Sometime when I was in middle school the crazy world of Pokemon hit america by storm. At the beginning of the wave there was only the game and shortly after the cartoon, toys, comics, card games, blah blah blah. But in the beginning it was a game and just a game. The mechanics are still the same however.
In a world parallel to our own, they seem to have a extreme amount of wider technology than we do, well at least when it comes to taming these wild beasts and their care thereof. They also have a form of item transportation and video chatting that honestly we are only just now starting to scratch the surface today. But unlike our world they have no animals. None. Just pokemon. Think of it. I never realized that there are no cats or dogs or birds or anything. Well there are birds, but they are big cartoony birds that are various species of pokemon. All of these animals are tamable and you can have as your very own pet. Very neat. The problem here is the structure in which people go about this sort of thing.
Thinking back on it, when I was a kid I was completely in favor of this. It was neat to be treated like an adult and be independent, roaming around the world going where you please, capturing and taming little friends of all shapes and sizes to help your life be a little better, or just to be a little turd and beat up other kids pets on command. You know, normal kid stuff. However if you really think about it, that's pretty terrifying. All the kids in these stories, and I do really point out they are kids, are never any older than 12 or 13 at most. Think back to when you were 12. Could you just venture out into the world? Not at all. You could barely even leave the street or neighborhood, let alone take off into the world with only a backpack, a sleeping bag, and a pet monster to keep you company. No way. Why aren't these kids in school? Is only a middle school education enough to sustain a skill set for life? Is it like when the jewish community has a barmitzva and a rite of passage to adult hood? Seriously think about it. Perhaps the last day of school in the 6th grade might be like this:
"Well kids, its been fun teaching you this year and with your now six years of elementary knowlege you're ready to travel around the world taming very dangerous creatures at your whim. Or not, its really your choice. Don't forget about people who are out there using their pokemon for evil things who will either rob you or possibly try to kill you, because hey the world is apparently notorious with various teams of super evil people on every continent like a big gang of unruly adults who have nothing better to do then steal some kids pokemon. That and you could possibly die. Have a great summer!" Ludicrous really.
The only reason I'm thinking about this is because I've taken up playing pokemon again after a few months absence. Thanks to the joys of emulators I started playing my childhood fun fest game and used it to relive stress my final few semesters of college and now with nothing better to do at 2am when insomnia among other things keeps me awake I transverse the wide world of pokemon, out to catch em all. Only this time chuckling to myself when I clobber some other unfortunate NPC child's pokemon thinking "yeah bitch yeah. you got served."
I'm really mature and I know it.
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