‘Pokemon Adventures’ Reprinting in America

Exciting news! I’m going to be the first to buy them! :D

Pokemon Adventures (called Pokemon Special in Japan) is going to be re-released in America by Viz this upcoming summer. For those of you who do not know, it is a manga (comic book) that follows the Pokemon RPG games much more closely than the anime does. For example, characters sometimes capture legendary Pokemon, actually train the dozens of Pokemon they have caught throughout their journey, fight real evil-doers (above Jessie and James-evil), etc. Satoshi Tajiri, the creator of Pokemon, is even on record saying, “This is the comic that most resembles the world I was trying to convey.” Most fans prefer Pokemon Special to all other Pokemon manga, as it is the most serious in terms of its story.

Volume one and volume two will be released in America on June 2nd and August 4th, respectively. Each volume will cost $7.99, which is rather cheap. Both volumes follow the characters Red, Blue, and Green as they travel through the Kanto region fighting Team Rocket (the organization, not Jessie and James). Later on, they also encounter Mewtwo and three evil Kanto Gym Leaders. It’s quite an interesting story! Both volumes were originally written in 1997, so it’s definitely classic Pokemon. If you like the anime and the video games, you’re going to love the manga ten times more! If you hate the anime, you’ll still love the stories, as they are much more serious and creative!

While the manga stopped being released in America after volume seven (in 2003), perhaps if sales for the first two volumes are high enough this time around, Viz will translate and release the later volumes as well! After volume seven, the manga focuses on the Johto region and its characters, followed by the Hoenn region, and later Sinnoh of course.