Pokémon Adventures (Red and Blue), Vol. 1

My son's liked Pokémon since he was two and a half. He's moved away from reading the books to just playing the games. Sometimes he still watches the cartoons. Recently he found Pokémon Adventures Volume 8 of this tween managa by Hidenori Kusaka and slipped it into my library book bag. Although it's the 8th in the series, it's actually the start of a new story arc and it's tied to the recent video game. The story follows a new Pokémon trainer as he sets out on a new adventure after his Pokémon (and one of Professor Ash's) are stolen. There are the usual early days of a Pokémon quest: the introduction of the characters, doubts about one's ability to quest and of course the bad guys up to mysterious but silly plans. Since I haven't been keeping up with the series the characters in this volume haven't stuck with me. Fans though who are current with the series will enjoy it.

Satoshi, who? Red is and always will be the main protagonist of poke-universe! Seriously.

I would give an arm and a leg to see The Pokemon Company make this into a series. I'd be ecstatic at even a mini-series. The whole Pokemon Adventures series is great with amazing, fleshed-out characters and a superb plot. I felt so immersed in the regions and characters I was reading about. Even more so than playing the games! Ever since I was 15, I've made a point to reread this series from start to finish every year. I have never missed a year! If you're a Pokemon fan or even if you've never played a Pokemon game, I highly recommend this manga. It's a worthwhile read for all ages.

Pokemon adventures was a very fun read. You see Red deal with the problem of the day in each chapter, just as the anime does in each episode. I've seen the anime so when I was reading Pokemon I was definitely making a comparison. Also you meet Team Rocket, the antagonists of the series. I liked the fact that you can see the pokemon through the pokeballs. Furthermore I loved the fact that Red's first pokemon was a poliwag (my favourite pokemon). There was a lot of humour in the manga and I loved the adventure map at the end of the volume that showed you where Red had been and which pokemon he had encountered there. I was looking forward to the chapter about Lavender town and I wasn't dissapointed. However, I do hope that there will be a stronger story line further on in the series. Overall I really liked reading Pokemon and I am definitely going to read volume 2.

I loved the second volume of Pokemon adventures. This volume seems to get more into the story of team Rocket as the antagonist. However, the story seems to go very fast compared to volume one. Suddenly everyhing is about team Rocket and the pokemon they experiment on and the story of Mew and Mewto. Also Green is introduced as a character in this volume, but I don't find her very likeable. However, despite this the volume was a lot of fun to read because of the introduction of the new pokemon and because Red is a very likeable character. I cannot wait to read the next volume.