"Trainers" capturing these innocent animals and enslaving them in these tiny pokeballs.
This was clearly not the case with Ash's Bulbasaur.
From Bulbapedia:
"Bulbasaur managed to save Oddish at the last second, and was touched when Ash dashed out to help him get to safety. It then used
Vine Whip to deflect the vacuum and
Pidgeotto drove Team Rocket away. Melanie encouraged Bulbasaur to join Ash, explaining that its growth was being stunted by staying too long in the village.
Bulbasaur agreed to join him once Ash defeated it in battle. Bulbasaur put up an excellent fight against Pikachu, using its vines to seize and smash Pikachu onto the ground repeatedly. However, a powerful
Thunderbolt fried Bulbasaur and stunned it long enough for Ash to capture it."
Bulbasaur was neither forced to battle or forced into the Pokemon against its will. It wanted to go with Ash.
"Forcing them to fight one another(causing physical and psychological harm), as something a sadist would enjoy.
Pokemon aren't forced to battle. If they don't want to fight, they won't, or in Ash's case, if he DOESN'T want it to fight, it will.
Bulbapedia:
"In
The Problem with Paras, it was revealed that Charmeleon had lost its loyalty to Ash, attacking a
Paras when Ash was trying to deliberately lose in order to help
Paras evolve.
Cassandra's grandmother explained that
Charmeleon's skill level had exceeded Ash's, and therefore it did not respect him anymore"
But later...
Bulbapedia:
"In
Charizard Chills, Charizard battled
Tad's
Poliwrath. It blatantly refused to listen to Ash's commands, continuing to try Flamethrowers despite them having no effect on Poliwrath. Tad and Poliwrath shrugged all of them off until Poliwrath responded with a Water Gun that nearly doused the flame on Charizard's tail. It was then encased in ice by Poliwrath's
Ice Beam, much to Ash's horror. Ash managed to smash the ice encasing Charizard's head, and Tad walked away scornfully, telling Ash that they would have a rematch when he could control Charizard.
Ash lit a fire and thawed Charizard out, before rubbing Charizard all over to help it regain its body heat. Pikachu pointed out that Ash's hands were rubbed raw, but Ash replied that he didn't mind, Charizard's flame was so small that Ash redoubled his efforts. Charizard woke up in a panic and tried to attack, but it was so cold that it couldn't produce a flame and passed out again. Misty provided a blanket and Tracey kept the fires up whilst Pikachu watched the flame, but Ash himself worked throughout the entire night to help Charizard recover.
Ash stayed up all night trying to thaw it out and, in the process, rubbed his hands completely raw. The selfless act reminded Charizard of everything Ash had done for it since it was a Charmander. By morning, Charizard's respect for and loyalty to Ash had returned, and it helped Ash rescue Pikachu from Team Rocket"
That's like saying there is a "real bond" between a manager and his prize fighter. No, the fighter is who freely chooses to fight. A pokemon is forced to, just like animals are forced to fight or entertain us.
Was this a forced fight between Ash's Charizard and Tracey's Scyther?
Bulbapedia:
" Ash walks closer as Charizard uses
Flamethrower on Ash. The attack also heads toward Scyther, but it deflects it with its scythes. Charizard notices as Scyther steps closer. Charizard stands up, as the two seem ready to fight.
Ash stops them as the two turn away.
Animals can't communicate to us intelligently. When you see a rodeo, you can't tell if the horses "don't mind".
Horses have a mind of their own. They could easily resist if they wanted, which is why they are trained to do various things and become use to them. It's not as if these animals just do everything we want them to anyway.
It isn't justified. It is still promoting violence for entertainment, at the expense of a pokemon's health.
At some point in time, everything and everyone is guilty of it. Even shows like SpongeBob and Ed, Edd'n Eddy. Still if you watch the anime, the Pokemon like battling. You can't tell me you have never watched a show or movie with some kind of violence or conflict in it. Even Dora the Explorer has a fox that attempts to steal from people in every episode. Is that promoting theft?
Two roosters(or whatever animal) could just refrain from fighting one another, which would suggest they voluntarily decided not to fight. The problem, however, is that the pokemon universe as a whole promotes this violent entertainment, regardless of whether or not it truly is voluntary.
Except I'm pretty sure if 2 real animals refused to fight for their "trainers", they'd be killed, unlike Pokemon. Plus these animals are trained to kill, while Pokemon are trained simply for competitive purposes. It's no different than football, where the coach sits on the side while the players are the ones tackling and getting tackled. Should we put an end to football as well, or martial arts? Again, as proven in the games and anime, battling is completely up to the Pokemon.
How did the pokemon get to a conditioned state of compliance(for the most part)? They were living free, were captured, and then all of a sudden enjoy fighting?
Pokemon naturally enjoy fighting, or else they wouldn't do it. Even though Ash's Charizard refused to listen to him, it only would help him if it could show off its power, as was the case with Blaine's Magmar. Charizard thought Magmar would be a worthy opponent.
And the true point in all of this, is that pokemon promotes senseless violence. If a "trainer" really cared for his/her pokemon, he wouldn't even expose them to such things.
Again, you are assuming the Pokemon hate battling when everything in the Pokemon universe says they are fine with it.
And, if a coach cared about his players, why does he make them run laps, or lift heavy weights, or follow the rules of the game instead of their own? The word is "team". Every team has its positions, and Pokemon is no different. The trainer is the "coach", while the Pokemon are the players, which is justified because like in sports, they compete by choice. (Ash wanted to use Pikachu against Misty's water Pokemon for his 2nd badge, but Pikachu did not want to battle her, so Ash used Butterfree instead.)
The Pokemon WANT to take part in such things. Pokemon are creatures that seek to reach their full potential, which is realized when they evolve into a more powerful form. This is where trainers come in. The trainers help the Pokemon reach that ultimate potential by training them for battles, helping them win and gain experience, which then eventually results in evolution.
There are exceptions to this as well, as Pokemon aren't forced to evolved if they don't want to either. Ash's Pikachu has refused to evolve into a Raichu, and Ash has been fine with it.
Capturing pokemon is an initiation of force. Promoting pokemon fights is thoughtless and disgusting.
Is promoting 2 guys in a cage that WANT to fight disgusting if they WANT the world to watch them fight to see who is the better fighter? Or should the coaches and trainers of these cage fighters be the ones in the cage? Again, fighting WITH RULES IN PLACE TO ENSURE PROTECTION FROM SERIOUS INJURY is no different than any other sport, which is the same as a Pokemon battle.
Perhaps those wild pokemon attack because they know the motives of these trainers, which is to capture them.
Even then, why capture them? Defend yourself from a pokemon(or animal) all you want, but why the need to take them?
I think you're using real-world logic to explain a fictional world with fictional creatures. In the Pokemon world, capture =/= slavery. Sure, some Pokemon might prefer to be wild, but they aren't being forced to do something they wouldn't naturally do.
As for why catch them, it's a video game meant to encourage multiplayer entertainment through trading and battling.
Parents don't capture their children. Stupid comparison.
But parents DO control their children. Same thing, just no capsule. Still, catching a Pokemon is not wrong if it is treated correctly, which is why in real life, we are allowed to have pets and train them...if it is done CORRECTLY.
So what you're implying is that pokemon are inherently willing to lose their freedom to be prize fighters for these trainers, so fight back to test them and not to defend their freedom? Sounds like we have a pokemon apologist on our hands, folks.
Once again, Ash's Bulbasaur. And in the games, the Legendary Pokemon only appear before the trainers they deem worthy of their power. The battle is the test. Otherwise, why would these all-powerful, time-bending, space-warping Pokemon, or even universe creating Alpha Pokemon be able to live with itself inside a Pokeball?
But I'll humour you. Even if that were true, the universe still promotes violence, violence for entertainment. Such things shouldn't be promoted. It is a social paradigm that just reeks of hypocritical values.
Pokemon is a show that teaches that through teamwork and friendship, a group of friends can all achieve more together as a team. A trainer becomes wise and through training his Pokemon and battling, while the Pokemon can become for stronger than they possibly could have on their own. (Yes, Pokemon DO seek to become stronger, which is proven in the fact that once they hit a certain level of strength, they transform into a stronger and often bigger form.) And overall, the trainer and his Pokemon become allies and friends. Pokemon could be basically called "Superpowered Creature Football", and seeing as how football (despite being violent itself) is still accepted in society, I doubt Pokemon could be called "terrible". In the end, it's just a video game and a children's cartoon.