Kairyuu to Yuubinyasan Dragonite and the Special Delivery A brutally simple and short but effective tale about letters memories and connection. The setup is snappy the conflict is undeniably cheesy but heartwarming and the resolutionsomehow some wayalmost brought actual tears to my eyes. The characters but especially the Pokmon are bursting with personality even the ones that quite literally appear for mere seconds in montage. The music is orchestrated wonderfully elevating the emotional beats with a sense of warmth and nostalgia that perfectly complements the storys simplicity. What pisses me off the most though is just how good the visual worldbuilding is. Seeing Pokmon both thrive so naturally in the wildright of course that Pokmon would behave that wayand also integrate seamlessly into human society is something the animated Pokmon works consistently excel at. But in this short its simply breathtaking. And thats before even touching on the animation quality itself which is utterly fantastic elevating both the world and the unspoken Pokmon character moments to another level. So why does the sheer excellence of this short also make me angry? Simple: why is this level of care and excellence only found in these animated shorts and not in the Pokmon games themselves? The more flexible medium of video games has functionally infinite potential but at the time of writing seeing the currently disappointing quality of Legends: ZA through trailers has continued to cement the idea that Game Freak will continue to squander opportunity after opportunity for true greatness. Even from a business perspective its bafflingwhy is the quality for functionally an advertisement so so much greater than the flagship product of the franchise? Even as the Pokmon franchise leans further into openworld experiences the worlds in its games often feel comparatively so much more static and lifeless in contrast to the sheer vibrancy of not only this short but other Pokmon media as well see Pokmon Concierge Pokmon Evolutions Pokmon: Hisuian Snow to name a few. The way Pokmon interact with each other and the environment the seamless integration of humanPokmon relationshipsthese things should be core to the games yet they only seem to shine anywhere close to their potential in side media like this. Of course none of this is a knock on the short itself. If anything it deserves even higher praise as a reminder of what makes Pokmon so magical in the first place. As a selfcontained story it is beautifully crafted emotionally resonant and visually stunninga testament to the magic Pokmon is capable of when treated with the care and passion it deserves. Story: 9/10 Characters: 9/10 Visuals: 10/10 Audio: 9/10 Enjoyment: 9/10 Overall: 9.2/10 Feel free to message me with any feedback you might have or if youd like to agree or disagree. Im always open to a good discussion. If youre curious on how I rate I have a short explanation or a much longer writeup if you prefer on my profilehttps://anilist.co/user/theJokerEvoker/.