Pokemon is, fundamentally, a game produced by Nintendo that is populer among boys and teenage boys (mostly) all over the world. For them, much of the 'spin-off' trade of the Pokemon phenomena the plush dolls, the Pokemon figures, the Zuken figures is quaint but not particular relevant to their main quest, which is to win the game by becoming a champion. For gamers, the interest and concentration lies in a totally different part of the psyche than it does to a young fan. Their concentration is on strategy and technique visavis a computer interface, not on the kekhasan of the characters themselves. There is a whole different group of aficionados though who love the Pokemon themselves and probably wish nothing more than that the Pokemon were actually real, much in the way I wished dinosaurs were real when I was a boy. These are the kids that go crazy over the Pokemon animation and manga, not the gamers. These kids like to immerse themselves into the mythological fantasy of a
While animation has a legacy in the United States, it's also increasingly popular throughout the world, most notably in Japan. In animation school, many students have been greatly influenced by Japanese animation, also known as Anime. Since the early 1900s, Anime has served as an influence on many American animators and filmmakers. There are many different styles of anime in Japan, yet it was relatively unknown in the US until the 1960s when programs such as Speed Racer were broadcast on American TV. There are many different styles of anime, including Mecha which was more science fiction based and had a tendency to use robots in a futuristic setting, Manga, which is primarily print based and Hentai, which is generally pornographic in nature. Before the internet and the immediate availability of sites like You Tube, many anime were shown on television. Years before I went to animation school, I remember seeing a children's show called Kimba the White Lion, which dealt