The Pokemon franchise has evolved quite a bit since the release of Pokemon Red and Green back in 1996. While the core concept of Pokemon remains the same as it was back then, developer Game Freak has put a lot of effort into fleshing out the world. We know a lot more now about how Pokemon interact with their environment than we once did, and it seems we’re going to learn even more thanks to an upcoming book. Dubbed Pokecology, the book is modeled after real-life ecology books, and will give readers a better knowledge of Pokemon environments, interactions, and more.
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For this new tome, The Pokemon Company isn’t just having Professor Oak explain things; instead, they’ve enlisted real-life scientists. Yoshinari Yonehara is writing the book, while the illustrations are being handled by Chihiro Kinoshita. As noted by Automaton, the 2 have PhDs in veterinary behaviorism and ecology from the University of Tokyo. Yonehara is no stronger to Pokemon though, as he has previously worked on games like Pokemon Legends: Arceus, and Pokemon Scarlet and Violet.
Anyone that has played those recent Nintendo Switch games can attest that they added a lot of new details to the background of the Pokemon world and our overall understanding of it. A lot of different lore details were revealed and even clarified by those games, adding more depth and nuance. It’s impossible to say how much of that can be attributed to Yonehara’s role, but that would seem to bode well for Pokecology, and what the book has to offer readers.
At this time, details on Pokecology are minimal, and a localization has not been confirmed. The book will be released in Japan on June 18th though, so we can probably count on translations of any major details once it’s available. Still, this sounds like the kind of thing hardcore Pokemon fans are going to want to read for themselves, and the fact that this is all fully licensed should generate some interesting discussions. It’s possible the book will draw more from the existing lore than it will actually add to it, but we could learn some new background information that could shape future games. It could also offer some hints about things to come!
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Next year marks the 30th anniversary of the Pokemon franchise. Chances are, we’re going to see a lot more merchandise and products released all around the world. An English version of Pokecology would make sense for 2026, especially if that also ends up being the year that the next full generation of Pokemon games are released, as many people have speculated. For now, Pokemon fans will just have to wait and see what gets announced.
Are you interested in reading Pokecology when it’s released? Do you have any interest in learning more about how the Pokemon world works? Share your thoughts with me directly on Bluesky at @Marcdachamp, or on Instagram at @Dachampgaming!
