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Terminology of Pokémon Adventures

The terminology of Pokémon Adventures explains the usage of terms related to the Pokémon Adventures manga and its subdivisions, such as arcs, volumes, and chapters.

Manga title

Japanese title

On the Japanese volume covers, this manga title is consistently written as 「ポケットモンスター SPECIAL」 (Pocket Monsters Special). Elsewhere in the Japanese manga, this is also often completely written with Latin letters as "Pocket Monsters SPECIAL" or in all-caps as "POCKET MONSTERS SPECIAL".

The word "SPECIAL" has also been written as katakana text「スペシャル」. For instance:

  • 「このマンガ、ポケットモンスタースペシャル」(This manga, Pocket Monsters Special, [...]) (Hidenori Kusaka, volume 3)

"Pocket Monsters SP" has also been used (such as in the manga preview at the end of Japanese volume 52). The manga title is also often abbreviated as 「ポケSP」 (PokéSP) on the official Japanese website[1] and also in the messages from the creators. For instance, this abbreviation is mentioned in the Japanese version of Hidenori Kusaka's message from volume 11.

In Japanese volumes, this is also written as 「ポケットモンスター」 (Pocket Monsters). This is seen in the identification of each volume such as 「ポケットモンスター1」 (Pocket Monsters 1) which is located at the top of several manga pages per volume.

English title

In the English manga published by VIZ, the manga title is consistently written as Pokémon Adventures in italics when it appears in running text. For instance:

  • "Pokémon Adventures is already on its third volume!" (Hidenori Kusaka, volume 3)
  • "It's often been said that Pokémon Adventures is a unique manga [...]" (Hidenori Kusaka, volume 11)
  • "Although not a year has passed since I began drawing Pokémon Adventures, the second volume has already come out." (Satoshi Yamamoto, volume 11)
  • "I hope you enjoy this special action-packed volume of Pokémon Adventures!!" (Hidenori Kusaka, volume 14)
  • "Cyrus is the mysterious creepy archvillain of the Pokémon Adventures series." (Hidenori Kusaka, volume 33)

Manga arcs

The terms "story arc" and "chapter" are both used referring to story arcs in official media. Some examples:

  • "Pokémon Adventures [...] has lots of story arcs [...]" (Hidenori Kusaka, volume 11)
  • "This is complicated and requires me to put a lot of creativity into the story arc." (Hidenori Kusaka, volume 15)
  • "Go to the next Chapter!! (English text found in Japanese volume 43, shortly before starting the Black & White arc)

The term "story arc" has been commonly used (with more examples below), but the word "arc" is rarely used by itself in official media. For instance, there is a story arc named "FireRed & LeafGreen story arc", but no known official use of the shorter "FireRed & LeafGreen arc".

The word "story" has also been used by itself at some point, referring to a story arc:

  • "Since it's the end of the story, I had Satoshi Yamamoto draw an illustration of Sapphire's complete team for the cover of vol. 21 and Ruby's complete team for the cover of vol. 22." (Hidenori Kusaka, volume 21)

Arc numbers

In Japanese, the kanji 章(しょう) (arc) is used to identify arcs by each number, such as 「第(だい)1章(しょう)」(first arc).

From the 4th arc onwards, each arc is numbered according to the written format "The Fourth Chapter", "The Fifth Chapter", "The Sixth Chapter", etc. which is found as the identification of this arc in several pages, including in the table of contents. This English text is equally found in both the Japanese and English versions of this manga. After the introduction of this numbering system in the 4th arc, some manga sections have titles including the word "chapter" in this manner as well, such as: "Story of the Fourth Chapter" (volume 15, page 5) or "Trainers of the Fourth Chapter" (volume 16, page 6).

The first, second, and third arcs are not identified this way (such as "The First Chapter", "The Second Chapter", or "The Third Chapter") in the manga volumes, but their arc numbers have been sometimes retroactively mentioned in the messages from the creators.

In the Japanese volumes, "The Ninth Chapter" is often misspelled as "The Nineth Chapter".

In the English version of FireRed & LeafGreen arc and Emerald arc, the story summary mentions the arcs written in this format: "1st Chapter", "2nd Chapter", "3rd Chapter", etc.

Some instances of arc numbers in the messages from creators:

  • "This second story arc proves that there are as many Pokémon stories to tell a there are Pokémon and Pokémon trainers... So enjoy!!" (Hidenori Kusaka, volume 4)
  • "Just like that, this manga is at volume 7, which will take us to the climax of the second chapter of this adventure!" (Hidenori Kusaka, volume 7)
  • "[...] wait'll see chapter 3, where I went back to my original concept for the series!" (Hidenori Kusaka, volume 8)
  • "The fourth Pokémon Adventures story arc ends here, but the Hoenn Region will reappear in other major stories in the future." (Hidenori Kusaka, volume 22)
  • "The Fifth Chapter of Pokémon Adventures starts in this volume." (Satoshi Yamamoto, volume 23)
  • "The fifth chapter is finally reaching its climax." (Satoshi Yamamoto, volume 25)
  • "I had a very hard time figuring out how one could defeat Arceus in the Ninth Chapter story arc [...]" (Hidenori Kusaka, HGSS volume 2)

Arc names

In English official media, the manga arc names usually appear in running text with no formatting such as italics or quotation marks, although they occasionally appear in italics. For instance (arc title with no italics): "Not one, but two evil organizations—Team Aqua and Team Magma—appear in the Ruby and Sapphire story arc." (Hidenori Kusaka, volume 19)

In Japanese, the kanji 編(へん) is used in the names of each arc (as opposed to the kanji 章(しょう) mentioned above, used in the case of arc numbers).

In particular, the term "episode" is also used at some point. In this case, the kanji 編(へん) or 章(しょう) are used in the Japanese version, referring unambiguously to manga arcs:

  • "If we just count the Gold, Silver, and Crystal episodes, we have seven volumes. Oh! Come to think of it, the Red, Blue, and Green episodes and the Yellow episodes total seven volumes also!" (Hidenori Kusaka, volume 14)

List of arc names

This is the list of known names of manga arcs. If the Japanese name is not shown on the list, this may be because the arc is identified by number instead in the Japanese version, or because the English and Japanese versions of the creator messages are sometimes completely different.

In the VIZ version, the first and second arcs are not named on the manga covers or anywhere in the manga volumes.

In the VIZ version, the Diamond & Pearl arc and Platinum arc were merged into the "Diamond and Pearl/Platinum" arc, although the original arc names "Diamond and Pearl" ("The Seventh Chapter") and "Platinum" ("The Eighth Chapter") are still seen at the start of each arc and in some of the messages from the creators.

First story arc:

  • Red, Blue, and Green episodes (Hidenori Kusaka, volume 14)

First/second story arcs:

  • Red and Blue (VIZ website[1]; referring to the first 7 volumes, including the Yellow arc)

Second story arc:

  • Yellow episodes (Hidenori Kusaka, volume 14)

Third story arc:

  • Gold & Silver (VIZ's English volume covers)
  • Gold and Silver (VIZ website[1])
  • Gold Silver Crystal (Japanese table of contents, volume 15 only)
  • Gold, Silver, and Crystal episodes (Hidenori Kusaka, volume 14)
  • Gold, Silver and Crystal story arc (Satoshi Yamamoto, volume 15)
  • Pokémon HeartGold, SoulSilver and Crystal story arc (incorrect usage of remake names referring to this story arc; Satoshi Yamamoto, BW volume 8)
  • 金(きん)・銀(ぎん)・水晶(すいしょう)編(へん) (Hidenori Kusaka, Japanese volume 14)
  • ゴールド・シルバー・クリス編(へん) (Satoshi Yamamoto, Japanese volume 15)

Fourth story arc:

  • Ruby & Sapphire (VIZ's English volume covers)
  • Ruby and Sapphire (VIZ's English credits page; VIZ website[1])
  • Ruby Sapphire (Japanese table of contents)
  • Ruby and Sapphire story arc (Hidenori Kusaka, volumes 16 and 19)
  • Ruby/Sapphire story arc (Satoshi Yamamoto, volumes 17 and 21; Hidenori Kusaka, volume 22)
  • Ruby/Sapphire Arc (Satoshi Yamamoto, volume 22)
  • ルビー・サファイア編(へん) (Satoshi Yamamoto, Japanese volume 17)

Fifth story arc:

  • FireRed & LeafGreen (VIZ's English volume covers and credits page)
  • FireRed and LeafGreen (VIZ website[1])
  • FireRed LeafGreen (Japanese and English table of contents)
  • FireRed & LeafGreen story arc (Hidenori Kusaka, volume 25)

Sixth story arc:

  • Emerald (VIZ's English volume covers and credits page; VIZ website[1])
  • Emerald story arc (Satoshi Yamamoto, volume 29)
  • エメラルド編(へん) (Satoshi Yamamoto, Japanese volume 29)

Seventh story arc:

  • Diamond * Pearl (at the start of the arc, in both Japanese and VIZ's English)
  • Diamond and Pearl story arc (Hidenori Kusaka, volume 28 and VIZ's DPPt volume 1; Satoshi Yamamoto, volume 30 and VIZ's DPPt volume 4)
  • D・P編(ダイヤモンドパールへん) (Satoshi Yamamoto, Japanese volumes 30 and 38)

Seventh/eighth story arc (VIZ):

  • Diamond and Pearl/Platinum (VIZ's English volume covers and credits page)
  • Diamond and Pearl/Platinum story arc (Hidenori Kusaka, VIZ's DPPt volume 9)
  • Pokémon Diamond and Pearl/Platinum (Hidenori Kusaka, VIZ's DPPt volume 6)
  • Diamond Pearl Platinum (table of contents, VIZ's DPPt volume 9)

Eighth story arc:

  • Platinum (at the start of the arc, in both Japanese and VIZ's English; additionally, in the table of contents from VIZ's DPPt volumes 10 and 11)
  • Platinum story arc (Satoshi Yamamoto, VIZ's DPPt volume 11)
  • プラチナ編(へん) (Satoshi Yamamoto, Japanese volume 40)

Ninth story arc:

  • HeartGold & SoulSilver (VIZ's English volume covers and credits page; additionally, preview at the end of DPPt volume 11)
  • HeartGold SoulSilver story arc (Satoshi Yamamoto, VIZ's HGSS volume 2)
  • HGSS (concept art at the start of Japanese volume 42)
  • HeartGold & SoulSilver(ハート ゴールド アンド ソウル シルバー) (preview at the end of Japanese volume 40, story information in Japanese volumes 41 to 43)
  • HG・SS (table of contents in Japanese HGSS volumes)
  • HG・SS編(ハートゴールドソウルシルバーへん) (character profile and 2010 event information at the start of Japanese volume 42)

Tenth story arc:

  • Black & White (VIZ's English volume covers, story summaries, and creator message; also seen on Japanese chapter covers)
  • Black and White (VIZ's English table of contents)
  • Pokémon Black and White (at the end of VIZ's BW volumes 2 and 3, in the introduction of the illustration section)
  • Black & White story arc (Satoshi Yamamoto, VIZ's BW volume 9)
  • Black and White story arc (Satoshi Yamamoto, VIZ's BW volumes 2 and 6; Hidenori Kusaka, VIZ's BW volume 7)
  • Black & White(ブラック アンド ホワイト) (in the story summaries of Japanese BW volumes)
  • B・W (table of contents in Japanese BW volumes)
  • B・W編(ブラックホワイトへん) (preview at the end of Japanese volume 42)

Eleventh story arc:

  • Black 2 & White 2 (VIZ's English volume covers, table of contents, and story summaries)
  • B2W2 story arc (Satoshi Yamamoto, VIZ's B2W2 volumes 1 and 4)
  • B2・W2 (Japanese and English table of contents)
  • B2・W2編(ブラックツー ホワイトツー へん) (preview at the end of Japanese volume 51)

Twelfth story arc:

  • X・Y (VIZ's English volume covers, table of contents, story summaries, and creator messages)
  • XY (Satoshi Yamamoto, VIZ's B2W2 volume 4)
  • X・Y arc (Satoshi Yamamoto, VIZ's XY volumes 2 and 4)
  • Pokémon: X・Y (at the end of VIZ's XY volume 1, in the introduction of the illustration section)

Volume and chapter numbering systems

Japanese numbering systems

In the Japanese version, all manga volumes and chapters up to Black 2 & White 2 arc were originally published following the numerical order, including more than 50 volumes and 500 chapters.

From X & Y arc onwards, each volume and chapter was originally numbered based on its current arc rather than the entire manga. This relates to the fact that the Black 2 & White 2 arc was not yet finished when the X & Y arc started. Once these chapters have been collected in the regularly published volumes, the volume and chapter numbers used follow the same order as the rest of the manga.

For instance, the volume 1 of the X & Y arc contains the chapters originally known as 1 to 4 of the current arc, which were later known as the chapters 549 to 552 once they were published in the volume 55 as per the regular numbering order

English numbering systems

In the English version published by VIZ:

  • In all story arcs up to the Emerald arc, the volumes and chapters follow the same numerical sequence found in the Japanese version, from the volume 1 to 29, containing the chapters 1 to 337.
  • From VIZ's Diamond and Pearl/Platinum arc onwards, each arc starts the numerical order of volumes and chapters from the beginning. For instance, the Diamond and Pearl/Platinum arc volume 1 contains the chapters known as 1 to 9 of the current arc, which corresponds to the chapters 417 to 425 of the Japanese numbering system.

Manga volumes

The term "volume" (Japanese: 巻(かん) volume), shortened as "vol.", is used in official media. For example, "first volume" is written in Japanese as 「第(だい)1巻(かん)」.

On the English manga covers by VIZ, the volume number appears twice: as a number and written out. For instance, in addition to the number 1, it is also written "VOLUME ONE". The word "volume" also often appears in the preview of the next volume.

Some instances of the term "volume" in the messages from creators:

  • "I gripped my pen really hard while drawing this third volume." (Mato, volume 3)
  • "Just like that, this manga is at volume 7, which will take us to the climax of the second chapter of this adventure!" (Hidenori Kusaka, volume 7)
  • "In the current series, the stars are the two Trainers who first appeared in volumes 8 and 9, plus Crystal. When will they all meet each other...? If you want to find out, read volume 11!!" (Hidenori Kusaka, volume 11)
  • "I really like vol. 19 because it depicts the failure and comeback of a major character." (Hidenori Kusaka, volume 19)

Alternatively, the Japanese kanji 「冊(さつ)」 (volume) has been used in the sense of counting a quantity of volumes in any order, not necessarily identifying the volumes in the specific published order. For instance, this kanji is used in the Japanese version of these quotes:

  • "Although not a year has passed since I began drawing Pokémon Adventures, the second volume has already come out." (Satoshi Yamamoto, volume 11)
  • "If we just count the Gold, Silver, and Crystal episodes, we have seven volumes." (Hidenori Kusaka, volume 14)

Manga chapters

Each manga chapter is known as an "Adventure" or "chapter" (Japanese: 話 chapter). For instance, the first chapter is known as the Adventure 1 (Japanese: 第(だい)1話(わ) Chapter 1). The use of this word appears to be related to the English manga title Pokémon Adventures.

In VIZ's English version, this "Adventure" designation for each chapter appears in the table of contents from all the manga volumes. However, the label displayed on each chapter cover varies:

  • In all manga arcs up to the end of Gold, Silver & Crystal arc, and in the volumes 1–9 of the Diamond & Pearl/Platinum arc, the chapter covers display no label such as "Chapter" or "Adventure" (even though the "Adventure" designation is still found in the table of contents).
    • In the The Last Battle I and The Last Battle XIV, the manga cover displays not only the chapter number and title, but the text "The Last Battle" is also repeated using Unown letters. This applies to both the English and Japanese versions.
  • In the Ruby & Sapphire arc, each chapter cover uses the word "Chapter". For instance: "Chapter 181".
  • In the FireRed & LeafGreen arc, the Emerald arc, the volume 10 of the Diamond & Pearl/Platinum arc, and in all subsequent arcs, each chapter cover uses the word "Adventure". For instance: "Adventure 269".

Chapter titles

Most manga chapters have substantially different titles between the Japanese and English versions. Most of the Japanese titles simply used the word "VS" followed by a Pokémon species. For instance, the first chapter was 「VS ミュウ」 (VS Mew), which was adapted in English as "A Glimpse of the Glow" in the English version by VIZ.

Chapter title formatting

The chapter titles are found with no formatting (such as italics) in the table of contents of each volume.

The chapter titles are rarely written in running text, except "The Escape" (between quotation marks, with no italics) is mentioned in Hidenori Kusaka's message from the volume 23.

Chapter subtitles

Several manga chapters have subtitles:

  • From Blowing Past Nosepass II to All About Arceus IX, the subtitle for each chapter is written in Japanese Braille on the chapter's title page. The Japanese Braille is also shown untranslated in the English chapter covers.
    • In both the Japanese and English manga, at the end of each manga arc, there is a list of the decoded Braille subtitles (which are translated in the English version).

Manga events

At some point, the term "episode" (Japanese: エピソード) appears to be used referring to certain manga events:

  • "The father-son battle between Ruby and Norman, Ruby's maturing and new resolve... There are all sorts of core episodes in each volume." (Satoshi Yamamoto, VIZ's RS volume 6)

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Pokémon Adventures Manga - VIZ

See also


  This article is part of Project Manga, a Bulbapedia project that aims to write comprehensive articles on each series of Pokémon manga.
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