Pokémon is celebrating its 25th birthday. Casio introduced a limited edition for the occasion

Tags: Presentation | Casio | Women's | Classic | Fashion

17.5.2021 | 6 MIN

Pokémon. A fictional world that has become a cultural phenomenon. The Pokémon world came from Japan in the mid-1990s, and whether you collected Pokémon, watched the TV show, played a game, read a manga, or tried to ignore them, they became part of our world. These pocket monsters infiltrated the world of watches easily as well, the latest addition from this series includes Baby-G Pikachu that celebrates the 25th anniversary of the Pokémon.

I never really fell through to the Pokémon wave myself, but I remember watching Ash, Pikachu, and the Team Rocket after school. My motivation was to try to delay my homework, but the cute Pikachu, who seemed almost invincible, still brings me fond memories of late childhood. And I won't get the theme song out of my head ...

But for some, it was a passion with everything. How many children got up on Saturday morning to watch a new episodes, memorized the names of all those monsters (there are almost 900 of them today) and wore a T-shirt with their favourite ones. It's amazing how this phenomenon can survive and still has the power to evoke enthusiasm.

Pokémon is celebrating its 25th birthday in 2021, and it's the perfect opportunity to introduce this story. And as it is customary in these story articles, we will get to look on the watches that comes with it.

The man who loved bugs

Behind the Pokémon mania is a man named Satoshi Tajiri, who was born in 1965 in Tokyo. As a child, he was an enthusiastic collector of beetles, as a teenager he fell for arcade games. That's why he published the handwritten magazine Game Freak, illustrated by Ken Sugimori, in the 1980s. But his dream was to make his own games. He therefore learned the basics of programming and Quinty's first game was born.

Then came the idea of a Pokémon. As Tajiri himself states, the inspiration was his passion for collecting beetles. It was also influenced by a popular series Ultraman, where small fighting monsters hidden in capsules appeared. Eventually, the portable game console Game Boy became the crystallizer, which gave Tajiri the idea of rivalry between players and their Pokémons.

Pokémon name is a combination of Pocket Monsters. The captured monsters were stored in the so-called PokeBall, a small box that their trainers carried in their pockets.

Tajiri presented the idea to the Nintendo, but it did not raise much enthusiasm. But because he already had a fairly successful gaming past, he got a chance and the first games were released in February 1996. Today, Nintendo is certainly happy for that ...

Satoshi Tajiri | © Nintendo Co. Ltd.

The story was based around a boy named Red, who travels the fictional world to catch and train monsters with special abilities. And on his travels he meets other trainers, with whom he fights through Pokémon.

A year later a comic book, a card game and a TV show were all introduced. It was the TV show that had a strong influence on the non-player world. The series focused on the character of the boy called Ash, who is determined to become the best Pokémon trainer. Unconventionally, Pikachu became his so-called starting Pokémon.

Squeaker with lightning-shaped tail

Pikachu is a type of Pokémon that has probably become the world's most famous and the Pokémon Company has chosen it as its mascot. It combines cuteness and strength. His success was due to the strong influence of the series, where he played one of the main roles.

Pikachu was also chosen as the mascot for its yellow color, which is easier for small children to recognize. You will not miss the Yellow Pikachu and its name is easy to pronounce. For many children's fans, however, he was above all the portrayal of a hero, to whom they found a close relationship also thanks to his cute face.

Pikachu. The name originated from two Japanese sound-painting words: ピ カ ピ カ (pikapika), marking for sparkling sound, andチ ュ ウ チ ュ ウ (chūchū),the sound made by the mouse. Japanese mice simply whistle differently.

The designer behind it all is Atsuko Nishida, then completed by Ken Sugimori, who animated the original Game Freak magazine and is the author of the first 150 or so Pokémon. Although Pikachu is most commonly compared to a mouse, it is more of a squirrel. Its strength lies in the electrical impulses with which he can hit his opponents.

In 2019, the Detective Pikachu movie appeared.

Interestingly, Pikachu can be male or female. The female Pikachu has a different tail end, resembling a heart. Soh's famous Pikachu is therefore masculine. In addition, Ash's Pikachu was unique in its strength and character. He didn't want to be hidden in the PokeBall like the others, so he became real companion to Ash. Although Pikachu doesn't say much. He expresses himself more precisely only by spelling his name, but thanks to the connection with his owner he can express everything he needs.

Pokémon (with a few exceptions) only make sounds of their names. In the series, you can come across a conversation of Pokémon such as: Pikachu pika pika. Bulbasaur bulba. Skveru skveru. Ratata ratata ratata. Carmander Carmander. Pika pika. But of course they understand each other. I probably don't have to translate any further.

Pokémon and watches

Once we know the most important things about Pokémon and Pikachu, let's go to the watches. You will find hundreds, maybe thousands of Pokémon-themed watches. As "geek" products, there have been thousands of them since the 1990s. You can still get many Pokémon watches on eBay or Amazon, especially those from Accutime Watch Corp., which focuses on licensed products from many brands, such as Disney, Marvel, Lucas Arts and, of course, the Pokémon Company.

Among the children's models, you will also find pocket watch models (Pocket Watch - Pokeball, you understand) with an engraving of Pokémon or placed on a pendant with a box in the shape of a Pokeball.

In addition to them, we also have more traditional watch brands here, which will present limited or special editions here and there. These include Seiko, which recently introduced the Pokémon Seiko 5 Sports. They didn't even get to every store, but they were available from Japanese sellers.

But let's look at another Japanese giant, Casio. Many still remember the year 2019, when Casio introduced the so-called paired models of men's G-Shock and women's Baby-G inspired by four well-known Pokémon characters.

In the same year, however, another special model called Casio x Pokémon BGD-560PKC-1 came. The side brand of the popular G-Shock celebrated its 25th birthday in 2019, and on that occasion Casio produced a digital Baby-G with Pikachu.

Launched in 1994, Baby-G was to be a women's version of the super-durable Casio G-Shock from the start. But they also became popular with children. Later, Casio Baby-G tried to introduce it into a slightly more mature concept, but to this day, playfulness, colours, smaller dimensions remain in many variants, and this simply determines women's Baby-G for a wider clientele than Casio had planned.

Baby-G GD-560 with Pikachu on the occasion of the 25th birthday of the Baby-G series.

Whether fans of Baby-G or Pokémon are children or adults, the fact is that the Baby-G BGD-560 with a Pikachu motif was a great success. Collectors were pleased with the design of the original game on the strap, after the display was lit, Pikachu appeared and the 25th anniversary was associated with the 25th position of Pikachu on the list of Pokémon. In addition, the watch had a special box in the shape of a Pokeball. Needless to say, the model is sold out.

Casio decided to continue with Pokémon models. In 2021, Pokémon celebrates its 25th birthday for a change. And so in the Baby-G series we have another monster for the collection. It's Pikachu again, but this time in the feminine! And also in another model, specifically Baby-G BA-110PKC-4AER.

BA-110 are a women's copy of G-Shock's GA-110 with a typical ana-digi dial layout. And although it is a slightly smaller model in terms of parameters, it is almost functionally the same. Here you will find world clock, 5 alarm clocks, a stopwatch (with an accuracy of 1/100 second), a countdown timer, LED lighting, 100-meter water resistance and, of course, impact resistance.

The design is tuned to a light sand color with pink accents. On the strap we can find the motif of a pink Pikachu with a heart-shaped tail (a symbol for the female version of this Pokémon), Lady Pikachu is also engraved on a case back and on the dial shows the number # 25 Pikachu position on the Pokémon list, but also the 25th birthday of this phenomenon. It come in a box in the shape of a Pokeball, and although Casio does not normally set limits for its special editions, it is not expected that there will be many of them and, above all, that they will not be here for a long time.

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