Pokémon Adventures volume 13/ DPPt vol 2 (volume 31) review thread

[Eitarou]

Volume 13:
Round 155 - Capital Kabutops
Round 156 - Notorious Noctowl
Round 157 - Magnificent Magnemite
Round 158 - Silly Scyther
Round 159 - Popular Pupitar
Round 160 - Playful Porygon2
Round 161 - Entranced by Entei
Round 162 - Heckled by Hitmontop
Round 163 - Bringing up Bellossom
Round 164 - Slick Slowking
Round 165 - Lugia and Ho-Oh on the Loose (Part 1)
Round 166 - Lugia and Ho-Oh on the Loose (Part 2)

If you're wondering, no, Sabrina wasn't censored.....surprisingly...

And Mantaro is....not Manbo, if that's what you were expecting....it's Tibo....wow....didn't see that coming.

Volume 31/DPPt volume 2
Round 347 - Ring Around the Roserade II
Round 348 - A Big Stink Over Stunky
Round 349 - Passing by Probopass and Maneuvering Around Magnezone
Round 350 - Boogying with Buneary
Round 351 - Perturbed by Pachirisu
Round 352 - Crowded by Croagunk & Advanced on by Abra I
Round 353 - Crowded by Croagunk & Advanced on by Abra II
Round 354 - Knowledge of the Unown I
Round 355 - Knowledge of the Unown II

Also, Paka and Uji keep their Japanese/Chuang Yi names

More info to come later if needed...

[Naya Rivera]

Talk about an early release. Didn't see ...Tibo? As for volume 32, I'm pretty sure the DP NPC kept their in-game names, right?

[Lugion]

Hmm... I wonder if that's pronounced, "Teebo" or "Tyebo".

If it's the latter, insert workout video pun here.

[Eitarou]

Since the "ti" in Mantine is pronounced as "Ty" then it should pronounced like Ty-bow.

Quick! Call Billy Blanks!

[1dbad]

As for volume 32, I'm pretty sure the DP NPC kept their in-game names, right?

DPPt volume 2 is actually volume 31 in the original release, no 32. DPPt volume 3 will be what was volume 32 in the original release. :P

[JB2448]

They really are just trying to find words that alliterate with Pokémon names for the titles, aren't they? Why does Viz propagate this archaic naming practice? To keep the naming scheme consistent with the anime, therefore garnering an increased interest from those who watch the show? That's nice, but alliteration hasn't really been used by the anime before, and its episode titles have been becoming more relevant each series, as opposed to these chapter titles, which have devolved into alliteration.

Does this practice really do anything to either attract potential readers or maintain their interest while reading the book? According to Amazon.com, Viz itself believes the target demographic for this series is either 4-8 year olds, or 9-12 year olds (look under product details) (it fluctuates with each release), of which the former is certainly not accurate. What common four year old is going to know how to read? I mean, according to our government, kids that young are not allowed to play the games this manga series is based on (six years old and up), nor are they allowed to watch the anime (seven and up). And aren't 9-12 year olds' attention spans too small to read a manga (or even look at the amount of art there is, if they can't maintain interest in the plot) the size of a volume of Pokémon Special? If they aren't even able to do that, then why can't the title just be VS. [Pokémon name]? Why go to the trouble of making awful alliterations that make the periphery demographic (and the primary demographic, which I've seen on at least one occasion at a Barnes & Noble) cringe? It just doesn't make any sense.



Viz, stop this practice. Save yourself trouble, and save us the cringe that is bound to ensue after reading the product of said trouble.

[*Jirachi*]

^ I do know many 7~12 year olds, even younger, who like to read manga [I started reading manga when I was 11] I do not know how kids are over there, but here even a 5-year-old seems to know these days what anime and manga is. And I think Pokémon manga is targeted toward all ages [especially younger readers], since it's under VizKIDS label.
Oh, and I easily read books with text over 150+ pages when I was 10 or something.

I understand the 7~12 target group quite well actually. Pokémon is still usually thought as "perfect series for kindergarten and elementary children" outside of the fanbase.

[JB2448]

I know. I'm agreeing that the primary demographic lies within elementary school children. I'm taking that factor and running with it. I'm just disputing the attention span of the primary demographic to fully appreciate what Pokémon Special is trying to convey. I guess the same is true of any artistic work, whether it's aimed for kids or not.
Kids in Florida (and the U.S. in general) probably just aren't as smart as Finnish kids, to be honest :P.

[matt0044]

They really are just trying to find words that alliterate with Pokémon names for the titles, aren't they? Why does Viz propagate this archaic naming practice? To keep the naming scheme consistent with the anime, therefore garnering an increased interest from those who watch the show? That's nice, but alliteration hasn't really been used by the anime before, and its episode titles have been becoming more relevant each series, as opposed to these chapter titles, which have devolved into alliteration.

Does this practice really do anything to either attract potential readers or maintain their interest while reading the book? According to Amazon.com, Viz itself believes the target demographic for this series is either 4-8 year olds, or 9-12 year olds (look under product details) (it fluctuates with each release), of which the former is certainly not accurate. What common four year old is going to know how to read? I mean, according to our government, kids that young are not allowed to play the games this manga series is based on (six years old and up), nor are they allowed to watch the anime (seven and up). And aren't 9-12 year olds' attention spans too small to read a manga (or even look at the amount of art there is, if they can't maintain interest in the plot) the size of a volume of Pokémon Special? If they aren't even able to do that, then why can't the title just be VS. [Pokémon name]? Why go to the trouble of making awful alliterations that make the periphery demographic (and the primary demographic, which I've seen on at least one occasion at a Barnes & Noble) cringe? It just doesn't make any sense.

Viz, stop this practice. Save yourself trouble, and save us the cringe that is bound to ensue after reading the product of said trouble.

Ever thought of ignoring them? I mean, I personally don't care about simple chapter title but rather the story and the characters so I ignore any minor issues. Not to mention that while the Chapter titling isn't great, everything else is. Plus, I have a soft spot for puns like Red's "Lavender Town-Leave 'Em There Town" comment. Really makes me chuckle.

Besides, we're NOT the target demographic even in Japan.

[1dbad]

I think JB has a point. Not to mention, it actually takes up more room on the chapter title list and on the page which kind of makes it seem crowded with the artwork.

To be honest while it isn't a big deal, it wouldn't be a big deal if they kept them in tact either. It would literally make no difference which is why it just seems pointless to even change them.

[JB2448]

Besides, we're NOT the target demographic even in Japan.

What did I say in the post right above yours?

I know. I'm agreeing that the primary demographic lies within elementary school children.

Plus, not everything else is great. Minor spelling and typing errors continue to permeate Viz's releases. It kind of makes me angry, but then I realize I'm complaining about the localization of a comic meant for 4-12 year olds.
And, like 1dbad said, the titles have absolutely no point. Really.

[matt0044]

Plus, not everything else is great. Minor spelling and typing errors continue to permeate Viz's releases. It kind of makes me angry, but then I realize I'm complaining about the localization of a comic meant for 4-12 year olds.

I still don't think it's a big crisis. Besides, this is the only way we can official own the Manga. I'll take it with a grain of salt if I have to, thank you very much.

And, like 1dbad said, the titles have absolutely no point. Really.

Then why don't you just ignore them? It's more like nitpicking.

[1dbad]

Ever thought of ignoring them? I mean, I personally don't care about simple chapter title but rather the story and the characters so I ignore any minor issues. Not to mention that while the Chapter titling isn't great, everything else is. Plus, I have a soft spot for puns like Red's "Lavender Town-Leave 'Em There Town" comment. Really makes me chuckle.

You shouldn't ever ignore a change or error in something. I definitely agree that it's not as big of a deal as the story and characters themselves but that doesn't mean we should overlook the tiny stuff either. We just shouldn't make it as major of an issue as some of the bigger stuff, but we definitely shouldn't ignore them or not care. And feel free to have a soft spot for the puns if you like, but putting a pun in somewhere instead of properly translating the dialogue is annoying and a bit pointless. Even if there wasn't a pun it wouldn't make kids not want to read the manga or anything, so there's no need to add them.

I still don't think it's a big crisis. Besides, this is the only way we can official own the Manga. I'll take it with a grain of salt if I have to, thank you very much.

It isn't...but it is an issue which means it's still reasonable to complain about it. And, not exactly. One could also buy the Chuang Yi releases, which is another official way to own the manga. And feel free to do that -- but even as someone who buys (for the most part) the Viz release I'm not going to forgive everything they do. Just because you support them doesn't mean you have to overlook and forgive every last single thing they do. I'm not saying you're doing that, but even if you were it doesn't mean everyone else has to as well.

Then why don't you just ignore them? It's more like nitpicking.

Because the changes are pointless, and annoying. And because of that, we still have the right to complain. It's just silly because it's not needed and they are actually just making it harder on themselves, since they have to come up with the titles and the typesetters have to work more on getting the longer pun titles to fit.

And I wouldn't exactly call it nitpicking. It's not like we're searching for this but coming across it, and I believe one has just as much of a right to complain about it as anything else. I would consider nitpicking more of things such as complaining about occasional typos or something similar.

If it really bothers you that much though, than just feel free to ignore us when we do it. That's probably the best thing to do anyway; since the more people make us discuss it, the bigger it makes it seem.

[Naya Rivera]

Guys, this is not a thread on VIZ's edition of the series as a whole. Please go back to the topic of the thread. Thanks.

[1dbad]

Guys, this is not a thread on VIZ's edition of the series as a whole. Please go back to the topic of the thread. Thanks.

Errr sorry about that. I knew it wasn't on-topic but since it got started I just had a few things to say. But I'm done now.

As for something more on-topic, I finally saw Viz's translations for the author/artist notes for both new volumes and I noticed a few things. Aside from the fact that Viz changed (I'm assuming?) some line to reference English-speaking readers and they referred to the first volume of DP as volume #1 (due to the whole restarting the volume number count thing), Viz changed Kusaka's mentioning of Pokemon Shock Tetris (a Japan-only video game) to him referencing HeartGold/SoulSilver. It's not much of a problem admittedly, but it does make it seem like that Adventures was made recently, when it wasn't. Not only that, but it'll make things odd when HGSS is released a few years from now. (not to mention, it makes calling the arc Gold and Silver instead of HeartGold/SoulSilver seem kind of weird as well...)