The Apple and Pokémon

When many people think of the word "fruit", one of the fruits - if not the fruit - that they think of is the apple. It seems fair enough; it's hard not to consider the apple as the archetype of fruits. For anyone who is involved with Pokémon, though, this particular fruit may be considered differently. As much as it is a real-world fruit, it also has Pokémon connections. And that is in more ways than one.

Five months ago for a particularly mathematical celebration, I mentioned that the apple has a Berry analogue, which happens to be named the Leppa Berry - "Apple" sort-of backwards. This is present among different games with different effects among those games. However, the apple itself also appears as an actual fruit, which may be considered either confusing or redundant, or both, due to the presence of the respective Berry. Fortunately, the appearance of the apple seems to be restricted to certain cases, precluding however the namesake Berry is utilized, and that seems to dispel the considerations.

In the anime, certain episodes (including one I discussed last year) portray Pokémon consuming apples rather than Berries for sustenance. In a way, this makes sense considering the mostly "journey" setting of the anime; Berries like the Leppa Berry are mostly battle-specific enhancing items, if nothing else, so it wouldn't make sense to consume them in large quantities outside of battle-related contexts, though this could help every so often in regard to battles, which occur from time to time. The bottom line would be that there has to be something that sustains Pokémon other than food with battle effect properties.

In the Mystery Dungeon games, apples are much more fleshed out as food items, because they are a vital part of the Belly system. This system governs how far Pokémon can go and what they can do in dungeons. The Belly of Pokémon are filled by eating Apples and Big Apples, more so than even Berries, which do exist as well. This lends credence to the previous idea of Pokémon also being sustained by food not having battle effects. Battle-enhancing food is good, but Pokémon can't seem to live on them alone.

Whatever the case, it's hard to separate the apple from Pokémon. Though rightfully realized as a Berry, it is also realized as the actual fruits themselves, with a greater sustaining effect. The confusion and redundancy seems to not matter at all once this is understood. At the least, it's helpful to think that an exemplary real-world fruit that alleviates hunger of people and animals would and could do the same for Pokémon too.

One year ago: Cosplay: Nimatsuri 2017