Last week we reported that the Pokémon Evolutions animated short series would return after a similar run in 2016, and the first episode of the new batch did not disappoint.

Titled “The Champion”, this episode is a retelling of the events which happen close to the end of the last mainline games, Sword and Shield. Here the player character, Hop and said champion Leon all work together to take down Eternatus.

“Titled ‘The Champion,’ Episode 1 offers fans a fresh perspective on what goes on in the heart of a Pokémon Champion. As Leon prepares to face the greatest challenge of all, what goes through his mind? Doubt? Regret? Determination? Watch ‘The Champion’ to find out,” an episode description reads.

Like the 2016 iteration the animation here is superb and you really can’t ask for more considering that this free show is readily available on YouTube, and you can watch it in the embed below.

This latest incarnation is also noticeably longer. All of the 2016 episodes varied in length between a single minute and five minutes, while this one comes closer to eight minutes.

The trade off here is that the 2021 version will only have eight episodes while in 2016 we got more than double that with 19 episodes.

The choice of eight episodes was very intentional, however, as each one will focus on one region of the games.

The release schedule for 2021’s Evolutions is as follows:

• September 9, 2021: “The Champion” featuring the Galar region
• September 23, 2021: “The Eclipse” featuring the Alola region
• October 7, 2021: “The Vision” featuring the Kalos region
• October 21, 2021: “The Plan” featuring the Unova region
• December 2, 2021: “The Rival” featuring the Sinnoh region
• December 9, 2021: “The Wish” featuring the Hoenn region
• December 16, 2021: “The Show” featuring the Johto region
• December 23, 2021: “The Quest” featuring the Kanto region

This first episode really set the bar high in terms of quality we can expect from the remaining seven. We really loved the large sense of scale that was achieved here with Eternatus and Wyndon Stadium looking appropriately giant where they may not have in the game.

The immense detail is also appreciated with the short glimpses of the crowd revealing some fun detail, such as a Polteageist enjoying a drink bigger than its entire body.

he taking a sippy pic.twitter.com/pqXDyLffHw

— Out of Context Pokemon (@OoCPokemon) September 9, 2021