Another Question

I'll admit that I think the last question I posed was terrible. I did not think on it enough, yet something yesterday and today helped me think of another one.

I'm sure that many are familiar with the Pokemon series, be it the game, the show, or both. In it we have the Pokemon (various animal-like creatures) that are pets, those that are shown in beauty competions, but the most well-known use is training them for battle. There are many good trainers that treat their Pokemon well, and there are other various factions throughout the series that treat their Pokemon poorly, sometimes working them to death or killing them for sport. Yet the overall theme of Pokemon is still training them to use them in battle, often times so much so until they are defeated by another Pokemon and faint. (They can be revived by using potions or by taking them to a Pokemon Center to be healed.)

So far, I have done nothing but sound like a total geek, but there is a point to this. With the popularity of the Pokemon series, especially for people of our age who probably remember when it first came out, my new question is this: Does this series and others like it help shape our ideas of how animals should be treated?