Massive props for this write-up. As someone who got into games, anime, and manga, all because of Pokémon, this is a gut-wrenching read, but it's in many ways a deeply valuable one in conceptualizing feelings.
One thing I'd add is how the franchise handled Legendries. Because there was a pretty consistent trajectory in terms of how we progressed with them - Mew was the genetic predecessor of all Pokemon, Ho-Oh and Celebi were clearly intended as Kami, then we moved up to the primordial entities embodying the earth, and finally the literal God who created the universe and its offshoots. There was a real sense of scope provided in this premise that felt captivating, and while there are issues with them there as well, it felt really cool and interesting.
Now, though, Legendries exist like theme park attractions. Just a promotional gimmick to be used for marketing, divorced from any real artistic ideology. Zacian and Zamazeta aren't special or unique, they're just another gimmick for this latest iteration of the same cycle. Koraidon and Miraidon aren't even special in-universe, they're just devolved/evolved versions of a generic mon. It's purely soulless and artificial.
At this point, I think it's up to the fandom to save Pokemon from itself. I would be very, very interested in someone creating a fangame based on Shudo's original conception for the 3rd Pokemon movie. You know, questions about what happened to real-world animals, and the real, actual T-rex fossil coming to life. I remember a write-up for it existing on Dogasu's site. However, something like that would take a person who's actually read Shudo's works and understands his concepts well enough to adapt them. An undertaking like that is really the only way one could see Pokemon return to its roots. There is no hope for TPCi / Nintendo to do anything other than milk this cash cow for all it's worth, and continue to dilute and strip Pokemon of its soul.
One of the reasons there are such asinine guidelines for Pokémon is, i believe out of a misguided attempt to give the series universal appeal, by removing anything and everything which might be eye brow raising to anyone, making Pokémon a purposefully idyllic escapism hub where bad things do not happen or exist, or are immediately solved after 10 minutes with the heroes saving the day. Pokémon was birthed in the 90‘s, where somewhat edgy stuff in childrens media (in Japan even moreso) was the norm, it’s really about the context and culture at the the time of when it came out VS today that’s the main difference
I remember back around the early 2000's, I used to spend a lot of time on these websites dedicated to showing how asinine and lame and overhyped Pokemon is. They had a lot of articles on those sites much like yours bashing the series and talking about how lame it is and is a fad that should've died out, and some of them were also accompanied by Flash Games (mostly crude but a few well-designed) where you kill the Pokemon. It made me so happy to see back then that there were people who picked up on all that is wrong with Pokemon and how it doesn't deserve the praise.
Such websites I can remember of this sort included ones called Pokemonsux.com, KillallPokemon.net, and this one I cannot remember the web address of (it was rather complicated) but the site's name was like Assassin Pokemon Initiative or something like that. I remember how much the sites entertained me and helped me see how much Pokemon was utter nonsense and that it was good that I wasn't just jumping on the trend. I was even a member of their forums and would jump in on it too. I thought these sites would help. Try looking them up on the Wayback Machine if you don't remember them.
Turns out, all of those sites ended up going defunct one-by-one and now you'd be hard-pressed to find another full Anti-Pokemon site like this anymore. Heck this one person on Newgrounds even says here about how Pokemon just somehow continued to thrive like this despite what's against it, and how he is surprised and wants Pokemon to go down. https://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/623459
I kinda wish Pokemon stayed back then and didn't keep going to this day when Nintendo now releases clearly unfinished and glitch-ridden games about them yet still sells millions all because Pokemon fans will eat up anything no matter how bad it is. If those Anti-Pokemon sites hadn't gone down, they would literally be like Piranhas tearing Pokemon apart at this failure.
"They had a lot of articles on those sites much like yours bashing the series" bold of you to assume that I hate Pokémon on a conceptual basis or something. I hate entities that are against art and I hate entities that sacrifice the health and work of the individuals for ever increasing profits. The Pokémon Company International is an objectively, pervasively evil force.
Massive props for this write-up. As someone who got into games, anime, and manga, all because of Pokémon, this is a gut-wrenching read, but it's in many ways a deeply valuable one in conceptualizing feelings.
One thing I'd add is how the franchise handled Legendries. Because there was a pretty consistent trajectory in terms of how we progressed with them - Mew was the genetic predecessor of all Pokemon, Ho-Oh and Celebi were clearly intended as Kami, then we moved up to the primordial entities embodying the earth, and finally the literal God who created the universe and its offshoots. There was a real sense of scope provided in this premise that felt captivating, and while there are issues with them there as well, it felt really cool and interesting.
Now, though, Legendries exist like theme park attractions. Just a promotional gimmick to be used for marketing, divorced from any real artistic ideology. Zacian and Zamazeta aren't special or unique, they're just another gimmick for this latest iteration of the same cycle. Koraidon and Miraidon aren't even special in-universe, they're just devolved/evolved versions of a generic mon. It's purely soulless and artificial.
At this point, I think it's up to the fandom to save Pokemon from itself. I would be very, very interested in someone creating a fangame based on Shudo's original conception for the 3rd Pokemon movie. You know, questions about what happened to real-world animals, and the real, actual T-rex fossil coming to life. I remember a write-up for it existing on Dogasu's site. However, something like that would take a person who's actually read Shudo's works and understands his concepts well enough to adapt them. An undertaking like that is really the only way one could see Pokemon return to its roots. There is no hope for TPCi / Nintendo to do anything other than milk this cash cow for all it's worth, and continue to dilute and strip Pokemon of its soul.
One of the reasons there are such asinine guidelines for Pokémon is, i believe out of a misguided attempt to give the series universal appeal, by removing anything and everything which might be eye brow raising to anyone, making Pokémon a purposefully idyllic escapism hub where bad things do not happen or exist, or are immediately solved after 10 minutes with the heroes saving the day. Pokémon was birthed in the 90‘s, where somewhat edgy stuff in childrens media (in Japan even moreso) was the norm, it’s really about the context and culture at the the time of when it came out VS today that’s the main difference
I remember back around the early 2000's, I used to spend a lot of time on these websites dedicated to showing how asinine and lame and overhyped Pokemon is. They had a lot of articles on those sites much like yours bashing the series and talking about how lame it is and is a fad that should've died out, and some of them were also accompanied by Flash Games (mostly crude but a few well-designed) where you kill the Pokemon. It made me so happy to see back then that there were people who picked up on all that is wrong with Pokemon and how it doesn't deserve the praise.
Such websites I can remember of this sort included ones called Pokemonsux.com, KillallPokemon.net, and this one I cannot remember the web address of (it was rather complicated) but the site's name was like Assassin Pokemon Initiative or something like that. I remember how much the sites entertained me and helped me see how much Pokemon was utter nonsense and that it was good that I wasn't just jumping on the trend. I was even a member of their forums and would jump in on it too. I thought these sites would help. Try looking them up on the Wayback Machine if you don't remember them.
Turns out, all of those sites ended up going defunct one-by-one and now you'd be hard-pressed to find another full Anti-Pokemon site like this anymore. Heck this one person on Newgrounds even says here about how Pokemon just somehow continued to thrive like this despite what's against it, and how he is surprised and wants Pokemon to go down. https://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/623459
I kinda wish Pokemon stayed back then and didn't keep going to this day when Nintendo now releases clearly unfinished and glitch-ridden games about them yet still sells millions all because Pokemon fans will eat up anything no matter how bad it is. If those Anti-Pokemon sites hadn't gone down, they would literally be like Piranhas tearing Pokemon apart at this failure.
"They had a lot of articles on those sites much like yours bashing the series" bold of you to assume that I hate Pokémon on a conceptual basis or something. I hate entities that are against art and I hate entities that sacrifice the health and work of the individuals for ever increasing profits. The Pokémon Company International is an objectively, pervasively evil force.