Manga, Anime or Games?

[moon]

Time for a poll like this 8)

Do you think, overall, that the anime, the games or the manga has the best iteration and interpretation of the pokémon world? You can count any manga since there are many different ones, but I'll be thinking about Pokémon Adventures mainly here. Still, feel free to bring up examples from other manga. As for the anime, I think we'll have to count the Ash series, and not Origin, since that was specifically made to be more similar to the games.

The anime and manga can do things so much more freely, since the games are restricted to their mechanics. But the system with trainers around every corner and collecting every pokémon there is to fill up your pokédex, that's not at all as widespread in the anime and manga as in the games, it seems. The anime does everything rather childishly while the manga (PokéSpe at least) is pretty grim at times.

What do you prefer? Discuss!

 

[Pendraflare]

This is hard to say. I never saw the Manga, but the Anime is definitely more balanced than where the games have a young child go through a region to complete the Pokédex and get sent off on a journey to stop a villainous team from using legendary Pokémon. I could go on and on about how little sense the games make xP

 

[Brendino]

I don't know enough about the manga to give it fair judgement, but between the anime and the games, the anime version of the Pokemon world is so much better. In the games, your pretty confined to the major cities of each region, which makes things a lot smaller and feel like, well, a game. As for the anime though, there are hundreds of locations seen that aren't a part of the game universe, and the Gym/Pokemon League challenges seem a lot more realistic than just beating the 8 Gym Leaders, and advancing directly to the Elite Four.

 

[Aisu]

I believe the anime best portrays the Pokemon world, because with the games, you're restricted to what the programmers've done and only that; however, in the anime, they can do things we can't, i.e. mixing moves to create new ones/using moves in unorthodox ways, visiting small-time villages and towns, et cetera, and although the games do focus more on the scientific, PokeDex-y catch-'em-all part of Pokemon, the anime is more about the adventurous, enjoying-childhood part of Pokemon.

 

[Candy]

No one chooses manga on the poll aside from me, boo. :(

Then again, I don't watch the anime so there's that. I'm probably the opposite of the majority that watches the anime.

But yeah, how Pokemon Adventures portayed the world of Pokemon is certainly interesting. Plus, the gym leaders actually do something. It shows that the world of Pokemon ain't so fluffy like in the games where conflicts gets solved after a Pokemon battle.

 

[pinkguy]

I read the Adventures manga a bit after I started playing the rby games in the early noughties. It really brought life into the series that I was already getting hooked on.

Mato is my favourite artist of the series, although the artist(s) who came after weren't bad either.

 

[moon]

I read the Adventures manga a bit after I started playing the rby games in the early noughties. It really brought life into the series that I was already getting hooked on.

Mato is my favourite artist of the series, although the artist(s) who came after weren't bad either.

That's the first artist, right?

I like how free the games are sort of. Even kindergarten kids can have pokémon and battle strangers. You can go everywhere and capture as many pokémon as you want, breed them (lol) forever and battle the E4. The Elite 4 don't work the same way in either the anime or PokéSpe manga as they do in the games.

But I still prefer that manga. It's so much more alive and believable than the other versions of the pokémon world.

 

[pinkguy]

That's the first artist, right?

I like how free the games are sort of. Even kindergarten kids can have pokémon and battle strangers. You can go everywhere and capture as many pokémon as you want, breed them (lol) forever and battle the E4. The Elite 4 don't work the same way in either the anime or PokéSpe manga as they do in the games.

But I still prefer that manga. It's so much more alive and believable than the other versions of the pokémon world.

Yeah, that's him. His style's the easiest on my eyes.

The later games are more realistic(?), but yeah, it's really got nothing on the manga. You actually get to see the many interactions between Pokémon, humans and the environment. The Yellow vs Lance arc strikes me particularly as realistic, what with the oil spills and dying Pokémon.

 

[DyingWillFlareon]

I'm just gonna vote for Manga. Normally I'd say Games but the Manga is lacking supporters it seems lol. plus no pmd

I'm just gunna say it right here; Pokemon Adventures is stupid. In a good way. So is the anime. So is the games. There is much stupid in Pokemon as a whole. But it's that kind of humorous stupid that draws us in. ^^

Also, may I add that while many people will say that PokeSpe is darker than the anime, what about how the anime has gotten pretty dark at points? Especially Team Galactic and Hunter J? The manga isn't ALL about being serious either. I mean, if it was would they have added Gold and Emerald? Or Dia and Pearl? But it can be more dark than the anime considering more Pokemon/people die than the anime(although there were some anime deaths iirc). The games may imply death but I don't think it's there that much.
Also, a lot A LOT of people make fun of Ash saying 'Aim for the horn'. Red(in pokespe) beat all of Giovanni's ground types with Pika's Thunder, same rules apply there.

Spoiler:

Can't you just imagine?:
Ash: Why didn't Volt Tackle work on Rhyperior??
Red: I dunno bro it worked for me....
Game!Red: ...............(Are you serious right now?)
Gold: Uh that's not what that move is called stupid

He also poisoned a Nidoking, so I guess all manga and even anime logic goes out the window there. The games keep all that in order usually but there are still plothole moments.

Sorry about inclusive use of PokeSpe, I haven't found any other manga at my library/know which one to read. :/

 

[TheFlygon]

I voted for all of them. All of them are unique in their own personal way, all of them are nothing like the rest, all of them have different characters with unique personalities, all of them have different stories. I'm just saying that in my opinion you cannot pick one individual out of these three. They all have a place somewhere in our hearts.

 

[Mach Thunderbolt]

The question is hard to answer, but I would say anime and then games in second, cause I never read its manga, anime was always interesting to watch since pur childhood and secondly we prefer playing its games.

 

[DyingWillFlareon]

I voted for all of them. All of them are unique in their own personal way, all of them are nothing like the rest, all of them have different characters with unique personalities, all of them have different stories. I'm just saying that in my opinion you cannot pick one individual out of these three. They all have a place somewhere in our hearts.

.....you could vote for more than one.....
Well I should have payed better attention because I would have done this. XD Kudos to you!!

 

[DarkWitch]

Never read the manga. So between the Anime and the Games. I would go with the games.

 

[Mister Coffee]

I've never been interested in any other forms of pokemon media other than the Pokemon games. I admit that during the peak of the hype, I managed to collect an obscene amount of Pokemon cards which nowadays are pretty much worthless but still fun to look at once in a while.
Though the only thing that has fascinated me about pokemon after all these years is the games and its complex and fun mechanics. I've always liked the competitive aspects of pokemon, all of the hidden strategies, mechanics, rules, and statistics, they've just always been the core of my interest when looking at the pokemon games, and it is pretty much impossible for the other types of pokemon media to replicate that.
The pokemon stories in general are... well kind of bland and not very entertaining in my opinion, it's all of the complex features behind battling and playing that have me hooked on the pokemon series, so the games are my only real interest.

 

[BettyNewbie]

I voted for the games. They've had their ups and downs (and have become rather formulaic in recent years), but they've still held up well for me. All of the games, at the very least, have added good gameplay features, and Gens 1 and 2 will always have my heart for their iconic Pokémon, regions, and characters. Gen 5 also gets some props for having a strong story and mixing up the formula a bit.

The anime was enjoyable early on before it turned into repetitive, formulaic nonsense with a never-aging, never-growing protagonist. No it was never 100% faithful to the games, but honestly, after the snoozefest that was Origins, I've realized that 100% faithful really isn't something I ever wanted to begin with. The first season was fun for what it was, and it did a good job of fleshing out the otherwise barebones Kanto into something a little more interesting, and I love how they created and fleshed out a completely new region with the Orange Islands. However, Johto was a disappointment with its boring repetition and endless filler, and the show basically hit Zombie Mode after that.

As for the manga, well... I've heard good things about Electric Tale of Pikachu (aside from its sometimes questionable art), and I thought Zensho was a decent (if, sadly, mostly untranslated) straight adaptation of Gen 1. (At the very least, it was more enjoyable than Origins.) Magical Pokémon Journey looks fun and adorable, if very girly. :P

Of, course, when most people talk about "the manga," they aren't talking about any of those but, instead, Adventures... Which, I don't exactly have a high opinion of. Aside from finding the art style completely awful, the entire thing just reads like a "trying too hard to be edgy" dark!fic of the games, mistaking the villainization of characters and excess violence for good storytelling. I also haven't seen many good things from its fandom, from the questionable ROM hacks, to their relentless bashing of the games and (especially) anime, to them insisting that their favorite dark!fic is 100% faithful, accurate game canon, and so on. Sorry, but it's hard for me to respect something that has such an annoying fanbase.

 

[DyingWillFlareon]

Of, course, when most people talk about "the manga," they aren't talking about any of those but, instead, Adventures... Which, I don't exactly have a high opinion of. Aside from finding the art style completely awful, the entire thing just reads like a "trying too hard to be edgy" dark!fic of the games, mistaking the villainization of characters and excess violence for good storytelling. I also haven't seen many good things from its fandom, from the questionable ROM hacks, to their relentless bashing of the games and (especially) anime, to them insisting that their favorite dark!fic is 100% faithful, accurate game canon, and so on. Sorry, but it's hard for me to respect something that has such an annoying fanbase.

The portuon of the fandom that says that always makes me embarassed to say I'm a huge fan of Adventures.... But it is very fun to read for me. I think I said before, but I'll say it again, I love it for how everything seems to fit together between the characters(at least gen I-III and partially gen IV).
But I just hate when they say 'it's way better than the anime and is the supierior manga' because many others perfer those other manga or anime. I do know a couple of people however that agree with me and say the manga is more goofy than dark. (At least at parts, there are still dark spots that they get this from, but heck, RBG is a copy paste from the games.)

Spoiler:

But I do love the whole 'Silver and Diamond will watch anime all day' thing.

 

[BettyNewbie]

The portuon of the fandom that says that always makes me embarassed to say I'm a huge fan of Adventures.... But it is very fun to read for me. I think I said before, but I'll say it again, I love it for how everything seems to fit together between the characters(at least gen I-III and partially gen IV).

But I just hate when they say 'it's way better than the anime and is the supierior manga' because many others perfer those other manga or anime. I do know a couple of people however that agree with me and say the manga is more goofy than dark. (At least at parts, there are still dark spots that they get this from, but heck, RBG is a copy paste from the games.)

Spoiler:

But I do love the whole 'Silver and Diamond will watch anime all day' thing.

Well, you're a good fan, then. :) I'll still never like Adventures, myself (although the scene you posted is funny), but I can respect someone who can like it without being a douche to other people.

Even if Adventures has its funny/goofy side, most of the praise I hear about it is how much more "dark" and "mature" and "faithful" it is than that "silly kids show." They think the series is soo "daring" and "awesome" for depicting Arboks getting sliced in half and turning heroic characters into hateful villains, among other things, which I just can't get into at all. I like an element of escapism and fun with Pokémon (BW is as dark as I want it to get), and there's nothing wrong with that.

(And, BTW, yes, that "silly kids show" has had moments of good storytelling. I always found Meowth's backstory to be quite poignant, and Mewtwo's backstory had some depth, too, especially in the original Japanese version.)

 

[KittiOcelotti]

I like the manga because it's like the games and and anime mixed into one. It has the game mechanics (tms, hms etc) and the realistic feel of the anime, which can be thought as the "real" pokemon world.

Characters from the games have little to no personality, but the manga happens to be the exact opposite . I feel that the Pokespe characters are fully fleshed out, with their own strength and weakness, have character, opposed to the game's boring characters.

Even through I have been ranting 'bout the games, I still LOVE the games but, I think it needs more of a deep story line, like Unova's.

Even though the stuff I've been saying about Pokespe is mainly positive, It has some big flaws I would like to point out.

I hate how the it can get pretty dark sometimes. I hate when it gets "dark". I don't actually hate the concept itself, but like BettyNewbie said, alot of the fanbase think it's too daring and awesome compared to the anime. When people say that, they never think of moments like when ash "died" and when latios died.

Btw, I LOVED Mato's art style. Too bad she doesn't draw for Pokespe anymore :(