>>51644041Which is something that most people don't see. Ken Sugimori openly admitted to this when discussing about how they construct Pokémon to be a certain way. James Turner said that a Pokémon should be seen as a friend and not scary or intimidating. Satoshi Tajiri philosophy is all about Pokémon being friendly and approachable to the point that he imagines them being like cats and dogs, real critters that are naturally friendly towards people.
Verily indeed the anime and the games work in unison when it comes to this. I always use ghost Pokémon since they're the perfect example of Pokémon with dark entries yet the way they're actually portrayed and the way you interact with most of them is very much the opposite. Verily so the series even openly states ghost Pokémon aren't actual ghosts. The way Pokémon act in the anime, and even the way people interact with them, the way you interact with them in the games and even the way they behave is all part of this grand construct. Even New Pokémon Snap where Pokémon have agency in their natural habitats they act like cute Disney critters more than anything else, doing cute gestures, acting cute, and generally being friendly. Occasionally you get some fights but Pokémon don't get seriously hurt. The worse in that game is the implication of a magikarp being eaten but that's never shown. The same with the meat, nothing is actually stated and, as I said, Masuda implied it's not real meat.
As I constantly stress imagery is important in getting the message across. If you look at the community post for the washing part of the picnic there's people commenting on how it reminds them of washing their own dogs which is all a deliberate attempt by the series so Pokémon are perceived a certain way.
