3511_00.asp) This raised a public backlash in Japan for being intolerant towards the symbols of the Buddhist religion for the sake of avoiding controversy. It was later announced that Schumacher's bodyguard, Burkhard Cramer, had died while on holiday in Phuket, Thailand and that his two sons were still missing.

As a result of this controversy Nintendo stopped using this symbol even in the Japanese version. In 2005, Schumacher donated more than 10m USD for charity to the 2004 Indian Ocean Earthquake in a charity show on the German television network ZDF. by unauthorized import. His nicknames are the "Red Baron" and "Schumi". However, these Jewish groups attacked the Japanese version distributed in the U.S. Michael's off-track interests include playing football (soccer), playing tennis, swimming, and skiing. The manji was shown only on a Japanese version card and was excluded from the North American release. Michael's younger brother Ralf, six years his junior, is also an F1 driver.

If a Japanese map of any major city is examined, little clockwise swastikas, or "manji", where Buddhist temples are located, can be seen. Michael is fiercely protective of his private life and takes every effort to keep his family out of the spotlight. Nintendo says that this is a matter of cultural misunderstanding, as the swastika used to be used in East Asian cultures as a symbol for "good fortune" by the Buddhist religion. 1999), and they currently reside in Vufflens-le-Château, Switzerland near Lake Geneva. Pokémon has been criticised by some members of the Jewish community for its use of the swastika, the most widely known symbol of Nazism, which they hold is inappropriate for children's toys. 1997) and son Mick (b. The alleged outcry was enough to move the Vatican to comment, in an official statement on April 21, 2000:. Schumacher married Corinna (née Betsch) in August 1995; they have two children together, daughter Gina-Maria (b.

It would be incorrect to state that the Christian religious community is of a single mind in this matter, but most mainstream sects of Christianity are utterly indifferent to Pokemon. In more recent years, however, his success with Ferrari, moderation of his on-track tactics, and a more relaxed public persona have rehabilitated Schumacher's image for most fans. The surprisingly small amount of original protests (as opposed to reports of protests) seem to reinforce this belief. Schumacher's car was also disqualified at some races due to technical infringements of race rules. Still, most people (including many Asian Christian congregations) dismiss these claims to be nonsense, and attribute many of the alleged protests to urban legend. The two most-cited examples are the 1994 Australian Grand Prix (where a crash with Damon Hill in the last race of the year ensured Schumacher's first drivers championship), and the 1997 European Grand Prix (where a collision with eventual champion Jacques Villeneuve led to Schumacher's disqualification for dangerous driving). The claimed parallels between Pokémon and Satanism include:. Some (but by no means all) observers considered his crashes to be deliberate attempts on Michael's behalf to take rivals out of a race, which (if true) would be not only bad sportsmanship but also incredibly dangerous, given the fragile, super-fast open-wheel race cars.

Some Protestant Christian groups in the United States believe Pokémon to be Satanic in origin.[1] (http://www.cephasministry.com/save_our_children_pokemon_booklet.html) After the US release of Pokémon Yellow, there was a sudden widespread criticism of it passed through Christian congregations primarily by word-of-mouth. However, Schumacher's driving tactics have been called into question by some observers who note that, in his early racing years, Schumacher had a tendency to crash into his rivals in championship-deciding races. In late 2002, it was scheduled to tour Europe, but was cancelled for unknown reasons. Since the 1994 death of Ayrton Senna, Schumacher has been widely regarded as the fastest driver in F1 and the most dominant driver of his era. It was based off of the popular Pokémon anime, and was well-liked among fans of the franchise (in spite of some continuity errors relating to the anime). He would finish the season with a record 148 points. A live action show called Pokémon Live! toured the United States in late 2000. Schumacher started off the 2004 championship with typical domination, winning a record twelve of the first thirteen races of the season; he clinched the seventh drivers title of his unequalled F1 career where it all began for him: at the Belgian Grand Prix.

Main article: Pokémon Live!. In 2003, he broke Fangio's record by winning the drivers title for the sixth time in a closely-contested season (afterward making front-page headlines in the tabloid The Sun by trashing a hotel suite and madly piloting a forklift around the paddock). There are various Pokémon manga series, four of which were released in English by Viz Communications, and seven of them released in English by Chuang Yi. In a dominant 2002, he easily took his fifth drivers title (equalling the record set by Juan Manuel Fangio) due to his driving talent and the sheer dominance of his Ferrari machinery, which won 15 of the 17 races that season. The trading card game also spread to schools around the world, with news reports stating about their confiscation from classrooms. During the next year (2001), while en route to his fourth drivers title, he broke Alain Prost's record for most grand prix wins. The latest incarnations of the card games is known as Pokémon-e Trading Card Game, the cards of which (for the large part) are compatible with the Nintendo e-Reader. But Michael would re-claim personal glory once again in 2000, winning his third drivers title (and Ferrari's first since Jody Scheckter in 1979).

However, with the release of Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire Game Boy video games, Nintendo took back the card game from Wizards of the Coast and started publishing the cards themselves. After several rebuilding years, Schumacher helped Ferrari win the constructors title in 1999; however, his hope for another driver championship were dashed at that year's British Grand Prix, where he crashed heavily and broke his leg, causing him to miss six races. At the time, it was published by Wizards of the Coast, the company most famous for Magic: The Gathering. In 1996, Michael signed a contract with Ferrari, which at the time was a highly risky move, given Ferrari's championship drought (the Italian-based giants had not won a title in well over a decade). It is a collectible card game based off the famous Pokémon video game. During this span of 31 grands prix, only once did he qualify worse than fourth position. The Pokémon Trading Card Game was first introduced to North America in 1999, and in Japan at an earlier date. In his two first championship seasons, Schumacher won 17 races, achieved 21 podiums, and notched ten pole positions.

Main article: Pokémon (card game). With teammate Johnny Herbert, he also helped Benetton win its first (and only) constructors' championship. Sunday is seen only on TV Tokyo, with no English adaptation planned. Leading by a single point going into the final race in Australia, Schumacher clinched the title after a collision with Hill knocked both drivers out of the running. Schumacher successfully defended his crown in the 1995 season, accumulating 30 more points than the second place driver, who was once again Hill. Currently, Advanced Generation can be seen on TV Tokyo, and the English Advanced Challenge adaption can be seen on Kids WB in the United States, YTV in Canada, and Sky 1 in the United Kingdom. Housoukyoku originally aired on TV Tokyo but has since ended its run, while Chronicles can only be seen in the United Kingdom on Toonami UK as of May 2005. However, in the latter portion of the year, competitor Damon Hill began to edge closer to Schumacher in the standings, aided by two technical disqualifications of Schumacher's Benetton (in Britain and Belgium). There is also a television program in Japan titled Pokémon Sunday, a live action Pokémon-themed variety show hosted by the Pokémon Research Team. He won the first four races of the year, and six of the first seven events.

The English adaptation of this series, Pokémon Chronicles, combines the episodes from this series as well as various other made-for-TV specials (originally unrelated to Housoukyoku) that have aired in Japan but not translated for English release. Schumacher won his first championship in 1994 while driving for Benetton in an extremely exciting and closely-contested season. The second, entitled Shūkan Pokémon Hōsōkyoku is a spinoff of the first, and tells the adventures within the continuity of Pocket Monsters Advanced Generation, starring many of the recurring characters in Pocket Monsters. The following year, 1992, he won his first F1 race (again at the Belgian Grand Prix, on August 30), and he placed third that year in the driver championship. Again, for the English release, Advanced Generation was split into separate series. He was quickly signed by Benetton-Ford for the next race, and immediately showed great potential. Ash takes on the role of a teacher and mentor for a younger, beginning Pokemon trainer in this series. Eddie Jordan signed Michael to his Jordan team at the Belgian Grand Prix, where Michael astonished everyone by qualifying seventh, in his first competition in an F1 vehicle.

The saga continues into Pocket Monsters Advanced Generation (in Japan) where Ash and company travel to Hoenn, a southern region in the Pokémon World. Schumacher made his F1 debut in 1991 as a replacement driver for the imprisoned Bertrand Gachot (incarcerated for spraying CS gas at a London taxicab-driver's face). For the English language release, Pocket Monsters was split into four separate series spanning five seasons. He also briefly competed in the Japanese Formula 3000 Championship and the German Touring Car Championship in the early 1990s. The first, and the more familiar one, Pokémon or Pocket Monsters (often referred to as Pokemon: Gotta Catch Em All to distinguish it from the later series) tells the adventures of Ash Ketchum (Satoshi in the original Japanese version) as he travels through Kanto, the Orange Islands, and Johto to become the greatest Pokémon Master. In 1991, he continued his ascent up the racing ladder, joining the Mercedes junior racing program in the World Endurance Championship, , winning races in Mexico City and at Autopolis, at the wheel of a Sauber-Mercedes C291. There are two Pokémon anime series based on the video games. In 1988, Schumacher raced in the Formula Ford series, and over the next two years competed in the German Formula 3 series, winning the title in 1990.

Main article: Pokémon (anime). Between 1984 and 1987, Michael won numerous German and European kart championships, including the Formula Konig Series. There is currently a Nintendo DS sequel, (Pokémon Diamond and Pearl), as well as a Gamecube game entitled Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness in development. He obtained his first license, and began racing competitively, by age twelve. The series has also diversified into various spin-offs, such as pinball games, virtual pets, simulated photography, and racing. He began racing karts at the age of four in a home-made kart built by his father, Rolf, who managed the local karting track (located in Kerpen, Schumacher's hometown). A third version of Ruby and Sapphire, called Pokémon Emerald, was released on May 1, 2005. Schumacher was born in Hürth (close to Cologne).

The most recent full fledged game has been Fire Red and Leaf Green which are remakes of Red and Blue. One notable deal is with the German investment counselling Deutsche Vermögensberatung, which will pay him US$8 million over three years for him to wear a four-inch ad on his post-race hat. The Game Boy Advance first saw the release of Ruby and Sapphire, with Emerald being the tertiary version. He is statistically the most successful F1 driver ever, with the most career victories, and a record seven world driver championships. As of 2004, he earns an estimated US$80 million annually, including all his endorsement deals. Gold and Silver were followed by the exclusively Game Boy Color version, Crystal. Michael Schumacher (born January 3, 1969) is a German Formula One (F1) driver. Pokémon Red and Blue (Pokémon Green was available in English via import but had many swear words from the translator) were followed by Pokémon Yellow (in Japan, Red and Green were followed by Blue which was subsequently followed by Yellow). 2005 — Ferrari — 0 wins, 24 points (in progress).

Each generation of Pokémon games so far has followed a pattern of two complementing versions followed later by at least one other version with some extras. 2004 — Ferrari — 13 wins, 148 points, World Champion. While battling monsters is nothing new to RPGs, many players found themselves nearly addicted to finding, fighting, and capturing each and every one of the Pokémon in the game. Another, perhaps easier, goal was to finish the game's storyline by becoming the Pokémon League Champion by collecting eight Gym Badges and defeating the Elite Four. 2003 — Ferrari — 6 wins, 93 points, World Champion. The ultimate goal of these games was to catch at least one member of all the different species of Pokémon (150 at the time, 151 including one that could not be obtained during regular gameplay), and to do so, players had to trade for Pokémon not available in the version they had. 2002 — Ferrari — 11 wins, 144 points, World Champion. These games were nearly identical, save for the fact that each version had a select group of Pokémon that the other version did not. 2001 — Ferrari — 9 wins, 123 points, World Champion.

The first games in the series were the RPGs Pokémon Red and Blue (Red and Green in Japan and a subsequent special edition known as Blue). 2000 — Ferrari — 9 wins, 108 points, World Champion. The Pokémon franchise originated with a series of Japanese video games created by Satoshi Tajiri for the Game Boy. 1999 — Ferrari — 2 wins, 44 points, finished 5th. Main article: Pokémon (video games). 1998 — Ferrari — 6 wins, 86 points, finished 2nd. based subsidary called Pokémon USA, which a minority owner is 4Kids Entertainment, the international distributors outside Japan of the popular Pokemon anime series. 1997 — Ferrari — 5 wins, 78 points, disqualified (having finished 2nd).

The Pokémon Company in turn has a U.S. 1996 — Ferrari — 3 wins, 59 points, finished 3rd. The subsidary handles everything from publishing the games in Japan to running the official merchandise stores, the Pokémon Centers. 1995 — Benetton-Renault — 9 wins, 102 points, World Champion. Because of the unprecedented popularity of the franchise, Nintendo formed a subsidary company called The Pokémon Company to handle the franchise. 1994 — Benetton-Ford — 8 wins, 92 points, World Champion. Shows such as the Simpsons have made mild references to Pokemon and other anime in their cartoons. 1993 — Benetton-Ford — 1 win, 42 points, finished 4th.

The satirical cartoon South Park spoofed Pokémon in Episode 312, entitled "Chinpokomon", in which the bosses behind the creation of the toys were revealed to be Japanese ultranationalists bent on avenging Japan's defeat in World War II. 1992 — Benetton-Ford — 1 win, 53 points, finished 3rd. The Pokémon characters have become pop-culture icons, with a Pikachu balloon in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, thousands of merchandise items, and in 2005, a theme park in Nagoya, Japan. 1991 — Jordan-Ford; Benetton-Ford — 0 wins, 4 points, finished 13th. (In an "in-joke" used in the English version of the Pokemon anime movie "Destiny Deoxys," Brock says this as he catches hot dogs from a machine in mid-air.)The games have sold over 100 million copies to date, not counting the ones released for consoles. Most time between first and last wins (12 years, 1 month, 10 days). The game's catchphrase used to be "Gotta catch 'em all!", although now it is no longer officially used. Most points in a season: 148.

Pokémon battles are based on the non-lethal Eastern sport of fighting insects, but the Pokémon never bleed or die, only faint. Most championship points: 1,186. The Pokémon games are strategy games with a small RPG element which allow players to catch, collect, and train pets with various abilities, and battle them against each other to build their strength and evolve them into more powerful Pokémon. Most second places: 36. These figures have grown from the 151 monsters (including the secret one, Mew) from the original games. Most poles with the same team: 53 (Ferrari). The franchise has 386 unique monsters that lie at the heart of the Pokémon series (391 including currently known Pokémon from future games). Most podiums with the same team: 99 (Ferrari).

Pokémon is also the collective name for the fictional creatures within the Pokémon games. Most podiums in a season: 17. The name Pokémon is a portmanteau of the words Pocket Monsters (ポケットモンスター Poketto Monsutā), which is its Japanese name. Most podiums: 137. It has been merchandised into anime, manga, trading cards, toys, and much more. Most wins from pole position: 37. Pokémon (Japanese: ポケモン Pokemon, pronounced Poh-Kay-Mon, although it is frequently mispronounced "Poh-Kee-Mon") is a video game franchise, created by Satoshi Tajiri and published by Nintendo for several of their systems, most importantly the Game Boy. Most wins with the same team: 64 (Ferrari).

See also: Allegations of Satanism in popular culture. Most wins in a season: 13. The game world also incorporates Asian traditions about elemental forces. Most Triples: 19. For example, some practise martial arts, which some Christian groups denounce as pagan. Most wins: 83. Many Pokémon embody or practice Asian spiritual and mystical concepts. Most laps led: 4625.

These powers are not derived from God and therefore must stem from Satan. Most races led: 124. Many Pokémon have paranormal or psychic powers. Most fastest laps: 66. Pokémon "evolve." Evolution precludes literal creationism, therefore Pokémon denies some forms of Biblical interpretation. Most consecutive titles: 5. "Magical" stones are used to evolve certain Pokémon. Most championship titles: 7.

Magical "talismans" (gym badges) are necessary to control many of them. They are captured and must be invoked to perform tasks. Pokémon parallel demons. Pokémon Zensho.

Poketto Monsutaa Chamo Chamo Puritei by Yumi Tsukirino, who also made Magical Pokémon Journey. Pokémon Getto Da ze! by Satomi Nakamura. The stories tell the tales of the art behind some of Himeno's cards (the tale of Persian from the Jungle set is particularly popular). There are six volumes and each includes a special promotional card.

Pokémon Card Ni Natta Wake (How I Became a Pokémon Card) by Kagemaru Himeno, an artist for the TCG. Pokémon: Jirachi Wishmaker (not released by Viz). Pokémon Ruby-Sapphire and Pokémon Pocket (not released by Viz). Pokémon Gold & Silver (not released by Viz).

Satoshi to Pikachu, not released by Viz). Ash & Pikachu (a.k.a. Pikachu Meets the Press (newspaper style comics, not released by Chuang Yi). Pokémon: PiPiPi Adventures), a shōjo manga.

Magical Pokémon Journey (a.k.a. Pokémon Adventures, a shōnen manga based on the video games. The series is based on the video game and anime. It was divided into four tankōbon, each with four separate titles in North American and the English Singapore versions: The Electric Tale of Pikachu, Pikachu Shocks Back, Electric Pikachu Boogaloo, and Surf's Up, Pikachu.

Pokémon (The Electric Tale of Pikachu a.k.a Dengeki Pikachu), a shōnen manga created by Toshihiro Ono.