Detective Pikachu is the dark and gritty Pokemon reboot we've always wanted

The weirdest announcement to come out of Japan so far this year has to be Detective Pikachu, the latest 3DS game from the Pokémon Company which portrays Pikachu as a tiny, coffee-swigging Sherlock Holmes.

The game is out now in Japan, and several YouTubers have already uploaded gameplay footage that reveals more about the game.

In the introduction video we discover that Pikachu was once happy, munching on apples and bouncing around without a care in the world. Then one day he was in a car accident which killed his owner, leaving the little yellow guy wandering the streets, catcalling at women and yelling at cars.

We suspect he's hitting the bottle pretty hard at this point.

The memories of the crash clearly still haunt Pikachu, who finds companionship in a boy named Tim Goodman. Together the duo set out to solve cases, the first of which looks like this:

Don't worry, it's just tomato juice. But still.

Pikachu rolls over Aipom's lifeless body. He doesn't care about contaminating the crime scene. Pikachu doesn't play by the rules, but he sure as hell gets results.

Without a translation we're not sure what he's saying. Something about waiting for a "real rain" to come and wash the scum off the streets, probably.

There's also plenty of MILD PERIL, such as in the scene below. It's like Die Hard or something.

But at the heart of this story is a story of a Pikachu just looking to replace the hole that his owner left behind. He's a damaged Son of a Raichu with a thirst for the truth - and coffee.

Anyway, you can watch over two hours of footage below. A release outside of Japan hasn't been confirmed, but if it is, over 40,000 people are currently petitioning for Danny DeVito to voice Pikachu.