I finished my first manga in Japanese! I’m very happy that it happened to be Pokemon Special. If you’re thinking about reading the manga, you can read my review on Natively. I also went ahead and read the remaining chapters of 絶叫学級 転生, so that makes two finished manga in one day!
2月6日 ~ Day 37 / Back to Home
Pocket Monsters Special Vol 1 (page 200 of 200 - chapters 13-14 - finished)
There was a scene in chapter 13 where Red is at Mr. Fuji’s house and they show a picture of Green’s Dodo including one where it was born and it showed him hatching out of an egg. Since there was a lot of suggestions of a 2nd gen in the manga, I finally looked up dates to confirm if the manga preceded the games’ (and even the anime’s) confirmation of a new 2nd generation, and I realized this:
- Episode 46: ふっかつ！？かせきポケモン！ where the gang finds a Pokemon Egg in the anime was originally aired in May 1998
- Pokemon Gold and Silver games were originally released in Japan in November 1999
- Pokemon Special manga was originally published in Japan in March 1997
which means the manga proceeded the 2nd generation games as well as the anime suggestion of a 2nd generation with Togepi’s existence. Now it makes me wonder how much the author was in the know about the games or if he just took creative liberty and assumed Pokemon came from eggs. Either way, it’s pretty interesting to me.
Now for the chapter summaries…
Chapter 13: Red gets caught in the rain and looks for shelter as he enters Shion Town. He’s looking around trying to get people to help, but they all avoid him seemingly on purpose. Red notices an old man (Mr. Fuji) praying in front of a Pokemon’s grave and learns details about the town - people come to the area to bury their Pokemon and pray for their spirit, but lately evil spirits have been appearing at the tower, and so everyone is on their guard.
Mr. Fuji invites Red to his home and shows him pictures of a Dodo that recently passed… and Red notices a picture of Green with it. Mr. Fuji confirms that this is Green’s Pokemon and he had come just before it was laid to rest, but he hasn’t been back from the tower for the last two weeks. Thinking something must have happened to him, Red goes after him and encounters terrifying apparitions of Pokemon that should have been laid to rest but are manipulated by occupying ghost Pokemon. Red realizes that if he escapes the fog, he can escape their attacks but is then attacked by a controlled Green and his Lizard (Charmeleon).
Chapter 14: Green’s attacks are top notch and difficult to beat. With Ghos’s orders, he attacks using Fire Spin(?) and ends up enveloping himself and his Pokemon in the flames which wears off the hypnosis he was in. Freed from the ghost Pokemon’s control, Red has his Fushigidane suck up all the air and fire a Solar Beam to break a hole in the tower which causes the ghosts to flee. Green comes to and offers a half-assed thanks and heads upstairs to find the guy who controlled him.
Kyo (Koga) appears but his real body is outside of the building. He orders his Arbo to attack the children nearly burning them with its acid attacks. Green thinks of a strategy and quickly heads back downstairs, having Red follow him. He uses one of the apparition Pokemon’s body’s as a decoy for Arbo to attack before ordering Lizard to tear it in half. Out of Pokemon to defeat the children, Kyo has no choice but to withdraw and Mr. Fuji thanks them (specifically Red) for their help in clearing the tower for them.
Although Green is still a little rough around the edges, he does come around a little in the these last two chapters, foreshadowing potential character development in future volumes. I think it’s particularly sad that he had to lay one of his Pokemon to rest, so I’m sure he’s not feeling 100% either, and then to have Kyo attack him while he was down… I do like seeing how he and Red teamed up in the end. Even if they don’t really get along, they still make a good team covering each other’s weak points.
Vocab for Reference - New words are bolded
第１３話
疑心暗鬼・ぎしんあんき・suspicion will raise bogies; once you suspect something, everything else will look suspicious; jumping at shadows
供養・くよう・memorial service for the dead; holding a service
寿命・じゅみょう・life span
墓・はか・gravesite; tomb
老人宅・ろうじんたく・old person’s home
霊・れい・soul; spirit; departed soul; ghost
幽霊・ゆうれい・ghost; specter; spectre; apparition; phantom
様子・ようす・state; state of affairs; situation; circumstances
噂・うわさ’・ rumor; report; hearsay; gossip; common talk
恐怖・きょうふ・fear; dread; dismay; terror; horror; scare; panic
信頼・しんらい・reliance; trust; faith; confidence
見向きもしない・みむきもしない・taking no notice; ignoring; not even looking at
きちんと・properly; accurately; exactly; precisely; regularly
直前・ちょくぜん・just before
数か月・すうかげつ・several months
暴く・あばく・to disclose; to divulge; to expose
雨漏り・あまもり・roof leak
霧・きり・fog; mist
操る・あやつる・to manipulate (a person, public opinion, etc.); to pull the strings; to control from the shadows; to mastermind
立ち込める・たちこめる・to hang over; to shroud; to enshroud; to envelop; to screen
範囲・はんい・extent; scope; sphere; range; span
さえ・(if) only; just; as long as
第１４話
防御・ぼうぎょ・defense; safeguard; protection
拉致・らち・taking captive; carrying away; kidnapping; kidnaping; abduction
ガス状・がすじょう・gaseous; gasiform
絶つ・断つ・たつ・to suppress; to eradicate; to exterminate
気体・きたい・gas; vapour; vapor; gaseous body
すり抜ける・すりぬける・to slip through (a crowd); to weave through (e.g. traffic); to pass through; to make one’s way through
吸い込む・すいこむ・to absorb; to soak up
肺活量・はいかつりょう・lung capacity
超ド級・ちょうどきゅう・superlative; extraordinary; mega; outstanding
一先ず・ひとまず・for now; for the time being; for the present
塔・とう・tower; steeple; spire
何階建・なんかいだ・how many floors
溶解液・ようかいえき・dissolution
団三幹部・だんさんかんぶ・Three Team Executives
前線基地・ぜんせんきち・frontline (military) base; forward base; outpost
立体映像・りったいえいぞう・stereoscopy; three-dimensional vision
部下・ぶか・subordinate person
崩れる・くずれる・to collapse; to crumble
突き抜ける・つきぬける・to pierce through; to break through
見抜ける・みぬける・to be transparent; to be penetrable
誘い込む・さそいこむ・to entice; to tempt; to invite someone to join in
絶叫学級 転生 1 (page 173 of 192 - chapters 4 & side story - finished)
第4章 宇宙人間・The Alien Human
後ろの光子ちゃん Hikaruko-chan’s Back (Pages)・怨霊・The Apparition
If you read chapter 4, be prepared for some images. This story felt Twilight Zone-esque to me. I’m not quite sure how to interpret the ending - does she become an alien spy? and were those doctors aliens or taken over by them too? - but I’m glad I didn’t drop it like I thought of doing.
The little side story in the end about the newbie apparition-in-training Hikaruko-chan is cute, and it’s the only part of the manga where Yomi gets involved (not just narrating a story). From this section, we learn that Yomi makes people’s wishes come true in exchange for their lives in return. Does she succeed in this chapter? You’ll have to read and see!
Vocab for Reference - New words are bolded
第４章
無限・むげん・infinity; infinitude; eternity
支配・しはい・rule; domination; control
日常・にちじょう・everyday; daily; ordinary; usual; routine; regular
試行錯誤・しこうさくご・trial and error
液体・えきたい・liquid
拒絶反応・きょぜつはんのう・(organ) rejection；unthinking dismissal; strong reaction (against)
成分・せいぶん・ingredient; component; composition
食塩・しょくえん・table salt
炭・すみ・charcoal
重曹・じゅうそう・baking soda; sodium bicarbonate
てゆーか・って言うか・っていうか・or rather (say); or better (say); or perhaps I should say; or, how should I put it; I mean
乗り気・のりき・interest; eagerness; enthusiasm
ノアの箱舟・のあのはこぶね・Noah’s Ark
動画・どうが・video (esp. digital); video clip; clip
表示・ひょうじ・display
削除・さくじょ・deletion; elimination; erasure; striking out
乗っ取られる・のっとられる・to take over; to capture; to seize; to commandeer; to occupy; to usurp
接続・せつぞく・connection; attachment; union; join; joint; link
人類・じんるい・mankind; humanity
移住・いじゅう・migration; immigration
先住民・せんじゅうみん・indigenous people; native people; aborigines
呼吸・こきゅう・breathing; respiration
進歩・しんぽ・progress; advance; improvement; development
転任・てんにん・change of post
第5章
怨霊・おんりょう・revengeful ghost; apparition
生業・なりわい・occupation; calling
住人・じゅうにん・dweller; inhabitant; resident
標的・ひょうてき・target
一人前・いちにんまえ・fully fledged; established; qualified
以来・いらい・since; henceforth
関して・かんして・in relation to
無関心・むかんしん・apathetic; indifferent
下半身・かはんしん・lower half of the body
生者・せいじゃ・living person; the living
成仏・じょうぶつ・going to heaven; resting in peace; dying (peacefully)
教官・きょうかん・teacher; instructor; professor
事務所・じむしょ・office
見逃す・みのがす・to let pass (a matter); to overlook (e.g. a wrongdoing); to turn a blind eye to