#513 - #514: Pansear & Simisear

Simisear ranked last in the Japanese Pokémon general election 720 poll to decide what would be distributed at Japanese showings of Pokémon the Movie: Volcanion and the Mechanical Marvel, so I guess it's safe to say that it was effectively voted the (Japanese) fandom's least favorite Pokémon, right? The fact that the elemental monkeys - barring Pansage, for some reason - all ended up in the bottom 100 of this big list is a testament to their joint unpopularity, and it's just... unwarranted.

All of the elemental monkeys depicted together, with Pansear
and Simisear in the middle.

Having said that, Simisear might just be the silliest-looking elemental monkey, with its sassy stance and that goofy look on its face. There's a reason for that, though. Its appearance of wearing a fur jacket and fingerless gloves - as well as its hands being outstretched like it's gripping a pair of handlebars - are reminiscent of traits of bōsōzoku, a Japanese youth subculture associated with customized motorcycles. Like Simisage and Simipour, Simisear is based on the Japanese tale of the three wise monkeys that together form the embodiment of the proverbial principle of "see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil", which is used to refer to people who choose to ignore inappropriate things when they see them and even got its own (quite popular) emojis to be used on a variety of social media platforms. However, the idea is that Simisage, Simisear and Simipour failed their assigned roles as wise monkeys; and as bōsōzoku gangs often like to remove the mufflers on their vehicles so that more noise is produced and people start complaining about noise pollution, it is obvious that Simisear is supposed to have failed to hear no evil. Even the names of Pansear and Simisear, with the suffix -sear being derived from 'to sear' as well as 'ear' or 'to hear', are direct references to the 'three wise monkeys' motif all elemental monkeys share with each other. And is it me, or are Simisear's ears larger than Simisage and Simipour's...?

Hear no evil.

But wait, what about Pansear? Well, its Pokédex entries only mention it living in volcanic cave and roasting berries with its tuft, which can reach temperatures of up to 600°F whenever it is angered - not the hottest I've seen in flavor texts of fire-type Pokémon so far. Simisear doesn't fare that much better: while bōsōzoku also like to engage in reckless driving, street races and getting into fights that may or may not include weapons, no such behavior is spoken of in Simisear's Pokédex entries, unlike Simisage's foul temper being derived from the yankii subculture. Simisear just likes to eat sweet foods in order to sustain the flame flickering inside its body, and it scatters embers from its head and tail to sear opponents or whenever it gets excited. I actually think this is far from exciting, and its competitive usage honestly does nothing to improve that. Simisear is pretty much the same as Simisage in that regard, with good offensive stats and speed as well as mediocre defenses, and the only difference being its fire type. Most of the fire type moves it has access to are special-based, and a Nasty Plot set supported by Fire Blast, Grass Knot and Focus Blast was a 'common' set to use prior to Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, but ever since you can breed the move Flare Blitz onto Simisear it is better to just run a physical set on it, especially with its superior physical coverage movepool.

Its moveset - accompanied by a Jolly nature and either a Life Orb or a Choice Band as a held item - should indeed consist of Flare Blitz, Knock Off (Crunch and Throat Chop might be more reliable in the end), Superpower and Gunk Shot, which is the same as Simisage's aside from the elemental move specific to its type. Rock Slide is unfortunately not as compatible with Simisear as it is with Simisage, although it is an option, and Acrobatics could come in handy when your own item is knocked off. Be wary with Flare Blitz, though, as it deals a significant amount of recoil damage to Simisear.

Here is a picture of Simisage in TCG, because there is literally nothing else I can
use for this blog. Good fan art of this thing is incredibly scarce. 

While I'm aware that I seem to be more critical of Simisear than of Simisage, this simply isn't true. Admittedly, I love Simisage a whole lot more than its contemporaries, but competitively Simisage is as bad as Simisear and I'd rather use something else in such a 'professional' environment. It's better to use the monkeys in a normal playthrough - although maybe not all three at the same fucking time - and have fun with them as you proceed through the story. Design-wise, I like Simisear even better than Infernape, the other fire-type monkey, but its strangely shaped lower body prevents me from giving it a higher rating overall. I just don't have the same love for it as I do for Simisage, and even Simipour is slightly better design-wise. Still, 3,5 stars isn't so bad at all for a Pokémon that is universally being hated upon.

Rating: 3.5/5