Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch

Is it just me that find it terribly annoying to play as a tiny little kid and control creatures that, if possible, are even more ugly and dull than pokemons? Is this mostly for fans of Pokemon?
Note that I worship Studio Ghibli and enjoy alot of the jrpg tittles of old. I mean, I want to like this game, but as I look at videos I just can't. The backgrounds and areas look fantastic, but the character and his poketoons...

I honestly really hate that just because you have monster allies that instantly affiliates it with Pokemon and trying to copy them. Dragon Quest did this long before Pokemon did but all people see there is Pokemon rip off too (V, if you're curious, which came out in '92 while Pokemon R/B/G was '98/'96).

The battle system isn't even really remotely similar, and pretty much everything else is different as well. Only because it has the concept of monster companions, that means it's copying Pokemon.

With that logic, what game is not copying something else at this point? Your complaint should be a complaint about every single game in existence from the last five years at this point.