Has Pokemon ever helped you to understand anything outside the video game-centric world, like with school, with your friends, or anything beyond video games?

Y’know, I wish I could tell a nice inspiring story about this, but… no… not really, no.

I suppose in a general sense it’s part of the whole 90’s cultural mishmash that I was brought up in, with all that that implies – the importance of equality, emphasis on a person’s ‘inner beauty,’ a generally positive but cautious attitude to technology, the value of friendship… all those things have shaped the way I think, to an extent, but no, I don’t think my actions in any one situation have been informed by Pokémon specifically.  Honestly, it’s more the other way around, like I was saying in my last post – my life experiences and worldview shape the way I think about Pokémon, and fiction in general.