On November 11th, 2022, the impossible happened. For the last 25 years, fans from all over the globe eagerly awaited to hear the news that Ash Ketchum was officially the best Pokémon master in the world.
Pokémon aired its first episode on April 1st, 1997. We were introduced to our protagonist Ash Ketchum — a determined, hopeful 10 year-old — about to start his journey to become a Pokémon master. Throughout the anime, we see Ash and his faithful sidekick, Pikachu, explore and discover this this ever-changing world of Pokémon, meeting friends of all backgrounds and building his team of pocket monsters. The brand of Pokémon is more than just the anime, as there is a manga series, a video game series, a trading card game and a mobile app all related to the franchise. There are regional and international competitions for the trading card and videos games. It is the largest media company in the world, and I have been around it for my entire life.
As a young millennial/old gen-z, I cannot remember a time when Pokémon was not in my life. I found my first Pokémon card on my walk to the bus stop (a Lt. Surge’s Pikachu) and fell in love with the franchise at the ripe old age of six. My siblings then joined in on the fun and for years we would play the video games, collect the cards, watch the anime, get little figurines from our dad when he had flights to Japan, and so much more. After a few years, we just did not care anymore.
When you go to middle school, that is usually the stage of life where being “popular” and liking the “right things” are the most important aspects that motivate your life. Some people are able to bypass this stage of worry and I will forever be jealous of them. But when you are young and confused about these changes taking place in your life, it becomes a challenge of whether you continue to support the things that have given you happiness as a young child or if you start to follow the crowd. There may also be people in your life that tell you that you cannot like something anymore because “you’re too old for that,” which could also affect how you feel about your childhood interests. For me, I fell into the former category.
As you transition from adolescence to teenager, there is this desire to grow up quickly because you are sick and tired of being told you cannot do something until you are older. You try to shed your childlike image in hopes that maybe your parents will extend your curfew or let you go to the concert without them. Usually the first to go is the childhood hobbies. You may naturally grow out of some, but others may get left behind on the journey of growing up. And after growing up myself, I have realized I wish I took more inspiration from Ash, who never grew up.
Ash has been a 10-year-old for the last 25 years and looking back, sometimes I wish I was too. But in my journey of discovering myself, I have realized that what I love and what makes me happy has not really changed int he last 20 years. What has changed is my view on life. When COVID first hit, I decided to buy a Nintendo Switch. This was my first gaming console that was just mine in so many years. The first game I wanted to purchase for myself was Pokémon Shield. I had not played a traditional Pokémon game since Diamond on the DS, but that was mostly my brother’s game I occasionally played. But the thought of starting my own Pokémon journey for the first time in 15 years brought me so joy during a time when I needed it the most.
During my college years and into my young adulthood, I have stopped caring about trying to gain that “popularity” so many crave as a teenager. I have taken part in activities that make me happy and gained some of the best friends and memories from that. I have gone back to becoming interested in things that made me happy as a child while finding new enjoyments along the way. I have made connections with my students based on these shared interests so they always have someone to talk to about what they like. Everyone hits this point in their lives when they want to grow up, but when they get there, they do not know how to make themselves happy. There should be no rush to grow up and we should not feel like we have to make sacrifices to do so. I wish we could all be Ash — aging but never giving up on our childhood dreams. Seeing how many of my friends were playing Pokémon Legends Arceus and enjoying their time with it filled my heart. This stigma of having to get rid of your childhood happiness to officially become an adult and treated like one seems to be dying in the age of social media. Communities can be created or found so much easier than the past. You can have that feeling of fitting in with what you enjoy without having to figure out what is “popular” or not. So thank you Pokémon for helping me rediscover my happiness. Seeing Ash complete his dream being broadcast on billboards in Japan gave me a rush of nostalgia that was shared with fans of all ages from all over the world. I cannot wait to see where Ash’s journey goes from here, because I am joining him until the end.
Now if you will excuse me, I need to write a letter to The Pokémon Company in hopes that they will remaster Pokémon Emerald next.