By now, the Pokédex includes over 1,000 Pokémon. Many of the pocket monsters are based on real animals. Pikachu is modeled after a mouse, Houndoom, as the name suggests, is a dog, and Arbok is inspired by a cobra (read Arbok backwards!). This raises the question of whether there are any real animals in Pokémon at all. The anime raises an interesting question in this regard.
Are there animals in Pokémon? In the early episodes of the original anime, there were many scenes where real living beings appeared alongside the Pokémon:
- Ash observes a Pidgey eating a worm.
- Even in the new anime episodes from Sun & Moon, fish, clams, and starfish are a permanent part of the underwater world.
- Meowth is searching for food and comes across gnawed fish bones. He also eats grilled chicken.
- Jessie’s Arbok is afraid of real mongooses. That is the animal you can see in the title image above. They are known for their skill in dealing with venomous snakes.
- Ash is wearing a cow costume, and it’s not a Miltank.
- Even in the video games, movies, card game, and manga, animals like birds and fish can occasionally be seen.
However, as the anime progressed, the sighting of living animals became rarer. With each new generation, a bunch of new Pokémon were introduced, gradually replacing the real animals. Takeshi Shudo, the main writer of the series, explained the real reason behind the disappearance of animals.
MeinMMO explains to you why Meowth can actually speak:
Pokémon author reveals what happened to the animals
Where have the animals gone? As Shudo reveals, there shouldn’t have been any animals from the start. At the beginning of the Pokémon anime, the animals as we know them today should all have been extinct.
Nonetheless, some animals appear in the anime. According to Shudo, this is because the animators didn’t pay enough attention at the beginning. In fact, no living animals were supposed to appear even in the early episodes.
Some of the animals can be seen in the following tweet from X-user Hikari:
It almost came to the point where Shudo would have actually included a real living creature. In the third Pokémon movie, Ash and his friends were supposed to find a real fossil of a Tyrannosaurus Rex. They were to revive the fossil, and it would have rampaged through the Kanto region. However, the idea was apparently discarded.
What kind of meat do people eat in the Pokémon world then? Since there are no living animals in Pokémon, the meat dishes must consist of other Pokémon. It is never directly shown that the pocket monsters are the source of food, but no other logical explanation remains.
In the anime, there are some hints that Pokémon are eaten by other species or humans. In one episode, Brock and Ash, for example, imagine a Magikarp prepared as sashimi.
Moreover, Porenta is supposed to be such a rare Pokémon because it is known for its good taste. Together with the leek stalk it carries with it, it is said to create an exquisite dish.
This reveals the sad secret behind the food in Pokémon. This raises the question of how other anime, where monsters are collected, handle the topic. If you are a fan of Pokémon, the following series might be interesting for you: 5 anime series you shouldn’t miss as a Pokémon fan
