Pembo's Pokemon adventure - (Solo bookclub ポケットモンスター SPECIAL!)

I used to play the Gen 1 games fervently and a couple of years back read a bit of the Pokemon Adventures manga. From what I know the manga aligns with the Red edition where you have Red (Ash) and Blue (Gary). The anime is loosely based on Pokemon Yellow I believe. (Wikipedia article: Pokémon (TV series) - Wikipedia)

Here I might be off, but I do believe you can catch Polywag early on in Pokemon Red and evolve it into Polywhirl (level 25) or even catch an underleveled Polywhirl in the wild.

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I thought Pokemon Yellow was based on the anime?

The games came first (Green/Blue in JP, Red/Blue in the west), then the anime, then Yellow based off the anime (and to coincide with the movie).

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Ah, you are completely right! Just found the other article specifically about the game and it mentions that. Thanks for the correction :slight_smile:

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There is also Yellow in manga, but not sure how it correlates with the game. Also that’s as far as I have read in my native language.

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Slight correction here: Japan had Red/Green first (which were really buggy), then later had a special Blue edition (which fixed many bugs, had all new sprites/graphics, and a redesigned Cerulean Cave).

For the western release, they took Blue’s codebase and graphics, and took the distribution of Pokemon (wild Pokemon, in-game trade Pokemon, game center prize Pokemon) from Red/Green, and made those into Red and Blue.

(This resulted in an issue where you trade someone a Raichu in Red/Green, but you send them a trade-evolve Pokemon in Blue. In the English version, you trade this person a Raichu, and he says the Pokemon evolved after the trade. Oops.)

Yellow fixed even more bugs, added calls to the anime, new graphics, new Cerulean Cave, etc.

Along these lines, Green (Gary) and Blue in this manga series had their names swapped for the western release to be Blue (Gary) and Green.

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I have become fluent overnight and managed to read 4 pages today. It’s nothing to do with the fact these are action pages and probably have about 5 words each on them, no sir.

Handwritten Notes

Page 12

Plot:
Red seens another boy in the forest. He’s facing off against a shining, floating Pokemon. The boy then sends out his own Pokemon to battle, a ヒトカゲ - Charmander! Red is suprised to see the boy is a pokemon trainer, as Charmander attacks with a flame attack!

Vocab:

  • ヒトカゲ - Charmander, the first Pokepun I’ve got. ヒト = heat, カゲ = shadow, shape

Grammar:

Interesting Sentence:
夕方のあいつらの仲間かな、クソ!

My translation - Couldn’t parse this. I knew all the words but the use of の twice kinda confused me.

Evening’s guys’ companion ? Damn!

I got some nice help on the forums though and we established it means “A companion from the guys this evening? Damn!” Red is annoyed that the mysterious men from earlier had gotten there before him.

Page 13

Plot:
Charmander and the other Pokemon get into an epic battle, while Red stares in disbelief. Red can name the Charmander but has no idea what the shining Pokemon is…(Red should have read the title of this chapter)

Vocab:

  • あっち - over there, I think I came across this doing a 2k deck, but it’s the first time reading it so it alluded me

Grammar:

  • I’ll address the grammar point I have in the Interesting Sentence bit

Interesting Sentence:
こんな戦い方、見たことないぜ。

今まで見たことがないぞ。

My Translation(s) - “I’ve never seen a battle like this” - Red is in awe watching Charmander and the other Pokemon fight
“I’ve never seen before” - Red points out the other guy is using a Charmander, but wonders what that shining thing over there is.

Cheating today and picking two sentences as they both refer not seeing something before but use different grammar. I think I’ll ask about this in the grammar thread and get back with the results. I have a feeling it’s just casual chatter omitting particles…

Page 14

Plot:
The other trainer calls his Charmander back. Red jumps out of the bushes and starts to chastise him. “If it looks like you can win, you don’t quit”.

Vocab:

  • ちまう - another form of てしまう

Grammar:

  • [な]のに - even though/in spite of, another one of those grammar points I’ve done in Genki but never really come across in the wild. XのにY, it is Y despite X.

Interesting Sentence:
勝てそうなのに、なんでやめちまうんだようーーーー!!

My Translation - “You don’t quit if it looks like you’re winning”, literally translation “You are quitting even though you look like winning”. I guess the literal and the translated are both quite similar and look natural. Basically the only sentence of note on the page, but it brings up a good and useful grammar point.

Page 15

Plot:
Red sends out his Polywhirl to fight the shining Pokemon. Polwhirl can barely charge up his watergun before getting KO’d! Red stares in disbelief of the power of the mystery Pokemon as it flies off into the night sky.

Vocab:
No new vocab, there’s a few onomatopoeia and not much else of note.

Grammar:
There’s no sentence longer than a word on this page.

Interesting Sentence:
ニョロズ⁉

My Translation - “POLWHIRL?!” I always had a softspot for Water Pokemon in Gen 1, poor Polywhirl, your avarice got him hurt Red!

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Yellow (manga character) <3

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Sorry!

火蜥蜴
:fire: :lizard:

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Bulbapedia is a good place to on name puns:

image

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I think you got the first part of the sentence correct (note that there is no “if” in the sentence).
勝てそうなのに - even though you’re about to win / even though you’re winning
なんでやめちまうんだよう - why are you stopping?
The sentence has no question mark, but the question word なんで turns it into a question.

“Even though you’re about to win - why are you stopping?”
“Why are you stopping?? You’re winning!”
Something like that :slight_smile:

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Chapter one completed with the reading of pages 16 17 and 18!

I thought I lost these yesterday, but clearly not! Hurrah, that saves me a bit of work!

Handwritten Notes

Page 16

Plot:
Red is consoling his hurt Polywhirl. The other trainer offers Red some words of advice. He knew the mysterious Pokemon was too strong, so withdrew Charmander. If you over estimate your abilities, you’ll end up self destructing.

Vocab:

  • しっかりしろ - "Hold on!
  • あまえ - you
  • 攻撃こうげき - attack
  • - difference
  • 手を引くてき - to withdraw
  • 実力以上じつりょくいじょう - beyond one’s ability
  • 自滅じめつ - self destruct

Grammar:

Interesting Sentence:
オレは2回の攻撃でレベルの差を見切った。

Another sentence I struggled to make sense of but in essence it’s “I saw the difference in power after that second attack”. After being shown how it breaks down, it’s pretty simple but I had some kind of block when I saw this in the book.

I (topic) (with/at the second attack) (the difference in level) (clearly perceived)

Page 17

Plot:
The mysterious Pokemon flies off into the night, as the strange men from earlier swarm the forest. They see Red and one begins to chastise Red before being reminded that finding the Pokemon (apparently called Mew) is their mission.

Vocab:

  • 焼け野原やけのはら - burnt field
  • 放っておけほうっておけ - leave [him] alone
  • それより - more importantly
  • ミュウ - Mew
  • 了解 - roger/understood

Grammar:

Interesting Sentence:
放っておけ!それよりもミュウだ!

My translation - “Leave him alone! Mew is more important!”

Page 18

Plot:
Forlorn, Red heads towards the lab of Dr Orchid. Showing some humility after his defeat, he realises that maybe this cranky old man could teach him a thing or two…

Vocab:

  • カンゴ - stubborn/obstinate, Red is insulting Dr Orchid here
  • くやしい - frustrated (because of a defeat/inconvenience)

Grammar:

Interesting Sentence:
へんくつでガンコなじじいときいてたから、今まで近づかなかったけど。。。

My translation “He’s just a stuborn, eccentric old man, that’s why I’ve never approached him before…”

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You’re missing this part.

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I heard?

You know what, I completely glossed over that bit when I read it. Me stupid

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Lots of progress today due to not much dialogue that was pretty straight forward. Definitely getting more comfortably reading Japanese though, so that’s a bonus.

Slowly doubting if I’ll ever finish this bookclub thing though, the write up is more tiring than the actual reading!

Handwritten Notes

Page 19

Plot:
Red knocks on Orchid’s door but no anwser, seeing that door is unlocked, Red invites himself in…

Vocab:

  • カギ - lock/key

Grammar:

  • 開いてた - 開く + ている form

Interesting Sentence:
カギあいてたのか

My Translation - “It’s unlocked?”
Somewhat hidden ている form. いる is in past tense, and is just た。開く is just to be open. のか turns it into a sort of rhetorical question. Red typically missing a particle out between カギ and 開く, which of course would be は/が and definitely not を because who would be silly enough to use を with an intrasitive verb?!

Page 20

Plot:
Orchid’s lab is full to the ceiling of Pokeballs containing Pokemon. Set on the side, Red sees a ball containing a フシギダネ - Bulbasaur. Red takes out the ball containing his Polywhirl and shoes it Bulbasaur (I’m guessing Bulbasaur are rare where Red lives), the Bulbasaur stares at the Polywhirl angrily…

Vocab:

  • フシギダネ - Bulbasaur, strange seed. ふしぎ is strange or mysterious, だね being 種 with rendaku
  • ホラー - look!

Grammar:

  • 見てみろ - One of those grammar points I’ve studied but only seeing in the wild for the first time. てみる is to try, ろ is the imperative conjugation so Red is telling Polwhirl to try and look at what he’s showing Polywhirl.

Interesting Sentence:
背中にたねがあるんか!へーっ!

My translation “It has a seed on it’s back, huh?” Red is seeing a Bulbasaur for appears to be the first time. Bulbasaur’s Japanese name is literally Strange Seed, turns out Bulbasaur has a seed on it’s back, just in case you needed that point nailing home.

Page 21

Plot:
Orchid storms into the lab accusing Red of being a burglar! Red is startled and in attempting to stammer out an explanation, fumbles onto Orchid’s computer letting loose all the Pokemon in the balls!

Vocab:

  • ドロボー - burglar/thief
  • いや - errr…/well… Red is trying to explain himself but can only make noises with his mouth

Grammar:

  • ~め - particle to show contempt in what you just said

Interesting Sentence:
こんの…ドロボーめ!

My translation “You! Thief!” Apart from Red’s vowels, this basically the only sentence one the page.
Pretty straight forward, the め particle at the end is new to me, however so it has some merit.

Page 22

Plot:
Orchid is furious with Red, but before Red can warn Orchid, a bird Pokemon poos on Orchid’s face! This doesn’t help his mood and he screams at Red to catch all the escaped Pokemon.

Red manages to reel in most of them however Orchid spots a broken window, surely some have escaped outside…

Vocab:

    • 悪ガキわるがき - brat, I’m guessing ガキ is a catch all brat term, I found one in a vtuber video the other day…
  • とにかく - anyway/anyhow!
  • 数十分後すうじゅうぶんご - after a few minutes

Grammar:

  • ようじゃの - "it seems’, according to natively this quite an archaic term and not really used these days. Maybe Red was right and Orchid is an eccentric, old geriatric after all…

Interesting Sentence:
何匹か。。。ハアハア。。。外へ出てしまったようじゃの。

My Translation “How many [Pokemon]…catches breath…it would seem some have gotten out[side]”. Pretty straight forward construction, just the ようじゃの bit that could trip you up if you’d never seen it before, I hadn’t. I’d omit the words in square brackets if I was translating the panel, however as a standalone sentence without context, I’d include them. Orchid is struggling to catch his breath after chasing all the escaped pokemon, in English, I doubt he’d waste what breath he has left on extraneous words. The context is pretty obvious when you read the comic.

Can’t wait to see all my mistakes!

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:raising_hand_woman:

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I don't think *anyone* bothers putting a particle between those two...

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(I do where see (かぎ) and ()ける are written with various particles used, including を.)

You’ll see it from time to time in this series.

Correct. You’ll sometimes see another word modifying it, as you saw with 悪.

You probably won't see it again any time soon, so here are some other people saying it. You can see what they have in common with Orchid.

image

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If you’re typing on a keyboard, after typing 。。。 you should be able to press the spacebar to convert it into … (in case you may be unaware). Actually, on the forums here, typing . three times produces the same result when posted. So many options.

If you’re curious, here is his line from the original English release, and from the English re-release:

  • Original: “Don’t… tell me… that some… ->huff<-… escaped.”
  • Re-release: “Don’t…tell me…that some of them…hufff… escaped.”
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Also, ふしぎ + だ + ね. Two copulas.

Probably better to called it “suffix”.

It’s not necessarily rare, depending on what you read.

This one is in current week’s Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar :white_flower:, called Ellipsis.

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Isn’t ようじゃのう basically just ようだな/ね but old people slang?

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I am not exactly sure of the basics, but じゃのう の例文集 - 用例.jp

I think of it as (よう) + じゃ + のう.