Pokemon Love.

I wouldn't really consider myself a romantic, but there's something that strikes a cord with this picture. While Pokemon is indeed a children's game, I believe this picture represents a certain type of love that plays towards the innocence and nostalgic aspects.

Anyone who is familiar with the Pokemon franchise knows that it's about little creatures with abilities. Those who have played it, and more specifically, those who were swept up in the craze when they were young know that it's about a lot more than that. It was about the faithful bond between a trainer and his/her Pokemon, the journey that they would take together and the challenges that they would face. If anything, that parallels love almost to the 't'. Assuming that the partners in this relationship were in that era, this would've given a stronger meaning to the message that was written.

"We've grown really close." I think this line is brilliant. In the game, you grow and level up with more and more experience points. In relationships, you grow closer together with the experiences you've gained together. I'll point out now that there's a Pokemon on that roster that's at level 98. The maximum level you can get in that game is 100, meaning that through the course of building the team, they poured hours upon hours and days upon days to even get that single Pokemon to such a standard, while the others are at equally respectable levels. As technical as it sounds, the interpretation that I grab from this is that they've grown together, bonded together and this is a merely a representation of their bond.

What does anything I had to say to do with innocence and nostalgia? Pokemon is often affiliated with children/childhood and thus plays itself into innocence. There is almost nothing more innocent than children running around pretending that they have little pets running around on worldwide journeys to become the best. Nostalgia lends its hand by basically reminding us of that innocence and of those bonds that we may or may not of had with our Pokemon as kids. It's difficult to explain the 'bond' you felt with your Pokemon as they grew and evolved, but some may say it's similar to growing closer to another person. Through thick and thing, they love and work with one another to be the best couple they can be.