I'm reading manga right now, this story in two parts that I borrowed from a public library:
I had read:
- The Red, Green and Blue arc (volumes 1-3)
- The Yellow arc (volumes 4-7)
- The Gold, Silver and Crystal arc (volumes 7-14)
- The Ruby and Sapphire arc (volumes 14-22)
- The FireRed and LeafGreen arc (volumes 23-25)
- The Emerald arc (volumes 26-29)
- The Diamond and Pearl arc (vols. 30-38)
- The Platinum arc (volumes 38-40)
- The Black and White arc (volumes 43-51)
- The X and Y arc (volumes 56-59)
I'm currently reading the HeartGold and SoulSilver arc wich takes place between the Platimum arc and the Black and White arc.
The Sun and Moon arc in 12 volumes is on my reading list, this one takes place after the X and Y arc.
I can't read the Black 2 and White 2 manga arc yet, the Montreal Public Libraries Network only has two out of the four volumes and I don't want to buy the manga, just borrow them from public libraries (I use my extra money to buy novels instead mostly Sherlock Holmes novels). None of the 36+ public libraries in the network has copies of the other two volumes and this manga arc in four volumes was complete as of April 2020, so the network might never get copies of the other two volumes. I might as well resign myself to the fact that I might never be able to read this arc.
After reading about the ORAS video games and reading the ORAS manga synopsis, I decided that I'm not going to read the Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire manga arc, I'm just not interested so I'm going to skip it (as far as I'm concerned the ORAS video games and the ORAS manga arc don't exist and will never be canon in my book, that arc is complete garbage and most of what's been told in that arc can be disproven).
The Sword and Shield manga arc is still incomplete and volume 8 will be released on December 12 2023. When this arc is complete, I MIGHT borrow it from one or several of the public libraries in the network if they have all the volumes, but I'm not too sure about this arc.
Why am I not too sure about this arc?
Because unlike the previous arcs, instead of being about the video game's main protags, in this case Victor and Gloria, this one is about a Marvin and his two best friends, "Henry Sword" and "Casey Shield". Like what the freak? Every manga arc before has been about the main protags of the then current gen. Where are Victor and Gloria? It's supposed to be about them, not some OCs (original characters) named "Henry" and "Casey" that are not even in the Sword and Shield games. Also, the main protag is supposed to be the future Pokemon Champion of the story, the Sword and Shield protag is no exception to that, but apparently they changed that in the manga arc. And what in the freaking world did they do with Victor and Gloria? This just pisses me off so much.
I'm not sure I like what I read here in this article at all (also why does the author of the article assume that all protags in the franchise are "10 years old" when that's not even true, it seems this person thinks that the video game franchise is just like the lame crap loser never-grow-up Ash Ketchum anime, some of the protags in the later arcs like the Black 2 and White 2 protags named Nate and Rosa are like 15 and nearing their late teens as we can see in the B2W2 video games and the manga arc and they look much older than some of the protags of the first few gens and that's just one example, also the manga are NOT "contructed with kids in mind" as the author of the article assume, it's for late teens and young adults because it has darker, more mature themes and even has disturbing* scenes about the harsh realities of life like crimes and murder and death (temporary deaths but still) and sickness and mental health issues and DNA engineering and children being physically abused/beaten by their parents or guardians (because it freaking does happen in real life too and this kid of messed up thing is one of the harsh realities of life, if anything the protags who experienced child abuse are abuse survivors and that makes them strong people who are better than their parents, sadly most of the child abuse committed by the parents was censored in the english translation, censorship sucks and should be opposed, it seems that Japan has more freedom of expression than the US and Canada, the American continent should do better, people are far too sheltered here) and villains/terrorists that can be taken seriously instead of the stupid buffoons seen in the pathetically childish anime and of course redemption arcs with reformed former villiains atoning for their past wrongs and fixing their mistakes and redemption arcs is my favorite part, the manga are for late teens and young adults, and kids could read it if adults stop oversheltering them about the harsh realities of life instead of keeping them ignorant and unprepared in the name of "protecting" them which does much more harm than good in the long run, the manga are not for like 5 years old kids in baby diapers like the lame crap loser never-grow-up Ash Ketchum anime, it's for mature older fans), I've got a bad feeling about this arc because it seems that they got rid of Victor and Gloria and the protag is not even the new champion:
I was very disappointed by the X and Y arc and I wish I hadn't bothered reading it. Extremely disappointing. What? Cyrus gets a redemption arc in both manga (Pokemon adventures by Hidenori Kusaka and Pokemon Diamond and Pearl Adventure! by Shigekatsu Ihara) not to mention all the characters that got redemption arcs in both manga, but Lysandre doesn't get any redemption arc in any of the manga? That's just wrong, disgusting and disappointing. Very disappointing, Kusaka. A bunch of Gym Leaders including Blaine got redemption arcs, a bunch of Elite 4 members got redemption arcs, Lance got a redemption arc, Cyrus got a redemption arc, Archie and Maxie got a redemption arc, even Giovanni got a redemption arc after he was reunited with his son Silver. But Lysandre doesn't get any redemption arc? You disappointed me, Kusaka, you freaking disappointed me. No Lysandre redemption arc in the "Pokemon Adventures: X and Y" manga. On that alone, I just don't recommend this arc. Also, the X and Y manga arc was boring compared to the previous manga arcs.
Well, at least, there's still the fanfictions, I love reading Lysandre redemption arcs in fanfiction and most of the ones I read have one of my favorite ships in them; Perfectworldshipping. Not only do I love redemption arcs, I also like love stories/romance very much. I think that love is redemptive and healing, a very powerful force in the universe.
Btw, the manga series written by Hidenori Kusaka spans 15 story arcs and then some.
I love reading with this Ambience in the background:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLzG_3q50DuPljNtuHZQk3UnRCs7fIiTvS
I wish you all a nice day,
Kat.