"Twilight Wings" Episode 07, PokéToon Zuruggu and Mimikkyu "Chase the Beans"
August 17th, 2020

Dogasu @ 11:34 JST -- I've got two animated shorts-related updates for you today.

The first deals with the final episode of Twilight Wings that was released earlier this month.

• Link to the episode on YouTube
• Full cast list
• Full staff credits

The series' official site has also been posting interviews with the staff that gives some neat behind-the-scenes details so I'm thinking about translating those at some point. Is that something you'd like to see? I'm holding off on doing anything with them for the time being on the off-chance that TPCI actually just does it themselves but at the same time I get the feeling they're just not going to bother.

The other update has to do with me (finally!) getting around to making a page for PokéToon Zuruggu and Mimikkyu "Chase the Beans," the Japan-only Looney Tunes-style short that came out back in June.


There isn't a whole lot to document about the four minute short but I do at least have the full staff list up for those of you interested.


Pocket Monsters Planetarium "The Message from the Aurora"
August 12th, 2020

Dogasu @ 11:23 JST -- Today's update is all about the new Pocket Monsters planetarium show coming out later this year.


The show, Pocket Monsters Planetarium "The Message from the Aurora," is the seventh of these planetarium shows to be released here in Japan. These shows are original animated Pocket Monsters episodes created specifically for Konica Minolta planetariums where a hybrid of 2D and 3D animation is projected onto their dome-like ceilings to surround the audiences with images and sound. It's like a regular episode of the TV series, just projected on the inside of a giant dome. The shows tend to tour the country's planetariums for a few years, coming and going from various planetariums and science museums throughout Japan.

The story of this particular 27 minute special is about Satoshi and Gou researching how auroras and the legendary Pokémon Suicune are all connected.

I was fortunate enough to be able to see the two most recent productions - Pocket Monsters Sun & Moon Planetarium and Pocket Monsters XY The Space Debris - so my plan is to go see this one as well and then provide a write-up.

In the meantime, I've created a page detailing everything we know about the special here.


Pocket Monsters The Movie "Koko" Music
August 9th, 2020

Dogasu @ 13:05 JST -- Let's talk about the music we'll be hearing in Pocket Monsters The Movie "Koko."


During Wednesday's info dump we learned that the movie's main theme song will be Strange and Wonderful Creatures (ふしぎなふしぎな生きもの). This is going to be one of several vocal songs to be used in the film, apparently. The Japanese title, Fushigi na Fushigi na Ikimono, is a phrase used a lot in this franchise; it's heard in many of the films' "World of Pokémon" segments, songs like Pokémon Ieru ka Na?, and even as the episode title (kind of) of that one clip show episode of Diamond & Pearl.


The song is written and composed by Okazaki Physical Education. You'll know him as the singer / lyricist of various songs from the Sun & Moon TV series such as Pose; Jaari Boy, Jaari Girl; and Kimi no Bouken. Tortoise Matsumoto is from the Japanese rock band Ulfuls, and while they've had dozens of hit songs over the decades Western fans will probably recognize them as being the singers of the second opening theme to the series Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo.

There will also apparently be other vocal songs used in this movie but those won't be announced until later.

All the information we have about the new song has been collected here.


Pocket Monsters The Movie "Koko" is the 23rd Pokémon film. It is about a young boy, Koko, who was raised in a jungle by the Mythical Pokémon Zarude. The film, which was originally schedule to come out July 10th, has a new release date of Friday, December 25th, 2020.


Pocket Monsters The Movie "Koko" Info Dump
August 5th, 2020

Dogasu @ 22:10 JST -- Another round of news about Movie 23, Pocket Monsters The Movie "Koko"!


Here's what we found out tonight:

• There's a new trailer, which you can see here. I've provided translations of all the dialogue / on-screen text in the trailer. I'm also now realizing that TPC had apparently removed all their old trailers, redid them to remove any mention of the film coming out "this summer," and then re-uploaded them with brand new URLs so that now all my old links on that page are broken. I'll have to go through them again and fix it later.
• The movie hits theaters Friday, December 25th 2020. People have floated around the idea of Japan releasing this thing straight to streaming but c'mon, there was absolutely no way Toho was ever going to allow that LOL. Christmas Day is not a bank holiday in Japan - it's treated the same way Valentine's Day is treated in the U.S., really - so the date they chose isn't all that unusual.
• The theme song is called "Strange and Wonderful Creatures" (ふぎしなふしぎな生き物) and will be performed by Tortoise Matsumoto from the Japanese rock group Ulfuls. The song was written and composed by Okazaki Physical Education.
• The voice recording for the film has not started yet.
• The movie's official website stealthily announced that Okazaki Physical Education will also be providing part of the background music for the film. He's apparently contributing five pieces of background music to the film, so that means someone else is going to have to come in and do the rest. Wonder why they're keeping that secret so tight to their chest...

There are a few more things that I want to translate but those will take some time so I'll leave it at this for now.


Pocket Monsters The Movie "Koko" special guest voice actors, prequel manga announced
August 5th, 2020

Dogasu @ 00:33 JST -- Friday morning the kids' TV show Oha Suta and then, later, the official social media accounts for Pocket Monsters The Movie "Koko" announced the special guest voice actors who will be appearing in the film.


From left to right:

Shoko Nakagawa (中川翔子) will be playing a newly announced character named Karen (カレン), a researcher for something called the Biotope Company. Ms. Nakagawa has been voicing characters in the Pocket Monsters movies since 2007's Pocket Monsters Diamond & Pearl The Movie "Dialga vs. Palkia vs. Darkrai"; this year's movie will be Ms. Nakagawa's 13th Pocket Monsters film.

The Mythical Pokémon Zarude is going to be voiced by veteran kabuki actor Kankuro Nakamura (中村勘九郎). He made his kabuki debut in 1987 at the age of five. Pocket Monsters The Movie "Koko" will be his first time doing animation voiceover work.

The titular Koko will be played by actress / singer Moka Kamishiraishi (上白石萌歌). Ms. Kamishiraishi's been in a ton of Japanese movies / TV shows over the years but most Westerners will probably know her as having played  Kun-chan in the movie Mirai.

Finally, we have the ubiquitous Kou'ichi Yamadera (山寺宏一 ) as the newly announced Dr. Zed (ゼッド博士). This is Mr. Yamadera's 23rd Pocket Monsters film.

Celebi's voice actor was not included in the announcement so it's probably safe to assume that it will be played by one of the show's regular voice actors.

Details about the new characters and translations of the statements put out by all four of these voice actors can be found here.

Along with the above announcement came a pair of interviews conducted by the CoroCoro Online site with Mr. Kankuro Nakamura and Ms. Moka Kamishiraishi. I've translated those interviews; the Nakamura interview is here while the Kamishiraishi one is here.


Finally, the above interviews did a kind of stealth announcement of a new prequel manga set to come out later this month (probably) so I've written up a page for the manga with everything we know about it so far.


Even more news is expected to drop later today so I'll be sure to update with whatever that is once we know what it is.