Perhaps they would do well to stick to monster catching instead of probing into people’s personal lives.

Pokémon may be doing extraordinarily well all over the world, but viewer ratings for its anime series has unexpectedly taking a massive dip in Japan lately.

As if that were not enough, one recent episode of the series seemed to have further irked its shrinking viewership with a summarized narration of Ash Ketchum’s achievements. Instead of firing them up though, one particular sentence posted by Twitter user @moa151 has left Japanese netizens scratching their heads.

▼ A kids show asking about your… “lovers?”

(Translation below)

“Through his adventures, Ash Ketchum has not only physically acquired various Pokémon, but has also touched their hearts. Viewers, how many friends and lovers have you captured so far?”

Perhaps the narration was trying to highlight Ash’s incredible feat of taming numerous monsters by making it easier for us to digest, but using friends and lovers as analogies did more to confuse than to clarify.

Japanese netizens were generally amused, while some took jabs at how far the producers were removed from reality:

“Before heading out, Professor Oak told Ash to catch all Pokémon and heroines.”

“So Ash treats Pokémon like lovers?”

“Anime used talk. It’s super effective!”

“This doesn’t make any sense.”

“Catch ‘lovers?’ This is obviously done by people who treat others like objects.”

Although the narration could have been better executed, it seems that blunders like this and the recent Pokémon blackface slip-up are continuing to chip away at the anime’s dwindling viewership.

Source: Twitter/@moa151 via Hachima Kiko

Featured image: Twitter/@moa151