The Pokémon Company released a new Pokémon animation on Thursday, styled like a classic Looney Tunes cartoon, complete with whimsical animation and soundtrack.
The short features Scraggy, the reptile Pokémon with baggy “pants,” following a trail of beans to munch on. Scraggy eventually encounters a Mimikyu, who ends up causing all sorts of trouble. The short was uploaded to the Japanese Pokémon Kids TV YouTube channel, and features no dialogue.
The short is directed by Taku Inoue, who is known for his composing work on Bandai Namco series like The Idolm@ster. He is also known for his toy-making and sculpting iconic scenes from Tom and Jerry. That knowledge is put to some serious use in the short animation.
Pokémon stories have never needed humans or words to explain what’s going on. Shorts like “Pikachu’s Vacation,” which aired before Mewtwo Strikes Back, have shown us what it’s like for Pokémon hanging out without any trainers around. It works because the creatures are lovable and expressive enough to hold up the story on their own, without any explicit explanation of what’s going on. (No, we don’t need Ash to look at a Fearow screaming its own name and then announce, “Wow! That must be a Fearow!”)
We don’t know if more of these retro-styled animations will come out in the future, but I hope so.
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Pokémon Go Plus
The Pokémon Go Plus is a small Bluetooth device that lets you enjoy Pokémon Go while you’re on the move and not looking at your smartphone. The device notifies you about events in the game, such as the appearance of a Pokémon nearby using an LED and vibration.
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