>>52683885Here are the panels clearly showing how much of an impact it had towards the idea of Pokémon. Simply put there is no aliens, rodents or spirits but only Pokémon. The series even makes it clear that there are no actual spirits, only Pokémon that exhibit spirit like powers. The series doesn't make these sorts of distinctions you are suggesting because that's not part of Pokémon vision. Pokémon conceptualizes the fantastical into the natural, it sees fantasty fictional beings conceptualized as being closer to cute little critters more than anything else. This is why Pokémon eat dog food, or as in HGSS bark and chew on shoes, or exhibit zoomies just like real cats and dogs do. Because that is Tajiri's vision of Pokémon and a vision the series continues to uphold to this very day. Even Takeshi Shudo didn't make those distinctions, he very much saw all the original 151 Pokémon as critters, in his blog he describes Pokémon as a group of animals arranged from familiar *objects* and creatures. It’s clear he recognized that design inspiration was wide but their conceptualization in-context meant that they were cute little critters.
