Padma Wulandari

Pokémon Adventures Collector's Edition, Vol. 1 (1)

Book by Hidenori Kusaka

DETAILS

Publisher : VIZ Media LLC; Media tie-in edition (April 14, 2020) Language : English Paperback : 648 pages ISBN-10 : 1974709647 ISBN-13 : 978-1974709649 Reading age : 8 - 11 years Grade level : 3 - 7 Item Weight : 1.83 pounds , All your favorite Pokémon game characters jump out of the screen into the pages of this action-packed manga! A stylish new omnibus edition of the best-selling Pokémon Adventures manga, collecting all the original volumes of the series you know and love. When Pokémon Trainer Red encounters a challenger he can’t fight alone, he must join up with Blue, his former nemesis, and Green, a thief. This unlikely trio and their Pokémon will need to learn to work as a team if they’re going to defeat their mutual enemy! Collects the original Pokémon Adventures volumes 1, 2 & 3! Read more

REVIEW

Finally, a worthy edition of this underrated classic Pokémon manga! This series - at least the first few volumes - hold a very special place in my nostalgic heart. Following the adventures of Red, Blue, and Green in this series is a delight, encompassing a world of wonder, companionship, and surprisingly, some moral gray areas for characters to explore. This series is a true companion to the mainline Pokémon games, fully fleshing out a story that makes sense, in the most realistic possible way a cute, monster-infested world could be. The characters and storyline are developed in a much more mature and cohesive manner than that of its juggernaut anime counterpart, or even the stories that reside in the games storylines. For Pokémon, this is the end-all, be-all of Pokémon stories and the only Pokémon series’s that even come anywhere within the domain of ‘Adventures’ creativity or level of world-building that come close are the spin-off shorts series, ‘Pokémon: Origins,’ ‘Pokémon: Generations,’ and the recent on-going ‘Pokémon: Twilight Wings.’ For someone who has been following the Pokémon franchise since the moment I could insert a Pokémon cartridge in a GameBoy (which, by the way, was ‘Pokémon: Silver‘ from the GameBoy Color on Christmas of 1999), I have never ever come up by another Pokémon series as rewarding as this one. There are through-line stories that weave and interconnect, with changing main characters - just as you would be forced into a new avatar in a new installment of Pokémon on your GameBoy, GB Color, GB Advanced, and so on, that would make, for the most part logical sense. At the same time, these characters receive a full storyline to follow and connections are made by the emphasis of companionship in this series - nearly all of these Pokémon trainers spend thorough amounts of time letting (all?) their Pokémon roam around free, interacting with their good and evil human counterparts around them. The abilities of the Pokémon have real-world consequences too, as evil, brutish Pokémon really do attack people (and conversely, evil people attack people and Pokémon alike). At one point or another a Pokémon or person may even be fatally or mortally wounded, which adds to the realism of monsters duking it out with fire, electricity, ice, and other dangerous abilities. The artwork enhances the simplistic magic that laces this world and it really helps that in nearly every chapter a Pokémon can be utterly hilarious, downright scary, unbelievably threatening, mischievous, good-hearted, and so on. The Pokémon all around are given real personalities, and they aren’t merely dangerous monster pets that can be tamed and kept in a ball - they’re just so much more than that here. Needless to say, there’s a whole lot going on for this series and it couldn’t be recommended enough for any Pokémon fan. It’s a genuinely good read. On to the *product* Pokémon - Adventures - Collector’s Edition is something interesting. It’s near perfect for what it’s trying to accomplish, and I )for the most part) have to give props to Viz Media for this. This edition aims to be a value-bound product but doesn’t skimp out on making this also a quality product as well. at three collected volumes, this first collected volume compiles a meaty 640 pages, and in doing so collects the whole first story arc. This new edition could be compared favorably between the 3-in-1 collections that have plagued many series and is more akin to the VizBig editions of old. The difference mainly lies in the size. These are taller than the standard Tankouban volumes (the same as your average single-volume manga or the 3-in-1) and shorter than the VizBig - they’re somewhere in between (I think potentially around the same size as the Death Note: Black Editions - I don’t have those, but I know I should). Regardless, it’s a pretty generous size. The dust jacket surprised me with its quality. It’s solid, somewhat matte-feel finish makes this book easy and welcome to hold, and the print, from the lettering to the artwork is embossed in a glossy finish that makes it ‘pop’ just right on your shelf. To be honest, I was expecting this release to be all-around budget cheap, my expectations were much closer to the 3-in-1 collections, and we all know how terrible those are. But the paper quality is much closer, again, to that of the VizBig editions, and while none of the paper is not quite as thick as that, it doesn’t feel cheap, you won’t be able to see trough to the next page almost ever unless you really try - which is pretty nice. Additionally inside, you’ll find some colored pages - not many, only 7 - but it is a nice addition none the less. My only gripe here is, of course, there could have been more, but I imagine the base price would have gone up more. As for content, I am very thrilled to say that it is mostly left uncensored, which is, all things considered for Viz Media, a general improvement on other releases. But here lies my biggest gripe: original versions have kept some of the translated ”sexual” jokes, such as Misty calling Red a pervert for “groping her” (he wasn’t, he was carrying her to safety), and some direct mentions of dating one another. This edition seems to have either kept more recent censor revisions, rather than being truly untainted, which I find slightly disappointing. There’s really never any need to censor things, for the most part, and I think this particular instance was a mistake. I am assuming that all volumes retain a certain ‘G-rated standard,’ and luckily, I don’t remember too many ’racy’ moments in this series. If there are moments that seem just slightly off or contrived, I’ll have to assume it’s because of a censorship that’s rewritten my memories. But at the end of the day, this release is a genuine delight. It far exceeds my expectations, as I was fully expecting another cheap Viz release, and I am grateful to have this series back in my shelves for the first time in years, and this time more “complete” than ever before. If you, or someone close to you is/are a fan of the Pokémon franchise in some capacity, I guarantee that this is will be a delight. Take it from a life-long fan that this is the Pokémon story you have been waiting for - and this just happens to be to date, the best (and currently, cheapest?) edition to get ahold of.

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