![]() ![]() students in Stanford’s Artificial Intelligence Lab, launched the first version of Pika on the separate messaging app Discord in late 2023. Pika says its product, which is already used by over half a million people, is open for sign-ups and will be gradually made available to users, making everyone a creative video director and producer.ĭemi Guo and Chenlin Meng, former Ph.D. Adobe is also experimenting in the same area and has showcased a bunch of tools that can generate and edit objects in videos. The news marks the latest development in the rapidly evolving AI-driven video-generation game and puts Pika right against competitive offerings from Runway and Stability AI. See some examples in the promotional video Pika published and which we have uploaded and embedded below. The company also unveiled Pika 1.0, a new web platform building upon its earlier beta release that allows users to generate and edit videos in diverse styles such as 3D animation, anime or cinematic – just from text prompts. Today, Pika Labs, a six-month-old video AI startup, announced it has raised $35 million in a series A round of funding led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, alongside earlier side rounds, putting the total raised by the young firm at $55 million. His memory will continue in the minds of multi-generational fans while the kawaii Nintendo still wants to export will continue through the familiar design and distinct new personality of his successor: Captain Pikachu.Are you ready to bring more awareness to your brand? Consider becoming a sponsor for The AI Impact Tour. Now that Ash is retiring, our Pikachu can too. The children who grew up watching his adventures with Ash are now adults who can still reconnect with him because their relationship with the character was developed over multiple games, TV series and films. This is how Pikachu has managed to be both the image of a global corporate brand and a distinctly familiar and individual partner on Ash’s journey. The multiplicity of the character – that he is both the same as and different from other versions in the same entertainment universe – allows Pokémon to create new stories and scenarios without disrupting the overall backstory or inherent qualities of the Pikachu character. Or, more importantly, they are not the same as our Pikachu. So while countless others have been encountered in the games and animated series, they are not the same as his Pikachu. Therefore, Pikachu’s strength comes from his individual identity as the Pikachu, not a Pikachu. This goes against the internal logic of the game where players must care for and evolve their pokémon to help them win more battles.Īsh explains why Pikachu doesn’t want to evolve. He is loyal to Ash, brave in front of countless challenges and conveys emotions openly through facial expressions, noises and constant affirmation of who he is: “ Pika, Pika, Pikachu!”įamously, in the animated series, Ash’s Pikachu does not wish to evolve (the process through which a pokémon can change form, grow stronger and gain new abilities). These visual features are reinforced by Pikachu’s personality and powers. The character is small and huggable and helps children develop feelings of attachment, nurturance and intimacy when they play with Pikachu toys. The name is catchy and repeatable, whether or not you are a native Japanese speaker. Pikachu’s colour and frame are easily recognisable and can be redrawn in any style. Pikachu’s appeal lies in the character’s design, backed up by his emotional resonance, which is developed in the animated series and films. ![]() ![]() Kawaii, or cuteness, is a profitable Japanese cultural export and the Pikachu character personifies its success. New characters Friede and Captain Pikachu. The bond between Ash and Pikachu is at the heart of Pokémon’s global success. This was shown in the way humans and pocket monsters live side by side, treating each other with kindness and love. Each traveller had a partner pokémon that would never be tucked away in a pokéball (devices in which pokémon are captured and stored), with personalities of their own.Īs author Anne Allison described in Millennial Monsters (2006), this new empire of entertainment (games, trading cards, a TV show and films) was based on Masakazu’s vision of harmony. Masakazu developed the animated television series and movies, focusing the stories on a trio of young travellers – Ash, Misty and Brock. However, when Kubo Masakazu, a comic book publisher and manga enthusiast, was hired by Nintendo to take Pokémon beyond the national market, he immediately saw the potential to build a global franchise and audience around one character: Pikachu. PictureLux/The Hollywood Archive/Alamy Stock PhotoĮarly audiences were entirely domestic as the game was not available outside Japan. ![]()
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