‘It is a Pokémon world’: The Pokémon franchise and the environment

Abstract

Originating in 1996, Pokémon has become the second most successful game-based franchise in the world and arguably one of the best-known examples of transmedia storytelling in youth media today. Based around creator Satoshi Tajiri’s love of insect collecting, Pokémon imagines a world where wild creatures exist to be collected, trained and battle with one another. Such an ideology, simultaneously embracing both the conservation and consumption of nature, is emblematic of the larger challenges Japan has had to negotiate as a nation trying to balance economic development and environmental protection. In this way, this article argues that, when subjected to textual analysis, the Pokémon franchise can function as vernacular theory, interrogating the relationship between environmentalism, materialism and sustainable development, a series of popular youth media texts engaging with issues and subjects that are usually reserved for academia.

Powering up the Technodrome: Energy Sustainability in the 1987 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

“…A similar claim can be made for the show's treatment of energy sustainability: even though this issue is never explicitly addressed, the unsustainable use of energy is consistently portrayed in a negative light, thus creating a strong prosustainability message. Jason Bainbridge has already discussed the role of animated children's programs in promoting energy sustainability in relation to the Pokémon franchise. Bainbridge interprets the central conflict between the protagonists (primarily the eponymous “pocket monsters,” seen as embodiments of different aspects of the environment) and the villains (likened to “ecoterrorists”) as an attempt to restore balance and consequently ensure sustainable development (407).…”

Evolutionary Changes of Pokemon Game: A Case Study with Focus On Catching Pokemon

“…Pokemon [2] [16] is a series of games developed by Game Freak and Creatures Inc. and published by Nintendo as part of the Pokemon media franchise. First released in 1996 in Japan for the Game Boy, the main series of role-playing video games (RPG) has continued on each generation of Nintendo's handhelds.…”

A Pokébalancing Act: The Management Of Japanese Cultural “odor” In Pokémon

“…According to Tobin (2004), Pokémon's multidimensionality as an "interrelated set of products and activities" provides it strength in remaining relevant and marketable (p. 10). According to Bainbridge (2014b), Pokémon is "one of the best-known examples of transmedia storytelling youth media today" (p. 399). Furthermore, this "transmedia storytelling is not unique to Pokémon, but is a common element of the anime industry.…”

“…The Pokémon franchise first began as a video game in Japan in 1996, then was adapted into a manga in the summer of that year, which after popular acclaim led to the release of a trading card game and the airing of the anime in spring 1997 in Japan and then a feature theatrical film in 1998 (Bainbridge, 2014a;Iwabuchi, 2004;O'Hagan, 2006). In September of 1998, the North American release of the first generation of the (Bainbridge, 2014b;Nintendo Press Release, 1998;Iwabuchi, 2004). Iwabuchi (2004) states that the marketing of the franchise in countries outside of Japan consisted of a subtle "packaged amalgamation of cartoons, comics, trading cards, feature films, character merchandise, and Game Boy games" that coalesced in a transmedia enterprise that reinforced each other's reception in these countries (p. 64).…”

“…As "one of the bestknown examples of transmedia storytelling youth media today," Pokémon is consistently releasing new products in each of its various media (anime, videogames, trading cards, etc., etc.) (Bainbridge, 2014b). Condry (2011) argues that the confluence of multiple media under an overarching narrative umbrella resulted in the "explosion of interest" in the Pokémon franchise and the characters therein in the late 1990s and early 2000s (p. 72).…”