December 2011 "Pocket Monsters Special" Review Thread

[Eitarou]

This month's Sho4 is out!

White battles for the first time! Servine knows Leaf Tornado and Black captures and Tirtouga (which we knew about since two months ago) and White obtains a Deerling

Spoiler

\

Coronis has posted a summary.

Chapter begins with White trying to capture a wild Deerling but to no avail. Baker Chris accompanies her and cheers her up with bread. White receives a phone call, and Chris overhears her talking about returning an Agency Pokemon to its owner. The fact is, after White decided to take a ride on the Subway, she temporarily closes her Agency, and has thus returned all the bestowed Pokemon, except Gigi of course, since it ran away. She now needs Pokemon for her own use on the Subway, and is thus attempting a capture. (seems that the Subway ride is a long journey, not just a brief ride like in the games)

Black watches over White from afar with a sulk, and Marshal states that Black is upset that White gets to take the trial ride on the Subway instead of him. Black challenges why they can't take it together, and Marshal points out that White is just a beginner and it will be utterly unfair for them to battle together on the same platform. Marshal says as a man, he must show his support to his friends even if his own wish is compromised, and thus tosses Black towards where White is, and Black is obligated to teach White about battling.

The wild Deerling is already infuriated however, and starts chasing White around. She trips and it is about to stomp on her, but Servine suddenly saves her by whacking Deerling off with its vines. Black is shocked that the Servine is protecting White since they thought it was there to spy on them. He decides that White needs help to weaken the Deerling anyway and tells White to order a Leaf Tornado. To their surprise, Servine complies.

Black then decides to demo things first person to White, and spots a wild Tirtouga. He gets Tula out and attacks Tirtouga while White attacks Deerling similarly with Servine. At the end both successfully capture their Pokemon of choice.

Later, White is about to embark on the Subway. Tirtouga thrashes around in its Pokeball and causes it to fall out of Black's hands. Marshal recognizes it as the same Tirtouga he used to own but released back to the wild the day before because it was too stubborn to handle. He is amused that it ended up in Black's hands now.

Alder returns to join them, and wants to know if White wants to become stronger by taking the Subway. White explains that the sole reason she takes the train is for an important Pokemon who is now far away from her. She knows that there will come a day when this Pokemon will need to choose its path between battling and performing. She hopes that by that time, she will be there to support its choice, and since she knows nothing about battling, she must also explore the other path so that she may continue to accompany the Pokemon shall it choose battling. That is the reason she wants to take the trial ride.

White gets on board, and prepares to say her goodbyes to Black. Both are a bit emotional and thank each other for everything they're shared so far: 5 cities, 4 routes and 1 bridge. Black is at a loss of words, but then asks if he still owes White money for the broken cameras on their first encounter. White says there is indeed still some debt, and Black says he is still a staff of the BW Agency in that case. He promises to fulfill his own dream and advertise the logo of the Agency at the League when he wins. He wishes White good luck but the fast moving train is already drowning out Black's voice. Suddenly, White catches a Pokeball and sees that it is Brav. Turns out that it has volunteered to join White as she will need altogether 3 Pokemon to battle the Subway.

And so, Black and White go there separate ways. Black continues on his journey to counquer the League, while White explores her new journey with Brav, her newly captured Deerling, and a Servine whom she still has no idea whether it is a friend of foe.



Coronis~

 

[Dogasu]

We end 2011 with four new chapters of Pocket Monsters Special! We get two issues of Shougaku Yon-Nensei this month because the magazine's usual release date, the 3rd of the month, falls right in the middle of New Year's holidays.

Shougaku Yon-Nensei - December 3rd, 2011
Pokemon Fan - December 17th, 2011
CoroCoro Ichiban - December 21st, 2011
shougaku Yon-Nensei - December 28th, 2011

 

[Eitarou]

Speaking of which...

Apparently Sho4 (and Sho3) are being suspended in March (or was it April) of next year....

 

[Dogasu]

Where did you hear that?

Also, I added another date to my previous post.

 

[Eitarou]

Where did you hear that?

Also, I added another date to my previous post.

小学館が「小学三年生」「四年生」も休刊へ　学年誌、残るは２誌に - MSN産経ニュース

This months Pokemon Fan is out.

Spoiler

And a summary from Coronis.

Spoiler

This is quite an exciting chapter actually.

Chapter starts off with White continuing her challenge/test ride on the Battle Subway. She sends out her Deerling (which she nicknames Jessica, written in Hiragana, somehow resembling the Japanese name of Deerling Shikijika) but it gets defeated again. Ingo and Emmet are quite humorous, in an ironic way. Ingo says 'The next round will still be the first round'. Emmet says 'our challenger has earned a winning streak of 0!'. Emmet even says he finds it interesting to monitor a beaten up trainer who couldn't even win a single battle, and Ingo says they should be more professional. Ingo has a Klinklang while Emmet has a Durant.

Anyway, White is a bit terrified by the two men's robotic behaviour and is glad when they retreated into the control room to let her practice herself. Suddenly, the train goes above ground and they are travelling between farmlands. A voice suddenly starts speaking in the adjacent cabin and White is horrified to see a girl (Shauntal) appearing out of nowhere. Turns out, Shauntel has creeped into the train because she wants to get ideas and inspiration for her story writing.

Just then, the train comes to a halt, and there is intense thundering and lightning outside with a heavy downpour. Shauntal seems excited and starts to climb out of the train. White follows and soon sees two genie like creatures battling in the air. She recalls what Black said about his encounter at the Nimbasa Gym, and identifies the two as Thundurus and Tornadus. Shauntal is amazed that White knows who they are, and reveals that they are the reason she came. From the weather panels at the gates, she can know the probably locations of the genies and it is extremely rare for both genies to be at the same location at the same time.

Shauntal sends out her female Jellicent, but to White's horror, it uses rather mild attacks to hit the genies, which ends up provoking them instead of calming them. Shauntal explains that provoking them to have a close up combat is exactly what she wanted, and says it is the only way to really stop them. Soon, Landorus appears in the sky as well, and instantly calms the two genies. It grabs them both by the neck and yanks them back into the clouds.

Shauntal only then reveals her name to White, and White remembers from Black's daily shout-outs that she is one of the Elite 4 members. The two proceed to get back into the train but Shauntal is distressed, because she is certain of what she saw, the shadow lurking the grass who departed with the three Pokeballs thrown at the 3 genies the moment they disappeared into the skies...

The train restarts and is set for Anville Town.

So... Team Plasma captured the genies now? Pics in a later post.


Coronis~

More pics, not that anyone gives a crap...

http://twitpic.com/7w2p8h/full
http://twitpic.com/7w2wo3/full

 

[VanManner]

White meets Shauntal and the Kami trio, then Black meets Skyla on top of Celestial Tower and battles her for the badge. Man, I really need to catch up.

More pics, not that anyone gives a crap...

Hey, it's not your fault that this board is dead in the water.

 

[Catilena1890]

I just read the new chapters, I must say, when I first saw these screencaps, I was suspicious of Servine and N cuz I thought he sent Servine after her, but then I got ahold of some translated pages, and now I`m just confused by Servine. I wonder if it has an interest in musicals? Or if it fell in love with White? I got nothin XD

 

[Eitarou]

If anyone hasn't checked yet, Netkun has updated early.

It seems that this months Sho4 explains how Black met Musha and Brav.

 

[Dogasu]

Yeah, Grade Four came out twice this month because of the New Year's holidays. Which means that we're only getting one CoroCoro Ichiban chapter next month.

 

[Bandit Keith]

When will N appear again?

And what will be Black's last Pokémon?

I predict one of the following:Ferrothorn, Amoongus, Simisage, Cryogonal, Klinklang, Zoroark, Cobalion or a Gen. I-IV Pokémon

And when will Black acquire a Moon Stone for Musha? When will Carra, and Pig(predicted English names) evolve? Will he get Brav Back?(yes!)

White, I predict, will have the following:Serperior, Jessica the Sawsbuck, Emolga, Mandibuzz, Archeops and Simipour or Cryogonal.

 

[Magmaster12]

When will N appear again?

Yeah I think I'm pretty disappointed they rushed through Chargestone Cave so quickly with no sign of Team Plasma or N.

Is everyone in the manga aware that N is part of Team Plasma?

 

[Dogasu]

Yeah, White told Black after falling off the ferris wheel in Raimon City.

*Bump* FYI, the next chapter will be printed in the March 2012 issue of CoroCoro Ichiban, which doesn't go on sale until January 21st.

 

[Sweet Veil]

I finally caught up anyway.(Let's give the Manga Section a little more love and start posting reviews XD)

-I thought this chapter was freaking awesome, the fucking sucker punch of the freaking month. White's Bubu-Chan betraying her for N was a very nice twist. I liked seeing White get N's Janobii, I really like its personality and characterization since that's becoming more rare in a lot of Pokemon. I'm kinda hoping she just keeps the Janobii, I also decided that I'm starting to dislike the treacherous little baconated bitch that is Bubu-Chan. I really liked how reluctant White was in her first real battle and I really really liked the drawing, specifically Janobii's Vine Whip when it attacks Shikijiki. I liked seeing White command and tell it to use Grass Mixer, even though I still think one of PokeSpe's low points is the redundancy in using moves. So Janobii knows Grass Mixer, Vine Whip, and Wrap that's a pretty solid move pool and it has a personality so yeah, one of my favorites of BW. With that new Shikijiki in her arsenal(Jessika?) that brings White's Pokemon count up two and she's not useless anymore and has to rely on Black to save her. She's still getting the basics of battling, but at least that Janobii and Shikijiki make her more viable as a trainer. And it was a nice little Easter egg by Black to let her borrow his War and seeing War being willing to go with her was such a sweet sight. I look forward to seeing her battle again I also really really really hope Janobii doesn't evolve, Janobii looks much better design wise and personality wise the size I also feels works better for Spe. So, only thing now is for Gray to come out and now we have Janobii and Embour now all we need is a Mijumaru trainer. Cheers to Black catching Protoga and using Denchura to do so, since both Pokemon are interesting with Protoga being a Pokemon even a member of the Four Heavenly Kings couldn't tame. And Denchura cuz I likes Electric Taipus I liked seeing White and Black on their time through Raimon, Huin, Shippou, Sanyou, Karakusa, and the Sky Arrow Bridge before leaving. Hopefully she'll get the training she needs on the Subway, with War being her strongest, then Janobii, then Shikijiki she'll need it with only two official Pokemon with her.


*Also can someone help me make sense of this clusterfuck? White's story is running in a different magazine, as well as Black story, and the chapters are being collected into the same volumes? So, if I want to follow White's story as well as Black I would have to buy both magazines. Both of which are monthly magazines? Does anyone know if the volumes are out in JNP?