i wonder if so much of my kanto/johto thinking comes from the fact that like... unlike every other region in pokemon they exist in like. direct conversation with each other. gen 2 brings so much to the table with johto that's clearly meant to contrast with its geographic neighbor, and then when you go to kanto the changes there make it all the clearer. and then we're in a post-johto world now, and you can't really go back to kanto anymore without at least thinking about johto, about how much things will change further in three years' time. no other pokemon region really has a second it's paired with, that it's framed against in vibes and theme and stuff, and i think that's what makes johto and gen ii kanto so compelling to me.
i wonder: what if they made a Pokemon 3? not in the RSE sense, but like... another game continuing the continuity of johto and kanto, a return to see just how much more kanto can pave over itself and just how much the forces of Societal Progress further affect johto. i want to see what becomes of all the places! i want to see how much they still try to hold to these locations of importance, or even if they end up getting Radio Towered, etc. too. the more i think about them the more i really do actually want to return to kanto yet agian, not in a gen 1 nostalgic sense because we've had plenty of that but in a really progressive kinda sense, yknow? i want to watch the pokemon world change, and have even more things to say about itself and the places within it. and it's hard when every region is such a fresh start
sometimes i wonder if i'm the only one who's thought this hard about it. like. i can't be, right? this is all absolutely intentional stuff baked into these games for children that i am reading into?