Imakuni?

"Imakuni?" (イマクニ?), is a name of a costumed character played by Tomoaki Imakuni and created for promotion and marketing of the Pokémon franchise, encompassing several of their products and services. Imakuni? frequently appeared in live promotional events conducted in Japan between 1997 and 2002, although his visibility has since declined.

Activities

Imakuni? has written songs for the Pokémon anime,[1][2] and is known for singing in Japanese commercials for the franchise.[3] He is also credited as a designer for Nintendo 64 game Pokémon Stadium[4] and Nintendo DS game Pokémon Ranger: Shadows of Almia.[5]

Imakuni? is listed as the illustrator on several cards for the Pokémon Trading Card Game.[6]

In 2003, he performed in the non-Pokémon related song Koi no Sube-Sube Manjū Gani (恋のスベスベマンジュウガニ), with animation produced by Creatures for Japanese television station NHK's program Minna no Uta. Like most of the Japanese Pokémon songs up to that point (including anime opening and ending songs), this was composed by Hirokazu Tanaka.[7]

While live appearances have declined, Imakuni?'s activity continued through a (now-defunct) blog run by Creatures Inc. as well as an active Twitter account.

Appearance

Over the years, he has had several costumes, all which have round, Mickey Mouse-style ears.

  1. Round ears, black costume with "イマクニ？" embroidered on the front. (1996–early 2000s)
  2. Curly round ears, black costume with "イマクニ？" on an LCD screen on the front of his costume.
  3. Round curly ears, silver costume with "イマクニ？" on the front of his costume.

Pokémon Trading Card Game

Imakuni? appears as an enemy in the Pokémon Trading Card Game for the Game Boy Color, as well as the game's 2001 Japan-exclusive sequel.[1] The game also features a Trainer Card of the same name, which has been ranked among the worst and strangest cards in the Pokemon Trading Card Game, due to its mechanic being harmful to the player who uses it.[8][2][3] A physical printing of the card was first distributed to 2,000 winners of a 1997 contest hosted by magazine CoroCoro,[3] where Imakuni? appeared in a two-page feature answering questions about the card game.[9] The Imakuni? card was later given an English reprint in the 2016 set Generations.[10]

The Imakuni? character as portrayed in Pokémon Trading Card Game was nominated for Strangest New Character in the 2000 Nintendo Power Awards.[11]

A related card, Imakuni?'s Doduo, was also released in the subsequent 2016 set XY – Evolutions.[12]

References
  1. Tapsell, Chris (16 September 2021). "The 20 best Pokémon games of all time". Eurogamer. Retrieved 9 March 2023.
  2. Stridiron, Christian (27 July 2020). "Pokemon's Stupidest & Funniest Cards Available to buy". Screen Rant. Retrieved 9 March 2023.
  3. Bravo, Miguel (5 July 2021). "Pokémon: esta es la carta más extraña del TCG" [Pokémon: This is the strangest card in the TCG]. IGN (in Mexican Spanish). Retrieved 9 March 2023.
  4. "Pokémon Stadium Credits". Giant Bomb. Retrieved 9 March 2023.
  5. "Pokémon Ranger: Shadows of Almia Credits". Giant Bomb. Retrieved 9 March 2023.
  6. "Pokémon TCG Card Database". Pokemon.com. Retrieved 9 March 2023.
  7. "恋のスベスベマンジュウガニ" [Love's Smooth Manger Crab]. NHK Minna no Uta (in Japanese). NHK. Retrieved 19 July 2023.
  8. Galloway, Ryan (11 September 2021). "The worst Pokémon cards of all time". Dot Esports. Retrieved 9 March 2023.
  9. "するイマクニだ1 ところでイマクニって何者なのマ" [It's Imakuni 1: By the way, who is Imakuni?]. CoroCoro Comic (in Japanese). October 1997. pp. 44–45.
  10. "Imakuni? | Generations | TCG Card Database". Pokemon.com. Retrieved 9 March 2023.
  11. "2000 Nintendo Power Awards Nominations". Nintendo Power. No. 142. March 2001. p. 97.
  12. "Imakuni?'s Doduo | XY – Evolutions | TCG Card Database". Pokemon.com. Retrieved 9 March 2023.
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