It's a fad that people can't or wont to let go of. On the other hand pokemon is a multi million dollar a year industry. The more people are encouraged to use pokemon icons on facebook and myspace, and the more anime websites are encouraged to show and talk about pokemon, the more money goes in the pockets of those that own the rights to the series and anything connected to it.
I mean please, that's not anime. Anime has you to stop and think about what's going on in the story. Not just sit there and watch two of the main characters indentured pets kick each others asses just to be back in the next episode doing the same thing.
It's mindless dribble.