From here on out, the order of events gets confusing. Everything from the start of Red and Blue to the start of Emerald was a linear series of events, one arc followed the other. Here on out, not so much. According to Bulbapedia, the timeline of events post Emerald is Heart Gold/ Soul Silver and Omega Ruby/ Alpha Sapphire happen 3 years after Emerald, then Pokemon Ranger which didn't get localized or printed, it was online only, so I'm not reviewing its manga or its sequel based on Ranger: Shadows of Almia. Roughly 3 years after HGSS is when Diamond and Pearl takes place, with two weeks after that being Platinum which is why they are both being covered here, and then *cough* *cough* years later we get Black and white, then Black 2 and White 2, then X and Y. To my knowledge, Sun and Moon have only recently started being published. That's the stance on the timeline (according to Bulbapedia), lets take a look at the arc itself, shall we?
First, a lot of what happens in this arc can be blamed on accidents and misunderstandings, in terms of the main characters. Diamond and Pearl are aspiring comedians who, thanks to running into two hired body guards, causing the letters the two groups had on them getting mixed up, and wearing scarfs. I wish I was making that up, got a pokedex and starter pokemon each, and become the bodyguards for Lady Platinum Berlitz, who from this point forward I'll be calling Platinum.Platinum, in family tradition, is traveling across the Sinnoh region to collect a stone from the top of Mt Coronet, as she is the air to the Berlitz fame and fortune. That whole "She is the 1%" title joke applies directly to her, because Platinum is not only rich and intelligent, and apparently according to some people on the internet attractive (I don't see it honestly), but she also obtains all the gym badges of Sinnoh, participated in a contest, but also took on the frontier brains, and won if memory serves me correctly, as I actually read the books late February, early March, in less time then Sapphire and Emerald took. I don't count Ruby because she only participated in one whereas he cleared all the contests. Is she a "Mary Sue"? No, because she does have to learn all of that almost on her own. We see her train her team, she's not a god.
Of course, because this is based on the gen 4 games, they run into Team Galactic, and I'll be honest, I love the way they portrayed the four main members of the team. Mars is always really up beat to the point where its surprising someone like that is a villain, Saturn is actually so insecure and controlling that he acts tougher then he is, Jupiter is basically a bad-ass, kinda generic Bond like villain to the point that I can't help giving her a tough Russian/ German accent. You call it racist now but there's no denying its easy to make anyone sound like a bad-ass if you give them one of those accents... and the right voice. Cyrus is basically a psudo god, to the point where I'm surprised they made Magnezone and Probopass that powerful in the story. And of course, we have the best champion of all time, and she's basically ripped straight out of the games, and given a bad-ass boost. I love the way they portrayed Cynthia here, it works so well for her. No one has matched her as a champion for many, many reasons, here is just one of them.
The arc itself does closely follow the events of the games, at least Diamond and Pearl. It's not one for one, due to the fact that there needs to be a story there, but it is relatively close. Most changes coming around the seventh gym and the attack on the lakes, and the platinum part of the arc is its own unique story based on the post game content of Platinum. If you've come this far in the books, then you may as well go all the way. Next review is going to be an Opening Impressions of Ducktales, and of course there is the Playlist videos every weekday, and the Journals on the weekend. Enjoy.
No comments:
Post a Comment