{"id":50242,"date":"2025-07-18T18:46:54","date_gmt":"2025-07-18T09:46:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=50242"},"modified":"2025-07-18T18:46:56","modified_gmt":"2025-07-18T09:46:56","slug":"pokemon-games-are-apparently-a-favorite-among-professional-japanese-shogi-players-award-winning-shogi-master-explains-why","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/pokemon-games-are-apparently-a-favorite-among-professional-japanese-shogi-players-award-winning-shogi-master-explains-why\/","title":{"rendered":"Pok\u00e9mon games are apparently a favorite among professional Japanese shogi players. Award-winning shogi master explains why\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>In search of an answer to the question \u201cWhy do so many shogi players love Pok\u00e9mon?\u201d Japanese outlet <a href=\"https:\/\/futaman.futabanet.jp\/articles\/-\/129038?page=1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Futaman<\/a> recently interviewed pro shogi player and self-proclaimed \u201cdie-hard Pok\u00e9mon fan\u201d Manao Kagawa. Shogi, known in the West as \u201cJapanese chess,\u201d is a traditional strategy board game in which the objective is to checkmate your opponent\u2019s king. Compared to Western chess, the rules are considered more complex by some, and a major difference is that captured pieces can be dropped back onto the board by the capturer.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While competitive Pok\u00e9mon has earned its fair share of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reddit.com\/r\/pokemonmemes\/comments\/13kwyca\/i_swear_my_brain_hurts_more_in_competitive\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">comparisons to chess,<\/a> it seems shogi players also see similarities that make it an appealing game for them. Kagawa, who is a two-time winner of the prestigious Osho title, says it\u2019s the strategic back-and-forth that makes Pok\u00e9mon so compelling, as it requires you to \u201cconstantly outthink your opponent in a one-on-one setting.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1350\" height=\"750\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1350px) 100vw, 1350px\" src=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/20240118-50242-001.jpg\" alt=\"Pokemon Scarlet and Violet\" class=\"wp-image-50245\" srcset=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/20240118-50242-001.jpg 1350w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/20240118-50242-001-380x211.jpg 380w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/20240118-50242-001-768x427.jpg 768w\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The similarities between Pok\u00e9mon and shogi can, according to Kagawa, be summed up in reading your opponent. \u201cYou have your own objectives in mind, but you also have to figure out what your opponent is thinking. That kind of tactical back-and-forth is something both games have in common. When people hear \u201creading your opponent\u201d in this context, they usually assume it means thinking several moves ahead. But sometimes it\u2019s more like solving a mate-in-x problem in shogi (jp: <em>tsume shogi),<\/em> where you decide on a winning strategy and then work your way backwards. Not all games allow that kind of reverse-thinking approach, but Pok\u00e9mon does. That\u2019s one reason it reminds me of shogi, and it\u2019s part of what makes it so fascinating.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Kagawa says she\u2019s noticed that a lot of shogi players in professional circles love Pok\u00e9mon, and their roots in shogi manifest in how they play. \u201cShogi players often prefer strategies that involve feeling out the opponent, rather than just going all in aggressively. So whenever I see a shogi pro taking their time in a Pok\u00e9mon battle, I can\u2019t help but wonder, <em>Just how many turns ahead are they thinking?<\/em> <em>(laughs<\/em>)\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1280\" height=\"720\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1280px) 100vw, 1280px\" src=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/20221203-229198-header.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-17104\" srcset=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/20221203-229198-header.jpg 1280w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/20221203-229198-header-600x338.jpg 600w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/20221203-229198-header-380x214.jpg 380w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/20221203-229198-header-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/20221203-229198-header-150x84.jpg 150w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/20221203-229198-header-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/20221203-229198-header-696x392.jpg 696w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/20221203-229198-header-1068x601.jpg 1068w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/20221203-229198-header-747x420.jpg 747w\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Interestingly, despite being a Pok\u00e9mon fan since childhood, Kagawa didn\u2019t realize the depth and strategic potential of Pok\u00e9mon battles until she started watching other skilled players duel it out on tournament streams. \u201cThe strategies these hardcore fans come up with are amazing, it\u2019s like watching professionals.\u201d\u00a0For anyone curious, her favorite titles are Pok\u00e9mon Gold, Silver and Crystal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Part of the appeal is getting to &#8220;reverse-engineer&#8221; you way to a winning strategy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":50244,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[70],"class_list":["post-50242","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-pokemon-series"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Pok\u00e9mon games are apparently a favorite among professional Japanese shogi players. Award-winning shogi master explains why\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Competitive Pok\u00e9mon is sometimes compared to chess, but it seems that pro shogi players also appreciate the similarities.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/pokemon-games-are-apparently-a-favorite-among-professional-japanese-shogi-players-award-winning-shogi-master-explains-why\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Pok\u00e9mon games are apparently a favorite among professional Japanese shogi players. 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Currently devoted to growing Automaton West to the size of its Japanese sister-site, while making sure to keep news concise and developer stories deep and stimulating.","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/author\/amber-vjestica\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50242","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/55"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50242"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50242\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":50247,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50242\/revisions\/50247"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50244"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50242"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50242"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50242"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}