Pokemon Adventures, Vol. 40

Pokémon Adventures #40

by Hidenori Kusaka, Satoshi Yamamoto (Illustrator)

The final chapter of the battle at Distortion World draws near! Giratina, master of the antimatter world has many well-kept secrets - one of it being its ability to change forms depending on the conditions! How will our heroes deal with this aspect of Giratina without faltering? Entry to Distortion World is finally possible, but what shocking discoveries will they make in this world so unlike the world they've known before? One by one, legendary Pokemon start showing up and joining in the battle. The legend of legends has begun, and you don't want to miss it for anything in the world!

Genres: Manga, Graphic Novels, Fiction, Fantasy, Adventure, Comics, Video Games

226 pages, Paperback

Published September 1, 2012

About the author

Created the Pokemon Adventures series.

Also made a Pokemon Rangers/ Almia manga. It is based on the game Pokemon Rangers, Shadows of Almia

Also known as : 日下秀憲

Reviews

[Cookie · Rating 5 out of 5]

While I read lots of manga, I usually don't review them, except when they are exceptional (for eg The Promised Neverland). Well, I'm glad that I enjoyed this one so much that I just had to review it.

Side note this is a review of the entire Diamond, Pearl and Platinium arc, not just this volume.

I have to start by saying that the first volume (French edition wise which compiles the first 19 chapters) is only okayish and rather childish. While I found them amusing at first, I grew quickly bored of the continuous jokes of Dia and Pearl. The story was also the usual, following the same pattern as all the previous Pokemon adventures routine.

However, as from the second episode onwards, the quality really improves! I loved it to bits. Everything : the characters, the storyline, the villains were all excellent! In my opinion, this story really sets itself apart from the other stories and departs from the usual tropes.

There are so many ways this arc distinguishes itself from the previous ones in a very enjoyable fashion : first we get a real group journey (not the usual sole trainer with Pokemons) which leads to the building of a great friendship that feels true and real. Then the characters themselves are really fleshed out and different from our usual MCs : for eg Dia more of a subdued character as compared to the usual alpha, all powerful main male character. Pearl and Dia don't have a Pokemon centric goal involving getting stronger either and for once are not rivals. This leads, in a very ironic way, to the best thing about this arc : that there is more focus on characters than on Pokemon. The Pokemon are important but the author takes more time in developping the characters and depicting a nice story.

Even side characters like the bodyguards who seem like comic relief at first end up growing on you and being developped into very nice characters. The villains are not weak and the heroes don't magically win against them (quite the contrary in fact). Plus even the bad guys end up maturing and learning.

I also loved how the trainers lent, used and gifted each other's Pokemons. It was refreshing to see such a change. Plus it is worth mentionning that if Pokemons were not the main focus here, they were very often fleshed out too with individualities and quirks which I loved.

The story is by no means perfect. It still has a lot of flaws, whether big or small. For eg the gym battles, and in particular the battle towers/castle etc at the end are a drag and kinda repetitive. Also in the last part there is way too much unnecessary characters.

But this arc was very refreshing in it's plot and characters. There was also lot's of twists and the atmosphere towards the finale was built masterfully, always charged with tension and epicness.

The good really overshadows the bad with this one. It's forte definitely lies in it's character development and in the ability to spin a formulaic story which many readers already know into an original, engaging plot. If the quality keeps up, I'm pumped to see the next arcs!

While the previous arcs have already mostly faded in my memories, this one will definitely stick for some time!

[Tommy · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Last book in this arck of Pokemon Adventure I found It to be Realy fun! It all raped the story up perfectly with every thing happening. Realy good book

[Evie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am a big fan of Pokémon adventures/special and I wish more Pokémon fans knew about it, I have read all of the books up to the x&y series and I love them all but diamond and pearl platinum is definitely my favorite. I love all of the characters even the strange and quirky side characters like Uji and Paka (lady’s real bodyguards). I enjoyed that the art style changes to be more dark and sinister when Cyrus is on page, and that you really get the chills from some of the villains (Sird) unlike team rocket in the t.v. Show. I love how the characters interact with each other and seeing their differences.each of the three main characters have different Pokémon they connect with and the Pokémon symbolize different things, Diamond (Dia) symbolizes emotion, Pearl symbolizes willpower, and Lady symbolizes knowledge ( surely due to her reading at least about a dozen books a day). Overall the art is wonderful (thank you Satoshi Yamamoto) the characters and story are wonderful (arigato gozaimasu Hidenori Kusaka) and the whole book is wonderful so if you haven’t read it you should and if you have read it you should read it again. Thank you

P.S. there are jokes too, some are funny, some make no sense, and some are bad. That doesn’t mean I haven’t gone through and written every joke down but that just shows how good it is.

[Timothy Pitkin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not bad but I do have a few problems with how Adventures handles the Diamond and Pearl storyline. I do not mind the new backstories as it seems with Pearl that they copied some aspects from his Anime counterpart but I questioned why they kept Platinum's name hidden for so long as it is not that big of a reveal. Also I found the liar revealed storyline also kind of pointless as it lasts for a just a couple of chapters before it is completely forgotten. Also Cyrus was a cool villain but they replace him with Charon who is not that great of a villain. While the battle in the distortion world was really cool I do wish that this Manga would actually use the Elite Four members more as it seems they always get smooshed into the last couple of volumes without anything really done with them. Also sad to see the Volkner storyline changed but I do appreciate that they did more with Cyrus then they did in the original game just wished Charon was a better villain.

[Flowergirl · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Platinum arc was wonderful. Though the battles all felt a bit rushed. Especially when they had 3 in one book. There wasn't really much time to explore it further, and wasn't much time for the story either.
I loved the final battle though, I enjoyed Palmer and Pearl's reunion. Seeing their relationship together, Pearl just as energetic as always.
Diamond, Pearl and Platinum all together again to battle Giratina and save the bodyguards, it felt a little anticlimactic, however I still really liked it.
All the legendary pokemon together was a really cool moment which I loved.
This was a great ending to the sinnoh arcs, everyone was wonderful, it was really well written and I can't wait to read the next story.
I also really loved Looker, he was a very interesting character with quite a bit of personality, he was also very fun, he reminded me of Pearl in some ways.
The Cyrus addition in the last book was quite unexpected, though not entirely surprising.

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

I picked up this volume, after just finishing volume 10, and I genuinely dreaded reading it, but I had started the story, and I wanted to finish it. Many things about this series didn't make sense, and I found myself missing the story line from Kanto and Johto, which were very different from the games, often shockingly so, and so very intriguing. Also, I was unable to connect with any of the character in this Pokemon series, especially Platinum (who really annoyed me). Diamond was probably my favorite, but even that would be a stretch. The final volume also brought in far too many legendary Pokemon story lines at once, and I found that annoying too. Basically, there were a couple good things about this series, and this final volume, but so few that they aren't really worth mentioning.

[Rhys Causon · Rating 4 out of 5]

More like a 3.5 I guess because as big as this part of the story is that’s part of its problem, there are so many characters it’s easy to lose track of who’s doing what and against which villain.

But the Platinum story concludes in a better way than the Diamond and Pearl part with each characters story feeling like it has ended (for now) in a proper manner and decent place.

I’m not sure when I’ll get around to reading the next arc, HeartGold and SoulSilver, but as that is going back to characters I know I like already I’m looking forward to getting around to it.

[Kane · Rating 4 out of 5]

The epic "conclusion" to the Platinum saga. The reason I put quotation marks around conclusion, is because it hints at the Unova manga, as well as an epilogue about Gold from the GSC saga, with reference to the HGSS saga. Very interested to see what that one will be like, if I ever get around to reading it.

[Raye Porter · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5
This is not my favourite Pokémon series. I really liked Dia out of the three main characters, Pearl got less annoying and I wish there was more time to see how great a battler Platinum was as you only saw her in the boss battles.

[Kurtis Burkhardt · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love all of the Pokémon games and the anime!! This Series is pretty awesome and I recommend to anyone that loves Pokémon 😻😁👌💕💕

[Afonso]

This book is cool before because it has some of the good pokemon

[Lauren · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoy pokemon so this was a fun read and an interesting fit to the game series.

[David Doel · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first five volumes of this series were pretty enjoyable. After that, there was too much Pokemon battle and less to grab onto. I guess I like the people stories!

[Ronin Reader · Rating 4 out of 5]

70% of the ending felt really rushed and convenient, and was still pretty weak. The final page made me smile tho!

[Nick · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book continues the Battle Frontier saga. While the battles themselves feel very rushed, at the least the Heatran/Giratina plot is kinda interesting.

[Sakura · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this series so much- the art is so pretty, and the plot was wonderful. It's full of lovable characters- I would recommend!!

[Jessi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cynthia's back! Yay! And she and Granny are perfecting Draco Meteor which I'm sure will come into play later.

Anyway, Diamond and Pearl are confronted by Giratina in Eternia City and Regigigas is just chomping at the bit to take him on. Unfortunately, Charon and Heatran also join the fray and overpower the boys leaving Diamond critically injured and disappeared??? I'm not crying! You're crying! Lax's shocked face! And all the pokemon are crying in their pokeballs. Ugh, my guts! Regigigas brings in all of Rotom's equipment and they take a last stand sending Giratina and Charon back through the portal. Meanwhile, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn also go into the portal to look for Cyrus.

Riley takes Platinum and a group to follow the spy machine back to it's owner. It leads them straight to the the mind controlled super grunt who's turned now that he's in his right mind again. They also meet up with my girl, Marley, and Shaymin, who is the cutest thing in existence. Super Grunt leads them all to the portal in Turnback Cave, and Platinum finally gets to meet the men who were meant to be her bodyguards all along. Pearl joins them through the portal as well and reunites with his father who insists he call him Daddy, and it is just really ridiculous sounding.

Oh look! Diamond's not dead! He was just sent to Distortion World. Cyrus is there with him, and he's apparently had a long time to think since being imprisoned there and now feels the world is just fine the way it is. They join forces to release Dialga and Palkia from the rocks(?) they're trapped in, and they get to ride on them to go find the others. Freaking lucky! Pick up Pearl who is obviously thrilled that Diamond's still alive. Reunite with the rest of the gang, and there's this beautiful moment when Diamond and Pearl return Uji and Paka's sunglasses to them. Mesprit, Uxie, and Azelf are also there and the kids get their pokedexes back. Yay!

Y'all, then it's just a straight up brawl. Regigigas vs Heatran, Volkner and Flint (oh yea, they're there, too) vs Giratina, all the legendaries swarming around. Giratina and Charon escape through the portal and Cynthia nails them with a fully realized Draco Meteor. So epic! Break Charon's pokemon frequency controlling device, Giratina goes home, Dialga and Palkia wonder off, Cyrus and his admins go their way, the kids get a mysterious egg from Fiore to hatch, and all is right again.

There's a mention of Gold at the end that I think alludes to Heart Gold Soul Silver, so I think maybe that story is meant to be happening at the same time as this story because there's also a reference to Diamond and Pearl at the end of Heart Gold Soul Silver. So, hmmm.

[Jeffrey · Rating 2 out of 5]

The final volume of Pokemon Adventures: Diamond and Pearl/Platinum sees the heroes drawn into the Distortion World to face Charon, the rogue member of Team Galactic, and Giratina the legendary pokemon who's apparently

[Miguel Vega · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this manga. With this the Diamond/Pearl/Platinum chapters ended and I must say that I really enjoyed the characters in this chapter(s), especially Diamond. Lady Platinum Berlitz was also a very interesting character and all around, it was fun seeing these characters grow through their journey. I liked it but didn't liked Charon as a main villain as I thought his goal was very weak compared to previous main villains (Giovanni, Lance, the Masked Man, Archie, Maxie, and Cyrus).

Liked the set-up for the Black and White chapter, with Looker going off to investigate the Seven Sages of the Unova Region.

[Nancy Gabriela Montenegro · Rating 5 out of 5]

So many things at once happening that kept me on edge. Even though I knew the conclusion from the anime, it was changed for Team Galactic and the other characters. Amazing art and story! I am so excited for HeartGold and SoulSilver! I hope the 10 original Pokedex Holders meet the Sinnoh Pokedex Holders, it would be a dream come true!