Pokemon Coco Shares New Key Art

Pokemon will soon be launching the 23rd film in the franchise in Japan later this year, and has [...]

Pokemon will soon be launching the 23rd film in the franchise in Japan later this year, and has released some new key art to celebrate! After delaying the film from its initially scheduled release in July to this December as a result of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Pokemon the Movie: Coco is now speeding toward its Winter release in Japan with new promotional materials such as trailers and posters. But the newest key art for the film teases something new that we have yet to see in the trailers released thus far.

The newest issue of CoroCoro Comics magazine in Japan featured a new bit of promotional key art from Pokemon the Movie: Coco, and not only does it feature the characters like Coco and Zarude that we have been previously introduced to but there are a few key additions alongside them. Here we get a better look at a few of the other new characters making their debut in the new film, some key Pokemon such as Flygon, and surprisingly a mecha.

The newest film previously felt like a nostalgic return to some of the themes of Pokemon's fourth film, especially with Celebi's teased appearance, and this mecha is just another bit of flavor on top to further connect the two. It's currently unclear as to whether or not this was the intention, but we'll find out soon enough! You can check out the new key art below as first spotted and shared by @DogasusBackpack on Twitter:

Tetsuo Yajima is returning from Pokemon: The Power of Us to direct the new film, and is co-writing the film alongside series writer Atsuhiro Tomioka. The first cast additions for Pokemon the Movie: Coco were previously announced and include Moka Kamishiraishi as the titular Coco, Kankuro Nakamura as Zarude, Shoko Nakagawa as a researcher named Karen, and Koichi Yamadera as a researcher named Professor Zed. The film's English language release has yet to be confirmed as of this writing.

Are you exciting for Pokemon the Movie: Coco? What are you hoping to see in the 23rd film in the franchise? Does seeing the mech here give you flashbacks to Pokemon 4Ever: Celebi - Voice of the Forest too? Let us know your thoughts in the comments or you can even reach out to me directly about all things animated and other cool stuff @Valdezology on Twitter!