Pokemon ramblings!
- The presence of Arceus and the other literal-god-type Pokemon isn’t that strange when you look at it from a Shintoist perspective, which Pokemon has always seemed based off; that is, the elements of nature and reality itself being represented as sentient, magical, spirit beings. Some are explicitly based on Japanese mythological spirits, such as Espeon (Bakeneko), Vulpix/Ninetails (Kitsune), Froslass (Yuki-Onna), and Meowth (Maneki-neko). The physical manifestation of abstract concepts such as Time and Emotion was also explored in the Magic: The Gathering set Kamigawa (“River of Gods”).
- On that same point, creatures like Chandelure, Grimer, Rotom, Voltorb, etc. are pretty reasonable, since there are Shinto myths concerning objects forming sentience and coming to life as spirits (particularly discarded or abused ones).
- Such concern toward respecting the spirit world (or ghost Pokemon, here) makes the Lavender Tower understandable, since it would be unusual to find such a huge, well-maintained, dedicated pet cemetery building in real life. Tending to the dead prevents incidents such as the Marowak haunting. (Again, a similar theme was used hugely in another game, this time Final Fantasy X. Notice how Yuna’s robes are just a modified miko’s.)
- And suddenly all those Mediums and Channelers make sense! (They are Buddhist shamans and Shinto priestesses, respectively.)
- There IS religion in the Pokemon world, if the use of “Heaven” and “Hell” in various move/item names is any indication (in the Japanese versions at least).
- Some people wonder why Pokemon would get free health care and humans wouldn’t. Why wouldn’t they? In Japan, humans DO have universal health care, and I suspect the Pokemon world society is most likely based on Japan’s.
- Some might then wonder how they would possibly afford universal health care for literally every living thing in the world. Easy: ever seen a paved road outside of a city? With creatures regularly causing large-scale destruction to the landscape/buildings (Tyranitar, Charizard, Gyarados, hell, even Raticate), it would be economically unfeasible to maintain such infrastructures outside of the limited confines of metropolitan civilization. This is why so much emphasis is placed on training your Pokemon unforgettable transportation-based abilities. But all that saved tax money can go into medicine instead.
- Medical technology is also ludicrously cheap in Japan (compared to the US). Technology is even more advanced in the Pokemon world, and power is probably of least concern when you can just use Electric Pokemon. Not only that, but species like Chansey come with healing powers and are trained side-by-side with nurses.
- An episode in a hospital has a doctor asking the kids to help out after an accident brings in too many patients for the staff to handle. This isn’t too weird, since in Japan, guests and other patients are expected to take care of many nursing and cleaning duties.
- I somehow imagine humankind is grossly less populated in the Pokemon world than the real world, considering how most of the world is empty wilderness, and, again, dangerous monsters are wreckin’ shit constantly. There are simply less people to take care of there.
- On that note, people are HIGHLY discouraged from traveling without Pokemon of their own. You can’t even leave town without one. They aren’t just pets. They are what’s keeping the more dangerous monsters of the world from killing you. Remember, Pokemon have been shown to attack humans constantly, with little provocation. A flock of birds driving kids off of cliffs in one of the safest areas of the world? Imagine if everyone on Earth practically had to learn how to tame tigers since childhood and breed them for battle out of sheer survival necessity.
- In one huge diversion from Japan, public schooling seems to have vanished. There are schools, but they are apparently optional, non-uniform-coded, and based on Pokemon training. Universities do exist, however (Oak taught at one). Science is pretty highly-lauded here, which is odd for a fantasy television show a few steps shy of being Mahou Shounen territory. Professors are super famous. New handheld gadgets on the level of Star Trek tricorders are invented constantly. Hell, they even have freakin’ teleporters (at least for Pokemon via computer)!
- The lack of pavement probably means the bicycle industry is monstrous and hyper-competitive.
- Interestingly, vagabondism means practically nothing there. Since no one ever worries about the safety of children in the wilderness, I can only assume what little education they receive thoroughly covers survival tactics. We see the kids fishing, making campfires, sewing up their clothes, etc. I have no idea why it’s no issue to them and a big issue to Team Rocket, though. Maybe only adults have personal image concerns about monetary prosperity. Or maybe it’s just them.
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rippledragon likes this
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mochakimono reblogged this from thrustingbutts and added:
Dur, I totally forgot about that. Good point. I always just assumed child services were REALLY lax and everybody’s...
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thrustingbutts reblogged this from mochakimono and added:
as far as the pokemon world being much less populated, i myself subscribe to the theory that there was a very large,...
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mochakimono posted this
