Thread: 30 days of Pokemon manga challenge

Hey, Serebii and PokéCommunity are doing it, why not us? Well, unlike them, our manga section is about as active as a corpse.

Rules
- Depending on the day it is, answer the question that corresponds to it.
- Explain why you answered whatever you answered, if possible.
- If you miss a date, you can still answer the question.
- Do NOT get into arguments. We have enough of those already.

Day 1 - Which is your favorite manga?
Day 2 - Which is your least favorite manga?
Day 3 - Who is your favorite character?
Day 4 - Who is your least favorite character?
Day 5 - What character is most like you in real life?
Day 6 - How did you discover Pokémon manga?
Day 7 - Most underrated Pokémon manga?
Day 8 - Most overrated Pokémon manga?
Day 9 - Where does the manga rank in your fandom compared to other ways to enjoy Pokémon - games, anime, TCG, merchandise?
Day 10 - What was the first manga you read?
Day 11 - Which two (or more) manga would you wish to have a crossover with each other?
Day 12 - What is the funniest moment you have read?
Day 13 - What is the saddest moment you have read?
Day 14 - What is the most infuriating moment you have read?
Day 15 - If you could meet any specific character in a manga, who would it be?
Day 16 - If any manga could be made into an anime, which one would you pick?
Day 17 - How many volumes of Pokémon manga do you own?
Day 18 - If you could go on an adventure with any character in a manga, who would you go with?
Day 19 - Are you up to date with any manga?
Day 20 - Do you prefer the manga series that closely follow the games, the ones that closely follow the anime, or the ones that separate themselves from the rest?
Day 21 - Do you read a manga chapter-by-chapter, or when the volumes come out?
Day 22 - What's next on your list to read?
Day 23 - What language do you prefer to read a manga in?
Day 24 - Which characters would you like to see interact with each other more?
Day 25 - Would you enjoy a crossover between the anime and a manga?
Day 26 - If you could bring one thing from the manga into the games/anime, what would it be?
Day 27 - Which is your favorite quote?
Day 28 - What is your favorite Pokémon (in a manga, not your favorite Pokémon in general)?
Day 29 - What is your favorite ending?
Day 30 - If you could, would you write a manga of your own?

I'll start.

Day 1 - Which is your favorite manga?

Pokemon Adventures. Mainly because it was the first one I've ever read. The story isn't perfect, but still great.

Day-1 Pokemon Adventures, or Pokemon Special(Poke Spe for short xD). It's the first Pokemon manga I've gotten into and I haven't ready many others, though I do plan to do so at some point. I'm hoping for Pokemon ReBURST to be released in America as well as a few other manga. But, at the moment I like Adventures because it's fun well put together and connects so well and is a great manga. I'm currently reading the Crys Saga.

Day 1: It's Pokemon Adventure for me as well. It was the first Pokemon manga I read way back when Viz first tried to release them. I even still have the original releases for the first four volumes. I agree that the story isn't perfect, but it's enjoyable. The action is great, the characters are generally likable, the battles can be pretty intense, especially in the climax of an arc, and I like the different take they have on the storyline from the video games. I have all of the volumes that Viz has released at this point and I'm still hoping that they'll someday release the R/S arc as well.

Day 2: After thinking about it for awhile, I would have to say that Pokemon Diamond and Pearl Adventures would be my least favorite manga. It isn't terrible by any means. It makes excellent use of Team Galactic and the storyline from D/P/Pl, Mitsumi was a great character, the battles, mainly the ones around volumes four, five and the start of the league, were really good and it could be funny at times. Plus, Hareta did get a Lucario, my favorite Pokemon of all. The main reasons why I would say that this is my least favorite manga though were mainly the pacing, Hareta himself and the ending. I didn't really like how fast paced it was at the beginning, especially with Hareta getting five badges in one page, since it really just took me out of the story and it made Hareta look too good. With Hareta, I didn't really like how he was so good at Pokemon battles right from the start and the main explanation we got for that was how he could connect with Pokemon since he was a baby and lived with them for years. Maybe it's just me, but I just don't really like explanations like that for why a trainer is strong and it felt like a huge stretch for Hareta to not lose until he faced Cyrus. He was an okay lead and generally likable, but I would have preferred it if Mitsumi was the main character instead. She had a better personality, far better development and a much more interesting backstory. Although I doubt something like a female character being the main protagonist would actually happen, seeing Mitsumi start off her journey anew with Chimchar, dealing with hiding her past from her friends and how she'd eventually defeat Team Galactic with her new team always sounded awesome to me. While the climax against Team Galactic was great and the League battles were good, although I'm still upset that we never got to see a complete battle between Mitsumi and Cynthia, I think that the ending kind of fizzled out a bit. It didn't help that Hareta got a Minun near the end of the series that took over Lucario's slot and the resolution for the battle felt a bit anti-climactic.

Though, it also helps that I haven't read a lot of other non-Pokemon Adventures related Pokemon manga. I have one or two volumes of Pokemon Magical Journey, which I haven't read in years, but I remember thinking that it was pretty fun, a pocket version of The Electric Tales of Pikachu, which seemed pretty good, although a bit dramatic at times, and Pokemon Thief 7, which was totally awesome and I would have loved it if they had someone been able to turn that into a series instead of a one-shot manga. Maybe if I read more of the first two series, I'd have a different answer, but for now, Pokemon DPA would be my least favorite series.

Day 2 -
Ok, least favorite that's easy. "The Electric Tale of Pikachu", felt overall like a sloppy attempt. Pikachu is my favorite character true. But, the drawing was so annoying and different from the game and show. The manga if I remember correctly, was drawn by a Hentai drawer. So, there was fanservice everywhere, Misty would walk around on a regular basis sporting a body like a 25 year-old. Nothing, wrong with fanservice, but damn I want an entertaining story as well. The story was piss poor the Pokemon, all of Ash's seemed bland. There development was sloppy, Brock's gym too. Sabrina's arc was decent, but still pretty piss poor, since we didn't see Ash's Pokemon actually develop which made Pikachu pulling off Thunder pretty boring. The other Pokemon weren't showcased enough, and the time line was screwy, and Ash getting so many badges through one page battles as opposed to actually matches. It's actually a shame sicne Pikachu is my favorite Poke.

Day 3 - That's kinda hard. I guess it's a tie between Yellow/Crys/Red for me. Though, I think Yellow might be the best for me, because of her ability to heal and understand Pokemon and her being so use to the wild life and stuff. It actually reminds me of Iris. Not only that but, she didn't like evolution for some Pokemon, something that I don't do for my Pikachu in game. She also, reminds me of me a bit, and her startegies were fun. Crys because her, Poka Ball skills were fun, I also liked her nicknames for her Pokemon. And the fact she put so much fiath in "Mega" and took him on her journey and traiend and evolved him, though his evolution felt pretty bland it was decent. Her storyline of losing her confidence was decent. Red, cause he's simply great.

Day 3: I think that my favorite character would be Ruby. I read the R/S arc years ago when I didn't think that Viz would ever go back and release Pokemon Adventures. I liked his personality, his interactions with Sapphire, especially as the arc reached the end, his backstory was interesting and in my opinion, has had the best development out of all of the male leads of Adventure. Though, I should note that I haven't read the D/P/Pl arc beyond what Viz has released and I've read nothing of the B/W arc. Still, I really liked Ruby and that along with how I enjoyed the R/S arc makes me hope that Viz will eventually release it in the hopefully not too distant future.

I also want to give an honorable mention to Mitsumi from Pokemon DPA. Like I mentioned earlier, she had a great backstory, a really good development and a good personality and easily my favorite character from that series, but I'd still have to give the edge to Ruby since he was more developed, wasn't pushed aside like I thought Mitsumi was after she lost to Hareta and I still prefer Adventures/Special over DPA, but I wanted to mention her all the same.

Day 4: As for my least favorite character, I think it's Gold with Crys at a close second. With Gold, I didn't think he was that interesting personality-wise, he could be a bit of a jerk at times, or at least it felt like that to me, and I didn't think that he had that much memorable interactions with anyone aside from Silver. Part of it might have been how he didn't compete in Gyms, spent a good chuck of the beginning of the arc chasing after Silver and then chasing after Team Rocket, so then we couldn't see him interacting more with his Pokemon and developing through winning battles with them, but that might have been just me. Crys is at a close second due to how I didn't really care too much for her personality either. It also didn't help that I didn't like how her quest interrupted the current story and I wanted to see how Gold and Silver survived and dealt with the actual threat instead of Crys catching a bunch of Pokemon. Though, her training to regain her confidence and especially her quest for Suicune, as it did tie back to the previous conflict that Gold and Silver were already in, helped her character and made her just fall short below my least favorite character slot. Though, I think she's my least favorite female character out of all of the Pokemon manga I've read because I didn't care much for her personality or her role in the story until they connected it with the main plot of the arc again.

Do I start on Day 1 or Day 3. *Is slightly confused*

Originally Posted by Ein

Do I start on Day 1 or Day 3. *Is slightly confused*

- If you miss a date, you can still answer the question.

You start from day 1. But since it's day three, make sure to answer the questions from day 2 and 3 is well.

Best not to lag behind...

Aight, thanks for that. I'll start right away! =)

Day 1 - Which is your favorite manga?
It's hard to say, I like both Special/Adventures and DPA, but I've got to go with Adventures, as I do like the serious plots in it that are handled serious. (Likes srs bsns taken srsly) Plus Adventures has Loads and Loads of Characters, so it's really difficult to find a character that you don't like.

Day 2 - Which is your least favorite manga?
I had a read of Magical Pokemon Adventure (I think it's called that) it didn't really appeal to me. I'll admit that I didn't read much of it, but I'm not a big fan of shoujo rom-coms.

Day 3 - Who is your favorite character?
Hnng, you had to make it difficult for me, didn't you? =<
Well, overall I absolutely adore Yellow. She is just so cute! >w< I also like her pacifistic nature, in the way that she doesn't like to harm pokemon, even her opponents. And she has awesome Viridian Forest powers as well.
But out of the other characters from Adventures I like Silver, Diamond and Giovanni. And from DPA I really like Jun.

Day 4 - Who is your least favorite character?
Emerald. I hate that annoying little twerp. (May or may not be a little p'd off that Wally should have been the third Hoenn Dex Holder instead of that twerp)

Day 4-

Ok, I think maybe Barry would be best simply cause he was just annoying With his childish behavior, Hareta also would get on my nerves quite a bit. Wish I could have made this longer.

Day 5: I guess Yellow would be the character that's most like me. I'm pretty shy like Yellow can be, I don't like to fight or get into arguments, but I also would get tough if the situation called for it like Yellow does.

Day 6: I'm not sure exactly when I discovered Pokemon manga. I remember reading one of those large books for Pokemon Adventure that really only had a handful of chapters in a bookstore once. I believe that it was the chapter where Red first gets Pikachu. I also remember finding the first three volumes in another store that had some other anime and Japanese products and I got hooked on the Adventures series after that. I didn't find many other Pokemon manga until Viz started to release more volumes.

Something went weird with my internet. I've been unable to access certain sites (such as this) since Monday...

So, time to make up for lost time!

Day 2: Pokemon Zensho.

I have no problem with the art, which is a reason others use...

My problem with it is that it's so boring. The battles are extremely lacking...

Day 3: In Pokemon Adventures, that would be Diamond. In Diamond and Pearl Adventure, that would be Hareta. Ryouga for ReBURST. Hiori for Pokemon 7. Too lazy to remember the rest.

Day 4: Koya from DPA. Come back with a better backstory, and then we'll talk.

Day 5: Diamond. *Chomps on a dumpling..*

Day 6: I was browsing a website sometime around when I was in the seventh grade. I can't really remember...I think it was the Viz or Amazon websites...I saw Pokemon Adventures listed there and became interested. I asked my parent's to order me the first two volumes of Pokemon Adventures and became hooked.

Day 5-Yellow I think because, i'm pretty shy and quiet in public areas like school. But when I'm around people I know and associate with I'm more social and friendly I guess like Red, Crys, and Gold. Like, Yellow if I have to be badass in a situation, I put aside my nervous and shy demeanor and do my best to accomplish my task.

Day 7: I think Magical Pokemon Journey is underrated. From what I remember reading, it was a fun and different take on Pokemon and while I only read one volume, it was a nice series and I would have liked to see it be re-released like Adventures, although that's pretty unlikely to happen.

Day 8: As much as I like the series, Pokemon Adventures is easily the most overrated manga series. I think that it is really good and enjoyable, but I think that there are many people that hype it up as being more mature and violent than it actually is and act like it is flawless.

Day 7 - Most underrated Pokémon manga?

Pretty much anything that isn't named Pokemon Adventures.

Even more of those that haven't been released outside of Japan.

Day 8 - Most overrated Pokémon manga?

Do I even need to say it?

Pokemon Adventures.

Hey, I like it. It's my favorite Pokemon manga. But it doesn't mean it's the only Pokemon manga I want to talk about....

Do I like the nauseating attention it gets? No.

Day 9 - Where does the manga rank in your fandom compared to other ways to enjoy Pokémon - games, anime, TCG, merchandise?

Games > Manga > Anime > Everything else I don't care about.

Day 5 - What character is most like you in real life?
Yellow, I don't really know why, but I just seem to relate to her the most in the manga. She's all quiet and sweet until you get her mad.

Day 6 - How did you discover Pokémon manga?
TV Tropes

Day 7 - Most underrated Pokémon manga?
Anything that isn't Special/Adventures, especially stuff that never saw release outside Japan. Like Pokemon SNatcher Leo. ;_;

Day 8 - Most overrated Pokémon manga?
Special/Adventures. As much as I love it, there are others out there that deserve some recognition and larger fan base.