#515 - #516: Panpour & Simipour

I could've been done with this review already if I hadn't decided to post my top 7 favorite Pokémon generations instead. Let's get this over with, shall we?

See no evil.

Panpour follows the same pattern as Pansage and Pansear in the sense that it is based on the same concept of "see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil", a Japanese proverb used to describe people that turn a blind eye - as well as a closed mouth and a deaf ear, while we're at it - to things that are considered even slightly inappropriate. Panpour and its evolution Simipour represent the 'see no evil' part of this proverb, which is kind of obvious considering they're continuously depicted with closed eyes. However, Simipour also continues the premise that the evolved forms of the elemental monkeys are based on Japanese delinquents and failed their assigned roles as wise monkeys. While Simisage's design contains aspects of the yankii culture and Simisear's is based on bōsōzoku, Simipour derives certain elements of its design from 'kogal', the anglicized form of kogyaru, which involves school girls wearing an outfit based on their uniform - only with shortened skirts, loose socks, dyed hair and a ton of make-up. Kogyaru are assumed to care only about their looks (hence why Simipour failed to see no evil) and are considered vain and shallow, while the modern school girls' uniform has come to be percived as the dress code for promiscuity, easiness, greed and stupidity. Lastly, Simipour's chest fur resembles a volcano - much like the fur on Simisear's shoulders resembles smoke or steam and its entire design indicates that it is based on an active volcano - and may have possibly been based on geysers, the froth of a gushing waterfall, subaqueous volcanoes and cryovolcanoes, the latter of which erupts volatiles such as water, ammonia or methane instead of molten rock.

Unfortunately, Panpour and Simipour's flavor text doesn't seem to be all that exciting: Panpour's only mention that its geyser-shaped tuft contains water that is full of nutrients, while Simipour's mention that it replenishes its tuft by siphoning up water with its tail, which can shoot powerful pressurized blasts of water that can demolish a concrete wall.

3D art of Simipour.

Also, when you look at the foreign names of the elemental monkeys, Game Freak don't seem to be able to settle on which monkey these Pokémon are based on. Their Japanese names keep it fairly general and just contain the words 'ape' and 'monkey', but the French names of the basic forms - being Pansage, Pansear and Panpour - all contain the word sapajou ('capuchin monkey'), while their evolutions are apparently based on orangutans. The German names of the pre-evos are derived from Makak, which means 'macaque', the type of monkey that the wise monkeys from the Japanese proverb are usually depicted as. The prefix pan- from their English names is based on the genus name for chimpanzees, however, which the German names for the fully evolved forms seem to back: Cheeta, sometimes billed as Chita, is a chimp character who appeared in numerous Tarzan movies from the 1930s to the 1960s as the ape sidekick of Tarzan himself. This whole name origin thing is thoroughly confusing, and I wish Game Freak had paid a little more attention when naming the elemental monkeys. It is literally not that difficult to have them based on the one and the same kind of monkey/ape, especially since they don't look like hybrids in the first place.

Despite being fully evolved, these elemental monkeys don't seem
to have matured much. 

The only thing left to discuss is Simipours competitive viability, and I have to say that... well, its as bad as its contemporaries. As water is a great offensive typing mainly specializing in special moves, I wouldn't even recommend using Simipour as a physical attacker; I'd go with Scald, Focus Blast, Ice Beam and Nasty Plot instead. Perhaps you could get rid of the unreliable Focus Blast and give it Grass Knot or Substitute, but that's about it, basically. A physical set is possible, as Simipour learns Aqua Tail and Waterfall - as well as quite a few coverage moves such as Crunch, Brick Break, Throat Chop, Gunk Shot, Rock Slide, Ice Punch, Acrobatics, Superpower, Knock Off and Iron Tail - and hits hard whenever it's holding a Choice Band, but a special set is generally better because Ice Beam is considered one of the best coverage moves in the game and Scald has a chance to burn the foe. Of course, you should give it a Timid nature rather than a Jolly nature when going with a special set, but that's a given by now. Simipour should be holding a Life Orb at all times (remember: the Choice Specs don't work in combination with Nasty Plot), as this item has proved to be more than effective in the competitive scene... but personally, I wouldn't waste it on any of the elemental monkeys. I'd give it to a more useful water-type Pokémon; there are plenty of them to be found in the games, anyway.

Panpour (left), Pansage (middle) and Pansear (right), holding what seem to be
little figurines or dolls of themselves. I'm including this because I think it's cute.

That doesn't mean you can't use Simisage, Simisear or Simipour in a playthrough, however. I've used them all at least once, and they're fast and strong and get the job done perfectly. Design-wise, Simisage is my favorite and Simisear my least favorite, so I'll rank Simipour somwhere in the middle. All of the elemental monkeys have something charming about them, and I really don't understand why so many people seem to despise them. Unova is great, y'all.

Rating: 4/5