>>51404562This is a good way of looking at it. Ghosts in Pokémon exist as the unknown, as supernatural entities that terrify people in universe. By comparison Ghost Pokémon are natural creatures that people interact with and know they're just Pokémon.
Things like that are what I call the "demystifying" of Pokémon. That is making them less mysterious and more familiar mold despite their fantastical powers. But it has to be said Pokémon is a world where, to us, the supernatural becomes the natural and by divorcing ghost Pokémon from ghosts they become less mystifying and more familiar. This is why people can be afraid of ghosts but not ghost Pokémon like the OP or the latest Poketoon with the ghost Pokémon, the school children were scared that their school's staircase might be haunted by ghosts but once they learn it's just Pokémon their fears dissipate and the ghost Pokémon end up saving the children. Mimikins in the anime is another perfect example because people fear her because she's the ghost of a ghost Pokémon but show no fear towards ghost Pokémon that are still alive. Takeshi Shudo, the headwriter of the original anime, recalls in his blog that he was told ghost Pokémon have nothing to do with real ghosts all the way back in 1998 so it's been a core principle of the series for a while.
This is all part of an overarching attempt to sell the idea of Pokémon as natural creatures and ghost Pokémon are a great example of this. By demystifying them by making a distinction between them and ghosts it allows ghost Pokémon to be a bit less mysterious and more familiar to us even with their fantastical nature. This combined with other things are there to sell us in the real-world the unfamiliar and fantastical as the familiar. Other big things Pokémon does is moving away from the 'monster' label as well trying to make Pokémon their own unique thing too.
