Pokemon Fan Theory Explains Nurse Joy Better Than The Anime

A recent fan theory may have just turned the Pokémon anime on its head, giving a better explanation for the bizarre case of Nurse Joy than the official story. The show has often come up with strange backstories for some of the weirder elements it has had to adapt from the games, but its reasoning behind different Nurse Joys being found throughout the various regions has always seemed a little far-fetched for some fans. However, a new theory (via Reddit) offers a much better explanation: Nurse Joy is actually a species of Pokémon.

Pokémon is one of the most profitable media franchises in the world, with The Pokémon Company continuing to increase profits off of the video games, trading cards, and anime every year, including all the Pokémon movies. Due to the franchise extending over many different forms of media, however, some of the ways in which they adapt various aspects can be kind of strange. In the games, Nurse Joy can be found working in Pokémon Centers in every town, healing the player’s party as needed. In the original anime series, the show explains that the various Nurse Joys are all family members who just so happen to all be interested in Pokémon nursing. Since 1997 when the anime first started this explanation has stayed fairly consistent, with the only real change occurring in Pokémon the Series: Diamond and Pearl when it was revealed that Joy was actually a family name.

While Pokémon fan theories have been common since the franchise’s conception, all the way back to playground rumors explaining how to catch Mew in Red & Blue, this one may be a little bit more plausible. As the theory explains, the Nurse Joys in the anime could actually be a species of Pokémon due to their similar appearance and commonalities with other Pokémon throughout the anime and video game series. Although the theory is kind of far out there and is most likely just for simple fun when examined and compared to other evidence given throughout the series it actually makes much more sense than it may have at first glance.

Nurse Joys could easily fit in with many of the other creatures in the anime; in the Pokémon anime, they can talk (most famously Meowth), wear clothes, and some species are even fairly humanoid. The series even occasionally hints that Pokémon are actually unevolved humans, making the link even stronger. Furthermore, Pokémon tend to focus on a single trait, so it may not be a coincidence that Nurse Joys are often accompanied by Chanseys, a Pokémon known for their healing abilities. Nurse Joy may not even be the only human-like species in the anime, as there are also multiple similar individuals throughout the show’s many seasons that are named Officer Jenny. The theory may be a stretch and is far from being officially confirmed, but as more and more pieces come together the theory starts to make a scary amount of sense.

While the thought of keeping Nurse Joy in a Poké Ball may seem kind of wrong, it is by far not the most morbid Nurse Joy theory that has made the rounds. Other explanations as to how multiple Nurse Joys exist range from suggesting clone army conspiracies to the idea that they could all be Dittos, the theory spawned by Detective Pikachu. Though it mostly is just fun speculation, some persist in arguing that the theory actually explains the Nurse Joy situation better than the Pokémonanime.

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