I'm surprised a general thread on this topic hasn't been made yet... so LET'S START! above pictured: The Electric Tale of Pikachu, Magical Pokémon Journey, Diamond and Pearl Adventure!, RéBURST (top row, left to right), and Adventures. Ever since lil' Fario here discovered Cardcaptor Sakura at my local public library, I have fallen in love with manga and have been borrowing manga from there regularly—I doubt my 6 yo self could even believe how much stuff existed out there or how much manga my present self would end up owning in my room lmao!! Growing up as a huge fan of pocket monster games, that naturally meant that I eventually got to learn about the surprisingly crazy world of Pokémon manga. I remember reading two volumes of Magical Pokémon Journey back in the day without realizing they were actually manga because VIZ Media had flipped its print of the series from left to right, and the little bit of Pokémon Diamond and Pearl Adventure! I read was so out-there and hilarious compared to whatever impression I had of the franchise at the time. Speaking of that series, I surprisingly NEVER finished reading Diamond and Pearl Adventure... so I've managed to get ahold of all 8 volumes from the library and am working on finally finishing it after all these years! Anyone here who's used to my threads can guess that this is what inspired this randomly-made-on-the-fly thread, but another inspiration was TheJWittz! I haven't watched his content in a long time (rewatching some of my favorites as I type this thread, in fact) and therefore haven't seen much of his newer videos, does anyone else here know him and also like his content? Anyway, his videos on Pokémon manga, namely on censored Pokémon manga and Pokémon RéBurst, were and still are fascinating, and re-watching the latter video really got me thinking... and it'd eventually be enough to bother starting all of this haha. ★-⋆-⋆-⋆-⋆-⋆-⋆-⋆-⋆-⋆-★ While the highest grossing media franchise of all time needs no introduction, I realize the manga world in general is more obscure compared to anime, and therefore many Pokémon fans might not know about whatever manga exists out there. So here's a (obviously NOWHERE NEAR complete) list of Pokémon manga in no particular order, with some random comments I may have on them since people seem to like the descriptions I give along with my recommendations:
Also known by its Japanese title Pokémon Special, this is arguably the most popular and easily available Pokémon manga out there. It's also the longest manga on this list, which makes sense since this series actually takes each mainline Pokémon game and reinterprets them. Yes, that means the series starts with Red and not Ash, and yes, the series even adapts remakes! I haven't read much of this one so I really can't talk about it, but I do know that it is really well received by the Pokémon fanbase. Basically the main takeaway everyone should get from this list is PLEASE SCAN/TRANSLATE/OFFICIALLY RELEASE MORE OF THESE MANGAS FOR GOODNESS SAKE ...ahaha but yeah, got a bit carried away there, but this thread was fun to make and I hope everyone starts talking more about Pokémon manga! I wish VIZ Media picked up and reprinted some of these series, like Magical Pokémon Journey and The Electric Tale of Pikachu, and I really wish we get more shoujo Pokémon manga in the future... I know I totally would love to make a shoujo manga if I somehow was in any kind of position to do so, and I would love to be able to collect Magical Pokémon Journey if it wasn't so scarce and expensive even for most out-of-print manga! But those are just some of my thoughts on this crazy overlooked side of Pokémon media. So... what are your thoughts? ✩  |
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| The Electric Tale of Pikachu is the only one I knew of as a kid. I dropped it after a few chapters because I didn't like it as much as the anime. I have no interest in reading the only manga with an active fanbase, because the characters all have strange names. It makes me sad that you did not acknowledge the 1st and longest running Pokemon manga, Pokémon Pocket Monsters. The protagonist has a clefairy. |
| その目だれの目？ |
Lucifrost said: Ah, I knew I forgot something, I'm sorry!It makes me sad that you did not acknowledge the 1st and longest running Pokemon manga, Pokémon Pocket Monsters. The protagonist has a clefairy. I haven't read any of it though and only know about some of its ridiculous sense of humor, want to talk more about it here? |
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| I haven't gotten around to the rest yet, but Pokemon Adventures is in my opinion a must read series! I would put it up there next to series like One Piece, both in quality and the type of story it tells. |
  "Truth is always a cruel thing." |
Fario-P said: want to talk more about it here? Not really, I haven't read it either. I only wanted to show some appreciation. |
| その目だれの目？ |
triplepsycho said: Can you tell us more about it? What are some things people like me should know when they start reading Adventures? c:I haven't gotten around to the rest yet, but Pokemon Adventures is in my opinion a must read series! I would put it up there next to series like One Piece, both in quality and the type of story it tells. |
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| As much as I like Pokémon, I haven't actually read a whole lot of manga from this series, with the only ones I read being Adventures, Electric Tale of Pikachu, and a few manga adaptations of some movies. This is already a popular opinion, but Adventures is the best Pokémon manga (imo), and is quite memorable, being the series that brought my love for manga. This is probably a manga most haven't heard about, but I quite enjoyed Pokemon + Nobunaga no Yabou: Ransei Iroemaki (which is unfortunately ineligible and marked for deletion on MAL). There's not much story and serves more as promo for Pokémon Conquest, but I still found it really cute, especially with how much I love Conquest. The full-color is great as well. |
Fario-P said: triplepsycho said: Can you tell us more about it? What are some things people like me should know when they start reading Adventures? c:I haven't gotten around to the rest yet, but Pokemon Adventures is in my opinion a must read series! I would put it up there next to series like One Piece, both in quality and the type of story it tells. Sure thing! Characters Pokemon Adventures has a huge cast of characters, and pretty much every major character has a fanbase. Something unusual about the series is that it changes protagonists in almost every arc, so you end up with a ton of variety for main characters. Because of that, each of the main characters of course has something that sets them apart from the others. There are protagonists with lofty goals, or simple goals, or in some cases even protagonists with no goal at all, and not all of them are even interested in Pokemon battles! And even outside of the protagonists, there are some other really great characters. The villains in particular stand out, because there a variety of different villain types, like Giovanni, who is a ruthless Mafia boss, and Lance, who is a man who cares about Pokemon so much that he is willing to destroy humanity for their sake. The villains almost all have a surprising amount of depth to them! Story While Pokemon Adventures doesn't necessarily have the most complex plot, it definitely has a very fun one. Each arc has its own unique plot that has it's own focus. For example, the Diamond and Pearl arc leans more into the adventure genre, whereas the Emerald arc is very action-heavy. No two of them are the same, so it never really gets old. Another great thing about the plot is the twists. There are some really cool plot twists, especially if you haven't played the games yet. Even if you have played the games though, there are still plenty of twists that will take you by surprise! What's also great is that the story of the manga, unlike the anime, actually somewhat follows that of the games. There are some exceptions, but even when it goes in an original direction, it never feels out of place. Worldbuilding The world of Pokemon is really cool in general, but I think that Adventures expands on it in so many ways that it feels so much more alive than the world of the anime or games. I don't want to spoil how it does that, but there are so many really cool ideas that are used throughout the series, and even some One Piece-style foreshadowing here and there! Fights One of the things that's always stopped me from wanting to watch any more of the Pokemon anime than I already have is that its fights are set up like a sport. But luckily that isn't the case in Adventures! First of all, the villains actually attack the trainer instead of just their Pokemon, which on its own is already a massive change from any other Pokemon story. But to add to that, there is also some really great strategy brought into the fights. Trainers in the series are constantly making creative use of Pokemon's moves, and sometimes even things that are said in their Pokedex entries. For example, Sapphire is able to defeat Roxanne's Nosepass by forcing it to turn in a direction that isn't north, which its Pokedex entry says causes it to get dizzy. Overall, the battles in the series are always creative and strategic! How to read it The series is currently 679 chapters long, with 60 volumes out right now. That being said, It's important to note that the volume releases are quite a bit behind, so the series is really closer to about 70 volumes in length. As for the story arcs: Red and Blue: Chapter 1-40/Volume 1-3 Yellow: Chapter 41-90/Volume 4-7 Gold and Silver: Chapter 91-180/Volume 8-14 Ruby and Sapphire: Chapter 181-267/Volume 15-22 FireRed and LeafGreen: Chapter 268-302/Volume 23-25 Emerald: Chapter 303-337/Volume 26-29 Diamond and Pearl: Chapter 338-416/Volume 30-38 Platinum: Chapter 417-441/Volume 38-40 HeartGold and SoulSilver: Chapter 442-460/Volume 41-42 Black and White: Chapter 461-524/Volume 43-51 Black 2 and White 2: Chapter 525-548/Volume 51-55 X and Y: Chapter 549-594/Volume 56-? Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire: Chapter 595-616 Sun and Moon: Chapter 617-653 Sword and Shield Chapter 654-? The best place to start, of course, is at the beginning, but because many of the arcs are standalone, you don't have to start there if you don't want to. Other arcs that you could start at are Ruby and Sapphire, Diamond and Pearl, Black and White, X and Y, Sun and Moon, and Sword and Shield. That being said though, it's better to start at the beginning because even the standalone arcs have some references to previous arcs. EDIT: You know what, since @elnino02 did a list of each arc and what they thought of it, I'm going to do the same, since it seems like fun :) Red and Blue: Has the best villain of the series, and also has some of the coolest twists on the what the games do. My main issue with the arc is just that it felt like it was over too quickly. Yellow: This arc had another one of the best villains in the series, and also had a lot more focus on characters outside of its protagonist. Gold and Silver: My favorite arc, I loved the cast, the ending was amazing, and it was never too slow or too fast. Ruby and Sapphire: While I was kind of disappointed by the villains and the ending, it made up for it with its amazing fights and fantastic dynamics between its two main characters. FireRed and LeafGreen: This arc brought back the best villain in the series, as well as introducing a certain fan-favorite recurring character. Plus, it had THE best fight in the whole series. Emerald: I'm not a fan of Emerald as a character, but the finale of this arc was on another level, and the fights were always awesome. Diamond and Pearl/Platinum: This one had the best main cast out of any of the arcs and really went heavy on the adventure aspect of the series, which was nice. Plus it had yet another great ending. HeartGold and SoulSilver: While it was honestly the weakest arc in the whole series due to how rushed it was, it did at least give Gold some good character development. Black and White: I love stories that dig deep into their themes, and Black and White definitely did that really well. On top of that it also had N, who was just such a well-written character. Black 2 and White 2: It definitely had its flaws, but I enjoyed how it tried to do something different for a change by using elements not normally used by the series, like a school setting and a main character who works for the police. X and Y: Not only was X such a great protagonist, but the plot in this one was a lot more gritty than what the series normally does, which was really fun. Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire: This arc is one of the weaker ones, but on the bright side, it had Zinnia, and brought back some characters who we hadn't seen for a long time, so it was still a fun time. Sun and Moon: Probably the most standard arc; it had a good villain, decent main characters, and a cool plot, but it didn't really stand out as much as I would have liked. Sword and Shield: This one isn't finished yet, but it's really good so far, and I'm glad to see the battles getting a stronger focus than in many of the other more recent arcs. |
phantomic109Feb 2, 2022 10:47 AM
"Truth is always a cruel thing." |
| I'll b honest I've never read any of the pokemon manga. I've watched a good portion of the anime and the movies though. Also, I do remember from some YouTuber's video who was talking about a Pokemon manga where Red was the mc. I remember a panel where it was shown that Green's raticate slices off arbok's head or something like that. |
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| Pokémon Adventures was my first manga, I remember getting volumes 6 and 8 from my mom when I was eight or something (she thought they were "comics"). So it was actually my first proper exposure to the world of Pokémon as I only had faint memories of watching the anime on TV when I was four or something. I was surprised at how interesting it was, and for a kids' manga it certainly had more than a few dark moments. The battles were so good - the insane amount of thought and strategy that went into each one of them made my jaw drop at times. Watching the anime afterwards actually was quite disappointing to be truly honest. Since @triplepsycho has already done a fantastic job of selling the manga, I'll just briefly touch upon what stood out to me from each arc (without any spoilers of course) - Red and Blue - This is actually one of the best arcs, the OG trio set a really high standard for their successors with their adventures. Yellow - I think this is the best arc of the manga. The set-up was great, the stakes felt very real, all the characters were motivated by thoughts, feelings, ambitions, etc. that I could sympathise with and the ending was superb. Had the best villain as well. Gold and Silver - The whole "whodunnit" aspect to this arc was so enjoyable, but the main trio felt a little too similar to the OG one. The finale was great though (almost all the arcs have really good finales). Ruby and Sapphire - This is way more character driven than the others. The main duo were so interesting and different from the other MCs the manga had thus far. It was really good, I was heavily invested in it. FireRed and LeafGreen - I'm not a fan of this one, it was unnecessarily dark and edgy. Emerald - A lot of people don't seem to like this one, but I actually had a great time with it. This was the most battle-oriented arc of the entire lot, and all of the fights had me paying close attention and with bated breath. Diamond and Pearl - The main trio were so loveable, I thoroughly enjoyed their antics. There were quite a few emotional parts that I thought were really well done. HeartGold and SoulSilver - Perhaps the weakest arc, nothing really stands out for me. Black and White - I love the main duo and the ending, but I don't really remember much else. Black 2 and White 2 - I caught up with the manga and stopped here. It was boring and the only reason I was reading it was for a major plot point that hadn't been resolved in the preceding arc. |
| Pokemon Adventures is one of my favourite manga. It's also my first manga. I have stopped reading it after HGSS since B2W2 wasn't finished back then. I love the Unova region so I'm looking forward to continue it. I've also read a few chapters of Pocket Monsters too. Red had a talking Clefairy as a starter which battled Mewtwo in Viridian forest lol. |
AritabiasFeb 3, 2022 5:02 AM
Crow_Black said: Oh yeah, I have played most of them - FireRed is my favourite.And also @elnino02 play the original games instead of being on this miserable place. As for MAL, I've reduced my activity by a lot (it's just open in the background on my PC while I'm working or something). |
| I finally finished Diamond and Pearl Adventure! Made a review on it if anyone's interested and/or curious about this manga, enjoy: https://myanimelist.net/reviews.php?id=434558 |
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| I started to collecte and read Pokemon Adventure Collector's Edition series. I'm 20 chapters in with the first volume and it's really fun. :) I liked it alot more than the anime with Ash. I only miss Jassie, James and Meow from the Team Roket. xD The main Character was Red with a Pikachu, Pollywarp, Bulbasour so far. He cought some other Pokemons but his go to Pokemons were these three. Blue was Red's rivale and he had charmaleon as his main Pokemon. There was a girl called Green, she was a mischivious thief. Her main Pokemon was Jigllypuff. The thing is Red had Pikachu, Blue had Charmaleon and Green had Jigllypuff... But wan't it supposed to be Red was fire so he should have had Charmender as his begining pokemon. Blue is water so he should have had Squertal as his begining pokemon and Green was grass so she should have had bulbasour as her begining pokemon ?!??!? what were they smoking?!?!? xD HA HA |
DotanukiMar 5, 2022 2:56 PM
 Erenbus_Akeldama said: no Dragevard, the Pokémon Adventure Red Chapter romhack doesn't count.Does it count as I read the Pokemon Manga if I played the Pokemon Adventure Red Chapter romhack? ... reading hentai doujins doesn't count either. |
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Pokémon Adventures (~60 volumes) Also known by its Japanese title Pokémon Special, this is arguably the most popular and easily available Pokémon manga out there. It's also the longest manga on this list, which makes sense since this series actually takes each mainline Pokémon game and reinterprets them. Yes, that means the series starts with Red and not Ash, and yes, the series even adapts remakes! I haven't read much of this one so I really can't talk about it, but I do know that it is really well received by the Pokémon fanbase. if I were to talk about Adventures I feel like it's able to make so many callbacks to the game without it isolating people who have played the games this is a series I read back and forth when I was a kid grabbing my grandmothers hand and I got the chance to be on both sides of that spectrum obviously to varying degrees it's been a while since I retouched Adventures but I love how it makes the seperated regional games feel connected in a way that the games never reached and probably could not reach farther beyond optional battles with previous characters the most notable being Red in HG & SS and Cynthia in Black and White but like I said these feel more akin to callbacks each game just felt divorced and not interconnected since those games are about the individual region and the problems surrounding the region and the characters who live there although I will say the HG & SS games almost seem to be a melancholic aftermath which is why your able to explore Kanto and see all the changes most mentionable to me was Lavender Town which intially has a very creepy score but in HG & SS its changed to a more mellow and content that reflects the town going back to normal by way of the players actions in Firered, Blue, Leafgreen whatever just compare the two ost's there's also the battle system in FireRed with trainers using various kinds of techniques that extend way past the 4 move turn-based RPG system this helps so much in making the Pokemon more animated and unique as creatures as the trainers use the pokemons idiosyncratic traits to pull off maneuvers I remember one of my favorite moments was when Lt. Surge and Bill are about to fall into acid when his 3 magnetons magnetically link forming a cage that encapsulates them and prevents them from falling It adds wayyyy more character and I've always felt like the games albeit with great sprites at times don't fully characterize the loveable and distinctive creatures in a way that feels less of data in my party and more like a pet or companion or partner  |
KuroGFXMay 26, 2022 3:37 PM
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BoyBegtu said: I tried Pokemon Adventures, probably my favorite Pokémon manga since I haven't tried the others. Easily game vibes. yeah the world of Adventures feels very akin to the artstyle of the games especially the building designs and aesthetics it makes it feel like a world but without sacraficing the original vision of it |
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Crow_Black said: And now i'm planning on starting to read Pokemon Adventures, and its a pretty good read so far. And nope, not looking forward to the newer games as even with arceus being supposed course correction, don't really have any hope for any of the future games at all whatsoever. I just don't think they have any new ideas that can get me hooked maybe instead of progressing the series in a linear direction like creating a new region to explore and new pokemon maybe they can create some sort of side story series gale of darkness was one of my favorite spin-off games and mystery dungeon was also great that type of stuff I'd like to see especially in the hands of other game development companies |
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| Now that's an interesting find. Only one in this thread I had absolute zero knowledge of. |
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| I have fond memories of reading Pokémon Diamond and Pearl Adventures and Ginji's Rescue Team as a kid. Not sure if they hold up well anymore and I barely remember their plot but they kept lil’ me entertained. |
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Crow_Black said: I haven’t played it yet. I’ve only played Persona 4 many years ago on the vita lol. I’m going to give 5 a try when it comes out on PC.Monochrosanity said: I have fond memories of reading Pokémon Diamond and Pearl Adventures and Ginji's Rescue Team as a kid. Not sure if they hold up well anymore and I barely remember their plot but they kept lil’ me entertained. If you played, Persona 5 you may like Pokemon Phantom Thief as well too. Since it also has a phantom thief oriented storyline. |
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KuroGFX said: Pokémon Adventures (~60 volumes) Also known by its Japanese title Pokémon Special, this is arguably the most popular and easily available Pokémon manga out there. It's also the longest manga on this list, which makes sense since this series actually takes each mainline Pokémon game and reinterprets them. Yes, that means the series starts with Red and not Ash, and yes, the series even adapts remakes! I haven't read much of this one so I really can't talk about it, but I do know that it is really well received by the Pokémon fanbase. if I were to talk about Adventures I feel like it's able to make so many callbacks to the game without it isolating people who have played the games this is a series I read back and forth when I was a kid grabbing my grandmothers hand and I got the chance to be on both sides of that spectrum obviously to varying degrees it's been a while since I retouched Adventures but I love how it makes the seperated regional games feel connected in a way that the games never reached and probably could not reach farther beyond optional battles with previous characters the most notable being Red in HG & SS and Cynthia in Black and White but like I said these feel more akin to callbacks each game just felt divorced and not interconnected since those games are about the individual region and the problems surrounding the region and the characters who live there although I will say the HG & SS games almost seem to be a melancholic aftermath which is why your able to explore Kanto and see all the changes most mentionable to me was Lavender Town which intially has a very creepy score but in HG & SS its changed to a more mellow and content that reflects the town going back to normal by way of the players actions in Firered, Blue, Leafgreen whatever just compare the two ost's there's also the battle system in FireRed with trainers using various kinds of techniques that extend way past the 4 move turn-based RPG system this helps so much in making the Pokemon more animated and unique as creatures as the trainers use the pokemons idiosyncratic traits to pull off maneuvers I remember one of my favorite moments was when Lt. Surge and Bill are about to fall into acid when his 3 magnetons magnetically link forming a cage that encapsulates them and prevents them from falling It adds wayyyy more character and I've always felt like the games albeit with great sprites at times don't fully characterize the loveable and distinctive creatures in a way that feels less of data in my party and more like a pet or companion or partner You know coming back here and looking at your profile since you're also a fellow smt/persona fan. Maybe you'll like Pokemon Phantom Thief since it also has phantom thief premise like in persona 5 if you hadn't read it yet. |
Crow_Black said: You know coming back here and looking at your profile since you're also a fellow smt/persona fan. Maybe you'll like Pokemon Phantom Thief since it also has phantom thief premise like in persona 5 if you hadn't read it yet. may beh definitely looks idk how to say it After reading a couple chapters it feels somewhat similar to PkMon Adventures with the paneling and I think this artist is really similar to Satoshi Yamada the dude who illustrates the Pokemon Adventures Manga past Vol.9 when Mato quit I think it sometimes lacks that bubbly energy from Adventures and sometimes feels like some pokemon are drawn too stoically while others like Mime Jr are given more expressive detail I could see myself reading this in one sitting on a off day thanks for the recommendation |
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Crow_Black said: I liked, the Genius Sonority games as well too and i would like to see them, take over the mainline series as well as op sharing that kind of sentiment i have as well with the future games. And regarding different dev companies, platinum games i think would be cool to see them throw their hat in the ring. It feels a bit similar to Star Wars in some sense where Lucas Arts came out with a bunch of different Star Wars games which were honestly really fun Jedi Knight Force Unleashed 1 and 2 Republic Commando Battlefront 1 and 2 Knights of the Old Republic 1 and 2 and I just felt like all of these games were pretty unique either using the World Building for new stories that explored a myriad of different themes or using the concept and premise to create games with fun gameplay like Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy which to this day has some of my favorite type of motion in video games and just feels right to play even if it is a bit awkard sometimes in fights |
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| Pokemon Adventures/Special was actually my first exposure to manga as a whole. |
Some of you never watched Bakugan Battle Brawlers on TeleToon in 2008 and it shows. |
Crow_Black said: Pokemon has experimented with quite a bit of genres over the years from puzzle,racing,pet raising as well as also the roguelike genre as well too. And i have mystery dungeon for the switch which i've beaten last year and i personally found it fun, still need to get around to the ds games when i could be able to afford them. Kirby as well too, experimented with genres as well from racing to puzzle as well. The DS era of games was extremely experimental at times with what games it was able to release onto that handheld I wonder if handheld games have more creative freedom at times than the console title releases |
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Lucifrost said: It makes me sad that you did not acknowledge the 1st and longest running Pokemon manga, Pokémon Pocket Monsters. The protagonist has a clefairy. I decided I would like to read this someday. I unfortunately do not have access to raws. |
| その目だれの目？ |
Lucifrost said: Lucifrost said: It makes me sad that you did not acknowledge the 1st and longest running Pokemon manga, Pokémon Pocket Monsters. The protagonist has a clefairy. I decided I would like to read this someday. I unfortunately do not have access to raws. You don't want to read it in English? It's getting translated. |
I don't know the rules for linking stuff here, but something like a manga pokedex could be what you're looking for. |
Lucifrost said: @Kazzeon I did look for something like that, but found no indication the series is being translated. It's hard to find between the myriad pokemon stuff, but it's there. Doesn't help that it's just called pocket monsters and the translation is new so it doesn't show up in mu yet. |
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