Pokémon is frequently releasing shorts based on the franchise, but their latest short animation may be one of the best to date, thanks to some high-quality animation from chinese studios. The new short, entitled the “Pokémon Ecology Diary,” centers on Earth Day, and shows how Pokémon live together in the wild.
The Pokémon Ecology Diary, or “Pokécology” was a special short created just for Chinese audiences, and has no English dub or subtitles. The short seems to have been produced in conjunction with an upcoming “Pokécology” book, which is due out in Japan on June 18, 2025. The book features opinions from actual scientists on how Pokémon would live and coexist with one another in the wild if they were real, and will have special illustrations. While there has been no word of this book releasing in the West at this time, there’s clearly been a thorough exploration of the concept in this short.
Watch Pokémon’s New Earth Day Short
The New Short Features Dozens of Pokémon
The short, which can be watched on Weibo, follows two trainers, a boy with a Tepig and a girl with a Castform, as they explore various different habitats and see the wild Pokémon that live there. As they traverse through these different environments, Castform changes forms to help emphasize the conditions that they’re in. Eventually, the boy discovers a Chimchar has been injured, and tries to save it. The other fire Pokémon nearby understand, and a wild Arcanine offers to let the boy ride him to get Chimchar help faster. Chimchar makes it to the Pokémon Center and fully recovers, last shown playing with the boy’s Tepig.
Pokemon
- Created by
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Satoshi Taijiri, Ken Sugimori, Junichi Masuda
- Latest Film
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Pokémon the Movie: Secrets of the Jungle
- First Episode Air Date
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April 1, 1997
Summary
Spanning over twenty-five years, Pokemon, known as Pocket Monsters in Japan, is the multimedia franchise created jointly by Nintendo, Game Freak, and Creatures. Conceptualized by Satoshi Tajiri in association with Ken Sugimori and Junichi Masuda, Pokemon is set in fictional worlds where people live together with tamable creatures known as Pokemon. Humans who catch, raise, and battle the creatures are known as Pokemon Trainers. They head out on extensive journeys across their continents to raise their Pokemon with the ultimate goal of competing in tournaments to become the champion. Pokemon spans several massive properties, from a long-running animated series to a successful trading card game, to the medium that started it all, video games. In addition, Pokemon began the “two-game” trend where two versions of a game would release and include different Pokemon/features between the versions, encouraging players to meet up with others and trade so they could “catch ’em all.”