Saturday, June 27, 2026

Nekonoi Katsu's Foray into Pokémon

It seems like it's a fine day to discuss about something "meta" to (Pokémon) cosplay - that is, not directly tied to a festival or convention - so I thought I'd do just that. In fact, one aspect that I don't mention very often on this blog is the cosplayers themselves... aside from yours truly, but this post will change that up a bit. Those who have read my blog might have come across the name mentioned in the title of this post on two occasions - the same one in fact, just separated by a year - and that name becomes the focus of this post, furthermore with relevance to Pokémon as the overarching focus of this blog.

Nekonoi Katsu (Instagram: @nekonoikatsu) is a well-known local cosplayer, specifically in my region of residence. She has gone international several times, one time of which is in 2017 as the country representative for the Tokyo Game Show (TGS) - which is incidentally around a year after I started this blog. She has also cosplayed as characters of various standings in profile, including of course Ara Akazora for the local festival in order to represent the main face of Japan Culture Daisuki. She has definitely made her mark.

And then comes her Pokémon dealings or "foray". Recently, she has become a featured cosplayer to promote the TCG locally, and that includes playing it - not an easy task, if one of the videos with her indicates. Going back to cosplay, she had taken up Canary, a recently introduced character through the Legends: Z-A game; it's a fascinating choice, given the various other characters from other fandoms that she has brought with her cosplay, many of which could be considered "edgy" somehow, especially this one.

Personally, I'm only glad to see another person taking up Pokémon cosplay, although the fact that the person is an established cosplayer is a big plus for me and her legion of fans - but I consider myself as a friend to her, rather than a fan. With that, the possibility of us somehow collaborating seems to be quite remote, even for matters related to Pokémon (cosplay), which in that case being friends to a certain degree is still fine for me.

While her foray into Pokémon is much more recent compared to my appreciation that has practically lasted since the beginning, with that foray, she could be considered to have "seen the light" as to what makes Pokémon so enticing and appealing to its fans. That seems to bode very well for her as much as that has always been the case for me, and that may just entrench Pokémon further in both of our respective circles.

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Friday, June 26, 2026

Let's Get Going Today, Again

Many moons ago, Pokémon Go introduced the Today View as an expansion of its Research feature. In fact, it kept on expanding and expanding and... it became rather loaded with its collection of sub-features by current times. As such, the development team decided to take on a rework of the feature, first testing it out for certain players (Trainers) before it was made available for everyone else. The latter had just in fact happened a couple of days ago, and now I'd like to discuss the changes that are involved in that effort.

Research as the "core" of Today View remains accessible by tapping the binoculars icon, but it is now within a single main tab on the right side. It does, however, contain sub-tabs for Field Research ("Today"), Timed Research ("Events"), and Special Research, organizing them in the process. The "Today" tab also still contains info of Pokémon put into different places (Gyms, Power Spots, and Showcases) and the two main streak progressions (capture and PokéStop spin); also, Special Research sets now have unique headings.

The left-side main tab, meanwhile, is now where Go Passes reside, an element that has now been made prominent. Their progressions and associated tasks are now effectively separated from Research proper, and in this way, they also don't interfere with Timed Research as they may have done before - especially if Deluxe track was purchased for any Go Pass, which gives a special interface background, otherwise it's the seasonal one. Needless to say, Research retains its characteristic "professor's table" background.

Game event-related information, most importantly, have been shoved onto a separate screen accessed from the main screen by tapping the calendar icon that also shows the date of the month. They cover the Daily Discoveries and other goings-on as usual, now with a "Learn More" button to show the events' news pages; community meetups are also indicated. While this does somewhat mean that a split has been involved, it also means that what is left as above on the screens is now able to show its relevance.

With the way that Today View has been around since its inception, it's quite natural for it to be restructured after all the additions that had been implemented within that time up to the present. So, that restructuring has happened, initially to test how it can ideally work for some, and now ideally for everyone else. Whether or not all of these still warrant the "Today View" name is up for debate, but there is no doubt that Trainers in Pokémon Go still need to get going each and every day, hopefully with its help.

Three years ago: This Is My Pokémon Way
Four years ago: Cosplay: Outfest 2022
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Thursday, June 25, 2026

Pokémon Champions: First Impressions

I'm actually a bit (or somewhat) late to this for reasons that will soon become clear, but it deserves to be discussed anyway. So, Pokémon Champions have graced both platforms of Nintendo Switch and mobile, and it's already set as the game on which competitive battling (being the realm of VGC) will take place this year. Even with my history of ups and downs with the format, since it's Pokémon, I still have a "stake" in it - and that is why I've also opted to download and install it. With that being done, I've chosen to give my initial impressions of how the game is presented to me and what I think of it.

Actually, the download had been made since April, being for the Nintendo Switch version since I have it on hand and my phone can't handle the mobile version since it's becoming full in any case. Yet I've only been able to touch the game recently due to other necessities and in part waiting on the mobile version to release and gauge interest based on that. Regardless, I was still able to get and claim the "early download" bonus and the Raichu Mega Evolution bonus for the launch of the mobile version.

Meanwhile, the game's initial content is a nice touch, with an overview/tutorial of how main series battles work for those who haven't had experience with them, and even more of them (perhaps they could be called the "Advanced Tutorial") in the Train section. The given Pokémon to battle with, including the free recruitment, is totally workable for those who might only start with this game - at least before sending others from Pokémon Home for a visit, which many fans are likely to have now.

The game's user interface is oddly reminiscent of Pokémon Unite in its early days with the layout of buttons on the main screen as well as its color scheme that has shades of purple and some orange, which perhaps may be the exact point of it all. The Trainer outfits also do have some resemblance, further tying in the similarity and the feel. Still, that may be par for the course when Pokémon training is a given.

Overall, the game being a "stub" from the main series games to serve battling purposes - it is a "battle client", after all - makes its intent quite clear. The fact that it is already being used for tournaments and has received updates to fix some things that are off for that purpose means that it's here to stay for the foreseeable time, and it should take some pressure off the main series games for actual competitive battling.

Still, it will take a little time for me to continue to explore its battles and features, especially now with the expanded player base that the mobile version offers. That will make itself evident in future posts, which should encapsulate my dealings with current and future Trainers and show what my champion potential is really like.

Six years ago: Uniting the Heart
Seven years ago: Evoked Emotions
Nine years ago: Four Notions
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Wednesday, June 24, 2026

When One and One Really Is Two

Baby show me 1+1=2
Show me all the things that you can do
Show me that you need me, show me that you love me
Baby show me 1+1=2
Baby show me 1+1=2
Show me all the things that you can do
Show me that you breathe me, show me that you hug me
Baby show me that 1+1=2
-- "1+1=2", Lou Bega

Several years ago, for a very numerically driven year, I ended the year with a reflective writeup that concerned the primary number in question. Along with that, I also brought in a comment from a certain musician (not the one which will soon become obvious) that a specific way of arithmetically mentioning the year may not always be how it seems. This time, I'm bringing back the philosophical topic in a truer sense and addressing it with other relevant Pokémon matters, as well as a related but perhaps lesser-known song by a singer who was momentarily popular for another song.

The song - stated as "one plus one is two" - in some ways does concern a "significant other" for which when one becomes together with that entity, there is the possibility of being able to do a lot of things - especially when the "significant other" is also capable of doing a lot of things as well, some that may be as mentioned in the chorus of the song as quoted above. This definitely bodes well for romance, which is the song's main intent, but it could also work for certain other things.

Certainly, some of those things could be Pokémon ones. A Trainer and a partner Pokémon make up a "two", as does two of the latter on one side of a Double Battle as well as the two sides of any battle in general, no matter how many people and Pokémon are on each side. Everyone and everything as mentioned have the capability to do great things together - in fact, those things could resemble the ones as mentioned in the above chorus, with or without romance somehow involved.

Meanwhile, contemporarily, many Trainers of certain fame are also linked to a specific partner Pokémon, which makes them significant for great things in all kinds of battles. Then, it's also possible for fans to collect merchandise items that belong together, between themselves and the fans in question. That makes for Pokémon twosomes that are significant for themselves and among others as well.

Philosophically, the previous writeup remains relevant, but it's hard to deny that one and one of something makes up two of those things. That applies even for Pokémon things, which can and do sometimes come in twos and make for great things. For that, to close off this post, another part of the same song makes for a great affirmation of truly "significant others", even for Pokémon by its many fans:

You're my my my number one
And not my my my number five
So please baby, please baby, please baby come
Please baby, come and get into my life!

Seven years ago: The Show Must Go On
Eight years ago: Jumping the 'Karp
Nine years ago: Married... to Pikachu?
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Tuesday, June 23, 2026

Café Remix 6th Anniversary: The Gap Year

Meanwhile, years have passed by for one of the games I addressed the other day, and this year marks the sixth year of that passage. Now that I've addressed it a couple of times, it seems fitting to continue to do that, moreover on its exact day - today, as I did last year (see below). Still, this passing of the years marks a particularly uneventful time for the game's history - one that can be termed as a "gap year", and that becomes a key point of the current discussion.

The "gap year" is of course due to a pending major update for the game, which is currently in development and has necessitated in-game events to be "reruns" in some sense. Obviously, that major update didn't make it in time for this anniversary - or to put it differently, it just needs more time than is possible for that timeframe (since it only started development two months ago). Either way, the content of the update as outlined in the previous post does need to be worked out properly, and that may be better off to be developed within the long run.

Yet it should be noted that the game's current anniversary is for when the game was first released as Café Mix; its "remix anniversary" that represents the Café Remix aspect comes later in the year. As such, there could be the possibility that the pending major update will make it in time for that instead, which would make it appropriately timed. Of course, there is always the possibility of the major update coming earlier (not as likely) or later (more likely than not) given the scope of the update and whatever is planned to satisfy the points of that update.

Whatever the case, it can be seen that a "gap" is established between the game's "original" and "remix" anniversaries regardless, whether there is new content being added as in past years or there is a pause going on for that, as in the current case of preparing for the next major update. It's a gap that can and has been filled with a lot of niceties then and now, and now more than ever, it seems to be up for another "gap-filling exercise" much like back then.

Having reached a full six years, Café Remix has served the food fantasies of puzzle-inclined Pokémon fans quite well with all the content in that time. Now as the game takes a break from new content for its major next step, it's taking an opportunity to fill the gap that is left along with other existing gaps when the major update is released to close up the taken "gap year".

Four years ago: 2000 Posts!!!
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Monday, June 22, 2026

Changing the Year Mention Convention

As part of their attribution, Pokémon games mention the year of their first release, which many players (Trainers) will have seen at least once when they start up the games in question. In the most recent time, however, this has changed to a somewhat radical approach, which would be... not mentioning it at all. This change might be a small thing, but it may be considered to have some implications, and therefore I thought about discussing it, how it applies (or has applied), and what this might mean for the Pokémon games in question.

Those who play Café Remix, Unite, and TCGP will likely have noticed this recently as they loaded up the respective games, looked toward the attribution notice on the title screen, and found that the year that is usually present there has gone missing - which is how I personally found out about it through playing said games. Again, it's a relatively small and recent change: for many, it may possibly go unnoticed, and not too long ago, the year had still been present on the games that I have mentioned above. It's also a sudden change after many, many years of maintaining the (previously) established convention.

The change can be considered to be in line with this year's big Pokémon anniversary, since if it really had been willed as such, it would have occurred a lot sooner - as in, even several years ago would have been a prime time for the change to occur. Meanwhile, the presence of the year that indicates a time that has somewhat passed might be perceived by some players (Trainers) as being something dated, so the removal of the year in a way also removes such a perception and allows the game to remain perceived as "current" even if it's not - as well as furthermore "relevant", which may be a bigger thing given a certain game.

A change in the way that attributions are made in certain works (for games and beyond) may be small, but it is still possible to draw out certain messages. In the case of the Pokémon games above - and others I might have missed - the change that is made with the removal of the year in the attribution can indicate that such a mention may not matter anymore given how long Pokémon in general has been around. What matters then would be the games continuing to make history, no matter what year it may be.

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Sunday, June 21, 2026

Cosplay: "Saturday's Remnants" & Asobi Stage

Me: OK, now we can talk about yesterday (or what was left of it) and something else for today.

Goh: Well. It's a happening weekend - except for what went on yesterday.

Ash: Yeah, you can say that.

Goh: So, what did happen yesterday?

Ash: I got to a place where a festival was supposed to happen, but it was empty.

Me: And then I found out it got delayed to next month because the place was not ready. You saw it, didn't you?

Ash: A little, I guess. 

Pikachu: Pi pika pika... ["I saw that too..."]

Ash: After that I just went for Community Day like you usually do.

Goh: OK, so that's that. Maybe you two will try to go to it when it happens then?

Me: We'll see. And I might try to do something about it.

Ash: I hope it can happen too. 

Me: Right. One more thing: I thought I'd get in this one instead of a local festival in my area, but it evidently blew up in our faces.

Goh: Maybe Community Day was the answer.

Ash: At the same time, if only I could be there for the local one...

Me: If I only knew. Let's move on - today we have another festival, the one with "stage" in the name.

Goh: Oh, the stage thing. It sounds like everything will happen there.

Ash: Yeah! It's at the mall rooftop at a little stage. I went there to check things out first.

Goh: Wait - doesn't this sound like the one from last year?

Ash: Um... it actually does. The poster even had the name of the school and its business festival.

Pikachu: Pi pika chu! ["All of that!"] 

Me: Well, there you go. But I have to say, I heard that this one doesn't have anything special (a competition) for characters, but they can still come if they want to.

Goh: OK, if that's the case, then what did you do instead?

Ash: I went to the card game shop to play a tile game with your other friends.

Me: It was planned anyway, and it's better than walking around for nothing.

Goh: Oh, that's new. I'm sure you had a good time.

Ash: Yeah, it was OK. Then I went back there and met many of your friends - character and more.

Goh: Looks like everyone wanted a good time. So... I guess the entertainment was dance groups, because of the "stage" thing.

Ash: I did see and hear a couple of them while I was outside with our friend's friends.

Me: And... that's about all you did, right?

Ash: Sure, before I went back to you. 

Pikachu: Pika chu. ["A full day."] 

Goh: Well, with whatever is (or was) left on both days, at least you two made it more than it seemed.

Ash: That's true.

Me: It could have been more, but that's the way things went.

Goh: I think more will definitely come.

Me: It sure will, so there will be things to be prepared for that.

Four years ago: The Fossil Cup of GBL
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