>>53500576Early interviews do indicate that Pokémon started off as a traditional rpg to test out the Gameboy trading capabilities, they're in Dr Lava website, however as development continued there was a shift in what Pokémon are which is simplified in this panel of Tajiri's biography. A book from one of GameFreak developers hints at this by stating they decided to think of Pokémon trainers as being more like pet owners, the 1996 pokedex mentions that Pokémon are pets and tools while the staff writes that Pokémon are "friends to humans like cats and dogs." Oak in Gen I states Pokémon are kept as pets by people.
Everything the anime does is done with the consent of the people who created the series. Tajiri worked alongside the anime staff, and Shudo mentions things like the dry pet food were decided before production, which aligns with what they've been saying.
