The Greatest Box Legends In The History Of PKMN Expanding Canon Beyond The Stars And Dimensions To Limitless Future Possibility Contrastively Juxtaposing Light Duality Themes, Hyperimagination, Fantasy x Realism, History, Magic/Soul Of Design, Multi-Demographic Balance, Lore, Complex Mythology Origins x Significance, Region Synergization, Religion, Alchemy, Mysticism, Culture, And Natural Zenith Pantheism By Its Golden Sun God Machismo Galileo Lion Solgaleo And Moon God Silvery Femininity Bat Lunala Parenting A Cosmo[g]logy x Astrology Star-Child Baby Of Big Bang Limitless Possibility Leading Tapu’s Representing Indigenous Culture And Polynesian Gods Of Nature Defending Native Land Against Ultra Beasts Of Allegorical Brilliance Darkly Metaphorizing The Invasion! Of Whites And Each Type Of Genocidal/Plague/Gentrification/Commercialism Evil Through Their Own Faux Christian Hypocrisy Lens Of Sin While Also Positively Laying Future Hope For Multiculturalism And World [Nature-Harmonized] Peace By Luna/Solga’s Civil War UB Deification, Competitive Reimagination By Traditional Fire-Dances x Kaiju x Dragon Ball Z Super-Saiyan OHKO Z-Moves, & A1 Haku Hana Regional Variants True To OG-Remix Spirit Of Mega Ev. Reimagining Gen. I And Bestowing Everlasting Creative Life Protecting Pokémon’s Reign As Biggest Media Franchise For All-Time And Highlighting Ecology And [While Also Taking Crown: The Best Celebration Of Science in The History Of Video Games By Its Synergy With Darwin’s Galapagos Islands x Finches Creating The Evolution/Speciation That is Basis For The Game’s Feature] The Breathtakingly Idyllic Tropical Polynesia x Fiji x Maldives x Caribbean x Hawaii Paradise’s Aestheticization x Culture Respecting Indigenous Tribes And Bleeding A Heart-On-Sleeve Through Every New Feature From Pokéagriculture Pelago To Surf ‘Mons, Life-Infused Energy Of Fun/Adventure Even Down To The Color Palette Vibrance, Mystery Friend-Or-Foe Angelicized-Iconography Conservationism All-White Jazzy Dubstep Retrofuturistic Architecture Aether Foundation Bringing Into Play Themes Of The Hypocrisy Of ‘Woke’ Corporate Performative Activism And The Duality Beauty-And-Blood Of Nature x Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde / Freudian Id Vs. Ego Vs. Superego Iceberg Theory Model Of Mankind And Corporations Not Our Friends And Whom They Say They Are Flipping Gladion From Villain To Antihero And If/When Man Should Interfere With Nature As Well As Complex Physics x Philosophical Dissertation On Cosmology From Medicine/Alchemy Purity To Light To Gravity To Space Going Back To Newton And Greek Mythology x Platonian/Aristotle’s The Academy, And Goofy Yet Adv. IQ Colonization/Appropriation Spoof And Youth Culture x Island Fever x Tradition Old Vs. New School White Entitled Rage And Dark Dysfuncational Abusive Childhood Themes For Redemption Character Arc Villain Team Skull & Guzma, Character [A+ Overall From Perhaps The Most Beautifully & Richly Character-Developed Protagonist New Gen Motherhood And N 2.0 Princess Of Childhood Agency And Rich Kid Vs. World Through A Growing Up Allegory By Cosmog In Lillie To Infectious Energy Brown-Ash 3.0 Joie-De-Vivre But Coming-Of-Age True To Self All-Time Rival Hau To Aether Jellyfish Bond Villain x Femme Fatale And Treatise On Motherhood And Conservationism/Charity Exposition And Colonialism By White 2001: ASO Alien Exposition x Childhood Abandonment x Found vs. Real Family x Runaway Rejected Motherhood A+ Horror Frozen In Time Wealth Exposition Citizen Kane Rosebud Dynamic Reversal Statue x Serial Killer Trophy x Mr. Freeze x Unrelenting Widow Love Story Collector Possible UB-01 In Disguise Lusamine In A Story Of N-Zoroark-Like Crux Rosemary’s Baby x Jennifer’s Body x Invasion Of The Body Snatchers x The Exorcist x Alien(s) x Ring x Ju-On AKA The Grudge x The Babadook Invasion Of Body Snatchers 1979 Alien(s) Motherhood Pregnancy Abortion Childbirth Bioterror Ohana x Home In The Best [And Darkest] Story In PKMN Only #2 To B/W, Sun/Moon *Comprehensively* & Boldly Reimagine Everything We Know Of Pokémon [While Also Time-Capsulizing It With Tons Of References To All Gens. 1-6] – A Fun New Island Flavor Remix Of Pocket Monsters W. Masterpiece Potential, Surf-Wave ~Capsized By Bizarre Lag, Non-Chibi Viz Charm Dilution, Hyper-Nerf Of Difficulty By Awful Dumb-Downs Like Forced Type Effectiveness Display And A 10x G/S/C Broken Level Curve, Overly-Selective [Old News] Ride PKMN, Mixed Score Of Brilliance Twinges But Often-Lazy x Forgettable Non-Cultural Sounds, Overly-Humanoid/Bipedal/Genderized All Mixed-To-Bad Starter Final Evos Wasting Adorable Preliminary Formes With The Worse Mid Formes Ever, And Polarizing Island Challenge. 9.5/10.

The Greatest Box Legends Ever Made, Z-Moves, Haku Hana V2’s, Tropical Paradiso, Polynesian Culture, Ohana x Colonialsm x Tradition x Conservation x Parenthood x Woke x Corporatism x Aether x Cosmology Story Of A1 Themes/Characters. 9.2/10.

…

Plot Synopsis: Embark on a new adventure as a Pokémon Trainer and catch, battle, and trade all-new Pokémon on the tropical islands of the Alola Region. Discover the Z-Moves and unleash these intense attacks in battle. Call upon Pokémon with Poké Ride to discover new areas across the region and take on the Island Challenge Trials to become the Pokémon Champion! Discover the mystery of the Legendary Pokémon while stopping Team Skull from causing chaos throughout the land.

*Possible spoilers ahead*

Official CLC Review

7. Lucky in the vast majority of world cultures and religions, the numerology of VII holds rare significance. Generations-wise though of a single franchise, it signalizes potential exhaustion: running on fumes to continually reimagine, innovate, and create new for any fictional world/lore. This is 10x more so in the world of video games: a medium not especially accustomed to reigns like this, requisite of legions more employees and man-hours than pointing a camera at live-actors reading lines off a script. Pocket Monsters made it to this mountaintop, but the question is: could they pull an [electric mouse/] rabbit out of a hat in their seventh go-round? Les plus défecteux starters (sans Greninja) and protagonist-troupe, poorly-aestheticized villain team retread, previous gen. resurgence > new experience, and postgame of ~nonexistence ne peux kill pas life/death/order XYZ themes prismatized through S-tier legends, omen ecology x darwinism x resources x biblical god-complex sin/genocide x celebrity worship x consumerism x devolution of culture x marxism hopeless-romantic, utopia-quixiotic, beauty-preservantionist noble lion x fiery-yet-autumnal-cool passion flame tech mogul Lysandre, breathtaking Paris Cosmopolitan Metropolis euradventure region w. grandiose Baroque/Rom XVI 3D Architecture x hyper-français-realism x tourisme-gentrification allegory: Kalos, heartbreaking AZ arc, luxe classical symphony and perfectly-goldilouxe chibi vibrance A/V, creativity-injection x demographic expansion x meta-rebalance genius in [fairy-tale story synergized] new type: fairy, & the G.O.A.T. feature addition remixing and modernizing beloved fave classics: Mega Evolution – an epic x ambitious X/Y with more than enough +’s to (dramatically) wash away the -‘s. The growing maturity, seriousness, and weighty IQ-analytical directions/ideas of the franchise [the past three generations being: religion and the very mechanisms of the universe (Sinnoh), truth v. idealism x liberation x politics x civilization x law x violence x slavery x love x diversification of perspective (Unova), and ecology x darwinism x resources x celebrity worship x consumerism x devolution of culture x marxism x genocide (Kalos] was beginning to alienate younger demographics who couldn’t – and shouldn’t – be playing games with as dark and complex themes as this, and was beginning to create a rocky path of sales figures in progressive decline by sheer magnitude of inability to balance generations of players and customers. Could they find a way to fire on all cylinders and honor the contrastive juxtaposition/perspective of what these demographics want (& demand) in their game? S/M proves: yes.

The Greatest Box Legends In The History Of PKMN Expanding Canon Beyond The Stars And Dimensions To Limitless Future Possibility Contrastively Juxtaposing Light Duality Themes, Hyperimagination, Fantasy x Realism, History, Magic/Soul Of Design, Multi-Demographic Balance, Lore, Complex Mythology Origins x Significance, Region Synergization, Religion, Alchemy, Mysticism, Culture, And Natural Zenith Pantheism By Its Golden Sun God Machismo Galileo Lion Solgaleo And Moon God Silvery Femininity Bat Lunala Parenting A Cosmo[g]logy x Astrology Star-Child Baby Of Big Bang Limitless Possibility Leading Tapu’s Representing Indigenous Culture And Polynesian Gods Of Nature Defending Native Land Against Ultra Beasts Of Allegorical Brilliance Darkly Metaphorizing The Invasion! Of Whites And Each Type Of Genocidal/Plague/Gentrification/Commercialism Evil Through Their Own Faux Christian Hypocrisy Lens Of Sin While Also Positively Laying Future Hope For Multiculturalism And World [Nature-Harmonized] Peace By Luna/Solga’s Civil War UB Deification, Competitive Reimagination By Traditional Fire-Dances x Kaiju x Dragon Ball Z Super-Saiyan OHKO Z-Moves, & A1 Haku Hana Regional Variants True To OG-Remix Spirit Of Mega Ev. Reimagining Gen. I And Bestowing Everlasting Creative Life Protecting Pokémon’s Reign As Biggest Media Franchise For All-Time And Highlighting Ecology And [While Also Taking Crown: The Best Celebration Of Science in The History Of Video Games By Its Synergy With Darwin’s Galapagos Islands x Finches Creating The Evolution/Speciation That is Basis For The Game’s Feature] The Breathtakingly Idyllic Tropical Polynesia x Fiji x Maldives x Caribbean x Hawaii Paradise’s Aestheticization x Culture Respecting Indigenous Tribes And Bleeding A Heart-On-Sleeve Through Every New Feature From Pokéagriculture Pelago To Surf ‘Mons, Life-Infused Energy Of Fun/Adventure Even Down To The Color Palette Vibrance, Mystery Friend-Or-Foe Angelicized-Iconography Conservationism All-White Jazzy Dubstep Retrofuturistic Architecture Aether Foundation Bringing Into Play Themes Of The Hypocrisy Of ‘Woke’ Corporate Performative Activism And The Duality Beauty-And-Blood Of Nature x Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde / Freudian Id Vs. Ego Vs. Superego Iceberg Theory Model Of Mankind And Corporations Not Our Friends And Whom They Say They Are Flipping Gladion From Villain To Antihero And If/When Man Should Interfere With Nature As Well As Complex Physics x Philosophical Dissertation On Cosmology From Medicine/Alchemy Purity To Light To Gravity To Space Going Back To Newton And Greek Mythology x Platonian/Aristotle’s The Academy, And Goofy Yet Adv. IQ Colonization/Appropriation Spoof And Youth Culture x Island Fever x Tradition Old Vs. New School White Entitled Rage And Dark Dysfuncational Abusive Childhood Themes For Redemption Character Arc Villain Team Skull & Guzma, Character [A+ Overall From Perhaps The Most Beautifully & Richly Character-Developed Protagonist New Gen Motherhood And N 2.0 Princess Of Childhood Agency And Rich Kid Vs. World Through A Growing Up Allegory By Cosmog In Lillie To Infectious Energy Brown-Ash 3.0 Joie-De-Vivre But Coming-Of-Age True To Self All-Time Rival Hau To Aether Jellyfish Bond Villain x Femme Fatale And Treatise On Motherhood And Conservationism/Charity Exposition And Colonialism By White 2001: ASO Alien Exposition x Childhood Abandonment x Found vs. Real Family x Runaway Rejected Motherhood A+ Horror Frozen In Time Wealth Exposition Citizen Kane Rosebud Dynamic Reversal Statue x Serial Killer Trophy x Mr. Freeze x Unrelenting Widow Love Story Collector Possible UB-01 In Disguise Lusamine In A Story Of N-Zoroark-Like Crux Rosemary’s Baby x Jennifer’s Body x Invasion Of The Body Snatchers x The Exorcist x Alien(s) x Ring x Ju-On AKA The Grudge x The Babadook Invasion Of Body Snatchers 1979 Alien(s) Motherhood Pregnancy Abortion Childbirth Bioterror Ohana x Home In The Best [And Darkest] Story In PKMN Only #2 To B/W, Sun/Moon *Comprehensively* & Boldly Reimagine Everything We Know Of Pokémon [While Also Time-Capsulizing It With Tons Of References To All Gens. 1-6] – A Fun New Island Flavor Remix Of Pocket Monsters W. Masterpiece Potential, Surf-Wave ~Capsized By Bizarre Lag, Non-Chibi Viz Charm Dilution, Hyper-Nerf Of Difficulty By Awful Dumb-Downs Like Forced Type Effectiveness Display And A 10x G/S/C Broken Level Curve, Overly-Selective [Old News] Ride PKMN, Mixed Score Of Brilliance Twinges But Often-Lazy x Forgettable Non-Cultural Sounds, Overly-Humanoid/Bipedal/Genderized All Mixed-To-Bad Starter Final Evos Wasting Adorable Preliminary Formes With The Worse Mid Formes Ever, And Polarizing Island Challenge.

Alola. From the very reveal of the word to the fandom c. 2016, it was clear what the aestheticization and real-world inspiration of Sun/Moon was going to be: Hawaii. Alo[h]a to new adventure, this decision was an absolute zenith masterstroke of brilliance; the vast majority of regions [except Hoenn] in Pocket Monsters are landlocked by city-dominance, especially the last two regions of Unova (New York City) and Kalos (Paris, France). What could be more refreshing and better than a vacation to the islands?! Going complete 180, it’s nice to see PKMN recognize and return to its roots: a biological exploration adventure wherein nature and its wonders take the spotlight – what better place to do that in than the masterpiece biome and most beautiful genre of natural landscape: the azure crystal waters, lush green jungles, orange-pink sunsets, fruity liquer drinks, rainbows, wildflowers, towering palm trees, and white sandy beaches of tropical paradise? Alola is a region of pure natural splendor, magnificence, and breathtaking awe: in fact, it might be the overall-best region in the series if taken on terms of wild areas x environmentalism > manmade architecture x city life. Though it clearly evokes Hawaii by its overall four island major design and touches, Alola can also be seen to reference and yield influences from tropical islands all over the world: French Polynesia, The Carribbean, Fiji, Bora Bora, The Maldives, Florida, California, etc.: a major difference when contrastively-juxtaposed to the comparatively-landlocked regions of past and one brought to life by the subtlest of nuances: lusher greens, more turquoise blues, hyperdetailed stars, increased realism in biomes with +’s like steeper elevation changes, flora-and-fauna diversification, the new feature addition of sunsets and sunrises [a genius + highlighting and emphasizing the superior experiences of ones in the islands], and stark dearth of skyscrapers and smoggy cityscapes only further accentuating and eulogizing the reign and majesty of nature.

An archipelago made up of five (5) islands, Alola consists of four natural ones: Melemele, Akala, Ula’ula, & Poni and one artificial manmade one: Aether Paradise. Nature is definitely given top precedence and reigns supreme here: the vast majority of the region is wild, mountainous, forested, or aquatic – with 17+ routes [~2X as many civilizational settlements: 9] and many other non-classified secretive or hidden wild areas like Akala Outskirts, Poni Grove, and Resolution Cave. Heck, we even begin our adventure not in one of the city or town but on Route 1 for the first time ever in the series to establish this crux theme from the very opening flickers of the game… plants cannot be cut or usably HM’d… there isn’t even a PKMN League or Gyms either (!!!), again hugely ambitious, unprecedented, avant-garde evolutions/reinventions of the series all in service of establishing the biological wonders of the world around as the core defining feature of the region across its very different islands. From the quaint home village of Iki Town to epic mountain trek Mahalo Trail past stone monoliths to a deitic shrine at the Ruins Of Conflict and rustic thatched shack Pokémon Laboratory to the region’s biggest city in Hau’oli City (with old features like beachfront and marinas and cemetaries alongside expanded ones like a far bigger trainer school and new ones for the series to enliven the realism: outskirts, shopping districts, city halls, tourism offices, governmental buildings, etc.), underwater volcanous Ten Carat Hill, plantation-evocative Berry Fields, oceanic Seaward & Sandy Caves, lagunaous Kala’e Bay, Big Wave Beach, beautiful evergreen mossy trial site Verdant Cavern, and yellow flower Meadow, Melemele Island is steeped nature yet features the least extreme environments – a nice welcome note to the region we begin our adventure on. Next, Akala Island dials up the vacation parallels and wild tropical feel, yet also housing the most human dwelling settlements of the region; from the breathtaking tropical Heahea City [best cityscape of the region] housing tourist beaureas and multiple hotels like the niche Tide Song Hotel and mega five star Grand Hano Resort (clearly satirical of major hotel chains, especially Grand Hyatt yet also commentating on how much capital they have to be able to create masterpiece architecture like the mediterranean versailles garden atlantis-themed orange-green one here, complete with billion dollar water pools/walkways, a private beach, and own golf course) to an interdimensional research lab 10x foundationalizing the Hoenn parallels to breathtaking aptly-named lush jungles in Routes 4 and 5 [far more realistic and btropical even down to new vegetation and flora types] to olde western Paniola Town, farm/plantation Paniola Ranch, cascading waterfalls in Brooklet Hill, flower jardin Royal Avenue with fight night club Battle Royale Dome, molten lava ashy volcano Wela Volcano [even more Hoenn references/parallels], Pikachu Valley, dark cavernous Diglett Tunnel, bizarre second grave site (first-ever in PKMN) in a region Memorial Hill, pink flowery Ruins Of Life, and shinto-buddhist Chinese-Japanese city Konikoni we love by its reference and continual heart-on-sleeve eulogization of the origins of where PKMN came from.

Ula’ula Island is the largest of the Alola region and most varied in weather and topography, with significantly roughter and wilder terrain areas and comparatively few settlements for its land mass – all in the shadow of a contiguous mountain range in the heart of its center. Malie City 1-ups Konikoni’s Eastern influence and celebration with pagodas and torii and edo-style Japanese gardens to really tie even a far-off tropical island nation in the middle of the sea of the PKMN world into its cultural origins alongside new series features like a garbage center breathing sustainability synergized with the island lifestye and community center alongside a library and farmers’ market with local handmade products for sale. There’s also mount hokulani and mount lanakila – unexpected diversification of topography bringing snow to the islands through intelligent altiduinal justification – housing an observatory of the stars with an electrical trial site and sacred spot of the higest peak in all of alola at hokulani and the newly-constructed [during the events of our journey: a contemporary mega-design with a masterpiece champion chamber of glass dome overlooking the entire region as one of our favorite areas in the history of Pocket Monsters, extremely fresh and new making it all the more special with us being the first challenger and champion] PKMN League. Blush Mountain yet again dramatically shakes up the diversity with another completely unexpected terrain: rocky canyons and geothermal powerplants [again playing into the sustainability and respect for the blessings of nature theme] on way to an even crazier unpredictable biome in the arabian sand-sea with mirage-like tropical palm trees fringing the dunes of Haina Desert with the Ruins Of Abundance. Why stop there? There’s a marsh-swampy rainy lowlands and misty red flower meadow too. There are plenty of pure tropical areas too – from the breathtaking polynesia-exclusive characteristic famous black sand beach of Route 14 and spooky tapy village x thrify abandoned megamart ghost trial site of a haunted decrepit crumbling grocery store/shopping-complex giving new dark flavor to the bolack sand beach to epic water-routes like 15 surfing between the islands and private secluded beaches, and lakes housing ancient old structures with broken pillars feeling almost Spear Pillar Arceus-esque in the lake of The Sunne/Moone.

Last of the natural ones is Poni Island. Again with complete idiosyncrasy to its Alolan kin, Poni features an arid wasteland feel for much of the eponymous terrain: the Wilds, Grove, Breaker Coast, [Grand-esque] Vast Canyon, Path, etc. spiced with indigenous tribal Mexican x Aztec x Mayan x Native American flavor and design touches down to the stucco and architecture, yet the most sparsely populated only accentuating the lost civilization ancient mystical feel perhaps most prevalent in the lilac flower paradise of Poni Meadow. The one major settlement area [besides the Battle Tree post-game] is an epic fantasy worldbuild: the Pirates Of The Caribbean evocative (seriously, was looking for Jack Sparrow around every corner) Seafolk Village of mecha ships built floating atop the water. Finally, there’s Aether Paradise: a hyperfuturistic artificial manmade island and masterpiece of strikingly-advanced contemporary architecture and cutting-edge design [I say this owning an Architecture & Design firm and LLC myself; truly Digest cover-worthy, nothing I’ve ever seen like it] counterbalance juxtaposing white/gold/black Greek mythological grandeur/warmth with cool blue sterility/despondency touches purposeful to the story and themes of its crew x founder, top-secret mystery labs shrouded in foggy greys, and breathtakingly lush green wild tropical paradise natural conservation areas – easily one of CLC’s Official Top 5 Pokémon Settings Of All-Time and one of the most incredible feats of VG architecture and worldbuilding we’ve ever witnessed” why we love video games’ ability to create beyond the limits of imagination and logistics like the tens of billions of dollars and veritable decades it would’ve taken to construct something like this in real life. Alola is a majestic region easily the greatest-ever in terms of natural awe; even beyond the A+ execution of each breathtaking tropical scene we come to expect by the aestheticization, there is [honestly-impossible, but we definitely endorse it being a fantasy series that makes the adventure and experience 10x better] insane diversification of topography and biomes: rocky canyons, old western towns, fiery volcano lava plumes, flowery meadows, wet marshy lowlands, snowy mountain peaks, & more. Every one of them has a distinct personality given even further refraction and fresh remix by the light in-game by hte day/night/sunrise/sunset cycles – understandable, as we’ll get to later, being the foundational crux theme of the generation from legendary to story – and makes for a brilliant VG vacation the most refreshing x blood pressure relaxing x eye candy we’ve experienced since Super Mario Sunshine (2001).

The key difference between S/M and the aforementioned venture of our favorite plumber, as well as Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald/ORAS evoking tropical rainforest vibes earlier on but not nearly as pronunciable or wide-spanning as this, is one aspect: culture. Sun/Moon – we at CLC would certainly argue – is one of the most celebratory and inspired video games of world culture ever made. Again, like X/Y did prognosticating with nostdramusian vision tech conglomerate monopolization of power and money as well as the tik-tok celebrity obsession and climate change crisis, S/M/USUM predicts and predates while laying foundational early on what would become a definitive principle in the Media & Entertainment industry in the 2020’s: ‘Woke’. Only, instead of girlbossing, mary sueing, queerbaiting, race-swapping, hate-mongering whites and the patriarchy, etc. as have become hallmarks of the social-marxism ideology/movement ~ruining television and movies by its ham-fisted, one-sided ideological [N would not approve; did no one get the core message of Black/White?], stilted political forcisure into every single line of dialogue, perpetuated by corporations and execs with infinitely more sins (talking down from a high-horse while willfully ignoring and failing to address the toxicity within their own industry/organizations from Epsteinian pedophilia to Weinsteinian misogyny to private jet climate pollution) than the average joe and zero interest in social justice beyond virtue-signaling and exploiting naive tween demographics for higher shareholder profits, Sun/Moon [while also predicting and chastizing the above corporations symbolized by the Aether Foundation, as we’ll get to later on] effortlessly and *naturally* achieves what was the original – praiseworthy – intention and founding principle of ‘Woke’: diversifying, spotlighting, and celebrating minority cultures. Sun/Moon/USUM are the biggest celebrations of a minority culture we’ve ever seen by a major franchise of pop-culture significance.

Let’s start with etymology the name of the region and islands: Alola being not only a reference to the traditional Hawaiian word used for greetings Aloha [derived from ‘ola’ meaning life and beyond use as a greeting also signifying a respect and love for the shared life force between all, a major crux theme of the games honoring this natural perspective at the very heart of the real-world region its modeled after’s culture and belief system; also the name AlolA being a palindrome further eulogizes this perspective of the balance and order of nature] but each of the four major islands being named after a color in native Hawaiian languages + modeled after a real-life Hawaiian island in every aspect. Melemele is the Hawaiian word for yellow, and is based on the real-world island of O’ahu – from the yellow nectar found in the region and O’ahu’s official island color being golden yellow (working it through endless references even down to the kahuna and guardian’s colors) and official flower being Ilima [the exact name of its trial captain] to honoring its name’s translation as ‘the gathering place’ being the island we first start our adventure on having just moved there with our family and meeting the native people [+ all gates on the island being permanently open to signify welcoming the gather ing of everyone always] to unbelievable attention-to-detail modeling every. single. area of the island to a real-world O’ahu counterpart: Hau’oli City being modeled after Honolulu (the state capital of Hawaii and Alola, synergistically) down to the Hau’oli beachfront matching up with Waikīkī beach, Shopping District with Ale Moana (largest mall in Hawaii), Marina with Ala Wai harbor, Cemetary with Nanakuli, Harbor with Pearl Harbor, Outskirt to Kai, and famous Trainer’s School to the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa; Berry Fields are also modeled after and exactly correspond geographically with Dole Plantation (the largest pineapple plantation in the world), Mahalo Trail with ‘Aiea Loop Trail, Ikir Town with Wahiawā, Verdant Cavern with Kaneana Cave, Melemele Meadow with Kualoa Ranch, Ten Carat Hill with Diamond Head Lē’aji [Necrozma’s appearance here later in-game referencing a historical belief by western sailors that the calcite crystals near the mountain were diamonds], Seaward Cave with Mermaid Cave, Kala’e Bay with Hanauma Bay, Big Wave Beach with Hale’iwa Beach Park, Melemele Sea with Kaiwi Channel, and Ruins Of Conflict with the Pi’i O Mahuka heiau (largest O’ahu heiau [religious sites where indigenous Hawaiians cperformed rituals to their gods and mana divine energy is transferred – exactly the same as the games with the ruins being ritual sites wherein stone monoliths signify this mana and rituals and tributes are done by the kahuna to the island guardian spirits meant to symbolize and directly based on gods of each island with themes of design referencing them and their island’s ideology: like Pi’i O containing a luakini sacrificial altar meant to bring success during times of war, symbolized by Tapu Koko’s gold/orange feathered rooster appearance just like their god of war Kū and also referencing cockfighting. WOW]).

Continuing the trend with just as much surgical precision and genius x authenticity, Akala Island is based on the real-world Hawaiian island of Maui, even down to its name translating to pink: the official island color of Maui and the color of the nectar and flower fields on Akala and Maui. Hea Hea City is based on Kahului, Brooklet Hill on Kanaha Pond (a state wildlife sanctuary), Pikachu Valley on ‘Lao Valley, Paniola Town on Makawao Community (known to be dominated by agriculture and ranch lands just like Haleakala – the largest ranch on Maui and the basis for Paniola Ranch), Royal Avenue Shops on Wailea, Digglet’s Tunnel on Olowalu Tunnel, Konikoni City on Lāhainå (where Chinese immigrants worked on local sugar cane plantations historically for synergy with the obvious Chinese influences on Konikoni in-game), Hano Grand Resort on Grand Wailea Resort and Grand Hyatt Resort with its beach on Makena Beach, Wela Volcano Park on Haleakalä National Park (tallest volcano on Maui) and Kīlauea, Dividing Peak Tunnel on Hana Highway, Lush Jungle on Hana Forest Reserve (largest tropical forest on Maui), Memorial Hill on the Olowalu Petroglyphs, and Ruins Of Life on the Pi’ilanihale heiau (largest in the state of Hawaii, synergizing with the name of the region and culture’s belief of life force shared bya all and nature being supreme and its Tapu Lele based on a butterfly emerging from chrysalis and Kāne, the creator god of Hawaiian mythology who first breathed life into humans and the world). Next, Ula’Ula Island is based on the Big Island of Hawai’i, with its name translating to red to reference the official color and red flower blooms in its real-world counterpart. Malie City is based on Hilo with Malie Gaden being Liliuokalani Park And Gardens down to the shared edo-style Japanese architecture with pagodas x torii x teahouses, Mounts Hokulani and Lanakila on Mauna Loa and Kea (second highest peak and largest subaerial volcano in world, also due to altitude only places in Hawaii to get snow) with the Observatory on the volcano’s respective observatories, Blush Mountain on Kīlauea Volcano with its power plant in Puna using geothermal vents to generate electricity just like the geothermal power plant in-game, Secluded Short on Ahalanui Park down to the iconic black sand beaches, Aether House from Kau District Ocean View Estates, Tapu Village on Heiau Ruins or Kalapena (a former inhabited town destroyed by a Kīlauea lava flow believed to be caused by Pele hawaiian goddess of volcanoes just like its game counterpart’s lore of being destroyed by Tapu Bulu), Thrify Megamart Abandoned Site on Pahala Hi (used to be sugar cane mills in pahala, but all closed in 90s and now believed by locals to be negative spirits/energy inside due to their slavery and labor history the game darkly references), Haina Desert on Ka’ū Desert with the sulfur dioxide from Kīlauea’s lava plumes creating enough acid rain that plant growth is severely inhibited like a desert even though not a true one, Lake Of The Sunne/Moone on Lake Waiau (largest lake in Hawaii, located on mauna kea and a sacred site for locals), Ula’ula Meadow on Pu’uhonua O Hōnaunau National Historical Park (most notable of many locations in Hawaii, where people who broke kapu could escape to – difficult to enter and heavily protected, but once entered a kahuna on-site would bless the individual pardoning their crime; many native plants like plumeria are red that grow near the location and also red signifying blood and crime for even smarter allegory by PKMN on Ula’ula), Po Town on Hawi Town (once a busy commercial centre during operation of kohala sugar plantation but closed down and now overtaken by hoodlums and graffiti artists), Routes 15/16 on Captain Cook Beach x Moloki Lanai x Kahoolawe Johnston Atoll islands, an the Ruins Of Abundance on Pu’ukoholā heiau – the last heiau ever built.

Finally, Poni Island is based on the real-world Hawaiian island of Kaua’i – whose official color is purple translating to the Hawaiian word of Poni and just as much realistic in location bases as the previous exaples. Seafolk Village is based on Waimea – the site where the first western contact to the Hawaiian isaldns was made by James Cook – symbolic of the ocean ships dominating the village), Poni Wilds on Waimea Canyon State Park (a large canyon carved by abundant rainfall from mount Wai’ale’ale nicknamed the Grand Canyon Of The Pacific – fitting for the awe of the in-fame counterpart), Poni Beach on Polihale State Park, Breaker Coast on Kawailoa or Po’ipū (famous for its geological blowhole known as spouting horn just like the in-game blowholes), Ancient Poni Path on Kalaheo and Koloa (known fas a preservationist area for history and traditions), Vast Poni Canyon on Kawaikini Alaka’i Wilderness Preserve (with its tallest peak of the mountain surrounded by miles of dense swampy forest making it hard to reach the top steep wet cliffs), Altar Of The Sunne/Moone on Mount Wai’ale’ale (main volcano of Kaua’i currently extinct just like its legends), Poni Grove on Wailua Riverstate Park, Poni Plains on Kawaihau, Poni Meadow (absolutely breathtaking lilac misty natural awe with magical pools of water and untouched majesty) on Fern Grotto, Resolution Cave on Maniniholo – a dry cave believed to house a malicious spirit deep inside even mirrored by the presence of monstrous legendaries/UBs Guzzlord in S/M and Zygarde in US/UM, Poni Gauntlet on Hanalei National Wildlife Refuge, Battle Tree on Princeville Resort, Ruins Of Hope on Poli’ahu heiau (most important in kaua’i lore), Exeggutor Island on Ni’ihau and Kaho’olawe – both requiring boats and special permission to travel to in real life just like in-game. Even Aether Paradise is based on a real-world location of Hawaii: Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument, a U.S. National Monument and Nature Preserve with the stated goal of preserving and protecting numerous endemic endangered species to Hawai’i but colonizes the land with foreign white outsiders instead of natural orders that can be viewed as invasion and upset of natural order from islandsers’ perspective just like Aether is by striking contrastive juxtaposition in-game. Genius. Carrying the torch of legacy from Kalos [& lesser-so from previous generations by their non-exact lineage of real-world locations], S/M allows us a painstakingly-authentic tropical vacation to the islands of Hawaii… from the comfort of our own homes and couches: no exhausting day-long hiking excursions or long flights or expensive resort fees or dangers; pure natural awe/majesty and cultural experience – only exponentially more enjoyable going on the adventure with new-and-old creature best-friends; why Pocket Monsters is the greatest fictional world and concept of all-time, as we’ve been saing since Gen. I 20+ years ago, proven yet again a 7th time in a brand new way and the most culturally-diverse yet. Beyond the real-world synergy of locations, ~every aspect of the worldbuild and game celebrates, highlights, and teaches us about Polynesia.

The architecture across the overworld screams traditional Polynesia: thatched roof burēs, bellcast wide-hipped bracketed eaves, vibrant colors, low-profile wood frames, vertical sidings, large porticos, etc. highlight the one-with-nature motif with immense authenticity. The damn PKMN Centers in Alola are a work of art further accentuating every aforementioned touch – while also featuring a bar offfering fruity and island-specific drinks like pinap [pineapple] juice and tapu cocoa [humorous pun for the traditional farm-harveseted beans dominant in tropical island nations dating back to the Maya x Aztec]. There are malasada shops – introducing what was once an über-niche delicious hawaiian pastry to the world who will never forget its name post-S/M. They spotlight sustainability perspectives through garbage treatment centers and offer traditional techniques of island time relaxation lilke lomi lomi massage, as well as highlight importances of the culture like flowers even down to the lei. Heck, there’s even moai [monolithic humanoid figures, colloquialy known as Easter Island heads], totem pole, heaui, and every other touch imaginable. The organization of each island’s community in hierarchy form under a kahuna [hawaiian designation for expert or chief of tribe/field] is one dated back generations. Even the trainer classes – whom further astound by their authentic tribal wave and ‘alola’ greetings, as well as special dialogue twinges of indigenous dialect like ‘uku’ and ‘auye’ – are remixed with Polynesian flavor: from new ones like hula dancers x hotel bellhops x resort golfers x selfie-snapping tourists to old ones like even the iconic shorts-clad youngster being native indigenous color of skin. As a POC myself, this almost brought literal tears to my eyes – in a world where people like us are so used to seeing our art and stories whitewashed, copied, stolen, pillaged, and reclaimed under different names going back centuries to ancestral generations, Pocket Monsters achieves one of the biggest and most authentic celebrations in the history of pop-culture… years before the woke ideology and performative corporate activism takes place, doing so from their heart out of love and benevolence to just do the right thing for mutual symbiosis instead of virtue signaling or expecting anything in return or shoving it down the audience’s throat [it is 1,000,000x the opposite; the vast majority of references and deep, DEEP analysis/elogization is handled allegorically through metaphor, as we’ll get to later on. Never have I seen a major pop-culture franchise [let alone the BIGGEST media franchise in the world] so authentically honor, celebrate, analyze, and painstakingly translate a world culture (especially native indigenous tribes: the biggest minority in the world, even more so than the black, hispanic, and asian demographics infinitely more populous and well-represented in media) in every possible aspect from belief system to arts to cuisine to architecture to community organization, etc. to give it a platform of tens or hundreds of millions of eyes like Pokémon did with Sun/Moon/USUM. And the truth is: this is just the beginning.

Despite the absolute zenith brilliance of the worldbuild, (ironically) the A/V package to bring it to life and translate to-screen is mixed. The art style is the first-ever time w/o chibi in a PKMN game – and, though it’s a more realistic overview of N3DS modern technology bells-and-whistles and highlights how far one boy’s dream to share his love of bug-catching with the world has come, some of the charm, nostalgia, and special Pokémon feel/magic is ~gone. Even so, the visuals a bit rough around the edges compared to other modern games of mega caliber pop-culture if they were going ore realistic… and there’s a humongous [unexcusable] preponderance of lag in any battles that require more complex processing like Double or Totem; S/M are, unfortunately, the least appealing game in terms of visual style in the series… bizarre when the most naturally-beautiful region and filled with many of the Greatest PKMN Ever Made [as we’ll get to later on]. Both X/Y and Sun/Moon’s Official Pokémon Animé improve upon the visual style of their respective games, but the latter does so 10x more dramatically to truly capture the magnificence and awe of Alola [go watch it; it’s also one of the best anipoké generations of all-time]. The shortcomings of the canvas’ animators is counterbalanced by more dynamic angles, camerawork, and cinematic cutscenes that are absolutely epic and progressively head in the right direction of where the games should be heading [+ voice acting -.-] to make for a serviceable ocular package. Then, there’s the score. The soundtrack of Sun/Moon/USUM is a major disappointment. For a culture of artistic expression so firmly rooted in music, the score does not honor and refect that… at least later on. The Official Alola Musical Theme is absolutely breathtaking – exciting you from the very opening title-screen when you hear its glorious ecstasy tribal chants [even further amazing by its presence in native language instead of a common world one], epic trumpet/horn drops, and indigenous percussion, just screaming adventure and cultural magnificence. In fact, the game begins strong in-terms of score – the type of detail, cultural diversification, and ambition the game deserves by its use of classic tropical instruments like ukulele, xylophone, flute, and ipu alongside percussive Kâ`eke `eke, Ohe, & Hano Ihu x ambition to have different scores for the same cities and routes based on day/night to further accentuate the difference in tone and experience (with night being calmer and more soothing while day is more energized and peppy) based on light in synergy with the game’s story and themes x and an overt happy vibrance energy also nailing the peaceful quiescence of nature with diegetic background noise of simplicity like the waves lapping against the shore or wind howling through palm tree fronds.

The Sun/Moon Score does have bright spots, espeically in the cinematic cutscenes and character themes – from the jazzy spy theme of Lillie’s Escape and truly cinematic themes accompanying its story beats (most cinematic of any gen) to gentlr ukele strums of Hau’Oli City and Iki Town juxtaspoed with authentic tribal ceremony percussion in Iki Festival to soft innocence [fringed with N-like strings of mystery only highlighting the similarities between the characters and drawing us into the character] of Lillie’s Theme to zesty tart spice and spirited charisma of Hau’s Theme to royal horn strut of Festival Plaza to marimba 4×4 of clothes stores to old school boom-bap turntable scratches and beatboxing of Team Skull led by an extremely dope dubstep x hip-hop infused king kong drums Guzma’s Theme to whirly jungle naturalism of trial sites and epic horror ritardando of totem appearances and kahuna battles to Good/Bad/Ugly Leone spaghetti western evocative of Paniola Town (even down to the animalistic whistles) to classic 80’s filtered infomercial sound of Thrifty Megamart to jazzy major/minor key experimental retrofuturistic dubstep of Aether Paradise [easily best theme in the game, rivaled only by the hyperweird sci-fi acid trip of the Ultra Space Theme, the villain switch-up of Aether’s scores after their evil reveal later on, Lusamine’s Revenge/Showdown demonic horror finale score post-nihilego possession with 2001: ASO and tons of horror references in score, evil omen rain-soaked piano crunches of Po Town, heartbraking piano/harp of Mother And Daughter and Lonely Lillie, incredibly cathartic epic Champion Battle at the Summit, and of course Alola Title Screen:all of which are all-time great and avant-garde themes by any gen’s standards] to chic elegance of Lusamine’s theme to traditional Japanese sounds of Malie City to creepy misjointed spooky carnival accordion of Acerola’s trial to Pink Floyd-esque airy high wah floats of Nanu’s Theme to Zelda-esque medieval fantasy of Seafolk Village to mysterious ethereal pads of Tapu’s Chambers to bass-synth warbles of The Elite Four.

Okay, so – on paper and isolated, at least – a lot of the score’s themes are very good. So.. why does the overall score fail to leave a lasting impression or good taste in the mouth? We at CLC attribute it mostly to poor executions of the intangibles: the soundtracks that accompany the vast majority of the game with repetition every time you face a wild encounter, trainer battle, and even most of the routes and wild areas… suck. Damn near most of them have absolutely *no* remote signs of tropical or polynesian influence whatsoever, and comprise the most über-clichéd, basic, lazy, unimaginative, copy-paste, and completely forgettable themes of Pokémon to-date [even more egregious compared to the consistency of genius and pedigree legay of the franchise’s scores going back to 8-Bit in ’96 Red/Blue and reaching potential heights in X/Y amongst or the best-ever score far more clearnly and comprehsneively carrying across its français theme/sound than S/M]. They could’ve at least just played the exact same notes in tropical instruments they already had nearby for other key themes early-on to give us a more authentic feel acoustically/sonically – an easy way to add some more special feel in the soundtrack even more bizarre because they do actualyl do this and recognize the potential in this idea selectively in post-game: one key example being the Battle Tree Boss score – literally a ukelele and timpani percussion version of the original Red/Blue battle theme, and it works brilliantly; why do it only in this post-game feature no one will even hear instead of the routes and battle mechanics we hear every damn time we face a ‘mon in the overworld [which grates the nerves so bad, it ~overshadows all of the good parts of many of the individual character and place themes of the soundtrack]?! They even could’ve played into the pop music scene’s progressively growing radio mainstream endorsement of Tropical House music [one of our favorites from back in the day as DJ’s always loving the subgenre even before it became big] if they wanted to appease shareholders and execs maybe wanting more commercial-friendly sounds; there’s a reason acts like Kygo and Matoma are becoming household names and getting billions of plays on Spotify… and would’ve been 10x better than the high-school project sounds devoid of any tropical flavor/influencecomprising at least half the score and many of its repetitive key game sequences to feel overwhelmingly more prevalent than the good themes. Many of the wild area and legendary themes are offensively bad or poorly-executed too – like Gladion’s electro-pop theme not matching his cold and tough personality heavy metal would’ve been better-suited for, sickness-inducing cringe of the country blues random twang of Ride PKMN, chaotic noise blast of the Ultra Beast Theme, etc. This also plagues many key moments in the game/lore: the Tapu’s, Ultra Beasts, Gladion’s, and even damn box legends: Solgaleo and Lunala – all of which have bad scores that ~soil part of their experiential awe]. Overall, it’s not a bad score and has it moments of genuine brilliance – but just most of it is blah, skip/mute-worthy, plebian, and über-generic – sad by the score’s of its kin’s standards and even compared to the animé that succeeds everywhere the video game’s score fails by following exactly what we said and achieving polynesian-themed hyerexpressionism for max adventure and A/V package.

This mixed execution continues into the new features – the good, the bad, and the [weird]. Let us preface by saying we do acknowledge and appreciate the bravery and avant-garde innovative spirit Pokémon fostered in Sun/Moon; like-or-hate the new features, a dramatic shake up of the status-quo was a smart idea that clearly worked by how it [along with all of thew new Gen. VII brought after declining sales figures in the previous two generations] reinvigorated the franchise with a fresh creative energy injection leveling the franchise up to the biggest media franchise in the world and new heights of pop-culture virality evocative of the original craze phenomenon Red/Blue in ’96 – and then some [Sword/Shield in Gen. VIII coming close to the highest-selling video games of the series even despite being (easily, by far) Its worst and only bad games, and Scarlet/Violet in Gen. IX already exhibiting signs of potentially even breaking the record with 16,000,000+ copies sold in two weeks even for unfinished-looking games laden with glitches… all we would attribute to the precedence and cultural-reset Sun/Moon had, especially comparable to the awful or lazy/rushed entries afterwards they would only release with security knowing they’ll get a bag anyway they didn’t have in Gens I-VII as shown by the quality difference]. Though hatred > apathy in franchises especially this far into its generations, let’s start with the bad. Nitpicks include specific restricted fishing spots, missed opportunity in the anticlimactic new four trainer Battle Royale not honoring its name to be an epic last one standing sudden death brawl, and lazy x stilted x cringeworthy self-obsessed/promotional NPC dialogue like being sold an ad instead of immersed in the world [‘… … … Pokémon battles are life! / We are nothing without Pokémon / Etc.’] bizarre when contrastively juxtaposed to the immensely complex themes and IQ-heavy allegory of the story and characters and a missed opportunity to pepper in some more informational facts about polynesian culture/beliefs/history/art. Broader stroke gripes center on four crux issues: 1) Resurgence Of Past Gen. Problems, 2) Difficulty Nerfs, 3) Ride PKMN, 4) The Island Challenge. First, Resurgence Of Past Gen. Problems. Sun/Moon bizarrely revives or continues issues from previous generations.. even some that haven’t been seen for decades.

Back to Gen. I/II problems, he new bag organization is bewildering/confusing – we get that with over 1,000 items you can have 995+ of each, it’s objectively difficult to balance and redo the bag, but finding an escape rope or specific item is a damn chore. They do allow for manual restructuring to put your favorite/most-used items at the top, but you have to cling desperately through by the veritable hours it will take to scroll through the endless sea of items they should’ve organized into more sections and emblazoned on efficiency with easy side photo-icon labels and, foremost, a search feature. G/S/C and X/Y would like to have a word; one of biggest disappointments with S/M is: where are all the new PKMN? PTSD from the aforementioned two gens, the new games inexplicably push the exponentially too populous previous gen. ‘mons > their own… literally every single time we decide to go in the tall grass for a wild encounter, we’re met with an old news ‘mon to the point of us turning on permanent repels and giving up on the far-off dream we’ll ever see an Alola Pokémon [in their own game]. Again, as we criticized in the previous gens repeating this cardinal sin dating all the way back to 1999 but wholly ~absent in Gens. like III and IV, if you wanted to see Johto or Unova PKMN: go to the gamestop and buy/play *their* game! We’re okay with a little crossover for continuity and remembrance just in case the new game is a child or newcomer’s first adventure in Pocket Monsters [+ the Kanto appearances make sense for sake of design comparison by the presence of new Alola versions], but it’s overwhelmingly misbalanced and heavily detracts from the experience of ‘new’ to punish veterans who’ve seen a Zubat or Slowpoke 791805017x and don’t need to see another one every game. Heck, we’d even take bad new Pokémon over old ones in new adventure just for the novelty – a crazy thing to ask but that’s the crisis level it’s gotten to. Another cardinal sin S/M/USUM inherits from its forefathers yet fails to [easily] fix is incomplete teams: even into the damn Elite Four, the new games are seemingly allergic to having trainers have a full team. It’s absolutely baffling. Worse, the vast majority of trainers through the first ~1/3 of the game have only *ONE* PKMN… at low levels for barely a semblance of competition bringing to spotlight the next core flaw: difficulty nerf.