Jackson Reads!

I've been informed that Pokémon Special, a manga based on the Pokémon games (NOT the television show you remember from your childhood, which, believe it or not, is still on) is pretty awesome, so prepare to enjoy the official Jackson read-through of PokéSpe, known in the USA as Pokémon Adventures. Al images from the manga are to be read from right to left.

The first protagonist we meet is the young Red, based, naturally, on the player character of the Red and Blue versions. He bears more than a passing resemblance to Ash Ketchum, being, of course, based on the same character in the games.

Totally different people. I promise.

Character design aside, the two bear hardly any resemblance when it comes to characterization. For one thing, Red isn't a complete moron.

The GameFAQs of the Pokémon world.

To demonstrate his awesome Pokémon-catching skillz, Red summons his iconic starter Pokémon, instantly recognizable to any fan of the franchise. Guessed who it is yet? I'll give you a hint. It starts with a P...

This is who you were expecting, right?

Red, whose dream is, of course, to become the greatest Pokémon trainer in the world, heads off in search of Professor Oak, who's rumored to be a Pokémon expert, and his mysterious grandson, who might even be equal to Red in terms of Pokémon prowess. ON his way, he runs into something not seen in the original games or anime. A coherent plot.

Look familiar?

Oh yeah. Here comes Team Rocket, the ineffectual comic relief villains who always get overshadowed by the actual threats without ever becoming scary themselves. Right?

Wrong.

One of the defining features of PokéSpe is that every game villain (and a handful of the game non-villains) becomes seriously more threatening than their in-game counterpart. This works out really well, heightening the sense of actual danger, since the villains aren't spending the entire series chasing after a claustrophobic mouse with unusually high IV's.

I choose you, MacGuffinChu!

This time, however, the Rockets are after something else the mysterious Phantom Pokémon, whose location they shout very loudly, just in case that ten-year old they've apparently forgotten about despite him having just collided with one of their number wanted, to, say, beat them there and capture it for himself.

How convenient.

But not so fast, Mr. Red! Someone else is already there, ready to capture the Phantom Pokémon for himself! The stranger tries to capture Mew with his Charmander, but soon gives up and walks away, giving Red the perfect opportunity to send out Poliwhirl, who promptly gets his swirly blue ass handed to him. Who could that mysterious stranger possibly be? And what is that glowing Pokémon? Psh, enough with the faux suspense. The Pokémon is the elusive Mew, who could not, by the way, be caught by using Strength on the truck next to the S.S. Anne. The mysterious stranger is, as I'm sure you know, Professor Oak's grandson, Green Oak.

Perhaps an explanation is in order here. This comic is Japanese, and in Japan, the first two Pokémon games were called Red and Green. Blue was released later, with improvements to the graphics and a slightly different set of available Pokémon from either Red or Green. The Yellow version was released some time after that. In PokéSpé, every single version of the game gets a character named after it, with the main character and his main rival/friend/counterpart named after the first two paired games in a generation. So in Japan, Red's rival is named after the Green version, and when it was translated for American audiences, the decision was made that for consistency's sake, Red's rival would be named after the Blue version. This doesn't get too confusing until the Japanese character named Blue is introduced later, renamed Green in the American version. Since I've mostly read the series in the form of unofficial translations, I'm calling Red's rival Green and the yet-to-be-introduced character Blue. If this bothers you, you can deal with it.

Well, that's the end of Chapter 1, and since I just got my wisdom teeth removed, I need to go take my Vicodin now and watch the 24 hour BlogTV marathon for Doctors without Borders. So long!