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Pokémon the Movie: Koko Previews Taiiku Okazaki's Songs in New Videos
posted on by Egan Loo
The staff for Gekijōban Pocket Monster Koko, the 23rd anime film in the Pokémon franchise, presented a new video with footage from the film on Sunday. The video previews "Show Window," the third of the six songs that Taiiku Okazaki produced for the film.
Taiiku Okazaki personally wrote the lyrics, wrote and arranged the music, and sang for "Show Window." Okazaki similarly produced the theme song "Fushigi na Fushigi na Ikimono" ("Wonderful, Marvelous Creatures") and the song "Okite no Uta" (The Song of Rules). (He previously contributed opening and ending songs to the Pokémon Sun & Moon television series.) The staff is accepting dance videos for "Okite no Uta" from fans on YouTube from October 11 until November 15. In the video below, Okazaki and the Pokémon Kids 2019 group teach the dance choreography:
The new film's story is set in Okoya Forest, a Pokémon paradise protected by strict rules that forbid outsiders from setting foot inside. The film centers on Koko, a boy who was raised by Pokémon and also considers himself as one, treating the Mythical Pokémon Zarude as his father. Ash and Pikachu encounter Koko during an adventure. The film focuses on the theme of a "human raised by Pokémon," instead of the previous films' focus of the "bond between a human trainer and their Pokémon."
The film's cast includes (pictured below from left to right):
- Shōko Nakagawa as Karen, a female researcher
- Kankurō Nakamura as Zarude
- Moka Kamishiraishi as Koko
- Kōichi Yamadera as Professor Zed, a Biotope Company researcher of cutting-edge technology whom Satoshi (Ash) meets when he visit Okoya Forest
Tetsuo Yajima returns from 2018's Pokémon the Movie: The Power of Us film at OLM, and is co-writing the film's script with Pokémon series writer Atsuhiro Tomioka. TOHO is distributing the film. Hiroyuki Kato is the animation producer. Hirotaka Marufuji (Pokémon the Movie: The Power of Us chief animation director, sub-character designer) is designing the characters, and is also the chief animation director alongside Yasushi Nishitani (Pokémon the Movie: The Power of Us). Masafumi Mima is the sound director.
The film is the first all-new anime film in the franchise in two years, since the most recent films in the franchise include Pokémon Detective Pikachu (a live-action film) and Mewtwo Strikes Back Evolution (a 3D CG remake of the 1998 film Pocket Monsters: Mewtwo no Gyakushū).
The film will open on December 25 in Japan. TOHO had originally planned to open the film on July 10, but the staff delayed the film due to the spread of the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
Pokémon the Movie: The Power of Us, the 21st film in the franchise, opened in Japan in July 2018. Mewtwo Strikes Back Evolution, the 22nd film in the Pokémon franchise, opened in Japan in July 2019.
Sources: Gekijōban Pocket Monster Koko's website, Comic Natalie
