The first episode of new anime series Pokémon: Hisuian Snow is now available on YouTube. Called Onto the Icy Blue, it is set a long ago and is based on Pokémon Legends: Arceus. It features a boy called Alec and his father chopping trees in a forest on top of a snowy mountain. Alec’s father warns him against the wild Pokémon that lives in the forest, but Alec goes exploring anyway and meets a cute companion.
The synopsis reads; “Across the Hisui region, many grow up believing people and Pokémon cannot live together. But when Alec meets a Hisuian Zorua, he may need to rethink how he views Pokémon!” The animation is impressively beautiful, for a 6 minute short that has been released online. It should come as no surprise from Wit Studio, however, who are behind Attack on Titan.
At the start of the episode, Alec (who appears to be a young man) is warned against a violent Pokémon that has appeared in the Alabaster Forest. He then seems to have a flashback to his childhood, and there’s a sequence which is inventively animated, where he emerges out of the shadows wearing a fox mask.
There is some lovely music as Alec and his father enter the mountains. His father says; “there’s a Pokémon in that forest, it’s a bad one. It’s called Zoroark…it was supposedly mistreated by humans. It lost everything and became something else. People and Pokémon can never co-exist.” Again, this is a stunningly animated sequence, with shadows falling over Alec and his father. There are also flashbacks-within-flashbacks.
You can watch the first episode below now;
Two more parts of this story will be coming at a later date, but we don’t know exactly when. We’ll also be keeping our ear to the ground for further updates regarding the live-action Pokémon series that is currently in development at Netflix.
In the meantime, check out our guide to the best anime series, or take a look at our best Pokémon movies list.