Ok Linkara, I can answer the whole Arbok thing. That Arbok is still alive, it gets revealed in the "Yellow" saga that Arbok (much like some real life snakes and lizards) can regrow parts of its body. This Arbok reappears later on perfectly healthy. Yeah the Pokémon manga was dark
Nice to get a turkey day episode with yomacon live show. Fun show. Man this manga bat crap creppy and crazy for pokemon. FOR KIDS! I'm in my 30s I was creeped out by the images. Can't imagine any read it.
I was looking forward to you reviewing this series.This is in my opinion the best Pokemon adaptation there is. It has lasted for as long as the games and has come up with great stories based on every main series game, in fact they just started serializing the XY saga. I especially like those twists from the games, as well as actually giving the main characters distinct personalities. I recomend you read the rest.
To be fair to Red, those puns only exist in the english version and not the original. Then again. for all I know they have worse puns. However, in the original the chapter titles are just "vs pokemon" like vs arbok or, vs psyduck, or vs Mewtwo, which is better than weird sitcome puns.
Linkara, you should definitely read the rest of Pokemon Adventures (aka Pokemon Special)! It is awesome! It's everything I wanted the Anime to be and never got. I don't want to give too much away since I want you to experience it yourself, but it gets really epic!
I must be the only Pokémon fan who isn't disturbed by Yamask's Pokedex entry; probably because I decided a long time ago that the Pokedex was lying to me. Apparently, Magcargo is hotter than the sun (without killing anything that goes near it), the pain from a Houndoom burn never goes away (unless you use Burn Heal or anything else that would normally heal a burn), and Yanmega is strong enough to carry an adult in flight (but it can't learn Fly, meaning it can't even carry a kid). I say the professors in each region pre-program these things with a bunch of ridiculous "facts" to screw with the kids. Hey, it makes more sense than a child just spontaneously turning into a Kadabra for no reason.
More importantly to the matter at hand: I had the misfortune of coming across these particular issues of Pokémon Adventure while I was still in elementary school and hadn't really been exposed to a lot of gore yet. Arbok's beheading freaked me the hell out. But thanks to this review, I can stop being freaked out by that and start being freaked out by the fact that Lavender Town has apparently killed more Pokémon than any other town in the game and then channeled this tendency into a tourist attraction. Because now you've made me start thinking about it. Thanks, Linkara!
Satoshi Tajira said this comic is the closest thing to the world he wanted to convey when he created Pokemon so maybe the games get -1 for not being like the manga!
This was a fun review, but for further live shows if you're going to edit the panels directly onto the main video maybe you should have yourself in the corner picture-in-picture style... It's nice to see you there in your fun cosplays.
Makes me think, if you can find the fourth book in The Electric Tale of Pikachu, it would be an excellent book to review in a future October episode. Among others, it has a giant Haunter, the Black Fog. It should make a very good future review.
I always assumed Lavender Tower was suposed to be the cementery for the entire Kanto region (and possibly Johto), not to mention its probably been around for centuries, so having that many dead pokemon makes sense.
In my humble opinion, I always felt that the Pokemon manga (the Electric Pikachu series and Pokemon Adventures) were better adaptions of the games than the animated series. It also helped that the protagonists of the manga kept their character development while Ash seemed to forget his in the span of a few weeks.
How about making your videos funny again, seriously I've only laughed a couple of times in your last couple of reviews (if you can even call them that)
"How about making your videos funny again, seriously I've only laughed a couple of times in your last couple of reviews (if you can even call them that)"
*Shrug* Difference of opinion. Plenty of people have said these last few reviews have been some of my funniest and obviously you are dissatisfied. I shall endeavor to do what I can.
That was awesome, and how dark and creepy the Pokemon mangas actually are, was very refreshing. I said "Oh shit" when I saw Arbok get sliced.
As for how your recent reviews have been, they have been enjoyable, as as far as I'm concerned. I say do what is suited best for the material in question.
I actually love Pokemon Adventures! This is an awesome epic manga and it's closer to the actual video games than the anime is. Yes, there are flaws, like bad one-liners from the protagonists, but it's still epic awesomeness!
So, are you go to do more stories from Pokemon Adventures?
To think Koga would have gotten away with it if it hadn't been for those meddling kids! (seriously no direct Scooby Doo reference, too obvious? yes those plots make no sense but...).
I also find it weird that there are Pokemon corpses in the graveyard (more of a necropolis), I would have assumed that the people of Lavender town cremated their dead as is common in Japan, but the Pokemon world is not the real world so I guess who knows what the standard funerary practices are (I guess we should also avoid asking if the cross shaped grave stones imply Christianity is a thing in Pokemon world :).
I'm going to be the next person to strongly recommend the rest of the series to you. It's very well written and while the first arc is good, everything that succeeds it is better.
To give you an idea of just how much the fanbase loves this series. A niche following developed between Viz's first and second printings hence why we have odd "Japanesey" habits like calling it Pokémon Special instead of Pokémon Adventures, and why we tend to call Red's rival Green and not Blue, and the girl they meet later as Blue and not Green.
And in this time Nickelodeon was having it's kids choice awards and one of the categories was "Best manga series". Pokémon Special got on the list despite not running in North America since the late 90's and early 2000's. A fan happened upon this and it spread on Pokémon fansites and forums in the hopes that if it won, Viz would bring it back, both of which happened.
It is the most popular Pokémon comic in the West, and now in Japan too, and behind the anime, games, and TCG in that order it is the 4th most popular Pokémon canon. And in my humble opinion its way better than the anime, with deeper, evolving character development and characters that actually age(Red, Green and Blue are 11 at the start, they're now 21 at the youngest).
Sometimes they even beat the games in quality. They also have an uncanny ability to predict the direction the games will go. For example it took them until Gen 5 with Team Plasma to address the animal cruelty controversy raised by the series, Special did it as early as Yellow. It's cut out a very loyal piece of the fanbase, including yours truly. Seriously, this book, changed me, challenged me as a person. It's better that a Pokémon comic has any business being, what else could I say to demonstrate just how awesome it is.
It's always best to support the official release, but maybe start with the fan Dragon Guard translation for the first 2 arcs as it's the most faithful. Then pick up the rest if you wanna keep going.
I love this series, I love this fandom and I would be downright honored if you could find the time to be a part of it.
One other thing, I guess the naming convention for AT4W Live has always been the x of AT4W L. so your skipping all the Dalek serials that don't have that naming structure, but I feel kind of bad that we are not getting the Atop the Fourth Wall Invasion of Earth.
"One other thing, I guess the naming convention for AT4W Live has always been the x of AT4W L. so your skipping all the Dalek serials that don't have that naming structure, but I feel kind of bad that we are not getting the Atop the Fourth Wall Invasion of Earth."
We'll get to it eventually - I just want to go through every permutation of "______ of AT4W Live!" first.
@Crystal Master So... They want us to believe Arbok regrew its HEAD. Yeah, okay. I think they just realized they went way the hell too far and went "Asspull time, asspull time, time for an asspull~!"
@Ozaline Given that this manga contains the horrible maiming of several Pokemon in-battle and a number of major story innaccuracies, yeah, something tells me this is NOT what Tajiri had in mind when he made the games. Especially since he's the man who created the "fainting" concept specifically so kids wouldn't be traumatized by their beloved monsters dying en masse. Honestly, that claim is about as believable as the one that Shigeru Miyamoto disliked the Mario movie for being too much like the games it shares little in common with.
@Crystal Master ...You mean its entire friggin' body? Cause I'm pretty sure Charmeleon decapitated it, as opposed to simply cutting off the equivalent of its legs. And yeah, lizards. As in, not exactly synonymous with snakes. So this still reeks of an asspull to save face and go "No no, it's okay, see? The Arbok from before wasn't gruesomely killed, it, uh...regrew its body! Yeah! That's TOTALLY something it can do, kids!"
@ItsJustMarty: "It is the most popular Pokémon comic in the West, and now in Japan too,..."
NOW in Japan? "Pokemon Monsters" aka "Poket Monsters: Special" IS from Japan. The thing would've never been published in the West if wasn't popular in its homeland.
And indeed, the manga is better as the Anime (which is really nothing more than a commercial for the games and a tool for little kids to remember all those Pokemon names, what with all the Anime-Pokemon only being able to speak their own name, which is neither in the games nor the manga).
-"NOW in Japan? "Pokemon Monsters" aka "Poket Monsters: Special" IS from Japan. The thing would've never been published in the West if wasn't popular in its homeland."-
You misunderstood me, of course I know it's from Japan originally but back when it started the first Pokémon manga was more popular in Japan, and it stayed that way for a while, Special only recently surpassed it. For that matter it wasn't the most popular in the west either, that was Electric Tale of Pikachu, but Special overcame that too.
Ok Linkara, I can answer the whole Arbok thing.
ReplyDeleteThat Arbok is still alive, it gets revealed in the "Yellow" saga that Arbok (much like some real life snakes and lizards) can regrow parts of its body. This Arbok reappears later on perfectly healthy.
Yeah the Pokémon manga was dark
Nice to get a turkey day episode with yomacon live show. Fun show. Man this manga bat crap creppy and crazy for pokemon. FOR KIDS! I'm in my 30s I was creeped out by the images. Can't imagine any read it.
ReplyDeleteI was looking forward to you reviewing this series.This is in my opinion the best Pokemon adaptation there is.
ReplyDeleteIt has lasted for as long as the games and has come up with great stories based on every main series game, in fact they just started serializing the XY saga. I especially like those twists from the games, as well as actually giving the main characters distinct personalities. I recomend you read the rest.
To be fair to Red, those puns only exist in the english version and not the original. Then again. for all I know they have worse puns. However, in the original the chapter titles are just "vs pokemon" like vs arbok or, vs psyduck, or vs Mewtwo, which is better than weird sitcome puns.
ReplyDeleteSweet, the first review you've done of a comic in my own collection. Except Lester's Watchmen review, I guess.
ReplyDeleteLinkara, you should definitely read the rest of Pokemon Adventures (aka Pokemon Special)! It is awesome! It's everything I wanted the Anime to be and never got. I don't want to give too much away since I want you to experience it yourself, but it gets really epic!
ReplyDeleteYay Special/Adventures! Do read them, they are awesome. Yeah the puns are groan inducing, blame the localization.
ReplyDeleteSOOOO weird to hear my voice on a Linkara video....but so awesome!!
ReplyDeletewysiwyg!
I know nothing about Pokeyman. But I do appreciate having something to look forward to after the enforced family bonding.
ReplyDeleteAwesome Sylvester McCoy's 7th Doctor costume, Linkara! You pull it off with style!
ReplyDeleteI must be the only Pokémon fan who isn't disturbed by Yamask's Pokedex entry; probably because I decided a long time ago that the Pokedex was lying to me. Apparently, Magcargo is hotter than the sun (without killing anything that goes near it), the pain from a Houndoom burn never goes away (unless you use Burn Heal or anything else that would normally heal a burn), and Yanmega is strong enough to carry an adult in flight (but it can't learn Fly, meaning it can't even carry a kid). I say the professors in each region pre-program these things with a bunch of ridiculous "facts" to screw with the kids. Hey, it makes more sense than a child just spontaneously turning into a Kadabra for no reason.
ReplyDeleteMore importantly to the matter at hand: I had the misfortune of coming across these particular issues of Pokémon Adventure while I was still in elementary school and hadn't really been exposed to a lot of gore yet. Arbok's beheading freaked me the hell out. But thanks to this review, I can stop being freaked out by that and start being freaked out by the fact that Lavender Town has apparently killed more Pokémon than any other town in the game and then channeled this tendency into a tourist attraction. Because now you've made me start thinking about it. Thanks, Linkara!
Satoshi Tajira said this comic is the closest thing to the world he wanted to convey when he created Pokemon so maybe the games get -1 for not being like the manga!
ReplyDeleteThis was a fun review, but for further live shows if you're going to edit the panels directly onto the main video maybe you should have yourself in the corner picture-in-picture style... It's nice to see you there in your fun cosplays.
Hurray, another review of a Pokémon comic!
ReplyDeleteMakes me think, if you can find the fourth book in The Electric Tale of Pikachu, it would be an excellent book to review in a future October episode. Among others, it has a giant Haunter, the Black Fog. It should make a very good future review.
If you want to do a musical review maybe you could cover the Rocky Horror Picture Show comic.
ReplyDeleteI always assumed Lavender Tower was suposed to be the cementery for the entire Kanto region (and possibly Johto), not to mention its probably been around for centuries, so having that many dead pokemon makes sense.
ReplyDeleteI'm fairly sure quite a few pokedex entries are supposed to be from in-universe folklore and not facts in their universe.
ReplyDeleteFor Marville #6 and 7 you should be at Alcoholic's anonymous.
ReplyDeleteIn my humble opinion, I always felt that the Pokemon manga (the Electric Pikachu series and Pokemon Adventures) were better adaptions of the games than the animated series. It also helped that the protagonists of the manga kept their character development while Ash seemed to forget his in the span of a few weeks.
ReplyDeleteHow about making your videos funny again, seriously I've only laughed a couple of times in your last couple of reviews (if you can even call them that)
ReplyDelete"How about making your videos funny again, seriously I've only laughed a couple of times in your last couple of reviews (if you can even call them that)"
ReplyDelete*Shrug* Difference of opinion. Plenty of people have said these last few reviews have been some of my funniest and obviously you are dissatisfied. I shall endeavor to do what I can.
That was awesome, and how dark and creepy the Pokemon mangas actually are, was very refreshing. I said "Oh shit" when I saw Arbok get sliced.
ReplyDeleteAs for how your recent reviews have been, they have been enjoyable, as as far as I'm concerned. I say do what is suited best for the material in question.
I actually love Pokemon Adventures! This is an awesome epic manga and it's closer to the actual video games than the anime is. Yes, there are flaws, like bad one-liners from the protagonists, but it's still epic awesomeness!
ReplyDeleteSo, are you go to do more stories from Pokemon Adventures?
you know with you using Dalek serial names, we're eventually going to have Death to AT4W Live!
ReplyDeleteTo think Koga would have gotten away with it if it hadn't been for those meddling kids! (seriously no direct Scooby Doo reference, too obvious? yes those plots make no sense but...).
ReplyDeleteI also find it weird that there are Pokemon corpses in the graveyard (more of a necropolis), I would have assumed that the people of Lavender town cremated their dead as is common in Japan, but the Pokemon world is not the real world so I guess who knows what the standard funerary practices are (I guess we should also avoid asking if the cross shaped grave stones imply Christianity is a thing in Pokemon world :).
I'm going to be the next person to strongly recommend the rest of the series to you. It's very well written and while the first arc is good, everything that succeeds it is better.
ReplyDeleteTo give you an idea of just how much the fanbase loves this series. A niche following developed between Viz's first and second printings hence why we have odd "Japanesey" habits like calling it Pokémon Special instead of Pokémon Adventures, and why we tend to call Red's rival Green and not Blue, and the girl they meet later as Blue and not Green.
And in this time Nickelodeon was having it's kids choice awards and one of the categories was "Best manga series". Pokémon Special got on the list despite not running in North America since the late 90's and early 2000's. A fan happened upon this and it spread on Pokémon fansites and forums in the hopes that if it won, Viz would bring it back, both of which happened.
It is the most popular Pokémon comic in the West, and now in Japan too, and behind the anime, games, and TCG in that order it is the 4th most popular Pokémon canon. And in my humble opinion its way better than the anime, with deeper, evolving character development and characters that actually age(Red, Green and Blue are 11 at the start, they're now 21 at the youngest).
Sometimes they even beat the games in quality. They also have an uncanny ability to predict the direction the games will go. For example it took them until Gen 5 with Team Plasma to address the animal cruelty controversy raised by the series, Special did it as early as Yellow. It's cut out a very loyal piece of the fanbase, including yours truly. Seriously, this book, changed me, challenged me as a person. It's better that a Pokémon comic has any business being, what else could I say to demonstrate just how awesome it is.
It's always best to support the official release, but maybe start with the fan Dragon Guard translation for the first 2 arcs as it's the most faithful. Then pick up the rest if you wanna keep going.
I love this series, I love this fandom and I would be downright honored if you could find the time to be a part of it.
Great as usual. I always love the live shows.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I'm curious what you think of the new Pokémon Origins anime.
One other thing, I guess the naming convention for AT4W Live has always been the x of AT4W L. so your skipping all the Dalek serials that don't have that naming structure, but I feel kind of bad that we are not getting the Atop the Fourth Wall Invasion of Earth.
ReplyDelete"One other thing, I guess the naming convention for AT4W Live has always been the x of AT4W L. so your skipping all the Dalek serials that don't have that naming structure, but I feel kind of bad that we are not getting the Atop the Fourth Wall Invasion of Earth."
ReplyDeleteWe'll get to it eventually - I just want to go through every permutation of "______ of AT4W Live!" first.
@Crystal Master
ReplyDeleteSo... They want us to believe Arbok regrew its HEAD. Yeah, okay. I think they just realized they went way the hell too far and went "Asspull time, asspull time, time for an asspull~!"
@Ozaline
Given that this manga contains the horrible maiming of several Pokemon in-battle and a number of major story innaccuracies, yeah, something tells me this is NOT what Tajiri had in mind when he made the games. Especially since he's the man who created the "fainting" concept specifically so kids wouldn't be traumatized by their beloved monsters dying en masse. Honestly, that claim is about as believable as the one that Shigeru Miyamoto disliked the Mario movie for being too much like the games it shares little in common with.
@anonymous
ReplyDeleteAh no, the Arbok regrow its tail and alit of its lower cobra face thing. again based on something lizards do in real life
@Crystal Master
ReplyDelete...You mean its entire friggin' body? Cause I'm pretty sure Charmeleon decapitated it, as opposed to simply cutting off the equivalent of its legs. And yeah, lizards. As in, not exactly synonymous with snakes. So this still reeks of an asspull to save face and go "No no, it's okay, see? The Arbok from before wasn't gruesomely killed, it, uh...regrew its body! Yeah! That's TOTALLY something it can do, kids!"
I never get those Lavender Town creepypastas. I find the theme catchy :3
ReplyDeleteWait a sec...
ReplyDelete@ItsJustMarty:
"It is the most popular Pokémon comic in the West, and now in Japan too,..."
NOW in Japan? "Pokemon Monsters" aka "Poket Monsters: Special" IS from Japan. The thing would've never been published in the West if wasn't popular in its homeland.
And indeed, the manga is better as the Anime (which is really nothing more than a commercial for the games and a tool for little kids to remember all those Pokemon names, what with all the Anime-Pokemon only being able to speak their own name, which is neither in the games nor the manga).
@Doresh
ReplyDelete-"NOW in Japan? "Pokemon Monsters" aka "Poket Monsters: Special" IS from Japan. The thing would've never been published in the West if wasn't popular in its homeland."-
You misunderstood me, of course I know it's from Japan originally but back when it started the first Pokémon manga was more popular in Japan, and it stayed that way for a while, Special only recently surpassed it. For that matter it wasn't the most popular in the west either, that was Electric Tale of Pikachu, but Special overcame that too.
Well, that's what you get for hiring a H-mangaka for your kid-friendly manga XD
ReplyDelete