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A weekly Pokédex Podcast from Bald Man in Japan Luke Summerhayes. A different Pokémon family every week.
I’m Luke Summerhayes, and I love Frillish.
Jellyfish are ethereal creatures. They range in si ze from only a couple of millimeters across, to several meters in length. Their simple bodies are mostly water, giving them their translucent appearance, and subsequently instead of moving with purpose, they drift through the currents, catching prey that happens to enter their dangling venomous tentacles.
There are even some species which people call immortal, owing to their ability to revert to a polyp stage and produce identical clones. This more of a form of direct asexual reproduction, really, but perhaps if the jellyfish has a soul, it is retained in the same replicating form for eternity.
In Japanese myth, there are legends of jellyfish yokai, which act like will-o-wisps of the seas or which dive underwater to taunt fisherman who try to catch them.
Frillish is a Jellyfish Pokémon. It has the large head and floating tentacles of a jellyfish, though the size and position of their tentacles suggests and anthropomorphic human body. The name combines fish with frill, owing to the frills on their clothing-like bodies. Male Frillish are blue in color, with a ruffle around the neck area like a gentleman might wear at a medieval court. Female Frillish are pink, with softer, curved frills more like a lady’s dress. Both kinds have a little crown, making them a prince and princess, perhaps in reference to the real-life crown jellyfish. The Pokémon are named Pururil in Japanese, a combinish of frill with the Japanese onomatopoeia for jiggling.
We might imagine the jiggling of these frills as a fun dance. Of course the two Pokémon are water types, but they’re also ghost types, as evidenced by haunting empty dark and red eyes. Perhaps its more of a haunting swaying with the waters than a jaunty jiggle. According to Pokémon Artist Ken Sugimori in a Nintendo Dream interview, the original creator was disappointed when they were redesigned to be scary for game balance reasons. The pokedex entries probably didn’t help.
Black
With its thin, veil-like arms wrapped around the body of its opponent, it sinks to the ocean floor.
White
They paralyze prey with poison, then drag them down to their lairs, five miles below the surface.
The most haunting entry of all comes from Pokemon Shield.
Male
Shield
Legend has it that the residents of a sunken ancient city changed into these Pokémon.
They’re not done changing, either. At level 40, Frillish can evolve into Jellicent.
Jellicent’s head grows to enormous size. On females, the dress-like elements are exaggerated, so much so that the head is emerging from a cloud-like ruffle. In males, the neck ruffle has become a big moustache, reminding me of King Bob-Omb from Mario 64.
The name Jellicent combines Jelly, as in Jellyfish, with translucent. Real jellyfish are mostly water and can appear quite translucent – this is exaggerated in this Pokémon to give it the ghost type.
Black 2
Its body is mostly seawater. It's said there's a castle of ships Jellicent have sunk on the seafloor.
White 2
lack
The fate of the ships and crew that wander into Jellicent's habitat: all sunken, all lost, all vanished.
It isn’t hard to imagine Jellicent sinking fleets of ships like a Kraken. In its first appearance, and several generations since, Jellicent has been a competitive mainstay. The water and ghost combination is incredibly strong defensively, and the immunity to rapid spin is very useful in a game with so many spikes and stealth rocks. Combined with a speed stat that’s just right for trick room or a tailwind, abilities that can heal, and moves that can burn, its a fearsome force, often paired with Ferrothorn.
The Japanese name for the Pokemon is Burungel, combining the onomatopoeia for shaking with the word for felly. Are its opponents shaking with fear, or is it shaking as it propels itself by squirting water?
White
They propel themselves by expelling absorbed seawater from their bodies. Their favorite food is life energy.
Jellyfish are among the animals on this planet which seem the most alien from us, as land-based mammals. Remarkable creaturs, beautiful but deadly, they will fascinate us for as long as an immortal creature might live.
Original music for Luke Loves Pokémon is by Jonathan Cromie. Artwork is by Katie Groves. Funding is provided by listeners at Patreon.com/PodcastioPodcastius. For just a dollar a month, supporters can listen to episodes a week early and also help cover hosting and fees, making it possible for me to keep making episodes every week.
I love hearing from listeners! Get in touch about upcoming Pokémon on twitter or facebook at LukeLovesPKMN. Drop a comment if you’re watching the video, or a review on apple podcasts or spotify. Coming up are Alomamola and Joltik, so please get in touch about those or any other monsters.
Even if you don’t feel like doing any of that, thank you so much just for listening.
I love Frillish. And remember, I love you too.