>>58063010>She's an animist, though. Purgatory is a Christian concept.Yes basically.
>>58061612When I mentioned "middle ground" it was in reference to Ruby being morally ambiguous in the Pokespe narrative, so his situation would always end up being more complicated and have more steps involved than Sapphire's, who is characteristically simple and straightforward in comparison. So after death, Ruby could end up in either the Christian purgatory-to-heaven pipeline or in a literal "middle ground" situation from other religions. Which could include being reincarnated into something considered neither good nor bad in some next life, or just ceasing to exist instead of going to any afterlife.
Though Pokemon and thus the manga has more Shintoist/Buddhist influence than Christian, at least before gen 4 and all the censorship, for example the Channeler trainer class from the Kanto games is literally just a Shinto priestess. And the way the Japanese see religion is different from how the west sees it (less ideology and more a way of life).
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/UsefulNotes/Shinto>The existence ofkami, divine spirits that exist in just about every aspect of nature. Trees are particularly sacred, though they are not worshipped so much as revered (those giant anime trees with ropes and pieces of paper around them? Those are sacred trees). That said,kamiexist in everything, including rocks and specs of dust. Kami are prayed to, though not because they are necessarily higher beings; rather they are powerful and must be appeased if one wishes to live in harmony with their world. Peace with nature is thus a hallmark of many Shinto practices. The reverence for pieces of nature is seen by many outsiders as a form of animism, to which the Shinto priests would nod their heads and say,"Oh, is that so?" 