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Do you play Pokemon with other people (that you know irl)/ talk about Pokemon to people irl?
Not currently, but I did have a friend when I was in middle school who was obsessed with Pokemon Black and White, just like me. Basically, how we became friends was that I saw that his profile picture for Google Classroom was Kyurem (we were in the same science class together) and I asked him, ''Oh do you like Pokemon Black and White? My profile picture is N!'' during recess. He was really shocked and replied, ''You're the one whose profile picture is N? I didn't know as your account had a different name!'' (yes, my legal name and the name I use daily are not the same as people usually cannot pronounce it). We became fast friends after that. Though, for high school, he got into a boys only private school and I asked my friend who is also friends with him, ''Are you still friends with him?'' and my friend said ''no, he's at a private school right now, he doesn't talk anymore''. :( Though Many people that I knew in middle school went to private high schools.
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For my generation, Pokémania was one of the defining experiences of our childhood. Even if you don't care for it now, it was inescapable then and everyone has an opinion on the franchise. You can probably talk about Pokémon to some degree with anyone my age.
Most of my friends who still play the franchise today have strong opinions of the series, and are similarly critical of its more recent entries. Several of them quit during the Sword and Shield era. I have had multi-hour long discussions with these friends dissecting various games in the series.
Pokémon is obviously still hugely popular with kids in Japan, so many of my students will have Pokémon merchandise and have played some of the games at some point. It is rare for even the oldest kids I teach to have played anything before the 3DS era, unless an older sibling or parent gave them an older game to play or something. But it remains a quick and easy way to relate to them and discuss a common interest. Many of them are often surprised I have such in-depth knowledge of the series.
Outside of that, my local card shop is very busy with people of all ages participating in Pokémon events, and whenever I visit a Pokémon Center in a big city it is always packed with people from Japan and abroad. The last time I visited one in Osaka I had to wait an hour to get into the store and the queue for the checkout was so long it stretched around the entire shop floor and back to the till again.
I decided not to purchase anything that time...
So yes, I regularly encounter and interact with Pokémon fans and friends in real life, and discuss the series with them.
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