Who's That Pokemon?

I have never been super big into the Pokémon world. I barely know the Pokémon. I definitely do not know any of the trainers names or who is on team rocket. Okay, that is a lie. I know some of those things. I know the main guy is Ash Ketchum (a clever word play because he has to catch 'em all). I know his Pokémon is a Pikachu that he literally just names Pikachu (do any of them actually name their Pokémon something other than the type of Pokémon they are?) I know that Jessie and James were the original Team Rocket contenders but they definitely aren't now.

When Pokémon first released in 1996, there were only 151 types to be caught and there were not really any other permanent trainers, just gym leaders. Slowly, Ash started becoming friends with more people and we start seeing more trainers introduced to the world including May and Max, Dawn, and eventually the new face of Pokémon, Liko. Along the same timeline, our types of Pokémon increased to 1,025 including all their evolutions. We went from having 15 elements for the Pokémon to possess powers of, to 18 elements AND the ability to have more than one.

Not knowing much about the series or the content does not stop me from enjoying the games though. Being a collector and a lover of all the cute little animals that I can get in plushie form; I NEED THEM ALL.

There are 25 seasons to the original series, 10 mini series, 25 movies, and 135 games. How does anyone keep all of this information straight?? The same can be applied to Yu-Gi-Oh. There is just so much information to be absorbed and I could never imagine remembering it all.