According to scholar Anne Allison, Doraemon may have been the foundation for Pokémon, arguing that there are many parallels between the two ideas, mainly being that Doraemon and the Pokémon are both centered on a service plus friend relationship. She notes that the main difference between the two is that Doraemon occurs in a real place in Japan and addresses real-life situations, whereas Pokémon takes place in a fantasy world with no ties to Japan, which helped it become more relatable to foreigners and become globally popular.[17]