VIZ Media released the sixth volume of Pokémon Adventures Collector’s Edition last month and they were kind enough to send me a copy to read. I am loving this opportunity to read the manga. It’s got great stories that I wish were actually included in the main games. The manga was written by Hidenori Kusaka with art by Satoshi Yamamoto.
Trainer Ruby must battle his scariest opponent yet—his father! Meanwhile, Sapphire is having trouble getting in her quota of Gym battles. One Gym Leader wants to just hand her a badge without a proper fight, and another has been…kidnapped?! Behind the scenes, it looks like Team Magma, with a little help from Team Aqua, might be the reason Ruby and Sapphire are on a losing streak!
I’ll be honest, I don’t like Ruby. He’s a bit of a brat and can be very annoying. I don’t mind that he’s all about Pokémon Contests, though. In fact, I really appreciate the change of pace there. The problem is with how obsessive he is about them. It’s also annoying how good they made him at battling. Why did the people in the Pokémon world decide that 10 and 11 were good ages to send children into the wild? A lot of his problems could’ve been avoided if he had just had a little more patience.
Outside of how annoying I find Ruby, the story is actually very interesting to read. We have Team Aqua and Team Magma causing problems and fighting each other. This creates mystery behind the two and people can’t tell which is good and which is evil. Spoiler alert, they’re both evil. One thing that I don’t understand though is that Dr. Cozmo talks about how life depends on the ocean, but apparently doesn’t think about all of the life that lives on land like humans. It just doesn’t make much sense if I’m honest.
All of the characters are fun with the exception of Ruby and his father Norman who seems like he could stand to just chill. I do want to point out that I find it perfect that the Gym Leader who hands out the Balance Badge is the one Gym Leader who doesn’t choose between the two evil teams.
I had some reservations about this storyline and don’t care for one of the main characters, but it’s really turned out to be a lot of fun. If you love Pokémon Ruby and Pokémon Sapphire, you’ll definitely want to read this part of the manga.
