#554 - #555: Darumaka & Darmanitan

I guess Darumaka's inability to be toppled over when asleep helps
it balancing a whole-ass fruit basket on its head - or berry basket,
rather.

These Pokémon are wild, yo.

Game Freak took the concept of a daruma doll - a round, traditional Japanese doll that is popular as a good-luck charm and is modeled after Bodhidharma, the founder of the Zen tradition of Buddhism - and made the Pokémon that is based on it the complete opposite of what most people think Zen Buddhism represents (calmness, peace and meditation, for example). When Darumaka's internal flame burns, it is incredibly energetic and active to the point that it cannot calm down and becomes uncontrollable, even though it isn't an aggressive Pokémon by nature. It even uses its droppings to dispose of excess heat; in fact, these droppings are so hot that people back in the day used to put them in their clothes to keep themselves warm, which... kind of grosses me out a little, to be honest. Holy shit, that's actually disgusting.

Thank God for central heating, amirite?

However, Darumaka's internal flame shrinks when it falls asleep, and when it does it tucks in its arms and legs and refuses to be tipped over no matter how much it is pushed or pulled. In this state, Darumaka resembles a daruma doll of the kind that cannot be knocked over due to its low center of gravity, like a roly-poly toy. Even Darumaka's fire typing is a reference to a practice called daruma-burning, in which all daruma dolls are brought back to the temple they were purchased from for a traditional burning ceremony that is held once a year, usually right after New Year's Day. After expressing gratitude to the dolls, people turn them over to the temple and buy new ones for the next year.

Promotional TCG art of Darmanitan. Those flaming eyebrows are
nothing short of fabulous.

But if you think Darumaka is interesting, you haven't seen anything yet. It's not necessarily Darumaka who's wild; it's its evolution Darmanitan who pulls out all the stops. To quote Chris from Pokémaniacal: "[...] if Darumaka is turned up to eleven, Darmanitan just plain blows up the meter." And goddamn, the dude is right. While Darumaka looks like a cute little monkey to some extent, Darmanitan's manic grin, big-ass fists and round, black-ringed eyes will make you be sure not to mess with it. This motherfucker just looks downright insane, and its Pokédex entries back that up: Darmanitan's internal fire burns at 2,500°F, making enough power so that one punch can destroy a dump truck. And if it can destroy a dump truck with one punch, surely a plane, a bridge or even a skyscraper wouldn't be a problem, either. However, to correspond with Darmanitan's origins regarding Zen charms and all that shit, Game Freak gave it a hidden ability called Zen Mode, which is also the name of the form Darmanitan takes on whenever one with this ability drops below half of its health - or as its Pokédex entries like to state: it transforms into a stone statue whenever it is injured in a fierce battle, only to sharpen its mind and fight on mentally. Zen Mode Darmanitan even seems to be based on the adage of the three wise monkeys - "see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil", often used to refer to those who deal with impropriety by turning a blind eye - judging by the fact that Zen Mode Darmanitan have their eyes become blank (like on a real daruma doll), their mouths shut tightly and their ears covered, sitting patiently in contrast to their bold posture in Standard Mode. It may even be a direct reference to Bodhidharma, achieving enlightenment.

This also makes me realize that Simisage, Simisear and Simipour - all Pokémon that are based on the three wise monkeys - are actually really redundant considering Zen Mode Darmanitan was introduced in the exact same generation as them. Perhaps the elemental monkeys look more simian than Darmanitan does, but you can't deny it looks very ape-like; in fact, its name suggests that it is based on an orangutan, with its pre-evolution probably being based on a macaque.

N with... some of his Pokémon, I guess? Actually, I think this drawing is kind of
inaccurate; only Darmanitan was his, and he released it when in the Desert Resort.

But while Darmanitan is normally a physically offensive glass cannon, Zen Mode Darmanitan is a special tank that gets the psychic type added to it, has its power shifted from the physical to the special side of the spectrum and has to deliver some speed in exchange for a lot more bulk. The thing is that this doesn't work all that well, because it means you'll have to let your Darmanitan's health bar drop to less than 50% in the first place, leaving you with a slower (albeit bulkier) Pokémon with more than half of its HP missing. Not only is this not ideal, you'll have to start off with a Standard Mode Darmanitan using physical moves and continue with a Zen Mode Darmanitan using special moves halfway through, even though a Pokémon can only learn four different moves. It's one thing giving a certain Pokémon one special move for coverage purposes, it's another building a whole moveset for a Pokémon that revolves around two different strategies. It just doesn't work.

Darmanitan, stop monkeying around. I'm starting to think that
 Game Freak were right in giving you its Japanese and German
names of Hihidaruma (ヒヒダルマ) and Flampivian, which both
contain the word for 'baboon' in their respective language (hihi
and Pavian, respectively).

Fortunately, Zen Mode Darmanitan is only available if it's given its hidden ability. Darmanitan has only one regular ability, but it's an awesome one: Sheer Force adds more power to moves with additional effects (except for moves that have a higher crit ratio or affect the user negatively), which really compliments Darmanitan's monstrous base 140 attack stat. Along with decent base 95 speed, a Jolly or Adamant nature and a Life Orb, Choice Scarf or Choice Band as its held item, this juggernaut has the potential to destroy lives. Unfortunately, defense is not really Darmanitan's forte; its amazing HP stat doesn't do anything for its nonexistent defenses, while its best physical fire-type attack is Flare Blitz, which deals recoil damage. Combine these things and Darmanitan gets worn down really quickly. There's always the option to go for Fire Punch instead, but Flare Blitz is just more common in competitive because it's more powerful, so it's not recommended. Rock Slide and Earthquake don't always go well with a fire-type move, and U-Turn is only very common on Darmanitan to get it the hell off the battlefield in an unwanted situation while still doing damage, but it has a couple of nifty coverage moves up its sleeve: Hammer Arm and Superpower are solid fighting-type options and go well with Flare Blitz, while Zen Headbutt is an option if you feel threatened by certain fighting- and poison-type Pokémon, although Earthquake is generally better to deal with the latter.

This kind of fan art suits Darmanitan perfectly, and that makes me happy.

I absolutely fucking love Darmanitan. Its origins are beyond interesting, it has an incredibly savage personality, and its design is insanely over the top; it's a downright monstrosity and that's exactly what makes me love it so much. It's a shame that Game Freak couldn't properly implement its origins into its game mechanics, because Zen Mode Darmanitan ties in perfectly with this whole Zen theme Game Freak were going for, but in the end it doesn't matter: I love Darmanitan mainly for the monster that it is, even though it may be a tad bit overpowered in an in-game setting, which is, naturally, exactly why I used it so many times in playthroughs. This Pokémon is high up on my list of favorite Pokémon and I can't give it anything other than a rock-solid rating of 5 stars.

Rating: 5/5