Japanese users of Twitter have an instant advantage over English speakers, because the Japanese language is much more efficient in its use of characters. Take the word “book” for example. Write “book” in a tweet, and you’ve used up four of your characters. In Japanese, however, the word for book (本 “hon”) only takes up one character, so a 140-character tweet written in Japanese gives quite a bit more breathing space to the writer.
This, combined with the fact that Japanese doesn’t have spaces between words either, means the wonderful world of Japanese Twitter has another feature that’s not so common among English-language users: absurdly-long hashtags, like #1番目にリプがきたポケモンと2番目にリプがきたポケモンをフュージョンさせる (“reply to this with Pokémon and I’ll make a mashup combining the first two”), the hashtag being used by Japanese illustrators on Twitter recently. The results are glorious visual mashups of our favourite Pokémon – with some other shows’ characters sneaking in too.
These aren’t amateur works of art either. Illustrator Tokiya Sakba, who is arguably the king of these Twitter Pokémon mashups, actually provided the artwork for the Pokémon Trading Card Game. Let’s start by taking a look at some of Tokiya’s creations.
▼ What do you get when you cross Miltank and Dratini? A Miltini!
パウワウ的な趣き#1番目にリプがきたポケモンと2番目にリプがきたポケモンをフュージョンさせる pic.twitter.com/M7Tc1qjyTB
— セブンゼル − 𝗦𝗦𝗦 (@Sevnzel) March 15, 2015
▼ Luxray and Scolipede make a colourful combination.
名前が似てる#1番目にリプがきたポケモンと2番目にリプがきたポケモンをフュージョンさせる pic.twitter.com/AybNITVuXH
— セブンゼル − 𝗦𝗦𝗦 (@Sevnzel) March 15, 2015
This next one is way cuter than we expected…but a bit disturbing.
▼ It’s Diglett and Audino! ‘Diglino’!?
こいつはいったい、、#1番目にリプがきたポケモンと2番目にリプがきたポケモンをフュージョンさせる pic.twitter.com/fn78uof6Qv
— セブンゼル − 𝗦𝗦𝗦 (@Sevnzel) March 15, 2015
▼ Tokiya even fuses Yokai Watch‘s Jibanyan with Pikachu in this clash of the rivals image.
・・・おや!? ピカチュウのようすが・・・!#1番目にリプがきたポケモンと2番目にリプがきたポケモンをフュージョンさせる pic.twitter.com/0pLUEEgl5q
— セブンゼル − 𝗦𝗦𝗦 (@Sevnzel) March 15, 2015
▼ What about if you mix Ditto with oddball cutesy character Omochi Alien? You get this purple squishy alien girl, of course.
「メタモンは 相手の おもちエイリアンに 変身した!」#1番目にリプがきたポケモンと2番目にリプがきたポケモンをフュージョンさせる pic.twitter.com/L1kO4Fkh1i
— セブンゼル − 𝗦𝗦𝗦 (@Sevnzel) March 15, 2015
Tokiya is not the only illustrator having fun with the hashtag challenge, though. Another popular creator is Baa-cham, who’s given us these equally adorable images.
▼ It’s Cofagrigus and Furfrou!
1組目:トリミアンとデスカーン #1番目にリプがきたポケモンと2番目にリプがきたポケモンをフュージョンさせる pic.twitter.com/DGhbhBn2ZG
— ばあちゃむ (@baaaaacham) March 15, 2015
▼ Altaria and Dedenne! Caption: “It can’t fly and it can’t run, but it can feel the wind blow!”
デデンネとチルタリス #1番目にリプがきたポケモンと2番目にリプがきたポケモンをフュージョンさせる pic.twitter.com/LYDPjwzSSC
— ばあちゃむ (@baaaaacham) March 15, 2015
▼ Altaria and Dedenne: alternative version.
デデンネとチルタリス(その2) #1番目にリプがきたポケモンと2番目にリプがきたポケモンをフュージョンさせる pic.twitter.com/pFD8nphHFW
— ばあちゃむ (@baaaaacham) March 15, 2015
▼ Dedenne again, with Shellos this time.
カラナクシとデデンネ。さすがにこのキモさは草はえる。#1番目にリプがきたポケモンと2番目にリプがきたポケモンをフュージョンさせる pic.twitter.com/rBAFWmW4vk
— ばあちゃむ (@baaaaacham) March 15, 2015
And last but by no means least, we have this contribution from mandamsan.
▼ Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water…
このタグ初めて使った時描いたのこれだかんね。かわいいの描きたくてやったのに… #1番目にリプがきたポケモンと2番目にリプがきたポケモンをフュージョンさせる pic.twitter.com/sHUg3nXtU8
— マンダム (@mandamsan) February 20, 2015
Well, most of them were cute, anyway.
Sources: KAI-YOU, Tokiya Sakba, TOKIYA Twitter, baa-cham Twitter, mandamsan Twitter
Featured image: baa-cham via Twitter
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