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The Pokemon Company launches early Looney Tunes-style cartoon short

In a clear homage to Golden age Cartoonists like Chuck Jones, Friz Freleng, and Tex Avery, The Pokemon Company just released a new PokeToon animated short.

TJ Denzer

June 5, 2020 8:11 AM

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Pokemon has taken on many forms of media over the long years it has been about. From video games to card games to animated series and far more, Pokemon is all over the place in its delivery and is a versatile franchise for any form of entertainment. That said, it’s hard to say we expected a Pokemon animated cartoon seemingly based on early Looney Tunes, but that’s exactly what the Pokemon Company gave us with its recent PokeToons short.

The Pokemon Company launched the PokeToons short “Chase the Beans” featuring Scraggy and Mimikyu on the Pokemon Kids TV YouTube channel on June 4, 2020. Directed by Taku Inoue and produced by Yoshiyuki Koie, the four minute short is a menagerie of slapstick visuals featuring the two aforementioned pokemon in a style clearly paying homage to cartoons by the likes of legends like Chuck Jones, Friz Freleng, and Tex Avery. Despite Pokemon Kids TV being a Japanese channel, there’s no dialogue here, so its something anyone can enjoy. You can check out the short for yourself below.

Pokemon is continuing to give to its community in solid ways. Say what you will about Pokemon Sword & Shield (we were fans in our Shacknews review), but the developers have been building upon it well with other goods like Pokemon Home on mobile devices, the upcoming Isle of Armor DLC for Sword & Shield, and even donations to aid the Black Lives Matter movement in the wake of civil unrest and protests. The Pokemon Company is doing a lot of things all around to keep it moving.

That said, the new PokeToons short is just a delightful way to look at Pokemon. It’s fun watching the classic gags we know of from that early era of Looney Tunes conveyed through pocket monsters as fun as Scraggy and Mimikyu. We certainly wouldn’t mind if The Pokemon Company decided they wanted to make a few more of these.

TJ Denzer

Senior News Editor

TJ Denzer is a player and writer with a passion for games that has dominated a lifetime. He found his way to the Shacknews roster in late 2019 and has worked his way to Senior News Editor since. Between news coverage, he also aides notably in livestream projects like the indie game-focused Indie-licious, the Shacknews Stimulus Games, and the Shacknews Dump. You can reach him at tj.denzer@shacknews.com and also find him on Twitter @JohnnyChugs.