Manga Review – Pokémon Adventures: Black and White, Vol. 1 by Hidenori Kusaka , Satoshi Yamamoto (3/5 stars)

Reading Level: Children’s
Genre: Manga
Size: 104 pages
Publisher: Perfect Square
Release Date: July 2, 2013
ISBN: 978-1421558981
Stand Alone or Series: 1st book in the Pokemon Adventures: Black and White series
Source: Borrowed from Library
Rating: 3/5 stars

I got this to read with my seven year old son who is really into Pokemon. It’s an okay read, I think young Pokemon fans will love it, but adults will be a bit bored.

In this first installment we meet Black and his friends. Black has always dreamed about winning the Pokemon league, and now he is embarking on an adventure to fill his Pokedex and have his first trainer battle.

I am relatively new to the Pokemon universe. It was popular after I was a kid and as far as deck-building games go I was more of a Magic the Gathering fan. However, Pokemon is huge with elementary kids and when my son starting getting Pokemon cards the whole family started playing the Pokemon card game.

When my son saw this in the library he was super excited to get it. Neither of us had played the video game that this Manga series is based off of but we do own it. This was a cute story, but didn’t have a ton of meat to it.

Basically we meet Black and watch as he fills his Pokedex and engages in his first trainer battle. There is a lot of explaining about what you have to do to win a Pokemon tournament. There are also stats on the various Pokemon he encounters.

I enjoyed that Black needs to put his Munna on his head, so that the Munna can eat his dream and allow space for him to think about strategy during a Pokemon battle. That was kind of cute and creative.

The drawing is very typical Manga style, nothing special. It is enough to tell who all of the characters are and what’s going on so that is good. This book is read in traditional Japanese manga style; so you read from back to front…right to left. This was a bit confusing for my seven year old who is still somewhat new to reading, but he got the hang of it after a while.

I think kids and adults that are big Pokemon fans will enjoy this. If you aren’t interested in the Pokemon universe than skip this, it spends quite a bit of time explaining things about how the Pokemon battles work, etc.

Overall an okay manga, meant more for young Pokemon fans than adults. I think young Pokemon fans will enjoy this. Adult Pokemon fans will probably enjoy it too. It’s a cohesive story that is fun and does a good job of introducing us to Black and his world.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
– Graphic Novel Reading Challenge
– You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge
– 100 Books in a Year Reading Challenge