A new book coming out in Japan is exploring how Pokédex entries found in various games provide little tidbits about their living habits, often drawing parallels to the way real-world creatures interact in the wild. Now, a new book set for release in Japan is exploring the interactions between Pokémon and nature in more detail.
As reported by Automaton, Pokécology is a new 192-page book written by Yoshinari Yonehara and illustrated by Chihiro Kinoshita that takes a scientific approach to Pokémon living in their natural habitat. Yonehara is an employee of The Pokémon Company, but he and Kinoshita are also University of Toyko graduates with PhDs in veterinary behaviorism and ecology.
The book will look at topics such as Pokémon eating and sleeping habits, migration patterns, and even hibernation, with explanations provided to help new readers understand the general ecological concepts. Pokécology will be released on June 18, although no international edition for non-Japanese audiences has been announced as of yet.
Why Pokécology Is Important To The Pokémon Franchise
Pokémon Franchise Gets A Scientific Spotlight
Pokécology is notable because it puts a spotlight on a little-noticed corner of the Pokémon world. Yonehara is credited as a coordinator for multiple Pokémon games and has multiple research papers studying the behavior of animals in the wild. As the franchise has evolved towards games that better reflect the real world, Pokémon behavior has also gained more of a spotlight. This puts a spotlight on some of the hard work that goes into the Pokémon franchise, which might not always get noticed by many fans.
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The Pokémon Company has used its franchise as a way to draw interest in real-world scientific studies before. Pokémon also produced a traveling museum exhibit that used Pokémon fossils as a way to spotlight actual paleontology. The Pokémon Fossil Museum ran for several years at various natural history museums in Japan, featuring "life-sized" Pokémon dinosaur skeletons.
Our Take: Pokécology Better Get An International Release
This Is One Book We Want To See In English
I've never wanted anything more than to see Pokécology get an international release. Based on the description alone, the book captures everything I love about the Pokémon franchise and want to learn more about. Hopefully, this sparks a trend of Pokémon books that seek to examine the world of Pokémon through a scientific lens, as that's a great way to both inspire Pokémon fans into a career in science and help further flesh out the Pokémon world.
Source: Automaton
Pokemon
- Created by
- Satoshi Taijiri, Ken Sugimori, Junichi Masuda
- First Film
- Pokemon: The First Movie
- Latest Film
- Pokémon the Movie: Secrets of the Jungle
- First TV Show
- Pokémon
- First Episode Air Date
- April 1, 1997
Summary
Spanning over twenty-five years, Pokemon, known as Pocket Monsters in Japan, is the multimedia franchise created tly by Nintendo, Game Freak, and Creatures. Conceptualized by Satoshi Tajiri in association with Ken Sugimori and Junichi Masuda, Pokemon is set in fictional worlds where people live together with tamable creatures known as Pokemon. Humans who catch, raise, and battle the creatures are known as Pokemon Trainers. They head out on extensive journeys across their continents to raise their Pokemon with the ultimate goal of competing in tournaments to become the champion. Pokemon spans several massive properties, from a long-running animated series to a successful trading card game, to the medium that started it all, video games. In addition, Pokemon began the "two-game" trend where two versions of a game would release and include different Pokemon/features between the versions, encouraging players to meet up with others and trade so they could "catch 'em all."
