>>46509869Pokemon has potential for cynical aspects to be explored. And I would argue the games (and anime) have touched on these things, usually pretty tastefully.
Sun and Moon had a side quest with a bunch of retired Eeveelution trainers past their prime for instance, with one being a guy working in a convenience store or something talking about moving on in life and dealing with other problems like adulthood (haven't played S/M in a long time, but it was along those lines).
Shudo and the OS anime tried to do this as well (though he was
thankfully leashed back before doing stupid shit like making Pokemon imaginary or adding dinosaurs (though the central idea around this was good too), and I'm pretty sure that S/M sidequest was even channeling his cynicism. It was all a bunch of post-war Japanese cynicism you would see along that era of anime, honestly. But there are still nuggets of it in the OS and later seasons.
There's also Pokemon abuse and abandonment, N's whole character arc was centered around that and he's very well received. Though his story was about moving past that cynicism, but it still counts. The anime also has a lot of abandonment and such too, I keep seeing that Gengar webm lately.
Then there's death, which the most popular example would be the story of Cubone and Marowak, the games themselves handled that very well without literally showing the violence. Instead, you're told through NPCs, and sometimes NPCs hint here or there about their own deceased Pokemon in cemeteries. I recall for instance another NPC in D/P who talks about his one of his Pokemon being killed by Team Galactic in the Lost Tower. And of course, another S/M example is that one Machamp story.
The difference between this stuff and the average edgy fangame is that the official material don't (often) show you this stuff and leave it to your imagination. And fan devs do it for pure shock appeal, and just plain lack in tact.
