Pokémon-Human Hybrids Exist Within The Series’ Universe
Pokémon RéBURST was a 2011 manga where humans fuse with Pokémon to fight, rather than have them battle directly, and it’s just as weird as it sounds.
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The Pokémon series has a long history of using strange new gimmicks with each iteration – but the strangest might have been when they had human-Pokémon hybrids in Pokémon RéBURST. While different creatures have the ability to fuse together, such as Kyurem, from Pokémon Black 2 and White 2, for example, who can be combined with either Reshiram or Zekrom, the other variety of fusion has rarely been considered by Western fans: Pokémon and humans.
In the untranslated 2011 manga Pokémon RéBURST, Pokémon battles are very different than how they’re usually handled. While most fights in the Pokémon world involve having the monsters fight each other, this manga turns the concept on its head. Rather than trainers, “Burst Warriors,” are specially trained humans who are capable of fusing with Pokémon through the use of an item known as a Burst Heart. Like Poké Balls, these Burst Hearts contain a Pokémon inside, and by communing with the Pokémon within, it becomes possible for a human to make use of the Pokémon’s powers and take on aspects of its appearance.
The process of undergoing the Burst transformation is said to be quite dangerous for those who haven’t prepared their bodies, but hypothetically anyone could perform this fusion with the right training. The Burst Warrior undergoes a change and gains both the Pokémon’s type-based elemental powers, as well as that type’s traditional strengths and weaknesses. While Pokémon in a Burst Heart are sealed inside and cannot be released without destroying the heart, the Pokémon can in fact continue to grow and even evolve by participating in this fused combat state. And yes, if a human in Burst mode with a Pokémon sees their Pokémon evolve, the human/Pokémon hybrid Burst Warrior will evolve, too.
As far as most of Pokémon canon is concerned, the only major instance of a Pokémon and a human becoming one is Lusamine and the Ultra Beast Nihilego in Pokémon Sun and Moon. In that case, however, the transformation seemed to be more parasitic, and Lusamine was in a very bad state after she was released. In the anime, Ash and his Greninja discover a special type of power-up called the Bond Phenomenon, which causes Greninja to take on some of Ash’s attributes, and although they are connected, they remain separate entities.
The Burst Hearts and their subsequent fusions don’t seem to cause any problems for the humans involved, even with repeated use, functioning almost like a magical girl transformation. The designs for the Pokémon/human fusions also resemble a fan concept known as Gijinka, which anthropomorphizes Pokémon (or Gundam units, or just about anything else) by making them look more like a human cosplaying as the iconic design. And given the emphasis on transformation, the effect is that this is a story with a lot more human-on-human violence than almost any other in the franchise, even amongst those that can’t transform.
Amusingly, RéBURST’s protagonist, Ryouga, makes use of a Burst Heart containing Zekrom, one of the Pokémon already known for fusion. While a large number of Pokémon/human Burst fusions are put on display throughout the series, it uses no Pokémon from outside of Unova (Black and White), leaving the fusions of many of the most well-known Pokémon like Pikachu or Charizard a mystery.
Ryouga is ultimately pitted against an evil group known as Great Gavel, who not only have members with Burst Hearts, but also some truly devious weapons that are powered up by stealing an ordinary Pokémon’s life force. The weaponization potential of Pokémon is also a common point of discussion amongst fans but has rarely been acknowledged in the series itself. Ordinary Pokémon that aren’t in Burst Hearts are sometimes encountered, usually in similar circumstances, but they’re actually far less prevalent in the manga than one might expect. Ryouga also has a very Dragon Ball-style goal: to collect the six “original Burst Hearts” and place them in a device known as the Compass of Light in order to track down a powerful being from his past, Arcades.
Fans of other monster-collecting franchises may feel that all this sounds slightly familiar. Digimon Tamers, the third series in that franchise, involves its protagonists fusing with their Digimon partners in order to help them reach their ultimate level. Of course, in that case, the Digimon were perfectly capable of fighting on their own in weaker forms, while the Pokémon in a Burst Heart is totally helpless without a human unless it’s destroyed. Another major difference is that there really doesn’t need to be any sort of trust or love between a human and the Pokémon within the Burst Heart in order to utilize it; certain characters are shown using several different Burst Hearts, and most of the users are rather callous members of Great Gavel. Bonding and communicating with the Pokémon inside can be beneficial, however, as the Heart itself can grow stronger in addition to the Pokémon. Still, Pokémon RéBURST does share the darker take on its source material that Tamers did, and would likely be appealing to fans of that series.
The series ran from March 2011 to October 2012, making the story fairly compact and well-defined compared to many of the long-running manga within the Pokémon franchise. It was also fairly unique in that it was aimed at a broad audience, rather than strictly a Shonen (young boy) or Shojo (young girl) series, although it was first serialized in a magazine called Weekly Shonen Sunday. In the time since Pokémon RéBURST concluded, the Burst phenomena has not come up again, be it in other manga, the games, or the anime, so it’s unclear if this kind of transformation might be possible in other Pokémon series. It stands as yet another example of how truly odd Pokémon adaptations can be at times, and why even being associated with a major franchise isn’t always a guarantee that it will be translated for foreign readers.
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