Pokemon Go's Next Shiny Pokemon Will Hit Anime Fans Right in the Feels

Pokemon Go's next Shiny Pokemon could have a lot of fans feeling a bit nostalgic about some early Pokemon episodes.

As part of Pokemon Go's bug-themed November research, game developers announced that they'd be adding the Shiny version of Caterpie to the game. Shiny Pokemon have alternate color schemes from their normal non-Shiny compatriots and are usually quite rare.

While a Shiny Caterpie has the same golden hue of many species of Shiny Pokemon, some Pokemon Go fans noted the similarities between the Shiny Butterfree and a distinctive Butterfree from the anime series. A Shiny Butterfree has pink limbs and pink-tinged wings, which triggered some memories of the Pink Butterfree that seduced Ash's Butterfree away from his trainer.

We should note that a Shiny Butterfree doesn't actually look anything like the Pink Butterfree from the anime. The Pink Butterfree's limbs were a light blue, red eyes and a pink body, while a Shiny Butterfree has a dark purple body with pink limbs and green eyes. However, that's not going to stop a lot of Pokemon Go fans (many of whom have never seen a Shiny Butterfree before) from making the comparison.

For example, one of the top comments in the Reddit thread about the Shiny Caterpie family references the Pink Butterfree and the Pokemon news site Serebii's Twitter post about the announcement caused multiple players to post gifs of the Pink Butterfree and other references to the "Bye Bye Butterfree" episode that showed Ash's Butterfree leaving with the Pink Butterfree. While it's not an exact match, the Pink Butterfree was the first alternately colored Pokemon and has even been referenced in the Pokemon games when discussing Shiny Pokemon.

In addition to the upcoming Shiny additions to the game, players will also finally have the chance to capture the Bug/Ghost-Type Pokemon Shedinja in Pokemon Go, which will be added as the game's Research Breakthrough reward on November 1st.