Zavvi has launched many an exclusive Nintendo-related clothing line over the years, some featuring incredibly colourful designs, others relatively understated. The online retailer's latest line — the Pokémon Kanji Clothing Collection — looks to be one of the 'quietest' we've seen in some time, which might suit the more casual Pokéfan. You know, someone who wants to advertise their affection for the 'mons, but without inadvertently causing traffic accidents or blinding onlookers with the eye-searing radiance of their garments.
As you can see, this monochrome collection features the evergreen Gen 1 starters — Charmander, Squirtle, and Bulbasaur — on black and white T-shirt and hoodies, with designs featuring kanji [Update: as noted by several readers, the designs actually feature katakana not kanji] and manga-style illustrations of the fire-, water- and grass-type Pokémon. Not a primary colour to be seen, though.
Classy, cool, understated. You'll still be turned away from black tie events if you roll up in a Charmander hoodie, but if you're looking to blend into a crowd of skaters, they're considerably less conspicuous than a bright yellow Pikachu jumper.
Please note that some external links on this page are affiliate links, which means if you click them and make a purchase we may receive a small percentage of the sale. Please read our FTC Disclosure for more information.
Let us know if you like the look of any of these designs with a comment below. We'd choose Squirtle, personally, although Bulbasaur is a close second. Charmander can get in the sea.
Comments 15
These are cool and all, but it's technically not Kanji on these designs. It's actually Katakana
I'm begging you Pokemon company, please make merch lines outside of gen 1.
These shirts actually look pretty cool
Cool designs but yeah, weird it's called the "Pokemon Kanji Clothing Collection" when I don't see any Kanji, only Katakana. I believe the majority of these Pokemon names couldn't even be put into Kanji if they wanted. It would be a huge undertaking to create official Kanji names for them that are pronounced the same way and make sense.
Fushigidane is obviously the best
I understand news outlet websites have to pay the bills with those referral links, but I wish they would at least be allowed to come up with their own words to promote these products. I found the exact same merch promotion article on CartEgg.
I think the black and white designs were a smart choice, they look sharp.
@LexKitteh
The Gen1 starters are pretty simple to kanjify, at least.
Fushigidane - fushigi(mystery) + tane(seed), 不思議種
Hitokage - hi(fire) + tokage(lizard) 火蜥蜴
Zenigame - zeni(money) + kame(turtle) 銭亀
Hitokage and Zenigame were already words in Japanese prior to Pokémon - hitokage (fire-lizard) is a term for salamander, likely coming from Chinese, and zenigame (money-turtle) a nickname for baby turtles, when their shells are small enough that they resemble (ancient) coins.
Just by solidifying meanings in kanji, you do lose ambiguity possible by using meaningless kana, though.
These are cute
Don't suppose there's a chance for some Gen 2 versions? I wouldn't mind a Cyndaquil hoodie.
@dartmonkey
Hi Gavin, are you sure the name of the collection is correct? I can’t find any mention of ‘Kanji’ in the names or descriptions of any of the clothing, and as many have pointed out, they don’t actually appear to contain any kanji characters.
Zavvi have erroneously used the word ‘kanji’ before as an all-encompassing term for ‘Japanese characters’ ( https://www.zavvi.com/childrens-clothing/nintendo-super-mario-luigi-kanji-kids-t-shirt-navy/11731241.html ), so there is precedent, but I can’t find the word used for these particular products. They all appear to be called ‘manga’ this and ‘manga’ that.
I wonder if they’ve realised the mistake and changed the name since issuing a press release…
@Maxz I've added a line to the article and a pic with a link to the name as listed. Thanks for the heads up.
That's not kanji. And as someone who's been living and working in Japan for well over 10 years, and whose life basically revolved around Japan for another 10 before that... man I hate kanji.
@dartmonkey Ooh, yes, that updated picture definitely has the word ‘kanji’ written pretty unmistakably. Naughty Zavvi!
Thanks for clarifying things!
@LexKitteh Yeah, some Pokémon have pretty much English words as their Japanese names, so they couldn't really be written in kanji, but if we really want, these guys can be.
Bulbasaur is Fushigidane, which could be written as 不思議種, with 不思議, fushigi meaning mysterious, and 種 tane meaning seed.
Charmander is Hitokage, which could be written as 火蜥蜴, with 火 hi meaning fire, and 蜥蜴 tokage meaning lizard.
Squirtle is just Zenigame... Which is actually a Japanese word, 銭亀, meaning a young pond turtle.
But all Pokémon are officially written in katakana in Japanese, so an actual kanji clothing line would not really make any sense.
Oh, somebody already beat me to it. Well then.
Tap here to load 15 comments
Leave A Comment
Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...