(1) New Pokemon Manga to Target Older Fans [1/17]
- Thread starter Water Pokémon Master
- Start date
Pokemon is most likely never going to be rated above T. Pokemon is more directed towards a younger audience and won't probably go beyond that too much.
Pokémon adventures for kids? The one where every few episodes a Pokémon gets cut in half? Where Red gets tortured? Where there's, you know, an actual plot? (I've only read the first series, so I don't know if it goes downhill later, but that should be an accurate description of at least the first 3 volumes)
I'm not going to claim it's aimed at adults, but at least it's a lot deeper and daring than the Pokémon anime.
(If you haven't read the Pokémon manga yet, you honestly should, it's what the Pokémon manga (and any other adaptation of Pokémon) should've been like. Although I guess there would've been quite a few more complaining parents...)
This, however, looks like it might have quite an appeal towards kids. Let's not forget that not all popular kids mangas feature kids, and that quite a lot of meant-to-appeal-to-teens mangas often fail miserably but still end up being enjoyable for those who are not mentally capable of understanding how cheesy and ridiculous the dialogues and plot are.
I mean, come on, what teen or older would want to associate with the main character? He looks like what kids think "cool teens" look like to me...
I'm not going to claim it's aimed at adults, but at least it's a lot deeper and daring than the Pokémon anime.
(If you haven't read the Pokémon manga yet, you honestly should, it's what the Pokémon manga (and any other adaptation of Pokémon) should've been like. Although I guess there would've been quite a few more complaining parents...)
This, however, looks like it might have quite an appeal towards kids. Let's not forget that not all popular kids mangas feature kids, and that quite a lot of meant-to-appeal-to-teens mangas often fail miserably but still end up being enjoyable for those who are not mentally capable of understanding how cheesy and ridiculous the dialogues and plot are.
I mean, come on, what teen or older would want to associate with the main character? He looks like what kids think "cool teens" look like to me...
"Older audience" for a franchise aimed at Elementary kids ATM = "Middle Schoolers". Makes the most sense; that's the age when quite a few kids quit Pokemon. There's no need for Nintendo to aim at the 15+ crowd; lots of them play but don't tell anybody about it (because there's no reason to say, "I PLAY POKEMON YEAH!" and nobody really asks about it, so there's no reason to bring it up).
And it's not like they would read a manga in a magazine and suddenly go, "I AM GOING TO PLAY AGAIN!', and a show wouldn't do much for most people except make them facepalm since they couldn't go too "mature" without making the children watching it cry (children will watch it just because it's Pokemon, nothing you do can stop them).
I do have hopes for this, though, but I'm not going to have unrealistic expectations.
And it's not like they would read a manga in a magazine and suddenly go, "I AM GOING TO PLAY AGAIN!', and a show wouldn't do much for most people except make them facepalm since they couldn't go too "mature" without making the children watching it cry (children will watch it just because it's Pokemon, nothing you do can stop them).
I do have hopes for this, though, but I'm not going to have unrealistic expectations.
Well AFAIK there were no complaints from parents over pokespe, so something must've at least been done right. In a nutshell pokespe is basically pokemon with the sort of tone and atmosphere you saw in Mewtwo Strikes Back... well if there were parents complaining over that movie... I dunno...
my friend told me about the red and blue pokemon manga and how in a battle between a charmader and ekans the charmander rips the ekans head off. im kinda hoping for this manga to be the same if its aimed at older audiences.
@Heavenly Spoon :F and Death Bringer:
the Arbok death=most awesome thing ever lol. Even I was like..wow (and I'm 21) that they put that in a pokemon manga (which borders etc put in the kids section lol). Gold and silver went downhill picture-wise as Mato (the RBY pokespe/pokeadventures artist) got sick(parkinsons or CP, I forget which offhand) and quit after volume 7..G and S looks almost..Sharpie compared to the traditional artwork of Vol. 1-7 and I kinda stopped reading/took a break due to that)
On topic:
if this is anything like pokespe/PA then I'll definately buy when it's released in manga book form
the Arbok death=most awesome thing ever lol. Even I was like..wow (and I'm 21) that they put that in a pokemon manga (which borders etc put in the kids section lol). Gold and silver went downhill picture-wise as Mato (the RBY pokespe/pokeadventures artist) got sick(parkinsons or CP, I forget which offhand) and quit after volume 7..G and S looks almost..Sharpie compared to the traditional artwork of Vol. 1-7 and I kinda stopped reading/took a break due to that)
On topic:
if this is anything like pokespe/PA then I'll definately buy when it's released in manga book form
Being that 80% of all the pokemon fans are die hard n eternal fans that want more out of the series than an eternal prepubescent ash that makes n does the same dumb stuff every season, i think its good they switchin up the swagg and if it isn't wack and corny i think pokemon could make some serious moves upward into serious mature fans that want more and don't feel like making their own story
But the eternal prepubescent ash is just an issue in the anime only. As I said in another thread, the pokemon anime was never intended to grow up and mature along with its inital generation of audiences. It has always been aimed at kids, one generation after another.
There's stuff like the TCG, the games... things even the older people are into. That's what keeps the older members of the fanbase in: the fact that the franchise is so diverse that there's bound to be something there that still caters to them.
Manga-wise, I still think pokespe works just fine. Aimed at kids it may be, but it works for older folk the way Pixar films work for older folks too despite clearly being children's fare.
For this new manga my personal bets are on:
Best case scenario: Good enough to actually surpass pokespe
Worse case scenario: Over-shonenised. Like another Bleach or Naruto or whatever. Fighting, more fighting, power ups, even more fighting, etc.
There's stuff like the TCG, the games... things even the older people are into. That's what keeps the older members of the fanbase in: the fact that the franchise is so diverse that there's bound to be something there that still caters to them.
Manga-wise, I still think pokespe works just fine. Aimed at kids it may be, but it works for older folk the way Pixar films work for older folks too despite clearly being children's fare.
For this new manga my personal bets are on:
Best case scenario: Good enough to actually surpass pokespe
Worse case scenario: Over-shonenised. Like another Bleach or Naruto or whatever. Fighting, more fighting, power ups, even more fighting, etc.
i mean lets admit there are 2 types of fans, the kids that are being targeted and the older fans (us) that go on these sites and go deeper into pokemon than the childish surface level. it may have a younger fan target, but its actual fan base consists of people 15+. now i understand its gonna b hard to pull off cus people are gonna be like omg pikachu had sex too much or they are gonna be taken back by the themes and such and such, but i think that a step to something fr there older audience is a much needed risk inorder to keep there older fans that do infact get tired of pokemons typical childishness
Why do i get a feeling that we're going to see behind the scenes @ the day care...
i applaud your lewdness. 
either that, or have it so that instead of all pokemon coming out of an egg, (making most ones that seem like mammals, like infernape and lucario monotremes, which to me, having lucario as a monotreme freaks me out {O-o'}) have proof that there are mammalian differences (like some possibly awkward and humorous incident between daycare man/protagonist, D.C. lady/protagonist, protagonist/potential breeding pair, etc), and such.
and i along with many pokemon otaku before and after me, it has, had, and will always creep me out over the lack of sex-ed of the daycare managers.
though anyone will agree for the reason to this is a reason not to be sued or put into E10 brackets about educating the user of in-game poke-sex. i mean, even i still get shivers from the occasional google pic that.... well, you know.... :/
either that, or have it so that instead of all pokemon coming out of an egg, (making most ones that seem like mammals, like infernape and lucario monotremes, which to me, having lucario as a monotreme freaks me out {O-o'}) have proof that there are mammalian differences (like some possibly awkward and humorous incident between daycare man/protagonist, D.C. lady/protagonist, protagonist/potential breeding pair, etc), and such.
and i along with many pokemon otaku before and after me, it has, had, and will always creep me out over the lack of sex-ed of the daycare managers.
though anyone will agree for the reason to this is a reason not to be sued or put into E10 brackets about educating the user of in-game poke-sex. i mean, even i still get shivers from the occasional google pic that.... well, you know.... :/
Fingers crossed this will come out in america
xayxaypokemaster said:
Having followed the franchise since 1999, I observed this much:
1. The actual fanbase is not 15+ age group. New children enter the fanbase all the time.
2. Everyone who has already TRULY grown tired of it has already ditched the bandwagon ages ago instead of hanging around. We all remember the peak period around 2000 when the craze was at its highest and everyone was into pokemon. It's been 10 years since then and most of my friends have renounced their fan status and moved on.
3. Most of the older fans I know of simply stick to the games. Then there's the art crowd (myself inclusive) who tap into the creative potential behind pokemon. I don't really see too many complaints over the anime... because most of these older people I find simply don't watch the anime anymore to be able to have something to complain about it.
I dont really classify the fanbase into old or young, I see it more according to the various parts of the franchise that they are a fan of (tcg, games, etc), since there are both old and young people in these groups. If you look at it in terms of age, you wouldnt really be able to understand the other age group anyway. And like I said, those who've truly grown tired of it would have left already, so I doubt most older fans are in any risk of leaving pokemon for good.
Besides if my estimates are accurate based on that artwork sneak peek, I doubt the manga will bring back a ton of pokemon fans who left.