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Eevee is one of the Pokémon that looks like a real-life animal, as it resembles a dog or a fox. The Eevee design could easily have been used for a dog in a different anime series and people wouldn't have thought it was weird. Despite its regular appearance, Eevee has a strange origin story in Pokémon, as it was inspired by an unidentified creature that was encountered by its creator in his youth.
The Eevee line has produced some of the most popular Pokémon in the series, as the Eeveelutions have turned it into the biggest line in the series unless one considers the different Unown forms as their own Pokémon. Like Pikachu, Eevee has the cute factor and the cool factor that made it popular with most of the fanbase. Eevee was the Rival's starter Pokémon in Pokémon Yellow, which led to it becoming the mascot of one of the first console Pokémon games when Let's Go, Eevee! was released on the Nintendo Switch. It bears mentioning that Let's Go, Pysduck! was also considered, but Eevee was chosen instead, due to Psyduck also being yellow. This puts Eevee on a similar level to Pikachu, as those who are tired of the electric yellow rat can find solace in the evolving dog.
Eevee was created by Motofumi Fujiwara, who also designed Flareon and Jolteon. Fujiwara created the original sprite art for Eevee, which was later refined by Ken Sugimori. Eevee's basic design was meant to reflect the fact that it could evolve in a number of different ways. When creating Eevee, Fujiwara looked to an experience from his own childhood, which would go on to inspire one of the most popular Pokémon in the series.
Pokémon's Real-Life Eevee Inspiration
In 2018, The Pokémon Company released a book called EVs, which contained interviews with the people responsible for designing Eevee and the Eeveelutions. Fujiwara discussed the creation of Eevee in EVs and explained the strange encounter that inspired it. According to the Anime News Network, Fujiwara has a vague memory of being lost in the forest as a child and encountering an "indefinable creature." This would later form the basis for Eevee, which is meant to be a blank slate that can transform in a number of different ways.
The creatures in the Pokémon series are often inspired by things from real life. Pokémon creator Satoshi Tajiri was inspired by his childhood fascination with bug collecting. There are even Pokémon that are based on real people, such as Snorlax and Hitmonlee. In the case of Eevee, it was inspired by a real animal of unknown origin. It's unclear how accurate Fujiwara's memory is, but the Pokémon he created left a massive impression on the fanbase.
Source: Anime News Network