Gotta catch (all two of) em all!
Creative Staff:
Story/Art: Ryo Takamisaki
Translation & Adaptation: Emi Louie-Nishikawa
Touch-Up & Lettering: James Gaubatz
Design: John Kim
Editor: Annette Roman
What They Say:
When Ash Ketchum oversleeps on his 10th birthday, he ends up with a stubborn Pikachu instead of the first partner Pokemon he wanted! But after a rocky start, Ash and Pikachu become close friends and true partners—and when they catch a rare glimpse of the Legendary Pokemon Ho-Oh in flight, they make plans to seek it out together.
Trainters Verity and Sorrel join Ash on his journey, and along the way, they meet the mysterious Mythical Pokemon Marshadow. When they near their goal, an arrogant Trainer named Cross stands in their way. Can Ash and Pikachu defeat him and reach Ho-Oh as they promised, or will their journey end here?
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
I’ve been a Pokemon fan for a long time. My earliest memories with the franchise were grouping around a kid in elementary school who had a Game Boy and Blue or Red. Seeing him throw out Dugtrio like it was nothing was, of course, the epitome of cool back in first or second grade.
So when the I Choose You! movie came to theaters, I was excited. I wanted to relive the original Pokemon story, and then some. I knew it would be lacking in some places, but I also knew that it would hit the exact nostalgia buttons I wanted as a long-time fan. It didn’t disappoint.
When I saw the manga adaptation, I had to check it out, regardless of potential quality. I have to say, I wasn’t disappointed by this either. It is, as far as I can recall, a 1:1 adaptation of the anime version, just told in the comics medium. The art is quite simplistic, and fitting to an all-ages manga meant for a huge audience. It has that classic Pikachu (and rest of Pokemon) look, while the human characters look a little more retro anime than either the latest Pokemon TV series I’ve seen (sometime in the XY series) and the Sun and Moon anime. It’s also an easy read. It’s an omnibus volume, but I read it in about the same time I read a single volume of shonen or seinen. I didn’t have to turn back to any pages either to understand action, which bodes well.
As for the story itself…I felt this with the movie too, but it leaves some to be desired. It’s condensing a huge portion of the original anime’s dozens or hundreds of episodes while forming it around a new, original story. There are a few recognizable pieces—like catching Caterpie and rescuing Charmander—but there’s also a lot left out. The insertion of, like, the Butterfree finding a mate story just feels disjointed from the rest of it, and an obvious nostalgia ploy that I totally fell for, rather than something that fits into the larger narrative.
The short runtime (it’s a two-volume manga, not a hundreds of episode anime) also takes out all of Ash’s other Pokemon, which means no Pidgeotto, Bulbasaur, Squirtle, Krabby, Tauros, or anyone else (not that English language audiences saw that Tauros episode anyway). It’s just Caterpie and Charizard, who have the longest staying power in the minds of the collective fanbase, probably.
It is enjoyable though, and adds some cool elements to original anime things that were never really explored. The introduction of Ho-Oh as this mythical being to be discovered and battled with in a test of strength is fascinating, since the movies typically just deal with legendary Pokemon as friends or direct enemies for the duration. But this is something to aspire to.
The biggest introduction is of Cross, a character who acts as Ash’s foil and trains his Pokemon only for strength, ditching the weak. At first blush, he’s like Paul from the Sinnoh seasons, but seemingly more cold-hearted than that. He also replaces Damian as the trainer who ditches Charmander. His arc is somewhat simple, but he serves his purpose as someone who shakes things up and ruins everything for everyone else.
In Summary:
I’ll love most things Pokemon, and this manga is no different. I immensely enjoyed the movie as a nostalgia bomb, and this manga just provides another great version of it. Everything from Butterfree crying to Charizard fighting to protect both Ash and Cross just wells emotion up in my body the way only Pokemon can do.
Content Grade: B+
Art Grade: B-
Packaging Grade: B
Text/Translation Grade: A
Age Rating: All
Released By: Viz Media
Release Date: December 11, 2018
MSRP: $14.99