The Pokémon Company goes full creepy with its latest collaboration

The Pokémon Company is getting into the Halloween spirit — at least in Japan — with a new "Kowapoke" promotion, the most important portion of which is a surprising collaboration with horror manga artist Junji Ito.

Ito, whose comics include the deeply unsettling Uzumaki, a series about a town's obsession with spirals that turns some residents into snails, and Gyo, which deals with fish who walk on metal legs powered by a "death stench," is illustrating his interpretation of some ghost Pokémon. In a teaser posted by on the official Japanese Pokémon site, Banette is shown stalking an innocent-looking girl. The Pokémon Company is offering that up as a wallpaper on its website and as a t-shirt in Japan.

There's more to come from Ito's Pokémon collaboration, but there's plenty of ghost-centric content up on The Pokémon Company's website. The likes of Gastly, Gengar, Cofagrigus, Chandelure and others ghostly Pokémon are highlighted in comics, Art Academy illustrations and character profiles, all of it in Japanese.

Here's a larger look at Ito's Pokémon manga teaser.