Short/One-Shot Manga Discussion Thread

[Juputoru]

This thread is for the discussion of various manga too short to deserve individual threads(which, for the purposes of this thread, will be defined as manga that have, at most, 5 published volumes). Some of the more notable manga of this type are noted below:

Movie Manga
Every year, the Pokemon anime comes out with a new movie. These manga are simply each year's movie put into manga format. They generally follow the plotline of the actual movie, but there are often several minor differences between the manga and the movie.

Pokemon Mysterious Dungeon - Ginji's Rescue Team
This was the first manga published in English since 2002, and was also the first translated manga to preserve the right-to-left reading format. It follows the adventures of a boy named Ginji, who turns into a Torchic and teams up with a Mudkip. The plot, for the most part, follows what happens in the Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Red/Blue Rescue Team games.

Pokémon Gold & Silver: The Golden Boys
Golden Boys follows the plot of the Gold & Silver games. It features the adventures of a boy named Gold who travels through Johto collecting badges & competing against his rival, Black. The series ends abruptly after Cianwood City, with little resolution to the plot.

The Electric Tale of Pikachu
This manga follows the plot of the Kanto and Orange Islands sagas of the anime, although several episodes were not adapted into the manga. That said, this manga is quite different from the anime at several points: Ash often travels alone, many people own Pokemon that they don't have in the anime, and some storylines were altered for the manga.


Remember, these are just a few of the manga that can be discussed in this thread. For lists and synposes of other manga, take a look at Dogasu's Manga Guide. Bulbapedia has summaries of some of the manga Dogasu does not.

[Maxim]

Golden Boys and Dengeki Pikachu "too short" for an individual thread? Three or four volumes is really much for a Pokemon manga.

Come on, the real problem is that they aren't PokeSpe. Because, as we already know, PokeSpe is the only true Pokemon manga and the only one ever worth a discussion...

I also like PokeSpe and it's my favorite Pokemon manga series. But come on, it is not the only one around.

I could even tolerate such "unified" thread for one-shot or never-tankobonned mangas ONLY. But stuffing such diverse comics (and really noteworthy) like Golden Boys or Dengeki Pikachu into one thread... No, this is just too ridiculous.

If SPP website had sections on non-Special mangas, the world would be probably a better place...

[1dbad]

Pokemon Mysterious Dungeon - Ginji's Rescue Team
This was the first manga published in English since 2002, and was also the first translated manga to preserve the left-to-right reading format.

Not to nitpick Juputoru but you mean the first translated to preserve the right-to-left reading format, right? XD Not trying to be critical but just thought you might confuse some people if they didn't know it was actually published right-to-left.

Golden Boys and Dengeki Pikachu "too short" for an individual thread? Three or four volumes is really much for a Pokemon manga.

Come on, the real problem is that they aren't PokeSpe. Because, as we already know, PokeSpe is the only true Pokemon manga and the only one ever worth a discussion...

Well, Golden Boys suddenly got canceled with no real ending, so that's why it's probably here with the others.

And I wouldn't say that. Juputoru is just doing her best as a mod, and she's actually trying to help out. If anything, so many different titles under one thread should help keep it alive longer, and allow for there to be a lot more discussion about other mangas.

[Juputoru]

Not to nitpick Juputoru but you mean the first translated to preserve the right-to-left reading format, right? XD Not trying to be critical but just thought you might confuse some people if they didn't know it was actually published right-to-left.

What are you talking about? I didn't make a mistake like that at all. It's been fixed

Well, Golden Boys suddenly got canceled with no real ending, so that's why it's probably here with the others.

Indeed. Also it was only three volumes long, which falls below my arbitrary "this is a short manga" cutoff point.

And I wouldn't say that. Juputoru is just doing her best as a mod, and she's actually trying to help out. If anything, so many different titles under one thread should help keep it alive longer, and allow for there to be a lot more discussion about other mangas

Read this a couple times, Maxim. You may think that Dengeki Pikachu or Golden Boys deserve their own threads, but how likely is it that they'd get enough discussion to keep a single thread alive? Manga like Pocket Monsters & DPA will (eventually, once I feel like typing opening posts for their threads and all that) get their own threads since they're long enough to merit their own threads - in particular, DPA's already had multiple threads with lots of discussion about it. And Pocket Monsters is both long & ongoing, which means that it can fuel discussion better than a 3 volume manga that never got a proper end(or a four-volume, 11-year-old manga based on an equally old anime saga).

Golden Boys and Dengeki Pikachu "too short" for an individual thread? Three or four volumes is really much for a Pokemon manga.

Given the hilarious amount of one-shot manga dotting the Pokemon landscape, you're not entirely wrong here. But 3 or 4 volumes is relatively short compared to most of the manga people tend to discuss on forums(which includes SPPf). As I said above, I don't really think a manga that short would stir much discussion in an individual thread.

And before you say "well why is it a problem if you make a bunch of relatively inactive threads?!":
I witnessed a similar project over in Pokemon Anime Discussion. It was called "the character discussions subforum." Many threads were made for all sorts of characters that one could reasonably argue were important - gym leaders, rivals, evil team members, that sort of thing. Almost none of the threads got very much activity after the initial "oooh, a new subforum" burst. The few that did were for characters people repeatedly discussed in other threads anyway. The whole thing was eventually closed down, and a giant waste of time was felt by all.
And that's why I'd rather stick a bunch of relatively small things in one thread(which will hopefully get regular discussion!) rather than spreading them all out in their own threads(which would likely die of inactivity after a few weeks). I'm not opposed to promoting the manga here to individual thread status if they get enough discussion to sustain one. But until then, I'm going to save everyone a lot of trouble and just keep them all in here. This will also piss *me* off less, since this system is less likely to end up as a giant waste of my time.

Come on, the real problem is that they aren't PokeSpe. Because, as we already know, PokeSpe is the only true Pokemon manga and the only one ever worth a discussion...

I also like PokeSpe and it's my favorite Pokemon manga series. But come on, it is not the only one around.

Let me point something else out. All the discussion of how to represent threads for non-Pokespe manga? I prodded it along because I wanted to make it easier to discuss them here. And as a result of that discussion, I am actively making threads for non-Pokespe manga. This sticky thread the most representation most these manga have had in PMD in the past year, if not longer than that.
*You* may not be happy with this format, but as the voting over in the Manga Discussion Improvement thread showed, this is the system that the overwhelming majority of people(who bothered to respond to the thread, anyway) wanted. The runner up was the "people make threads if they feel like it" system, which saw almost nobody making threads for non-Pokespe series. Even with that system, I would have made a sticky thread summarizing the most notable non-Special series. It still wouldn't have helped your cause of getting people to discuss those manga, but hey.

If SPP website had sections on non-Special mangas, the world would be probably a better place...

It would be nice to see info about non-Special manga on the main site, but unfortunately for us all, I have neither the clout nor the assault weaponry necessary to make Serebii do that.

Basically: Maxim, I get where you're coming from, but I have to work with reality here. And reality is that people won't discuss most non-Special manga enough for all of those manga to get individual threads. Hell, people rarely discuss anything about Special that's not the currently running series, and now you're expecting them to talk about a bunch of short manga that have completed their runs? Good luck with that, buddy.
Also: Being super whiny & demanding about this isn't really helping your case. Just fyi.

[Ciccone]

Yay, a thread for various manga including the movie manga. I like the manga adaptations of certain Pokemon movies, but I made the mistake of purchasing the movie manga for The Rise of Darkrai a few years ago. I hadn't seen the movie yet at that point, so I wanted to buy the manga to get the gist of the story. However, the manga left some things out and the manga just felt sort of empty. I purchased the movie manga for Giratina and the Sky Warrior after having watched the movie, and things were much more enjoyable. I'm anxiously awaiting the movie manga for Arceus and the Jewel and Life and Zoroark: Master of Illusions (though the latter probably won't be released for another year...).

[Maxim]

Indeed. Also it was only three volumes long, which falls below my arbitrary "this is a short manga" cutoff point.

Only four series longer than that, in the entire Pokemon franchise.

Read this a couple times, Maxim. You may think that Dengeki Pikachu or Golden Boys deserve their own threads, but how likely is it that they'd get enough discussion to keep a single thread alive?

No longer than here.

And Pocket Monsters is both long & ongoing, which means that it can fuel discussion better than a 3 volume manga that never got a proper end(or a four-volume, 11-year-old manga based on an equally old anime saga).

Except that no one discusses it.

Really, you must understand that it's not all about legnth. It's about availability - American and Singaporean releases. Getto Da Ze is six volumes (which fits your criteria of a "worth manga") but most people here have no idea what it is, unlike the "only" four-volume Dengeki.

Dengeki's problem is that it's long out of print. But so is the ten-volume (seven in America) PiPiPi.

But 3 or 4 volumes is relatively short compared to most of the manga people tend to discuss on forums(which includes SPPf).

In other words, relatively short compared to PokeSpecial (and formerly also DPA).

And before you say "well why is it a problem if you make a bunch of relatively inactive threads?!":
I witnessed a similar project over in Pokemon Anime Discussion... And a wall of text appeared.

If you don't force anyone to open those inactive threads, the situation will be exactly the same as it is with this thread.

My pet peeve are the newly-running titles (like the recently-released "Pokemon BW: Hero of Thunder and Fire"). Being new and unknown, they can be an object to much discussion. But since they'll probably end up being no more than three volumes (which is already a good score), they must be stuffed into this thread and being discussed simultaneously with tens of older and newer manga series.

*You* may not be happy with this format, but as the voting over in the Manga Discussion Improvement thread showed, this is the system that the overwhelming majority of people(who bothered to respond to the thread, anyway) wanted.

12 people... So overwhelming.

It would be nice to see info about non-Special manga on the main site, but unfortunately for us all, I have neither the clout nor the assault weaponry necessary to make Serebii do that.

Nor do I, luckily Dogasu does some justice for new non-Special mangas these times.

Also: Being super whiny & demanding about this isn't really helping your case. Just fyi.

The way how you show off your mod power doesn't make you cooler. Just fyi.

[Blackjack Gabbiani]

It would be nice to see info about non-Special manga on the main site, but unfortunately for us all, I have neither the clout nor the assault weaponry necessary to make Serebii do that.

At least unhindered discussion would be a good start, rather than relegating it to a single thread. Encourage people to talk about what they want, rather than putting it here.

[Ludi-Cola]

Well I think this thread is a good start. The desire for (more) non-Special topic exists so why not take the initiative? We could vote/draw straws/decide on a manga we'd like to include on Serebii's site & then write plot summaries, mini-bios etc. If someone had a scanner they include a few pics as well & PM if a staff member for permission/formatting to make it an official page?
My fave one-shot was Ginji's Rescue Team. I am v. fond of the PMD spinoff (prefer it to Ranger games) & thot they captured the main plot well. I liked the choice of Torchic as lead & Mudkip as partner. Gengar was a good foil (I don't wanna say villain since his redemption for betraying Gardevoir came so quickly-- necessary do to page limit). I loved the art, the little scar marking Ginji was cute & easy way to identify him from the regular pokes.
Ono's Electric Tale is v. cute as well, the Sabrina & Haunter issue is still my fave as it's the only portrayal of her as sweet & non-violent (this was the perception I had of her based on my playthru of RBY "I dislike fighting but if you wish I will show you my powers") & of course Brock was a welcome guest star. I don't think Ono's Ash is much smarter or mature than the anime Ash but it was nice to have an Ash that was not so romantically obtuse (daydreaming about Gary's sis, Misty hints, knew Sabrina was pretty & Brock liked her).
I have not read every movie manga, but the Darkrai one was awesome. The baron's changing to Lickilicky was captured well & my only art regreat was TR in their uniforms not the newscaster costumes. If I didn't love the cosplay I think I would've given up being a Rocket fan years ago... :P

[Ciccone]

I have not read every movie manga, but the Darkrai one was awesome. The baron's changing to Lickilicky was captured well & my only art regreat was TR in their uniforms not the newscaster costumes. If I didn't love the cosplay I think I would've given up being a Rocket fan years ago... :P

Well, the story aspect of the Darkrai manga might not have been my cup of tea, but even I have to give the illustrator some props since they did a fantastic job of drawing everything out. I might have liked the Giratina manga a bit more (storywise), but my only complaint about it was the artwork; I hated the artwork to be honest. The front cover looked cool enough, but the actual drawings in the manga looked pretty bad IMO. The illustrator (Makoto Hijioka) has this odd style; they tend to put a lot of emphasis on just one eye on the characters. It just didn't like it. I hope that the art in the Arceus manga is better.

[Ludi-Cola]

We'll know soon, Feb is not too far off. I like how Ash looks on the cover, Pika is a bit skinny for my tastes. Granted his design has slimmed over the years so most artists keep w/ that trend... but I still like my electric mice to be a bit stocky (like Raichu). It is the same guy (makoto mizobichi) who did Ginji'a Rescue Team & I liked that so I will probly enjoy the Arceus manga too. Makoto's good at showing the size difference btwn most pokes so I expect some nice wide panels of Arceus looming over Pika etc.

[Ciccone]

We'll know soon, Feb is not too far off. I like how Ash looks on the cover, Pika is a bit skinny for my tastes. Granted his design has slimmed over the years so most artists keep w/ that trend... but I still like my electric mice to be a bit stocky (like Raichu). It is the same guy (makoto mizobichi) who did Ginji'a Rescue Team & I liked that so I will probly enjoy the Arceus manga too. Makoto's good at showing the size difference btwn most pokes so I expect some nice wide panels of Arceus looming over Pika etc.

Yeah, I think Makoto Mizobuchi was also involved in drawing the manga adaptation for the Manaphy movie, although I could be wrong. I read the Manaphy manga a while ago in the library and although I wasn't able to really absorb the artwork because I was in a rush, I liked what I saw. I'm also liking the cover for the Arceus manga so I guess I'll like the inside as well. What I'm dying to read is the Zoroark movie manga. Dogasu has covered the manga on his site and I love the artwork in that manga. Also, from what I can tell, it follows the movie's events pretty closely, which is faaaabulous (because I love the movie!).

[Ludi-Cola]

Yup, it's the Manaphy guy too.
The DP movies were much stronger scriptwise than most earlier films, I would say Mewtwo & later Lucario were the most memorable & best constructed pre-DP films. Darkrai had a standard plot (mistunderstood "scary" pokemon & love triangle element gave it a more episodic feel, like it could've been a hr special) but having it connect to the later ones was a stroke of genius. I like the romance angle myself but its not everyone's fave thing. Arceus film was EPIC, I don't think I know any one who didn't like it & unless they were Shaymin-haters most ppl enjoyed the Giratina film as well.
The rotating artists on the movie adapts means inconsistent quality but I think the tradeoff is worth it b/c it can give lesser-known artists a chance for exposure in the manga market & in such a competitive field that boost can rly make a difference.

[1dbad]

Wait...is Makoto Mizobuchi a guy? I could've swore Dogasu said Makoto was a girl. Not to mention the name Makoto's name and art style seem feminine to me as well. It doesn't matter either way though, since I still like Makoto regardless. Just a bit confused here. XD

[Ciccone]

The rotating artists on the movie adapts means inconsistent quality but I think the tradeoff is worth it b/c it can give lesser-known artists a chance for exposure in the manga market & in such a competitive field that boost can rly make a difference.

I used to seriously dislike how the artists would rotate around randomly when it came time for the movie manga to be illustrated. Now though, I just try and live with it. Like I said, there are some artists that I don't really appreciate because their artwork is something I'm not used to, but at least the stories in the manga are pretty consistent with those of the movies. And in the end, isn't that the most important thing?

Wait...is Makoto Mizobuchi a guy? I could've swore Dogasu said Makoto was a girl. Not to mention the name Makoto's name and art style seem feminine to me as well. It doesn't matter either way though, since I still like Makoto regardless. Just a bit confused here. XD

I have no idea if Makoto Mizobuchi is male or female. But I always use "he" when I don't know whether the person I'm talking about is male/female :s

[lolipiece]

I was wondering

Do the Ranger manga count as short manga

Or are they counted as Adventures?

[Kariris]

I was wondering

Do the Ranger manga count as short manga

Or are they counted as Adventures?

Good question. I wish they would!

[Maxim]

Lots of interesting news from non-Special BW-based mangas from CoroCoro Special!

"Heroes of Thunder and Fire" has became really interesting! We see Alder and N breaking into Pokemon League HQ with Zekrom! Is this manga so rushed (maybe they're aiming for a one-shot) or maybe it'll simply tell the later part of the games story?

Master Pokemon BW: Monta, Cheren and Bianca meet Victini!

And Red & Blockhead Clefairy meet Burgh!

Also, the Netkun magazines come in a couple of days. This means that we'll get Good Partners (and obviously PokeSpe, but that's not for this thread) news & pics!

[lolipiece]

Stuff happens in Hero of Thunder and Fire

Uh...something is up with Alder. Oh, he's just acting.

Shin has a Reshiram! (Duh)

[Kariris]

Check this out:

http://twitpic.com/5iukjd/full

Seems like Monta's Snivy evolved all the way to Serperior.

[Maxim]

NEW RELEASES!

The "Master! Pokemon BW" tankobon (it has no number, so it's probably a one-shot) comes on 26 August. On the same day comes the first volume of Pocket Monsters BW.

Also, the BW version of "Pokemon 4Koma Encyclopedia" (y'know, the one which has a 4Koma comic on each Pokemon in the Pokedex) is coming in five days!

No announcement of "Thunder and Fire" and "Good Partners" tankobons yet. And those two are what I'm eagerly waiting for (especially Good Partners, I've got some hopes on this manga).