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Pokémon is generally seen as having become more colorful, plastic, idealized, and safe. There are many people (myself included) who feel like the series became unrecognizable over time and lost most of its charm.
Red and Green were real passion projects made by a small group of people who filled it with references to their interests. Kanto is simply the name of a region in Japan, though it's slightly different (even as katakana, the real life region is Kantou カントウ, not Kantō カントー). It's a pocket-sized Kanto region, very urban since Tokyo is a major part of it. The western part of Kanto is actually the Chubu region in real life, which is where Mt. Fuji (Indigo Plateau/Mt. Silver) lies.
But you can see all sorts of inspiration from 60s-80s Japanese media, like kaiju, Ultraman, the 80s psychic craze, otaku culture, etc. Even things we take for granted like Marts are just konbini. But I really like this version of Pokémon and I feel like Pokémon past Gen II feels focus-tested to be as marketable as possible. Even the anime became more neon forests. But I think the anime is also responsible for pushing the games in this direction, with more expectations of friendship and shouldermons and traveling companions that won't leave you the fuck alone. Before Gen V, according to Ken Sugimori, Pokémon was meant to be a tale of a "boy's summer", a coming of age story like Stand By Me which was very popular in Japan and which your TV references.
Honestly I can't see why people like Pokémon now, but many people never even knew what it was like, only what it became.
