A chronicle of change. Scarlet Brannick takes us on a journey through the evolution of gender identity in one of the world's most beloved video game series.
Gender identity isn't a common discussion point in gaming. Characters that exist outside the preconceived norms of their contemporary societies are few and far between. However, we are beginning to see the emergence of more of these characters as society progresses into more accepting times.
Pokémon Red and Green, released in 1996, introduced us to the iconic silent protagonist, his default name being Red. Unlike the later games, you do not have a choice between Red or any girl counterpart that hypothetically existed at the time. This was most likely due to the targeted demographic of the time – games of that era tended to be marketed with an exclusively male audience in mind. This mindset continued into Gen 2, right up until the release of Pokémon Crystal in December 2000; most likely to broaden the demographic and give the series a wider appeal, the developer gave us the choice between the two genders established at the time.
Despite this homogeneity, we started to see the series challenge identity in September of 2001, introducing the series' first trans character.
Akari, from the final chapter in the 6th volume of the manga, How I Became a Pokémon Card, lives his 13 years as a boy, despite being born a girl, with both he and his friend Akira promising each other to become great Pokémon masters. Unfortunately for Akari, his assigned gender becomes a growing obstacle, as he is forced to dress according to the school's code, and pressured by his mother to act more feminine. This game-adjunct manga touches on dysphoria and alienation, whilst also challenging the ideals of masculinity through Akari learning to appreciate the coolness of those Pokemon with a more cutesy appearance. Hopefully, this character will make a return to the series someday.
This game-adjunct manga touches on dysphoria, and alienation, whilst also challenging the ideals of masculinity through Akari learning to appreciate the coolness of those Pokemon with a more cutesy appearance.
While Akari may have been the first, he is most certainly not the last trans character to have been created in the series.
Released in October 2013, Pokémon X and Y introduces a Pokémon trainer, Beauty Nova, who ruminates on her past as a Black belt. While the localised versions of the game's dialogue imply a female identity, her original, Japanese dialogue is far more blunt about who she is, marvelling at the miracles of science transforming her from a Karate king into the woman who's now challenging you.
Both Akari and Nova represent gender identity through transition to the opposite ends, but there is one more character in the franchise who doesn’t quite sit anywhere on the spectrum – and perhaps exists outside of a binary.
The 2019 phenomenon Pokémon Go popularised augmented reality gameplay, allowing us to catch Pokémon as we travelled. On top of that, it introduces us to 3 different teams that players can ally themselves with; Valor, Instinct, and most importantly Mystic, led by the gender-ambiguous Blanche. This is a character that the game's website – Pokemon Go Live – has gone out of its way to avoid giving any gender identity, usually referring to Blanche by name rather than any specific pronoun. Most notably, this particular method of reference has even extended to the German website; with German being a gendered language, this level of effort truly cements Blanche's lack of gender identity.
Most notably, this particular method of reference has even extended to the German website; with German being a gendered language, this level of effort truly cements Blanche's lack of gender identity.
As is clear to see, the Pokémon company has become a stalwart in representing different spectrums of gender identities and backgrounds like this. I hope to see some of the characters mentioned make a return in future games, especially Akari.