In January 2015, a new series of omnibus volumes was announced by Shogakukan Asia, publishers of the Pokémon Adventures manga in Singapore. The new omnibuses collect the Ruby & Sapphire arc, originally found in Volume 15 through Volume 22, over a series of four volumes. These releases use VIZ Media's translation. Instead of having the child-friendly image, Pokémon Adventures decides to delve into some pretty sensitive themes, such as PTSD and emotional maturity being at the forefront. Honestly, one of my favorite parts of the story was seeing how the characters learned from each other and grew as people as the story went on. Though it glosses over some things (such as how certain characters' past trauma affects them) the thoughts and feelings of the characters are what makes this phenomenal. Everyone grows and you can easily see their growth and maturity, no matter whether they be 14 years old or 58 years old. I went into this expecting to enjoy it because it's a fun Pokemon comic but like wow, I can't describe just how surprised I am by just how good this manga is so far. This is genuinely one of my favorite pieces of Pokemon media I've seen in a long time. There's a lot of really great and charming art, a lot of really cool reimaginings of how Pokemon moves work, as well as some surprisingly great writing.

In July 2019, a series of omnibus volumes collecting the original first 29 volumes titled Pokémon Adventures Collector's Edition was announced by VIZ Media. A total of 10 volumes were released from April 14, 2020 to October 12, 2021. Professor Birch sends Ruby and Sapphire to help Emerald find the Wish Pokémon Jirachi. But first there are fierce Pokémon battles to fight in the Battle Dome Tournament! As if there wasn’t already a plethora of Pokémon-related things to hoard, VIZ will release something else for fans to add to their ever-growing collections: Volume 1 of the Pokémon Adventures Collector’s Edition manga, which compiles the first three volumes in the series. I’d be lying if I said I’m not completely biased when it comes reviewing this manga. As someone who played the original Red, Blue, and Yellow games in the 90’s and just finished the recent Kanto remake, Let’s Go Pikachu!, I am 100% inclined to love anything involving the first generation of Pokémon. It’s like a giant nostalgia bomb. If you're looking for nostalgia, a big positive is that this book is exhaustive. Pokémon Tower. Safari Zone. SS Anne. It's all there, and there's a chapter for each of them. It's admittedly a bit disjointed as the writers evidently jump around, making sure to hit every major point—but they do meet all expectations in that regard. They even have recaps at the end of each "volume" where they plot the characters' journey so far on the map and share the stats for a few key Pokémon!Honestly I had forgotten how much I loved (and still love) these stories. Pokemon Adventures was the first graphic novel/manga I ever read, and I was utterly obsessed. After all, it was Pokemon! And it remains true, the stories are fantastic and I could rave about it for hours and hours. Any Pokemon fan who hasn't read it would find it engrossing, I believe, and anyone using it as a first exposure to Pokemon...well, it's not exactly like most of the rest of the franchise but its still so great. On January 16, 2018, Kurokawa announced they would start publishing the Diamond & Pearl and Platinum arcs together in omnibus format. [23] A boxed set containing the five volumes was released on October 14, 2021. [24] Cover This first volume follows Red (from the games, essentially) on his adventure through the world and story of the first Pokémon Red game. It really feels like a deep dive into the world of the games in a way that no other medium has quite captured, and it brings the games to life with anime logic, adorable Pokémon, and a whole lot of personality. The FireRed & LeafGreen and Emerald arcs were released together in a boxed set of four omnibus volumes on June 5, 2019. Each volume was released separately at a later date. On March 24, 2017, Kurokawa announced they would start publishing the FireRed & LeafGreen and Emerald arcs together as a series of four omnibus volumes. [17] A boxed set containing the four volumes was released on October 8, 2020. [18] Cover

On top of the unique plot elements, the story and battles were a lot more intense compared to the game or anime. The animated adaption tends to sugarcoat everything and adds a lot of silliness to battles or other important situations. It can be hard to take things seriously at times. The manga has humor, but it’s more serious in my opinion. It’s still kid-friendly, but there is actually some blood shown! Additionally, a bunch of scenes showed the potential danger of Pokémon battles or Pokémon in general. There are moments where Red, other characters, or the Pokémon themselves could have possibly lost their lives. Now, is the writing and story flawless? No. Some things don’t quite add up, and there are parts that felt a little too rushed. Plus, certain dialogue choices were cringey in my opinion (especially for Bill). But overall, the writing is extremely solid. Coupled with bubbly yet strong art and great action scenes by Mato, this manga makes for a really entertaining read. The story continues after this volume, but I feel that Volume 1 of the Collector’s Edition (or the first three volumes in the series) are a near perfect snippet of the world of Pokémon. It’s put together so well, the story could have ended right there, and I’d be completely satisfied. On March 22, 2022, Panini released a new limited-edition boxed set, this time for the Sun, Moon, Ultra Sun & Ultra Moon arc. It consists of three omnibus volumes and includes six postcards with the original Japanese cover illustrations of the adapted mini-volumes. The release itself is limited to 2500 copies.The manga follows the same general outline of the games and anime – Red wants to become a better Pokémon trainer, catch as many Pokémon as possible, and battle gym leaders so he can challenge the Pokémon League. But it also provides so much more. I feel like I could make comparisons, babble about Pokémon facts, and really show what a nerd I am all day long. But what about people who aren’t as familiar with Pokémon as I am? Will they enjoy the manga? I think so because, for starters, the writing is very strong. The author included seeds throughout the story that help connect everything together. They put a lot of thought into the story, and it paid off in the end. I will say that for this edition, one of the few complaints I'd have is that one or two things seem to be different than the individual editions were...I could've sworn there was a small section missing from the Articuno scene, which made it a bit disjointed, and one of the translations near the end doesn't entirely make sense. I believe it was trying to reference "With enough leverage you could move the earth," but instead it said you could change the world? On December 24, 2015, following the completion of the Ruby & Sapphire arc, Kurokawa announced they would start publishing the Gold, Silver & Crystal arc in omnibus format. [7] A boxed set containing the three volumes was released on November 15, 2018. [8] Cover As with a lot of manga, a lot of content was lost in the effort to localize for English-speaking children. Some conversations lose steam due to puns that don't translate, some words (especially in the art) have their letters scrambled in strange ways, and of course the infamous "Surprise!" scene at Silph Co becomes nearly unintelligible as the writers try to skate around a character's risqué dialogue.

The Platinum and HeartGold & SoulSilver arcs were released together in a boxed set of two omnibus volumes on October 28, 2020. Each volume was released separately at a later date. When I saw they were re-releasing the series in a complied 10 volume collection I knew I had to jump in the bandwagon and buy the series to support it. Nevertheless, re-reading this series brought me a lot of joy and entertainment. The Pokemon Adventures manga is hybrid of its own spin to the Pokemon world but still borrowing some elements from the video game franchise. Red is a fun and likable main character and his bond with his Pokemon is very pleasant to see. He is very similar to Ash in many ways but very different at the same time. I mean, spoiler, he does win his big battle against Blue at the end of the series. The Gold, Silver & Crystal arc was released in a boxed set of three omnibus volumes on November 15, 2017. Each volume was released separately at a later date. Then, Professor Oak sends Gold and Crystal to help rescue Red, Yellow, Blue and Green-who have all been turned to stone!However, it's still Pokémon, which is meant to for children. The writing isn't incredibly complex, it's easy to follow, and it even has some somewhat terrible puns. But come on, it's Pokémon. Anyone who's played the games or watched the show has imagined going on a pokémon journey of their own. Hell, I've been playing since the beginning and I still love Pokémon. So maybe I'm a little biased, but I thoroughly enjoyed reading this. Despite my obsession with the Pokémon games, I had never read the manga. To be honest, it completely blew me away and made my inner Pokénerd very happy. Where do I even begin? To coincide with the twenty-fifth anniversary celebration of the Pokémon franchise, German publisher Panini Comics reissued the Red, Green & Blue and Yellow arcs of the manga in one boxed set, consisting of three omnibus volumes, on August 31, 2021. Included with the books were seven postcards with the original Japanese cover illustrations of the seven adapted volumes. The release itself is limited to 2500 copies. In 2011, a series of omnibus releases were announced in Japan, collecting the Ruby & Sapphire arc. The arc was chosen due to its high popularity in Japan. These volumes were issued under Shogakukan's "My First WIDE" brand.