Thread: Overall honest opinions of Pokemon Adventures/Special

It's weird.

In the Pokemon Anime, the humans are very cookie cutter characters with little depth in their personality while the Pokemon (DP and BW especially) have more personality and a bit more depth and likability to them.

In the Pokemon Special Manga, the humans have a lot more depth and personality to their characters as well as more likability and development throughout the story while the Pokemon have little to no personality and are basically wild creatures with powers that act on instinct and their Trainers' orders.

In my opinion, both ways on how to depict Pokemon have their ups and downs.

The first method is good in that we can like the Pokemon as characters and not as creatures we use to do battle like in the games. We can enjoy our favorite Pokemon with more character traits that are applied to them and we can even like Pokemon that we didn't before. It's bad when we get too attached to the Pokemon when they evolve, are released or given away. Hell, Dawn's Piplup never evolved since Prinplup would be "ugly" in comparison, according to a director on the show. And Ash's Oshawott seems to be heading down the same path.

The second is good in that it makes more sense: Pokemon are the Animals of the, well, Pokemon world and they're creatures with powers who live in the wild (before being captured) so clearly a lot of them (except human-based Pokemon like Jynx or Gothitelle) wouldn't act like humans but as the wild creatures they're mostly based on. It sorta makes little sense when Pokemon raised in the wild have human-like personalities (at least too much) and act less on instinct. It's bad when they're your favorite Pokemon and you don't like how they're portrayed with little character and as living MacGuffins. It's also bad when the human characters overshadow the Pokemon when the series is called "Pokemon" and we can't get invested in our favorites from the games.

My solution: make both the humans and Pokemon interesting characters but don't humanize the Pokemon too much. Also, use the Pokemon's personalities as ways of developing the human characters more as they are Trainers who have to raise six Pokemon as since they're kids, it can help them mature as they learn from their Pokemon and vice versa. This is present in the Anime and many Manga but isn't emphasized just enough.

PokeSpe is what I always imagined the pokemon world to be like. The battles are more realistic in the sense that pokemon and trainers get injured, and humans are much more involved in the fighting, often pokemon will attack the opposing trainer so they can't issue commands.

Some of it is a bit silly, Yellow for instance, her psychic healing abilities and whatnot, but overall you get a better feel for the world than in the games or anime. I also like how pokemon special abilities are used, for instance Gastly is meant to able to use its gaseous form to possess and control others, and does so in Vol 1 when Koga uses one to re-animate dead pokemon and possess Blue in Lavender Tower.

When the anime was first aired (I was about 9-10) I imagined it to be pretty much what the PokeSpe is, even though I didn't know there was a manga. Dissapointed by the anime, absolutely blown away by the manga. I enjoy the anime, play the games like no tommorow, and follow the manga with an almost religious fervour.

I like PokéSpecial, although I must admit I only read it because of Silver.

I hope their next main characters are like polar opposites, of both each other and of what everyone else thinks.

My idea of the best character in PokéSpecial:

• A depressed Goth loner.
• Grimsley's little sister.
• Parents were gunned down by an evil team, so wandered the entire world for a few years and is revealed to have been there in the shadows watching some of the most pivotal moments in the earlier sagas.
• Hates everyone and everything and often has psychotic fits of rage.
• Tries to be fearless, but is truly scared of death.
• Steals starters for herself and her cousin, but almost gets caught so she hides out with some of the earlier PokéSpecial characters.
• Allegedly wants to be champion 'to avenge her parents' but it is revealed she always hated her parents and the real reason is to get enough power to show you can't mess with her.
• Punches a gym leader through a wall when she refuses to give her a badge.
• A person we can truly ship Silver with.

Basically, a total psychopath with too many secrets to handle. There aren't any characters like this, but I'm still holding out hope.

I like PokéSpecial, although I must admit I only read it because of Silver.

I hope their next main characters are like polar opposites, of both each other and of what everyone else thinks.

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Originally Posted by Pike Queen Scorpia

I like PokéSpecial, although I must admit I only read it because of Silver.

I hope their next main characters are like polar opposites, of both each other and of what everyone else thinks.

My idea of the best character in PokéSpecial:

• A depressed Goth loner.
• Grimsley's little sister.
• Parents were gunned down by an evil team, so wandered the entire world for a few years and is revealed to have been there in the shadows watching some of the most pivotal moments in the earlier sagas.
• Hates everyone and everything and often has psychotic fits of rage.
• Tries to be fearless, but is truly scared of death.
• Steals starters for herself and her cousin, but almost gets caught so she hides out with some of the earlier PokéSpecial characters.
• Allegedly wants to be champion 'to avenge her parents' but it is revealed she always hated her parents and the real reason is to get enough power to show you can't mess with her.
• Punches a gym leader through a wall when she refuses to give her a badge.
• A person we can truly ship Silver with.

Basically, a total psychopath with too many secrets to handle. There aren't any characters like this, but I'm still holding out hope.

That is something that is completely wrong for this manga.

Okay *sits back in chair and thinks carefully about her thoughts of Pokemon Adventures*

I've gotten up to the Firered/Leafgreen arc (And started reading d/p/p volumes since they've started getting a release in the UK). And have to say I do love it.

The Red/Blue arc and the whole Gold/Silver/Crystal stories I loved and Red is still my fav hero of all. Yellow story didn't really keep me that interested, although I liked it Yellow didn't really battle until the end of the arc and I've always loved the way the manga shows off battles so that was sorta lame.

Gold/Silver/Crystal arcs I did very much love, although I liked Silver more then Gold, maybe because of how he started out as sorta a 'bad guy' in stealing Totodile but I did become fond of him and can't wait to get up to the Heartgold and Soulsilver arcs to see more of him. Crystal is my fav girl of the series I loved her Pokemon and the fact she could catch anything so fast.

R/S arc I never took to, although I did enjoy it, it hasn't stayed in my mind as well as other stories and I did feel the battles went on slightly too long at one point. And I hated Ruby at the start of the series which didn't really change until the end. >.>

I'm only halfway through Firered/Leafgreen but I am really enjoying it, it's defo a highlight of the series for me and I love reading about Red again. There was a moment where he got beat in battle and he felt he couldn't protect everyone anymore and he left the group. Although it can be seen as a dark moment it's also touching and you only seem to see that sorta thing in the manga.

D/P/P is a downfall for the series though in all senses of the word. I'm hating it and it's not what I expect of Pokemon Adventures and honestly I'll be glad when it's over. Diamond and Pearl with their jokes which take up a full page which could be better used for something else. >.>

I hope the Black and White arc is better.

I really like it, but I've only read up to the end of the Yellow part, but so far it's been really good.

I don't understand why the manga is receiving so much hate in this topic. Pokemon Special has to be the best thing to happen to the later years of the pokemon franchise. It gives Pokemon of what the anime couldn't give, an actual plot, character development, and actual strategy. But what amazes me is the author was able to fit so much detail in all these chapters within the period of the games that were released. I understand why people in this topic think Pokemon Special is dark. I thought so too after reading the character's profile on the wiki before reading the manga itself, such as Blue and Silver being kidnapped from birth and Crystal's leg past. There was also unnecessary dark things such as Ruby's scar thing and Emerald's parents being appearantly dead.

But honestly I don't think the manga is entirely dark, I think each chapter just works like a sequence like this.

One kid decides goes on an aimless adventure to achieve something.
Two other kids that has a deep purpose somewhat accompany that one kid towards their journey, showing their unique personalities in the early chapters.
Eventually these kids have to defeat an entire organization on their own with there expert and somewhat gifted pokemon battle skill.
At the very end they have face legendary behemoths while befriending other legendaries to assist them.

Pokemon Special also brings the uses from the pokemon game itself instead of the anime just lazily uses them. The made the pokedex sound like the most informational and powerful tool a pokemon trainer could possess. It's what seperated a "Bugcatcher" or "Swimmer" from a true pokemon trainer who's mission is to capture data through their experience throughout the region. The anime doesn't even put that into a liability half of the time, such as "Gengar's data is unkwown". It also uses pokemon attacks correctly instead of just spamming hyper beam to win battles like in the anime. A prime example is the battle frontier in the Emerald and Platinum chapters. I could go on about how the manga is better than the anime, but I can just end it with adding one more comparasion. In the 3rd Generation, Red had an entire team of powerful pokemon that he trained himself and nearly became the most talented gym leader. While none of Ash's pokemon had the potential of even becoming gym leader pokemon besides his charizard, squirtle, and heracross. On top of that, he proves himself being a terrible trainer due to his difficult time training his new pokemon that he aquires in the 6th season and beyond. But enough about the anime.

Now im not saying this manga is perfect, since its creativity is sort of its downfall, such the Ruby and Sapphire manga since they tried to fit character personality, evil organizations, gym leaders and their purpose onto defeating the organization, and legendaries into this one huge mess of chapters. They make Sapphire masculine mary-sue who doesn't even keep her masculinity role throughout the later volumes while they actually keep Ruby's femenine personality throughout the entire manga whom whines everytime he doesnt get his way. The creativity is similar in the Diamond and Pearl chapters but done a bit better.

My favorite part though is when Red found out his life just basically revolved around the pokedex he holds, thus making his life meaningless.

I've read the first book online, but stopped after that because I would MUCH rather buy actual copies and read them from a physical book. Otherwise the whole experience is just so diminished. I did buy one of the Gold/Silver/Crystal books (13?) at an anime convention, but I'm saving up money so I can just go ahead and buy every book in the series at once from Amazon or some other similar site. Besides, the author doesn't get anything in return if you read it for free.

I have heard only good things about the manga for years and years, and honestly this thread is the very first time I've heard negative things about it. This does not sway my opinion on it though. I really enjoyed reading the first book online, and will wait however long it takes for me to get all the manga books.

It's going to get its fair share of hate and honestly I'm glad to see that. Any kind of controversy is a sign of popularity.

As for me, I love the series. Even Red, your typical manga/anime-esque main protagonist is unique in the sense that unlike Blue and Green: he has no family to protect or fight for.

The Pokemon receive little characterization because...well...look at the D/P/Pt arc. It is so. Damned. Long. As is. D/P/Pt equals I think 9 estimated volumes, I can't remember. That's just with human character development and plot. And Human character development is usually only 2-4 characters growing per chapter/arc. Then there's the fact that it is based off the games. You can never clearly see or deeply understand your Pokemon's feelings through the game, though it is evident that a connection exists. It's like a silent understanding, and I think that's what the manga aims for. Just a thought.

Plots are rushed because...well, actually, they aren't that rushed. They seem like it because the characters get dragged into the middle of it all one way or another.

I just love how it gives different perspectives and greater depth on the characters you see in the game. I admit it isn't that much darker, but, you simply cannot bifurcate Arbok with your Charmeleon in the games.

Believe me. I've tried.

So, I guess this was a really pointless post. I defended it in some parts but really, reasonable criticism can be taken in stride. If enough people like and hate something, then honestly, it's doing well for itself.

Justin Bieber anyone?

It definitely covers a few things the anime wouldn't and has a lot of interesting concepts about it. It's probably among the better Pokémon material out there. I like the idea of some of the Gym Leaders being Rocket Execs and toying with Eevee's genes, even if it detracts itself just a bit more than other adaptations (simultaneously also staying closer than most with things like levels).

But the sagas tend to drag (and make the series seem dated - DP games were almost out when the RS manga was over, and there were still two more sagas between RS and DP)
yet at the same time move ridiculously fast in small sprints with all of its one-shot chapters.

It's a worthwhile manga, but if you ask me, it wouldn't fit at all as an anime.

I generally like the majority of the arcs up to the end of the Ruby/Sapphire chapter, and if we're pushing it, FR/LG as well. The battles utilize the surroundings and objects nearby in no way that the games could, and while they don't go teary-eyed over Pokemon's bonds with trainers and one another, it's handled far more adroitly than the anime, and excepting certain stereotypes amongst villain characters (bosses, Kanto Elite Four, etc.) the characters are unique enough in their own right for a children's story. People complain about it being too dark for their tastes all the time, but really, excepting Pokemon zombies and all that Koga-Charmeleon-Agatha business it rarely gets violent enough to really upset you, so long as you believe your eyes are tainted by a guy slipping on a pebble and getting a scrape or two. So with all that aside, I think the plot, whilst not the godliest of all comics or even among those intended for young adoloscents, is pretty good as well, and again the majority of the battles were handled well, especially given the low amount of options and field-affecting attacks or abilities we had in Generation 1.

However, I disliked the Yellow arc compared to the first one, as Red's status as the champion seemed to treat him like some superstar deity and Yellow jumping like she saw a shark when they saw part of his ice statue just goes to testify to him being revered like he killed Mesopotamian gods for fun and didn't break a sweat. Didn't like how Lorelei got the evil, scheming villainess bitch, or Lance's whole... ridiculous ideals (though I could fully tolerate him being on the sidelines the arc after that), and all that peppered drama over this all-encompassing ruse to wipe out the entire human race that's, even amongst themselves, only relatively treated with seriousness by those two E4 members. I'd like to excuse Agatha on the count that she was more bitter over her loss against Oak than anything, but the whole disasterous ending with the cliche'd-ass "Every send your power to _____ and s4bb3 t3h w0rldz" shit was still stupid, but it tied with the next arc, so I suppose if I really try I can overlook that, too.

Barring the really bad artwork conjured up by the sickly mess Mato was at that point (though I neither blame her, nor do I get the urge to papercut my eyes in most panels), GSC was more or less an enjoyable ride the first time I ran through it, but the "get frozen to death and come back 3 volumes later" thing being used again, or how, in spite of Elm and Oak being informed of Gold's battle with the Mask of Ice they're perfectly calm as Crystal goes off on her journey was some bullshit. Ending was good enough, and between volumes 12 and 15 we got the whole save the world thing handled a lot better than the previous arc could, so I liked that.

And aside from Ruby's sissy boy personality not only lasting for like 5 volumes and magically morphing into this devoted sole defender of peace thing near the end of the RS arc, it was probably the point where we got the best share of emotion and the virtue of companionship, so all in all a good arc.

FR/LG I felt wasn't the best, but since it served as a junction for a whole lot of plot points to form (and later get screwed over royally, courtesy of HGSS), so the whole Shinji Red thing I suppose I could overlook.

Aside from the few good moments, I utterly despise the Emerald arc, and with Platinum hogging every protagonist-only privilege and its second cousin near the end it was a little hard to appreciate the DP arc, however better it was by comparison. Then we get the Platinum arc, where she's the only one to ever enjoy the screentime for another few volumes, and then the HGSS crap, and... yeah, it's gotten too stagnant, though pinning all your "burning hatred" on the death of one villain that served no purpose and pretending that because no female gets to be named after the first version (without reading through any of the hogging that Crystal and Platinum got to enjoy while you're at it)... yeah, that makes little sense. It's like some fangirl coming up to me and telling me the third LOtR movie or book is shit because one of the hobbits got his finger bit off after having read 2 paragraphs about it on another site. I've had DBZ nerds telling me the original manga blows for not having the 21st Tenkaichi Budokai take 20 episodes full of as much filler to enjoy as possible make more sense than that, really...

All that love and hate aside, though, as much as I would cash in 4 and a half grands on it being leagues ahead of the show, there can always be something better (due in much part to the stagnating bogpool the series is going through nowadays), so though I used to be guilty of the same thing, people pretending it's the only Pokemon manga in existence (even if it's the one I read most often) can be stupid, though how Special manages to create 30 times the controversy that the toddler's TV show with 800 episodes of garbage with that is beyond me.

Originally Posted by Kenshi

I generally like the majority of the arcs up to the end of the Ruby/Sapphire chapter, and if we're pushing it, FR/LG as well. The battles utilize the surroundings and objects nearby in no way that the games could, and while they don't go teary-eyed over Pokemon's bonds with trainers and one another, it's handled far more adroitly than the anime, and excepting certain stereotypes amongst villain characters (bosses, Kanto Elite Four, etc.) the characters are unique enough in their own right for a children's story. People complain about it being too dark for their tastes all the time, but really, excepting Pokemon zombies and all that Koga-Charmeleon-Agatha business it rarely gets violent enough to really upset you, so long as you believe your eyes are tainted by a guy slipping on a pebble and getting a scrape or two. So with all that aside, I think the plot, whilst not the godliest of all comics or even among those intended for young adoloscents, is pretty good as well, and again the majority of the battles were handled well, especially given the low amount of options and field-affecting attacks or abilities we had in Generation 1.

However, I disliked the Yellow arc compared to the first one, as Red's status as the champion seemed to treat him like some superstar deity and Yellow jumping like she saw a shark when they saw part of his ice statue just goes to testify to him being revered like he killed Mesopotamian gods for fun and didn't break a sweat. Didn't like how Lorelei got the evil, scheming villainess bitch, or Lance's whole... ridiculous ideals (though I could fully tolerate him being on the sidelines the arc after that), and all that peppered drama over this all-encompassing ruse to wipe out the entire human race that's, even amongst themselves, only relatively treated with seriousness by those two E4 members. I'd like to excuse Agatha on the count that she was more bitter over her loss against Oak than anything, but the whole disasterous ending with the cliche'd-ass "Every send your power to _____ and s4bb3 t3h w0rldz" shit was still stupid, but it tied with the next arc, so I suppose if I really try I can overlook that, too.

Barring the really bad artwork conjured up by the sickly mess Mato was at that point (though I neither blame her, nor do I get the urge to papercut my eyes in most panels), GSC was more or less an enjoyable ride the first time I ran through it, but the "get frozen to death and come back 3 volumes later" thing being used again, or how, in spite of Elm and Oak being informed of Gold's battle with the Mask of Ice they're perfectly calm as Crystal goes off on her journey was some bullshit. Ending was good enough, and between volumes 12 and 15 we got the whole save the world thing handled a lot better than the previous arc could, so I liked that.

And aside from Ruby's sissy boy personality not only lasting for like 5 volumes and magically morphing into this devoted sole defender of peace thing near the end of the RS arc, it was probably the point where we got the best share of emotion and the virtue of companionship, so all in all a good arc.

FR/LG I felt wasn't the best, but since it served as a junction for a whole lot of plot points to form (and later get screwed over royally, courtesy of HGSS), so the whole Shinji Red thing I suppose I could overlook.

Aside from the few good moments, I utterly despise the Emerald arc, and with Platinum hogging every protagonist-only privilege and its second cousin near the end it was a little hard to appreciate the DP arc, however better it was by comparison. Then we get the Platinum arc, where she's the only one to ever enjoy the screentime for another few volumes, and then the HGSS crap, and... yeah, it's gotten too stagnant, though pinning all your "burning hatred" on the death of one villain that served no purpose and pretending that because no female gets to be named after the first version (without reading through any of the hogging that Crystal and Platinum got to enjoy while you're at it)... yeah, that makes little sense. It's like some fangirl coming up to me and telling me the third LOtR movie or book is shit because one of the hobbits got his finger bit off after having read 2 paragraphs about it on another site. I've had DBZ nerds telling me the original manga blows for not having the 21st Tenkaichi Budokai take 20 episodes full of as much filler to enjoy as possible make more sense than that, really...

All that love and hate aside, though, as much as I would cash in 4 and a half grands on it being leagues ahead of the show, there can always be something better (due in much part to the stagnating bogpool the series is going through nowadays), so though I used to be guilty of the same thing, people pretending it's the only Pokemon manga in existence (even if it's the one I read most often) can be stupid, though how Special manages to create 30 times the controversy that the toddler's TV show with 800 episodes of garbage with that is beyond me.

I agree with all of this, but I aslo don't like how the Dex Holders are the ultimate chosen ones, I mean I love the book and characters. But the fact that it makes all the non-dex holders to seem either evil or un-helpful. That's why I enjoy the BW arch, White, the first main character that does not fight/own a Pokedex, she is able to organize an entire musical all by herself. Don't get me wrong, I'm totally in love with this series! :)

Originally Posted by Autumnbreeze~49

I agree with all of this, but I aslo don't like how the Dex Holders are the ultimate chosen ones, I mean I love the book and characters. But the fact that it makes all the non-dex holders to seem either evil or un-helpful. That's why I enjoy the BW arch, White, the first main character that does not fight/own a Pokedex, she is able to organize an entire musical all by herself. Don't get me wrong, I'm totally in love with this series! :)

Yeah, I sorta agree but the characters themselves tend to make up for that in personalities.

Originally Posted by matt0044

Yeah, I sorta agree but the characters themselves tend to make up for that in personalities.

Yeah, I guess that'strue at least they all aren't typical hot-blooded heroes :)