Review: POKEMON ADVENTURES Volume 7 Explores Motivations and Backstories

Pokémon Adventures Collector’s Edition Vol. 7 dropped in April, and VIZ Media have been kind enough to send me a copy to read. I’ve finally finished the manga collection and I thought I would share my thoughts. You can buy a copy of the manga from your local comic shops, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or anywhere else that you like to buy manga. The story is written by Hidenori Kusaka with art by Satoshi Yamamoto.

Ruby and Sapphire find out that Archie and Maxie, the leaders of evil Team Aqua and equally evil Team Magma, are using the Blue Orb and the Red Orb to control two Legendary Pokémon, Kyogre and Groudon. As the two Trainers struggle with their opponents, they also discover a mysterious connection between their own memories of the past. Can they figure out the secret in time to awaken three Pokémon that can save the day?

I love how Kusaka and Yamamoto bring the world of Pokémon to life. These are fictional worlds that feel like real places with real people. In this volume, the world goes to crap and people are treating it like a real disaster probably would be handled with rescue crews. People are worried about each other. There are some real human moments in this manga and I love it.

The characters continue to grow and evolve. We find out about Ruby’s backstory (and a little of Sapphire’s) and it does explain a lot. I’m not a fan of the trope used, but it works I guess. I struggle with the idea that Ruby and Sapphire wouldn’t remember the name of their parent’s really good friend. I would imagine that Norman and Professor Birch would’ve talked and stuff, right? I get that Ruby and Sapphire don’t have the connection of who each other’s parents are, but how popular are the names Ruby and Sapphire though? You’d think they would remember their parents talking about the other. I talk to my wife all the time about our friends and their kids. Is that weird?

We also find Wally helping others during the disaster before being called away to help with a huge moment in the story. I do really like Wally’s new respirator and look. It’s pretty awesome. I still don’t care for Norman’s attitude though.

I don’t want to spoil too much for anyone who hasn’t read the manga yet, but there is one point that I want to talk about with Pokemon’s third generation. I feel like there are too many legendary Pokémon in this generation. We’ve got the Regis, Kyogre, Groudon, Rayquaza, Latios, Latias, and Deoxys. I imagine that the last three will be used in the next storyline that covers Fire Red and Leaf Green, but it’s just a lot and feels a little cluttered. The Regis feel a little forced if I’m honest, especially since they do nothing but stall so far. Maybe that changes in the next volume though. I would love to eat those words.

I cannot wait to read how this story concludes though. I’ve really enjoyed the Ruby and Sapphire story more than I thought I would and am very intrigued by the last couple of pages as to what is happening. I’m just so confused by the arrival and relationship with one character that shows up at the very end.