Cube-Shaped Pokémon on Cubie Island?!

Cube-Shaped Pokémon on Cubie Island?! (Japanese: マルジャナイ島のシカクなポケモン!? Square Pokémon on Not-Round Island!?) is a series of five shorts that were released to promote Pokémon Quest. The episodes were released on Weibo and Bilibili in from February 28 to September 29, 2023, on the official Japanese Pokémon YouTube channel from April 9 to September 30, 2023, and the English Pokémon Kids TV YouTube channel from April 9 to October 4, 2023.
==List of shorts==
==A Chance Encounter==
A Chance Encounter (Japanese: きぐうな であい A Chance Encounter) is the first animated short. It was released in Chinese on February 28, 2023 and in Japanese and English on April 9, 2023.
===Summary===
The short opens with waking up on a beach shore. Time passes by as it grows lonely. As time passes by, no Pokémon appear until sunset, where many come from the ocean in a large group, exciting Pikachu. However, it quickly grows overwhelmed with the amount of Psyduck walking right by it, getting some berries, and heading back out to the ocean. As the Psyduck leave, Pikachu becomes sorrowful. However, as it lays down, another Psyduck appears behind it, startling them both. The two quickly become excited, and begin to play with each other.
===Characters===
* 
* (multiple)
===Video===
==Eyes In the Cave==
Eyes In the Cave (Japanese: どうくつの め Eyes In the Cave) is the second animated short. It was released in Chinese and Japanese on April 28, 2023 and in English on May 1, 2023.
===Summary===
The short opens with sitting on a log at night, looking up at the sky in isolation. As it sighs, appears behind it, but Pikachu does not notice this. As daytime arrives, Pikachu begins to roam around until it sees Psyduck, startling it and causing it to run away. Psyduck chases after it, and as the two go faster, they eventually have to jump over a rock. Pikachu does so successfully, but realizes that there is a ravine below them, although it lands on a platform right by it. Psyduck, on the other hand, falls down the ravine, shocking Pikachu. Right after Psyduck falls, the platform Pikachu is on begins to give away and collapses, causing Pikachu to fall into the ravine. Pikachu lands on Psyduck, causing Psyduck to faint. As Pikachu expresses concern, it gets surprised by another Pokémon behind it. As Pikachu jumps back, it revives Psyduck, but causes it to be caught in the gaze of the other Pokémon, which causes them all to be brought back to the surface. Pikachu and Psyduck are glad to see each other in good condition, but wonder what the other Pokémon is, which is revealed to be . Concurrently, all of their stomachs begin to growl, and they all laugh.
===Characters===
* 
* 
* 
===Video===
==Spooky Forest==
Spooky Forest (Japanese: ぶきみな もり Spooky Forest) is the third animated short. It was released in Chinese on June 17, 2023 and in Japanese and English on June 18, 2023.
===Summary===
The short opens with , , and laughing. As Pikachu and Jigglypuff continue to laugh, Psyduck recalls the berries it was after the day before. Pikachu and Jigglypuff agreed to set out to find food, as all three Pokémon were hungry. They all begin to walk through a forest in fear, with Jigglypuff being the most fearful. It stays behind out of fear, and gets frightened by another Pokémon. As it grows more afraid, it is revealed that this Pokémon was actually Pikachu and Psyduck carrying a mushroom they had found as the two are confused. Jigglypuff then attacks out of instinct, causing it to roll and gather up many plants, as well as Pikachu and Psyduck. Eventually, they reach a cliff, causing them to fall off and lose the mushroom they had found. However, they land in a forest full of Sitrus Berries, filling them with relief.
===Characters===
* 
* 
* 
===Video===
==An Opening in the Night Sky==
An Opening in the Night Sky (Japanese: よぞらにあいた あな An Opening in the Night Sky) is the fourth animated short. It was released in Chinese on September 21, 2023, in Japanese on September 23, 2023, and in English on October 3, 2023.
===Summary===
The short opens with and on a full stomach, and finishing up its food. Once it finishes, it notices a flower in the distance, and goes to pick it. As it picks it up, it finds another flower, and afterward, a flower field. It is amazed by all the flowers, and calls Pikachu and Psyduck over to the field. The two make it to the field, and as Psyduck walks around, Pikachu looks up into the starry sky, and sees a shooting star. It tries to get the other Pokémon to notice, but they are both asleep. This saddens Pikachu, as the clouds come in and it starts to rain. This wakes Psyduck and Jigglypuff up, and causes them to run for shelter. As they all look at the night sky, Pikachu shares an idea on how to shelter the group, and they all like the idea.
===Characters===
* 
* 
* 
===Video===
==My Precious Friends==
My Precious Friends (Japanese: たいせつな なかま Precious Friends) is the fifth and final animated short. It was released in Chinese on September 29, 2023, in Japanese on September 30, 2023, and in English on October 4, 2023.
===Summary===
The short opens with and hiding behind a rock, watching use an move on some trees to get the berries to fall, which fails. The three then look into a hole to find some berries, but the berry Psyduck had eaten had caused them all to head back to the trees. Pikachu and Psyduck seem exhausted, while Jigglypuff attempts to get an Oran Berry from a tree before the branch it is standing on breaks and it falls to the ground, knocking it towards the other two and rolling them over to a cave. The Pokémon are all interested by the cave, so they all walk in and find a large space for them, much to their amazement. The Pokémon used teamwork to grab berries from the trees and gather some items to set in the cave; Pikachu gathers some leaves, Jigglypuff gathers some flowers, and Psyduck gathers some sticks. As they all settle in the cave, they quickly fall asleep. Once Pikachu wakes up in the morning, it reflects on its time with Psyduck and Jigglypuff, and quickly falling back asleep.
===Characters===
* 
* 
* 
===Video===
==Staff==
Produced by 	
* The Pokémon Company	
* 株式会桂ホケモン
Animation Supervisor 	
* Tomoaki Kaneko	
* 金子友昭
Lead Animator 	
* Tomoaki Kajikawa	
* 梶川友明
Junior Animator 	
* Haruka Sato (episode 3–5)	
* 佐藤春花
Character Modeling Supervisor	
* Taiga Ogura	
* 小倉大河
Lead Character Modeler 	
* Kazuki Mukaizawa	
* 向澤一輝
Character Modeler 	
* Mami Hirabayashi	
* 平林真実
Lead BackGround Modeler 	
* Shintaro Tanaka
* Kazuki Mukaizawa (episode 4–5; listed first in episode 5)	
* 田仲森太郎
* 向澤一輝
BackGround Designer 	
* gozz	
* gozz
Rigger 	
* Yuta Hatsushika
* Takahisa Suzuki	
* 初鹿雄太
* 鈴木貴久
Fx Artist 	
* Takahisa Suzuki (episodes 1 and 4)
* Gen Akiyama (episode 1)	
* 鈴木貴久
* 秋山玄
Lighting, Compositing Artist 	
* Tsuguki Kobayashi	
* 小林亜喜
CG Technical Supervisor 	
* Yuta Hatsushika	
* 初鹿雄太
Writer 	
* 
* Maika Shizuhara
* Saji Komori	
* 永野たかひろ
* 静原舞香
* 小森さじ
Written by 	
* Pita inc.	
* 株式会社ピタ
Voice Actor 	
*	
* 武内駿輔
Sound Effect 	
* Hidemitsu Tanaka	
* 田中秀実
Sound Director 	
* Yasushi Nagura	
* 名倉靖
Sound Producer 	
* Masashi Sato	
* 佐藤当史
Sound Production 	
*	
* 株式会社ハーフエイチ・ピースタジオ
Music 	
* comymusic
** Yuko Komiyama	
* コミーミュージック
** 小見山優子
Story Board Artist 	
* TYUTYU Ltd.
** Kiyoshi Okuyama (episodes 1–3)
** Tomomi Koike (episodes 4–5)	
* 有限会社チュウチュウ
** 奥山潔
** 小池智実
Creative Coordinator 	
* Hinako Endo	
* 遠藤日奈子
Producer 	
* Ryo Hatanaka	
* 畑中亮
Animation By 	
* SHIROGUMI INC.	
* 株式会社白組
Director, Art Director 	
*	
* 小森よしひろ
==Trivia==
* The Japanese release date of the first episode, April 9, can be read in Japanese as for シカク shikaku, meaning "square".Twitter
* The Japanese logo refers to Pokéxel as シカポケ Shikapoké, a translation of the Chinese 方可梦 Fāngkěmèng, rather than ポクセル Poxel as was used in the original Japanese game.
==In other languages==
A Chance Encounter
Eyes In the Cave
Spooky Forest
An Opening in the Night Sky
My Precious Friends
==References==
==External links==
* English playlist on YouTube
* Japanese playlist on YouTube
* Simplified Chinese playlist on Bilibili
* On Weibo: (Simplified Chinese)
** Episode 1
** Episode 2
** Episode 3
Category:Animation
Category:Pokémon Quest
es:Pokémon Quest (animación)
ja:マルジャナイ島のシカクなポケモン!?
zh:不圆之岛的方形宝可梦