Watch Ed Sheeran voice Pokémon characters

ABC/Eric McCandless

When Ed Sheeran was in Japan not long ago, he didn’t just play concerts: he also got to fulfill a childhood fantasy.

Most fans of Ed know that he loves Pokémon. In 2021, he did an in-game performance as part of Pokémon Go, and in 2022, he wrote a song called “Celestial” for the end credits of the video games Pokémon Scarlet and Violet. On Instagram Thursday he revealed that while he was in Japan, he got to provide the voices for some of his favorite Pokémon characters.

In the video, he’s seen recording the voices — well, not voices, more like sounds and occasional words — for Pokémon characters like Pikachu, Squirtle, Bulbasaur, Charizard and Snorlax.

Explaining in 2022 why he’s such a fan of the Japanese media franchise, Ed wrote on Facebook, “I really really love it. It gave me a proper escape as a kid into a fantasy world that seemed to go on and on, and in adult life it’s nostalgia that makes me feel like a kid again.”

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.