Because every Pokémon is somebody’s all-star.

There have been a lot of special events and surprises this year celebrating Pokémon’s 30th anniversary, and the latest one is a new song from singer Masayoshi Oishi. Of course, even if this is a way of singing happy birthday to the Pocket Monsters, some of them are going to have be left out of the lyrics, right?

Nope. “Pokémon All-stars 1,025” is, as the title implies, a song about all 1,025 Pokémon that have appeared in the series so far, and each and every one of them gets a shout-out in the song. And if you’re thinking there’s no way to condense all that done to the four minutes or so the average anime or video game theme song runs, you’re absolutely right, as the song clocks in at 22 minutes in length.

In addition to having its name soulfully sung by Oishi, each Pokémon also gets a scrapbook collage. These aren’t CG, either, as each was made by hand, combining images from across Pokémon video games, anime, card games, and merch.

▼ There’s also a visit to Japan’s Poképark Kanto Pokémon theme park at the video’s 18:12 mark.

Because of how long the song is, it switches musical styles a few times, incorporating pop, rock, jazz, bossa nova, operatic, and even traditional Japanese instrumental influences. The variations help keep the song from getting repetitive, even with its incredible length, and the species alternate between being grouped by Type, evolution family, or rhyming names.

Speaking of which. the song uses the Japanese versions of the species’ names, so, for example, you’ll hear Oishi sing Fushigidane (a pun on the Japanese phrase Fushigi da ne, “Mysterious, isn’t it?”, and tane/dane, meaning “seed”) instead of Bulbasaur, and Casey instead of Abra. In that sense, it doubles as a vocabulary primer for talking about the series in Japanese.

But there’s more to the lyrics than just a run through the Pokédex page titles. There’s a recurring chorus, which Oishi says he really put his whole heart into, as he sings

That’s right, you’re all stars! There are no bit players here!

Oishi says it was important to him to validate all 1,025 Pokémon. After all, the bond between fans and their favorite is often based on something deeper than simple in-game stats or metagame viability.

If you want to sing along with that part, the lyrics are:

Saa, minna ga shuyaku da
Wakiyaki wa doko ni mo inai

Oishi likens the recording process to running a marathon, and says he started crying when he finished. You can hear his voice crack with emotion as he calls out the name of the 1,025th Pokémon in the lyrics, Mew.

“Maybe someday I’ll go back and do a cleaner-sounding rerecording,” mused Oishi, but it’s hard to imagine improving on the emotional journey the song takes listeners on. If Oishi does step back into the recording booth, hopefully it won’t be for a redo, but a sequel, as the video ends with the sound of an ocean breeze…

…and three blank pages waiting for their collages to be made, a clear nod to the upcoming Pokémon Winds and Waves games.

Source: YouTube/ポケモン公式YouTubeチャンネル, Oricon News
Top image: YouTube/ポケモン公式YouTubeチャンネル
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