The age of adulthood

I searched once to find the age of adulthood in the pokemon universe. I usually see age 10. But is that really the case?

It is indeeed established from the first episode of the anime onward that you can legally apply for a license to become a pokemon trainer at age 10.

10-years-old is definitely a milestone age in the pokemon universe, where kids are allowed to assume many very mature responsibilities. They can travel the world alone, they do not have to be enrolled in school, they can capture and train wild pokemon and undertake competitions, they can also work in a variety of occupations, and in-game are even permitted to participate in gambling-like activities.

With that being said, there are still countless instances of 10-year-old Ash and his travelling companions being referred to as "kids" throughout the anime, ranging from pejorative, affectionate to just matter-of-fact.

One instance that strikes me in particular is in the third pokemon movie The Spell of the Unown, when Molly is surprised to learn that Misty is a gym leader at so young, and it is explained that you don't have to be a "grown-up" to be a gym leader. Misty is pretty much acknowledging that she is not an adult yet, though she can still do a lot of things.

Another episode that I found noteworthy is Hypno's naptime. In the plot children are going missing throughout town. It is eventually discovered that there is a private club for adults who suffer from insomnia that utilizes a hypno to coax them into a restful sleep. However, the wave lengths being omitted by his hypnosis had a negative side effect on the children of the community, causing them to run away to the wild, deliriously believing that they were pokemon. Misty also falls under the spell, and this leads Officer Jenny and others to sumise that Hypno effects sensitive children. Nobody reacts to Misty as an anomoly, which she would be if she was the first adult to react to Hypno's pendelum.

I suspect that despite having a great deal of freedoms at age 10, it is not quite the age of adulthood. We still see figures who are certainly adults in the pokemon world such Ash's mom Delia or Nurse Joy and various pokemon professors interact with Ash and his friends in a way that is consistent with speaking to a child. We have seen Ash scolded for doing dangerous activities and reminded to adhere to curfews.

We also see 10 year-olds still relying on adults to due certain things for them. For instance, Gary Oak is often seen in a sports car in the first season, but I don't believe he is ever shown driving it himself. He routinely has a chauffeur, which could indicate that he isn't old enough to drive yet.

Many countries in our own world have an age where you can legally engage in activities that you could not previously, yet it is not the age that grants adult status. For instance at age 16 in the United States you can apply for a license and drive unsupervised, and apply for a learner's permit at 15. 16 is also an age where you file for your own passport and potentially be employed full or part-time. In some dates you can purchase a riffle at as young as age 14. However, you are not legally an adult until age 18, and even then some restrictions still apply to what an 18 year old can due.

In Italy the age of sexual consent is only 14. In China there is no mimimum drinking age as I understand it. In Switzerland the minimum age to drink beer and wine is 16.

I think similar statures could exist in the pokemon world, where 10 represents an age where many restrictions are relaxed, but is not necessarily the age where your legal status completely changes from minor to adult.

What do you think though? Wanna discuss?

Not to mention that do ten year olds in the Pokémon universe

Even have jobs

Ten year olds in the Pokemon world are living the dream, they have the freedom of adulthood without the responsibility of adulthood. And they can walk everywhere apparently (either the Pokemon world is much smaller or time is distilled) and do not have to pay for anything except Pokemon items. They're obviously still kids though, and treated as such except being a trainer, they have a "do whatever you want" pass it seems. Adulthood still probably starts in the 20s in the Pokemon world, but seeing Brock and Olivia be lovey dovey, maybe not. Brock is a minor btw, 15 or 16 iirc.

One point to consider:

The "kids with jobs" we see are, for the most part, those who are working actively in the Pokémon Trainer marketplace. Bugsy and Misty are Gym Leaders, a position that if anything is some sort of part-time job in the least, for example. In that sense, working on Pokémon is less about adulthood and a "free pass to do whatever you want" and more about being a sports/e-sports athlete on the way to high-perf and being given a number of perks and bonuses so that you can actually dedicate to your craft.

I could believe legal adulthood beginning at say 15 or 16 instead of 18, I feel it would make sense for the point where you are given the pass to seriously apply yourself to your craft as a livelihood if you actually go into it, or else just fall back to any of the number of distractions and compensations now available to you, such as girl/boyfriends, non-Pokémon sports or college, all without being "left hanging" in society for a number of years.

Also wut that Hypno episode. I really did not recall any of it. Was that really a thing?

Do they even get paid as a gym leader. And all they do is sit there and wait for challengers, sounds easy. Being a pokemon trainer is about travelling and battling and adventuring, nothing fancy about that, sounds like a free pass to me.

I don't think the money they make is going to be enough to survive.

In real life having a parent send you out of the house to catch stuff would be considered abuse.

Plus a kid going into the woods all by himself. Thats a good way to die.

strangerhypno said:

Do they even get paid as a gym leader. And all they do is sit there and wait for challengers, sounds easy. Being a pokemon trainer is about travelling and battling and adventuring, nothing fancy about that, sounds like a free pass to me.

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This would probably depend on the gym leader.

Blue for example, is described as never being at the gym, causing challengers problems having to search him out. The Unova gym leaders are often out doing other things as well.

Maybe it would depend on the region. Norman in Hoenn is described as never being with his family because he has obligations to his gym.

I believe the Pokemon world is a friendlier place where aggression and violence has been replaced with Pokemon Battling.
At 10 years old children are approaching the age of puberty; an era in our lives where our innocence begins to be combated by multiple forces, both internal and external.

It makes sense to send a child out at age 10 so they may tame the inner forces by channeling them into Pokemon battling.
On their journey they experience external forces which can be symbolized by trainers; new ideas, different types of Pokemon, new strategies and conflicts occur on the journey.

However, in the real world our brains aren't fully developed until around the age of 25, and I would say even the master continues to develop his or her brain well into their 30's, 40's, 50's etc until their death.

There is no reason for me to believe the age of "adulthood" has changed. Pokemon training is something most people do, but not everyone.
There are museums to be maintained, streets to be cleaned, people to be fed, you get the drill.
It can be assumed there is a government system in the world of Pokemon that has not been fully elaborated upon.

There is also the Global Police, most of whom are depicted as adults. The only questionable one here is Anabel, who appears as a child in Pokemon Emerald, and can be approximately aged at 7-10.
In Pokemon Sun (10 years later) she could be anywhere from age 17-20, just on the verge of adulthood anyways.

So, yeah. I believe the age of adulthood in the Pokemon Universe is still 18.
However, children have an expanded and prominent role in society as compared to our own Earth.

You know I heard that if a gym leader loses three times

They lose their job.

Also aren't Pokémon dangerous in real life

I'm starting to think it's far less about the "age of adulthood" moreso than the weird societal standards that the Pokemon World has in comparison to our own. Pokemon, dangerous while wild, can be seen as guardians and protectors of their trainers if caught, which is why no one sees it as that big of a deal when sending out their 10-year old kid into the world, because well... everyone else does it, and it has been the normal thing to do.

It may also be that sending out your kids young into the world may help them bond with Pokemon better, therefore making them better trainers as they grow older. This is mere conjecture though, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was one of the reasons why there are so many unsupervised kids in the world.

It may very well be that it's just tradition to kick your kids out at 10 just so they can grow up with their Pokemon, rather than just be stuck at home all day.

Venia Silente said:

One point to consider:

The "kids with jobs" we see are, for the most part, those who are working actively in the Pokémon Trainer marketplace. Bugsy and Misty are Gym Leaders, a position that if anything is some sort of part-time job in the least, for example. In that sense, working on Pokémon is less about adulthood and a "free pass to do whatever you want" and more about being a sports/e-sports athlete on the way to high-perf and being given a number of perks and bonuses so that you can actually dedicate to your craft.

I could believe legal adulthood beginning at say 15 or 16 instead of 18, I feel it would make sense for the point where you are given the pass to seriously apply yourself to your craft as a livelihood if you actually go into it, or else just fall back to any of the number of distractions and compensations now available to you, such as girl/boyfriends, non-Pokémon sports or college, all without being "left hanging" in society for a number of years.

Also wut that Hypno episode. I really did not recall any of it. Was that really a thing?

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Yes, you are right, that is definitely what we witness by in large. But perhaps we are encountering very young people mainly at work in the pokemon training market place for plot reasons, since that is what Ash does after all, not necessarily because this is all that kids would be allowed to handle.

Gary Oak went beyond training and switched to research. If he were just feeding pokemon at his grandpa's lab or sweeping up pokemon fur from the floor for his then I might question whether this was a legit career, but he is performing complex field and lab work in various regions, including reviving an aerodactyl. He seems to be pretty much opperating as a professional within the perimeters of the world.

I think the game canon is even less ambiguous, and shows several possible ways that kids could earn a living. When we take a look at the BW2 games we see people of all ages opening stores on Join Avenue, including kids much smaller than the player. I think in the memory link we also find Cilan and his brothers running a restaurant instead of the gym.

In XY the player can be trained to become a Looker, which is a division of the international police. You can also work in at the hotel in Lumiose City.

Saying all this, the ages you named of 15 of 16 could very well be the ages of adulthood. I just get the impression that you can still do some very hard work outside of pokemon training before that age.

The Hypno episode is Season 1, episode 27. It is quite an oddball when you think about it!

strangerhypno said:

Do they even get paid as a gym leader. And all they do is sit there and wait for challengers, sounds easy. Being a pokemon trainer is about travelling and battling and adventuring, nothing fancy about that, sounds like a free pass to me.

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To be fair though, gym leaders can also be mentors to other trainers who work in the gyms, alongside battling the challengers.

Cities can revolve almost entirely around their gym. Gyms are beacons that attract trainers from all over to the town. Gyms bring business and a source of entertainment to the community, as well as prestige.

A good gym leader I see as almost like the mayor of the town. We have seen gym leaders connected with schools, businesses, sports competitions, libraries, or even literally in public office like Drayden. They commonly do a number of things to support their community outside of their direct work in the gym, as we saw with Jasmine going to the lighthouse to nurse Amphy or Clemont repairing the city power outage.

I think when they are at their best they do more than just sit around. And I'm almost sure they are paid. Major gyms are certified by the pokemon league after all. Gyms are part of a larger institution that functions as the major, national entertainment attraction like the Superbowl or the Olympics. I can't imagine that no money is being exchanged to sustain gyms, especially when you look at how many and how elaborate gyms are. We have seen everything installed in gyms from rollercoasters to swimming pools, these are some high tech facilities.

If gym leaders aren't beind paid then that would raise even more questions for me to tear my hair out over. How does a grown man like Norman with no other line of work sustain himself and dependent family if he gets no salary?