The Pocket Kingdom is the afterlife for departed pets and the Friendship/Birth Ceremony gets them to be reborn.
Why else wouldn’t a place have a purpose to get its inhabitants out in some way?- The Friendship Ceremony was originally called the Birth Ceremony. Rather than just uniting a pet with a child in need, it makes them get born on Earth. The Pocketville inhabitants must be departed souls… who are waiting to have a second chance at life.
- Aside from the Always Grey Swamp and Eva’s gang being who they are, the kingdom is very peaceful, just like depictions of Paradise/Heaven.
- The Chosen Pets also seem like guardian angel archetypes, especially since they are often seen protecting their companions in certain situations. Could it be that Magic is Kate’s guardian angel in disguise?
The show takes inspiration from the Fatal Frame series.
Most likely the second and fourth games.- The Friendship Ceremony is suspiciously similar to the Crimson Sacrifice and Rite of Descent rituals from both games. Somewhere in the lore of Fatal Frame 2, it states, "We must learn that these duties are the very reason for our existence", which draws parallels to Evershell’s statement about the Pocket Kingdom disappearing without the Friendship Ceremony. In both the Ceremony and the Kiraigou, an important item (the Friendship Heart in the former and the Mask of the Lunar Eclipse in the latter) shatters into pieces as their respective rituals fail.
- Ava's duties in the Ceremony are similar to the Utsuwa, Kanade, and Remaining Twin's. Meanwhile, the Chosen Pet's duties are similar to the Rope Shrine Maiden, Utsuwa, Tattooed Priestess, and the sacrificed twin's.
- Kate may have taken inspiration from Miku, Mio, and Ruka. She and Miku share the position as a main character and personality. Both Kate and Mio partaken in the rituals/ceremonies from their respective media. Both Kate and Ruka went on a treacherous journey to find all the pieces of an important item they're looking for.
- The Friendship Song may have been inspired by the Tsukimori Song and Sleeping Priestess song albeit more cheerful and less mysterious.
- Prominent twin characters, Ava and Eva for this series and the Kurosawa, Tachibana, Kiryu, and Amakura Twins from Fatal Frame.
- Not to mention Julie-Ann Dean was the voice actress for both Ava and Kate (the latter only being in the UK dub; Stephanie Sheh instead voiced Kate in the US version) as well as Chitose Tachibana from Deep Crimson Butterfly.
The Pocket Kingdom's national anthem is...?
Most likely the Friendship Song. It's very prominent throughout the episodes and is heard from a Magic Drop to a choir of bats in a cave. So, for its significant importance, it's likely that it's the kingdom's anthem.- So in this case the bats must’ve been showing their patriotism.
Eva tried to kill Ava with the falling tree branch.
This could be a logical reason why Eva decided to break free a loose tree branch with a rope tied to it while she and Ava were outside the castle playing with each other in a flashback seen in the episode “Operation “Princess” (Part 2)”. Thankfully Ava was quick enough to not get crushed by the branch, but it left her hind paw injured. If Ava were not fast enough, the branch would’ve crushed her spine, either ending her, or leaving her paralyzed and crippled if she were lucky. So not only would Eva be guilty for stealing, but also attempted murder if any pet witnessed that.- She did say “Oh, I just grazed it” after Ava takes the hit. So, yep, attempted murder.
The Big City is actually New York City.
Even though the show is created in Italy, the setting of the Big City seems to be inspired by an American-style city, presumably New York City. One of the areas resembles Time Square, and the park Kate and Magic visited in the episode “Frisbee” looks a lot like Central Park. Not only this but "Big City" sounds a lot like "Big Apple."- Even the police officer character and the siren sound used are modeled after American ones, and the characters drive on the right side (most of the time).
- Then how is the school that Kate attends modeled after a British primary school, and why is there a statue of a king?
- Probably so that each kid would see a part of their culture in the city that Kate lives in. American infrastructure/architecture, British school, indeterminate European statue.
- The plug outlet seen in Kate's room is L-type, the one that Italy uses.
Kate is related to Blythe from Littlest Pet Shop, specifically the one from the webisodes.
They look very similar to each other, being both blonde and blue-eyed, plus sharing their love of animals. Perhaps Blythe could be Kate's older sister (as the former mentions having a sister in "Rock Band", plus Kate is 10-11 while Blythe seems to be a teenager) or maybe her cousin.The Pocket Kingdom is an afterlife for beloved pets who have died and the Friendship Ceremony gets them “reborn”.
The ceremony was initially called the Birth Ceremony in the original dub, plus the pets seem like they didn’t care about leaving Pocketville behind all that much aside from who would take over their job or something to bring over to their owner’s world.The Friendship Ceremony’s purpose is sacrificing pets.
Since the ceremony is performed in order to send a pet to its chosen owner, and it is said that Pocketville would disappear without it, this could be the case. Basically every time a Friendship Ceremony is performed, the Pocket Kingdom loses a citizen.The Pocket Kingdom’s national currency is the pound sterling.
In the episode “A Bad Fall (Part 2)”, William says, “I bet a pound to a penny that Eva is behind this somewhere”. However, their pound sterlings are certainly different from that of the United Kingdom’s. But, of course their money HAS to have Ava’s face on it because she’s the monarch.Grapes in the Pocket Kingdom are non-toxic.
Grapes in real life are toxic to dogs and cats due to the fluoride they tend to collect, but in the episode “Evershell the Wise”, Magic, Zull, and Gort are seen eating them. So it could be that Pocketville-grown grapes are different from their real-world counterparts.The Pocket Kingdom citizens are vegetarians.
There is not a single scene in the show where one of the denizens are seen eating meat, and some of the characters are pigs and chickens, whom their meat are consumed by people, dogs, cats, and other carnivores in the real world. However, an entirely vegetarian diet is considered unhealthy for both dogs and cats (unless permitted by a veterinarian), so technically the food consumption in the Pocket Kingdom is messed up in a way.- Also the meat and fish Zull and Gort are seen eating in "Good Manners" could just be plant-based.
- Makes sense for the sausages Zull ate but what about the fish?
Steel Wool’s hooves are magnetic.
In the episode “Finally Free (Part 1)”, Steel Wool occasionally holds his whistle with his hoof. Since he doesn’t have fingers, this would be very unrealistic, but there is an implication that his hooves have magnetic powers.Ava is considered a witch.
Ava was the only known Pocketville denizen known to be in possession of magic prior to the other episodes after the first, where Eva and Magic take possession of her magic before her return.The Pocket Kingdom is a matriarchal society.
Ava is female, and she’s the monarch of the Pocket Kingdom. Real life royal guards of monarchies tend to almost always be male, but half of the Pocket Kingdom’s royal guards are female: being Balloon and Mela themselves.The Pocket Kingdom residents’ joints are ball-and-socket.
They happen to move their forelegs back and forth, such as raising their paw with their paw pads up, rather than in a manner elbows would move in.The Pocket Kingdom’s inhabitants are to real-life animals, as elves are to humans.
Although there are many Pocketville denizens who are a breed of large dog such as a Mastiff (Danny), Golden Retriever (William), or German Shepherd (Magic), they are the same size as the citizens who are supposed to be smaller breeds. They also happen to live in a magical realm. So this could be a reasonable analogy.- The bears and ponies don’t seem to be any larger, either.
The Pocket Kingdom’s denizens are facultative bipeds.
There are several scenes throughout the show where one of those characters is seen standing on two legs, which their species in real life would not be capable of doing for a long period of time.The golden coins in the secret flower field are actually the Pocket Kingdom’s ancient currency.
Since ancient and antique items are generally worth thousands and millions of dollars, and inflation happens in a lot of countries in real life, this could be the case. The fact that these coins come from a magical dimension could also add to the value. Not to mention William said "I bet a pound to a penny", referring to pound sterling (£).The Pet Buster demanded foreign money in order for Kate to purchase Ava.
Instead of setting a price in USD, the Pet Buster somehow decided that Ava’s price should be in the Pocket Kingdom’s magical shillings. This is pretty much illegal, but he’s the Pet Buster, so what would you expect?- Maybe he just wanted something valuable rather than plain old money no matter how much of it as a way for Kate not to obtain his prized feline. A thousand of something made entirely of gold would probably be worth way more than a thousand dollars.
The Friendship Heart is a family heirloom and is passed from monarch to monarch.
Since Ava had possession of a powerful jewel called the Friendship Heart and she is the monarch of the Pocket Kingdom, this could be a reasonable explanation on why she has it. However, her family was never mentioned anywhere in the show.Ava and Eva’s parents passed away long before the events of the show.
Since Ava is the monarch of her kingdom, and she seems to be quite young (she is sometimes called a “kitten”), and her and Eva’s parents are nowhere to be seen, this could be the case.- This just makes their sisterly rivalry even sadder.
The Pocket Kingdom residents actually speak a Starfish Language.
The characters are heard speaking English because the show is translated so we can understand them. The “barks and meows” the Chosen Pets utter when they meet their owner is them speaking their native Pocketvillan language, which, of course, humans do not understand and the pets do not know how to speak English even though they understand it in a way. The Friendship Heart serves as a translator for Kate.- Makes sense. How else would the pets interact with each other by speech?
- There are English and Italian words on signs scattered throughout Pocketville though.
Princess Ava is not a queen because she hasn’t had her coronation yet.
Eva’s gang is actually a cult.
Since this quartet usually does immoral deeds around Pocketville and even had possession of rather...black magic (Unfriendliness Ritual), it is implied that this gang is actually a cult, and Eva is the leader of it.The Pocketville residents are anthropomorphic shapeshifters.
Occasionally when they raise their paws, they appear to be human-like with thumbs and unnatural dexterity, and some of the characters have humanoid teeth. These are clues that the animals of Pocketville may be shapeshifters that can take on an anthropomorphic/humanoid form at will.After the Friendship Ceremony, the chosen pet loses all their past memories.
Makes sense since they act rather feral in front of their owners and not even caring about becoming homesick. However, Magic is a pretty funny case. But it could be because his was a failed Ceremony and therefore he retained his memories.The word "bitch" is a racial slur for dogs.
In English not only is it considered a swear word and harsh insult to usually mean an "idiot" or "baddie", especially at a woman, but it's also another word for a female dog. But, you know, there's always these Unfortunate Implications.- It would probably be one for female dogs there specifically.
Magic has ADHD.
Which would explain why he is easily distracted sometimes.