Picture a magical girl anime opening, complete with dramatic weather effects and two heroines squaring off against something ominous in the sky. Now imagine that's actually a video game announcement from the studio behind Pokemon. That's exactly what Game Freak just dropped on everyone.
The studio announced Ame no Chi Hare Onna, a free-to-play mobile game for iOS and Android, currently targeting a Japan release. Co-developed with Chronogate, the game follows two characters named Hare Onna and Kumorin, who can channel weather into magic. The hook that's got people talking: it pulls in real-world weather data as part of its core gameplay loop. Game Freak hasn't spelled out exactly how that mechanic works yet, but more details are coming through a dedicated "Hare Onna Club Meeting" stream and an appearance at Tokyo Game Show.
Use code TRYHARD33 at checkout to redeem this offer before code expires again.
Get 33% Off GAMES+ Subscription
The Shigeru Ohmori connection
Here's the thing that makes this announcement more than just a curiosity. Shigeru Ohmori is directing it. Ohmori has been the lead director of the mainline Pokemon series since Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, which puts him at the helm of one of the most commercially successful game franchises on the planet. Attaching him to a small-scale mobile laundry game is a statement, whether Game Freak intends it that way or not.
The studio has a history of releasing non-Pokemon titles between major franchise entries. HarmoKnight, Little Town Hero, and Tembo the Badass Elephant all came out of Game Freak during gaps in the Pokemon release schedule. Beast of Reincarnation, the studio's recent photorealistic action RPG, was the latest example. Ame no Chi Hare Onna fits that same pattern, filling the space before Pokemon Winds and Waves arrives next year.
What most players miss is that these side projects aren't throwaway experiments. They're how Game Freak's developers stretch their creative muscles outside the constraints of a franchise that sold $3.4 billion in net sales in its most recent fiscal year. A weather-based magical girl mobile game is about as far from Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen as the studio can get, and that's probably the point.
Weather as a mechanic, not just a backdrop
Real-world weather integration in games isn't new, but it's rare enough that it still turns heads. The closest precedent most people will remember is Boktai: The Sun is in Your Hand, the Hideo Kojima-produced GBA title that used an actual solar sensor in the cartridge to power gameplay. That was over two decades ago.
Ame no Chi Hare Onna seems to be picking up that baton. The idea that your gameplay experience shifts depending on whether it's actually raining or sunny outside where you're sitting adds a layer of real-world connection that most mobile games don't bother with. Whether that translates into something mechanically interesting or just a novelty depends entirely on execution, and Game Freak hasn't shown enough yet to judge.
The teaser trailer leans hard into anime aesthetics, the kind of opening sequence that would fit comfortably between episodes of a seasonal shonen series. That visual direction, combined with the magical girl premise, suggests Game Freak is targeting a different audience than its typical Pokemon player base.
What this means before Winds and Waves
The timing is deliberate. Pokemon Winds and Waves is the next major franchise release, and there are already questions swirling around it, including hints from a Game Freak veteran that the turn-based combat system itself could change. Releasing a small, experimental mobile title in the months before a mainline Pokemon entry is a way for the studio to stay active and test new ideas without the weight of franchise expectations.
For players who have been following Game Freak's non-Pokemon output, Ame no Chi Hare Onna is another data point in an increasingly interesting creative trajectory. For everyone else, it's a reminder that the studio behind the world's biggest media franchise still finds time to make a game about doing laundry with magic.
Keep an eye on Tokyo Game Show for the first real look at how the weather mechanic actually plays. If you're brushing up on Game Freak's Pokemon roots in the meantime, the Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen guides collection has everything you need to revisit where the series has been.
