Exactly one year ago, a short video dropped on the Japanese children's Pokémon YouTube channel that was in the style of old American cartoons like Loony Tunes called Scraggy and Mimikyu: Chase the Beans, with the indication that this was the start of a new series called Pokétoon. Sadly they didn't follow up on this and for a while it seemed like the video would end up as a one-off and that the Pokétoon series was no more. Until now! Two new episodes having been released in the past few days and at least three more on the way! Although, it would appear that the style of that first video is not indicative of the overall series. So far it looks like each episode is done by a different animation team and in a different style of cartoon. The second video, The Pancham Who Wants To Be a Hero, is in the style of an animated children's book with narration telling the story. Unfortunately, the series is only available in Japanese and I haven't heard anything about there being any plans to release the series in any other languages, but you can still follow along without understanding the narration (that's what I did). The third video, A Budding Dream, appears to be made by the same team that worked on Twilight Wings and is in a similar style to that mini-series. Again, the short is only available in Japanese but you can still get the gist of it without knowing what the characters are saying. The three other shorts that have been announced so far will be titled Wait Here, Magikarp; I Turned Into a Gengar; and The Warm and Cozy Slugma House. I haven't heard if they've announced release dates for these videos yet but judging from the gap between the second and third video's I'd say they're probably going to release one a month. So, is anyone else here enjoying these shorts as much as I am? What's been your favorite Pokétoon so far? Looking forward to any of the upcoming shorts? Any particular cartoon/anime style that you want them to tackle? Are you like me and wish they would expand A Budding Dream into a full series because you just can't get enough of Tsubomi and her family? Share your thoughts and opinions on the series below.
I had not yet seen the latest one and I have to say it was my favorite of the bunch. Super heavy kanto pandering for sure but the animation was so nice and the story though simple was really charming. I also love that her father was a champion and retired and is just model dad now. Look at this beautiful man!
A new toon has just dropped, Wait here, Magikarp!, which tells the music loving Magikarp waiting for its trainer to return.
I'm enjoying these shorts, they are a nice and welcome change of pace from the regular anime. It would be nice if they could work this into some kind of series or an alternative to the anime. Just a thought tho.
A new episode is up, The Warm and Cozy Slugma House, which features a young girl staying at her grandparents home and trying to make friends with the Slugma living in their chimney. Also the Pokétoons now have English subtitles available if you hit the CC button if you want to actually know what characters are saying.
The final episode has just been released, I Turned into a Gengar. With this, the series comes to a close, unless they decide to make more that haven't been announced yet. Personally I'm hoping that they do, because I'm not ready for these to be over yet.
And we're back! Turns out the series isn't done yet after all, they'd just finished the episodes that they had announced ahead of time. This short, A Blizzardy Summer Vacation, follows a bunch of kids investigating why it's suddenly started snowing in the middle of summer.
A new short, Jigglypuff's Song, is now out. This one features a young girl befriending an unusual Jigglypuff with spiky hair and an unusual singing voice.
