Pokémon is a phenomenon and children go crazy over it. Around the main video game, there is a whole solar system of spin-offs: Pokémon plush toys (Pokémon plush toys), pokedolls, Pokémon Zuken and Tomy figures, Pokémon cards and a whole multiple category within that, such as legendary pokemon cards, promo cards. , and holofoil cards, not to mention the huge media profits made from Pokémon DVDs, movies, and TV series. What is it about a computer game that has taken off so much? It even has celestial epochs: we are now in the Age of Pokemon Black and White. But most of the kids who buy these products aren’t even playing the video game itself! That seems to be another phenomenon entirely (for Nintendo, number two behind Super Mario).

For my middle-aged generation, the appeal of Pokémon is a little hard to fathom. If Pikachu is cute, why is he capable of such destructive force? And if he’s so deadly, why is he so cute? But I have to retract all of that really, because I can’t find Pokémon in their animated incarnation that are cute or cool. Maybe for my generation, Pokemon just doesn’t appeal to us. We cannot understand what they represent.

When I was a kid, Japan obviously didn’t sell video games, but did write and create animation and drama. And the little that came to the United States I loved when I was a child. First, there was Ultraman. The monsters were grotesque, Ultraman himself was a hero but also ugly, and he was pure good versus evil. evil. The monsters came from outer space and Ultraman protected mankind from them. I remember a cute monster that was the size of a small person and was covered in long strands of weird hair (hard to explain). But even that monster, although cute, was quite ugly. My generation thought monsters should be ugly. It seems that Pokémon lack monster hormones or something. Just to mention, there was also Speed ​​Racer (great story, who can forget Spridal and Chim Chim, and who was Racer X really?). The Mach 5 was great. What girl wouldn’t like that? Ash can’t stand a strand of Speed!

In any case, Pokémon is cool and times and tastes have changed. We seem to live in a time where morals, good, evil and heroism are much more blurred than we ‘simpler’ children were. We just wanted to see the bad guy get it, not the monsters fighting in tournaments. Perhaps children are more sophisticated these days. I know as a sci-fi fan I think Pokémon has potential, though by capitalizing on that they would probably turn off their audience.