I finished this reading ahead of time/I’ve read this book before but want to participate in discussion
I’m reading along!
I’m still reading, but I haven’t reached this part yet
I’m no longer reading the book
I’m reading this book after the club has finished
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Discussion Questions!
Trying this out to maybe fuel some extra discussion! Feel free to ignore them, use them for inspo, or answer them all if you like!
Show Questions [Spoilers inside!!]
what did you think of the first gym battle of the series?
How do you like the manga’s interpretation of battles? We see trainer intervention, a broken bone from Cubone (), and Graveler and Onyx actually exploding!
What was the trickiest part of the passage for you to read? Did you learn anything new this week? (I personally found this the toughest week yet)
Remember to mark any major points from this week’s reading (or any info from future chapters) with a spoiler tag!
Happy reading, トレーナー!
Don’t forget to set this thread to Watching in order to stay abreast of discussion!
I happened to be reading this at the same time this club was going on so I decided to join. I’m a little ahead but I’ve re-read this chapter since it’s the current one. I hope it’s okay to be a bit early lol.
This chapter was pretty tough, the dialogue from the announcers and some of Takeshi’s lines had lots of words I didn’t know. This panel in particular took me some time to break down. What I got was something like “I come here to watch every time but there’s rarely anyone who can break through the qualifiers and get a chance to challenge Takeshi”
“well they are up against Nibi Gym’s strongest trainers” (which is why they rarely make it to Takeshi)
かかる is one of those verbs I feel you often just gotta feel out. I’m curious if others got the same interpretation.
This week was a definitely a step up with some longer text bubbles than the previous weeks… I remember when the Pokemon Center closed sign got me when I tried reading this before but I was luckily able to figure it out now!
Lots of new vocabulary I picked up! Some I had seen before, but got it in my SRS now.
It’s tough when adults are talking But I’m just here to get the broad strokes and pick up some vocabulary/grammar along the way, and I’m certainly doing that!
Re: Discussion Questions
I’ve always loved the more imaginative ways that Pokemon battles play out outside of the main games! I also love the details of the practicalities of actually living in the Pokemon universe. Of course you can’t count on the Pokemon Center always being available (though being attacked is a bit extreme!), and of course you can’t just waltz into the gym and battle the gym leader whenever you want. There’s only one of Brock and he doesn’t have time to fight every random kid who wanders by!
It is funny to have Pikachu beat Onix with no explanation though, lol. I don’t mind Pokemon winning with poor typing, but it would be nice to have at least a line or two explaining how Pikachu exploited a weak point or something. Oh well. Manga logic!
As for what I’ve learned, I don’t really have the time to read in detail lately (and frankly, the sheer volume of new vocabulary/grammar would make it difficult for me even if I did), so I’ve been focusing on looking up words that show up often, and guessing meanings from kanji. (I’m sure that by the end of the volume the meaning of 攻撃 will be well and firmly secured in my head, lol.)
In general, this manga also gives me good practice on reading katakana, and I’m starting to get a sense of how it can be used where hiragana/kanji might normally be. Seems to come up a lot when people are being rough/yelling.
), and Graveler and Onyx actually exploding!
