Pokémon

Last week, for my first Pokémon article, I looked at Pikachu, the most famous Pocket Monster of all, and the mascot of the entire franchise. This time, Nostalgic Worlds casts an eye over Pikachu’s evolved form, Raichu. Whereas Pikachu was partly based on a squirrel, Raichu’s basis has never been stated. The Pokédex refers to it as a Mouse Pokémon, so it is clearly a rodent of some kind. Its large feet, very long tail, and big, perky ears are reminiscent of a kangaroo rat, a hopping, desert-dwelling rodent.

Electricity constantly builds up inside Raichu’s body, particularly within its cheek pads. When this electricity reaches a high level, Raichu’s muscles are stimulated, and it becomes feisty and aggressive; one theory, according to the Pokédex, is that the electricity build-up is actually causing Raichu stress. Its electrical attacks may reach 10,000 volts, but it also discharges electricity from its broad, flat tail into the ground so that its own power does not harm it. Scorched patches of ground are, therefore, good signs that a Raichu lives nearby. If Raichu’s cheek pads run empty, it raises its tail to gather more electricity from the atmosphere.

Raichu’s design is effective because it looks more powerful than Pikachu without sacrificing too much cuteness. In fact, unlike many Pokémon evolutions, Raichu doesn’t look any meaner than its previous form, thanks to its friendly face and short, stubby, almost vestigial arms. Its name is a combination of rai (the Japanese word for ‘thunder’) and – as with Pikachu – the Japanese onomatopoeic word for the squeak of a mouse, chū.

Now, if you read my previous article, you may remember that Atsuko Nishida was tasked with developing a cute Pokémon that would evolve twice and that its final evolution should look ‘strong’. That cute Pokémon, of course, ended up being Pikachu, and, initially, there was supposed to be an evolved form after Raichu called Gorochu; the name comes from Goro-Goro, the Japanese onomatopoeia for rumbling usually used in the context of thunder. Nishida designed Gorochu to look like a ‘god of thunder’, with fangs and horns. However, during the development of Pokémon Red and Green, there was an issue with the size of the game data – there were too many three-stage families and not enough space on a Game Boy cartridge to fit them all. To save space, some Pokémon that were initially designed to evolve twice were made to evolve only once instead. Remember, Pikachu was not intended to be the face of Pokémon at the time, so its family was one of many evolutionary lines to be reduced.

In the sequel games, Pokémon Gold and Silver, several already-established Pokémon were given pre-evolved, or ‘Baby’, forms. A Pokémon that evolved into Pikachu, named Pichu, was created to complete the trinity. But that’s a story for another time.

In 2016, Pokémon Sun and Moon introduced the concept of regional variants – alternate forms of Pokémon species that differ from those found in the region where that particular Pokémon was introduced. The Pikachu that live in the Alola region look the same as Pikachu elsewhere, but when they evolve, they turn into a variation of Raichu that is not seen anywhere else in the Pokémon world. According to Shigeru Ohmori, director of Pokémon Sun and Moon, regional forms were inspired by cases of speciation induced by isolation, specifically mentioning the Galápagos Islands in the Pacific Ocean as a direct inspiration.

I should explain before I go any further that my first love is the natural world. My job involves animals, and I have written extensively about animals in the past – which is probably why I love fictional creatures such as Pokémon and trying to work out what inspired them. So indulge me, if you will, as I talk briefly about the Galápagos Islands and the animals that live there.

The creatures found on the Galápagos are similar to those on the South American continent, but almost all differ from them in several crucial details. The iguanas, rather than climb trees and eat leaves, swim in the ocean and feed on seaweed; the cormorants, instead of being capable fliers, possess such small, stubby wings that they can no longer take off; and the tortoises have become lumbering giants.

You see, most of the unique Galápagos fauna are descendants of animals that somehow made it to these lonely islands long ago from mainland South America, perhaps ferried there on floating rafts of vegetation or, in the case of birds, by flying. Once there, they changed, generation after generation, to suit their new homes until they had adopted their present form. For example, the cormorants, no longer harassed by ground predators, became flightless, while the iguanas, faced with little else to eat apart from abundant seaweed, adapted to swimming in the ocean.

The tortoises are of particular interest because even within the archipelago itself, there is considerable variety. With a bit of practice, you can tell which island a tortoise comes from just by looking at the shape of its shell. The differences between their shells result from an ancestral tortoise spreading out across the Galápagos Islands and becoming better adapted to the specific environments and food types found on each one. Those tortoises dwelling on well-watered islands, where there is plenty of lush ground vegetation on which to graze, have gently curved, rounded front edges to their shells, just above the neck. Those that live on more arid islands, meanwhile, have a sharp peak to the front of the shell, which enables them to crane their surprisingly long necks almost vertically upwards to reach the low branches of trees and shrubs.

Obviously, evolution in the Pokémon world works differently from evolution in the real world. But the principle of speciation seems roughly the same. If we assume ‘standard’ Raichu (the one that can be found in Kanto) is the ‘base’ form, then we can also assume that when it eventually came to live in the Alola region, at some unspecified point in the past, its form changed to suit the particular environment of its new home. Alolan Raichu has even more rounded edges than regular Raichu, with stumpier arms and puffier ears, making it seem even cuddlier. It also has darker skin (fur?) because, after all, he’s a tanned surfer dude. Pokémon researchers do not know exactly what caused these Raichu to look different, but they speculate that the weather, climate, and even the food of Alola all play a part. In fact, the people of Alola believe that Alolan Raichu came about because it ate too many sweet, fluffy pancakes!

Whatever the reason for their physiological change, the Raichu in the Alola region have also gained the ability to wield psychokinetic power. In fact, this Pokémon rarely walks or runs; instead, it gathers its psychic power in its tail and then rides around on it as if it were surfing through the air. It still uses electricity, but now it can use psychokinesis to control and aim its lightning attacks. Oddly, when Alolan Raichu rubs the electric sacs on its cheeks, a sweet aroma is unleashed.

Ken Sugimori asked Atsuko Nishida, who worked on the original Pikachu and Raichu designs, to come up with Raichu’s Alolan form in Pokémon Sun and Moon. Clearly, with this Pokémon, she went down a surfing route. Partly, this is because the Alola region is based on Hawaii, where surfing was invented and where a strong surfing subculture persists to this day. But I think it’s also because several surfing Pikachu have appeared in the franchise before – in the anime, as event giveaways, in Pokémon Snap, etc. These aren’t different forms of Pikachu – simply regular Pikachu on surfboards, or Pikachu that learn the move Surf. So maybe the Pikachu in Alola also like to surf, and when they evolve in this region, their tail actually turns into a surfboard!

But why does it release a sweet aroma from its cheeks? As Ken Sugimori recalls, ‘Nishida insisted that Raichu has always been cuter than people might think, so she came up with this insanely cute design. [Alolan] Raichu looked so soft and fluffy, so I asked, ‘What is this?’ And she told me that the motif behind the design was bread. (Laughs). It’s a Mouse Pokémon, so I did have to wonder what bread had to do with anything… (Laughs).’ The in-game lore of Alolan Raichu producing an aroma from its cheeks and the fact that some people believe that its evolution is induced by eating pancakes were added afterwards to tie in with its design inspiration. Though it’s never been stated anywhere, I do wonder if the food aspect of this Pokémon is a callback to the fact that Pikachu’s existence started as a Japanese rice cake. I’d like to think so.