Pedagogical Patchwork:
Pokémon between Anime, Games, and Education
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15448/2179-8435.2026.1.49879Keywords:
Pokémon, Media literacy, Educommunication, Critical education, Video gamesAbstract
This article examines the Pokémon franchise as a cultural object relevant to critical education, media literacy, and educommunication. Its aim is to understand how the anime Pokémon: Indigo League and the games Pokémon Red, Pokémon Blue, Pokémon FireRed, and Pokémon LeafGreen produce formative meanings and may foster critical readings of media. This is a qualitative study, basic in nature and exploratory-analytical in purpose, developed through bibliographical and documentary research. The corpus was delimited to the anime’s inaugural saga and to the first-generation games, with interpretive and thematic analysis guided by the categories of transmedia circulation, communicative ecosystem, formative playfulness, and critical reading of representations. The results indicate that the franchise articulates two complementary yet tension filled cultural pedagogies: in the anime, affective bonds, care, friendship, and narrative maturation predominate; in the games, capture, classification, progression, and strategic efficiency stand out. The analysis also showed that competition, evolution, and journey operate as distinct formative devices in each medium. It is concluded that Pokémon may be understood as a cohesive transmedia fabric capable of supporting educational discussions on media, cultural formation, ethical ambivalence, and contemporary modes of subjectivation.
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Copyright (c) 2026 Luis Otávio Vilela da Cruz
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