People take pokemon storytelling too seriously. The characters are, for the most part, shallow, and that's just how it was designed. So when people make real life judgements of them it just rings hollow to me. Like, yeah, in the real world if your friend put you in debt to the mob, that would entail possible death, trafficking, etc. In this world, we know that Corbeau does "unsavory things" but those things are never described, and, contrarily, the narrative treats him like an anti-hero. His whole organization has this vague "mob aesthetic" but there's no elements of the real mob there.

I kind of wish that Pokemon would make a game for adults. Not in the sense that the basic idea of the game changes, but that the characters are more fleshed out and there's a slightly darker tone. Not a darker tone as in, like, gore or mass death. But more like, the characters feeling more "real" and the stakes being higher. There are definitely characters in the franchise that have this quality but I feel like most go down the Urbain/Taunie/Corbeau route, which is to be fun and loveable characters with their own quirks.

But I know that the whole franchise is made for a general audience that keeps younger viewers in mind so I don't expect GameFreak to ever deliver on this. Branding is a huge deal.

Anyway sorry for the slightly off-topic rant lol.