The lore is inconsistent sometimes but I think you just need to believe in the fact that there are just supernatural spirits out there.
See also: Yokai and the other franchise about them.
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Sticky Orange Islands SQSA Thread
- Thread starter DHR-107
- Start date
The lore is inconsistent sometimes but I think you just need to believe in the fact that there are just supernatural spirits out there.
See also: Yokai and the other franchise about them.
There is something to note about the Type's name in Japanese. In Japanese name is "Ghost". No, not the Japanese word for "ghost", the English word. The most common Japanese word for ghost is "Yūrei", though like in English there are others terms. So, why use the English word instead of the Japanese? Now right away I'm going to admit this is something I had heard and can't find a source to back it up, but it at least sounds believable and does relate to what we're talking about. In Japanese culture Yūrei's are treated a bit more seriously; it's not taboo to depict them in a lighter or jokier tone, but usually when they show up in a media it's given a serious tone as these being powerful beings that can cause great harm and are to be feared. Calling the Ghost-type "Yurei" in Japanese would have given them that tinge of serious tone, and GameFreak likely didn't want to be tied down by that for both creativity reasons and because they're making a game for kids and don't want to scare them too much. So instead they used the English "Ghost", which I imagine in Japan would have been treated as a more generic term for spirits, especially international spirits; a Japanese person hears "Yurei" and think of a vengeful spirit, they hear "Ghost" and think of the bedsheet ghosts depicted in western cartoons. Now while originally they likely did this just to ignore the serious tone of Yurei, this has also helped them expand upon the Ghost-type in future gens; since its seen as a generic term anything spirit-like/undead/supernatural falls into it and they can base a Pokemon on it. This has resulted in it becoming a "hodgepodge" in terms of overall Type theming (Dragon and Fairy has a similar issue), especially since they've based Pokemon on ghosts from around the world & different cultures have differnnt ideas about what is a ghost. But in the end it all does stem from the core idea of spirits & the undead, spirituality & the afterlife, and the spooky side of the supernatural.
And side stepping all of this, there's a difference between "this is a ghostly being that has so & so associated with it" and "this is a bonafide Ghost-ass ghost". Even back in Gen 1, where the distinction was significantly more murky, you still had things like Gastly being a ghost because its a spooky head made of gas that can phase through wall alongside the Actual Ghost Of Marowak
Anime plays with that too. Back in Best Wishes Cilan was afraid of ghosts and relieved when ghostly behavior was actually "just" cofagrigus.
Of course some times of course the ghost pokemon IS a ghost-ghost but only when convenient. Spiritomb in L:A being literally made of 108 actual spirits. Also Spiritomb in L:A yeah there's just swarms of them meandering around.
Anime plays with that too. Back in Best Wishes Cilan was afraid of ghosts and relieved when ghostly behavior was actually "just" cofagrigus.
Of course some times of course the ghost pokemon IS a ghost-ghost but only when convenient. Spiritomb in L:A being literally made of 108 actual spirits. Also Spiritomb in L:A yeah there's just swarms of them meandering around.
Anyone remember in the anime how Acerola had a ghost of a deceased Mimikyu.
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