YUKI HODOKISHI FUTAAI

DESCRIPTION

CAST

ANIME ActionPocket Monsters (2019)

REVIEWS

• 

  Fotsuan

  70/100
  This is the kind of Pokémon anime we need!

  This is the kind of Pokémon anime we need!

  

  Since its innovative start in 1996 with Red and Green, Pokémon has made huge success as a franchise, all over the world, with its captivating adventure games. It was 1997 when the anime adaptation became a thing, and Japanese studios have always made adaptations of every Pokémon game created ever since. The idea was good, but to most fans - including me - the anime adaptation was not what they wanted, it was childish and it felt like it was dragging too long for nothing. I am not writing this review to express my dislike towards the older series, because I love Pokémon and I am a big fan since the 00s. I am writing it in order to express my satisfaction with the newest, different kind of Pokémon anime that have aired since 2020.

  Starting with Hakumei no Tsubasa / Twilight Wings in early 2020, a Pokémon spin-off that felt like an advertisement for the Pokémon universe, the franchise took a turn into an episodic structure of wholesome, cute, and colorful stories. Pokétoon came after this, and now we have a Pokémon Legends Arceus spin-off, "Hisuian Snow". There's no Ash Ketchum there, nor a mundane adventure of collecting Pokémon badges to reach the Elite Four and become the Pokémon Champion. That's the character of the games, but it's not necessary to apply it to the anime version, too. The Pokémon world is there, and it's expanding little by little with the creation of new regions and new Pokédex entries as new games come out. It's beautiful, and it holds a special place in all of us fans' hearts. Why not create some stories in the Pokémon world, including everything about it and making it feel like a fantasy world where great things happen? Why not motivate children to pursue their dreams in a fantastic way, including flashy Pokémon and wholesome relationships? Yes, that's what these anime I mentioned have done since 2020, and it is a big yes from most fans - older and newer as well.

  

  Considering that this kind of storytelling has now been established in the world of anime, I am going to comment on a few things about Hisuian Snow. It is a short story that lasts almost half an hour. This time it is not as short as Pokétoon or Twilight Wings episodes, but it is still short and a pleasant watch for everyone that likes Pokémon. It's the story of a young boy who meets a wild Zorua and forms a friendly bond with it. The young Zorua cures the boy's wounds and the boy never sees it again. What's important here is that human society is separated from the Pokémon one, and humans are afraid of Pokémon because of their incredible strength and ways of communication. Our protagonist doesn't see the young Zorua again; time passes by, they both grow up, and well, I'm not going to write here what happens next in case any of you reading haven't watched it yet. But what must be mentioned is that the story contains metaphors on courage, faith, improving, and moving forward. Aside from that, it is a spectacle to see for Pokémon fans and shows Pokémon living in the wild, fighting, or interacting with humans. In a few words, it is both fan service for Pokémaniacs, and a cute story about a young boy and his encounter with a Zorua. And there's more; there are great voice actors such as Rikiya Koyama and Uchiyama Kouki participating in this.

  To sum up, Hisuian Snow is by rule a pleasant watch for Pokémon fans. This kind of storytelling in a Pokémon anime is great. Simple, beautiful, touching, and spectacular. I am looking forward to more spin-offs or TV series like this. The 2020s could be the best decade for Pokémon anime!

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• 

  Juliko25

  87/100
  Hisuian Snow is yet another great new addition to the Pokemon animated canon.

  Man, Pokemon's really been going all out on the animation front in the past few years, hasn't it? We've got Pokemon Twilight Wings, the PokeToon shorts, Pokemon Evolutions, and now, a recently finished web series from Wit Studio called Pokemon: Hisuian Snow, based on the video game Pokemon Legends: Arceus. Hisuian Snow was first announced in a Pokemon Presents video released in February 2022, alongside the reveal of Legends Arceus DLC and Pokemon Scarlet and Violet. Needless to say, considering how good Twilight Wings and the various PokeToon shorts turned out, many fans were hyped for this, me included. Plus, unlike what happened with Yoru no Kuni, TPCi made it clear that Hisuian Snow was going to only have three episodes straight up and not be a full-on adaptation of the game, which was about what I expected. I mean, considering the pattern the Pokemon animated shorts have been going with, I had a feeling Hisuian Snow was going to do something similar to what Twilight Wings and the PokeToon shorts did, i.e. be more low-key, atmospheric character focused pieces. I'm glad to say that Hisuian Snow met my expectations and is still pretty amazing on its own.

  Hisuian Snow focuses on a young man named Akio (named Alec in English, but I'm going with his Japanese name so as to be more accurate to the setting) visiting the Hisui region to see his father. He hears rumors of violent Pokemon wreaking havoc in the nearby forest, which makes him reminisce on an encounter he had when he was a child. As a kid, he wandered into a snowy forest and met a shiny Hisuian Zorua against his father's warnings. After some mishaps, Akio winds up hurt, but the Zorua helps him out. But humans are wary of Pokemon, seeing them as hostile monsters, and Akio has been told that there's no way Pokemon and humans can ever really coexist. Years later, Akio wanders how that Zorua is doing, hoping to see it again.

  Much like with what Colorido did for Twilight Wings and their PokeToon shorts, Wit Studio really went all out in the animation department here, not just with the character motion and the little details, but the beauty of the environments as well. From the white snowy peaks to the setting sun bathing everything in its light, the whole short is just brimming with warm colors, from gentle yellows to harsh oranges. That contrast empathizes the story's main theme, that Pokemon are both beautiful and dangerous in this world's era, and Pokemon and humans haven't learned to coexist yet. The fact that there are characters who outright say that Pokemon are dangerous and shouldn't be messed with isn't exactly a sentiment you normally get in a franchise like this, and we, the audience, already know it's going to be disproven based on the story beats and...well, the franchise itself. It makes sense, as the time period both Legends Arceus and Hisuian Snow take place in is during a time when Pokemon were still alien to humans rather than the constant companions they are in the main series proper, but it is refreshing to see a different take on the idea of befriending Pokemon, and even the source game leans heavily into this mindset and disproving it. Granted, the animation isn't as dynamic as, say, Yume no Tsubomi or I Became a Gengar, but what the series lacks in kinetic motion, it makes up for with its usage of colors, light, and shadows, and keeping true to the visual style of the game its based on, along with some stark, trippy visuals at the beginning of episode one. I don't have as much to say on the soundtrack, but it's pretty nice and gets the job done.

  Based on what the various Pokemon short animations have done with their previous shorts, Hisuian Snow is very much a character study at heart, with a fairly small cast to follow. Most of the development goes to Akio, and we get to see first hand how his experiences with the Hisuian Zorua change his view on Pokemon and himself as a person, along with how this experience inspires him to convince others to do the same. The side characters don't get much to do, especially the ones who appear in the final episode, but they all serve their roles nicely and their beliefs towards Pokemon are presented as understandable without coming across as antagonistic, nor does the series try to portray Akio as being wholly in the right. You're not exactly going to find much in the way of complexity or grandeur in Hisuian Snow in terms of its plot or characters, but the things it is able to offer are not too much, not too little, just the right amount needed to do what the show wanted to do. Even the Hisuian Zorua has a surprising amount of personality and depth to it, and it's literally an animal. Basically, Hisuian Snow wonderfully succeeds in being a character study and for being entirely dedicated to its lead character learning new things and changing significantly because of his experience with Zorua.

  If I had to name any flaws Hisuian Snow has, it's mainly in the minor details. For one, the short intro bit at the very beginning of episode one, showing a Zoroark going berserk after seeing its dead child, doesn't really get followed up on. We never find out the context behind it, what happened, or if the Zorua or Zoroark in the story is the same one Akio encountered. I don't know if that scene is just there to establish the fact that humans view Pokemon as dangerous or not, but I kind of wish more had been done with it. The final episode has some characters from the game make cameos and even help Akio out in the conflict for that, but one of them doesn't talk, and the rest of them just feel like plot devices. While Hisuian Snow does make an admirable effort, I think Twilight Wings did better in terms of fleshing out the rest of its ensemble cast, along with various episodes of PokeToon. But that absolutely does not mean Hisuian Snow doesn't have anything to offer by itself, as it's still a great, wholesome little character piece that really excels in what it set out to do.

  So yeah, whether you're a Pokemon fan or not, don't sleep on Pokemon: Hisuian Snow. While not without the occasional stumble, it's still an excellent web series that's full of just as much passion and heart as its contemporaries.

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