John

Wallace and Gromit was a series I watched when I was younger. The Nightmare Before Christmas is my favorite movie of all time, assisted by its visuals and musical score. The Shawn the Sheep movie was my favorite movie of early 2016. When I compare animation to Stop motion, I find both visually stunning but praise stop motion animators for the effort they put into making their films. I know it may feel very tedious when filming and crafting, but the final products for many of their films are stupendous works of cinematic art.

I’m a big fan of Dragon Ball. I enjoy the show and manga greatly, love some of the movies and video games, and interact with many other fans in person and online. The art style for characters is one I find to be my style of drawing and it’s one I practice. This show, alongside Muhammad Ali, is the reason I train in martial arts now. The show inspires a lot of my writing and growth in what I want to move into for a profession. While at times the animation may be bad, it is never something I find appalling, and I never mind the filler because I do care for (most of) the characters. The manga is great with its visuals and story, and the games allow me to see and play as the characters I love most.

As a long time fan of Pokémon, I’ve had many an conversations about most everything they present to us; in the manga, anime, video games, and card games most notably. First of all, Pokémon is based off the idea of bug catching, and then twisted with fantasy elements. The original idea of the games, and even the anime, was more focused on collecting more than it was on training. Since the game has “evolved,” there have been features added in to focus more on the training aspect, especially for the competitive players of the series. I play more as a collector than a trainer, to be able to see and study the Pokémon so I know more about them.

The idea of Pokémon in captivity was brought up in Generation 5, from the games Black and White. With the organization Team Plasma bringing it up in the game, the conversation started among real fans of the series too, sparking the debate to go further than it has in the past. In the anime, there are Pokémon such as Pikachu who do not wish to stay inside their Pokeballs. Some feel it to be a form of captivity, but other Pokémon view it as a better resting station before they can reach a Poke Center.

Having them battle is shown in the series and in the games. While most people view this as a form of “cock fighting,” that’s not exactly how it works. Yes, there are some trainers who capture and abuse the Pokémon in their care. Several of the Pokémon Ash Ketchum has were treated like such in their past. But Pokémon do willingly join trainers to follow them on their cause. Many of Ash’s Pokémon stay because they know he’s a trainer and they want to get stronger with him, finding his style a better fit for them. Other trainers’ Pokémon do the same with them, and I assume the evil organizations have some of their Pokémon because they agree and support what they’re doing. It would be nicer to assume all Pokémon are good hearted, but they do follow their hearts the same way people do.

Not all Pokémon are in captivity. Some are treated that way, yes, but the Pokémon that live with most trainers do so willingly. Many Pokémon willing allow trainers to capture them if they can prove to be a worthy enough trainer. They’re not all fighting without free will