What Pokemon taught me about growth and development

I’ve been watching Pokemon from start to finish recently because it’s ended after 25 years, well Ash’s journey has ended. I’m not a big Pokemon fan but I did watch it as a kid, if you were born in the 90s Pokemon was in your life whether you wanted it to be or not.

It’s over 1,000 episodes long and a lot of them are very repetitive… very, very repetitive. I was hoping to have completed the show by the time I wrote this but there are like 5 or so to go and I can’t find the English dub.

Pokemon as a show is complete mid for the most part. The first series is good, there are a few good series in between like Diamond and Pearl, and everything from Alola onwards is decent. But the overall message the show sends is a good one even though it’s a cash grab that could have been way more.

The games are just as mid too.

It’s about the journey, not the end

Pokemon is the most “it’s not about the end it’s about the journey” show I have ever seen. There isn’t much focus put on the championship battles at the end, they’re over very fast despite being the best part of the show. The Alola championship battle was even interrupted by an awful alien invasion from the earlier plot.

They spend hundreds of episodes focussing on what happens in the lead-up to the championships, repeating the same shit from previous series. All the people they meet, all the people they connect with, all the adventures they go on, and all the challenges they face — they’re all more important than if Ash wins or loses.

Sometimes I want to rush the journey and get to the end, but when I look back I do appreciate the things I’ve been through and the people I’ve met, even the lame ones, and I meet a lot of lame ones.

My life has been like an adventure recently because I’ve been moving around so much, and I’ve grown to like it that way. I like to make memories by taking pictures and videos of my journeys. I’d love to show you but I don’t want to reveal my super secret identity on Medium.

Very short-sighted thinking about it now, but I can’t reveal who I am when I’ve written some awful shit.