Zorua and Zoroark are Pokémon species in Nintendo and Game Freak's Pokémon franchise. The two Pokémon were first introduced in 2010 and first featured in , becoming available for gameplay in Pokémon Black and White. Both characters, who bear a resemblance to foxes, were designed by Atsuko Nishida. In Pokémon media, Zorua evolves into Zoroark, and both are capable of illusionary abilities. The reception for the two Pokémon are relatively mild, with generally favorable fan and critic comments, although the two consistently placed somewhat low in popularity polls.
Design and characteristics
Zorua is a small, quadrupedal fox with dark grey fur, a black fur ruff around its neck and a red-tipped tuft of fur on its head. Zorua evolves into Zoroark, which is a larger, bipedal vulpine, still with dark grey fur albeit with a long, red mane. In the games, both Pokémon are Dark-type and possesses the ability "Illusion" - which allows them to appear as other Pokémon or as a human. The in-game descriptions of the two Pokémon refers to them as the "Tricky Fox" and "Illusion Fox" Pokémon. Both Zorua and Zoroark were designed by Atsuko Nishida, who remarked in an interview that she was inspired to design Zorua as a "cheerful-looking" fox Pokémon after watching the movie Helen the Baby Fox, which had a sad story. As the design for both Pokémon were developed, the team preparing a new Pokémon movie decided to use Dark-type Pokémon as main characters, and found that Zorua and Zoroark worked well with the movie's concept. In the design, Zoroark's mane took the place of an otherwise nonexistent tail.
Zoroark, along with Zorua, was first teased through its silhouette during an airing of the showPokémon Sunday and then revealed through a CoroCoro Comic release in early 2010, becoming the first Pokémon revealed for the fifth generation of the Pokémon games. An in-game event in Black and White allows the player to use legendary Pokémon Raikou, Entei or Suicune in an encounter with a reclusive lady, revealing that the woman was in fact a Zoroark behind illusion, and analogously, Zorua could be obtained through mythical Pokémon Celebi. There were no other methods to obtain Zorua or Zoroark in Black or White normally otherwise. Zorua became normally obtainable in the sequels Black 2 and White 2 through gameplay, and by extension Zoroark. Zoroark was also distributed through an event held in 2015 for North American players of Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire. Zoroark is also featured in the Super Smash Bros. series as a non-playable, Poké Ball character.
In other media
Zorua and Zoroark are main characters in the 2010 movie where Zoroark was the mother of the Zorua. In the movie, Zoroark was voiced by Romi Park, while Zorua's Japanese voice was provided by Kurumi Mamiya and the English voice by Eileen Stevens. In the Pokémon anime, a Zoroark is part of the team of Ash Ketchum's rival Gladion and battled against Ash's Pikachu at the end of the Sun & Moon series. The Pokémon Company designated September 2011 as "Zoroark month", releasing merchandise of the character and holding in-game distributions of Zoroark. A Zoroark character is also featured multiple times in the variety showPokémon Smash!, which aired on TV Tokyo between 2010 and 2013. Like other Pokémon, Zoroark is also featured in the Pokémon Trading Card Game, and a deck built around a Zoroark card was named by IGN as its top pick for the 2018 championships for the game.
Merchandise
Following the announcement of the new Pokémon, Takara Tomy released stuffed toys and vinyl figures of the two characters as part of the movie's merchandising, and also released cooking molds in the shape of Zorua. In 2019, a Zorua plush toy was released as part of a halloween merchandise line. Tokyo's Pokémon Café also released a limited-time dish inspired by Zorua during Halloween of 2019.
Reception
IGN ranked Zoroark #68 in its "Top 100 Pokémon" list, and Japanese fans voted Zoroark to the 56th place of their favorite Pokémon in a 2016 official poll, while Zorua placed 147th in the same poll. In a 2016 Anime News Network survey of Japanese fans of "most handsome Pokémon", Zoroark ranked 20th, and ranked the 5th best in the generation in a 2011 poll by the Official Nintendo Magazine. Janine Hawkins of Paste described Zoroark as having a "sophisticated skill set that relies on manipulation", contrasting it to its werewolf-like design, while referring to Zorua as "precious". Oliver Cragg of International Business Times UK referred to Zorua as "the standard bearer of generation", and similarly, Robert Grosso of TechRaptor wrote that Zoroark was "the de-facto mascot of Generation 5". Newsweek described Zorua and Zoroark as fan favorites. Jeff Marchiafava, writing for Game Informer, commented that Zorua was an example of a Pokémon's original form being better than its evolved form.
