The noOne studio has come forward with the third in its series of Pokémon Dark short films depicting what the Pokémon universe would be like if it was our actual world.
In this original short subject, a man is using his Drowzee to subjugate unwilling victims, and he has a lot of them. His Kangaskhan stands in the middle of the room, dozing. The man prods it when it sees that one of his Drowzee needs attention.
There is a rythmic ticking sound, and a knock at the the door, a heavily secured steel door with a sliding viewport—but the mere act of opening the viewport breaks the security of the room. When the door opens, in walks a Hypno, and behind him, the female investigator. The man’s Kangaskhan is caught in the Hypno’s psychic attack, and is overcome. The man feels its pain and is overcome as well. The woman and her Hypno enter the room, and the Drowzee, all now free from the man who had imprisoned them, scatter.
The film plays on the old rumor that a Cubone was a baby Kangaskhan that had lost its mother and wore its mother’s skull as a helmet. It was a debunked fan theory, but the film still does the idea gruesome justice.
What noOne studio does goes beyond what we saw in Detective Pikachu, where the Pokémon were photorealistic, but basically played stereotypical versions of themselves. In these short subjects, the Pokémon have emotional contexts that go beyond the simple explanations on their game cards.
noOne studio is a small team of based in France, and it shows what even a small team with real talent can do. Thomas Baratte served as director. Xaviar Bernardelli, Etienne Dutrieux and Clément Martin performed animation services, with Rémi Carles and Clément Martin doing animation cleanup and technical animation. Character modeling was done by Thibault Malézieux and Rémi Carles. Hair and fur were managed by Rémi Carles and Laura Guerreiro. Lucie Clément did the effects. The music was composed and performed by Jesse Haugen.
If the noOne studio has anything to prove, they’ve proved it. Bright futures await them all.
