2016 was an awful year. Yes I know that doesnt sound like much from a modern perspective as the worlds been getting steadily darker and darker for nearly a decade but 2016 really was special in all of the worst ways. Despite the fact that there was no global pandemic to speak of celebrities were dying at a rate that we hadnt seen since 2009 and the world was about to make a consequential decision that would light the fuse to democracys ongoing downfall that were still witnessing. If ever there was a year where the human race needed something joyful to distract us it was 2016 and we were granted just that by one of the few things in our world that was still joyful innocent and uncompromised: Pokemon. Now the obvious answer to this is to bring up Pokemon Go which was a revolutionary new way to explore the Pokemon franchise although I wouldnt know this personally because Ive never played it. Instead Id like to point to something I only discovered recently... Something Im pretty sure I actually only discovered this year during one of my extended vacations from work while attempting to buff my Completed list with a bunch of Pokemon music videos. Thats right were here to talk about the Magikarp song which Im going to link here for your convenience. https://www..com/watch?v=H3x322Gi3g Now for those who dont know Magikarp is a basic unevolved Pokemon from the first generation dating all the way back to the late nineties. Its generally known as one of the many examples of duality in the Pokemon franchise. That is to say its cripplingly weak at first but can evolve into one of the coolest Pokemon in the entire game Gyarados. And when I say weak I mean it. Magikarp has pitiful stats and a moveset that contains no actual offensive moves unless you breed it to know Tackle. It was kind of a genius move by the Pokemon creator to add a pokemon like this because in order to raise a Gyarados you had to work on some kind of clever battle strategy to level up your pitiful Magikarp without it constantly faiting... At least you did until the games added experience sharing items and later made experience sharing a core feature because these days the games are either too easy or too complicated with no middle ground. Because the internet is what it is all of these details surrounding Magikarp quickly evolved it into something equally impressive as Gyarados A beloved meme. People love Magikarp hell if you count ironic love alongside the unironic its probably even more popular than Gyarados. People love its dumb little face the way it says its own name in English they just love to watch it flop around helplessly possibly because it reminds them of their efforts to succeed in a capitalist society or just because they want to protect its derpy existence. All of this leads me to the fantastic anomaly known as The Magikarp song which I really wish I could say more about but it really is just a song with a really cute music video... Its hard to describe things like this because theres no real depth to it theres no actual subject matter all I can really say is that it is one of the most precious gorram things in existence. The art and animation on display is of course impressive because Im assuming it had the budget and artistic integrity of the Pokemon company behind it but whatever the case may be it is very pretty and easy on the eyes. The song is in English sung by what sounds like a child whose voice is damn near angelic. I honestly dont know if theres a japanese version because while the lyrics do sound like a translation at times the comments are turned off so who can even tell. Either way whoever wrote thi song was clearly very knowledgable about Magikarp fitting an astounding amount of lore into the lyrics in a way that flows naturally and rhymes perfectly without straying from the beat. The actual attitude the song has towards Magikarp is equal parts adoration and ridicule happily roasting the poor golden fish while also glazing it worse than Ellis glazed Shrek and I will be the first person to say it is just so gosh darn funny that I cant not recommend it to anyone who even has a passing interest in Pokemon. Theres an aura to this video that I can only compare to the insane brilliance of Akiba Maid War its just so perfect in its weirdness that you have to experience it for yourself. I give The Magikarp song a 10/10