Piplup steals the show in a new Pokémon video.
The animated music video was released through the official Japanese Pokémon YouTube channel. The video centers on the relationship between Dawn and her primary Pokémon partner, the penguin-like Piplup, though the other members of the trainer's battling party, such as the electric squirrel Pachirisu and the fiery Quilava, also make appearances. The video features numerous references to Dawn and Piplup's adventures throughout the mainline Pokémon anime series, and features a song that is performed by Megumi Toyoguchi, Dawn's Japanese voice actor.
The video was released as part of Project Piplup, a promotional campaign that began in 2021. The goal of the project was to promote the then-upcoming Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl remake games by highlighting one of the generation's most popular Pokémon, Piplup. The project predictably resulted in a slew of new merchandise based around the water bird, including new plush figures, sticker sets and other collectibles.
Dawn and her Pokémon recently made their grand return in the anime series' 24th and latest season, entitled Pokémon Master Journeys. The new season began during 2021's year-long celebration of the 25th anniversary of the original Pokémon games' release, and sees Ash and Goh revisiting old friends and regions from the series' long history. Dawn and Piplup originally exited the series' main cast when the series moved beyond the Diamond and Pearl generation, but has reappeared frequently and recently rejoined Ash's traveling party when the group revisited Sinnoh, the setting of the fourth generation of Pokémon games. The two are also set to join in on the anime's next corporate-synergy fueled special event, which will see the group sporting new outfits and taking part in a new adventure inspired by the next game in the series, Pokémon Legends Arceus.
Piplup is the latest Pokémon to be highlighted in an animated short. Bidoof, Generation 4's useful but frequently mocked HM-user, finally received some love in the form of a new video that finally saw the Pokémon score a win, while an earlier Pokétoon short showed that Ghost-type Pokémon can be just as lovable as their non-supernatural counterparts.
The current season of Pokémon Master Journeys can be streamed exclusively through Netflix in the United States. Dawn and Piplup can be found in Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, which were released for the Nintendo Switch on Nov. 19. Pokémon Legends Arceus is scheduled to be released on Jan. 28.
Source: YouTube
