Pikachu is often seen as an iconic character that transcends mediums. Much like Mickey Mouse or Bugs Bunny, it would be incredibly difficult to find a person who doesn’t recognize the adorable electric mouse, whether it’s from the Pokemon TV series, the monumental Pokemon games, or the hilarious Pikachu memes found around the internet. Now Pikachu has found themselves collaborating with another meme star to create a new, catchy song that will have listeners grinning from ear to ear.
This new song comes only a few weeks after the announcement that Japan’s annual Pikachu Outbreak festival had been canceled due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The yearly festival is a fun event where people take to the streets dressed in Pikachu costumes and participate in activities like dances and eat Pikachu-themed food.
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However, just because Pikachu Outbreak has been canceled for 2020, that doesn’t mean that Pikachu won’t be getting their groove on this year. Viral star Pikotaro, perhaps best known for his song PPAP (Pen Pineapple Apple Pen) four years ago, shared his newest song, “PIKA to PIKO,” earlier today on YouTube featuring Pikachu. In the description for the video, Pikotaro explains that he and Pikachu wanted to create something that would “make everyone smile and have fun at home.”
The music video is an absolute delight from start to finish. Pikachu dons the iconic sunglasses and leopard print scarf of Pikotaro as they dance and sing together. Seeing that Pikachu only knows how to say one thing (unlike Ryan Reynolds’ depiction in Detective Pikachu, who can speak in full sentences), Pikotaro takes it upon himself to try and translate. This leads to funny exchanges where Pikotaro translates Pikachu’s words into phrases like “Mushroom…Finland…In the future…Take out…Knee.”
Of course, it wouldn’t be Pikachu if there wasn’t a little electricity in the air. During the chorus section, Pikotaro and Pikachu dance, and the famous mouse lets a few sparks fly, shocking Pikotaro similar to the many times viewers have seen Ash get zapped in the Pokemon anime. Some fun vocal effects on Pikotaro’s voice compliment these sequences, adding a little more character to the romp.
The video already has almost 50,000 views in less than 24 hours, and has been a wonderful start to the week. While this is probably a one-time collaboration, it’s hard not to hope for more content like this from Pikachu and Pikotaro. Maybe if this song takes off, Pikotaro could appear for a dancing sequence of some kind in Detective Pikachu 2 with Ryan Reynolds saying tons of random words.