Suede's Pokémon Journey: Kanto Bottom 5
Added 2025-06-03 21:00:04 +0000 UTCTHIS IS NOT A PAID POST
May I never see an episode as bad as number 1 again...
Comments
Your point on the braces and counter-type training is sound and I'll concede that I was too harsh on that aspect. However I would also argue that the whip is Really That Bad. That's still training through fear and is horrendous optics for those who aren't convinced that pokemon aren't just slaves or animals that can't consent. So if I were to review it now, I would disregard the harsh training but the whip alone and would still qualify it for a dark ball 👍
Suede
2025-06-04 09:51:24 +0000 UTCThis is probably the better place to put my comment, but I think it’s unfair to have such a distaste for the Path to the Pokemon League considering the universe they are in. If you’re going with the logic “what if a child watched this episode and assumed a dog being whipped is okay?,” then you have to take it to its conclusion of “what if a child watched any episode of Pokemon and assumed dog fighting is okay?” I can concede the whip probably wasn’t smart, but *why* exactly is that so terrible if telling your pets to bite each other is okay? That’s behavior kids could much more easily replicate considering how rare whips actually are. There’s literally a move called throat chop where the pokemon specifically aims for the ***throat,*** and we’re not worried about that being replicated by children? Pokemon by its very nature **requires** a trainer to knowingly place their pets in harm for the sake of sport. When we know this is the case, why is having harsh training such an indictment? Is a whip going to hurt them more than a fire breathing dragon? What makes putting a Sandshrew in a swimming pool so much worse than all the times Ash intentionally put his Pokemon in a fight with a type disadvantage? Isn’t that the same effect? If you can logic your way into accepting Pokemon battles on the idea it’s consensual, then it doesn’t make sense to be so aghast at consensual training. You can argue “they might not know better,” but that’s the case for any Pokemon (especially something like the baby Phanpy Ash has fighting only a few weeks after being born). Ash *was* in the wrong because, after having his pet bird and butterfly beat up and knocked out, he pulls his pet mouse by the tail to force him to fight without consent, only to be mad at AJ for having his pets undergo tough but consensual training. Arguing that what AJ did was wrong is unraveling the foundation on which Pokemon stands. “Pokemon aren’t meant to be trained. Not like this.”
Clayton
2025-06-04 08:31:38 +0000 UTCHard to tell if you're agreeing with the video or not, but if not: I feel like what you're saying doesn't contradict what i was trying to get across, I just probably did it in a sloppy manner (this was still made years ago). I completely agree that using culture as a justification for atrocities is an excuse to indulge your own complacency or bad behaviour. However, being raised thinking something's ok DOES make it extremely hard to push back. I was raised in a cult: I've seen it. I was told growing up that gay people were sinning. If didn't grow up in that environment, I NEVER would have even considered that. So when I say "Japan has a horrendous culture of child sexualisation" I don't mean "Japanese people inherently sexualise minors", I mean "Japan has created an environment over the course of it's history where pushing back against child objectification is discouraged, which makes it easier to gaslight people." Does that make sense?
Suede
2025-06-03 22:31:56 +0000 UTCUsing culture as justification to allow atrocities is basically just using other people’s behavior to excuse their own shit behavior or as an excuse to ignore what’s clearly wrong right in front of you. No matter how much time goes on, this fact never changes then you’d know that it was wrong from the very start. It doesn’t matter what culture in the world we’re talking about, it applies to all of them. Think about why the problematic thing is acceptable beyond just everyone else is doing it to see if it’s truly alright to continue such harm.
GARD Productions
2025-06-03 21:42:20 +0000 UTC
