Pokémon Music Fest drops sick new music from new anime

When Pikachu is not perfecting his Thunderbolt on unsuspecting Pokémon, he’s actually practicing guitar. The beloved Pokémon absolutely killed a guitar solo — and other performances — during the Pokémon Music Festival in Japan on Friday. The Pokémon Company put on the music festival, featuring music from the new Pokémon Horizons: The Journey and other series, in the lead-up to the new anime’s Japanese debut in April.

Pikachu donated its talents. “Mazase Pokémon Master,”Opening song of the Japanese version Pokémon: Indigo League, the very first Pokémon anime sung by Rica Matsumoto, Ash’s voice actor. It’s a ripping tribute to Ash and Pikachu as they retire as Pokémon masters — nevermind that the first half of his solo sounds like a saxophone.

Pikachu also performed “Pikachu’s Song,” naturally. There’s no huge bottle of ketchup for Pikachu to climb, but there are plenty of nods to his favorite condiment. There were lots and lots of Pikachus dancing! Perhaps you remember this song from the Japanese version. Pokémon the Series: XY. The chorus line of Pikachus also performed during Japanese singer asmi’s “Dokimeki Diary,”The new opening song Pokémon Horizons: The Series. Paldean Pokémon Fuecoco, Sprigatito, and Quaxly bopped along on stage.

Not one to let Pikachu outshine it, Meowth performed on a moonlit stage in “Meowth’s Ballad,” also from the Pokémon XY era. The moving ballad is a little rough around the edges — it’s got that Meowth growl — but clearly Meowth rivals Pikachu in guitar skills. Team Rocket just finished closing out Pokémon Journeys: The SeriesMeowth stepped on the podium for her final song with one last hoorah.

All in all, there were about 14 songs performed from across the slate of Pokémon anime seasons — and it was a rousing success. All in all it was an amazing success. Pokémon Horizons: The Series is the end of an era as Ash steps aside for a new generation of Pokémon trainers, Liko and Roy. Even Ash’s friend Goh took the stage to help sing the Pokémon Horizons opening song “After the Rain” with Ash voice actor Rica Matsumoto.

The Pokémon Music Festival is just the first of two special shows The Pokémon Company has planned ahead of Pokémon Horizons: The Series. The second is called Pokémon Investigation Team, and it is expected to reveal new details on the new anime, which debuts in Japan in April.

We don’t know yet when. Pokémon Horizons: The Journeys will be released stateside — the English version of Pokémon Journeys: The SeriesNetflix continues to unravel the mystery.

Most of the performances are posted on Twitter via Pokémon’s Russian social media person, if you want to watch them all.