The Pokémon franchise has now debuted the first of 18 planned crossover songs with popular Vocaloid voicebank software Hatsune Miku.
Shared by Pokémon’s official X account (formerly Twitter), the two-and-a-half-minute music video, appropriately titled “Volt Tackle,” features electric-type Pikachu alongside 16-year-old Miku. It has many references to the franchise, including the games as well as the anime. The video was posted on Vocaloid producer DECO*27’s YouTube channel.
The music video features Miku playing a Pokémon trainer, teaming up with a female Pikachu in an energetic song. Accompanied by Japanese lyrics and English subtitles, the song pays homage to Pikachu by including many of his attacks such as Tail Whip, Charm, Draining Kiss, Charge Beam, Flash, Dig and Volt Tackle. When trainer Miku tries to catch Pikachu, many of the game series’ iconic battle lines, such as “Pokémon is paralyzed, can’t move,” “It’s super effective,” and “Gotcha” are also introduced. Additionally, the song samples iconic game tracks including “Pokémon Theme”, “Wild Encounter”, “Trainer Battle”, “Champion & Red Battle Music” , “Pokémon Center”, “Gym Leader Battle Music” and “Fanfare: Pokémon Caught. “
The music was assigned to Deco*27, with Omutatsu in charge of the illustrations. The collaborative project titled Pokémon feat. Hatsune Miku: Project Volt, will release 17 more music videos, each with similar patterns to the remaining Pokémon types: Normal, Fire, Water, Grass, Fighting, Flying, Poison, Bug, Steel, Heart Spirit, Dark, Ice, Fairy, Dragon, Stone, Earth and Ghost.
The list of Pokémon chosen to appear in these future music videos is already available, with many fans eagerly awaiting the Fairy version of the video as its representative, Jigglypuff, is a singer himself notorious. Also joining Deco*27 are producers Inaba Cloud and MitchieM, among others.
Project Volt celebrates the 16th anniversary of Japan’s virtual idol phenomenon Hatsune Miku, along with the evergreen legacy of the world’s highest-grossing media franchise Pokémon. Recent developments of the latter include its anime series finally moving on from Ash Ketchum following his victory in the Pokémon League Championship after 26 years and the debut of Scarlet and Violet, the latest installment in the game series RPG.
Pokémon Miracle. MV Hatsune Miku: Project Volt will be released every Friday.
Source: Pokémon
