Through the creativity of the director Shi domeanimation lovers know ‘Red: Growing up is a Beast’, the film premiering in March 2022 shows the life May Leea 13-year-old Chinese-Canadian girl who transforms into a giant red panda whenever she gets nervous or anxious.

Even so, more than 20 years ago, in the 90s, game lovers had the opportunity to play for the first time the title created by Satoshi Tajiri: Pokémon, a series of games that began with the release of the ‘Pokémon Red Version’ and ‘Pokémon Blue Version’ for the Gameboy, and which soon expanded to include television series, films, manga, toys, and collectibles.

With only the main descriptions of the two titles above, it is difficult to link the two works, but in an interview with The Washington Post, shitells what is the relationship between the film and its production Satoshi Tajirirevealed that the Pokemon game was responsible for the inspiration for the feature film which follows Mei Lee’s pubertal transformation, new passions, and conflict with her mother.

How did Pokémon inspire the creation of ‘Red: Growing up is a Beast’?

It is true ‘Red: Growing is a Beast‘ brings in some elements of personal life shisuch as the nationality of the character, who, like the creator, is Chinese-Canadian, but aside from that, the content that was part of his childhood is also depicted in the film, one way or another.

That’s because, during a chat with the Washington Post, shi says he watches fan-translated anime episodes and plays Nintendo games secretly. So, because of that experience, combined with the love of the production designer, light hueshared by Nintendo, the look of the film ended up being inspired by titles like ‘Pokemon’:

We both love that big, smooth aesthetic, and that must have been continued by playing Nintendo games like ‘Pokémon’ like ‘EarthBound,'” Shi said. In a really interesting, powerful, and cute way. As we watched our film’s look progress, we saw ‘Breath of the Wild’ and thought, ‘Wow, how can they make the world look so beautiful and rich, but can you still simplify it?’ ”

That said, these are just some of the inspirations for the film, as 4*Town, the boy band that Mei Lee and his friends adore in the plot, has elements of Korean pop music, as well as in a scene where the character is scribbling manga under a place bed featuring images adapted from Japanese comics such as “One Piece” and “Sailor Moon”, as mentioned by TWP.