Welcome to another installment of Pokemon Cafe, where the java and Pokemon topics are evolving along with the Pokemon roaming the floors and occasionally engaging in battle.
The latest news in the Pokemon world as you have undoubtedly heard is the release of Pokemon Black and White.
The game itself is a must have along with of course all of the exciting spinoff products.
There are new Pokemon Black and White stuffed toys, new cards for the Pokemon card game including Shiney Eutei and Raikon.
Everything from great new Plushies to stationary are to be had.
Children's minds are fantastic.
We adults are constantly trying to teach them how to think when in reality the child's brain, like the Pokemon, has special powers and is growing on its own.
As an adult, the Pokemon story, I admit, leaves me hanging.
But I am not thinking like a child.
I always felt that The Wizard of Oz was the greatest film ever made for children.
Actually I still feel that way- it is a complex tapestry of the horrors and miracles of life, of rich textures and symbolism, of love and sin, and most importantly, the fact that life will always throw at you things you can never prepare for no matter how much you learn and that only bravery and virtue will win the day.
As a story, The Wizard of Oz leaves the Pokemon series crawling in the dust.
And that is a fact.
But the purposes of the two stories are completely different.
While Oz throws us into a tumultuous world, Pokemon encourages- no, forces- the young mind to use his imagination, create worlds, and fill in gaps.
Pokemon as a story fails in too many ways to count.
It is incomplete, it is not credible or logical, its premise is not explained and does not make sense.
Its world is in no sense of the word a complete world.
It has no message and, as far as life lessons are concerned, nothing to teach.
It is not a story that adults can enjoy along with children.
At best, it is like a rather silly spinoff on Jurassic Park with all of the power and none of the horror or plot.
And kids love it.
I submit that the Pokemon story is excellent for children's minds.
For all the unexplained elements in it that leave we adults dissatisfied are gaps that stimulate children's minds to fill, render, and complete.
In other words, each child's vision of the Pokemon story is unique as each child is unique.
The trainer/Pokemon relationship gives kids something to personify that Dorothy never can.
That is how a child's mind works.
Adults can't be bothered.