In Game Freak's New Game, Laundry Dries Faster When the Sun Is Out
A map of Japan's weather doubles as your stage select
Game Freak posted a teaser for Ame nochi Hare Onna (雨のちハレ女) on its official YouTube channel on September 14, then went into detail on a livestream at 7 p.m. Japan time the same day. 'Ame nochi' is the phrase Japanese forecasts use for 'rain, then', and 'Hare Onna' is the name for the girls who turn the weather into magic. Game Freak is making it together with CHRONOGATE, and Shigeru Ohmori is the director and producer.
Ohmori has directed the main Pokémon games since Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire in 2014. On the stream he said Game Freak is taking on new games beyond Pokémon, and added that this one is a 180-degree turn from Beast of Reincarnation, which came out in August.
The basic loop is patrolling around Japan and beating Yamikumo, which form from the bad energy in street litter. The patrol screen shows the weather across the country: if the Chubu region is sunny, a Hare Onna is strong there, and if it's raining, an Ame Onna is. You take on stages to match weather that changes every day, and the team says you end up learning the country's weather as you play.
This week's forecast is the hand you're dealt
Battles are turn-based, and you swap characters as you fight. The real weekly forecast becomes an energy called tenkiryoku (weather power), which fuels weather magic. Hare Onna with different weather attributes show up, like ones who control rain or lightning.
Ohmori came up with the idea while watching a weather forecast. It looked like a card game to him, and he thought you could fight with a different hand every day. You can also check the forecast and send out a Hare Onna whose best weather is on the way.
Wear the same outfit and it gets stronger, and dirtier
Hare Onna transform by putting on magic outfits called haregi. Keep wearing the same one and it grows stronger, but it also gets dirty and your HP drops. So the basic move is washing it clean to recover.
Washed outfits have to be hung out to dry, and they dry faster on sunny days. If it rains, a social feature lets someone else bring your washing in for you. The truck that follows the girls on patrol and does their laundry, Machine Sentakki, was designed by Game Freak's Ken Sugimori.
A curry-loving heroine and a laundry-crazy tanuki
The heroine, Himawari Harewatari, is from Matsudo in Chiba. She's the upbeat type who laughs in the face of trouble, and she loves curry. Eat it too fast and her clothes get dirty and her power drains, so her worst enemy might just be curry.
Her partner is Pon Arai, a tanuki from Okutama in Tokyo. Pon is one of the Kumorin, divine messengers who lend the girls their power, loves laundry, and sees raccoons as rivals. At Game Freak's booth at Tokyo Game Show 2026, visitors get Kumorin acrylic stands if it rains on the day, though there's no playable demo.
DoYouBox has a game whose course changes every day too
If a game that changes every day sounds fun, try DoYou Daily Course. There's one course a day, so everyone runs the same one, dodging left and right to compete on their finish score.
If magic is more your thing, there's also Which Wizard House Are You?. Answer 8 questions and your house is decided. Both are DoYouBox's own games, with no connection to Ame nochi Hare Onna.