Pokemon World Championships Showcases The Ever-Growing Fandom of Pokemon

The Pokemon World Championship was the biggest Pokemon event ever.

By Christian Hoffer

The Pokemon World Championship in Yokohama, Japan was probably the biggest event in Pokemon history, and it still felt like the event wasn't enough to contain the enthusiasm and passion fans have for the Pokemon franchise. Earlier this month, The Pokemon Company invited myself and a number of other journalists to the Pokemon World Championships, an annual competition-focused event that features the top players in Pokemon Unite, Pokemon Go, the Pokemon Trading Card Game, and the main series Pokemon video games. This year's Pokemon World Championships took place in Yokohama, Japan, marking the first time the annual competition had been held in Japan since the event was started by The Pokemon Company in 2004. 

To celebrate Pokemon's symbolic return to its country of origin, Pokemon took over the city of Yokohama with a number of official events and shows and numerous pieces of Pokemon pop-up art. In addition to renting out an entire cruise ship so that Pokemon fans could battle and trade Pokemon with homages to the SS Anne from the original Pokemon games, a Matsuri summer festival with a traditional yagura stage in its center and a bon dance held with Pokemon mascots to the sound of Pokemon music, and nightly entertainment that included multiple stage shows and an impressive drone show, Yokohama also celebrated with countless pieces of "pop-up art" celebrating the Pokemon franchise and numerous blow-up starter Pokemon nestled away in public places around the city. 

Despite the global nature of the first and second waves of PokeMania, it's hard to forget that Pokemon is very much a Japanese franchise, filled with homages and nods to Japanese folklore and culture. And when I first arrived in Yokohama, I was warned that "no one loves Pokemon like Japan." So, I guess I shouldn't be surprised how many people came out to Yokohama for the weekend, not to watch the thrilling competition, but to spend a few minutes in the Matsuri Park and brave the blistering heat and humidity to dance with Sprigatito, Pikachu, and Fuecoco, or to find the numerous bits of artwork hidden throughout the city. At one point while walking down Yokohama's bay area park, I even encountered a long line of people waiting to take photos of themselves standing over one of several Pokemon-themed manhole covers. Thousands of people wore their paper Pikachu visors while carrying around bags stuffed full of Pokemon merchandise from the Pokemon Center pop-up store, many of whom had come in from out of town despite the fact that Yokohama has a full-time Pokemon Center stocked with Pokemon merchandise at their train station. 

In fact, one of the things that left the biggest impressions about the Pokemon World Championships was how long all the lines were the sizes of the crowds, despite all of the events being sold out for months in advance. There were massive lines to get into the Pokemon Center at Worlds, even though you needed to sign up for a slot months in advance. Equally massive was the line to get onto the Pokemon-themed cruise ship, and that was just for a chance to freely play the Pokemon TCG or Pokemon Scarlet and Violet against strangers. Keep in mind that our visit included stores with dedicated places to play the Pokemon TCG in malls, but folks still came out by the thousands to play and celebrate the Pokemon franchise in a unique way. Even if the cruise ship didn't have trash cans that paid homage to the SS Anne's infamous occasionally item-filled trash cans or had any Pokemon decorations at all, I think people still would have braved the rain and horrifically hot temperatures for the chance to enjoy Pokemon with others. 

Ironically, visiting all the events surrounding the Pokemon World Championships left very little time to actually enjoy the Pokemon World Championships themselves, despite the event's massive stage and copious viewing areas for every pillar of Pokemon play. Because this year's event was three days instead of two, the Pokemon TCG and VGC tournaments lasted long into the night on Friday and Saturday, but I often had to turn to fan sites and X (the app formerly known as Twitter) for recaps of the action after getting back to the hotel after a full day's worth of activities. If I had one criticism about this year's Pokemon World Championships, it was that the pomp and circumstance of the franchise's return to Japan somewhat overscaled the actual competitive nature of the Pokemon World Championships themselves. 

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(Photo: Eric Thayer)

A recurring theme of Pokemon going back to 2016 is just how overwhelmed its caretakers are by the enthusiasm of the Pokemon franchise. Pokemon Go was popular to the point that its servers were overwhelmed for much of its first month and its first live Pokemon Go Fest event overwhelmed the local cell network. The Pokemon Trading Card Game has been so overwhelmingly popular at times that stores in Japan refused to sell cards to adults and Target stores in the US placed heavy limits on card purchases because of fights breaking out in the parking lot. And every event in Yokohama was filled to capacity with tickets given out months in advance and little room for spontaneity. Coupled with the fact that I saw similar lines form at the pop-up Pokemon Center at the North American International Championships earlier in the summer, I'm more convinced than ever that Pokemon needs a permanent home of some kind or at least more than a single annual celebration of the franchise in one city. 

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The Pokemon franchise is, according to Wikipedia at least, the biggest franchise in the world. Pikachu has sold more shirts and trading cards than Mickey Mouse, Winnie the Pooh, and Star Wars. And while there are countless opportunities for Disney fans to celebrate their fandom or for Star Wars fans to "nerd out" with other Star Wars fans, it feels like the Pokemon World Championships and the annual Pokemon Go live events are really the only chance that fans have to really celebrate their love of the Pokemon franchise. And while The Pokemon Company has admirably stepped up in recent years to provide non-competitors with a way to show off their love at the Pokemon World Championships, the long lines and at-capacity crowds made me wonder when there'd be a way for Pokemon fans to let off their proverbial (or literal) Pokemon flags fly whenever they'd want. 

The Pokemon franchise needs its own touring shows, its own parks, its own traveling events, its own pop-up or permanent stores. It's probably a costly investment for The Pokemon Company (or more likely for a partner like Universal Studios Parks) but it's what the fans need right now. Until we get more than one annual event a year, the Pokemon World Championships, an event ostensibly about competitive Pokemon, will face more and more pressure to be THE event for all Pokemon fans. 

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