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I feel sorry for both "Pokemon + Nobunaga's Ambition" and Meloetta
February 27th, 2012

Dogasu @ 00:19 JST --  The April 2012 issue of CoroCoro Ichiban! came out on Tuesday.  Here's a summary of the Pocket Monsters Special chapter that was printed inside.


Also, if you haven't checked it out yet, take a look at this thread over on Bulbagarden that offers a very convincing argument regarding the true identity of the Dark Trinity.  Very, very interesting stuff there.

The List of TV Episodes has also been updated.

Now, yesterday morning's news.  First, there's the announcement of Pocket Monsters Black 2 and Pocket Monsters White 2.


So, what are these?  Sequels, the way Gold / Silver / Crystal were sequels to Red / Green / Blue / Yellow and how Pokemon XD was a sequel to Pokemon Colosseum?  A remake, like Yellow, Crystal, Emerald, and Platinum?  We don't know yet!  The only things we do know are the titles and the mascot pokemon; anything else you hear out there is pure speculation.

There are a couple of interesting things I noticed about these games that makes me think Game Freak isn't done with the Generation I callbacks that they started doing with the original Black & White.  One, these two games will give Generation V four non-remake main series games, the same number of games Japan had back in Generation I.  Two, I'm thinking the way they simply added a "2" to the titles of these two DS games is a reference to the original Pocket Monsters 2, the working title for Pocket Monsters Gold and Pocket Monsters Silver.

Next, there's the (quiet) reveal of Meloetta and what appears to be the return of the Pikachu shorts.


All we have is a logo from a new poster for the upcoming movie (which also happens to feature Black Kyurem and White Kyurem, because apparently this movie isn't going to be crowded enough as it is).  A bunch of old pokemon are there with Meloetta, so maybe this short will be their way of celebrating the series' 15th anniversary?

Whoops!
February 19th, 2012

Dogasu @ 23:32 JST --  So I kind of forgot to make a main page within the Pocket Monsters Special section that links to the two comparisons I did in the last update.  This has since been remedied.


Also, the Viz website has been updated with the (tiny) cover art for Volume 6 of Pokémon Black and White.  Based on the page count listed on Amazon.com, I'm thinking this volume will contain four chapters:  the chapters from the August, September, and October 2011 issues of CoroCoro Ichiban! as well as the chapter printed in the July 2011 issue of Shougaku Yon-Nensei.

I'm more or less finished with my Rival Destinies opening theme comparison.  I want to hold off on posting it, however, because I still feel like I haven't really had enough to get used to it yet.  Like right now - I can't even hum the melody of the damn thing, and I must have listened to it a half a dozen times by now.  I don't want to post an essay that's basically one huge knee jerk reaction, so I'm going to wait a little while and then revisit it to see if I still feel the same way then that I do now.

Why isn't it "Pokémon Adventures Black and White"?
February 16th, 2012

Dogasu @ 06:42 JST --  I've finished the edit lists for the first two volumes of Viz's Pokémon Black and White! 


Isn't it strange how it's taken me this long to finally do a manga comparison?  I do edit lists of the animated series all the time, but this whole "reporting on the differences between the Japanese and English versions of a comic" thing is new to me.

I'm really interested to read what you guys think about these first comparisons.  Do you like the format?  Are they easy to read / understand?  Is there anything I should do differently?  Let me know!

The most predictable update ever
February 13th, 2012

Dogasu @ 22:51 JST --  This summer's Best Wishes movie has a new title.  Can you guess what it is?


Keldeo being in this movie would have been exciting if we hadn't all been predicting this for the past few months.

I've updated the Kyurem vs. The Sacred Swordsman Keldeo page as well as the Character Bios - Pokemon page.

"Purrloin: Colon or Comma?"
February 11th, 2012

Dogasu @ 07:43 JST --  I have about a week before Season 15 debuts.  Is there any way I'll at least finish up the comparisons for the remaining Nyagotiator Nyasu episodes and the Rocket-Dan Subway two-parter before then?

Probably not, but I'm willing to try anyway!  Here's the comparison for "Purrloin: Sweet or Sneaky?"


I don't know what it was, but a lot of the "jokes" in the dub just went over my head.  Can any of you guys figure out what that weird "Meowth's code" and "menu substitution" things are about?  I honestly have no idea what the hell they were talking about.

Also, 100 Internets to those of you who know what I'm referring to in the title of this update post.

The List of TV Episodes has also been updated.

Thirty-six "Pocket Monsters Special" summaries
February 8th, 2012

Dogasu @ 23:57 JST --  Remember how I posted a summary of "Chapter One" of the Black & White chapter of Pocket Monsters Special way back in January of last year?  And then haven't done anything with the series since then?


Well, today I'm finally able to get that section up-to-date.  If you click on the image above, you'll be taken to a page that contains summaries of all 36 chapters of Pocket Monsters Special - Black & White that have been released in Japan so far.  Since this series is released out-of-order for some ridiculous reason, I decided to just separate the chapters by the magazines in which they were first printed and leave the rest up to you.  I've also made a note of each chapter's release date, any behind-the-scenes information I was able to find (thanks to the blog the creative team puts on the series' official website), and the title of the corresponding chapter in Viz's English translation. 

Speaking of the Viz translation, I plan to post lists of the edits made in the Viz edition very shortly.  I'm actually about halfway done with that (I've got most of the scans ready, for example) and hope to be able to finish it up by the weekend.

Once that's out of the way, I can begin work on getting some of the other manga pages up-to-date!

"Meowth's Scrafty Tactics!"
February 6th, 2012

Dogasu @ 00:56 JST --  Want a new comparison?  Sure!  Here's my write-up for "Meowth's Scrafty Tactics!"


There was a lot going on in this episode, but I think the comparison managed to discuss just about everything worth talking about.  Hopefully you all will agree.  Be sure to leave me feedback via e-mail, Twitter, or Bulbagarden.

I've also updated the List of TV Episodes with some new episode titles.

A bunch of manga series just ended
February 3rd, 2012

Dogasu @ 21:33 JST --  The final issues of Shougaku San-Nensei ("Grade Three") and Shougaku Yon-Nensei ("Grade Four") were released in Japan today.


As reported back in December, the two magazines are being canceled because of low sales a desire to focus on finding new ways to meet the needs of today's kids.  Shougaku Go-Nensei ("Grade Five") and Shougaku Roku-Nensei ("Grade Six") were already canceled back in 2010, so only Shougaku Ichi-Nensei ("Grade One") and Shougaku Ni-Nensei ("Grade Two") are left.

"Grade Four" is one of the three magazines (along with CoroCoro Ichiban! and Pokemon Fan) that runs Pocket Monsters Special.  Now back in the Diamond & Pearl days, the series ran in the "Grade Five" and "Grade Six" magazines.  When those two got canceled in early 2010, it was decided to continue Special in its current publications so the number of chapters we got each month wouldn't decrease.  This time, however, publisher Shougakukan hasn't said a word about the series moving to any other publication,  so this most recent cancellation means we'll be going from two chapters a month - three on the random months that Pokemon Fan is released - down to one chapter a month.  That sucks.

I guess this also means Viz is going to have to start slowing down at some point since they're looking at having twelve less chapters a year to translate.

"Grade Three" runs Pocket Monsters BW Good Partners, and that series happens to be ending its year-long run in the magazine's final issue.  And Pokemon Battle Stories, which runs in the hasn't-been-canceled-yet "Grade Two" magazine, coincidentally ended its year-long run this month as well.


So at the end of all this, the only Pocket Monsters manga series still running in Japan are Anakubo Kousaku's Pocket Monsters, Pocket Monsters Special (at a greatly reduced frequency), and Pocket Monsters RéBURST.  I'll keep Pocket Monsters BW Good Partners and Pokemon Battle Stories under the "Currently Running Series in Japan" heading on that front Manga Guide page until the end of the month.