>>50562984That's just the standard when it comes to fiction. All the characters in the Lion King talk and express complex emotions and beliefs such as the concept of kingship. The baboon character also knows magic. That doesn't mean these characters are meant to represent people, they're still animal characters but anthropomorphized.
Likewise the same applies to Pokémon. Shudo, the former headwriter of the anime, pretty much says that Pokémon are animal characters and in dramas animal characters have to be anthropomorphic, or written as people in some ways. That doesn't subtract that Pokémon in-universe take the mantle of what an animal is and as to why Shudo and even official material go as far as to say Pokémon replace real animals in-universe. But even with this in mind Pokémon doesn't really like portraying the nastiest details of nature visually, it's all mostly confined to the pokedex. Wild Pokémon instead behave more like cute little critters more so than real critters.
