A Flittle Art Book #1

Canonically LGBTQIA+ Pokémon Character Icons

Here is Akari:

Akari is a trans boy from the How I Became A Pokémon Card manga that was only available in Japan. His chapter is all about how he hates dressing like a girl and dislikes when his mom gets him a Pikachu as his first Pokémon, but comes around to it and they become partners. He is the first canon LGBTQ+ character in Pokémon (as the manga was made from 1999-2001) but also the only trans boy of the franchise, hopefully there will be more to come...

Here is the link to Akari's chapter so you can learn more about him in English translations: https://www.happylifegrowth.com/statuses/232251.html

Here is Beauty Nova:

Beauty Nova is a trans woman who can be battled in the Battle Mansion in Pokémon XY. Before battling her, she says: "I've recently remade my life completely! I've been reborn as a Beauty at last!". After defeating her, she then says, “Yes, a mere half year ago I was a Black Belt! Quite the transformation, wouldn't you say?". In the Japanese version, she credits the transformation to medical science. For clarification, Black Belts are a male-only trainer class and Beauties are a female-only trainer class, meaning that she is transgender. So far she is the only trans woman in Pokémon, but hopefully there will be more to come...

Here is Blanche:

Blanche is a non binary person from Pokémon Go. Although they are referred to with she/her pronouns in the Spanish, French, Italian, and Brazilian Portuguese translations, they go by they/them in English and German versions of the app. The designer of Blanche has said that their gender can be whatever people want it to be, but most people (including myself) identify Blanche as non binary. So far she is the only non binary character in Pokémon, but hopefully there will be more to come...

And here is Goh:

Goh is an androgynous boy from Pokémon Journeys. Although a lot of characters from Pokémon (and especially the more recent ones) have has androgynous designs, Goh's has more meaning to it. The designer of Goh purposely designed them to look androgynous, maybe because Ash didn't have an official female travelling companion and this might have been a way to make him have both in one person? (This is just a theory). Along with that, he could be a reference to a wakashū, a historical Japanese term that is commonly referred to as the "ancient third gender of Japan"

I learnt this information from a video about LGBTQIA+ Pokémon characters, I haven't watched the video in a while so I'm just doing this based on memory and a few Google searches. I am linking the video here so if I have gotten anything wrong, please tell me politely and I'll sort it out: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=A0r23ajGqOE