Does Pikachu have a stand? The manga has a unique take on how and why Pikachu can surf. Did you know you could teach Pikachu to surf? Sip plot summary @ 6:40 We also talk about the inconsistent looks of Blaine the fire Pokémon gym leader.
Email: WeAppreciateManga@Gmail.com
120: Pokémon Adventures vol. 5
Chapters 53 to 65, 'Can't Catch Caterpie' and 'Karate Machomp'
Story by Hidenori Kusaka
Art by Mato
English Translation by Kaori Inoue
Lettering and touch up by Wayne Truman
With the disappearance of trainer Red it is now Yellow Caballero's job to team up with Pikachu and find him. Along the way Red's rival, Blue, teaches Yellow the ways of a Pokémon trainer before they head off on their journey. Soon Yellow has a short run in with members of a fractured team Rocket and eventually Yellow traces Red's previous steps to a hidden Tentacool nest within the ocean, a pocket of air holds the treasure of evolutionary stones and Yellow finds that three of the stones have already been taken.
Meanwhile an old ally of Red and Yellow's is the young Lady, trainer Green. She breaks in to Bill's house (the man who invented the Pokémon to PC transport system, remember?) and tries to find records of Red's Pokémon use, both Bill and Green learn that Red took out an Eevee, but before they learn anymore, they become attacked by Bruno of the elite four. With the use of Green's Blastoise they learn that the fight has been a distraction from the danger that Yellow is in.
Lance, the dragon pokemon expert and member of the elite four attacks Vermillion city whilst Yellow is at a surfing competition. Pikachu is almost abducted by Lance but uses the substitute move and learns how to surf, overpowering Lance which causes him to flee. After learning of Lance's manifesto of destroying humans for the benefit of Pokémon. Yellow asks Pikachu if siding with humans is something they want to do. Of course, Pikachu agrees to side with humans, because Pikachu is cool like that.
The Elite Four have spread out individually to make their attack. Bruno attacks Pewter city, Agatha attacks Cerulean city and Lorelei attacks Celadon city. Lance's whereabouts are unknown but Yellow teams up with Blaine to check out Cerise Island and see if Lance is there. Blaine intentionally gets to the island before Yellow and teams up with Blue at the shore. Once they travel inside the caves the two are ambushed, not by Lance but by the triad leaders of the Rocket gang. Lt. Surge, Sabrina and Koga! Yellow has yet to arrive.
Topics:
· Why Yellow Caballero works as a character!
· The "enemy mine" trope that James refers to pre-dates Star Trek, James talks about the third season finale of Voyager titled "Scorpion" where the crew need the help of an enemy in order to navigate Borg territory. The actual trope namer/codifier could be the 1985 Dennis Quad movie 'Enemy Mine' adapted from a Barry Longyear novella. That story also involves a war between humans and an alien race.
· A mention to Red's Poliwhirl evolving in previous chapters brings cohesion to an otherwise bizarre quest for Yellow. Poliwhirl is unique to the manga as Red's first Pokémon, where as in the anime and the Dengeki Pikachu (Electric Tale of Pikachu) manga it is Pikachu who is the first Pokémon that our hero owns. The reasoning behind this is that the lead creative designer of the '96 game, Satoshi Tajiri, considers Poliwhirl to be his favorite Pokémon. Which is unsurprising since Red is based on Satoshi Tajiri.
· The surfing Pikachu is a hidden feature in a few of the games in the series. When certain criteria are met, such as acquiring HM03 for example, you can teach Pikachu surf. There is also a hidden surfing Pikachu mini-game in Pokémon Yellow Edition.
Differences and Comparisons to other Media:
· Lance of the Elite Four has the name "Wataru" in his native Japanese appearance. Possibly derived from the word "Watatsumi", an ocean deity of Japanese creationist myth. In German translations he is given the name Siegfried, named after the dragon slaying hero of norse myth, mostly famous due to Wagner's Nebelunglied Opera. (Which you would have heard of if you watched the movie 'Apocalypse Now'). In English translations he is named after a weapon that medieval knights used.
· In this manga Blaine has it as a disguise but in the anime, he prefers to wear a short-sleeved shirt with hair on his sides sans the usual shades that cover the eyes. This is how Blaine was illustrated and looked like in the manual and early concept art. Blaine also has hair in the anime but will wear a wig and shades to disguise himself. In the '96 Gameboy game and later appearances on the trading cards he is fully bald and wears shades, like his first appearance in the manga. According to... Blaine's design is recycled from unused pixel art of what was supposed to be the president and head scientist/researcher of Silph co. The theory was that you would have a Pokémon battle with this character but it may have been scrapped since the goal was to save them, since when you first meet them, they are a hostage during Rocket's takeover of the Silph building, thus defeating the purpose of seeing them in battle graphics. On top of this, Blaine's original design has a military motif and may have been too much like Lt. Surge. In other words Blaine's disguise in the manga is a nod to his scrapped design. The Obsessive Gamer on Youtube has a video which goes in to better detail.
Blaine was a unique gym leader in that he would have his gym members battle you if you got his Pokémon trivia questions wrong and so he would test the players intelligence. In the anime he would test Ash by speaking in riddles.
Facebook
Instagram
Twitter
Official Website
Email
