ENAMORUS

The last new Pokemon introduced by the Hisui region is a surprise fairy/flying addition to the elemental oni that were Landorus, Thundurus and Tornadus, unfortunately still some of my least favorite Pokemon designs. Enamorus at least breaks free from their samey design elements and does something a lot more bizarre with the base concept, but I'm still not entirely sure how I feel about it. Referred to as the "Love-Hate" Pokemon, it's explicitly said to be the female counterpart to the other three, which means it gets a skinnier build, pink skin, lipstick and a heart motif. It is, however, also much more sinister and devilish looking, with larger, meaner yellow eyes, four red horns, pointed ears and a tail in the shape of a "snake" that coils around its shoulders. I like how the snake-tail even has a false "head" on it, using the heart markings like eye spots.

Enamorus's humanoid or "Incarnate" form is said to spread "love" that "gives rise to the budding of fresh life" in the spring, a G-rated way of saying this is a fertility goddess that makes everything want to boink. So, yeah, suddenly there's a flying devil woman Pokemon that makes people and pokemon randy wherever it goes, I guess. Funny. Mostly cool looking, but I just don't like the flying white cloud instead of legs. I didn't like that about the other three, and even now I haven't warmed up to it. I'll give it a 4 for looking unique and spooky, though I actually seem to be in a minority for even liking anything about this design. I can understand that, since it's more "weird looking human" than almost any other "weird looking human" in Pokemon, but if that irks you, at least you get another option.

Just like her three brothers, Enamorus has an alternate "Therian" form. But while the other three could transform into a birdlike, dragonlike and catlike mode, they kind of somehow managed to look exactly the same to me, and their faces didn't change a whole lot between their "humanoid" and "animal" states either. Only Enamorus veers off more dramatically, morphing into a giant, flying soft shelled turtle with the "snake" coiled up on its back. And whereas her humanoid or "Incarnate" form was all about lovemaking, this form "metes out wrathful, ruthless punishment" to those who "disrespect any form of life," a hypocritical thing for a soft shelled turtle to do, since they themselves are the most disrespectful of all aquatic reptiles. Everyone knows THAT!

I mostly like this design, and I even like the cloud aspect a bit better now that it's integrated into the fringe of a turtle shell, but now I just wish neither form had to be one of these flying mythicals at all. What if you JUST love devil women or you JUST love mean, squishy turtles? This should be the Pokemon for you, but then you have to use it knowing that's not really the point of its theme, you know? That it's just part of a set and not really meant to stand on its own as either a devil woman or a squishy turtle per se? Am I the only one ever bothered by that kind of thing? Well, if you can look past that more easily than I do, this is a pretty solid and distinct addition to Pokemon's selection of Testudinae, and in fact, pretty much the last variety that was still missing!

So there's a freshwater turtle, a tortoise, a prehistoric horned turtle, a sea turtle, a matamata, a snapping turtle, and now a softshell in the Pokemon world. There's nothing left to represent from the shell-backed reptiles now, except to repeat the same groups with new typings or more specific species, like if they made an over alligator snapping turtle or galapagos island tortoise, or something. ALMOST none of these repeat a type combination (sorry Drednaw and Carracosta) or even a color scheme, either! Wow! That's a LOT better than we can say about the endless parade of Pokemon monkeys, dogs or cats! Good for you, turtles!