Kick off Pokémon Day 2025 with this gorgeous short film

Many of the Pokémon Company’s animated projects outside of the mainline anime have been fun explorations of what people and their pokémon get up to besides battling. But director Maho Aoki’s Dragonite and the Special Delivery also feels like a reminder to thank your mail carriers for all the hard work they do. Produced by CoMix Wave Films — the studio behind Suzume, Weathering With You, and Your Name — Dragonite and the Special Delivery tells the story of Hana (Riko Fukumoto), a young Paldean postal worker who dreams of becoming an expert deliveryperson.

While most deliverypeople get the chance to venture out into the world, as a letter sorter, Hana’s days are usually spent behind a desk with her partner Fuecoco. But when Hana happens to find an unaddressed letter from a young boy who is trying to wish his traveling father a happy birthday, she recognizes it as an opportunity to prove that she has what it takes to become one of the postal system’s greats like a certain friendly Dragonite.

The short spotlights how it takes all kinds of specialized human and pokémon labor to keep the inter-regional postal system running smoothly. Unsurprisingly, CoMix Wave’s take on the pokémon world is a visual delight that makes all of the short’s creatures look downright majestic regardless of whether they’re ordinary or legendary monsters. The short also features a sweeping shot of Kalos’ Lumiose City and quite a few pokémon capable of Mega Evolution.