It was the year 1973. Three men, the brothers Sergio and Francesco Manfio, and Laura Fintina, founded the theatrical company "Gruppo Alcuni" (group someone), who made theater plays for kids. In 1990 they decided to expand their competences (whatever that means) and found an animation studio. Ten years later, they had an idea: kids love watching cartoons on the tv, why can't we make one ourselves? The idea was simple: taking 6 common house pets (a cat, a dog, a frog, a chick, a duck and a bunny) and create adventures for them to follow. The idea was presented to an important tv emittent called RAI, which accepted. Three years later, the cartoon "Cuccioli" (the italian word for "pets", in the USA it was called "Pet Pals") was unleashed onto the world. The protagonists were Holly the cat, Moby (Portatile) the dog, Pio the frog, Nameless (Senzanome) the chick, Diva the duck and Tophat (Cilindro) the bunny. They live in Auckland, Australia, with a nice old woman. One day the woman decides to go to Venice in order to visit her little nephews and brings her pets with her. However, because Nameless met a nasty rat, in a hurry they jump on the wong boat and they get far from their owner. It's the beginning of a long journey around the world in order to find a way to go back to Venice... or at least this was the first season's plot. Later in the cartoon the team discovers the existence of a place where creatures of fairy tales live, the Middle Woods (Bosco di Mezzo) and they have to protect it from the evil Crow Witch (Maga Cornacchia) who aims to be its undisputed master (or at least that's in the series, there are also two movies, in the first one she wants to drain Venice' lagoon as a revenge for an humiliation and in the second she wants to destroy the town of Poof because... she's evil). The cartoon was a big success in Italy, enough to making it last 5 seasons and again two movies and even making a spinoff (which however was aimed at preschool kids, unlike the main series). I discovered this gem when the channel Rai Yoyo aired the third season and was mad about it. I loved its genious humor, its interesting stories and episodes and its enjoyable characters (not to mention the opening was one of the greatest bangers in the history of italian cartoons' openings). Despite after the first movie they lowered their charm (expecially in that god-awful second part of season 5, probably one of the worst letdowns in the history of italian animation) I still enjoy watching the episodes, as Pet Pals is my second favorite italian animated series (maybe one day I'll talk about the first place too...).

On the 25th of february the cartoon celebrated its 25th anniversary, and the creators announced a revival series, called "Pet Pals - The return" is in the works. Meanwhile I have a little idea for an homage to this series: why not recreating some of its most hilarious scenes... with the protagonists turned into pokemons? And so here we are. This deviation is meant to show the pokemons who were chosen for the roles of the protagonists. Meet:

- Sprigatito as Holly, the brain of the group. She is clever and cunning, has always the best ideas to get out of troubles.
- Herdier as Moby. He's a cultured dog who loves to spread informations about the places they visit and the creatures they meet, and he talks in a very quiet and mannery way (that's the reason I'm not a big fan of his english voice actor, the voice he gives him is too rough). In the first season he had a phone in his belly (hence the name Portatile, mobile in italian).
- Froakie as Pio, a frog with a passion for acting and a talent for imitation. He got a low r. Many times he translates Nameless' signboards for the others. Fun fact, the design of the character is inspired by Rayman.
- Torchic as Nameless. He's a resourceful little chick who often saves his friends from troubles. He can't talk, so he expresses himself with magical signboards, a technique thought to him by the wind keeper (you have to thank the second movie for explaining this), which can also use to summon any object he wants (and this probably puts him high in any power scaling tier, surely he's the most powerful character in the show).
- Ducklett as Diva, and the name should already tell her personality. She got a primadonna complex and she's always obsessed by her looks and anything that is precious and/or luxurious. Most of her gags are about her abusive (but funny) relation with Tophat.
- Scorbunny as Tophat, my favorite protagonist along with Diva. He's mostly the comical relief of the group, a complete dumbass who manages to comically make the greatest epic fails. He's in love with Diva and always tries to impress her, to no avail. He also loves to make jokes, which most of the time fall flat to his friends. Despite all of this, sometimes his stupidity manages to bring little successes to the group.