Pokemon 'Religion' in Pokemon

L

LadyGagaPokemon

I don't really get it, Mew is like Adam, and Arceus is God? Why is this, I thought they were gonna keep religion type stuff out of it.
I being a Christian, and a HUGE Pokemon fan, would like to know. It just kinda confuses me...
 
Exactly. It's not exactly religion unless we get an episode about parting the Red Sea or something.
 
Oopsies... you seem to forget that Pokemon is a JAPANESE GAME. You see, the Japanese are weird in that they don't do Christianity... The Japanese are more into Shinto and Taoism. You are obviously ill-informed or just ignorant.

The games do include religious talk, but not the way you think. For example, Zekrom and Reshiram are based on the Taoist concepts of Yin and Yang. If you notice, Arceus is the Alpha pokemon. An Alpha male in a wolf pact is the leader. Arceus is the Alpha Pokemon, meaning it is the leader of them all. I don't know HOW you decided that Mew was like Adam. I don't remember ribs coming out of it, and Mewtwo was created by Team Rocket as I recall. It was no divine act creating something Mew could breed with.

If you want more religious ties, please go look them up. I doubt the developers even know very much about Christianity. There are MANY subtle Shinto/Taoism references in the games, however.
 
The Japanese aren't limited to their own shinto religion though. FFVII's antagonist had a name that originated from Judaism (specifically Kabbalah), and they also really, really love plucking Norse mythology names and using them for the most absurd of stuff.
 
That's different. Final Fantasy bases itself in historical times. This is pokemon we are talking about. They use subtle references to... about everything. The original poster was trying to point out abstract references that were doubtful that the designers thought of. THAT just doesn't work. MY post was basically saying that the original poster is ignorant for not thinking of the Japanese POV... The game does include a lot of religion, but not really Christianity too much. I'm sure there are some Christian references that I overlook, but the big ones are all missing: Crosses, people wearing all white, etc. The games are obviously more wide-spread than just Japan. This is proved by Team Plasma, in a way. If we were limiting the game's mythos to just Japan... they would be samurai. But... they are knights which originated in Europe around the time of the Black Plague. Even so, the primary religious references are based more on Shinto/Taoism. Why isn't the OP complaining about the Rajin Pokemon? Those are semi-religious. It is because the OP doesn't know to find it a religious symbol. That is how the developers were, most likely, except backwards.
 
Every religious thing in FF was also a reference, not really fictional religion modelled after real religion.

But yeah OP is kinda overboard.
 
Yeah...Arceus and God have ever been mentioned in the same sentence within the games or anime, as far as I'm aware. That's just an overblown fan-made interpretation of him.

The closest thing we've gotten to religion in a Pokemon game is that "church" building in Hearthome City. And even that didn't amount to anything.

Besides that, Nintendo has always been a little leery about religious references in their games--there are a few such instances in the Zelda series that I'm aware of, particularly in the earlier games where they've changed names and removed symbols and whatnot that they thought some people would find offensive.
 
If I remember correctly, there was some complaint about the Pokemon franchise by Christians. About it being basically enslaving creatures.

And while the OP is ignorant, maybe Nintendo should be slightly thoughtful about other religions too.

I wouldn't be surprised if some sad comittee complained about 'the racist nature of the latest titles in the Pokemon series, Black and White,' or some other garbage.
 
I wouldn't be suprised either if that lawyer, Jack Thompson or whatever his name is, threatens to sue Nintendo for that decision...
 
Posted by Alvin and the Minezumis said:
About it being basically enslaving creatures.
Click to expand...

Well it is technically true. In the same way that zoos and pet shops 'imprison' animals.
 
The Pokemon are our friends, however. They aren't captured, they go by their free manipulated wills. Look at that one episode with Pikachu. Ash was ready to let Pikachu be with its friends, but the Pikachu chose to return to Ash.


The religious conflict stuff was just groups being hypocrits. I love how they ALL focus on Jigglypuff supporting Gay people because it is pink and it sings. There is one article that says that Metapod is the symbol for Satanism or something... IDK... its all so funny
 
Yeah, I don't get why anyone compares Arceus to the Judeo-Christian god. There are hundreds of other creator-deities in various religions and cultures. Arceus is just another creator-deity like all the other ones, he is not in any way based on christianity. Pokemon has it's OWN mythos.

And one of the major complaints christians had about Pokemon was that it involves the use of psychic and magical powers, something they "don't believe in" and also that it could be a "stepping stone to other satanic influences such as magic the gathering and dungeons & dragons" :rolleyes:

The closest thing to any religion in the anime was a Slowpoke-based religion SIMILAR to buddhism, but it was not actually called that. It involved meditating to achieve enlightenment, and the founder of the religion was dressed in garb similar to a catholic nun, for some reason.

http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/EP244

And the closest thing I can think of in the games is Shedinja having that "halo", but many religions used halos including buddhism and hinduism, so it's unclear what they were going for with that. Although in tandem with the "wings" (actually it's flayed-open back) would suggest a sort of "angelic" quality; I suppose that's one way to interpret it anyways.
 
*Moved to general discussion* There are probably religious, and cultural influences on a great amount of pokemon, concepts, and maybe even places, and I see nothing wrong with it. The people who take things too far need to remember that it's just a game.
 
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