Pokémon Horizonthe series has just been rebooted, has debuted new opening and ending sequences in Japanese, and the third episode’s ending theme calls it all back to the series’ origins 25 years ago by giving a way new to classic PokéRap.
PokéRap is an iconic part of the original series that debuted in the US, listing the Pokémon’s names along with clips from the show, set to the beat and split into 5 seasons to air five days a week. However, even outside of the United States, PokéRap remains very popular, including in the series’ home country of Japan. Japan has a number of comparable songs, called simply “Can You Name All the Pokémon?”, which attempt to do the same by using local names. their. The show then tried to revive the PokéRap idea, with PokéRap GS and later PokéRap Hoenn to bring more Pokémon, but didn’t match the popularity of the original, and new PokéRaps were not created afterward. . Or at least, that’s been the case for now.
Pokémon Horizons Ending Theme Makes a Difference for PokéRaps
Instead of trying to list all 1,000+ Pokémon in song form, the new ending theme for Horizons (titled “Rising Volt Taklers Slap (Friede Edition)”) decided to focus on specific Pokémon species, they all have some things in common between them. The first sentence talks about Pokémon with “don” in their (Japanese) name, including the new legends of Scarlet and Violet, Miraidon and Koraidon. Then it goes through them again, with protagonist Riko trying to repeat the name. The second sentence focuses on Pokémon with regional variations, like Rattata and Darumaka, this time relying on Pokémon’s awesome new Professor Friede to look through the names. At the end of episode 2, the opening theme is used as the ending theme, so this marks the first broadcast of the actual ending theme.
The use of “The Friede Version” suggests that there could be some variation of the song, possibly focusing on different Pokémon or featuring different characters, though that has yet to be confirmed. Unfortunately, because the song is mainly based on the Japanese title, it can hardly be translated; instead, a Pokémon’s opening and ending themes are usually completely replaced upon localization, and there’s no guarantee it will be replaced by another PokéRap-style song. However, the theme ending in Japanese will likely be available on places like Youtube for any English-speaking fans who want to give it a listen.
While it’s not exactly the update to PokéRap that some fans might be expecting, the new ending theme is quite appealing and has a bit of the style that the original PokéRap is known for. Once again, Pokémon Horizon subtly recalls the beginning of the series, emphasizing that this is truly a beginner Pokémon while honoring what came before.
