Nanu

Nanu
Species	Human
Affiliation	International Police (formerly)
Hair color	Gray
Eye color	Red
Height	4'9"
Base	Po Town Police Station, Ula'ula Island
Voiced by	Sean Chiplock (2019)
Debut	Pokémon Sun/Moon

Nanu is a Pokémon trainer who appears as an opponent and supporting character in the seventh generation games of the Pokémon series, Pokémon Sun, Moon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon. He acts as one of the four kahunas of the Alola region and is the kahuna of Ula'ula Island. Nanu is also a police officer with history in the International Police. He specializes in Dark-type Pokémon and holds the Dark-type Z-Crystal, Darkinium Z.

Background

Nanu was originally a member of the International Police, with the codename of '000'. Looker, then known as 100kr, reported to him. Together, they investigated the mysterious Ultra Beasts. The International Police placed a person who had gone through a wormhole, a Faller, on their team in order to help lure out the Ultra Beasts. Ten years prior to the events of the seventh generation games, there was an incident in which they confronted Guzzlord within the Alola region. Looker hesitated against the creature, and it killed the Faller. Soon afterwards, they discovered a different Faller named Anabel on the shore of Poni Island. She had lost many of her memories and was placed under the International Police's custody, and Nanu grew jaded about the way the International Police used Fallers. At some point after that, Nanu left the International Police and became a normal police officer on Alola's Ula'ula Island. He took up residence at the Po Town Police Station at Route 17, from which he kept an eye on the activities of Team Skull at Po Town and looked out for the Pokémon they hurt, although he claimed that he only lived there for the cheap rent.

He later gained a new responsibility when Tapu Bulu appeared before him and chose him to become the new kahuna of Ula'ula Island. He accepted this position begrudgingly, as he was trying to avoid responsibility, but he would not refuse the tapu's judgement. He appointed Acerola as one of the Trial Captains, while Sophocles was chosen by the departing captain Molayne. Acerola had a cheery nature which was useful for seeing through Nanu's gruff demeanor to the nicer intentions underneath. As kahuna, he held a grand trial for those who completed the island's trials as part of the island challenge, which essentially consisted of a Pokémon battle. In the Ultra games, it was also revealed that he conducted Poni Island's grand trials as well, during the time period that it went without a kahuna. Those games also revealed that the starter Pokémon that Nanu gave out were all Alolan Meowth, with the only difference between them being their personalities.

Elio/Selene first met him at Route 17, where he warned them about the dangers of taking on Team Skull. He later showed up at Po Town after the trainer rescued the stolen Yungoos and healed their Pokémon. Acerola also tried to point out Nanu's nobler intentions, which he denied. After Lillie was captured by Team Skull for the Aether Foundation, Nanu confronted Elio/Selene at Malie City. Nanu revealed that he was the island's kahuna and had them battle him in his grand trial before they left. After Nanu was defeated, he gave them Darkium-Z, showed them the accompanying pose and put the Ula'ula Stamp in the trainer's passport. Nanu also questioned Gladion's decisions regarding Team Skull.

At the same time, Professor Kukui worked on establishing a Pokémon League for the Alola region. Nanu was invited to join this league's inaugural Elite Four, but he declined. As Professor Kukui was not a tapu, he felt much less obliged to take him up on his offer. Acerola ended up joining the Elite Four in his place. After Elio/Selene became Alola's first Pokémon League Champion, a festivity was held at Iki Town in Melemele Island. Nanu attended, in differing capacities depending on the game. In Sun/Moon, there was a point where a number of kahunas and captains performed their Z-Move poses on stage, and Nanu was seen performing his privately, in the bushes off-stage. He then made a quick appearance on stage to greet Elio/Selene and Hala before departing. In the Ultra games, he instead performed his pose on-stage with everyone else, and it was Mina who did her pose off-stage. In all versions, it was also mentioned that he and Molayne convinced Plumeria to start over as a trainer and take on Alola's Pokémon League challenge.

Beyond that, there are several events involving Nanu that differ depending on the game.

Sun/Moon

Although Nanu declined to join the Pokémon League, he did carry out one favor by acting as a messenger. He came to Elio/Selene at Poni Island's Altar to tell them about the Pokémon League and offered to escort them to Mount Lanakila.

More prominently in this version, Nanu was featured in the post-game storyline in which Elio/Selene helped Anabel and Looker to seek out the Ultra Beasts that had gotten loose in the Alola region. He initially appeared as an informant regarding Ultra Beast sightings. Over time, he alluded to his past with Looker and started to talk about the incident from ten years ago, as well as his problems with the International Police. They avoided discussing it while Anabel was around, however. Nanu expressed his concerns that Elio/Selene and Anabel were being used as bait for the Ultra Beasts like the Faller from ten years ago, but Looker insisted that they chose those roles for themselves. Nanu also held another battle with Elio/Selene at Seafolk Village. After being defeated, Nanu was left confident that they would do fine.

Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon

In Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon, Nanu made an additional appearance while undergoing Mina's trial. For her trial, Mina had given petals of a Rainbow Flower to other trial captains, and challengers had to collect those petals from them. Acerola received Purple Petals, and some of them were left with Nanu. When Elio/Selene came to Aether House looking for Acerola for the last petal, Nanu was there instead. He gave up the petal freely in Ultra Sun, but he had to be battled for it in Ultra Moon.

He was also seen during a cutscene when the Ultra Beasts were being unleashed upon Alola. Nanu was seen by the Ruins of Abundance, facing off with a Guzzlord. The battle was not referred to afterwards, and presumably Nanu managed to repel it.

Pokémon Roster

• Sableye
• Krokorok/Krookodile: He uses Krokorok for his grand trial battle, and it becomes Krookodile for the battle at Seafolk Village in Sun/Moon. It is absent from his roster during the Aether House battle in Ultra Moon.
• Persian
• Honchkrow: It is only used during the Seafolk Village battle in Sun/Moon.
• Absol: It is part of his roster for the second match in both games.

Nanu's home is also filled with many Alolan Meowth, which he apparently gives out as starter Pokémon.

In Other Pokémon Games

In Pokémon Masters EX, Nanu and his Alolan Persian appeared as a playable sync pair that could be recruited by playing Chapter 15 of the Main Story's PML League. When fought as an opponent, he could also pair up with Krookodile or Honchkrow. In the PML Arc's Chapter 15, he had formed a team with Grimsley that was battled and defeated by Scottie/Bettie's team during the Pokémon Masters League tournament. After the battle, Nanu decided to join Scottie/Bettie's team in order to look out for them, as he saw them as a potential Team Break target. He also invited Grimsley to visit Alola and get Sushi High Roller with him. Nanu has also made appearances in the Main Story's Villain Arc, which have involved him teaming up with Looker and Anabel in battles against Ultra Beasts in the Alola arc and Team Rocket members with Legendary Pokémon and Ultra Beasts in the Final Chapter.

He has also made minor appearances in some of the game's story events. In "Family Ties" was initially suspicious of Lusamine's Pheromosa due to her track record to Ultra Beasts, but he backed off after Bugsy and Viola interacted with the Ultra Beast, and Nanu came to feel that the only threats present were his own preconceptions. During "Trials on the Isle", Scottie/Bettie helped to find a trio of Kantonian Meowth that Nanu had been training which had run off. Nanu offered one of the Meowth as a reward, but he rescinded the offer for the time being when he realized that Scottie/Bettie could not tell the difference between the Meowth's personalities, because that could lead to problems down the line. Nanu reappeared later in the event with fellow kahunas Olivia and Hapu as opponents to be faced in Mallow's trial. During the "Meow Meow Meow!" Special Event, Nanu was shown caring for a number of Meowth from different regions (Kanto, Alola and Galar) that Professor Bellis was hatched from eggs, and he agreed to give one of them to a Lass who dreamed of becoming a Meowth master. In "Twin Stars Far Apart", Nanu and Anabel watched over Liza and Tate while the twins prepared for a star festival performance due to recent Ultra Wormhole activity, Although Nanu felt the measures were unnecessary, Liza and Anabel soon went missing. Nanu continued to look after Tate while investigating the disappearance and consulted with Lusamine for more information on Ultra Wormholes, which led him to correctly conclude that they had been pulled through an Ultra Wormhole. Ultimately, Tate worked with Archie and Jirachi to bring Liza and Anabel back to their world. Nanu also appeared as an opponent who had to be defeated by Calem in a one-on-one battle in order for his Espurr to evolve as one of his Sync Pair Stories.

Other Appearances

Other Media

• In the Pokémon anime, Nanu appeared in several episodes of the Sun/Moon-based series. His portrayal was similar to the games, but without any reference to the International Police background. He was also said to be an old acquaintance of Giovanni's, but this was never explored in detail, and Nanu seemed to want little to do with him in the present. In his first appearance, he did reluctantly give a Z-Power Ring to Jessie and James after they proved themselves. He then made multiple appearances when Ash traveled to Ula'ula Island to challenge his trials. Acerola was shown to keep Nanu in line and kept him from shirking his duties by making sure that he battled Ash. Nanu won their first battle after Ash's Lycanroc went berserk, but Ash won their rematch. Nanu decided to give him Lycanium Z instead of Darkium Z. He also acted as a referee during the Manalo Conference, and he was last seen being battled by Hau in a grand trial.
• In the Pokémon Adventures manga, Nanu appeared during the Sun/Moon arc. He was initially shown taking part in a practice match with Olivia. He and the other kahunas decided to hold an imitation of the island challenge in an attempt to appease the tapus, and they also chose to appoint Hapu as a kahuna. Throughout the arc, the kahunas and trial captains both worked together in the effort against the Ultra Beasts.

Trivia

• The name "Nanu" is based on names for several species of gardenia and may also be intended to be evocative of the word "none". His Japanese name is Kuchinashi, which refers to Japanese words meaning both "gardenia" and "something unspoken" and also contains a word meaning "without". His International Police Codename of '0000' may be connected to the 'none' and 'without' meanings of his respective names.
• He keeps his Pokémon in Ultra Balls.