Review: POKÉMON ADVENTURES COLLECTOR'S EDITION Vol. 9 Closes One Story and Begins a Very Interesting New One
The 10th and final volume of the Pokémon Adventures Collector’s Edition collection of manga is releasing in just a couple of weeks. VIZ Media was kind enough to send me the 9th volume recently, and I’ve got all caught up. This volume collects Pokémon Adventures volumes 25-27 and finishes the Fire Red & Leaf Green storyline before bringing us into the Emerald storyline (although the two are still connected). You can get your own copy from your local comic shop or wherever you like to buy physical comics. Pokémon Adventures was written by Hidenori Kusaka with art by Satoshi Yamamoto.
One of Team Rocket’s Three Beasts turns against their leader Giovanni and seeks to usurp his power. Silver learns a shocking secret about his family. Red and Mewtwo hazard a daring escape. And—whoa! The Team Rocket airship is about to crash-land! Plus, meet Trainer Emerald, who likes Pokémon battles but doesn’t like Pokémon!
Overall, the conclusion for Fire Red & Leaf Green is very fun and satisfying. The only thing that gives me pause is some of the crazy “science.” It’s just very weird and feels unnecessary. We do get cool fights and Silver in a very ridiculous outfit forced on him by Team Rocket. The very end creates a cliffhanger that forces you to read the next story, but I enjoyed that.
As for the Emerald storyline, it’s really enjoyable. We finally meet Emerald, Latios, and Latias with Jirachi on the horizon. The story also takes us to the Battle Frontier, a beloved feature of the Pokémon Emerald game. The various trainers at the Battle Frontier each have unique personalities that are fun, Emerald is an okay protagonist with Pokémon protagonist powers, and his secret mission is interesting. It’s also fun to see Todd, the photographer from the anime, be a main character as a reporter in this series. It’s a shame that he’s not very bright. I think possibly my biggest complaint is that the members of the Battle Frontier have Legendary Pokémon. It just seems a bit too much.
Volume 9 of the Collector’s Edition is a great penultimate book. I cannot wait to see how this ends, and I’ll be sad when these releases end. The Emerald storyline has me very interested, and I’m sure it’ll be a great finish to a 29-volume story.
