>>49087414It's pretty much treated like Japanese Disney at this point. Japan never had a Pokemania phase, so Pokemon stayed heavily in the public eye since its debut and pretty much everyone under 40 has some kind of attachment to it. People over 40 often think of it as "for kids", but tend to respect it as a very big and successful franchise the same way western adults respect Sesame Street etc.
A lot of people obviously "grew out" of it as they got older, but since the franchise was so constantly present everywhere, there were never any "holy shit they made a mobile game based on that Pokemon thing from the 90s about Ash, Misty, Brock and Charizard" faggotry when Pokemon Go got released. It's also generally considered a thing it's okay to be into, and tons of celebrities are vocal Pokefags.
