Pokémon as a whole always has this pervading sense of fun and childlike wonder, but also an underlying sense of dread and some contrasting, darker elements: animal abuse, villains with genocidal plans and Pokémon that are created out of the remains of other creatures being a few that come to mind. Well technically, if you use a Master Ball, that would work.Last thing to mention in this adaptation is the tone. These changes don’t really hurt the manga as a whole, but they definitely make one wonder why they were done in the first place. Finally, there are decisions like certain characters now being villains or people not believing in ghosts, even though Ghost Pokémon are scientifically proven to actually exist. Then there are stranger changes like certain types of moves not being effective against other types of Pokémon (Water having absolutely no effect on Grass types and Electricity somehow working on Ground-types), which can be a bit confusing. The small stuff includes: changes to where Pokémon are located in the wild (Kangaskhan is nowhere near Viridian Forest) and gym battles being really not all that important or focused on.

Now the changes and additions made in the first volume range from simple and small to rather big and important. The manga brings a big dose of familiarity for fans of the series, while also easing in newbies to the franchise on top of that, it’s not without its own new additions, surprises, and changes to the source material. The names of Red and Blue are taken from the titular games, the character and Pokémon designs are closer to the games (though the Pokémon designs are more a mix of the game and the show overall), familiar locations show up and even certain game events happen. Like I said, the Pokémon Adventures series is based more closely on the video games than the anime (though it does hit one maybe point or two from the show). From there, the kid sets out on a quest to meet new Pokémon and fill out his brand new Pokédex, while also meeting familiar faces from the games and facing down the imposing criminal organization known as Team Rocket. He’s looking to get better, which leads him to local Pokémon expert and researcher, Professor Oak. However, a run-in with a legendary Pokémon serves as a wakeup call for the kid. He’s pretty good and thinks very highly of himself.

In Pallet Town, there’s a local Pokémon trainer by the name of Red.

Pokemon adventures volume 1 in johto