The world of Pokémon has always been a slightly sinister place, from the designs of some of the Pokémon themselves (Mr. Mime for all you clown lovers out there), to Pokédex entries that reveal a darker side to the otherwise adorable little creatures. In fact, the Lavender Town tower cemetary in Pokémon Red/Blue is so infamous that it was the first example on the subject of death in Japanese popular media that Harvard professor Alexander Zahlten mentioned it at the beginning of a talk of his I went to earlier this year!
The creepier aspects of Pokémon have never really been directly discussed, and certainly not promoted, by the creators of the games themselves, but this year the Pokémon Company is fully embracing Pokémon scare potential with the
Hontou wa kowai? (Actually scary?) Pokémon website. Just in time for Halloween, the Hontou wa kowai? website celebrates all ghost and dark Pokémon that have the potential to send a chill down your spine. A variety of scary Pokémon, or KowaPoké (an amalgamation of kowai, or scary, and Pokémon) grace the site, and there are a number of informational pages, activities, and more.
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| The website plays the eery Lavender Town theme, of course… |
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| “You’re so wonderful…” |
The site is being regularly updated throughout the month with tons of information on scary Pokémon in the various Pokémon games themselves, as well. One such update, however, revealed a very surprising collaboration…
Master of Japanese horror Junji Ito himself is doing a series of collaborative illustrations for the website! The above image depicting the evil plush Pokémon Banette is the first of two illustrations that will be released on the
Hontou wa kowai? website. There will even be a special t-shirt giveaway featuring Junji Ito’s Banette illustration for 100 lucky fans, but it’s unfortunately limited to residents of Japan only.
Junji Ito is famous for his twisted horror manga, including Gyo, Uzumaki, and Tomie. Regarding the Banette illustration, he says he drew a Banette that was searching for the child that threw it out. Since Banettes are born from the grudge they hold against their previous owners for abandoning them, you can only imagine how it must feel to see a child doting on a brand new toy…
I’m not sure how I was ever able to sleep at night after playing Pokémon! Junji Ito’s second illustration has yet to be revealed, but I can’t wait to see what scary Pokémon he draws next…
