Go Tokyo Your Experience
When the term “evolution” is mentioned, many people immediately think of the Pokémon series. In these games, Pokémon “evolve” into another Pokémon after reaching a certain level or meeting specific conditions, usually becoming more powerful and learning more moves.
However, recently, some Japanese netizens pointed out that the “evolution” phenomenon in these games is actually much closer to the concept of “metamorphosis” in the real world, which is fundamentally different from evolution. So, does Pokémon mislead the public’s understanding of “evolution”? Let’s take a look at the opinions of Japanese netizens on this matter.
“A Japanese netizen with the username ‘スカルプD’ was astonished during an ecology class when the teacher used the ‘Pokémon’ series as a theme to discuss the language used—particularly the misuse of the term ‘evolution’!”
The teacher pointed out that the ‘evolution’ in ‘Pokémon’ is actually more akin to ‘metamorphosis’, a description that causes a cognitive confusion for many who are not familiar with the two concepts.
In the world of “Pokémon,” Pokémon can evolve into another form. However, from a modern academic perspective, evolution refers to the process by which organisms undergo genetic variation over generations, gradually producing individual differences and biological diversity. Additionally, the term “evolution” is often misunderstood as a process of moving from lower to higher forms, so the academic community tends to use the term “transformation” to describe it.
Metamorphosis” refers to the dramatic changes in morphology or structure that occur in an organism through cellular reproduction and differentiation. Therefore, the physical changes in Pokémon are more akin to “metamorphosis” rather than “evolution.
This topic has sparked widespread discussion among Japanese netizens. Some believe that not only should “Pokémon” be blamed, as “Digimon,” which was released around the same time, also widely used the term “evolution.” Others argue that rather than saying “Pokémon” has distorted the meaning of “evolution,” it’s more accurate to say that the term “deformation” has been assigned many negative connotations, which is why “Pokémon” had to choose the term “evolution.”
The feedback from netizens is as follows:
When studying ecology in college, I also discussed that Pokémon is not evolution but transformation.
In the biology course in college, we often used teaching materials like ‘Pokémon is not evolution but transformation’.
Only blame Pokémon for being unfair. Back in the day, Digimon was also quite popular, and the competition between the two intensified this situation.
‘Evolution’ is more easily accepted and widely used, rather than ‘transformation.’
“I agree that ‘evolution’ has been misunderstood, but from an elementary school student’s perspective, the word ‘mutant’ is particularly effective.”
“Rather than blaming ‘Pokémon’ for misusing ‘evolution’, it would be better to say that ‘mutant’ has already been misunderstood in society. As soon as ‘mutant’ is mentioned in biology class, the whole class bursts into laughter, which is enough evidence of how abnormal this is.”
From an ecological perspective, the ‘evolution’ of Pokémon truly spreads misconceptions. Pokémon are ‘mutations’, while Digimon are ‘transformations’.
For the biological community, it is indeed perplexing that works referring to the changes in a body during growth as ‘evolution’ are so popular.
When I heard the biology teacher say “mutation” in my childhood, I couldn’t help but laugh.
This discussion actually reveals the divergence between gaming culture and academic terminology, and reflects the misunderstandings and controversies that may arise from simplifying language. Precisely for this reason, we should pay more attention to the accurate use of vocabulary to better understand the meanings of these terms in different contexts.
