Topic Battle

This analysis reveals a fundamental asymmetry between contestant and arena. Pikachu exists as perhaps the most successful export of Japanese character design, a cultural phenomenon that has captured the affections of multiple generations across the globe. Yet it remains, ultimately, a product that travels upon the very network against which it here competes. The Internet, despite its enormous energy consumption and occasional fragility, represents nothing less than the nervous system of modern civilisation. To compare them is to compare a beloved passenger with the vehicle upon which it travels. Both are remarkable, but one is rather more essential to the journey.