In an odd, but wholly welcome development, The Pokemon Company has released a cartoon short in the style of classic animations from the early 20th century. It’s called a Poketoon, and I want more.
Whenever something unexpected crops up in 2020 and it isn’t awful, I’m all about it. Especially since the Poketoon reminds me of very early mornings watching classic cartoons while the sun came out. Full of slapstick jokes, fuzzy animation, and charming music, The Pokemon Company did a great job recreating early Warner Bros. cartoons like Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies.
The cartoon was released on the Pokemon Kids TV YouTube channel, which regularly publishes child-friendly Pokemon content. The Poketoon up top is definitely suitable for youngins, but Pokemon and classic cartoon fans are sure to get a kick out of it as well. It’s just over 4 minutes long, after-all, so you’ve got nothing to lose.
And while it’s published by a Japanese-language YouTube account, there’s no dialogue whatsoever, just like the cartoons that inspired it. That means there’s no language barrier to overcome in order to get what’s going on. Basically, Scraggy is following a trail of beans that leads to a bag that’s actually Mimikyu. Not exactly up to the standards of Bugs Bunny and co., but highly-watchable stuff.
Pokemon: Twilight Wings is a new series of shorts based on Sword and Shield, and you can check out the first episode here (opens in new tab).