Today, Saitama-based illustrator and designer F*Kaori announced on Twitter that she has once again teamed up with the Pokémon Center to release a series of fashionable and cute Pokémon goods. The goods have been created with the motif of “Fresh Water”, an item in the Pokémon games that restores health points to your team. This time marks the third collaboration that F*Kaori has done with the Pokémon Center, following the prior release of goods with the theme “Saiko Soda” and “Mix Au Lait”. This round’s collaboration also involves sports clothes brand FILA, teaming up for a few shirts, bags, and multi-use cases.
💙💙お知らせ💙💙
2019年5月18日(土)発売の「おいしいみず」シリーズのイラストを担当させていただきました！
今回はみずタイプのポケモンとおいしいみずがモチーフ！サイコソーダの新グッズもあります！https://t.co/xOwr3mtUXn pic.twitter.com/MX9bAg064y— F*Kaori(エフカオリ) (@fkaorism) May 19, 2019
The goods are aimed at practical daily use and feature art that utilizes cute retro-pop colors and designs. My favorite items are the train pass case, the colorful character plush key chains of popular water Pokémon, and the translucent colored cups speckled with Pokémon. Although the theme is summery, refreshing “Fresh Water”, a baby-looking Pikachu is featured on a few of the items, naturally.
FILA is originally an Italian sportswear brand that started all the way back in 1911. In the ’80s, they gained more traction as a fashion brand. In the modern day, I’ve noticed that FILA has become increasingly popular in Japan, with tons of people wearing their sports clothing and shoes as regular everyday wear. With this trend in mind, F*Kaori, the Pokémon Center, and FILA have come together to create a series of casual sporty goods featuring Pikachu as the main attraction. The classic Fila logo got a makeover with a quirky, cartoony Pikachu pattern, seen on one of the shirts and the Black and red side bag. Pikachu with a bowtie isn’t something I think I’ve ever seen before, but I dig it.
You can snag all of the merchandise at any Pokémon Center location in Japan, on the Pokémon Center online store, and some of the goods can be bought from their Amazon shop.