>>53485467Going into a new story, readers are searching for benchmarks to understand the world by. The first battle will usually be what sets their expectations for how serious and dangerous pokemon are in the whole story. If it's just a couple starters battling like bumpercars, readers will expect anime-type cartoon violence that's ultimately harmless. But sometimes an author wants to add a little realism by throwing some blood and injuries in for the sake of realism, only to overreach and mislead readers or underestimate the implications they're making. If the wound from a low level scratch attack gushes a traumatic amount of blood, what room is left in the reader's mind for safety in high level fights with powerful moves like hyper beam?
