The Melancholy of a Hit Character

While commuting in my own car, I was looking at a group of Pikachu stuffed near the rear window of the car in front of me. The interior space was already cramped, and they weren't lined up neatly; they were facing in all different directions, and very few of them were making eye contact with me. Using the time while waiting at a red light to look at things like the shape of their ears, it didn't seem like there were any Pichu mixed in. Looking at just how crammed they were, it's hard to describe them as being cherished, so if anything, it might be that they were on the way back from exterminating a mass outbreak of prey. I don't know, though.
Pikachu has a cute appearance in the games, but if you think about it realistically, just being an animal with no fur, or very thin fur, gives it quite a presence. Also, even if they had fluffy fur like in "Detective Pikachu," they are 40cm tall and classified as the "Mouse Pokémon." Try to imagine it. A 40cm-tall mouse jumping out of an old building or a patch of grass. Surely, if there were a mass outbreak, it would be pandemonium. And since they can even manipulate electricity, if they appeared in residential areas, shopping districts, or industrial zones, they would undoubtedly be labeled as pests. If a Pikachu that leveled up by some chance let out a single Thunderbolt to relieve stress, that alone would surely be a catastrophe for the entire area.

However, this yellow creature, while a "Mouse Pokémon," leaves one wondering if it can really be called a "rodent." Compared to other Pokémon that would correspond to real-world rodents, such as Raticate or Bibarel, the difference is clear; no matter how much you observe the area around Pikachu's mouth, you won't find any rodent-like, lethal front teeth. Is it that? Was it just given the name "mouse" based on the general vibe? Like that world-famous mouse. Come to think of it, that mouse doesn't have incisors either.
Alternatively, it could be thought that although the name is mouse, it possesses the characteristics of a different creature in terms of classification. It's a similar feeling to how shrews are more closely related to moles than to mice. Oh my, could it actually be a mole despite being an Electric type? No, but even looking at Pikachu living quite nonchalantly in its habitat, it doesn't seem to be living with such a major self-contradiction. Externally, it has neither a snout nor claws, so it doesn't possess the characteristics that would classify it as a former insectivore. It is indeed unreasonable to consider Pikachu a close relative of the mole. Then, thinking about the characteristics that can be confirmed from images posted in the Pokémon Pokédex and base stats, what kind of animal could it be said to be close to?

Considering it has long ears, its eyes are positioned more on the sides than the front, and it is somewhat agile... wouldn't the closest thing be the order Lagomorpha, in short, a rabbit? But then another problem arises. Rabbits, like mice, have incisors (front teeth). While most Pokémon that are based on rabbits have characteristic front teeth, Pikachu does not.
Here, if we focus on "Rabbit Pokémon" once again, for some reason, Buneary and Lopunny do not have front teeth. Even if you check them with their mouths open in videos or the like, they still don't have them. Why? I don't think Pikachu and Buneary have that much in common, but if it's related to teeth, the thing most likely to be related to both is "diet." It is said that Pikachu roasts (i.e., softens) berries with electricity to eat them, and it could be thought that Buneary has had more opportunities to be fed soft food while being cherished by humans. It evolves through friendship, after all. In other words, couldn't it be thought that for both of them, their incisors degenerated due to eating soft food? A rabbit-like mouse, a rabbit-like Pokémon. That is Pikachu. No, but Scorbunny, which is also a rabbit Pokémon and can use fire, still has short front teeth, so in the end, it's a fantasy, or maybe a delusion, but I don't really know the truth.

Anyway, Pocket Monsters, or Pokémon for short, were called the last hit characters of the 20th century. I cannot help but wish for the happiness of those Pikachu—the representative existence among the now over 1,000 Pokémon, approaching their 30th anniversary—that continue to stare in an unintended direction from the rear window of the car they were stuffed into.