4 questions after watching Pokemon for the first time

Here are some questions I have after watching Pokemon for the first time

With the release of Pokemon Journeys: The Series on Netflix on June 12, I finally decided to give Pokemon a try. Although Pokemon has been around for over 20 years, I was never exposed to the videogames or shows as a child, and I found the task of collecting trading cards daunting.

The good news is if you’re like me and looking for a foothold into the fandom, this is a great place to start! Journeys is the name given to the 23rd season of the series and provides backstory into how Ash Ketchum, the series’s protagonist, became a trainer and began his journey with his friends Goh and Pikachu.

After watching Pokemon Season 23’s first 12 episodes (the next 12 episodes are going to be released later this year), here are four questions that I still have.

1. What are Pokemon?

Where do they come from, and why are they so powerful? In the season’s first episode, we learn about Nidoking, a Pokemon that’s so powerful it’s able to open cracks in the ground’s surface.

When we meet the Nidoking, it’s attacking a Mew, a Pokemon that’s able to transform into any other Pokemon. How do they exist, and if they’re able to evolve into more powerful Pokemon, does this mean that humans in the Pokeverse have the potential to evolve similarly?

2. Does Ash have special powers?

At the end of Episode 2, we learn that as Ash and Goh rode Lugia and were about to hit the water, Ash heard a voice. Where did the voice come from? Is Ash able to hear Pokemon’s innermost thoughts? Frankly, Ash must have some special powers since he’s been able to survive getting shocked by Pikachu so many times.

3. What are the official qualifications for becoming a trainer?

At the age of 10, children get to become trainers, people who catch, train, and enter Pokemon into battles. Throughout the season, we watch as Ash and Goh travel to different regions of the Pokeverse and encounter and catch several different types of Pokemon.

However, because they catch them as they encounter them, I wonder if there are qualifications for becoming a trainer, and rules for catching and owning Pokemon. In Episode 2, Professor Cerise tells the crowd at the grand opening of his research lab that a rare Pokemon will be hovering over Vermillion Port. The crowd rushes outside, and once Lugia shows up, it becomes a mad dash to see who can catch it as trainer after trainer unleashes attack after attack.

It seems a bit troubling that just about anyone can become a trainer, and once they do, they seem to have their pick of the litter. Are their qualifications besides age that determine who can become a trainer, and what they’re allowed to catch?

4. Do you still have to go to school if you become a trainer?

After Ash and Goh become trainers and research fellows for Professor Cerise, we never see them attend school. Instead, they spend their days traveling through various regions of the Pokeverse, tracking down and catching Pokemon. This begs the question, are children just allowed to opt-out of school, once they become trainers?

If so, isn’t that decision detrimental to their development? Not everyone becomes a Pokemon Trainer. There are still law enforcement officers and nurses, illustrators, and of course, teachers.

While Chloe’s mother tells her that she doesn’t have to decide right away what she wants to be when she grows up, it would seem as though that’s not the case. From the moment they turn 10, it seems to have already been determined, that Ash and Goh are going to become trainers.

I wonder how any parent would be comfortable with their child opting-out of school before hitting the age of 18. It’d be a shame to determine your future at such a young age with absolutely no way to obtain a fallback plan. For Ash and Goh’s sake, I hope they’re simply taking a research sabbatical.

Next. Love, Victor Season 2: 5 questions we need answered. dark

Are you new to Pokemon? What was your first impression? Let us know in the comments.

Pokemon Journeys: The Series is now streaming on Netflix.

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