The Pokémon 30th anniversary celebrations continue as Uniqlo announces its second wave of nostalgic collaboration t-shirt designs, which are due to hit stores in Japan in late July and the rest of the world in August. The collection contains four unisex adult designs and four kids' designs, using the original sprites from Pokémon Red and Blue.
By far the classiest design of the four, that's stirred up discussion on social media, is the grey shirt that features each of the gen 1 Pokémon Gym Leaders' aces and their respective levels. It's a clean and simple design, showcasing the goofiness of the original Pokémon sprite designs and also adding miniature greyscale versions of the eight Kanto gym badges as a sleeve motif. This design also reminded me that Giovanni's ace isn't his beloved Persian - it's a level 50 Rhydon.
The other three adult shirt designs are pretty simplistic, but we're particularly big fans of the Pikachu evolution shirt. Chunky Pikachu sits on the shirt's pocket, with Japanese text underneath displaying the classic, "Oh? Pikachu is evolving!" text. So where's Raichu, you may ask. Take a peek inside the pocket, and you'll find the electric Pokémon sitting right there!
However, as seems to be the case for most of Uniqlo's collaborations in my experience, the best designs are reserved for the kids' line. I might be slightly biased, as I prefer some color in my wardrobe, but you can't deny the charm of the Pikachu shirt, or the sheer aura of Gengar's original sprite. I'd kill to get that design on an adult-sized shirt! The pops of color from the Game Boy Color-style sprites add a fun touch to these designs, and I'm frankly jealous of anyone who can squeeze into the largest kids' size.
Pokémon and Uniqlo have a long-standing relationship at this point, with various lines taking inspiration from Pokémon TCG Pocket cards and Pokémon Pokopia popping up in stores around the world. Hopefully, I'll be able to grab my desired design when it arrives in the UK.