Game Freak has shown the first gameplay from Ame Nochi Hare Onna (雨のちハレ女) during its September 14, 2026 Harejo Club Meeting #1 broadcast. Officially categorized as a “laundry game,” the new mobile title connects real Weathernews data to patrols, combat, transformation and even the process of washing the outfits its characters wear.
Pre-registration for iOS and Android also opened alongside the new reveal. Ame Nochi Hare Onna is currently scheduled for winter 2026, with Game Freak and CHRONOGATE jointly developing the project under Director/Producer Shigeru Ohmori.
Quick Summary
- Title: Ame Nochi Hare Onna
- Japanese title: 雨のちハレ女
- Japanese reading: あめのちはれおんな
- Type: new original mobile game
- Official genre: laundry game / 洗濯ゲーム
- Lead developer: Game Freak
- Development partner: CHRONOGATE Inc.
- Director / Producer: Shigeru Ohmori
- Scenario Director: Katsutaka Suginaka
- Platform: iOS
- Platform: Android
- PC version: unannounced
- Console versions: unannounced
- Release window: winter 2026
- Specific release date: unannounced
- Price: free-to-play
- Monetization: in-app purchases
- Announced region: Japan
- Announced language: Japanese
- Global launch: unannounced
- Pre-registration: opened September 14, 2026
- App Store: pre-registration available
- Google Play: pre-registration available
- Tagline: Tomorrow's weather becomes magic / 明日の天気が魔法になる
- Setting: modern-day Japan
- Weather data: Weathernews
- Integration: real weather affects the game in real time
- Mentioned conditions: sunny
- Mentioned conditions: rain
- Mentioned conditions: cloudy
- Mentioned conditions: snow
- Main characters: magical girls called Hare Onna
- Partners: divine messengers called Kumorin
- Enemies: Yamikumo
- Yamikumo origin: negative energy from city garbage
- Transformation clothing: Haregi
- Transformed form: Hare-sugata
- Primary abilities: weather magic
- Main gameplay: patrol
- Main gameplay: turn-based battle
- Main gameplay: laundry
- Battle system: character switching
- Battle resource: Tenki-ryoku
- Tenki-ryoku source: real weekly weather forecasts
- Patrol strategy: favorable characters change with regional weather
- Haregi: multiple varieties
- Repeated Haregi use: can strengthen the outfit
- Consequence of use: Haregi becomes dirty
- Dirty condition: tied to outfit condition / HP
- Recovery: washing the Haregi
- After washing: clothing must be dried
- Sunny weather: helps clothes dry faster
- Rain: connects to a social feature for bringing laundry inside
- Main heroine: Himawari Harewatari
- Himawari CV: Hiyori Kono
- Himawari character design: Aki Minamino
- Himawari's partner: Pon Arai
- Pon CV: Yuki Nagano
- Pon character design: Kyoko Abe
- Yuri Amanohara: cloudy-weather Hare Onna
- Yuri CV: Mirika Kawa
- Kon Oribe: fox Kumorin
- Kon CV: Ayaka Fujimoto
- Iz Shinotsuki: mysterious rain girl
- Iz CV: Chinatsu Hirose
- Chuchu Yumekawa: mouse Kumorin
- Chuchu CV: Momoka Tsuji
- Machine Sentakki: mobile washing-machine truck
- Machine Sentakki design: Ken Sugimori
- Nono Amamiya: Hare Onna from an Okinawa-based school
- Emma Arian: exchange student from a UK-based school
- First gameplay screenshots: revealed September 14, 2026
- New key visual: Patrol
- New key visual: Battle
- TGS 2026: appearing at the Game Freak booth
- TGS dates: September 17–21, 2026
- Playable TGS demo: not available
- Exhibit: Hare Onna club room
- Exhibit: real Machine Sentakki
- Novelty: Rurubu-style booklet
- Novelty: detergent
- Novelty: pixel-art sticker
- Mini-comic: Game Freak REBOOT
- Game Freak REBOOT print run: 8,007 copies
- Current status: pre-registration open, awaiting winter 2026 release
Official Announcement, Livestream, Teaser and Gameplay
Real Weather Becomes Daily Strategic Information
Ame Nochi Hare Onna's defining idea is to make the weather forecast part of the actual game system, rather than simply using it to change backgrounds or visual effects.
Game Freak is working with Weathernews to feed Japanese weather data into the game. During patrols, players can view conditions across different regions and consider which Hare Onna should be sent there.
The broadcast gave a straightforward example: sunny conditions can favor characters associated with clear weather, while rainfall can make rain-oriented characters a more suitable choice.
Because these conditions follow the real world, a strong deployment today may not remain the best choice tomorrow.
Shigeru Ohmori explained that one seed for the system came from looking at a weather forecast and thinking it resembled a hand in a card game. That led to the concept of playing with a different “hand” each day.
Weekly Forecasts Become Tenki-ryoku in Battle
Weather continues to matter once combat begins.
Ame Nochi Hare Onna uses a turn-based battle system, with players able to switch between characters that carry different weather affinities and abilities.
More unusually, the real weekly forecast is converted into an energy resource called Tenki-ryoku. That energy can then be spent on weather magic.
Forecast data therefore serves more than one purpose. It informs patrol planning while also shaping a resource available during combat.
Characters already revealed represent different weather conditions. Himawari is associated with sunny weather, Yuri with cloudy conditions, while Iz has been introduced as a mysterious rain girl.
The system turns changing forecasts into party-building and resource-management considerations rather than a single passive bonus.
Haregi Powers Transformations, Gets Dirty and Must Be Washed
Hare Onna gain power from their Kumorin partners by equipping special clothing called Haregi.
When equipped, a Haregi transforms its wearer into a Hare-sugata, allowing her to use weather magic against Yamikumo and abnormal weather.
There are many kinds of Haregi, and repeatedly using a particular outfit can make it stronger. The trade-off is that the clothing becomes increasingly dirty.
The broadcast explained that dirt is directly connected to the outfit's condition. Continued patrol and battle use lowers that condition, while the character model itself visibly accumulates grime.
Instead of restoring it with a conventional potion or repair screen, players put the Haregi through laundry.
While one outfit is being washed, another can be equipped so patrol activity can continue. The wardrobe therefore becomes part of the gameplay rotation rather than functioning only as cosmetic collection.
Washing Is Not the End—The Clothes Still Need to Dry
The laundry system continues after the washing cycle.
A cleaned Haregi still needs to be dried, bringing real weather back into the routine.
Sunny conditions allow laundry to dry more quickly. Rain, naturally, creates a less convenient situation.
Game Freak also revealed a social element connected to weather changes, including the possibility of having someone help bring laundry inside when rain arrives.
That gives the “weather + laundry” concept a consistent role from battle strategy through post-battle maintenance.
Even Machine Sentakki, the mysterious vehicle designed by Ken Sugimori, follows the same idea: it is effectively a mobile washing-machine truck that accompanies the Hare Onna during patrols.
Hare Onna and Kumorin Fight the Yamikumo
The story takes place in modern-day Japan, where magical girls known as Hare Onna operate alongside their partners.
Those partners are Kumorin, divine messengers whose power allows Hare Onna to use Haregi and weather magic.
The threat comes from Yamikumo, entities formed from negative energy found in garbage around cities. Their presence is connected to abnormal weather that Hare Onna and Kumorin must resolve.
Main heroine Himawari Harewatari comes from Matsudo, Chiba. She is described as a bright, positive girl who loves curry and tokusatsu, with Hiyori Kono providing her voice.
Her partner is Pon Arai, a tanuki Kumorin obsessed with laundry and amusingly competitive with raccoons.
Yuri Amanohara is Himawari's senior and the president of the Hare Onna Club at Appare Girls' Academy. Her partner, Kon Oribe, is a fox Kumorin with a strong interest in fashion and Haregi.
On the opposing side is Iz Shinotsuki, a mysterious rain girl who travels with the mouse Kumorin Chuchu Yumekawa.
The livestream also introduced Nono Amamiya from an Okinawa-based school and Emma Arian, an exchange student from a school based in the United Kingdom.
Development Began After Pokemon Scarlet and Violet
Ohmori also discussed how the project emerged inside Game Freak.
He explained that the company continues to explore projects beyond Pokémon, collecting new ideas and “seeds” for games. After development on Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, the studio entered another period of experimenting with new concepts.
One of those seeds eventually became Pokémon Pokopia, while another developed separately into Ame Nochi Hare Onna.
The project is being co-developed by Game Freak and CHRONOGATE, with Ohmori serving as Director/Producer and Katsutaka Suginaka as Scenario Director.
Its direction is notably different from many of the studio's better-known projects: a mobile game designed around everyday actions such as checking the forecast and doing laundry.
TGS 2026 Gets a Club Room and Machine Sentakki, but No Demo
Ame Nochi Hare Onna will also be represented at Tokyo Game Show 2026, running September 17–21 at Makuhari Messe.
Game Freak is not providing a playable demo. Instead, the booth takes an exhibition-focused approach with a recreation of the game's Hare Onna Club room.
A real-world version of Machine Sentakki will also appear, alongside an area where visitors can interact with Pon.
The promotional items continue the game's deliberately everyday theme: a Rurubu-style travel booklet, detergent and a special pixel-art sticker.
Game Freak is also revisiting the origin of its own company name through Game Freak REBOOT, a mini-comic paying homage to the first issue of the Game Freak fanzine that existed before the company became a game studio.
A total of 8,007 copies will be distributed at TGS, with the content also planned for online publication.
There is even a weather-dependent bonus: if the event day is rainy, visitors can receive a Kumorin-themed acrylic stand.
Why This Matters
1) Weather is a strategy system, not a visual gimmick
Real-world data affects patrol conditions, character suitability and the Tenki-ryoku used during battle.
2) Laundry is part of the progression loop
Haregi can grow through continued use, but that same use makes them dirty, forcing players to manage outfit rotation, washing and drying.
3) The theme reaches surprisingly small details
Weathernews integration, clotheslines, Machine Sentakki, TGS detergent and even rain-day event bonuses all reinforce the same concept.
4) It is another original experiment from Game Freak
Ame Nochi Hare Onna is its own IP and takes a direction very different from Pokémon or the studio's recent action-RPG projects.
Game Information
For now, the additional important information currently known includes:
- Ame Nochi Hare Onna is a new original Game Freak mobile IP
- its official Japanese title is 雨のちハレ女
- its official Japanese reading is あめのちはれおんな
- a separate official English title has not been announced
- Ame Nochi Hare Onna is used as the Latin-script romanization in this article
- its official Japanese genre is 洗濯ゲーム
- Shigeru Ohmori serves as Director/Producer
- Katsutaka Suginaka serves as Scenario Director
- development is shared between Game Freak and CHRONOGATE
- the primary copyright is listed under Game Freak
- Weathernews supplies weather data used by the game
- the game was announced on September 14, 2026
- its teaser PV debuted with the announcement
- Harejo Club Meeting #1 aired at 7:00 PM JST on September 14
- the first gameplay screenshots were shown following the broadcast
- pre-registration opened on September 14, 2026
- iOS is an announced platform
- Android is an announced platform
- the base game is free
- in-app purchases are supported
- its target release window is winter 2026
- a specific launch date has not been announced
- initial product information lists Japan as the announced region
- initial product information lists Japanese as the announced language
- a global launch has not been announced
- English localization has not been announced
- a PC version has not been announced
- a Nintendo Switch or Switch 2 version has not been announced
- a PlayStation version has not been announced
- an Xbox version has not been announced
- Weathernews data is reflected in gameplay in real time
- the patrol screen can display weather across Japan
- sunny, rain, cloudy and snow conditions have been referenced in official material
- forecasts can change which characters are advantageous
- battles use a turn-based structure
- players can switch characters during battle
- weekly forecasts become Tenki-ryoku
- Tenki-ryoku powers weather magic
- Hare Onna borrow power from Kumorin
- transformations are triggered through Haregi
- transformed appearances are called Hare-sugata
- multiple Haregi variants exist
- repeated use can strengthen a Haregi
- repeated use also makes Haregi dirty
- dirt is visibly represented on the character
- laundry restores Haregi condition
- freshly washed clothing must still be dried
- sunny weather allows clothing to dry faster
- rain connects to a social feature for bringing laundry indoors
- Yamikumo form from negative energy in urban garbage
- Yamikumo are connected to abnormal weather
- Himawari Harewatari comes from Matsudo, Chiba
- Himawari is associated with sunny weather
- Himawari is voiced by Hiyori Kono
- Himawari is designed by Aki Minamino
- Pon Arai is a tanuki Kumorin
- the livestream identifies Pon as coming from Okutama, Tokyo
- Pon is voiced by Yuki Nagano
- Pon is designed by Kyoko Abe
- Yuri Amanohara comes from Kamigyo Ward, Kyoto
- Yuri is associated with cloudy weather
- Yuri serves as the Hare Onna Club president
- Yuri is voiced by Mirika Kawa
- Kon Oribe is a fox Kumorin
- Kon is particularly interested in fashion and Haregi
- Kon is voiced by Ayaka Fujimoto
- Iz Shinotsuki comes from Sagamihara, Kanagawa
- Iz is a mysterious rain girl
- Iz is voiced by Chinatsu Hirose
- Chuchu Yumekawa is a mouse Kumorin
- Chuchu is voiced by Momoka Tsuji
- Machine Sentakki is a mobile washing-machine vehicle
- Machine Sentakki is designed by Ken Sugimori
- Nono Amamiya comes from a school based in Okinawa
- Emma Arian is an exchange student from a UK-based school
- two new key visuals are titled Patrol and Battle
- currently released gameplay screenshots are from a development build
- Tokyo Game Show 2026 runs September 17–21
- Ame Nochi Hare Onna has a dedicated area within the Game Freak booth
- no playable demo will be available
- the booth includes a recreation of the Hare Onna Club room
- a real Machine Sentakki will be exhibited
- a Rurubu-style booklet is among the promotional items
- detergent is among the promotional items
- a pixel-art sticker is among the promotional items
- Game Freak REBOOT has a print run of 8,007 copies
- some REBOOT content is also planned for online publication
- a rain-day-only Kumorin acrylic stand is also planned
- official information is available through the Ame Nochi Hare Onna Official Website
- official updates are available through Ame Nochi Hare Onna Official X
- the primary announcement is available through the Ame Nochi Hare Onna Official X Post
- the teaser is available through the Ame Nochi Hare Onna Official Teaser PV
- the gameplay reveal is available through Harejo Club Meeting #1
- Android pre-registration is available through Ame Nochi Hare Onna on Google Play
- iOS pre-registration is available through Ame Nochi Hare Onna on App Store
Closing
Ame Nochi Hare Onna now shows how “tomorrow's weather becomes magic” works as an actual game loop. Forecasts influence patrol strategy and combat resources, while Haregi use feeds into an interconnected cycle of dirt, laundry, drying and outfit rotation.
Pre-registration is available on iOS and Android ahead of a winter 2026 launch. A specific release date, availability outside Japan, additional languages and any further platforms all remain unannounced.
- Ame Nochi Hare Onna Official X — Official New Game Announcement
- YouTube — Official Harejo Club Meeting #1 Livestream and Gameplay Reveal
- YouTube — Official Ame Nochi Hare Onna Teaser PV
- Ame Nochi Hare Onna — Official Website and Weathernews-Linked Game Information
- Google Play — Official Android Pre-Registration Page and Gameplay Overview
- GAME FREAK / PR TIMES — Official Pre-Registration, Weathernews Integration, Characters, and TGS 2026 Information
- Denfaminicogamer — September 14 Livestream Coverage, First Gameplay Screenshots, Characters, and TGS Details
- Famitsu — Official Livestream Summary Covering Turn-Based Battles, Tenki-ryoku, Laundry, Characters, and TGS
