Highlights
- The city of Yokohama in Japan is hosting the World Pokemon Championships for the first time, which is a big celebration for both Japan and international fans.
- A new anime-style promotional video was released on the official Japanese Pokemon YouTube channel, showcasing international fans playing the four categories of games that will be at the championships.
- The video, produced by CoMix Wave Films, features beautiful animation and follows a young Black girl's journey through the games in Yokohama, with Pokemon and landmarks in the background.
This summer, the city of Yokohama in Japan will host the World Pokemon Championships. It will be the first time that Japan has ever hosted the championships, making it a huge celebration for both Japan and the international fans that will get to play the game in the country of its origin. The latest part of the celebration leading up to the championship itself is a new anime-style promotional video, showcasing international fans playing together in a truly beautiful way.
The video dropped on YouTube last week via the official Japanese Pokemon YouTube channel. It is one minute long, and highlights all four categories of games that will be at the Pokemon World Championships. These four categories are the Pokemon Trading Card Game, Pokemon Go, Pokemon Unite, and finally the Pokemon handheld video game. At the time of publishing, the video already had racked up nearly 500,000 views.
It's no surprise that the animation style of the video is so jaw-droppingly gorgeous, when you look at what studio made it. The video was produced by CoMix Wave Films, famous for Makoto Shinkai's beautiful filmsYour Name, Weathering with You, and Suzume. These films are internationally famous not only for their stories, but especially for their incredible animation. That same beautiful style is what sets this Pokemon video apart from the rest, and you can really tell it was made by the same studio.
The video follows a young Black girl from her arrival in Yokohama and through the four different categories of games that will be at the Pokemon World Championships - and of course, her victory at the end! It features a lot of Yokohama landmarks in the background, firmly setting the video in reality while also adding plenty of fantasy flourish with Pokemon everywhere. Even a Nintendo Switch and Pokemon trading cards make appearances to continue to tie the video to the reality of the event, even while full-size Pokemon are battling all around. And of course, what would a Pokemon video even be without a Pikachu playing a major role?
As beautiful as the video is to watch, even for international fans, it was made specifically for the Japanese YouTube channel. That means that all the narration, and even the caption, are entirely in Japanese. Hopefully the video will be subtitled or dubbed and posted on the English Pokemon YouTube channel as well before the Championships kick off! After all, the point of a "World" Championship is bringing people from everywhere together, and the video itself seems to be celebrating that. It is a shame that it is hidden behind a language barrier at the moment.
In the meantime, everyone can enjoy the animation style and positive vibes that CoMix Wave Films have brought through this video while they wait a little more than a week for the Pokemon World Championships to begin. The city of Yokohama is celebrating hosting the event with plenty of other things in the month of August, including a huge Pokemon art festival around the whole city, and an interactive Pokemon art museum. If you are a Pokemon fan headed to Japan in August, plan to spend at least a few days soaking up the festivities in Yokohama!
The Pokémon World Championships will be in Yokohama, Japan August 11th - August 13th, 2023.