Pokemon

Publisher
Viz
Country of origin
Japan
Year
1997

The Best of Pokemon Adventures Red

By David Rasmussen
7th Jun 08

After so many adventures with Ash this, Ash that, Ash Ash Ash it’s nice to occasionally get away from the whole Ash thing and read something else set in the Poke’mon Universe that isn’t about Ash this and Ash that… well, maybe this shouldn’t count since by name only it’s NOT Ash but whatever… for the purposes of review let’s pretend “Red” here is not Ash and let it go at that.

If you remember way back to your old school Game Boy days you remember the first games released in the Poke’mon series. Poke’mon Red and Blue. Later on there was Pikachu Yellow, and in Japan there was a Poke’mon Green (and while this title has a Green I don’t even remember there being a Green release here though for the life of me I suppose it got released somehow or just didn’t need to be released for some reason).

Anyway long story short the first set of Poke’mon games came out, and this particular collection of Adventures (released through the VIZ imprint VIZKids… hmm… whatever happened to VIZKids, are they still about?) is set in that time and is focused on “Red” (with Ash’s rival Gary being called “Blue” in this title -- which means I guess there’s no need for a Blue series since it’d just be Ash as Blue and Gary as Red though if a Blue version of this does exist I will most definitely review it).

Now where was I? Oh, right, Red.
Lord knows who actually names a human being “Red” as something other than a nickname or a name in the wording “Redde” or “Redd”, but in Pallet Town (the origin point of Poke’mon) the best trainer (next to Professor Oak’s grandson Blue… another dopey name that no human being should have the misfortune to he afflicted with) is the young Red (who dresses to fit his name complete with Red jacket and hat). At the start of the manga he captures a Nidorino, improving his stock by one… though he still has a wee little bit of Poke’mon to his name.

Maybe it’s not enough to go after a “phantom Poke’mon”, but after running into a group of Team Rocket members looking for a strange Poke’mon Red decides he’s going to hunt down this “phantom Poke’mon”… which turns out to be Mew (from Poke’mon the First Movie). Obviously Red isn’t going to defeat Mew, no way.

After getting beaten by Mew, Red visit’s the mysterious Professor Oak (who is abit of a recluse in this series) only to accidentally set loose his Poke’mon (thus he ends up having to help Oak get his Poke’mon back). Somehow the two end up bonding and Red is given a Pokedex from Professor Oak (along with a Bulbasaur). Hmm… it’s based on Poke’mon Red and he didn’t get Charmander? Really?

And so Red is off on the Poke’mon quest from there on out.
First stop he becomes an advocate for Kangaskhan rights as parents when he notices that the Kangaskhan that Blue wants to capture seems to be acting oddly… perhaps protecting the baby in her pouch maybe?!? (But then again EVERY Kangaskhan in the game has a baby in their pouch so, what, no Kangaskhan for you?

Pikachu has been causing trouble for the Pewter City Merchant Association, so the town has put up wanted posters for it’s capture… and then went and formed a lynching mob to hunt him down since they’re not patient enough to wait for someone to actually capture it. Yeah, you go wild crazy killer mob of rampaging people you! (Guess Red has to try and capture Pikachu… somehow!)

Next Red decides he wants to start collecting badges from Gym Trainers for the huge tournament at the end of the game… you know, that tournament from Season Two. Anyway to that end he travels over to the gym of “He Who Shall Not Open His Eyes Too Wide” (aka Brock) and challenge him… with only a Pikachu since the Poke’Center has been suspiciously vandalized by… hmm… well, for the convenience of making Red have to fight and bond with Pikachu.

And the title rolls on from there. The female Green, Misty, and more show up along the rest of the way which ends at the big tournament. Sure, that means a lot of adventures are missed (Misty isn’t a part of the cast which is the only great thing about Ash’s Anime adventures) but for a rather thick page count adventures of he we eventually would call Ash (but for now call just “Red”) this is yet another hit for your collection.

It’s not a rehash of the Ash Poke’mon mangas, it’s fresh content story.
It’s faithful to the game in a sense, but has it’s own way of doing things.
And it even innovates in it’s own way, though not to the extent of the Shojo stylings of Magical Poke’mon Journey.
If you are a diehard fan of the game series of Poke’mon (presently up to Diamond & Pearl on the DS… hmmm… which means the Wii is next up for a Coliseum style free roaming RPG Poke’mon series sometime soon) then this should be in your collection.

Now if only somebody knows if they did a Gold/Silver (GameBoy Color) edition, a Ruby/Sapphire (GBA), and a Diamond/Pearl edition (DS).

Red’s Poke’mon Adventures get 4 renditions of the Poke’mon Rap out of 5.

-- David Rasmussen 7th Jun 08