Road to 25th Anniversary: Expectations

After having made the initial post that "kicks off" the road to the 25th or silver anniversary of Pokémon last month, and after being reminded of it by way of a song of historical proportions, I thought I had to keep it in memory. Being that I'm a Pokémon blogger, the natural thing would be making another post on it, and so this post happens. This time, I thought about discussing a specific theme as a guide, and looking at the state of things, that theme seems to be "expectations" that may be had for the anniversary. While it may be considered that I've touched on this in my previous post, I'd like to address this in a different way within this post.

That would be my personal expectations against those of everyone else. My personal expectation is that the anniversary to come for Pokémon is a big one, bigger than others that have preceded it, and therefore it should be quite different than those previous anniversaries. In a way, it demands "pulling out all the stops" with as much (unique) celebratory material as possible. And yet, due to current conditions, which may persist up until the moment of the celebration, it may not be wise to celebrate too much. It is somewhat of a dilemmatic position that otherwise wouldn't be without current conditions. The challenge within the times that lead up to the anniversary will be to conceive things to enliven the moment while still being able to live, essentially.

For the others, it may seem that the upcoming anniversary is just like any other anniversary for Pokémon, but that may be because no peep has been heard from them at this point in time. Given that it's early yet, some may choose not to have expectations at this point, even though I'm certain that they are as highly enthused as I am about this special and gilded anniversary. That seems to be a good approach, perhaps as a learning experience from the National Dex brouhaha that is still fresh in the minds of some fans. Once the anniversary creeps closer and closer, then it may be time to have some expectations, or perhaps to expand a few older ones. In that way, the big anniversary can remain as enlivened as ever.

Still, already for the upcoming anniversary, some expectations can be identified. There's the long-conjectured "Sinnoh remakes", which have captivated minds since the first conjecture way back for the 3DS despite never being realized. There are the remnants from the Pokémon Presents videos earlier this year, as New Pokémon Snap and Pokémon Unite, which only have been glanced upon (and the latter has gotten some restricted insights recently). And then there are dynamically going expectations (literally), as a conjecture for expanding the Let's Go series to Johto as well as other additions to Pokémon Go, of which some are practically inevitable, as new species from Generation 6. Those are all a lot of expectations to be fulfilled on the road ahead.

Meanwhile, I already have something to expect of my own, which is the creation of this post again to cover developing details on this major anniversary as it comes about in a few month's time, only with different things to cover, which should already be beyond expectations. It's a wonderful time to come for Pokémon, even if current situations make this and other things that much less wonderful. Perhaps right now expectations are best suppressed (or at the least redirected to other things) while the momentum builds up. But it's only natural that they'll eventually come about, and once they're realized, there would be fewer of them... or maybe more will be expected from this great time for all.

One year ago: A Raid Split?

Two years ago: The First Japanese Anime Opening Theme

Three years ago: Enhancements in Shuffle