Pokémon Adventures

AznTigress Jan 23, 2013

10

Pocket Monsters SPECIAL (aka Pokémon Adventures) closely follows the story of the original role-playing games while also adding its own subplots. The playable characters of all the games star in the manga within several story arcs that correspond to each generational release of Pokémon RPGs. Story author Hidenori Kusaka did a marvelous job creating distinct personalities for each of the main characters and developing each story arc in a way that makes sense in the timeline of the RPGs. Even the creator of Pokémon, Satoshi Tajiri, himself said that the manga most closely conveys the world of Pokémon he was aiming for. Just like in the RPGs, Pokémon live and die in the world of the manga as well as have organizations that take extreme actions to get what they want. It's much more intense and gritty than the anime ever could be. Personally, I prefer Mato's art style in the first 9 volumes over Satoshi Yamamoto's from Volume 10 onwards. I feel Mato's art style is more appropriate for the battle-oriented world of Pocket Monsters SPECIAL than Satoshi's, which made the manga have more of a shojo feel in the later volumes. My only issue with the North American English translation of Pocket Monsters SPECIAL is primarily with the Red-Green-Blue arc, where Green and Blue's names are switched around due to the fact that Pokémon Green was never released in the U.S. Pokémon Green's lack of a stateside release should not have been a deciding factor in whether or not to keep the manga consistent in translation since it's not like they're going to completely edit out the third character in that arc to correspond with U.S. game releases. A character name Green was going to be in the manga regardless and I would rather have it belong to the character it was originally given to (the boy, not the girl). Overall, I highly recommend this manga to anyone who has ever loved and enjoyed the Pokémon RPGs and franchise.

RingoStarr1991 Aug 15, 2011

9.2

At the moment I do not have time to write a full review but just know that you need to go read this manga. It puts the show to shame in so many ways. The character progression (the story follows the games not the show) is so well done. It is different than the show in that it can be very dark with pokemon hurting trainers and people actually dying. You really root for the good guys and hate the bad guys guts. It is very lengthy as it follows all the games releases (currently on Platinum). The art is very well done and each story arc has its unique charm. The author and artist for this manga are gods in my book. Overall, please go read it. It is worth your time and it will keep you up late at night until you catch up to the more recent chapters. *EDIT* Full review coming soon once the manga has been completed

Shanalogic Jul 19, 2012

10

If you see 'pokemon' and think of Ash memes and stuff nah ur really wrong *Skip to bottom for overall Story~ The manga closely follows the games, that is great, there are no fillers and annoying things. Theres a new story for every arc in it and theres a ton of arcs, cuz theres just that many games. Um all the arcs have something to do with a Legendary Pokemon at the end, likea 'boss' sorta thing. The story is much deeper nd actually has meaning to it..! And im glad it does :D Srsly, the Pokemon concept is really pretty good and Ash abuses it...! ~Its more like that the anime is just no one gets hurt, Ash will srsly never grow up, and NOTHING happens. People in the manga are not immature like Ash and theres actually some blood and pain and heartwarming scenes! I feels that Ash is making the Pokemon title go to complete waste. :(~ I rly wonder if Pokemon anime is gunna go on forever like Naruto and such. That wud be sad... I think its really nice that a lot of people like this manga :) Art~ I love the art even though the illustrator changes at v.10. I really did like Mato's cute art and the new artist Satoshi Yamamoto makes art kinda shoujo-y but its still nice. Art is great. Characters~ Alot of the charcters are kinda typical but theyre all different and have hearts made of gold and thats wat makes them so special :) Honestly, I really cant decide which one to pick as my favorite... theyre all too wonderful!! I like Yellow Ruby Gold Sapphire Red Blue... um yeah sry I really cant decide Overall Overall Overall~ just go read!! Its amazing manga!! Id describe Pokemon Adventures as a nice battle and heartwarming manga that people will love. Probably! and maybe itll be better if u didnt play the games cuz therll probably be spoilers... i havent played the games sadly... I really really wanna play the games! Pokemon Adventures is just like any other amazing manga that people love!! Dont be biased about Pokemon or u miss out on great manga!! Sorry for bad grammar + English some parts, wrote this when i was bored and back in the day lol. so i shortened it. Yeaa currently my avatar is Yellow..!!! Yay!!!