>>46385803Pokémon's one of those series where some of the first regions are literally Japan but no one really knows if modernization has made those places diluted.
We can see in Generations, if not the Johto games that they're HEAVILY Eastern in culture and we see no hints of characters with eccentric or western hair colors (assuming they can be hereditary and not just dye jobs and wigs)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rga9wUdKRk8On the other hand, the movie Detective Pikachu adaptation tries to roll with how modern regions are basically melting pots, like a black family living in the Sinnoh region but that's likely post-settlement Sinnoh for all we know about the game so far.
As a brand, Pokémon is in a tough spot where preserving its worldbuilding integrity may offend its global audience because they're too used to self inserting and seeing a more browned cast in regions that are going to have non-white or non-East Asiatic characters despite that the real life basis for Sinnoh is real life Japan. They're probably going to bite that bullet to please the fans, an ambitious game can't afford to be a loss in sales but on the other hand, it's creative integrity of their world. The audience shouldn't take offense to something that wasn't meant to attack them.
