Solving the Case of the Childlike Adult in Detective Pikachu
In the 2019 film Detective Pikachu, Lucy Stevens describes her job as making listicles, such as “Top Ten Cutest Pokémon.” Frustrated, she exclaims, “News flash: they’re all cute!”
Pokémon—with their diminutive size, bright colors, and exaggerated features—seem to be the epitome of cute, specifically Japan’s notion of kawaii, which “consists of various virtues that are correlated to childhood” (Lieber-Milo 96). Even though cuteness as it is constructed in both Japan and the United States draws on aspects we associate with children, Pokémon have proven increasingly capable of reaching adult audiences alongside the brand’s generally accepted target child audience (Carter), as can be seen in their ads specifically targeting adults. However, this relationship between the childlike cute and adults is not necessarily the same in Japanese and American cultures.
Kawaii culture “is embraced not just by young people, male and female, in their teens and twenties, but also by public officials, sales assistants, airlines, banks, [and] insurance companies” (May 67). This social acceptance of kawaii has led to the phenomenon of otona-kawaii (which roughly translates to adult-cute): adults who are still invested in kawaii (Yomota 95). Japanese people generally respond positively to otona-kawaii, believing that otona-kawaii adults “are neither childish, nor immature, but rather a balance between childhood and adulthood…mak[ing] otona-kawaii a reliable and cherished persona to those around them” (Lieber-Milo 101).
The American kidult, which generally refers to adults who take pleasure in media usually reserved for children (Crawford 46), is not as widely accepted, speaking to a different valuation of childness. Such adults are imagined to be childlike in a negative way, as people who have refused to grow up. This juvenilization can have serious social ramifications, as “Being viewed as childish…causes individuals to be regarded as less culturally sophisticated, less socially significant, and, during some historical eras, even less fully human” (Abate 16). For example, the hatred or at least deep discomfort around what the internet now refers to as “Disney adults” (adults who enjoy Disney) is especially interesting and well-documented (Krol, Blackmon, Haynes, Smith, Dickson). Meanwhile, more to this blog’s topic, the adult fascination with all Pokémon games, but especially Pokémon GO, has received quite a lot of ire in the United States as adults accuse other adults of being childish, as if “childish” is a derogative term (for a quick overview of these negative responses, see Liebmann). Whereas otona-kawaii are accepted as part of Japan’s larger kawaii culture, American kidults are often berated and ridiculed.
As the “global ambassadors for Japanese Cute” (May 67), Pokémon perfectly encapsulate how different cultures understand adults’ relationship to cuteness and thus childness. We can see these differences by looking at how the American Detective Pikachu film (2019) adapts the Japanese video game of the same name (2018, only made for Nintendo 3DS) and its relationship between cuteness and adulthood through its titular character. Even though both the game and film depict Detective Pikachu by drawing on elements of childness and adultness, the game and film depict him differently, demonstrating the difference between the Japanese acceptance of the otona-kawaii and the American discomfort with the kidult, which ultimately speaks to how childness is (un)appreciated within these cultures.
For those of you who have not had a chance to play or watch this game/film, some quick background: in both game and film, Tim Goodman is the protagonist (and, for the game at least, the player’s avatar) in this cozy mystery. He is a twenty-something who has been living and working far from his estranged father, Harry, until he finds out that Harry has supposedly died. Tim goes to where Harry was living and meets Detective Pikachu, Harry’s Pokémon partner who can talk, but only to Tim. Together, they find out that Harry was murdered except (spoiler alert) he is not actually dead: his consciousness has been transferred to Detective Pikachu’s body. While the plots are fairly different, these details stay consistent across the game and film, and my analysis is based on these details and the character design.
In the game, Detective Pikachu is a competent adult and is allowed to be so, even with cute physical features. Tim (and the player) is an assistant to Detective Pikachu, there to translate for Detective Pikachu who cannot talk to humans other than Tim. Detective Pikachu always understands what is happening first and is portrayed as a master training an apprentice (Tim/the player).
To emphasize Detective Pikachu’s role as guide, every character in the game talks directly to Detective Pikachu, recognizing him as a sentient being. With a few exceptions, characters do not belittle Detective Pikachu or talk to him in a different tone of voice but rather treat him as an equal (even when admitting that they think he is cute). The game thus shows how cuteness, so often tied to notions of childness, should not be dismissed or denigrated, suggesting that being childlike does not invalidate a person’s very personhood.
In the film, on the other hand, Detective Pikachu often experiences the world the way an American child might, including being belittled by both the film and the characters around him. Whereas Detective Pikachu in the game is always one step ahead of everyone else and is an extremely experienced detective, Detective Pikachu in the film is silly, often completely wrong, and not nearly as rational. For example, Detective Pikachu once claims, “Harry faked his own death, or someone else faked Harry’s death, or Harry faked someone else’s death” before he realizes that “That last one doesn’t work at all.” This is not a logical argument, and underscores how, even if Detective Pikachu claims to be a great detective, his detecting skills are severely lacking, which Tim also confirms by trying to leave when Detective Pikachu says this and reveals his incompetence. The film, in crafting this cute character, seems to make him less astute to more clearly match what Americans imagine as childlike.
In fact, Detective Pikachu’s cute body and humans’ inability to understand him lead many characters to treat him as if he is a pet rather than the sentient and agential character he is within the extended Pokémon universe. Even likeable characters use baby voices with him, pet him, or ignore him completely to talk to Tim instead, and even Tim comes to treat him that way, infantilizing and belittling him at every step by carrying him like a baby or putting him in a car seat. Detective Pikachu often grows frustrated because he is trapped by others’ perception of his body, explaining that people “pat me or kiss me, stick a finger in me” and “It's really gross.” Any time Tim tries to engage in similar behavior in the game, Detective Pikachu tells him, “Stop treating me like a Pokémon,” asking to be treated the way Tim treats other human adults. However, in the film, Detective Pikachu is constantly infantilized, both by the filmmakers who changed his character and by the film’s characters. In other words, they try to minimize the adult elements of Pikachu to more comfortably separate adult (Tim) and child (Detective Pikachu).
Ultimately, the Detective Pikachu Japanese game effuses the cuteness associated with kawaii culture, as seen in the titular character. Japanese adults are not only allowed to be cute but have adopted cuteness as a national style, merging child and adult tastes (May 67), demonstrating how elements of childness are valued in Japanese adulthood. Meanwhile, the American film develops a more childlike titular character, more clearly separating his childness from the adult characters he is around.
These differences highlight that American culture is still uneasy about the transgenerational relationship between adults and childness, including cuteness. Although Japan and America are both known for producing cute products, this adaptation demonstrates how Americans negotiate their discomfort with the childlike when adapting Japan’s unbridled cuteness.
This blog post is adapted from my upcoming chapter, “Adapting Pokémon’s Cuteness from the Japanese Otona-Kawaii to the American Kidult: The Case of Detective Pikachu,” in the edited collection, Pikachu’s Transmedia Adventures: The Continuing Endurance and Adaptability of the Pokémon Franchise.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Rebecca Rowe is Assistant Professor of Children’s Literature at Texas A&M University-Commerce. Her research focuses on how adaptations, both professional and fan-made, change character identities due to cultural, media, and audience differences. She is editor of the International Journal of Disney Studies and has articles in journals such as Children’s Literature, Children's Literature Quarterly, and Lion and the Unicorn along with chapters in Fan Phenomena: Disney, Gender and Female Villains in 21st Century Fairy Tale Narratives, and Lizzie McGuire to Andi Mack: The Disney Channel’s Tween Programming 2000–2019.
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