Pokémon is a well-known franchise the world over. Beginning its life as a pair of video games on the original Nintendo Game Boy, the hit sensation has expanded its reach into the realm of several other media types, including a popular trading card game, animated television shows and films, toys, comic books, and more.
Pokémon is the second best-selling video game franchise of all time. Originally created by Satoshi Tajiri in 1995 as Pocket Monster in Japan, the franchise is largely focused on imaginary creatures called Pokémon (shortened from the original Japanese title). The creatures are caught and trained to battle each other by humans, called Pokémon Trainers, who vie for victory and the right to be called Pokémon Masters.
After 20-plus years of existence, though, the franchise has made a few mistakes along the way; it has contradicted itself on more than one occasion, and several aspects of the creatures and the stories that have been told are confusing or simply make no sense. This list aims to show you some of the most glaring errors and head-scratching moments of confusion.
Here are 15 Things Wrong With Pokémon We All Choose To Ignore!
15. Evolution Issues
Beginning with the original pair of Game Boy games in 1996, it’s made clear that Pokémon evolve in only one way: through training and advancement in their fighting skills via their work with Trainers and Pokémon master, which makes sense.
The big issue here is when one starts to think about the logistics of the lives of Pokémon as a species.
According to the information given from Nintendo and the franchise canon the company has created, it’s stated that Pokémon existed long before humans did. The question becomes, then, how did the creatures evolve before Trainers and Pokémon Masters came around? Surely an entire species had to grow and change in some form before humans came on the scene and began to teach them how to battle each other.
14. The Eternal Ash
The Pokémon franchise has been in existence for over 20 years, and in 1998, the property made the jump from video game to television. Appearing in every single episode of the anime series, in addition to all the subsequent Pokémon films, the main character Ash Ketchum was actually loosely based on the main character “Red” from the first video games. He quickly became the face of the franchise, and is one of the most instantly-recognizable cartoon characters of all time.
After two decades of adventures and Pokémon battles, you’d think Ash might be getting a little world-weary – but you’d be wrong, as Ash never ages!
Call it The Simpsons effect if you’d like, but the teenaged boy is every bit as young and goofy today as he was when he first debuted back in the 1990s.
13. The Birds And The Bees
At one point or another, odds are good that most of us have either asked a parent a question that has led to “the talk,” or we’ve been a parent giving that talk ourselves. It’s a natural part of life as young ones get older – everyone wants to know where they came from and how the world works.
With Pokémon, the question of reproduction certainly exists for all the different types of creatures out there. In the game Pokémon Gold & Silver, the franchise finally decided to address that question – sort of. Players could actually breed Pokémon in order to create new baby Pokémon, by going to a daycare center to get the process going. However, in the game the Day-Care Center Man says he doesn’t know where Pokémon eggs come from.
12. Pikachu Obsession
One of the greatest recurring themes to come from the Pokémon anime series is, without a doubt, Team Rocket. Yes, the quasi-villainous group made their debut in the video games, but the trio of Jessie, James, and Meowth put an indelible mark on Pokémon history as being the most recognizable two human faces and single Pokémon to be associated with the “bad guys” team. In the TV series, Team Rocket generally is out and about to cause trouble, but one specific mission seems to be their singular focus.
The trio is obsessed with stealing Pikachu – and not just any Pikachu, mind you, but Ash’s Pikachu specifically.
For purposes of driving the show’s plot and creating drama, we understand their motivation, but from a logistics standpoint, things get a bit fuzzy. Pikachu is far from the most powerful Pokémon around. In fact, Team Rocket passes up many times the chance to catch stronger Pokémon while continuing to focus their efforts on the little Electric-type critter.
11. Unwanted Medical Effects From The Anime
In 1997, the episode “Denno Senshi Porygon” (in English, “Computer Warrior Porygon”) aired on TV in Japan. The episode revolves around Ash and company going into a techno-style cyber-world in order to stop Team Rocket’s latest scheme. A new Pokémon was introduced, Porygon – and it has the dubious distinction of being the Pokémon that sent several hundred viewers to hospitals after watching the episode.
According to reports of the time, the show featured several instances of Pikachu performing his electric attack in this cyber-world, which was visually represented by brightly-flashing alternating red and blue screens in a “strobe” effect. Over 700 viewers reported adverse health effects as a result of watching; the majority of these people were hospitalized with symptoms ranging from vomiting and irritated eyes all the way through actual epileptic seizures.
The show was forced to go on hiatus for four months, disclaimers and warnings had to be shown on all Japanese TV shows for years following, and Nintendo’s stock took a 5% dive.
10. What’s in a (First) Name
The creators of Pokémon designed the fictional world in which it takes place to be an expansive one; there are several “regions,” akin to countries, both video game players and the characters of the TV series explore. Each region features a wide variety of urban and rural settings, ranging from small farm communities to large-scale cities.
It’s confusing, then, that in the anime, most characters are identified only by their first name and what town they are from.
For example, “Ash from Pallet Town,” “Dawn from Twinleaf Town,” “Bianca from Nuvema Town,” and so forth. This is all well and good – but what if there is more than one person from a town with the same first name? How would we differentiate identification of these people?
Let’s pray that no other youngsters named Ash ever resided in Pallet Town, otherwise they’ll be living in the shadow of another character their entire lives!
9. Serena In Love
The character Serena exists in both the video games and the anime, but in the TV series, she has a particular character trait that plays out as a little confusing. From literally the first moment she meets Ash, she develops a major crush on him, but never seems overly inclined to act on it.
Serena is certainly far from a one-note character; she is polite and kind, she has an appetite for being fashion-forward, and dislikes getting her hands dirty. With all of this, however, it’s the strong feelings she develops for Ash that personify her character. She constantly blushes when interacting with Ash, and she gets quite flustered whenever someone else brings up her crush on him.
After several seasons of the series, Serena finally parts ways with Ash as she goes on a new adventure. She gives him a kiss, finally directly admitting her crush on him.
8. Strong, Silent Pokémon
At last count, there were over 800 types of Pokémon in existence across the various incarnations of the franchise. In the video games, Pokémon make various noises and cries, but in the anime, Pokémon speak – sort of.
Out of all the Pokémon in existence, all but one can only say one thing and one thing only: their name - or a variation of it! If these creatures are smart enough to strategically fight and use special powers, how could they not learn more than one word of a language?
It’s clear that Pokémon understand the English language, as many different types listen to and obey their Trainers and Masters.
The one lonely Pokémon who does speak fluent English, Meowth, self-taught the language in order to impress a girl, so Pokémon apparently do have the capacity to learn language, if they so desire.
7. Confusing Evolutions
Evolution is a natural part of life. All beings have evolved over time, and this is a key piece of the lore of the Pokémon franchise. Through training and guidance, each creature can evolve into a form that is larger and more powerful than before.
Most Pokémon take a fairly straightforward approach with their evolutions, turning into beings that physically resemble their former forms, but some Pokémon evolve into versions of themselves that are confusing, at best. Some evolutions look nothing like what came before; others act completely different than their previous iteration.
These drastic changes seem to be most prominent in ghost-type and fish-type Pokémon. For example, the goldfish-looking Magikarp evolves all the way into the rather fierce dragon-looking Gyarados – not only drastically changing shape along the way, but “evolving” from an all-red creature to a blue and yellow final form.
6. Pikachu: Slow Learner?
Speaking of evolution: the video games, physical card game, and anime all firmly establish that Pokémon evolve primarily through training and experience. The more a creature does battle and acquires energy, the easier it is for them to evolve into a stronger form.
Ash’s Pikachu should be one of the most-evolved Pokémon on the planet, as the little electric-type critter has seen more than his fair share of battles.
Pikachu has actually had the chance to evolve into his next form, Raichu, but has actually chosen not to. According to the TV series, Pikachu wanted to prove that he could defeat stronger Pokémon without evolving, for some reason. This decision becomes all the stranger when it is later revealed that there is a previous form to Pikachu - Pichu.
5. Element-ary Mistakes
When a franchise exists for as long as Pokémon has, some errors are bound to be made now and again. In the physical card game, some cards have been misprinted; most are minor, but a few have led to confusion about a character’s abilities, evolutions, and the like. There are pages on Pokémon fan websites that list out dozens of misprints and other card errors.
One of the most infamous mistakes came from a line spoken in the anime. In episode 267, “Love, Pokémon Style”, trainer Brock is concerned for the probability of success of Ash’s two remaining Pokémon in battle. He excitedly states “Water types are weak against Fire types!”
Of course, as anyone with an elementary understanding of the fundamentals of earth sciences can tell you, water puts out fire, not vice versa.
4. The Haunted Town
Overall, Pokémon is a fairly light and happy-go-lucky franchise – it is aimed mostly at children and young adults, after all. Creatures do battle, there are bad guys, and some Pokémon evolve into some fairly daunting monsters, but all in all, things stay fairly happy and carefree.
Lavender Town, from the video game version of Pokémon, has a strange vibe that is uniquely different from anything presented in the rest of the Pokémon mythos.
The eeriness begins as soon as a player enters the town: the theme music of the game changes to a very unsettling binaural-type of tone, bringing a sense of dread.
In Lavender Town, the ghostly spirit of a particularly restless Pokémon haunts the town’s tower, and the denizens of the village are mostly Trainers that are mourning their passed Pokémon. Yes, the player has no choice but to learn all this while exploring the town.
3. The Many Disguises of Team Rocket
Team Rocket is a constant thorn in the side of Ash and his friends – particularly in the anime. Acting as the villainous foil of most episodes, the trio of ne’er-do-wells routinely concoct elaborate schemes and detailed plans, usually revolving around straight-up stealing Pikachu or another Pokémon from the heroes’ possession.
After all these shenanigans, it’s clear that Jessie, James, and Meowth are instantly recognizable to Ash and his friends. There are so many occasions, though, when the “good guys” inexplicably don’t seem to recognize Team Rocket for who they really are.
Yes, the trio of villains disguise themselves often, and have even taken to using Pokémon other than Meowth to help accomplish their goals – but how inattentive does Ash have to be to not see through the flimsy disguises?
2. Devolution?
In the Pokémon anime, the creatures are constantly evolving, but there has never been an instance of devolution. In fact, Brock explicitly states in the episode “Electric Shock Showdown” that evolution cannot be reversed.
Devolving certainly doesn’t seem like it would ever make sense – yet the franchise actually does reference a select few Pokémon who do seem to be capable of it, specifically, the Pokémon known as Slowpoke.
A pink creature resembling a fat cat, Slowpoke is well-known amongst fans for having a notoriously dim intellect.
Slowpoke primarily evolves only when other specific Pokémon clamp onto its tail. The reverse is true, then, when these other Pokémon “let go” of its tail.
1. Pokémon Are Pets? Or Something Worse?
The main conceit of the franchise is best embodied in the slogan “gotta catch ‘em all,” which refers to a player/character acquiring as many different types of Pokémon as possible. In the anime, Ash and his traveling companions always talk about how the Pokémon are their friends.
It’s certainly a nice thought, but the idea of Pokémon as “friends” doesn’t quite hold up to what’s presented by the actions of the protagonists in the video games and anime. The humans keep most of the Pokémon they “capture” caged up in tiny balls, and while some owners of Pokémon call themselves Trainers, most strive to become Pokémon Masters.
The main employ of the Pokémon themselves seems to be for them to routinely fight each other.
What confusing moments from Pokémon history did we miss? Let us know in the comments section!
