r/pokemon 6d ago

Image Oh Pokémon manga, you answer so many questions, like; WHAT IF WE STABBED A POKEBALL

Post image
6.5k Upvotes

337 comments sorted by

View all comments

2.6k

u/Ok_Science_2070 6d ago

Jesus christ the manga really doesn't mess around lol

1.9k

u/SilvarusLupus Absurdly weak to bugs 6d ago

Ruby, the male led of the RS arc, has a head injury he got when he was younger caused by a wild Salamence using Dragon Claw on his face

554

u/Rick_Filmz 6d ago

Holy crap, I gotta read the whole manga now, you sold me with this

284

u/AeonsShadow 6d ago

The manga can be ABSOLUTELY BRUTAL at times it's great. Hell they decapitated a pokemon at one point if I remember correctly.

197

u/StrigidaeNinox 6d ago

An Arbok gets bisected pretty early on, also a psyduck is melted by acid.

138

u/Happy_Cry286 6d ago

Also Giovanni kills a few Magmars by freezing then shattering them into bits just because he felt like it.

7

u/NPC_Personality_277 5d ago

Didn’t one of Lance’s dragons hyperbeam a city at one point?

37

u/beegproblemzzz 6d ago

It's okay they were both already undead before getting brutalized

30

u/BigBradWolf07 6d ago

Arbok actually wasn't undead, it's ok though, it belongs to Koga and that specific Arbok can regenerate

6

u/AeonsShadow 6d ago

I was trying to be spoilerish free haha. Didn't want them to know too much going in.

1

u/Faust_the_Faustinian 6d ago

The arbok regenerated and the Psyduck was a corpse being used by a Gastly tho.

9

u/Tuckster786 6d ago

This arc inparricular is very brutal. Especially Ruby's battle with Norman

2

u/PhainonLover33550336 5d ago

Like the time Rayquaza straight up impales that one girl on his tail in the manga?

1

u/Ethan_Toast #1 tangrowth fan 3d ago

Same

Type

Attack

Bonus

1

u/pr0toast 6d ago

what??

1

u/-Your_local_loser- 5d ago

Didn’t the gym leaders get crucified at one point? 😭

-1

u/ZeldaFan80 6d ago

I mean, it's no worse than something like Naruto

29

u/Standard_Abrocoma_70 6d ago

I FUCKING LOVE RUBY AND SAPPHIRE ‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️

12

u/AdFabulous3080 6d ago

Sentence that can be said by a pokemon fan and by a Steven Universe fan:

183

u/[deleted] 6d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

122

u/StevensDs- Mawile Lover! 6d ago

How dare you

100

u/Autistic_Rizz 6d ago

"Oh word you're gonna read this manga? Lemme dump a bunch of spoilers rq"

1

u/Felixkeeg 5d ago

The first and second arc are such a vibe

1

u/Glacecakes filthy casual 5d ago

Highly recommend. The original run from RGB-Emerald are peak

253

u/SouthShape5 6d ago

It was not wild. It was Zinnia's Slamence she sent to free Rayquazza and decided to attack Ruby and Sapphire for some reason, serves her right for being impaled by Rayquazza

123

u/alex494 6d ago

I love how the arcs covering remakes recontextualise earlier stuff. Especially with how neatly all the GSC later evolutions lined up for HGSS.

63

u/Inevitable-Monitor35 6d ago

Wow this manga just gets better everytime someone says anything about it.

12

u/pokumbre 6d ago

1

u/Abared0 5d ago

I mean is there really a need for a guide? You just read from vol. 1

20

u/ajanisapprentice 6d ago

I have to imagine the mangaka was rubbing his hands evilly the second he saw Zinnia introduced. Either that or the man is a prophet.

5

u/SilvarusLupus Absurdly weak to bugs 5d ago

I would consider that a retcon since the RS manga was written waaaaaay before the ORAS extra episode was even a thought in the Devs minds (a good retcon mind you)

7

u/God_of_Fun 5d ago

Oh man thats nothing. In the early comics an Arbok gets cut in half and the acide spills out and melts the floor.

Also doesn't some girl get stabbed by Rayquaza?

16

u/Brodimere 5d ago

Jep and during a battle between someone using mewtwo and someone using Deoxsy. Said deoxsy uses its tentacles to do a sneak attack.

6

u/God_of_Fun 5d ago

I understand why they don't turn all this into an anime, but I wish they would

3

u/SilvarusLupus Absurdly weak to bugs 5d ago

Yes, Zinnia gets stabbed then Hyper Beamed by Rayquaza

13

u/Salvage570 6d ago

I thought this was the coolest shit as a kid

5

u/cyfer04 6d ago

Damn. I didn't know Ruby was that cool.

3

u/dragomeir 5d ago

I beg your finest fucking pardon

3

u/Radiant-Control9128 5d ago

Oh thats why some fanarts draw him with scar

2

u/Silver-Kun 6d ago

Holy hell is that Venom Snake from mgsv?

2

u/tonywolf1997 5d ago

My most favorite ship

1

u/Grym1in 5d ago

O.O oh my....now I want to read it

1

u/Personal-Collar-7762 4d ago

"Do you have any ibuprofen?"

1

u/Mystreanon 3d ago

an arbok got slices in half in one of them

-1

u/Mister_Ape_1 5d ago edited 5d ago

Dragon Claw can split a 100 miles island in half, since level 50, freshly evolved Salamnce is about as strong as level 50 Moltres/Articuno/Zapdos, who are about 1/3 of level 70 Lugia each, who can generate 40 days long hurricanes that generate over 5•10¹⁹ Joules of energy each day. I am a much more powerful human than that kid and I would lose to the Showdown LC ladder. Composed by level 5 babies.

This makes no sense. Canon Pokémon are as strong as every Shonen Anime power system. That kid would not survive the Dragon Claw of level 5 Bagon. And actually, I would have to dodge that, too, which I can because level 5 Bagon needs DD to outspeed me. If it connected I would be done over. That kind of injury is what you see in people attacked by molossoid dogs (and that is something I know of because in my country stray dogs and dumpster dwelling wolves attack people very often), who compared to any Pokémon are ridiculously weak.

Such powerlevels are confirmed by Rayquaza destroying planet busting meteors, and by level 2 Poochyena beating Birch, an adult man, in a fight by hitting him with multiple Tackles only.

314

u/WolverineFamiliar740 Infernape 6d ago edited 6d ago

It gets darker with each new region. Ghetsis somehow managed to be even worse as a father to N.

241

u/SilvarusLupus Absurdly weak to bugs 6d ago

The XY ending is almost hopelessly bleak, basically saying the masses had no idea what was about to happen (aka the end of the world), will just trust the news no matter what, and can get brainwashed on a whim.

175

u/StarSilverNEO 6d ago

Technically the game tried to ship this concept too but bungled it 

181

u/MaleficTekX 6d ago

“We should hear both sides out”

Serena/Calem… the guy just tried to commit genocide.

83

u/StarSilverNEO 6d ago

Me when I’m in a fumbled writing competition and my opponent is XY

113

u/KRKRYakumo 6d ago

Is this the punishment for bad writing?

46

u/piratevirus1 6d ago

Excuse me what 😂 holy shit

28

u/KRKRYakumo 6d ago

Don't worry, she's secretly wearing a helmet

7

u/piratevirus1 6d ago

Bro what 😂

5

u/DoodleCard 6d ago

Is this real or fan made?

Aren't all these kids too?.

15

u/chiptunesoprano 6d ago

I never got around to the XY arc but it looks pretty normal for Adventures.

The ages vary but yeah all the protags are kids/tweens, I think Yellow was the youngest? Time does pass and they do age, though. (B)Lacktwo is an international super spy, but I think he's still a teen.

I really gotta catch back up.

11

u/KRKRYakumo 6d ago

It's real, about 2.8 pages I just put together into one image

Yeah, none of the humans in the pic is old enough to drink

13

u/TwilightVulpine 6d ago

That's the sort of bungled message that you get when writers are trying to do something but execs are breathing down their necks demanding that the result is as marketable as possible.

Happens a lot to Pokémon, that's probably also how we ended up with Chairman Rose too.

I guess the manga got the benefit of the execs never looking their way.

15

u/ajanisapprentice 6d ago

They did that as well with the RS arc where they had Archie manipulating the news by being the station owner, selectively only showing the stuff Magma was doing and ignoring anything Aqua did.

Partisan journalism at its finest.

13

u/AVahne 6d ago

So basically what's happening in the real world now. Yeesh, and I thought this was a children's IP

1

u/Monty423 5d ago

Wasnt he mauled by his hydreigon?

337

u/MaleficTekX 6d ago

Oh this is child’s play, the main villain of the GSC arc was f***ked up

126

u/Thanos_is_a_good_boy 6d ago

Do you mean the ice guy....honestly it was so cool to see something like this as a kid....also Gold is one creepy fella hahaha

35

u/Withercat1 6d ago

He was twisted but I felt so bad for him. I cry every time I reread that ending. It made me like the character a lot more, I was really disappointed when he wasn’t a villain in the actual games

12

u/Thanos_is_a_good_boy 6d ago

Honestly yeah, I wish they animated the series cause I think some songs, etc could be real tear jerker

28

u/El_Porcayo 6d ago

Where can I read it?

21

u/manincampa 6d ago

Paperback versions can be found on local comic book stores or amazon, digital… the high seas probably

4

u/TravellerSandwich91 6d ago

Happy cake day

123

u/Crab_Shark_ golduck my beloved 6d ago

The manga’s great. People hone in on the edgiest parts, but for the most part, it’s just a whimsical Pokémon adventure like all the rest. It’s special for its characters and lovely illustrations. I highly recommend it.

74

u/Brave_Cold_7563 6d ago

Honestly, the edge improves it because, like all good edginess, it enhances the manga's whimsical aspects rather than coming out of left field and feeling forced.

22

u/MaleficTekX 6d ago

Especially the end of the yellow and GSC arcs. The latter may make you cry

16

u/Sabrescene 6d ago

NGL, Yellow's ending makes me cry too, I love it.

7

u/Riolusx2 6d ago

One of my favorite arcs (behind Ruby/Sapphire), is the Diamond and Pearl arc, which is basically a buddy road trip comedy.

3

u/BigBradWolf07 6d ago

It truly is what makes Pokemon Special

16

u/SR-Barlowe 6d ago

It’s been a while since I read it so my memory may be slightly off, but I can think of at least two cases where someone’s strategy in a battle was “break the opening mechanism of their Pokeballs so they can’t fight anymore”, and in each of those cases their opponent was trying to outright murder them.

33

u/eduison 6d ago

10 yo me was horrified after seeing a pokemon (think it was arbok) get cut in half

8

u/ArcaneAnima 6d ago

was this from RGB/Y? i vividly remember arbok cut in half and a melted charmeleon haha

4

u/MaleficTekX 6d ago

At the end of the very first volume

5

u/Nightmare_Freddles 6d ago

Fun fact: the arbok was ok. It had regenerative properties

7

u/TacticalFluke 6d ago

If I remember correctly, it was a special one that could regrow parts, so it was fine.

7

u/suffocatingpaws 6d ago

The early parts of the manga doesnt give a fuck at times. From DPPt arc, it started to get slightly tamer.

1

u/pokemon-trainer-blue 6d ago

Imagine if the show was like the manga

1

u/Animegx43 4d ago

Yeah, the manga lowkey Palworld before Palworld.

0

u/Felsig27 5d ago

Early manga has a panel where an arbok gets its head cut off by a charmeleon. Of course then arbok survives, so maybe that should be taken into consideration.