Why is this manga so shit? (At being adapted to anime I mean, no other franchise would miss the chance for such content)

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>>58624006
>actually developing Sapphire would make her more prominent than Ruby
This drives me insane because this is where the RS arc hit an impossible dilemma. You can see the point where "Kusaka already begged and begged his boss to let Ruby be the main character even though Ruby seemed faggy at first" started to clash with "oh shit wait Sapphire could actually be the more interesting MC"

Canon Ruby
>Ruby thinks physical beauty is more important than anything else
>has disdain for ugly people
>is ironically physically "ugly" himself (his scar)
>goes to extreme lengths to hide his scar from everyone
>the only way for him to change his worldview and grow as a person is to accept his own ugliness
>but it's hard to do it alone so the tipping point is Sapphire accepting and even seeing the good in his scar
>finally accepts his suppressed masculinity (scar = evidence of violence) through a positive relationship with the opposite sex (Sapphire)
>overcomes childhood trauma through relationship with a childhood friend who gets it

Theoretical Sapphire parallel (just one idea, doesn't have to be exactly this)
>Sapphire thinks physical strength is more important than anything else
>has disdain for weak people
>is ironically physically "weak" herself (has some form of disability)
>goes to extreme lengths to hide her disability from everyone
>the only way for her to change her worldview and grow as a person is to accept her own weakness
>but it's hard to do it alone so the tipping point is Ruby accepting and even seeing the good in her disability
>finally accepts her suppressed femininity (disability = vulnerability/helplessness) through a positive relationship with the opposite sex (Ruby)
>overcomes childhood trauma through relationship with a childhood friend who gets it

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>>58625125
Canon Sapphire
>claims she only cares about strong fighter Pokemon, yet doesn't discriminate against anyone weak
>the only one she was purposely rude to was Ruby but only at first since he's annoying
>had an aggression problem but never had an "omg she took it too far" moment and her tantrums were usually justified in context
>got blinded/went mute only to be cured in hours/days (since permanent disability would make her way more interesting than Ruby; a crippled life in the woods has objectively higher stakes than Ruby's "reeee I hate my dad")
>goes to extreme lengths to hide her "girly" feelings (like crushes) from everyone (yet was ready to spill her spaghetti to Ruby by volume 19 anyway?)
>the only way for her to change her worldview and grow as a person is to accept her own emotional vulnerability (no physical dimension)
>but it's hard to do it alone so the tipping point is Ruby accepting and even seeing the good in her vulnerable side
>finally accepts her suppressed femininity (openly loving someone = vulnerability) through a positive relationship with the opposite sex (Ruby)
>overcomes childhood trauma through relationship with a childhood friend who gets it
>gets locked in a car lmao

Canon Sapphire just feels unexplored. It's not that she should be bitchier (I like canon's "scary Tarzan brute is actually a socially awkward sweetheart" twist) or lose a leg, the point is she had just as much potential for deep character shit as Ruby did. She could've at least had a point where her worldview or just her view of herself was heavily challenged.

At the same time maybe she shouldn't have too much angst anyway, being the yin to Ruby's yang. Canon Ruby had a warped worldview partly because he already was a dick anyway. But Sapphire was always the relatively nicer one, so her canon personality would have to be totally inverted for her to actually believe in shit like "strong must eat the weak" Darwinism.

>>58625087
I dropped it around HGSS but Yellow is waifu

I like the theory that Spe Steven is blind
It also adds another parallel between him and Zinnia

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>>58625087
I dunno about best mon, but I do know who'd sit at the bottom of the pile

>>58625115
Because ashfags are the bane

>>58625087
>Best MC
Gold
>Best girl
Y
>Best ship
Ruby x Courtney and Black x White
>Best team
Tie between Dia's Team Fat as Fuck and Black's Bros.
>Best side character ships
Shauna x Tierno
>Best villain team
Plasma and Flare
>Best arc
The second half of Emerald. The worst is the first half lol
Also XY was pretty consistently good.

>>58625134
For Sapphire to work, she'd need more moments where her need to always seem strong and optimistic comes off as insensitive to the other characters. Perhaps her trying to shrug off Mt. Chimney upsets Flannery or her lack of shock over Stone's assault creeps out Gabby. Those incidents would lead to Sapphire learning openly showing "bad" feelings like sadness and fear isn't inherently wrong or weak. That she's shutting herself off from proper empathy.

Ironically, you don't even need to fundamentally change the story because this extends naturally to the enviromental crisis and Ruby. She's now learnt that it's ok to be vulnerable (to an extent, her walls aren't meant to collapse until Mirage Island) with her emotions and self-reflect every once in a while. So her apologizing to Ruby and getting upset all have more weight if they're as a result of lessons learnt.

Of course, Sapphire's achilles heel is that she's deeply emotional, so when she shows "negative" emotions, she goes all out just as much as when she's her usual self, so that's what leads to her cutting ties completely when Ruby refuses to help. Again, Sapphire's characterisation right up until the airlock is good, it just lacks a little bit of context. We just have to assume Sapphire learnt these things on the way.

Somebody in the May general pointed this out but it's a missed opportunity for Seviper's back scar to not have been permanent to parallel Ruby.

>>58625336
Kinda wish it had evolved into a Zoroark and settled things with Bo while the Dragons fought

>>58625087
Silver is the sexiest character

>>58625115
>Why is this manga so shit?
Gamefreak/Nintendo refuses to support the manga

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Is Moon gonna be referenced once every arc now?

>>58626713
Honestly, previous dex holders should be mentioned more often. To show what they’re doing after their adventures.

>>58626713
Considering she comes from an uber-rich family even before becoming a world-renowned researcher and businesswoman at age 12 (uoohhh!!!!) T_T, yeah I can see it. If Nemona had a public last name she'd be mentioned in the future due to her parent, I bet.

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>>58625519
>she's shutting herself off from proper empathy.
While this idea makes sense, I don't like it. The one who struggled with empathy in RS was Ruby, as he was so repressed he ended up dulling his ability to connect with others. The reason Sapphire was the kind one was to show how apathetic Ruby was in comparison. If they had the same issue manifesting in the same way, it'd feel redundant/tiring to read about.

What could've been emphasized was RS Sapphire's real problem, having tantrums when things didn't go her way. The big canon one was in Fortree when Ruby told her he was draft dodging. But she could have more fits where she's clearly unreasonable like with Wattson. Like Ruby, Sapphire had problems socializing, but instead of being unempathetic she's the opposite where she overreacts. Which could make her look unempathetic anyway since she can't control her temper. But as long as she doesn't let herself express "weak/girly" emotions like sadness/fear/love to vent, all her frustration just comes out as unregulated anger.

Another difference is that Ruby's the arrogant one. So when he's an asshole, he's more likely to ignore criticism and go "lol ok and?" which is why things got so bad for him in vol 19 leading to his breakdown. But Sapphire's normally a humble person. She's more likely to realize her mistakes when scolded or on her own, then feel like shit. The interesting part RS could've played up was her knowing she can't control her temper, yet is unable to stop it, as she's not even aware how repressed she is to begin with. So it keeps happening, hurting her friendships and she's secretly miserable. She might not end up as bad as Ruby but it'd still suck.

>you don't even need to fundamentally change the story
>Sapphire's characterisation right up until the airlock is good, it just lacks a little bit of context. We just have to assume Sapphire learnt these things on the way.
>Seviper's back scar
Agreed desu.

We need a pokespe anime. It will revitalize the franchise.

>>58625087
So where can I read Sun and moon, Sword and shield?

>>58625139
>HGSS
Just found out that HGSS and ORAS take place at the same time. How the fuck does that make sense

>>58628554
It doesn't and you were lied to.

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>>58628715
Then why do other forums insists that HGSS and ORAS do take place in the same year?

>>58628554
It's not, the remake arcs take place when the relevant dex holders are 16.
HGSS would be 3 years after Emerald.
ORAS is a year after HGSS, DPPt is 2 years after ORAS.

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>>58628731
>using """forums""" over the source material

>>58628945
>>58628945
So many time skips.

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>>58629551
The Sinnoh dexholders turning out to be around 8 years younger than the Hoenn dexholders ruined a lot of fan headcanons. The Kanto, Johto and Hoenn dexholders only have a few years difference in age between themselves (usually add 1 year between each gen) but it seems like Hoenn was the cutoff point before the big timeskip.

>>58628339
https://www.reddit.com/r/pokespe/wiki/read/

This is the only frequently updated guide I know of

how would a pokespe game be?

>>58630127
Depends on the arc, BW would be more or less the same game with a few story changes, whereas XY would be completely transformed

>>58628945
Depressing that we never get to see any of the protagonist from DPP and onward age along with the stories like RBGY, GSC, and RSE.

>>58625087
>Best MC Black
>Best girl White
>Best ship Agency
>Best team Team BW

>>58625087
Terrible art holy shit!!

please PLEASE don't post noncohesive shit like that (also @"artist" don't draw anymore give up)

The best ship is Red and Yellow.

>>58629726
Shame we didn't see a crossover with the gen 4-6 dexholders

>>58631185
I wonder why the crossovers stops. It was a big part of the six chapters.

>>58631212
Knowing what we do about the Emerald arc, the crossover of the Gen 1-3 dexholders probably was part of the editor salvaging the FRLG and Emerald arcs. The stone ending and Gold in E weren't even part of the original plan.

>>58630966
I hope that artist draws even more and continues to be posted here just to spite you

>>58631245
The crossovers are the best part

>>58630966
>>58631367
It's clear that the artist did this piece before the publication of the BW arc.
>Bianca has Tepig
>Black has Snivy
>White has Oshawott (and is also being chummy to N)

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Best MC: Yellow
Best girl: Yellow
Best ship: SpecialShipping
Best team: Team Green
Best side character ships: Blue's sister and Bill
Best villain team: Team Rocket
Best arc: Yellow Arc

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>>58625087
>>58632284
The OP artwork isn't even Pokespe fanart in the first place, it's just generic game universe fanart with Yellow thrown in there for some reason.
>"Red"'s hair is different from his Pokespe design
>"Red"'s Snorlax being that relevant
>"Red" and Yellow sitting together yet there is only one Pikachu
>"Green (boy)" riding Charizard like an inexperienced retard instead of standing on its back like a badass
>No connection made between the Ho-Oh and Blue (girl)
>"Gold" doesn't have goggles
>"Gold" not being the primary instigator of conflict but the opposite
>"Silver"'s hair is different from his Pokespe design
>"Crystal" doesn't have star earrings
>"Silver"'s red Gyarados pretending to be relevant
>Random Eusine
>No interaction between "Crystal" and the Suicune
>"Ruby"'s Mudkip doesn't have a cold
>"Sapphire" not having fangs
>"Ruby" and "Sapphire" wearing their least used outfits (orange/green) instead of their popular red/blue recolors
>Emerald isn't here at all
>Treecko not hanging out near Wally
>"Diamond" is skinny not eating food
>"Platinum" isn't wearing her diamond and pearl rings
>Lyra existing there at all
>Lyra implied to have Chikorita instead of "Crystal"
>Chikorita doesn't have a star necklace
>"Black" implied to have Snivy
>"White" implied to have Oshawott
>Bianca implied to have Tepig
>Only one Tepig
>"White" engaging in a pokemon battle/causing damage to the tree
>Cheren and Bianca pretending to be relevant
>N being an uwu dindunuffin
>That "White" and N interaction
>Almost nobody is hanging out with the friends they're closest to in Pokespe canon
Has nobody even realized this or was able to tell the difference, not even OP? NGMI

>>58632998
Why is the art shoujo.

>>58630572
i remember when the first pokespe storytime finished we tried to brainstorm some fangame with the pokespe dexholder which who would be a gym leader, E4, champion and all

>>58633964
Unironically, its the best type of art

>Some fag on Twitter is saying Spe Archie raped Maxie
Go back to the Arbok

>>58635254
Why are they trying so hard to make this manga edgy?

>>58629726
Why such a big timeskip?

>>58635856
You got a link to MATO's twitter?

>>58625087
Platinum is the best MC. Wish she would show up in the recent chapters.

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I hope we get more former villains turn protagonist in the future. That was my favorite part of BW2

>>58631245
You have to admit, emerald arc hasn’t been topped.

Which dexholder reunion would be the coolest?
Balck and Schilly comes to mind

>>58638019
Sinnoh and Alola to have Sun and the rest realize that Moon is probably richer than Gladion and Lillie

>>58637959
Emerald arc is pretty shit though. Reunion is pretty disappointing too.

>>58638588
>Emerald arc is pretty shit though
Maybe the first half, but the latter half is goated

>>58639013
Gold saved it
That's why Emerald's the one guy to actually respect Gold

>>58639018
Crystal saved it.

>a decade ago, the fandom was going strong
>Now; it’s barely kept alive
Will we have a comeback, or is this the end?

>>58636999
BW2 would have been better if Blake and Whitley were adults and not kids. Like I get it’s a shounen manga, but damn, Kusaka needs to grow some balls.

>>58636999
She wasn't that much of a villain. If anything, she was a dumb kid

>>58625228
Where this this theory even come from?

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>>58641212
>In the RS arc, Steven's dad sends an important letter to Steven, the letter has Braille code in it
>Steven teaches a blind kid to read Braille
>No other characters can read Braille
>Nearly all characters drawn by Yamamoto have detailed eyes with shading/highlights in their irises
>Blind kid is drawn with special eyes with no shading/highlights in his irises, to show that he's blind
>Steven's eyes are also drawn like the blind kid's
>This creates theory that pokespe Steven might be blind
Some panels seem to disprove the theory but it's still up for debate. I like the theory a lot personally but even I don't think it holds up anymore.

>>58640115
The Pokemon Company probably has a strict mandate against adult protagonists, if Y and her 12 year old double Ds didn't clue you in.

>>58642218
Yeah, I know, it’s still ridiculous to not have an adult, or at least teenagers as protagonists when it makes sense.

>>58639699
BW2 hiatus killed the fanbase so bad. As somebody that was actively there, people were just dropping interest in swathes.

>>58625087
Mangadex is taking ages to load pages

>>58643427
Works for me, you sure its not your ISP?

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The true OTP

Bump

>>58644523
>Yaoi
I get it, but why though

>>58644523
If we discount Gold, Black might be the straightest male dexholder in the series

>>58645927
I don’t know, Ruby is fucking Sapphire on the daily.

>>58646009
She fucking wishes. He's too busy playing dress-up with Wallace and Lisia, and doing cum tributes for Courtney's shrine.

>>58646009
Yeah, but the caveat with Ruby is that he needs lightning correction by his Dad every now and again in order to keep his fag behavior in check

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>>58645927

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>>58641254
Maybe he's not totally blind, but enough to be considered legally blind.

>>58646441
Moonbros...

>>58646535
We never recovered.

>>58646039
If you read RS, you'd know Sapphire is the one correcting Ruby by just existing because anytime he hurts her feelings, fate bends itself over just to fuck with Ruby.

>>58647540
>fate bends itself over just to fuck with Ruby.
As it should. Bro is fumbling Sapphire so hard

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>>58646535

So which berlitz girl is popping out the next generation first? Will platinum get knocked up with twins, one from dia and one from Pearl? Or will moon have suns baby first

>>58648683
Moon will have babies first. Platinum hasn’t shown romantic interest in anyone.

>>58646441
>Lillie as a yandere
What could have been

>>58649175
>yandere
Are you retarded? She's getting PTSD from getting called pretty due to Lusamine's abuse.

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>>58647540
>>58648089
Sapphire is Ruby's suicide watch, the fact he doesn't deserve her is partially the point. Sapphire's personal relationships are representative of her relatonship to Hoenn/the world which doesn't deserve her heroic sacrifices either. Ruby going nuclear would also destroy the world (RS goes on about how secretly powerful he is) so Sapphire protects them both by tardwrangling Ruby.

>>58649752
Gods. I need to reread the Hoenn arc again. Sapphire really was the greatest FMC.

>>58640604
>she was a dumb kid
With great tits and a great ass

>>58649175
Not really a yandere

>>58649972
Because Nintendo refuses to allow adult MCs

>>58649972
It's fun seeing that still alive in today's world.

>>58652031
I laughed, but also we were robbed. Kusaka you hack.

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Yamamoto needs to cool it with these official art

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>>58649918
Truth.

>>58653460
This is the Emerald arc, right?

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>>58653492
Yes. Have you read it yet?

>>58653526
Long time ago, been like half a decade now.

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>>58653528
Do you remember liking it? Or not?

For me I skimmed it again not long ago. Skipping the Emerald and Frontier Brain parts just to see the previous character cameos was a fun time. Excluding the Archie/Maxie stuff which was retarded.

>>58649918
>Sapphire really was the greatest FMC.
Yeah if we don’t include Yellow, Crys, Platinum, White, Y, Moon, Schilly, Scarlet…

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>>58653627
It could just be the places I lurk, but I've genuinely never seen dedicated fans of Special girls after gens 1-4. After Platinum the only girl I've seen who has a lot of fans is Scarlet, which tracks with some people claiming the SV arc has been an improvement over other recent mediocre arcs.
>White
Was always unpopular and even controversial at first because she wasn't even a trainer, unlike previous girls. It's Black and Agencyshipping that has a lot of fans.

>>58653627
Sapphbros...
We're above Blue!

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>>58653660
>Was always unpopular and even controversial at first because she wasn't even a trainer, unlike previous girls.
Pearls before Swinub

>>58653708
I forgot about Blue, she's above Sapphire too

Volume 65 fucking when?

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>>58653752
It got delayed again recently. Every few months Yamamoto comes out and lies to us about the release date yet again
>October 27, 2023
>January 26, 2024
>March 28, 2024
>May 28, 2024
>September 27, 2024
>December 27, 2024
>December 26, 2025
And now the latest date
>"TBD"

It's fucking over

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>>58653790
It could be worse, it could be so much worse

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>>58653719
Don't bully him.

>>58653727
She's above Whitley, at least, right?

>>58653866
Have you ever even seen a Whitleyfag on this board? Rosafags don't count.

>>58653866
Yes

>>58653727
Everyone is above sapphire

>>58653790
Christ almighty, just release it already.

>>58655460
The Pokemon Association has voted to delay the release of the Volume 65 files

>>58653660
>dedicated fans of Special girls after gens 1-4
Man, that hiatus really killed the western fandom. Don't know how strong the Japanese fandom is.

>>58656728
Cute yellow art.

>>58653790
I just want it out already.

I love Blue(female) one of my favorites fmcs in a manga

>>58653627
Y is my most recent FMCs.

I realized I don't have the sun and moon chapters, is there a rentry with a place to grab them?

>>58660624
No, and Weeb Central hasn't updated any new volumes.

>>58660646
Shame, guess I'll try and find the raws at least then.

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>>58657524
The Japanese fandom has always been the biggest portion of Pokespe fans. And newer gens naturally have their zoomer/gen alpha fans having their first Pokemon experiences. But to me it looks like gen 5-9 fans have nowhere near the amount of autistic obsession that the gen 1-4 fans had back in Pokespe's heyday (Gen 5 being the turning point is obviously split between the BW arc being popular and BW2 being the opposite). Back then JP autists were literally reading English language fanfiction and drawing fanart of it, as if they'd run out of JP fanfics to consume, and the EN fanfics weren't even that good.

I mean does Yamamoto still color fan favorite scenes and make compliations like picrel? I remember him live tweeting his coloring process on Twitter, back when he was still drawing traditionally and having to crumple up pages of failed attempts. Fans occasionally reminding him he got a character's colors wrong and shit like that, Yamamoto even using a translator to reply to English comments.

Or did he stop doing that because fans don't even fucking have favorite scenes these days, since no one is reading anymore?

>>58660757
Pokespe has fallen

>>58661100
Billions must release their pokemon

>>58657524
What was the PokeSpe fandom like during the '00s when Viz didn't do anything with it?

>>58662130
It was pretty hype

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How much longer do we have to wait

>>58662756
It's been that long? Jesus.

>>58625087
Is Oshawott trying to kill them all?

>>58664000
yes

>>58653802
Seven years...

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>>58662130
Less censorship for one. Also in the english language fanbase there were more asian fans, maybe even outnumbering western fans. So there was less whining about Yellow/Gold/Norman etc, less lgbt stuff. Like any fanbase it could get very cringe, but things were still better overall than now

Sapphire's problem that is that she's not treated seriously. She was given prominent roles until nearly the end of RS, then Ruby locked her away instead of let her stand by his side to face Maxie, Archie, and Groudon and Kyogre. And in ORAS everyone keeps info that the Delta Meteroid is approaching the planet from her, she had to learn it from Zinnia, and the shock of being betrayed that much temporarily rendered her mute. And then Steven Stone ran off instead of protect the rocket with her, so Zinnia was able to board it and defeat Sapphire and destroy the dimensional shifter. She spends ORAS either in the dark and watching her Pokemon her tortured by her allies for reasons she's not told or being defeated because she's not good enough to stand on her own.

I agree that she should've gotten a scar to match Ruby's, but I think that scar should've gone across her eyes from Salamence's attack on that rocket. Hell if you wanted to be more extreme, have the attack also blind her in that eye too. But show the difference; Sapphire wears her scars proudly and doesn't hide them like Ruby. She wouldn't let something like the loss of one eye get her down, she'd just put on an eyepatch and get back out there. Also it might finally break Ruby out of his mindset that Saph is a pure waif who shouldn't have to face the evils of the world, she's not and that's not the person she wants to be.

>>58665029
It was worth it.

>>58665257
None of the FMCs are treated seriously. With the exception of Yellow, but everyone thought she was a boy until literally the final few chapters.

>>58666094
Blue was good

>>58666099
Yeah, but that was due to her sex appeal.

>>58666094
Platinum seems to be treated seriously. She even beat Red and Sapphire in collecting all the badges.

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>>58665257
>Sapphire's problem that is that she's not treated seriously.
See >>58666094 the only girls who mostly got treated seriously were Platinum and Scarlet probably. PokeSpe is ultimately a shounen manga, and little Timmy doesn't want to read about how Sapphire the girl is cooler than Ruby the boy. The resulting story twists itself into nonsensical knots just to prevent Sapphire from outshining Ruby, even if it doesn't add up with the first half of the story or make sense thematically.

>watching her Pokemon her tortured
Desu Emerald went through the same thing and he was supposedly in the know. It's not followed up on much due to shit writing, but I think that point was more about Devon Corp's morally ambiguous attempts to save Hoenn (foreshadowing the later reveal of what Devon did to Aster)

>being defeated because she's not good enough to stand on her own
She was defeated because she has baggage specifically related to one pokemon, Salamence. So she lost to Zinnia's Salamence. She also lost to Tucker's Salamence back in the Emerald arc, before that she was (seemingly) on par with Ruby and Emerald reaching the Battle Dome quarterfinals. Though with the shitty plot always nerfing Sapphire anyway regardless of Salamence presence, it can be hard to tell she has a specific fear/weak point instead of a general "she sucks" weakness.

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>>58668201
>Ruby out of his mindset that Saph is a pure waif who shouldn't have to face the evils of the world
Problem is that this is Ruby's foundational truth in his head, it's literally the one belief he can't change. It's the core of his whole personality and a main conflict in the ORAS arc. Sadly a lot of this idea got lost in the VIZ translation, as it rewrote the line where Ruby states his fixation with the purity of Sapphire's heart (CY version: "I tainted her crystal clear heart"). It's a generic sounding line in a tiny panel, but in hindsight it explains most of Ruby's Sapphire-related insanity: her spiritual purity is the most sacred thing to him, taking the place where normal people have a more standard sacred cause like religion/nationalism/insert morality system here, which Sapphire is implied to have. This is hard to explain without my religious Sapphire schizo theory but I've already written way too much

Anyway even if Ruby stopped putting Sapphire on a pedestal (which based on the canon narrative, will never happen) he'd need another warped(?) belief in his head that he clings to fiercely. Because without mental problems, Ruby wouldn't be Ruby. Sane Ruby is the equivalent of Sapphire having 300 IQ, Gold working a 9-5 office job or Yellow being a city whore.

>she's not
Ackshually, she is. Sapphire becoming Lorekeeper in ORAS, the only one Fug doesn't try to kill implies she passed some mystical shit test. Considering how she didn't even do anything (getting sidelined) to warrant special treatment, what made her so special in Fug's eyes is implied to be inherent to her self. Apply Occam's Razor: what made her special is her pure heart, that's why Fug instantly liked her. She is literally the pure waifu.

This is the irony of Ruby being so obsessed with Sapphire's purity. He's right that she's special, what he gets wrong is what he does with this information (going mental and locking her in a car etc, going against destiny's will)

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>>58668225
>and that's not the person she wants to be.
Hot take but I think Sapphire does like Ruby doting on her, seeing her like his pure waifu. She likes its outcomes: she finds his strong protector side attractive, she likes all his gifts and she's always wanted a wedding (after RS she learned that being a girl, even a basic straight girl isn't 100% le bad). What she hates is Ruby interfering with her most sacred thing, her home region (Hoenn), like when he meddles with everyone's Hoenn-saving plans. And to a lesser extent (LESSER because hot take #2, Sapphire's a selfless moral person who values her country over her own autonomy/liberalism) she also hates being a burden due to trauma, and sometimes Ruby accidentally makes her feel that way with his schemes. These 2 conflicts are consistent across RS and ORAS regardless of other problems in the plot.

Sapphire walks a fine line between having a strong moral compass, while also wanting to date an idiot with poor morals, expecting him to live up to her ideals. This clashes with Ruby who just seems to want/need an emotional pacifier more than anything, like a Sapphire shaped teddy bear (since he's dead inside). Their different relationship expectations could make them incompatible if they don't communicate. But if they did and compromised, it could be fine since they both do want to be together. But ORAS shittily speedruns their conflict resolution so now we just have to post fanfiction to 4chan I guess.

I'm also not against one eyed pirate Sapphire in concept, but it just reminds me too much of the modern western girlboss trope (especially with female characters made to look more masculine with side shaves/impossible muscles and stuff) which I hate. It's a trope that would flatten the complexity of canon Sapphire, her whole point being much of her masculine behavior was a fake front due to trauma, that naturally she had a huge feminine side she had to stop burying if she wanted to stop hurting.

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>>58668243
To tie this all together, Sapphire's implied to have a pure heart because of the RS arc's theme of the relationship between male and female. The idealized female stereotype is associated with purity. Sapphire learning to accept her femininity reconnected her with her naturally pure heart. For this thematic reason Sapphire was also given a naive personality, as naivety is stereotypically feminine. Meanwhile Ruby, representing several male stereotypes is just fucked up on every level, as if he has a "corrupt" heart. He's selfish and lies and manipulates people even when his intentions aren't bad, because he's Sapphire's opposite, the same way male and female are opposites.

>>58668225
>religious Sapphire schizo theory
Explain it

>>58668243
Is that fucking Misty?

I think the manga should do its own thing mostly. The parts that aren't strictly abiding by the games are often the best parts of Pokespe

>>58668384
No

>>58666094
>>58668201
Kris
White
Y
Moon

How censored is the Viz version of the manga? I heard it ruins a later confession (Sapphire?) scene later on, among other things. Is it worth following for the HQ scans? Is it more translation differences or visuals too?

>>58670813
>How censored is the Viz version of the manga?
It's pretty fucking censored, even for the most minute things.

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Best woman

>>58671792
Isn’t she an idol now?

>>58672230
She work on pokestar studios

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he is literaly me

>>58670813
Just take a look how they ruin Scarlet's character

>>58674252
They didn't ruin her. They just clean up her dialogue to be a bit more kid-friendly

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Obligatory Agency post

>>58674928
>Obligatory Agency
I agree. Every Pokespe thread should be the Agency thread instead.

>>58674928
Shame they never got together.

>>58674928
I hope we get to see them in a different arc, too

>>58677932
Do we believe in her?

>>58678529
On pain of death

>>58678786
Yellow soon.

flop manga, pokemon is about ash, not ash nobody cares

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>>58668384
It's Wally's cousin Wanda. She was designed before HGSS Misty even existed
https://m.bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Wanda

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>>58670813
No Sapphire's confession wasn't ruined. 12 year olds don't really know what love is anyway.

Here's the easiest way to read PokeSpe in English right now and not go crazy:

>For volumes 1-63 (RGB - ORAS arcs)
1 - Read the official VIZ editions, they're fine (most complete and up to date translation, HD quality scans, names usually consistent with the games). The biggest downside is the shittons of censorship, even for small things they'll heavily edit the artwork. Also the retarded new chapter titles VIZ added, similar to the OS anime's English episode subtitles, thinking the manga's target audience is as young as the anime's.
https://weebcentral.com/chapters/01J76XYYRG8W76MF002FMBKCJ4

2 - If the censorship bugs you, then just finish reading one arc, then locate some manga autists and ask them if that arc was censored in any way. 50% chance they'll be helpful and give you censorship examples if any. Another 50% chance they'll just lie/make shit up/post edited screencaps because they haven't read PokeSpe themselves in 2 decades. (There isn't a censorship guide or anything out there AFAIK)

3 - If you don't want to do #2 and have a lot of free time, find the older translation from Chuang Yi and compare it to the VIZ version yourself. Note the CY versions stop at volume 41, the scan quality is bad, some names are weird and all the artwork is flipped. But it doesn't have VIZ tier censorship.
https://web.archive.org/web/20200213020740if_/https://jb2448.info/index.php?/category/1231

4 - If you're autistic and want to check the source yourself for proof of censorship, dig up the original Japanese raws too
https://dl-raw.ac/%e3%83%9d%e3%82%b1%e3%83%83%e3%83%88%e3%83%a2%e3%83%b3%e3%82%b9%e3%82%bf%e3%83%bcspecial/

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>>58680479
>For volume 64 onwards / ending of the ORAS arc / all arcs after ORAS
1 - Read the official VIZ mini-volume releases (if you buy them physically, these books are thin instead of thick). But these mini-volumes only have incomplete versions of the story, being published prematurely.

2 - If you can't find the mini-volumes either physically or online, look for links to online fan scanlations (of the magazine raws) that aren't dead/missing entire arcs. Good luck

3 - Give up and drink cyanide

>>58680479
Going from love to crush does ruin it.

>>58681207
In which version does the confession say "love"?

Where are the new sketchs?

>>58682769
What new sketches?

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>>58682926

>>58683906
When was this?

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>>58683906

>>58680488
I still believe in volume 64 getting released.

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>>58686196
>Volume 64 in Japanese is out
>Volume 64 in English is delayed
>Volume 65 in Japanese is delayed
>Volume 65 in English can't even exist yet
Keeping up with this manga is a fucking nightmare.

>>58680080
This is the main reason why I love PokeSpe.
Giving designs to unartworked characters.

>>58625087
I haven’t read PokeSpe since ORAS, and i can’t even recall the oldest chapters anymore. Maybe I’ll reread for a refresh, but I did like RS and BW.

>>58686414
>Japanese volumes
>final chapter of the previous arc in the first volume of a new arc
Why?

>>58687624
That's how its always been. It works as an epilogue and prologue

>>58686414
Why won't Nintendo just release their own magazine to publish their stories' manga?

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>>58686881
Based

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>>58689481

Bump

I have the entire collection in Spanish can't wait to read Scar Vio

>>58690753
How is the spanish translation? Been meaning to get the RGBY for my younger cousin

>>58691568
Pretty good, they're 100% faithful to all the terms in the Spanish version of the games. The old sagas come in bigger tomes too .

>>58625115
Early Pokespe is VERY divorced from how the games are like

>>58690632
>Gigi

>>58693310
cute fmc

I really like that the Mayfags in their own thread include Sapphire a lot in all the threads and sometimes use her as a cover photo.

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>>58688904
The magazine isn't the problem here, it's the manga supervisor refusing to approve pitches for 2-3 years straight.

>>58691863
It's not like RBY and GS had much to go off for a full manga story in the first place.
>>58694436
I don't even know what exactly is going on for the supervisor to say no. Is the volume's expanded ending going to be so "wtf" that it keeps getting rejected?

>>58694298
Sapphire is the best pokegirl.

>>58694298
I mean Sapphire is just an alternate take on May. It'd be like Misty threads only allowing anime interpretations in their thread. Or Serena threads doing so. Serena threads probably do do so

Tesst

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>>58697153
>spoiler
Anime Serena is seriously the worst version of the character yet she's the only version anyone talks about. I fucking wish people would talk about Special's Y instead. She's a literal sky trainer for god's sake

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>>58697199
Having used Y's team in an actual X/Y playthrough, she's realistically an atrocious Sky Trainer. One mid-evolution Fire/Flying-type for a type of gimmick battle that is absolutely ridden with Pokemon hiding Rock-type moves and other super effective moves that completely annihilate it. Really weird given that most other manga characters are generally quite well suited for their respective gimmicks. Emerald's teams in particular tap into specific Frontier mechanics, like his Phanpy having Pickup for the Battle Pyramid.

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>>58697246
Now that's some autistic dedication. Of course a lot of Spe logic doesn't translate that well to the games. Have you tried runs with the other dexholder teams?

I always liked how Green (m)'s team was always changing in his every appearance, since he's a serious type gym leader whose whole thing is training up new Pokemon. Yellow's team of shitmons made sense because she wasn't even a trainer at first, being a pacifist. Ruby's team of girlymons is hyper specialized for looking pretty in contests, while Sapphire's team of giant hulking monsters fit her goal of being tough enough to take on all the gyms. Diamond had a team of tanks and Pearl had a team of speedsters. And so on.

Emerald's team was also symbolic of his seniors' teams, with his Snorlax/Sudowoodo/Mr Mime pairing up with the opposite gender ones that Red/Gold/Crystal had, probably setting up some gen 4 tie-in that never panned out (with Munchlax/Bonsly/Mime Jr eggs). It was all probably a way to symbolize the end of the 3rd gen while also connecting it to the upcoming 4th gen as the DP arc started rught afterwards.

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>>58697246
>>58697285
I’m still trying to figure out the logic behind White’s team. Other than Vullaby being a Pokestar Studios tie-in and a parallel to Black’s Braviary, I can’t make heads or tails of it

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>>58697486
I think Kusaka stopped giving as much of a shit around gen 5 to be honest. Unova broke tradition by having 3 starters but 4 MCs, weird sequels and a canonical timeskip and also Cheren and Bianca exist. It's like White just got whichever random leftover mons were unaccounted for after the whole mess ended, or of there wasn't anything left at the time then she got some shitty clone (muh girl Tepig).

Sun and his cats are based though.

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>>58697508
Nah, the matching starters was a cute idea. It’s just too bad that Gigi turned out to be a giant bitch

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>>58697620
Shitty leftover clone mon. Though Whitley has a similar fate when she randomly gets Delphox dumped on her.

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>>58697634
>I-i-is that a shitty leftover clone mon?
>TWO PEOPLE CAN'T HAVE THE SAME TYPE OF POKEMON!
>I'M GOING INSANE!

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>>58697668
When there are now over 1000 different Pokemon, yes multiple main characters having the exact same one looks cheap. But some RGBY Pikachus have the excuse of being from gen 1 which had a smaller dex, being franchise mascot shillmons and shillmon baby Pichu's debut in the next gen also made Pikachu sex compulsory. Meanwhile nobody likes Tepig, nobody ever wanted two of them, there isn't even a retroactively introduced pre-evolution baby version of Tepig to justify two parent Tepigs.

The point was less about clones though and more about the leftover aspect and how much Unova fucked up Special forever.
>Black gets Tepig
>Cheren gets Snivy
>Bianca gets Oshawott
>White gets uhhh Tepig 2
>wait nevermind she loses Tepig 2
>now she gets some leftover Serperior lmao
It doesn't seem like an intentional story decision to give White these starters like it was in previous gens, where they match her personality or anything at all. It just looks like White got leftovers. Same with Whitley and Delphox.

All this also basically ruined the starter Pokemon typing stereotypes reflecting their trainers which had a clear trend until Unova. Neither White or Whitley are hotheads and never were in the past, yet they got fire type starters.

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>>58697727
>It doesn't seem like an intentional story decision to give White these starters like it was in previous gens
It very obviously was, as Black and White don't just share the same starter but also the same dexholder title and birth month (being born three days apart from each other). There was a very obvious attempt at pluralism here, Black and White are given the same mon to highlight the similarities and differences between them. The whole reason why Gigi abandons White is because she wanted to grow stronger, like her counterpart who's not only grown stronger but was even able to evolve past a Tepig.
And also, while White obviously is a lot more patient than Black she's still shown to be very passionate and not above losing her cool.

>>58697727
I haven't read the entirety of Special so I know I'm not the best to be commenting on this, but a couple months ago there was a thread every day showing the Pokespe teams for each gen and asking anons to rate them. It felt like the characters' teams were generally decent overall for the first couple gens (maybe one trainer every gen would have a notably shitty team compared to the other two), and then after Black and White they all suddenly started looking a lot worse. The selection of mons just started feeling weaker, almost literally in that many mons felt really small and NFE and some characters wouldn't even have full teams, characters would be using mons from like 6 gens ago which apparently was sometimes linked to the gimmick of each gen but felt a little weird when there are hundreds of new options, I don't know if a single team even really looked cool. To me the last team that actually felt really solid for someone to have at the end of their journey was Black's.

TL;DR I agree with you. I also don't really like the trend of indicating the female counterpart mon by giving it a bow that Special does a lot. There have to be other ways to mix it up a bit.

Barbara should've evolved in the final fight

>>58697285
>Ruby's team of girlymons is hyper specialized for looking pretty in contests
They also know egg moves, showing his hidden talent.

According to the old site Kusaka had, both Sapphire and Blue (F) have their fighting strategy based on casual/first time players in that they over-rely on their starters. Sapphire also is acutely aware of EV training, hence why Chic targeted Zubats while Rono targeted Geodudes back in Granite.
>It was all probably a way to symbolize the end of the 3rd gen while also connecting it to the upcoming 4th gen as the DP arc started rught afterwards.
Emerald's last 12 chapters were all published in late 2008. DP started in December 2006. The Emerald arc's magazine run ends with Spencer sizing up Sapphire. Gen 3 onwards pokespe arcs usually have the last chapters in volume form but Emerald I think has the hugest amount of volume exclusive chapters iirc. Overseas, we get the volumes for the classic arcs, but in Japan it's a different story and gen 3 is really where the schedule begins to get hectic.

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>>58698841
Adding on to my post just because I think it should be illustrated how batshit insane things were for Japanese spe fans once FRLG and Emerald began. Ruby's "amnesia lol" thing in Emerald was Kusaka's way to prevent spoiling the climax of RS, as that wasn't yet finished. While Ruby was fighting for his fucking life in one magazine, he was getting pissed on in another. Fans in Japan appeared to accurately predict the Orbs = Sevii gemstones plot point though. RS/Vol 22 ended the same time as Sird telling Silver he was Giovanni's son. FRLG and Emerald ended their magazine runs early in 2007, with volumes 23-29 adding in the remainder of the story and altered dialogue & panels to reflect the joined.

When Emerald ended in autumn 2008, the Team Galactic member Sird manipulated was already a thing. Throughout the mid to late 2000s, Japanese fans would have seen the gen 3 storylines+DP be these disconnected vague messes. What happened to Ruby and Sapphire before returning to the Frontier? Why are Oak and Kris invested in Jirachi? Why is some Galactic grunt so obsessed with the Pokedex? And where's Gold? Gold's absence was a big thing among Japanese fans if you lurk enough on old sites.

I think that building cresendo of mysteries is why FRLG-E are so beloved, even though most of their fans will admit they have pretty huge flaws.

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>>58697285
I've done runs of every Dexholder up to Gen 7. Green's team was pretty great in Gen 1, Scyther and Charizard slashed everything to ribbons and Porygon's moveset was incredible fun but Machamp/Pidgeot kinda suck. The team averaged out better in FRLG but it Scizor and Porygon2 were not as fun as I was hoping. Shockingly, Yellow's team is really rather good, particularly Raticate is a beast. But her Butterfree's moveset is genuinely abysmal, thank god for glitched Rare Candies. Loved Ruby's team, both incredibly strong and really well suited for Contests. Sapphire's team was okay comparatively, I was honestly just shocked that Donphan is even in the RSdex, no trainer you fight uses one. Diamond and Pearl's gimmicks are really cool in the manga but Diamond's team was fucking awful to use when they're all slow as shit and 5/6 are weak to Fighting moves in a game that has Medicham in every area of endgame. But overall, it's been a real fun challenge to go attempt: https://imgur.com/a/pokemon-special-teams-gqe5faW

>>58697486
I think it's just meant to be a broadly cute team, even Stunfisk being an ugly-cute type of Pokemon. What I don't get is her beating the Battle Subway with them. I tried it and got my ass fucking rammed. Stunfisk and Alomamola are good doubles partners though.

>>58698923
>I think that building cresendo of mysteries
The Emerald arc is a wet fart of one battle and a beam montage

>>58699083
That’s where you’re wrong.

>>58698190
Funniest moment in the manga

>>58698923
Damn, has pokespe always run concurrent arcs side by side?

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>>58698923
Good point about those compounding mysteries. That's actually something different compared to recent arcs.
>And where's Gold? Gold's absence was a big thing among Japanese fans if you lurk enough on old sites.
Gold has always been popular as hell, so making him the subject of a mystery is only going to multiply reader investment, because they'd kill themselves if this question never got a payoff. Luckily it did though. Gold's role in the Emerald arc however brief was really good. He showed up and was still his bastard self, but with a surprising new maturity as well which he needed if he was going to interact with the new Hoenn characters who were younger than him.
>What happened to Ruby and Sapphire before returning to the Frontier?
Shipping is also something else everyone has always obsessed over, and being Pokespe's first canon romance everyone wanted to know what the hell happened between Ruby and Sapphire. This is also part of why no matter how shitty ORAS was, people are still waiting to see what happens in the ORAS epilogue, it's shipping investment. Even though deep down inside we all know the epilogue will probably have nothing interesting.

But these days with modern arcs, all the mysteries we're supposed to care about don't look compelling at all. Ever since the Sird plotline was dropped completely, disappointing everyone, any further investment and theorycrafting about the plot feels like a giant waste of time. Nobody actually cares about whether Moon is Platinum's sister, because nobody gives a fucking shit about Moon or SM. In fact a lot of people were just pissed off at the vague implication that Platinum might have a retconned sister that was never mentioned prior.

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>>58698495
>It felt like the characters' teams were generally decent overall for the first couple gens
>then after Black and White they all suddenly started looking a lot worse.
>The selection of mons just started feeling weaker, almost literally in that many mons felt really small and NFE and some characters wouldn't even have full teams, characters would be using mons from like 6 gens ago
You get it. Anyone with eyes can see this downwards trend.

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>>58698841
>both Sapphire and Blue (F) have their fighting strategy based on casual/first time players in that they over-rely on their starters
Makes sense, Blue (F) is more of a clever trickster than a battler, as trickery helped her survive her shit childhood. So most of her team are just cute pink Pokemon she found useful especially Ditto. Then one day she gets this one giant Blastoise as an exception, and in tough spots such as the big battles during RGB (which might've been newer situations for her) she ends up relying on it as a tanky attacker/cool getaway jetpack. You can see why she'd come to rely on her starter too much when suddenly facing the same enemies Red and Green (M) were up against, trying to keep up with them.

Meanwhile Sapphire is definitely a battler, but she's the scrappy sort who trained by herself while eating dirt for years, so she's not optimized. Maybe the idea is that she's a self-made trainer built on her own hard work, with all the flaws that come with being self taught. Her Torchic may have also had an advantage back when they were in the jungles, so she just defaulted to using it a lot. You can also compare Sapphire to Ruby who was very privileged from the start, with genetic talents and even elite gym leader training from his dad, so he'd be more efficient and better at certain tactics than Sapphire. He also thought his Mudkip was ugly and maybe avoided using it at first. Anyway he and Sapphire might represent nature vs nurture. But Ruby then spent years squandering away all his skills by completely avoiding battles, so it's no wonder Sapphire got so angry at him.

>>58700525
>since the Sird plotline
God, they should have just taken the risk and finish that plot line instead of dropping it.

>>58700495
>Damn, has pokespe always run concurrent arcs side by side?
Since 2004. Pokespe's serialisation back then would be several chapters spread out across several magazines often not in order, the volumes would then chronologically collect the chapters.

For RB until RS' first year and a half or so, things were this year and pretty linear. The only odd discrepancy is Blue telling Silver to look out for Lugia was actually the beginning of GSC's magazine run bundled with VS Murkrow, not the end of Yellow as depicted in Volume 7.

Anyways, when FRLG came out, they decided to make a schedule where it would come out on only one magazine on a monthly basis. This allowed Kusaka and Yamamoto to still focus on RS and put aside time for FRLG. Then in 2005 they started Emerald (which was called Battle Frontier Story in the magazine run) in another magazine, which meant RS' rate crawled to a half of what it was in 2003. Anyways, The gen 3 arcs began to slowly end their magazine run towards summer-autumn 2006 while DP started with a more frequent schedule. The Gen 3 arcs would be completed as the volumes caught up across 2007 & 2008. DP got collected into volume form by late 2008. For most of 2009, it was the first time since RS where the volumes and magazines were on the same arc and not too far behind.

Pt-BW begin in 2009-2010 and that's when what happened in Gen 3 happened again, because the volumes were still at 37. What made this situation worse, however, was Grade Magazine n which slowed everything to a halt. HGSS was unceremoniously cut off very early on and rushed itself for the volumes to catch up. Meanwhile, BW slowed to a halt. This leads to the mini-volume shitshows and the Gen 5 hiatus.

TLDR: Since 2004, but it got untenable in 2011.

>>58702346
>things were this year
things were this way
>was Grade Magazine n
was Grade Magazine shutting down

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>>58702346
Really interesting stuff, thanks anon. There's also some irony in Pokespe's 9/11 happening during the publication of the USA region.

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>>58699021
>Yellow's team is really rather good, particularly Raticate is a beast.
Raticate is a fucking monster especially in Kanto, it genuinely kills everything. Swept through FR with it many times.

Bump

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>>58696161
Based.
>>58695199
They just don't want us to see the explicit Sapphire breeding scene so they keep delaying it.

>>58702930
>There's also some irony in Pokespe's 9/11 happening during the publication of the USA region.
Agreed. Though I think Viz returning to Pokespe had more a impact on the overseas fanbase than the actual running of the manga.

>>58697727
WTF, my brain read that filename as "Pika and Cthulhu Egg".

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>>58698190
Black/White's related birthdays and Pokemon was an attempt to recreate Ruby/Sapphire's thing, which is a good direction seriously but it also came off like an incomplete recreation (maybe due to all the publication issues in gen 5). Sharing a dex holder title is meh since those stopped mattering after GSC, but "hehe we match <3" aside it can also create the image that White can't exist independently without Black: her Vullaby never even evolves and her Tepig doesn't stay to match Black's team anymore, leaving her team devoid of cohesion. She doesn't even get a birth month to herself. As much as Pokespe tries to make Sapphire irrelevant now, it can't retcon her individual birthdate (giving her the sapphire birthstone/virgo star sign), her unique title or how her team has its own theme, even if you don't notice its parallels with Ruby's team (like the gender ratio)

Back to starters though, White getting Tepig will always irk me since you could just slap Gigi's betrayal arc onto literally any other actor Pokemon, and the same idea will get across. White should've gotten Snivy either from the start or just earlier than when she got Serperior. For comparison in RS, Ruby got Mudkip partly because he's a secretive morally ambiguous character with mental issues, like most other water starter dexholders. Sapphire got Torchic as she's a fiery hot-blooded hero with concrete values, just like most fire starter dexholders. Ruby/Sapphire didn't need to own the literal exact same species of Pokemon to display their differences, and they also consolidated the starter type trend instead of nuking it.

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>>58704320
>be very passionate and not above losing her cool.
This applies to basically every dexholder except Blake the sociopath, everyone else cares about and/or gets upset about at least one thing. Meanwhile the fire starter users had a clear trend of being rash, impulsive and generally chaotic before gen 5 ruined it.
>Green (m) - hothead when young but grew up to be the opposite
>Gold - hothead pretending to be stupid
>Sapphire - hothead who is actually stupid
>Pearl - hothead who is smart
>Black - hothead who is smart (severe autism edition)
Then you get
>White - even-tempered competent girlboss
>Whitley - mild-mannered useless girlfailure
who are funny in relation to each other alone in gen 5, but in the big picture don't fit with everyone else before them.

White best matches the grass starter dex holders who have relatively "normal" down-to-earth personalities compared to everyone else, I bet she'd get along great with Crystal especially. Whitley could've either gotten a grass or water starter, then again Blake is already gen 5's mentally ill water rep since he's clearly crazier than Whitley

>>58704384
>Green (m) - hothead when young but grew up to be the opposite
Not necessarily. FRLG makes a point of how Red needed to be the one to calm him down, and he's still needlessly violent or blunt in social situations. He will almost always be the contrarian at any given moment. What sets him apart from the others is that he's usually like that if it's personal to him. Stuff like Agatha or Silver stealing his grandfather's property.

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>>58704485
I was talking about their baseline disposition. On a normal day, Green usually seems unflappable. Obviously everyone acts different when angry, with Green it does look like his childhood temper comes out when he gets personally triggered. FRLG was interesting for emphasizing that side to him.

But anyone can be blunt or contrarian, in Green's case it's more reflective of a lawful neutral/lawful good moral alignment than just his temperament. Which also sets him apart from the other fire guys. The most contrarian characters are usually the water starter guys though, who tend to break the laws that Green generally considers important. Like how Green instantly wanted to arrest Silver for his crimes regardless of the emotional situation at the time where everyone thought Gold died for 3 seconds.

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>>58704320
I would say Black/White far surpasses Ruby/Sapphire's dynamic even before ORAS. Mostly because R/S's Beauty vs Brawn gimmick got completely ruined by the reveal that Ruby had both Beauty and Brawn the entire time, Brawn that even eclipsed Sapphire's that he never had to work all that hard to achieve it. Moreover, White having so many matching elements with Black does not stomp on her individuality in any respect, whereas Saph's whole character revolves around Ruby. For instance, White never dreamed to become a talent agent in order to compensate for some perceived childhood inadequacy which caused her crush to disappear from her life, that's something she decided to do all on her own. Without Ruby and the Salamence incident Sapphire never would've taken on the gym challenge, you cannot say the same about White and her talent agency.

>>58704384
I mean, White's "true" Starter is Amanda

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>>58704739
Also Gigi's inclusion had more story precedent behind it than just underlining Black/White's differences in training style. If you'll recall, the whole reason White even hires Black as her employee is because she needed a second Tepig to match her own for a movie shoot, that setup can't work as strongly if you give her Snivy right off the bat instead. Adding on to White's individuality, something I really like about the reason why B/W start traveling together is how it's purely motivated by White's business sense. There was nothing initially about Black as a person that made White want to take him on as on employee, he was just the guy who had the exact Pokemon she needed at that time. You get the sense White would've marched on with her business with or without Black. You also can't give White a second Pokemon to sub in for the Gigi betrayal while maintaining Snivy in her party either because part of the reason it devastated White so badly is because Gigi was her first and only Pokemon at that point. You can say you dislike it, or preferred something different but none of that displays a "lack of intentionality" on White's choice in starter.

>>58690632
Those seven years were agony.

>>58704384
>>Whitley - mild-mannered useless girlfailure
How dare you.

bump

>Serperior
>Amolamola
>Reuiniclus
>Mandibuzz
It's funny how despite White being characterized as the less skilled battler compared to Black her team members keep ending up as meta picks

>>58706929
It's a meta irony.

>>58705299
And all we got was a mid ending.

>>58706929
>Mandibuzz
Still pisses me off that Barbara didn't evolve
Okay, fine, you needed it for the PokeStar Studios chapter
Have her evolve later, like, imagine Black and White flying in Brav and a fully evolved Barbara together

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It's crazy that the most physically intimate scene between protagonists isn't between Ruby and Sapphire or Black and White.

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>>58707877
Says you

>>58707883
I worded it terribly; I meant physical contact in intimate areas.

>Regarding relationships, I think that hug is going to be the most physically intimate moment in the entire manga in terms of romance, unless Oras ends with Ruby and Sapphire kissing lol

>>58707877
Thinking about it now, it's surreal to remember Gold barely interacts with the Kanto dexholders. His friendship with Red is mostly off-screen exposition.

>>58707901
Yeah, if silver had more interaction with the OG dex holders in FRLG

There's also that time Ruby put his knee between Zinnia's legs

>>58707917
Silver still got more than Gold ever got. He and Yellow got to interact a lot. We know he's close to Blue. Green sees him as the "troubled" one who needs to be monitored, and presumably Red does too considered how little shits he gives about him or him Giovanni's son.

Actually, nobody caring about Giovanni saying he can reunite with his son in Trainer Tower and hurling insults at him instead was always pretty odd.