Paldean Winds #01: Breathe Out

With the announcement of a new original web series, Paldean Winds, Pokémon is continuing the trend of releasing short-form, high-quality animated shorts in tandem with new videogame releases.

Personally, this could not make me happier as a fan who puts Pokémon Generations on as a comfort watch at least once every 3 months. Throughout the Generation 8 cycle, the PokéToons series offered even more charming animated shorts in different styles and varying lengths. Paldean Winds, however, is the spiritual successor of Twilight Wings (based on Sword and Shield) and Hisuian Snow (based on Legends: Arceus). 

The show features three brand new characters who are introduced in the first episode, but contains many cameos of prominent Scarlet and Violet characters, like Nemona and Arven. These web series feature much more polished animation (thanks also to their short length) compared to the main animated series and their tone generally tends to also be geared towards older audiences.

The more refined style and understated storytelling often share similarities with other popular animated films, think Makoto Shinkai's Your Name. or Suzume. In general, they make for a very welcome addition to the way the Pokémon world is represented. 

This first episode sets up the main conflict and mission for the three protagonists, with an emphasis on Ohara's 'treasure hunt'. I am looking forward to find out more about Aliquis and Hohma, especially since a battle between Nemona and Aliquis has been teased in this episode. High-production Pokémon battles have historically been a joy to watch (Lance vs Leon comes to mind at the beginning of Journeys) and I am hoping that one of the four episodes will be wholly dedicated to the battle.

It's still unclear whether we are following Ohara's journey, with Aliquis and Hohma as secondary characters, or if each episode will focus on one of the members of the trio with an ensemble finale.

Paldean Winds is available for free on the Pokémon YouTube channel both in English and in Japanese (simulcast is possible for these at least!). Sadly neither upload offers subtitles, confirming Pokémon's historic lack of content accessibility.

EDIT (Nov 2023): Paldean Winds uploads now include subtitles, even in the Japanese version! Yay!

originally written on Saturday, 9 September 2023