HGSS Series and Corocoro Ichiban

[Coronis]

Like previous years, the PokeSpecial writers had their little autobiography booth at the World Hobby Fair in Japan, and according to some Japanese fans who have attended the event, it was announced there that the HGSS series will begin its run in Grade 4 (likely in the April issue, since all grades 'upgrades' during April).

Another existing magazine from Shogakukan, called Corocoro-ichiban, is also slated to run future PokeSP chapters as well. Exactly which series will go there remains unknown, but likely it will continue the Platinum series if Grade 4 is going to be taken over by HGSS.

The exact details are not clear yet, but at least we know that one magazine has taken up the role of Grade 5/6. Whether the writers will fight for a third magazine to run their series remains uncetain.

Will let you know more once I get the details, or perhaps we'd have to wait til the official site updates with this piece of news.



Coronis~

[Rex Kamex]

I'm sure Netkun will mention more when it updates around the beginning of February. Anyway, this is good news.

By "April issue", you mean the issue that comes out at the beginning or March, right? And not the issue that literally comes out in April?

[Maxim]

That's good news.

Now, I'm praying that Kotone ends up as the new character named Heart (or Soul, but I prefer Heart).

[The 4th KIRA]

This is great. Finally some info on Pokemon Special's rumored HG/SS saga. I was beginning to think there wouldn't be a HG/SS arc since it's been 5 months since the games were released.

I'm also hoping that Kotone ends up as a new girl, and not as Crystal's "new look" :S

[Juputoru]

Good to know where Special's going to pop up now. It'll be interesting to see where the HGSS story goes, since HGSS doesn't really have any shreds of new plot/new areas the manga can use(unlike FRLG, which did have the Sevii islands).

I'm also suspecting that Kotone will be an entirely new character. I had a half-baked idea of Kotone's outfit simply being a disguise Crystal wears for SOMETHING, but the writers are going to want to use Kotone more than THAT. The girls are never named after the main game of each gen(Red, Gold, Ruby, Diamond...basically the one that's first in each pair), so I don't think she'll be named Heart...then again, there's not exactly anyone ELSE who could be named Heart in the first place(unless they make an entirely original protagonist ala Emerald). I'd personally prefer her to be named Soul, but that's just me.

By "April issue", you mean the issue that comes out at the beginning or March, right? And not the issue that literally comes out in April?

I would assume so(since each issue is always for the month AFTER it comes out(ex. the February issue is the one that most recently came out even though it's January)), although I'm not Coronis.

[Maxim]

Originally Posted by Juputoru

Good to know where Special's going to pop up now. It'll be interesting to see where the HGSS story goes, since HGSS doesn't really have any shreds of new plot/new areas the manga can use(unlike FRLG, which did have the Sevii islands).

With no new major landmass in HGSS (you can't stuff the entire Saga into that Cianwood Island, can you?), I was thinking about all-new journey through Johto, so we can see new places, all previously omitted stuff, see how old places changed etc. That's why new characters would be useful here. It'd be better to see junior Pokedex Owners travel again rather than watching old characters travel through the same region again. Of course, the seniors would still appear and be very important to the story (especially in the climax, whatever will that be).

Originally Posted by Juputoru

The girls are never named after the main game of each gen(Red, Gold, Ruby, Diamond...basically the one that's first in each pair), so I don't think she'll be named Heart...

That's not really about it.

Kusaka would probably choose the name which was used by the creators during the game's testing. And in the games, Heart is actually the version-name of the GIRL, while "Soul" is the name of the boy. So, I wouldn't cross out the possibility of the girl being Heart here. After all, the names for characters in Special originate from the games.

Originally Posted by Juputoru

then again, there's not exactly anyone ELSE who could be named Heart in the first place(unless they make an entirely original protagonist ala Emerald).

I was thinking that Soul would be Special's version of Jun'ichi/Jackson/Vincent (after all, it wouldn't be the first time when Kusaka adapts something from the anime but undoubtedly the most major one). Out of existing characters, he seems like the rightest choice for a Johto protagonist. But I guess that it's too awesome to happen.

[Rex Kamex]

I hope it's just Crys in the Kotone clothes. (Partially because I think they might be the same person anyway. And like I said before, I'm not a fan of Kotone's outfit, and having a Kotone character wear it instead of Crys wouldn't make a difference to me how I'd feel about it.) And if that's what happens, I wonder how big a deal it would be it Crys wore those clothes.

If there is a new girl, I hope her name is "Heart."

Come February's Netkun update, they'll probably make an announcement about this arc. Hopefully they'll put a picture up of the cast members (like they did for the D/P arc and I think Platinum too.)

In any case, I wonder how long this arc will be compared to the Fr/Lg arc.

[MizuJosh]

Exciting, I actually just recently got into the Pokémon Special manga and I'm glad HGSS will be getting their sunshine.

[lansbury9]

Wow. Maybe there will be TWO new characters. After all, the games introduced Hibiki and Kotone, so these will likely be included. Also, I was thinking there would be some precedent equivelent to Emerald's plot, but wow, the 4th generation manga is taking on an exciting new plot spin, and another battle frontier plot can wait anyway. You know what? the 4th generation in general was and is VERY long-running, right? But I don't know if the manga writers will be able to keep up well enough (like DP, remember?) and whether they can plan ahead (maybe with GameFeak/Nintendo's support) but things do look promising for a new cast of younger characters, much like Yu-Gi-Oh GX.

[redchesus]

Actually the original GSC manga deviated quite a bit from the game storyline so there's still plenty the writers can do, especially with the 4 new Team Rocket Executive characters

There's the Pokethlon feature will definitely be shown.

I actually like Juputoru's idea of the new clothes being Krys's disguise clothes for something but end up being her permanent clothes somehow... I don't hope Kotone is a new character

[Blackjack Gabbiani]

CoroCoro Ichiban? How is that related to CoroCoro?

[LucarioWolf]

I would like to see kotone as a new character,or maybe a costume change for Krys(like what Blue did in the FRLG arc).I really want to see this soon.The still have to finish the Pt series,but they could introduce the HG/SS arc during the Pt arc.

[ijea4444]

I also hope that Kotone is all new character and not a redesigned character, just because I love Kotone but also because what can they really do with Kris that they couldn't do better with Kotone.

[Insert User Name Here]

Great news! We're finally getting the HGSS arc!

Yeahhh, I honestly don't know what's the big deal if it's Crystal in new clothes. Not only it would be easier having her in new clothes, but (1) she has brown hair, (2) they'll have to introduce a Soul as well, (3) they aren't going to leave Crys on the sidelines, (4) Kusaka doesn't like introducing new characters, Kusaka named Kotone Crys on his copy of SS, and (6) Red and Blue were never replaced.

How is Kotone a better character than Crys in this situation? She doesn't even exist yet in Special! The only thing comparable is the design and they will have the same design if it's Crys in new clothes. They're just clothes, they don't have to go through much trouble. Her mom will probably force them onto her or something simple. Kotone will probably be Crys in new clothes, if that's the case, then people just have to get over it and stop whining.

I bet the Platinum Arc will be running in CoroCoro Ichiban, since it will be in CoroCoro, maybe Special will become more popular?

[SmartD]

This looks very interesting. I wonder what kind of information is there for CoroCoro -ichiban thing. Looks like we'll have to wait to find out.

[Ludi-Cola]

Awesome. I'm not sure what will be the plot of HG/SS arc but I'm hoping the Rocket Execs figure promenantly. If the old Dexers are in it, I can see Gold, being a breeder, hatching a shiny Pichu (or Pich being retconned shiny) and the Spiky Event adapted. I'm also hoping Cynthia and the Sinnoh dragons appear here (another event tie-in, maybe as a wrap-up to the DP plot that explains Cyrus' vanishing).
Whatev happens it's great hoping PokeSp continues to run. Oh, and I bet the manga-ka had fun at World Hobby Fair.

[Rex Kamex]

^ Hopefully Netkun will have pictures of the World Hobby Fair. I've think they've done that for past years, but I can't find those pictures on the site anymore.

Originally Posted by LucarioWolf

I would like to see kotone as a new character,or maybe a costume change for Krys(like what Blue did in the FRLG arc).I really want to see this soon.The still have to finish the Pt series,but they could introduce the HG/SS arc during the Pt arc.

They started the Fr/Lg arc when we were still in R/S, and later they started Emerald when Fr/Lg and R/S were still going. And the Platinum arc came during D/P.

Wow. Maybe there will be TWO new characters. After all, the games introduced Hibiki and Kotone, so these will likely be included.

Hibiki might not've been introduced in Hg/Ss either. In fact, he has less of a new chance of being new than Kotone is, since he looks more like the G/S/C boy than Kotone does to the Crystal girl. Also, the boy and girl from the original Johto games never had official names, so for all we know they just got names in Hg/Ss.

[Juputoru]

Originally Posted by Maxim

With no new major landmass in HGSS (you can't stuff the entire Saga into that Cianwood Island, can you?), I was thinking about all-new journey through Johto, so we can see new places, all previously omitted stuff, see how old places changed etc. That's why new characters would be useful here. It'd be better to see junior Pokedex Owners travel again rather than watching old characters travel through the same region again. Of course, the seniors would still appear and be very important to the story (especially in the climax, whatever will that be).

I meant "where the plot goes", not the actual region that HGSS will be set in(which will most likely be Johto). I don't think that the "old characters in an old region" problem is as big as you think it is, though; Special's always been so plot-heavy that they can get away with reusing locations with old characters(after all, most people are going to be paying more attention to the plot & characters than to the places the plot's taking place in).

Awesome. I'm not sure what will be the plot of HG/SS arc but I'm hoping the Rocket Execs figure promenantly. If the old Dexers are in it, I can see Gold, being a breeder, hatching a shiny Pichu (or Pich being retconned shiny) and the Spiky Event adapted. I'm also hoping Cynthia and the Sinnoh dragons appear here (another event tie-in, maybe as a wrap-up to the DP plot that explains Cyrus' vanishing).

There pretty much has to be SOMETHING somewhere wrapping up DP, since Cyrus vanishing after the GLs beat him, end of story, is an "unusual" ending to put it nicely.

Hibiki might not've been introduced in Hg/Ss either. In fact, he has less of a new chance of being new than Kotone is, since he looks more like the G/S/C boy than Kotone does to the Crystal girl.

Hibiki looks "more like" Gold? He's practically IDENTICAL other than a few minor wardrobe tweaks. Not something you can say about Kotone(although I'll admit that if you changed her hair color to blue and got rid of/shrunk the stupid hat, she suddenly looks a lot more similar to Krys).

[Rex Kamex]

Originally Posted by Juputoru

Hibiki looks "more like" Gold? He's practically IDENTICAL other than a few minor wardrobe tweaks. Not something you can say about Kotone(although I'll admit that if you changed her hair color to blue and got rid of/shrunk the stupid hat, she suddenly looks a lot more similar to Krys).

"Waaaaaaay more like Gold", then. I'm not trying to make it so debatable.

(Admitedly, when I saw the Hg/Ss guy Hibiki, I saw him as the same person as the boy from G/S/C. The moment I saw Kotone I thought of her as someone different. I thought the Fr/Lg guy was a new character too, but the difference between Red from those games and Red from the original Kanto games were more subtle than the differences between Kotone and the Crystal girl.)

[Maxim]

Originally Posted by redchesus

especially with the 4 new Team Rocket Executive characters

Two.

You seem to be forgetting that Chermaine and Keane exist. They're Athena and Apollo of Generation II.