Pok
Q: In the same way humans in our world are a type of animal, are humans in the Pokémon world a form of Pokémon?

Masuda: Humans are definitely separate from Pokémon. The way you think about it is different than how we think about animals in relation to humans on Earth. For example, on Earth we have mammals and reptiles all these different categories. In the world of Pokémon, they are all Pokémon. We don’t really categorize them in exactly that way. It’s kind of a different way of looking at it. So yeah, humans are definitely separate from Pokémon. For example, humans can’t learn four different moves like a Pokémon can.


Case closed.

Are there worker Pokémon in the world of Pokémon? Are there swaths of Pikachus powering a city?
Masuda: Pokémon as creatures, are much closer to – they’re not like how our pets are on Earth – they’re much closer to humans than they are to like a cat or a dog pet that we would keep on Earth. Because there is such a closer relationship between humans and Pokémon, most people in the Pokémon world probably wouldn’t want to use Pokémon in such a manner as making them work to do something. But, there are some people with bad ideals, or bad people in the Pokémon world who might try to do something like that.


And yet in the very first generation, we see a Machop helping with construction, Lt. Surge talking about how his Pokemon helped power his plane, and in Gen II, we find out bird Pokemon are used to deliver mail, and in Gen III, we do see that Pokemon get employed to do real jobs. Oh, and let's not forget how we use Pokemon for transportation (e.g., Surf, Fly) and clearing obstacles (e.g., Strength, Cut, Rock Smash). And these Pokemon aren't treated badly, nor are the people who do this necessarily "bad" (unless you ask N)

Clearly what Masuda was saying doesn't reflect the reality presented in the games.

Slightly more on topic, while Masuda claims that humans and Pokemon are separate, the Sinnoh Folk Tales allude to a time where humans and Pokemon may have been viewed as one and the same in-game.

There once were Pokémon that became very close to humans.
There once were humans and Pokémon that ate together at the same table.
It was a time when there existed no differences to distinguish the two.


I had commented on the Pokemon World's mythology reflecting the an overarching theme of how world views have changed from humans and Pokemon living in harmony to humans dominating Pokemon...something touched on by N. It's kind of ironic that Masuda takes on the position that humans are fundamentally different from Pokemon given the themes that the last games were trying to portray. The separation of humans and Pokemon or the domination of Pokemon by humans--both N and Ghetsis' goal basically view humans and Pokemon as incompatible. The entire game, we fought to show humans and Pokemon can coexist. Many legends before this allude to that.

If the new "bond" feature in XY is anything like linking in Conquest, then I have even bigger doubts as to how different humans and Pokemon are.