#hohma

It tells an original story that still follows the core theme of treasure hunting. There are three original characters all with their own unique personalities and stories with Ohara being the first focus. Ohara is a talented flutist who has been experiencing burn out and pressure due to parental expectations as her father is a renowned conductor. Flute has been her life, but she’s unsure if she still has the passion for it. She wants to quit, but she’s unsure what do with her life afterwards. She’s also tasked with making a promotional video for the academy with Aliquis and Hohma, but she’s still trying to find herself before she can help with it. It’s thanks to a chance encounter with Arven, an angry Cetitan and the help of her loyal Fuecoco that she realizes that she loves playing the flute and it is her treasure alongside her partner Pokemon. The video is only 11 minutes long, but the way it managed to convey an entire story and message in that amount of time is amazing.

I think Ohara’s story can be related to those who are following their parents’ footsteps in their respective fields. This got me thinking about how I had no talent for piano despite my mom being a piano teacher. I quit piano as a kid and spend my childhood wondering what I’d become before walking the path of becoming a writer and here I am as one; I do want to learn piano again someday.

The animation was amazing. The details they put in was immaculate. There were three scenes that stood out to me in terms of animation. The first is showing off how small Gimmighoul is. It’s a very tiny Pokemon, so for the camera angle to show off how big everything and everyone is compared to its small frame was seriously amazing. The scene with Tinkaton playfully chasing after Corviknight was beautiful as well. They seriously kept to the lore presented in Tinkaton’s Dex entry regarding her history with the Raven Pokemon. I loved the small detail of her holding her trainer’s hand and then letting it go to chase after it. Lastly, everything regarding the Glaseado Mountains was seriously high quality. The way Arven was running away from the angry Cetitan was extremely well-animated. Seriously, there’s a reason why Wit Studio is highly praised. On top of that, ufotable and Liden Films were involved in the project too! I think every anime fan knows how well ufotable animates; I’m not too familiar with Liden Films’ anime projects, but they do have their fair share of quality works.

The original characters have so much personality. Ohara is reserved and unsure of herself. Aliquis keeps to himself, but has a short temper. Hohma is easily excitable and knowledgable. Fuecoco has so much personality as well! The way it is so loyal to Ohara is sweet. It’s a bit childish, but still goes out of its way to find her flute moved my heart. The fact that they went out of their way to give these characters so much life and personality shows the love and care this project has. This also applies to the actual canon characters from the games! Nemona has a small cameo, but her passion for battles still lingers when she gets super excited to teach younger students about Terastal. Arven’s stoic personality shows too as it’s canon that he doesn’t really involve himself with others unless they help him out. This is applied here. Arven was just walking by and staring at Ohara, not caring about her situation or what she’s doing on the mountain. He talks to her after she helps him out and then they bond a bit over having high status parents; he then tells her to cherish her Fuecoco. Clavell isn’t shown much, but he’s still the same director who cares a lot about his students. I also love the details of the Academy teachers attending Ohara’s band concert alongside Nemona. Seriously, this animated series is super high quality and I’m getting way too emotional over it.

The voice acting is really good too! I actually watched this in both English and Japanese and both sides did a great job in terms of acting. Most of the English actors are relatively new faces (aside from Pete Zarustica who voices Clavell as he’s a veteran voice actor for Pokemon and other dubs), but they did an amazing job. I really like Cat Protano’s acting as Ohara. She really nails it. I hope that the other episodes focuses on the other characters because I want to see more!