When it comes to Pokémon, people usually think about the video games, the anime, or the trading card games. The manga is sometimes the last thing Pokemon fans think about. Some might not know it’s even a thing, even though it’s as old as the anime. Pokémon Adventures began way back in 1997 and now has more 60 volumes in print. Each arc features a manga-exclusive storyline that’s concurrent with the Pokémon generation. It’s an interesting series that follows the original protagonist, Red.
Next month, Viz Media is publishing the first volume of Pokémon Adventures: Red and Blue, Deluxe Edition. This version compiles the first 30 chapters into one behemoth. That’s nearly three full volumes of the original release. As someone who hadn’t previously read the manga, I was really surprised by the value. By the time I was ten chapters in, I was already thinking that it was one of the best manga compilations that I ever read.
This volume covers nearly all of the Red, Green, and Blue arc. It’s about Red’s journey across the Kanto region while constantly battling Blue and Team Rocket. But just like the games and anime, there’s multiple side quests that Red undertakes like teaching kids how to catch Pokémon and his quest to defeat all the gyms. This volume ends a few chapters before the end of the Kanto arc, but there’s still a ton of great content.
In total, this volume is nearly 480 pages. It includes not only the first 30 chapters, but a bunch of extra material at the end as well. Not only is that a lot of content and a good, original story, but I thought the pricing was great. You can get the hardcover edition of the book for $30, which I think is pretty fair for that many pages. The hardcover edition has a really neat design too, and you can order it here.
It isn’t a new story or anything, but I think it’s worth picking up if you never read the manga before or want a really cool version.
10/10