Pikachu: The Series's Mascot

Sheep

Pikachu is the very well-known mascot of the series, and has been one of its most recognizable characters since the very early days. Ash traveled with one as his trusted first partner Pokémon, and it's often found in most mainline Pokémon games as well. No doubt a lot of people who may not know a lot about Pokémon itself would recognize it!

However, we all have our personal opinions on the characters of this series. So I'd like to ask: What do you think of Pikachu personally? Do you like it, or not? Have you ever used it on your team?

truthordeal

Sharing a quotation from anime director Kunihiko Yuyama on how they came to choose Pikachu for the anime:

Yuyama spoke of the decision to choose Pikachu as the main Pokémon character.

"I thought that if he chose one of the Hitokage, Fushigidane, and Zenigame that first appeared in the game and made it into animation, the children who chose the other Pokémon in the game would feel lonesome. I have three children, you know. So I would feel sorry for the other two if I picked one of them. I thought it would be better to avoid that. If that was the case, I thought it would be better to choose one that was completely different from the first three you can get. For example, I could have chosen Purin or Pippi, but a too unusual Pokémon would not fit in with the established world, so I decided on Pikachu, a cute Pokémon that looks like it could exist in everyday life but really doesn't. That said, the big factor was that Pikachu was the most popular Pokémon in a popularity contest held in 'CoroCoro Comic' at that time. Pikachu was chosen because of its popularity and because it was a Pokémon that would not be strange to have around. It fits in with the Pokémon universe in that it is somewhere between reality and fantasy, with its shape being a mouse but only its tail being a lightning bolt."

The animation team's changing and deepening view of Pokémon is also well illustrated in the process of finalizing the policy that Pikachu and other Pokémon, with the exception of Meowth, would not speak in the end.

"Ishihara and Tajiri had told us that Pikachu was not allowed to talk, but since Pikachu would be traveling with Satoshi, I told them that I wanted Pikachu to talk, and they said yes. But as we worked on it, I began to think more and more that Pokemon are animals. So when Pikachu talks, it becomes a moving character called Pikachu, not an animal, and I felt that was really weird. On the contrary, I felt that it would kill the cuteness of Pikachu. So we decided that Pikachu should not be able to talk." (Yuyama)

Soaker87

Pikachu is my favorite from before I even knew anything about Pokemon, I’ve collected Pikachu merchandise for years, and have no real interest in playing a game where I can’t use a Pikachu on my team (meaning Gen 5). I likewise wouldn’t have much interest in an anime without a prominent Pikachu. The theories I’ve seen of Cap evolving so they can have Mega Raichu in the new anime are a little devastating to me.

It honestly makes me sad seeing the disdain some people feel for Pikachu (though I can understand to an extent because I never really cared for Eevee or its evolutions, though I don’t hate them or anything, they just don’t interest me much). I’m not even usually the type who favors the mascot or main character. I’m usually the person gushing over that background character who doesn’t appear for 30 episodes at a time.

But yeah, Pikachu is adorable, and actually pretty useful in the games. I’ve powered through Yellow version with the Pikachu starter and leveled it up enough to beat Brock out of stubbornness. It has a good speed stat and Thunder has a lousy accuracy but deals a ton of damage when it hits.