Customer Reviews

Pikachu's Global Adventure: The Rise and Fall of Pokémon

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The previous reviewer must have been brain dead herself when she read the book. There is no other way she could have so completely misread this text. The authors are not opponents of Pokemon -- as if that was even the point. In excerpting the statements from Tobin about the "evil" empire of Pokemon, she completely misquotes him. He CLEARLY argues in his introduction that this represents one of the perspectives on Pokemon and then goes on to lay out other perspectives. In the chapter about anti-Pokemon websites, the author is describing the discourse of these websites, not advocating for them. In fact, the author describes these as "moral panics". A moral panic is a misplaced fear that sweeps a society. If this reviewer knew anything at all about the scholarship of the people represented in this book or about the language of cultural studies, she would realize that her reading of them as children's pop culture haters is absurd. I DO use chapters from this book in my children's media studies class exactly because it represents thoughtful and sophisticated scholarship. To look at the complicated ways the Pokemon as one representative of children's popular culture circulates both as part of the global economy and as part of the childhood identity economy, I recommend this book.

Each chapter is written by a different expert in various fields (business, anthropology,etc) and offers a very deep view of the Japanese and global consumer market using pokemon as a basis for discussion. It is a very interesting read even if it is not being used as a text book. Great for business majors and anyone interested in consumer or Japanese culture and pokemon!

Not going to go into pedantic details... But I will say, this provides excellent documentation and analysis on the success of the Pokemon franchise, considering all aspects of the property. I was most interested in the card game, but wound up reading the entire book, fascinated by what I learned.

I loved this prodict! It was a little beat up but that was what I was expecting. I couldn't put that book down <3 Came in the mail quickly and with no problems.

This book is terrible! It talks about Pokemon like they're just Nintendo's source of customers! I absolutely hated it! You shouldn't waste your money on this, as any useful information is obscured by the horrible style in which it's written and the numerous misspellings of Pokemon species' names. Spend your money on something official and Pokemon-friendly, like Pokemon Battle Revolution, Pokémon Platinum, or if you're book shopping, Ultimate National Pokedex (Pokemon Diamond Version & Pearl Version). Together, all of us can stop abusive talk and treatment of Pokemon!