Geek Addicts - Episode 27: Pokemon Adventures Part 3: Ruby/Sapphire!

[00:00:00] The following is a GNC Podcast production.

[00:00:32] Welcome to Geek Addicts, a pop culture podcast.

[00:00:36] Hey guys, just want to make a little bit of a note here before we start this episode.

[00:00:46] We were suffering from some pretty bad audio delays and connection issues during the recording

[00:00:53] of this episode.

[00:00:55] For the most part, I believe I got it edited to a degree that will fix a lot of the awkward

[00:01:01] pauses and stuff.

[00:01:02] Just be aware we were going through a couple issues during the recording of this.

[00:01:06] The audio is a little rough.

[00:01:08] That's unfortunately on our end.

[00:01:10] Hopefully we got it fixed by the end of the episode so hopefully going forward this

[00:01:14] won't happen again.

[00:01:15] Just wanted to give everyone a bit of a heads up.

[00:01:18] Now on with the episode.

[00:01:20] Hello and welcome to Geek Addicts, a pop culture podcast where we talk about eh, whatever.

[00:01:26] My name is Matt, my cohost, Pokemon enthusiast Bill Barber.

[00:01:31] How you doing Bill?

[00:01:32] I'm honestly more of a Pokemon hater at this point than I really am.

[00:01:36] How do I think about it?

[00:01:38] Yeah well I kind of goofed a little bit.

[00:01:40] I was going to say Pokemon master or like Gen 3 enthusiast, something like that.

[00:01:47] Gen 3 enthusiast.

[00:01:48] I hiccupped a little bit because the recording like counter in the top corner there.

[00:01:53] I was just going to say.

[00:01:54] Having a little bit of lagging issues right now.

[00:01:56] Well it's funny this happened with all the Pokemon episodes we've done.

[00:02:01] But I was just going to say.

[00:02:05] I was going to say like Pokemon like Ruby and Sapphire enthusiast?

[00:02:09] Yes.

[00:02:10] Pokemon enthusiast though, not so much anymore these days.

[00:02:15] Yeah I'm kind of in the same boat.

[00:02:18] I grew up playing Pokemon, I always loved Pokemon.

[00:02:20] But now I'm just kind of at a point where like the manga and every now and then I'll

[00:02:24] go back to some of the old ones but like I'm not really interested in the new ones.

[00:02:29] Yeah the manga has been a fun ride so far.

[00:02:32] Trying to get me to play the new games is like one of the hardest things.

[00:02:38] I kind of like Sword and Shield retrospectively now that I've been playing it again recently.

[00:02:43] But Violet and Scarlet are just I have no interest in.

[00:02:51] Sun and Moon actually killed my enthusiasm for the series for a long time.

[00:02:58] And if anything I'm like Game Freak's biggest hater these days.

[00:03:02] So yeah I can't really blame you there.

[00:03:06] So well for me it's like there's so many JRPGs that I've missed over the years

[00:03:12] that it's like okay I could either catch up on all these huge critically acclaimed

[00:03:17] super popular games that have been around for decades or I can play another Pokemon game.

[00:03:24] Like yeah.

[00:03:26] Yeah like I'll replay maybe like Emerald every now and then or

[00:03:32] Black or White or even like the originals but like

[00:03:36] I don't know the new ones just do nothing for me.

[00:03:41] Understandable.

[00:03:43] So I was listening to the newest GNC episode earlier this week.

[00:03:47] It was when you guys were doing like manga artists and manga in general.

[00:03:55] And at one point Alex said I don't remember which series

[00:04:00] or which manga she was talking about at the time but at one point she made

[00:04:03] the way one of them draws hair.

[00:04:05] And I just felt the need I had to bring up a shout out to Takeshi Obata,

[00:04:12] the manga artist who did Death Note and Bakugan.

[00:04:16] The way that particular artist draws hair is like no other one I've ever seen.

[00:04:22] Like I know you haven't really cracked into the Death Note manga yet but like

[00:04:25] it's insane like how much detail gets put into that.

[00:04:29] Yeah that's like one of those interesting

[00:04:33] mangas that's pretty well known that has a separate writer and artist.

[00:04:40] Yeah so last week I after we did the recording and everything

[00:04:48] the following day Saturday I was planning on cracking into Sand Land the game.

[00:04:54] And I did play it a little bit.

[00:04:56] I played it for like about an hour for like the four or five hours I had set aside for gaming.

[00:05:03] But I played it for like an hour and like enjoying it it's fine you know it's not a

[00:05:08] hyper complicated game or anything but like I just kind of got the itch

[00:05:13] and I just switched over to Persona 4 and just played that.

[00:05:18] I mean I don't want to say it's a better game but it's a better game so.

[00:05:26] Well I've you know I know I've barely scratched the surface but I've actually made quite a bit

[00:05:32] of progress for me at least in that game this past week. Eight hours in or so I just

[00:05:38] the last thing I did was I saved Yukiko and went on a bro date with Yosuke is that his name?

[00:05:47] Yes.

[00:05:49] Yeah we had a bro date and that was where I left off.

[00:05:52] Yeah yeah you know I'm definitely enjoying it so far.

[00:05:56] Oh go ahead.

[00:05:57] I was gonna say the characters in four are like one of the reasons why I love that game so much

[00:06:00] like Yosuke's awesome like sidekick basically, Chie's fun, Yukiko's best girl confirmed.

[00:06:10] Oh yeah.

[00:06:11] Yeah she's my favorite.

[00:06:13] Yeah I yeah I remember actually my buddy Matt who you've met him a few times he actually

[00:06:20] remembered that you said you were a Yukiko fan he was like oh I kind of like Chie but I know

[00:06:25] you know. But yeah I've been enjoying it so far I've actually the past week I've had

[00:06:32] like the song that plays when you're just kind of wandering around the town it's been stuck

[00:06:35] in my head all week and honestly it hasn't bothered me.

[00:06:38] Before school or after school?

[00:06:41] After school.

[00:06:42] So the one that's like heart heartbreak heartbeat I think it's called?

[00:06:46] Yeah yeah that one.

[00:06:48] The whole sound track's amazing.

[00:06:51] Yeah yeah I routinely will listen to that soundtrack I have I have the physical CD

[00:06:56] and everything because I love it so much.

[00:06:59] Yeah I routinely listen to that soundtrack like on a monthly basis it's so good.

[00:07:05] Yeah I don't blame you it's a solid soundtrack I'm literally I haven't heard a track in that

[00:07:09] in that game so that I've disliked like they're all pretty good.

[00:07:13] Yeah.

[00:07:15] But I'm definitely enjoying my time with it so far.

[00:07:19] Nah Persona Forest is a joy.

[00:07:24] But aside from that I finally finished off phase three of Marvel.

[00:07:30] Oh good where did phase three end? I can't even remember at this point.

[00:07:37] Well weirdly enough it ended with Spider-Man Far From Home.

[00:07:41] You'd think Endgame would have been the end of it but no it was that second Spider-Man movie.

[00:07:51] But yeah it was pretty good I gotta say I dislike out of the Spider-Man's we've seen

[00:07:58] like this is definitely my least favorite and there's nothing against Tom Holland or the MCU

[00:08:02] or anything like that I just I don't know I just don't like this version of Spider-Man

[00:08:09] and it's not even just him it's like the setting itself as well like crazy about what they did

[00:08:15] with MJ either like I don't know there's just certain things about it there's cool

[00:08:19] things about the movies too there's plenty of things to like about them but just overall

[00:08:24] I just think this is the least good Spider-Man.

[00:08:28] Yeah the Spider-Man's been kind of a mess for a long time now even in like the mainline

[00:08:33] comics they just don't know what to do with the guy I swear sometimes.

[00:08:38] But uh that's cool I haven't I haven't watched a Marvel movie in probably a year like I just

[00:08:45] I'm so done with superhero movies at this point.

[00:08:50] Understandable it was kind of a thing for me though it was just like all right I either

[00:08:54] got to buckle down and do it now or I'm never gonna do it and like while it wouldn't

[00:08:59] break my heart to never have watched all the Marvel movies it's still kind of one

[00:09:03] of those things especially now that like you know I'm part of a pop culture community

[00:09:07] part of a pop culture podcast and they gotta at least watch them once.

[00:09:12] Yeah yeah I have no interest in watching any of the phase four movies though so.

[00:09:20] Well the the new Spider-Man movie is part of phase four so I mean I'm probably gonna

[00:09:24] jump into it but plus I've really enjoyed the Thor movies that that's one thing like

[00:09:30] if I was just kind of like cut out every other like every other movie I would definitely

[00:09:35] just have the Thor movies on their own because they're all very enjoyable for me at least.

[00:09:40] That's fair.

[00:09:42] I I am kind of interested in the new uh Superman movie that's coming out.

[00:09:47] I didn't know there was a new one coming out.

[00:09:49] Yeah James Gunn is making like they're DC's redoing their whole cinematic universe again

[00:09:56] because they fucked it up the first time so um yeah they have a new Superman coming out that

[00:10:02] it looks pretty interesting. I'm curious as long as they don't do Man of Steel again I'll be fine.

[00:10:09] They've they need to just realize that that's just not where

[00:10:13] that's just not DC's specialty.

[00:10:17] You know DC does animated movies and if they want to do live action the the television

[00:10:23] shows are the ones that really end up hitting.

[00:10:26] Like well they had like a really huh.

[00:10:30] They've had a few good ones recently like the Batman was apparently really good the

[00:10:34] Robert Pattinson one.

[00:10:36] I've heard mixed things.

[00:10:38] I've heard most like DC fans really liked it.

[00:10:42] I've heard it's it's pretty it it's a pretty good representation of the character for the

[00:10:47] most part um other than that like Wonder Woman was a great film the original Wonder Woman.

[00:10:55] Yeah I guess yeah I did hear good things about that one but I mean how long did that

[00:10:58] how long ago did that come out? That was a bit ago.

[00:11:02] Yeah it's true.

[00:11:04] So it's just one of those things where it's like they get a hit like once every like

[00:11:08] four or five years.

[00:11:10] Yeah unfortunately.

[00:11:12] That's upsetting you know it's one of those things.

[00:11:15] Oh I watched Deadpool 2 for the first time uh earlier in the week that was that was

[00:11:20] pretty great.

[00:11:21] I've only seen that once I've got to re-watch it because it's been such a long time.

[00:11:26] Well I mean like overall the first one is absolutely better than the second one but

[00:11:31] I loved like the end of the second one where he's just like he gets a little time travel

[00:11:35] thing and he's just like all right I'm gonna go back I'm gonna save my girl I'm

[00:11:38] gonna save all the all the people that died in that that really funny scene where

[00:11:42] all the people died and then I'm just gonna go back and shoot Ryan Reynolds before

[00:11:46] he becomes Green Lantern and I'm gonna shoot by Reynolds when he was Deadpool

[00:11:53] in the Wolverine movie it's just like goofy as fuck I loved it.

[00:11:57] Yeah it's just that's self self-referential humor.

[00:12:02] Also apparently the the Deadpool Wolverine movie is going to be part of the MCU.

[00:12:07] Yeah because they Fox owns uh all that stuff I mean uh Disney owns all that stuff now so.

[00:12:13] Yeah Disney owns Fox too so well Disney owns everything.

[00:12:18] Disney owns 20th century Fox which is now just 20th century media.

[00:12:23] Gotcha but yeah I thought that was interesting it's like okay we're just going to slot

[00:12:27] Deadpool in there which means X-Men is also part of the MCU now.

[00:12:32] Fine with that I just if I get to see uh I get to see um

[00:12:38] Hugh Jackman in the yellow suit that's really all I wanted.

[00:12:41] Yeah he's gonna be dropping f-bombs like every five seconds.

[00:12:44] That's fine I just wanted to see him in the yellow suit.

[00:12:47] I'm pretty sure he dropped like 18 f-bombs just in the trailer.

[00:12:53] Hey might as well I mean if any character is gonna do it Wolverine would be the character.

[00:12:58] Oh for sure for sure.

[00:13:02] I swear every time he retires from that role he always comes back for one more.

[00:13:06] Yeah well I mean I just can't imagine anybody else being Wolverine like

[00:13:12] eventually it's gonna happen.

[00:13:14] Well it's like um you're never gonna you'll never be able to picture anyone else

[00:13:19] other than Robert Downey Jr as Iron Man.

[00:13:21] Yeah that's true but I mean it's okay because they killed him.

[00:13:25] Oh sorry spoiler oh what am I saying anybody who hasn't seen it yet they're not gonna watch

[00:13:30] it. I mean end game spoilers at this point are like I mean I was I knew he was he was

[00:13:36] gonna die before I watched it so I mean whatever. I mean end game spoilers were

[00:13:40] everywhere like they were in every subreddit that wasn't even related to comics or movies.

[00:13:46] I mean there were a couple of deaths that I didn't know about but

[00:13:49] Iron Man yeah I knew he was going.

[00:13:52] Yeah well because Robert Downey Jr was out his contract was over so it just made sense.

[00:13:57] Yeah for sure.

[00:14:00] Yeah but uh anyway so we have a topic for this episode we kind of alluded to it

[00:14:06] earlier on but we're actually doing the next entry in Pokemon Adventures retrospective.

[00:14:12] Yes which um oh go ahead.

[00:14:16] I was gonna say it's it's really funny because we we had mentioned it when we did the last one

[00:14:20] that I was really looking forward to doing this one because this is my favorite set of

[00:14:26] games in the series and this one ended up taking me fucking forever to read.

[00:14:30] Yeah well you got a lot going on and you had your vacation and all this other stuff like I mean

[00:14:36] I think you started reading it like right around when we did the last one and it just

[00:14:42] it just took a while to get through it.

[00:14:44] So I read volume one like around then I read volume two like a month ago and then I just

[00:14:51] like power read the rest of it like within the last three days.

[00:14:55] Yeah well I mean that's the thing with like the the Pokemon ones I think it works really

[00:15:00] well if you just kind of binge read an arc.

[00:15:05] Yeah honestly um especially in this case because uh this one until literally the last page of the

[00:15:14] arc is pretty standalone and like has very little to do with the previous uh storylines.

[00:15:20] Mm-hmm.

[00:15:22] So that was very interesting right off the bat.

[00:15:28] So yeah we're gonna for I guess we should say for this one we're

[00:15:32] going to be strictly covering the ruby and sapphire arc.

[00:15:36] Yes um and right off the bat I gotta say uh I think this one

[00:15:43] at least up to this point uh of what we've read I think this is the most solid story

[00:15:49] and has the most solid main characters.

[00:15:53] I'd agree um to a degree um story wise I it is definitely the most like right on to the games

[00:16:02] for the most part like it essentially follows the plot of Pokemon ruby and sapphire

[00:16:07] and emerald even though it's kind of funny because there's an emerald arc later that we'll

[00:16:11] be getting to.

[00:16:12] Which has it's it's so unrelated to like the story of the game.

[00:16:17] Because they cover the emerald stuff in the ruby and sapphire arc and I was really confused

[00:16:22] by that for a minute but um.

[00:16:24] Without going into too much detail the setting of the emerald arc is the battle frontier

[00:16:30] so it pretty much entirely takes place at the battle frontier that's what that is.

[00:16:34] Gotcha um but yeah like story wise it it's probably the closest to the actual games

[00:16:41] that we've had so far.

[00:16:44] And character wise it's kind of an interesting subversion because the characters are

[00:16:51] basically what they are in the games but they kind of they subvert the um

[00:16:57] the status quo in a pretty big way I'd like to say.

[00:17:02] Because the status quo for the for these characters so their game counterparts are

[00:17:09] Brandon and May and everybody knows May because she was in the anime for like four seasons.

[00:17:18] Although in the anime she was Norman's daughter which isn't what they went with

[00:17:24] in the manga if they went with the they went with it more if you're playing as

[00:17:28] Brandon so she is Professor Birch's daughter this time around which actually makes more

[00:17:35] sense just visually because they look more like each other.

[00:17:39] Yeah same with um uh Ruby and Norman.

[00:17:43] Yes yeah we should probably bring that up.

[00:17:45] Character names for this one is um Brandon is Ruby and May is Sapphire.

[00:17:55] Because they have to name everyone after the games in these uh these in the manga.

[00:18:00] Well to be honest I I kind of like that you know

[00:18:04] it I don't know like the like super Americanized names and stuff with like Brandon and May and um

[00:18:12] I mean Wally's still just Wally but.

[00:18:15] See I thought Wally was going to be Emerald but apparently there's an Emerald later on so.

[00:18:21] Yeah and it's a yeah I don't know I won't get into it but it's a

[00:18:25] fucking bizarre character design.

[00:18:27] We'll get we'll get to it eventually we'll get to it not in the actually

[00:18:30] are we going to do FireRed LeafGreen and Emerald together because Emerald is pretty short.

[00:18:37] I mean it's all part of the same like box set uh we could tackle each arc separately if you

[00:18:42] prefer but that's up for debate.

[00:18:46] We'll keep that up in the air it depends on how long it takes me to get through

[00:18:49] FireRed and LeafGreen.

[00:18:50] Yeah for that reason although it might be better to do individual arcs but we'll

[00:18:54] we'll figure that out later.

[00:18:56] Okay um yeah but um so.

[00:19:01] It's really funny to me because as much as I love like gen 3 the the characters kind of get a bit

[00:19:08] of an infamous um reputation for being some of the blandest in the games like

[00:19:14] people refer to Brandon as Blandon because he is one of the probably least remarkable

[00:19:20] protagonist in the games speaking strictly the games.

[00:19:25] Yeah um it's more the world that kind of brings you into gen 3.

[00:19:30] In Pokemon Adventures they uh I will say first off I was not expecting the main character to have

[00:19:38] daddy issues.

[00:19:40] No I one of the first notes I wrote down when I was reading through this the first time is

[00:19:44] that uh Ruby has Boruto syndrome he's got it hard.

[00:19:49] Except it's like even well no actually no Ruby's is more believable than Boruto's I'll say

[00:19:57] because yeah we found out later what actually happened but you kind of get it with Ruby.

[00:20:05] And I will say the biggest departure for Ruby this time around is

[00:20:08] he is a rather than the traditional May who is the contest freak in the games.

[00:20:14] This time around they made Ruby the contest uh fanatic.

[00:20:19] Yeah he's like a he's like a super pretty boy he's like obsessed with uh contests

[00:20:24] he's got the daddy issues he's got like the whole package going on.

[00:20:27] Like his first his opening appearance in the in the uh the series is literally

[00:20:32] he's riding in the back of the moving truck like in the games.

[00:20:36] But like they'll show they showcase I mean he looks all serious he's got like these glasses

[00:20:39] on and he's like he looks like he's doing something really important.

[00:20:42] And then they cut away and it's him giving his uh skitty a hat.

[00:20:48] He was knitting a hat and it's like oh and he completely just ignores his mom

[00:20:54] who's trying to move into the house.

[00:20:57] Yeah he's like oh the truck got stuck in the mud can you help us out?

[00:21:00] He's like no I'm not letting my Pokemon get all muddy.

[00:21:04] Yeah Ruby um I'm not gonna lie like first reading I was like I don't really like this guy very

[00:21:08] much.

[00:21:09] He grows on you.

[00:21:10] He he does.

[00:21:11] That's one thing that's one thing I'll say about this and I think part of part of it is

[00:21:15] because there's only two main characters and we stick with them pretty much throughout the

[00:21:19] whole thing as opposed to like earlier arcs where we'd have like three even four main

[00:21:24] characters or more and hell and the end of golden so these like eight and you're

[00:21:29] like yeah we would split up our time between them.

[00:21:31] This gives them all plenty of time to develop.

[00:21:34] Yeah I know.

[00:21:37] But but because there's only two main characters in this one it gives them both plenty of

[00:21:41] time to develop and that's a huge boon to this particular story arc.

[00:21:46] They're also both very entwined as we'll eventually encounter Sapphire who

[00:21:53] Sapphire is the most drastic departure from her game counterpart.

[00:21:59] Oh by far.

[00:22:01] She's like a wild child.

[00:22:02] Her first appearance is she's in the woods wearing a loincloth made of reeds and is

[00:22:11] wearing leaves as a top and it's like what the fuck.

[00:22:16] And she looks like she's all like scarred up.

[00:22:19] She's got claws like.

[00:22:21] Keep in mind she's 10.

[00:22:23] I'm just going to put that out there.

[00:22:26] She's 10 and Ruby's 11 because we actually get canonical ages for them in the manga

[00:22:30] this time around.

[00:22:34] Right off the bat too pretty much.

[00:22:35] Yeah well this manga does something I really like where in between each chapter it gives

[00:22:40] a full readout of both Ruby and Sapphire like their full teams how many ribbons

[00:22:45] Ruby has and how many badges may have.

[00:22:48] I'm going to mix up the names routinely so just keep in mind but how many badges Sapphire

[00:22:53] has all their like Pokemon stats and everything and it's cool because Sapphire has the levels

[00:23:01] and everything and then Ruby has the contest like attribute readout screens which is

[00:23:06] kind of cool.

[00:23:07] Yeah that's yeah it's pretty cool.

[00:23:10] It also says like where their location is at a given time.

[00:23:14] Hmm and they cross paths a lot which is weird because they have completely different like

[00:23:19] paths that they have to take for their goals.

[00:23:22] Well it's funny is in their first meeting they because Ruby runs away from home because

[00:23:27] he's got massive daddy issues and he's trying to like make a point which you

[00:23:32] find out later is entirely ironic but he runs away from home and he's basically on

[00:23:37] the run constantly from his dad who's also looking for him because he thinks his

[00:23:43] parents aren't going to let him do contests but eventually he gets like he encounters

[00:23:50] a professor birch up in the tree hiding from the mighty annas and he basically in

[00:23:58] the process gets his starter and he is so disappointed.

[00:24:04] One thing I don't like about Ruby is how he just belittles his Pokemon constantly.

[00:24:08] Yeah it's like if they're not like they don't fit perfectly in the box that he needs

[00:24:13] them to be for the contest.

[00:24:14] He just like like there's a thing happens later that just really irks me but we'll

[00:24:19] get to that.

[00:24:20] Yeah but his his starter is so I will say I am on I am a Trico.

[00:24:27] Sceptile is my favorite Pokemon.

[00:24:29] He doesn't get picked in this so I was very disappointed off the bat right away.

[00:24:33] But essentially when Ruby encounters Professor Birch he notices he only has two starters

[00:24:42] left because the other one has already been taken but it's Mudkip and Trico and he ends

[00:24:47] up taking the Mudkip and he's so disappointed in it because it's so kind of pathetic at

[00:24:53] first like it's got like a snot drip and everything and he basically is like this

[00:25:00] is useless I don't want this but I guess I'll take it and I'm just like dude.

[00:25:07] Yeah it's pretty ridiculous.

[00:25:12] But it's weird too because you'd think that you know having a Mudkip which will

[00:25:17] eventually be a Swampert which would be like perfect for like the tough category

[00:25:21] which he didn't have covered at that point so.

[00:25:24] Well because he was he despite being obsessed with contest it's very clear that Ruby

[00:25:29] has no idea like how deep they actually are and he's very one-minded with these things like

[00:25:38] he's a shit battler like he can't battle at all at first like because he's

[00:25:43] too important he cares too much about his Pokemon's looks he hasn't actually

[00:25:47] trained their strength up at all yet so like when he.

[00:25:52] I'm sorry I was just gonna say that actually like a thing that gets touched on later is

[00:25:55] that he's actually actually really good at battling he just doesn't like people to see him

[00:25:59] battle. Well yeah we'll get to Ruby is an incredibly deep character we'll find out later

[00:26:05] so is Sapphire but um in the process of this whole encounter with Professor Burch he ends up

[00:26:12] obtaining Professor Burch's Pokedex but he ends up getting separated from him and ends

[00:26:18] up getting rescued by this strange creature covered in leaves that he thinks at first is

[00:26:24] a Pokemon and then he finds out it's actually Sapphire. Yeah it was pretty funny. And they

[00:26:32] get into a bit of a scuffle and they end up making this agreement where they're they're

[00:26:38] gonna basically challenge each other to like this like uh challenge I think they have like

[00:26:43] is it like 100 days to uh. Yeah 80 days. 80 they have 80 days to uh basically one has to

[00:26:50] either get all the badges or the other has to get all the ribbons before the other.

[00:26:56] And this leads to like one of my favorite meta like in joke scenes where um

[00:27:04] the whole time uh Ruby makes fun of Sapphire for the fact that she's wearing leaves

[00:27:09] and he's like he basically comments how like you're never gonna fit in in society looking

[00:27:13] like that basically. So when she's asleep he ends up altering his like a set of his clothes

[00:27:22] to fit her and that's actually a really interesting in joke because it explains why

[00:27:26] Maine uh Brandon's clothes look so similar in the games. But um. Actually I love how um

[00:27:34] um no sorry this this lag is killing us.

[00:27:41] Um I was gonna say it's actually a really funny joke that they make when

[00:27:45] she wakes up and she finds the the clothes and she's like she's like how did he get my

[00:27:50] measurements? Yeah yeah she's like did she's like did he get my measurements while I was sleeping?

[00:27:58] Yeah.

[00:28:00] She's 10 by the way I just want to put that out there. Oh granted he's 11 though but it's still weird.

[00:28:08] Yeah also this is this is I swear is just is um

[00:28:12] Katsuka's weird sense of humor with his writing I swear sometimes.

[00:28:18] Also while we're on that we should comment on uh Yamamoto's art.

[00:28:22] Art I think he has improved significantly in this volume well this arc compared to the ruby

[00:28:31] I mean the golden silver crystal arc. Yeah I think this is kind of where he finds his footing

[00:28:37] and kind of figures out like the kind of style he wants to go with going forward.

[00:28:42] He still really likes to draw the ladies though uh particularly one part of their anatomy um.

[00:28:47] He's a butt guy. He really is I swear it's like it's like a fetid I swear it's a fetish at this

[00:28:53] point. Hey well you know what yeah I mean yeah there's the fact that they're 10 and 11 but

[00:29:00] like I also understand being a butt guy so. I mean they're 10 and 11 but I don't buy it with

[00:29:05] that art not at all. No no. Because it's like he goes from crystal who wears spandex the

[00:29:13] entire time to sapphire who also wears spandex the entire time for the most part and it's like

[00:29:20] the amount of close-up shots I'm just like Jesus I'm like dude I'm like you gotta you

[00:29:24] gotta stop a little bit here. Was he there was another I know we're jumping around a

[00:29:31] little bit but there's another scene later on where she does basically the same thing that

[00:29:34] crystal did in the previous art where she just kind of like tears her clothes off right

[00:29:38] in front of somebody and she's just like no. She does it like four times like yeah it's ridiculous.

[00:29:44] Thank you oh Christ. It's like this mug is weird this mug is kind of really I mean it's not

[00:29:50] this I'll say this arc is not as blatant with it as like the previous ones were but uh there

[00:29:56] is a few moments I didn't have a what the fuck moment this time around I will say. Well

[00:30:02] I'll say with all the with all the things that we say about like the kind of weird

[00:30:05] shit that goes on like just just for the record anyone who hasn't actually read these

[00:30:10] overall this is incredibly tame for manga like like incredibly tame so like yeah we'll make our

[00:30:18] little comments and stuff but like it's really not that bad like it's it's played up for

[00:30:22] laps there's nothing like like really lewd or anything in it but it's just one of those like

[00:30:27] you're reading it you're just like what the fuck Pokemon. Well that that's the thing it's

[00:30:31] tame for manga standards for Pokemon standards it's like what the hell is going on here.

[00:30:38] Like Pokemon Adventures is like the weird like the weird like cousin of like the main series

[00:30:44] that is just completely off the rails. For real. Going on though with uh the series so

[00:30:55] what I find interesting is the way they kind of handle progression through this uh this uh

[00:31:02] arc is essentially you'll have a chapter that kind of follows uh Ruby where he's slowly gaining

[00:31:09] uh Pokemon and starting to like train his team for contests and then it will switch over to

[00:31:15] Sapphire who is progressively getting her team ready for uh gym battles essentially.

[00:31:22] Yeah. And you get there's kind of a cool moment where like Sapphire gets to the first gym and

[00:31:28] it's uh Roxanne and the gyms in this in this uh in the manga all have weird gimmicks to them

[00:31:36] and uh for Roxanne's gym she makes all of them take like a written test before they can

[00:31:41] fight her and um it's kind of funny because like Sapphire comes up as like rock stupid

[00:31:49] at first but she's actually really smart she just doesn't know how she doesn't understand words.

[00:31:56] Um yeah so she ends up like acing the test and Roxanne is so perplexed that she just kind of

[00:32:03] is like all right let's do the battle and um Sapphire ends up using her knowledge of

[00:32:09] Pokemon and like stuff that she got from her father essentially to uh trick Roxanne into

[00:32:14] basically she wins the battle by like using like magnetism of nose pass

[00:32:20] which I thought was a really cool idea. Um it's also really funny because like the badges have

[00:32:27] completely gone back to just being badges not like the weird shit that was going on in the

[00:32:31] original arc. Yeah well I think that's part of like the the general um setup of this arc uh

[00:32:38] I think that's a direct result of the way the games changed because the original first two sets

[00:32:44] of games uh with red blue gold and silver um like yeah they had stories but like

[00:32:52] they were kind of vague stories whereas from Ruby Sapphire onward they have a very specific

[00:33:00] story like this is the villain this is what he's trying to do this is his motivation

[00:33:05] everything before that was just Team Rocket we're gonna get we're gonna get the power we're

[00:33:10] gonna get the money then we're gonna get the bitches like it's pretty much like Team Rocket's

[00:33:14] whole thing but like you know you got Team Magma and Team Aqua that have like actual goals

[00:33:20] like the leaders have actual goals everybody has like their own motivations their own

[00:33:25] thing that drives them and I think that's part of the reason why this story is so

[00:33:30] coherent compared to the other ones is because the the bones of it already existed in the game

[00:33:37] true that's very true um it's also really funny too because like this game this um

[00:33:44] series also continues to do the thing where like they'll show the pokedex all the time

[00:33:49] and uh it'll use like in-game like footage it'll actually use like the Pokemon screenshots

[00:33:55] from um from the uh from the actual games to give like the Pokemon descriptions which is really cool

[00:34:05] we also get a lot of Ruby's like development like he really gains like a repertoire with

[00:34:09] his like Pokemon like his uh Skitty and his uh Poochyana end up evolving like super quick

[00:34:16] like after this and um he also like he gains like a new respect for his uh

[00:34:23] Mudkip that he kind of like gains over time because he realizes the Mudkip is actually pretty

[00:34:28] useful and when the Mudkip evolves into Marshtomp he's like oh sweet like you caught up with

[00:34:34] your front with your friends yeah um we uh we skipped over Wally oh yeah we did

[00:34:43] it oh Wally he's so fucking forgettable in the game and he's kind of forgettable in the manga as

[00:34:49] well um so I like the fact that in the in the manga they kind of changed it up where rather

[00:34:59] than like you basically have to catch his first Pokemon for him he actually uh gets loaned one

[00:35:05] of Ruby's Pokemon because Ruby has Ralts at the beginning as well and he loans it off to uh

[00:35:11] Wally basically as a uh a Pokemon guy like basically just a temporary thing for him to have

[00:35:19] but then they end up getting separated like really quickly after that yeah it's a really

[00:35:24] fun twist on the whole like like Wally's starter was essentially a Ralts in the games

[00:35:30] and it was just a really fun twist to be like oh no that was actually Ruby's Ralts

[00:35:34] that he just ended up with because they got set yeah and it and they never had an opportunity to

[00:35:43] to give it back yeah and it's like um it's interesting too because like Wally

[00:35:52] my Wally is literally the least interesting rival in like the entire series just because

[00:35:57] he literally during the game he literally appears twice once like the first time he

[00:36:04] shows up he's really pathetic and then he shows up right at the end and he actually has a really

[00:36:08] competent team but by then you're so over level that you just like steamroll him um yeah he

[00:36:16] he's never like a really a hindrance like Gary or well Blue or um Silver were in the previous

[00:36:23] gems yeah um um oh go on yeah

[00:36:30] you know Wally's just a weird character and I liked the whole like how like oh Norman was

[00:36:35] gonna help me catch a Pokemon but uh then he shows up he's just like yeah so I actually

[00:36:41] talked to your parents and like you're like really sick dude I'm not gonna encourage this

[00:36:45] in you like yeah it's just a weird situation ridiculous but he still does it anyways which

[00:36:53] is the one thing about Wally I like is that he's at least determined yeah for sure um we also get

[00:37:01] um so one of the things I love too is like this series really plays with the fact that like they

[00:37:07] really just give away the badges like candy sometimes um yeah because in the process after

[00:37:15] um after Sapphire defeats Roxanne and gets the uh the first badge he then summons a whale

[00:37:21] lord out of the sea and uses that as her transportation to um the uh the island so she

[00:37:29] can face uh the next gym leader and it's really funny because like throughout their adventure like

[00:37:37] uh Ruby and Sapphire will run into each other and their literal reaction every time they

[00:37:40] run into each other they just go you and uh it's fun because god damn um yeah I was gonna say that

[00:37:54] Sapphire like yeah she gets the badges like pretty easily throughout but like unlike the

[00:38:00] previous arcs the um like she's actually winning battles to get them it's not just kind of like

[00:38:05] oh hey I like you here's a badge you know well they actually play with that because um

[00:38:11] the third gym leader um uh god I forget his name the one that like is like the the jolly guy with

[00:38:18] the beard oh um uh Watson Watson Watson literally gives away badges just for fun

[00:38:28] and he tries to do this to uh yeah Sapphire and she slaps it away she's like no we're gonna

[00:38:32] actually fight for this uh I thought that was an interesting twist on it we also forgot to

[00:38:41] mention they make fun of the fact that uh Ruby's hat is the dumbest hat of like any uh trainer in

[00:38:47] the series yeah I love that they make a joke that even Sapphire thinks it's his hair like

[00:38:54] he's like it's a hat I don't know I thought that was really funny because I literally thought

[00:38:59] that was his hair for like 20 years everyone did and then like Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire

[00:39:04] came on you can see his actual hair poking out under and you're like oh wait a minute

[00:39:07] it yeah it's just I remember like I think it was uh my friend Steve pointed it out one day

[00:39:13] I was like holy shit like it was like mind blown like I had never even considered that

[00:39:20] that it was a hat it's it's just such a dumb looking hat like what is going on there um

[00:39:28] yeah but it's just really funny and then like there's a running gag throughout this entire like

[00:39:34] uh a series where uh Ruby really wants a Milotic because Milotic's are just insanely beautiful

[00:39:43] and throughout the course of his adventure he ends up obtaining a Feebas um because this

[00:39:50] Feebas really takes a liking to him but he has no idea that Feebas evolves into Milotic

[00:39:56] so he's all like this thing's so ugly I don't want this he's like fine I'll take it I'll

[00:40:01] just get rid of it when I have the chance which is like damn dude harsh that's one thing that I

[00:40:08] like about about this manga series though is that like because in the games they make it

[00:40:13] like they make it seem like oh um you know we we need this Pokedex filled out so that we

[00:40:20] we know we have records of all these Pokemon and everything but like everybody already knows

[00:40:23] about all these Pokemon and what evolves into what and everything and the manga makes

[00:40:27] it seem like Pokemon are much more of a mystery than the games do um and I also love how the he

[00:40:36] gets the Feebas in in the first place because he he bumps into a fisherman and the fisherman

[00:40:41] is like dead set long he wants to catch some Feebas because they're rare and he could probably

[00:40:47] sell them for some money and like he's like oh I've been sitting in this spot for like

[00:40:51] weeks and I haven't been able to catch any Feebas I haven't you know I'll be getting

[00:40:56] his magic carps and all this other shit and like he uh Ruby doesn't know what the Feebas looks like

[00:41:02] he just says oh it's a rare Pokemon so it must be a beautiful Pokemon it must be very aesthetically

[00:41:07] pleasing so like he catches the Feebas and he goes that's ugly that's probably not it he

[00:41:12] throws it back and he literally catches the same Feebas like 20 times after throwing it back

[00:41:19] each time before it finally like he realizes what it is and it's just like the goofiest running joke

[00:41:27] in that little like one page of panels yeah it's funny too because like the whole joke is like

[00:41:34] he doesn't want the Feebas because he thinks it's ugly meanwhile the Feebas the Feebas is

[00:41:39] literally like the gen 3 version of like a gear of um magic carp where it's like yeah it

[00:41:45] doesn't look special but it evolves into something amazing

[00:41:51] of course he has no idea so he's all like this thing's ugly I don't want it

[00:41:55] yeah but then he ends up taking it in because he's like oh if I can win the beauty contest with

[00:42:00] with this ugly piece of shit then that'll just show how skilled I am yeah he he's like he

[00:42:06] thinks about it in such a words way but it makes sense in context at the time also that

[00:42:12] fisherman becomes such like a pretty significant character throughout this

[00:42:16] arc which is kind of funny I feel like there's always that one fisherman throughout each each

[00:42:21] of the arcs that we've had where he's just like a super important dude but he still has no name

[00:42:26] it's just always just the fisherman see this guy is significant though because he straight up

[00:42:31] is just wearing a speedo the entire time and it's very distracting yeah well

[00:42:39] um so trying to think

[00:42:46] where we leave off did uh did sapphire fight brawly is that where she she finished

[00:42:53] she beat beat brawly and she also beat um wak watson and got his badges

[00:42:59] oh and have the the new the new ma vile or ma vil that was bizarre yeah it's like this

[00:43:08] giant underground like amusement park or whatever yeah just bizarre yeah really weird um

[00:43:18] so I think around this time is where we start to really kind of like because we've

[00:43:23] kind of like seen bits and pieces of uh the the two main antagonist groups of of this arc

[00:43:31] um but I think around this time is when they really start kind of

[00:43:37] we haven't really talked about any of them yet yeah team aqua how do you how do you feel about

[00:43:46] um team aqua and team magma were really interesting to me like they had um

[00:43:50] um they're an interesting dynamic in the games themselves because it's like the only time we had

[00:43:55] two teams who basically had these two very wildly different extremists like views and like

[00:44:02] desires for the world and the mong the mong good handles it pretty well I still think archie and um

[00:44:11] who's the fire guy I can't I can never remember his name maxi yeah archie and maxi they're

[00:44:18] kind of the same one-dimensional just kind of extremists that they were in the games

[00:44:24] what I what makes this interesting is uh the side character like side members of um

[00:44:31] aqua and magma they have some surprisingly deep personalities and they interact with the uh

[00:44:37] the main two like frequently throughout the uh the story also I gotta say the one time we

[00:44:44] actually have a character in uh a series that I'm into named matt and he's just a total like

[00:44:50] pushover yeah that happened well I mean I was the guy that got turned into a fucking

[00:44:58] pokemon hybrid in the last arc so well at least bill is super smart I guess he can't I mean

[00:45:08] leaf I mean green just broke into his house and hacked his computer while he was sleeping

[00:45:12] so sure no it's just weird you'd think with you think with how common a name matt is you'd

[00:45:19] see it in like fiction more often but you really don't yeah um so the way they they did

[00:45:28] contests and this I thought was really kind of bizarre like they they kind of like speed run

[00:45:33] all the contests throughout this arc you don't really see too much of them like with like the

[00:45:40] this yes um yeah it's just really weird oh I didn't mention um ruby meeting the pokemon fan

[00:45:47] club chairman and then being like kindred spirits right there that yeah because he's

[00:45:53] like the one like kind of crossover between the previous arcs and then this one

[00:45:59] yeah he's there in every single arc he'll always be there

[00:46:04] um but yeah it's just like one of those things with an instantly like oh you think

[00:46:08] pokemon are beautiful and should be treated with respect they're not bad at each other me too

[00:46:13] let's meet poke blocks together oh yeah because they had to bring up poke blocks which is a

[00:46:18] they're not as bad as poppins but they were still it was such a thing I just did not care

[00:46:22] about in the games at all yeah well I mean if you're not doing um if you're not doing

[00:46:29] contests there's really no reason to do them anyway yeah I never did contests period

[00:46:34] just because I could never I just could never be bothered I I messed with them a lot when I

[00:46:39] was a kid just because it was like oh it's a fun new little mini game that we can do and

[00:46:45] you know just kind of like a an alternate course from gym badges so like I don't know

[00:46:51] just just for shits and giggles I did it um and I think I did it a little bit when I

[00:46:55] played omega ruby but I mean that it's not a super important part of the game it's not

[00:46:59] something I prioritize by any means you just don't get anything for it really that's like

[00:47:04] my whole reason why I was kind of like just I didn't care yeah um but yeah uh so they

[00:47:13] they do the whole poke block thing and then um they get kidnapped by is team magma right

[00:47:19] team magma I believe so it naps them yeah uh ruby interacts with magma for the most part and

[00:47:25] sapphire reacts with um aqua more right right because because sapphire was there for the whole

[00:47:34] you know incident and um yeah sapphire thought that magma was the good guys because flannery

[00:47:40] uh teamed up with magma to try and like reignite the volcano later on yeah that was that was

[00:47:46] interesting that's also where like uh sapphire and flannery had their whole like uh kind of

[00:47:51] like bonding moment before they actually fought for their gym badge yeah which they did naked

[00:47:59] yeah that did that happened because they were in the hot spring because we needed a hot spring

[00:48:03] moment for this just so yeah so i could take her clothes off again yeah right just fucking

[00:48:11] so bizarre sometimes also I think flannery is like a lot older which makes it weirder

[00:48:16] yeah I guess Japan culture is different well I think I don't think she's I think she's supposed

[00:48:23] to be like 16 or 17 they say she's definitely supposed to be young at least for a gym leader

[00:48:30] true she's still on the older side though as compared to the 10 year old sapphire

[00:48:36] yeah that's true um so we haven't really talked too much about the specifics of like

[00:48:44] like are there any uh of the magma or aqua members that stood out to you specifically

[00:48:51] so I know for magma in particular there was the uh the female one that really gets like close

[00:48:57] with um uh ruby I think her name's Courtney I believe it was um and her whole backstory is

[00:49:05] kind of interesting because you find out she was actually a regular trainer originally who was

[00:49:11] into contest before like everything just kind of went bad for her yeah I like how the magma

[00:49:17] guys all have like their own little gimmicks yeah they're they're pretty entertaining

[00:49:23] yeah like uh like Courtney like she would make like these like old like juice concoctions out

[00:49:29] of like berries and stuff and she would have like she would make like a sticky paste or

[00:49:33] whatever with them or she would like coat her gloves and like I guess like hot sauce or

[00:49:38] something and that like just like slap people in the face with it get it in their eyes

[00:49:43] yeah so very bizarre and there's the other guy I forget his name he like he did like

[00:49:51] weird illusions but like this he had like a special lighter that caused illusions it was weird

[00:49:55] but it was kind of cool yeah there was cool stuff like that um it's got it's really

[00:50:03] interesting to me that like the the actual like team members were more interesting than the

[00:50:08] leaders this time around yeah for sure I feel like I feel like more effort was put into

[00:50:14] characterizing the magma guys and the aqua guys though yeah the aqua the aqua there was

[00:50:19] like one aqua character that I think was kind of significant but other than that they really

[00:50:24] didn't do much was it Tabitha I think so I think she was the only one that really mattered

[00:50:33] Tabitha was a man

[00:50:37] then I don't know who I'm talking about I don't know who I'm talking about anymore um

[00:50:46] that shows how little they mattered yeah I'm with you man that threw me off the first time

[00:50:49] I was reading it on the way to back yeah that shows just how little they matter yeah um

[00:50:57] um yeah so I'm thinking about it now like we should probably get into the whole backstory

[00:51:04] behind Norman and why Ruby is the way he is I think this would have been around the time

[00:51:13] when they had their little showdown at the um the like the like where their institute place

[00:51:19] is yeah because basically Ruby's mad because Norman basically he wanted to be a gym leader

[00:51:30] and he was going to go take a test to become a gym leader but he ended up not passing it and

[00:51:37] he went went off the train for five years basically just abandoning the family behind and

[00:51:43] because of that Ruby has this massive resentment for him but at the same time we also find out

[00:51:49] that like because Ruby was impatient and just kind of fucked off like the second he got

[00:51:55] into the house he didn't read his birthday card which actually had a message from his dad

[00:52:01] saying that he was he had was gonna let him go off and do contests yeah I was pretty

[00:52:06] much giving him his blessing to like go off and chase his dreams and whatever like

[00:52:10] it's like wow if he would actually just not been a little shit you would have realized that your

[00:52:15] dad actually cares and like you know yeah it was just a it was just one of those cases where

[00:52:20] it was like you could have gone on your way and done your thing without like you know

[00:52:24] making your mom worry and yeah making inconveniencing your dad basically but yeah

[00:52:31] his dad like tracks him down at the the weather institute and they have this big battle

[00:52:35] in the rain and everything yeah and he basically ends off by being like he's like I don't care

[00:52:42] what you do just don't do anything dumb and call your mother every once in a while yeah pretty

[00:52:48] much I gotta say I love that uh that Ruby definitely inherited his dad's mean mug yeah he did

[00:52:58] because he when he gets those that he gets that serious look on his face and he looks

[00:53:01] like he could be Giovanni's kid like Norman looks like Giovanni at times too to be honest though

[00:53:08] he does yeah it confused me a little bit honestly Norman looks Norman looks downright

[00:53:14] threat threatening at times in this manga yeah well they say multiple times that he's

[00:53:19] the strongest gym leader which is hilarious because in the game in the game he is pathetically

[00:53:25] easy yeah he's like the easiest gym leader to beat but for some reason in the manga they

[00:53:30] made him seem way tougher well because the manga also he has this chip on his shoulder

[00:53:35] the entire time where he's kind of like the outsider like he doesn't agree with all of the

[00:53:43] the gym leaders and their meetings and stuff and they they are all kind of like

[00:53:47] oh why aren't you following why are you always being difficult blah blah blah kind of stuff

[00:53:51] like that yeah well he has like this unexplained grudge against like the the higher ups in the

[00:53:58] hierarchy of the pokemon association of the pokemon association that is the funniest thing

[00:54:04] to me in the series for real it's like this whole it's like literally like a government

[00:54:10] based around pokemon which is just getting introduced now because before it was like this

[00:54:15] they were basically just all like a free-for-all kind of pretty much it's like yeah there was

[00:54:20] like a whole like um process of like becoming a gym leader and like everything else with the

[00:54:27] and with the pokemon league and everything but um but this is where it like really sets in like

[00:54:33] yeah like the people who run the pokemon stuff are actually running like the world

[00:54:38] pretty bizarre sometimes it's a weird world uh we also so there's another cool arc no we're

[00:54:47] like after like uh ruby and sapphire continue on their journey they'll their pokemon continue

[00:54:53] to evolve and improve along with um they get their badges there's a point though where like

[00:55:00] they each kind of get their own like sort of like mentor types like sapphire runs into the

[00:55:07] the flying type gym leader i forget her name at the moment um uh winona i think that's it

[00:55:15] that sounds right um she runs into her and challenges her and immediate and actually gets

[00:55:21] defeated and rather than like being all like butthurt about she actually like wants to be

[00:55:27] like trained by her uh in a sense and she kind of becomes her master in a way

[00:55:33] and then uh meanwhile ruby on the other hand actually gains kind of like a relationship with

[00:55:38] uh wallace who uh despite being a gym leader is also kind of a contest freak at the same time

[00:55:45] um so there's a little bit of an interesting they both get their respective masters in their

[00:55:51] own fields yeah and and there's like a little interesting parallel there and it kind of all

[00:55:57] comes to a head when um the two of them meet up again and ruby suffers from some serious like

[00:56:06] pudding melt syndrome at times uh throughout this series where he um he makes a big point

[00:56:13] where like he doesn't actually really care he's doing this just to like for the the fame and

[00:56:18] attention and then the second he does he gets all his ribbons he's gonna fuck off back to uh

[00:56:24] jodo where he came from and um this really pisses off sapphire who basically is like

[00:56:31] who thinks basically everything he said to her was a lie and she then proceeds to

[00:56:36] get naked again because she does this every fucking time and uh goes back to wearing uh

[00:56:42] just whatever like nature stuff she found before and uh then they're not talking to

[00:56:49] each other again after that which is hilarious too because when sapphire goes to a face off

[00:56:55] against oh go on i was just gonna say like a part of that was because um i forgot exactly

[00:57:02] what it was but there was some sort of like i think we attacked my wild pokemon or something

[00:57:06] and um ruby like instinctively uh like you know defended sapphire and like that kind of like

[00:57:14] showed like oh you're actually good at battling and you know what you're doing and you lied to

[00:57:19] me about that and i was here for that as well yeah like um it's really funny though

[00:57:27] because after that encounter sapphire goes back to face uh uh renoa renoa again and

[00:57:33] i was just like where are your clothes like what happened

[00:57:41] yeah because like she immediate because sapphire immediately reverts back to her kind of insane

[00:57:47] wild girl wild girl personality after this and um she actually wins the gym battle and gets

[00:57:54] the badge and then proceeds to go off on her journey once again uh meanwhile uh ruby kind

[00:58:01] of starts going through some uh heroic reflecting i guess you could say yeah um

[00:58:10] i guess you could call it that because they they end up back at a sleep port um where they

[00:58:15] discover that everything's all fucked up over there and uh ruby just kind of like

[00:58:22] goes and does a contest there even though everyone's like gone the whole place is

[00:58:28] flooded everything's all messed up and supposedly like yeah and he like he goes he signs up for

[00:58:37] this contest where there are no other contestants because you know there's more important things

[00:58:41] going on and wallace kind of just shows up just to like you know put him down and kind

[00:58:46] of like you know hold up the mirror and be like look what you're doing dude and this is

[00:58:52] the this is the the big part where you know any negative feelings you have about ruby really come

[00:58:58] to a head because he like flips the fuck out on his feebas like it's his feebas's fault that

[00:59:05] he lost and um it hurts its feeling so bad that it leaves him it runs and like obviously

[00:59:13] yeah it runs away and obviously like he pretty much instantly regrets doing that and

[00:59:18] like runs out to try and find it um but like you know at that point the damage is done like you

[00:59:24] you know you you chased him off and your your own shitty personality just kind of came around

[00:59:30] to bite you in the ass and it was a big character growth moment for him true and it

[00:59:36] was kind of it kind of opens your eyes too because like he names all of his pokemon like

[00:59:41] the nicknaming thing is here and he gives them all affectionate nicknames and he gave

[00:59:46] the feebas a nickname like he cared that much it was just like his he just like had like that one

[00:59:52] like lapse back into his like shitty personality and it was like that was enough to really

[00:59:56] kind of wake him up to like yeah this is not the way to go and i think part of the reason

[01:00:02] why he had that like kind of just breaking point where he snapped i think i think the

[01:00:07] the competition he had with sapphire was a big part of that because as we find out later

[01:00:12] there's a reason why he doesn't like to show that he can battle yes um and i think the fact

[01:00:19] that he was his hand was forced into it at that point in front of somebody that he carried

[01:00:26] cared about uh actually specifically her um i think that kind of put him over the edge

[01:00:32] a little bit and made him like extremely like susceptible to lapsing into that kind of shitty

[01:00:37] attitude yeah he is very similar to barato the more you think about it now which is really funny

[01:00:45] to me yeah i pretty much like like like this time reading it through because i think the first

[01:00:50] time i read through this i hadn't read any of boruto or caught up with boruto in any way

[01:00:56] and uh during this reread i really was picking up on like yeah this is really just

[01:01:00] proto boruto like because this obviously happened way before this previous barato by a long time

[01:01:07] yeah um but yeah i just find it really even honestly like the kind of the way they dress

[01:01:13] too is even similar yeah because uh ruby is very flashy like what's interesting though is

[01:01:23] after this this the game kind of the story then kind of transitions to like they start

[01:01:27] really getting into the whole roudon and kyogre fight basically the the end of the world

[01:01:33] shit that happened in game yeah and um this is where ruby kind of has his like reflection moment

[01:01:41] where he's going to be a better person going forward and uh symbolize that he changes outfits

[01:01:47] now he's wearing the emerald outfit and he actually reruns into sapphire and he

[01:01:56] he doesn't really apologize but his way of apologizing is he makes her a new set of clothes

[01:02:03] yeah which is her emerald outfit as well it was kind of like a whole symbolism thing because

[01:02:09] earlier when they had their big argument or whatever sapphire was like oh like you said

[01:02:13] that i would look good in in the clothes you made for me and that made me feel really happy

[01:02:17] and that's why i wore them and blah blah blah so i think him saying that was kind of like

[01:02:21] a way of being like you know let's kind of bury the hatchet and work through this yeah

[01:02:27] it's just really funny that um she's she has this whole deep emotional thing over like the clothes

[01:02:33] the fact that he said she looked nice and close and i'm the whole time i'm thinking you're

[01:02:37] thinking like she's 10 like what 10 year old has thoughts like this

[01:02:43] that's why i don't buy the age i don't buy the ages all the time but uh yeah well i i

[01:02:48] think i i think they're kind of like forced to to have like each new set of new main

[01:02:56] characters be around like between 10 and 12 but i i feel like the writers feel like it's kind

[01:03:04] of limiting because they want to write deeper stories and characters and stuff but like they're

[01:03:09] stuck with like 10 year old characters so it's like they want to write these kinds of like

[01:03:15] complex personalities and backstories and feelings and everything but it's like well how

[01:03:20] much can i do with 10 year olds like that's why i find like the later arcs more interesting

[01:03:25] like because age progression does happen in this universe because like spoiler for like

[01:03:31] way down the line from now but the the current uh well not current but the uh the later alpha

[01:03:39] alpha sapphire omega ruby arc uh red and green are in that and they're like in their 20s now

[01:03:45] so it's just a weird interesting thing they actually grow up so which is nice

[01:03:56] yeah for sure i'm hoping that um i wonder how old uh ruby and sapphire are during that arc

[01:04:04] i'd have to look into that i i know that red is red and green are definitely like 20 i mean

[01:04:09] they'd have to be at least like 16 17 if that age progression tracks yeah well they definitely

[01:04:16] look older by the art style but i haven't read it yet so i'm not sure but um yeah well i i

[01:04:21] still need to i still have a lot more magas to buy before i get to that point well they just the

[01:04:29] the second volume of omega ruby and alpha sapphire comes out on tuesday so it's they're

[01:04:35] slowly getting there and then there'll be one more volume before they move on to uh

[01:04:44] sun and moon which i i'm gonna collect but i'm like not super excited for

[01:04:49] i mean to be fair if the the arcs that we've read so far any indication that'll probably be

[01:04:54] the best version of sun and moon we're ever gonna get so that's fair i mean supposedly x and y is

[01:04:59] the best version of x and y out there so um so i'm trying to think because so much happens

[01:05:10] like from the point like where they have their little tiff at fortress city um well

[01:05:17] well between that and the end like a lot happens yeah like so the next like 12 chapters are all

[01:05:25] basically the kyogre and uh uh ground on fight um and they this builds up a lot like there's

[01:05:34] points where um uh ruby and sapphire are teaming up like diving to the bottom of the ocean to

[01:05:40] find the spears uh to control uh kyogre and uh ground on meanwhile there's also the subplot

[01:05:47] with uh steven stone going around and he's um oh yeah we didn't even mention steven stone in

[01:05:53] the uh the cave early on on the island yeah i've uh i've realized as we've gone along

[01:05:59] there's actually a lot of characters we kind of just skipped right over

[01:06:03] well it's weird because the only characters that are like super developed in this are

[01:06:07] ruby and sapphire yeah well i was gonna say like the the interview guys the reporter guys

[01:06:13] oh right over them but they're they tag along with ruby throughout a lot of it

[01:06:17] yeah they follow him around and he's kind of just indifferent to them the whole time

[01:06:22] um i do like that the how the camera guy looks they are okay i really enjoy the fact

[01:06:29] that the camera guy kind of looks like gold yeah a little bit yeah it's definitely weird i

[01:06:35] will say um yeah they're actually kind of important because like as you go along like

[01:06:40] you see the media is like specifically painting team magma as the bad guys and then you realize

[01:06:46] later on that the the archie the leader of team aqua is actually the head of the media

[01:06:53] ah it's just like real life

[01:06:58] that's that's that fake news right there yeah

[01:07:01] yeah that it that actually was a really funny inside joke which doesn't surprise me considering

[01:07:09] like i can see the why like kasuga would write that because i can see japan having

[01:07:14] a sense of humor about that for sure um so i will say oh go ahead i was gonna say like uh

[01:07:24] this well they're covering a lot of the emerald stuff now despite this not being

[01:07:30] the emerald arc and um one thing that they touched upon that i really liked and found

[01:07:35] fascinating was they explained how the reason why uh wallace becomes the champion in emerald is

[01:07:44] essentially he won the championship years ago but he had turned it down because he wanted to be

[01:07:51] a gym leader like his mentor who we find out is actually jaan and

[01:07:57] because of that he actually uh steven is basically passing the champion uh cape over to wallace again

[01:08:06] so he can finally be the champion like like he had said before and it was it was interesting

[01:08:11] that they kind of tied that in together yeah um so i i kind of like how they handled the orbs

[01:08:19] like how they handled the orbs in this story how um like it's just like the games where like you

[01:08:26] use them to control the the legendaries but like they actually like yeah they are holding them if

[01:08:34] they're holding it for too long and like if you're not prepared for um we good yeah yeah

[01:08:40] i was gonna say they kind of did like what the anime actually did where the orbs like

[01:08:45] kind of controlled the person holding them and like because like i remember there was a

[01:08:48] part where pikachu was fucking possessed by the fucking red orb for a while in the anime

[01:08:53] yeah i i know you mentioned i do think i saw a couple of those episodes um that was when

[01:08:59] when the ash stuff started actually trying to develop a plot

[01:09:04] yeah despite him not aging at all yeah um it was just interesting the way that they

[01:09:10] handled all that um so we should probably get into now like the big like backstory reveal

[01:09:21] which was the fact that um ruby and saffar actually knew each other as kids

[01:09:26] yeah kids quote unquote which means like six years ago yeah i know that's why i don't buy

[01:09:35] a 10 year old 11 year old shit but um for real yeah so they they reveal that they knew each other

[01:09:43] as young like young young kids and what makes this significant is we find out that they were

[01:09:49] actually kind of opposites like uh ruby was like the crazy battler at the time uh and

[01:09:57] sapphire was like the ditzy girly girl and what what makes it interesting is there was a

[01:10:03] point where like they got they got attacked by a salamence of all things and in the process like

[01:10:10] because like sapphire couldn't defend herself ruby like went out of his way to a protector

[01:10:16] and ended up getting like a dragon claw to the forehead and uh by doing this he actually

[01:10:23] kind of scared sapphire and sapphire was like found him like scary and that ended up um

[01:10:30] basically causing deep rooted trauma for both of them in the long run yeah which basically caused

[01:10:35] both of them to have a complete 180 and personality so now ruby doesn't want to show how good he is

[01:10:41] at battling because he gets that like you know norman mean mug and freaks people out

[01:10:47] and sapphire is all traumatized because she's like well my my got really hurt and i heard

[01:10:54] his feelings in the process because i wasn't able to defend myself so i need to get stronger

[01:10:59] hmm yeah it was it was an interesting like twist on that dynamic we also then find out the reason

[01:11:05] why norman was sent was training for five years was because that incident was actually related

[01:11:12] to another incident where um apparently the pokemon association was like hoarding

[01:11:20] raquaza do tests on it and in the process that raquaza got out and the salamence got loose

[01:11:28] which led to the salamence attacking the two of them but also um because of this norman couldn't

[01:11:34] take his uh gym leader test and because he technically let the raquaza out he was forced

[01:11:40] to basically hunt the thing down for four for five years and be separated from his family

[01:11:47] uh which means that the whole norman being away thing and all of ruby's resentment towards

[01:11:53] that is actually kind of his fault in a in a way um and the sad part is too we actually forgot to

[01:12:02] mention this earlier but at one point all the gym leaders have a meeting and they're debating

[01:12:08] which who who would they rather side with team awkward team magma and the whole thing is

[01:12:13] like debating and they're all kind of taking sides and then norman being norman it's like

[01:12:17] i i'm not picking either side uh this is dumb they're both evil uh technical difficulties i lost

[01:12:24] matt sorry about that uh we had a bit of a technical snafu there um but we're back um so

[01:12:34] think we got to fix now we'll see but this one's going to be an editing nightmare but

[01:12:40] that's fine i'm not doing anything tomorrow

[01:12:45] but uh yeah so we were talking about the gym leader summit where all the gym leaders were

[01:12:50] kind of deciding whether they wanted to uh side with team magma or team awkward and

[01:12:57] uh norman being the basically having issues with the uh the pokemon association as a whole

[01:13:03] essentially where it was like i'm not taking a side that's dumb they're both obviously evil

[01:13:09] yeah he was the only one showing any real like initiative any real like critical thinking like

[01:13:14] no they're both obviously up to some shit like even rock sand who's supposedly the smart one

[01:13:20] was completely buying into the shit yeah well i feel like i feel like wallace kind of understood

[01:13:28] but he you're kind of forcing his hand to pick a side so he's just like all right shit

[01:13:33] like i guess i'll pick a side yeah well wallace is it's been implied that like being a gym leader

[01:13:38] is very important to him and he doesn't want to jeopardize that at all because uh eventually

[01:13:44] like the whole battle is going on with all the uh the two uh legendaries and then like there's

[01:13:51] a whole bunch of plot threads kind of going on here like it's really funny like the whole

[01:13:57] there's a series of chapters which are literally dedicated to the battle between

[01:14:01] kayo gerd ground on and then suddenly ruby and sapphire get teleported this like weird like

[01:14:11] grassy area and it's it's that mirage island right yes and uh jaune and the twins are there

[01:14:21] and essentially he kind of has to teach them about double battling so so then sapphire

[01:14:27] can face off against uh the twins to get her next gym badges

[01:14:34] um i thought this was a cool little arc because it really showed the character

[01:14:37] development between the two of them was improving a lot yeah and like while that's

[01:14:43] going on we also have um norman's finally training wall-e because wall-e just randomly

[01:14:48] showed up again wall-e in his weird bondage mask which he had for some reason yeah well i

[01:14:55] then there was something related to his illness he's supposed to help him breathe better or

[01:14:58] something you know i forgot he was sick i forgot he was sick that's like his old character trait

[01:15:07] poor wall-e uh yeah but yeah he he actually has a competent team actually norman gives him

[01:15:13] a flag on um yeah just straight up flag on it's like here but like he's training him at

[01:15:19] the sky pillar to so they could work together to get rick wazza but then also meanwhile

[01:15:25] we have the elite four who are um working together with wallace and steven to um awaken

[01:15:33] the regis to try and um you know keep the the battle between the two the two big legendaries

[01:15:40] contained like we get all these different like plot threads that are coming together

[01:15:45] at the same time and then norman comes flying in on his rick wazza yes um oh um i i think

[01:15:53] if i remember correctly the reason why the pokemon association had captured rick wazza in

[01:15:58] the first place i think they were trying to artificially create a green orb yes they were

[01:16:04] but it failed miserably yeah and he got real mad about it so i i will say like i like this

[01:16:14] whole arc like battle it ends in the most anticlimactic way possible though uh refresh

[01:16:23] my memory because it's been like two months since i read it so basically by this point like

[01:16:29] ruby and sapphire have their their whole like um epiphany moment where they finally realize

[01:16:35] who they actually are because despite looking identical to the how they looked as children

[01:16:41] they can't recognize each other yeah well i'm sure part of it is just because their entire

[01:16:46] demeanor and personalities have changed over the course of time true i still think though it's

[01:16:52] like ruby looks identical like he just looks like a bigger ruby now well you also got to figure

[01:16:57] this is the same franchise that uh that team rocket like by team rocket i mean jesse and james

[01:17:04] uh this is the same franchise where they could just dress up in any old fucking

[01:17:08] costume and they're like oh wonder who these cooking people are yeah i wonder who that

[01:17:12] ponytail is um yeah true uh but they have their big final reveal epiphany where sapphire

[01:17:20] reveals that they have a love confession which i thought was very uh interesting um

[01:17:27] yeah because we've had like little like hints of this in previous arcs and stuff you know with

[01:17:31] like misty and yellow pining after red and like you know all stuff like that but like red

[01:17:37] red swimming in bitches over there in the corner despite not having a sex drive at all

[01:17:43] and yeah classic shonen protag meanwhile these two just like straight up are like yeah we like

[01:17:49] each other yep for real uh but we also get to see um see ruby without his hat and he looks

[01:17:57] identical to norman yeah except he's got that big ass gas across his head which is how um

[01:18:04] sapphire uh recognizes him but then he just straight up itches her um and teams up with

[01:18:11] cortney who makes a return yeah because i think that was like part of his like you know i

[01:18:18] feel the same way about you now get over there so you don't get hurt because i'm gonna go and

[01:18:25] do exactly what i did when i was a kid and do it myself like yeah and then even wallace is

[01:18:32] like you idiot like calls him out for it i think cortney immediately gets a bunch of

[01:18:37] rubble falling on her yeah she straight up dies kind of she dies norman dies um i think

[01:18:45] stephen dies too stephen dies like everybody dies and i'm like i'm like people actually die

[01:18:50] in this arc it was weird well it was definitely they died for like all five minutes um yeah

[01:18:57] because then this pissed me off so much this was such an anti-climactic end to what i thought

[01:19:04] was a really interesting battle where ruby just pulls a fucking celibate out of his ass

[01:19:11] and he's like i've had it on me the whole time yeah that's when that's what they reveal like hey

[01:19:16] you've only seen five of my pokemon this whole time guess what the sixth is yeah it's a fucking

[01:19:22] celibate i turned them when i turned the page inside i was like you're fucking kidding me

[01:19:27] especially after the last arc where they made such a huge deal about how oh i need the

[01:19:31] rainbow wing and the silver wing and i need to weave them together into a capture net

[01:19:38] and i need to have this special pokeball that only kurt can make and meanwhile ruby's over here

[01:19:43] he's just got the fucking thing yeah meanwhile this fucking whack job from fucking hoenn has one

[01:19:48] just chilling but um yeah he releases the celibate and then celibate legit just makes

[01:19:54] three portals and just fucking zap everything's fine it's like i was so like i'm like that's it

[01:20:03] like that's the that's the conclusion to our fucking battle here yeah but um pretty ridiculous

[01:20:11] it was it was a fun ride up to that point that is my one gripe i have with this entire arc

[01:20:16] is that ending i just thought was so fucking lazy well i think i think it just got to a

[01:20:21] point where he kind of brought himself in the corner he's just like oh he did i didn't know

[01:20:25] how he was going to explain all of that because he killed norman i'm like how is how

[01:20:28] sapphire gonna get her last badge um and then this pissed me off too they go to their final

[01:20:35] thing and it's like oh sapphire's got one badge left and uh ruby's got one last set of fucking

[01:20:40] um ribbons he's got to collect you turn a page and they just have them i'm like we didn't even

[01:20:45] get to see it i'm like really well i mean at least in um well i don't know in in true

[01:20:53] pokemon adventures fashion i'm sure norman was just like hey you did good kid here's a badge

[01:20:59] well apparently the way it's explained is like it was a really hard fight but because he was

[01:21:04] injured she assumes that's why she won and um which i guess fair technically ruby had already

[01:21:13] earned that last ribbon but wallace was just kind of hanging on to it for him

[01:21:17] well now he had another row below that oh did he yeah there was one final row like

[01:21:23] master cups i guess oh okay well yeah they they kind of like really downplayed the the

[01:21:28] contest system which i mean like it's like we said before they're not like particularly

[01:21:32] interesting but we forgot we forgot to talk about fifi came back oh yeah that's right

[01:21:37] yeah a lot happened in that last like like volume and a half like there was a shit ton

[01:21:41] of things happened that i will say fifi's return was probably the most emotional scene

[01:21:46] in that entire fuck in this entire story oh like way more emotional than the whole love

[01:21:50] confession thing love confession was just two 10 year olds confessing their love for each other

[01:21:55] it was like yeah okay cool um proceed to be awkward 10 year olds yeah well no 11 year

[01:22:01] olds by the end that's right because oh yeah that's true because sapphire's birthday happens

[01:22:06] yeah but um yeah fifi comes back and gets uh hurt by archie and he they both archie and

[01:22:15] maxi make fun of it being like what an ugly piece of shit pokemon who would love that thing

[01:22:20] and then uh ruby basically like has a complete turnaround and basically makes the whole point

[01:22:25] about how much he appreciates fifi and how she's beautiful on the inside not it's not

[01:22:32] the outside that matters which is a reference to the fact that myelotic needs beauty points

[01:22:40] to evolve it's like one of the weirdest evolutions in all pokemon yeah you have to

[01:22:45] max out uh fifa's beauty stat to get it to evolve into a melodic yes and then it evolves right

[01:22:53] there and then he finally has that realization where he's like you are the pokemon i've been

[01:22:57] searching for this entire time classic and then it's implied that he basically steamrolled all the

[01:23:05] the last competitions because he had a myelotic it's about right which i guess fair i mean

[01:23:12] you had to work for that damn thing um yeah no kidding but then it ends where i didn't like

[01:23:19] the ending where like um they go back to uh sapphire's hideout and rubies just filled it

[01:23:26] with junk and she's like what the fuck is this yeah she he made it to like a secret base

[01:23:31] with like all their little pokemon dolls and everything yeah and she's so just not not for

[01:23:36] it at all she's like she's like you ruined my fort

[01:23:42] oh yeah but then uh he gets the call from zombie like oh yeah it's sapphire's birthday

[01:23:47] by the way so come back and also you also you dipped on your birthdays we were doing a

[01:23:53] joint birthday party yeah pretty much and you get that really nice shot of the two of them

[01:23:58] running off into the distance which is pretty cool because they are definitely the most

[01:24:03] connected like protagonists we've had so far for sure but then we get the stinger at the end where

[01:24:10] uh giovanni returns and he's basically got the remains of the two orbs which have reverted into

[01:24:17] shiny stones yeah they like shattered during the whole battle and everything and he's collecting

[01:24:23] up the pieces and uh it's interesting because then it's basically like leaves a stinger it's

[01:24:28] like ah we're going back to the original cast next arc

[01:24:34] well and it the next arc is going to be the big congregation like oh we're going to get

[01:24:38] all the main characters together now oh my god it's gonna be everywhere because

[01:24:45] i like kasuka's writing but my god his sense of like tone is not tone his sense of like

[01:24:51] character like focus is so all over the place sometimes yeah well i will say this is this is

[01:24:58] the time where he actually got it right um i i'd say all all things considered ruby sapphire is

[01:25:07] easily the the best written even despite the ending um so i have very fond memories of black

[01:25:15] and white so i'm curious once we get back to once we eventually get to black and white how

[01:25:20] that's going to stand up um i did really like my time reading the ruby and sapphire i thought

[01:25:26] it flowed very well abrupt ending aside um the flow was really good i like the twists

[01:25:33] like the uh the reveals like everything got tied off very neatly and they did not leave any

[01:25:39] loose ends whatsoever um that's not duge avani well that that was the stinger at the end i'll

[01:25:47] give that one a uh a pass because it's it's essentially a uh a catch for to get you to buy

[01:25:52] the next set of a month but um yeah i'll give this one so i had previously given the first arc

[01:26:03] uh red blue and yellow i'd given an eight i gave gold silver crystal a seven i think

[01:26:09] i'll give this one an eight it's i thought it was pretty much on par with the original

[01:26:13] probably better in certain aspects um yamamoto's art has improved significantly he really kind

[01:26:20] of found his voice by this point with his art and i'm really looking forward to seeing what

[01:26:27] he does in the next arc as well i i think i think i'm going to be a little bit more generous

[01:26:36] with this one uh because while i i think um as far as personal preference goes like i like

[01:26:45] the gold silver story a lot i like the red blue story a lot um but looking at it objectively

[01:26:54] i think this one is probably the most coherent as it's as a standalone arc

[01:27:01] so i'm probably going to give it like a nine maybe a 9.2

[01:27:06] like probably it's definitely in the higher like especially if i'm looking at it as just

[01:27:10] a a pokemon arc and not just like an overall rating for manga in general like if i'm rating

[01:27:17] it in terms of like how well this compares to the other pokemon arcs that i've read

[01:27:22] this one's definitely like top tier like they they do such a good job of um

[01:27:30] taking what's in the game and embellishing them and making making them so much more

[01:27:34] given the characters real development uh because you start off you start out not really liking

[01:27:40] ruby like and i think he's written very purposefully in that way like he he doesn't

[01:27:46] want you to like him at the beginning but like as you go along you start to see more and more

[01:27:51] what you what he really is on the inside and as he goes through um more and more trials

[01:27:58] he starts to show like who he really is until he finally like you know has that that moment

[01:28:04] when he loses fifi and that's like his big turning point where he he's like no this is

[01:28:11] what i have to do like this is what's right i i can't be a selfish little shit anymore

[01:28:17] and he like really comes around and really becomes a whole character from that point

[01:28:21] onward and um that's something you don't you haven't really seen up to this point

[01:28:26] no because honestly yeah ruby and sap are two of the most are the most developed protagonists

[01:28:31] we've had so far because like as much as i really like red blue green yellow crystal

[01:28:40] gold and silver um aside from crystal they're all pretty one note to a degree like they they

[01:28:49] have they have their gimmicks and like their little kind of personality quirks and they kind

[01:28:54] of stick in that bubble uh granted they their stories are still going so there's plenty of

[01:28:59] time to get more out of them in the future but right off the bat like just from the start like

[01:29:06] these guys are ruby and sapphire just go through entire character arcs and i'm actually

[01:29:10] curious about their future appearances now because we kind of already have their full

[01:29:16] development cycle now so everything else is just going to be extra going forward

[01:29:20] yeah because we're gonna you know we're going to be seeing them more like the emerald section

[01:29:25] and then obviously there's the the remake um for ruby and sapphire that has its own manga

[01:29:32] adaptations we're going to see them later on in that too um and you know since we know that

[01:29:38] um you know some of the previous characters will be showing up in the later arcs as well

[01:29:42] i think we can assume that we'll probably end up seeing ruby and sapphire at some point in other

[01:29:46] arcs as well so i mean you can only i mean no i was gonna say you can only go up from here

[01:29:54] but that's not true it can easily take a dive true i mean to be fair i've only

[01:30:03] so far from what i've heard everything going forward is good there isn't a particular notable

[01:30:10] arc that i can think of that is negatively received granted i only know up until omega

[01:30:17] ruby and alpha sapphire because i don't know anything after that so far well that's that's

[01:30:23] as far as the manga is right now isn't it well sun and moon's art is fully written they

[01:30:28] just haven't collected them in manga form yet gotcha like you can buy those weird like

[01:30:34] half vert so you know how like there's like the they started doing this with x and y there's like

[01:30:41] the uh pokemon adventures like the the legit really nice like manga editions and then there's

[01:30:48] just just the they don't have the adventures like subtitle it's just pokemon x and y and

[01:30:52] they're like floppy little tiny issues yeah so they've released all of those for sun and moon

[01:30:59] and sword and shield and they're already i think they're already doing violet and uh

[01:31:05] scarlet at this point like so okay the uh the the next arcs like two arcs are done they just

[01:31:12] haven't collected them yet because they're doing uh collecting them into the full manga

[01:31:17] versions is much slower i guess for some reason yeah i don't know why honestly maybe

[01:31:25] they just feel like they can get more money out of it if they split it up into smaller

[01:31:28] sections probably probably maybe especially since um based on what we've talked about

[01:31:36] it seems like these newer arcs are shorter than the ones we've had up to now well

[01:31:45] it's interesting to me because like the next arc uh fire red and leaf green so this one was

[01:31:51] uh i think eight volumes total um i think so yeah the net fire and leaf green i believe is

[01:32:03] uh like five i want to say well it's it's weird because fire red and leaf green is its own arc

[01:32:13] and emerald is its own arc but they're connected and a part of the same box set

[01:32:18] box set so i for the collectors editions it's a little different because they're uh

[01:32:24] i think emerald is literally the last two volumes in that final big collectors edition manga

[01:32:32] um because it's they did kind of like dragon ball where like they're all three and ones

[01:32:36] except for the last one which is just a two and one for whatever reason yeah um yeah i i

[01:32:41] think it's mostly like evenly split down the middle when i like when i'm looking at my box

[01:32:47] set i think it's about the same i want to say fire red leaf green is like three volumes and then

[01:32:52] emerald is four but the first of that four is like a really thin volume yeah it's weird

[01:32:59] because like then you get to um diamond pearl platinum and that's like 14 volumes

[01:33:05] i think it's 11 or maybe 11 i think either way it's it's pretty long it's actually i

[01:33:12] think the longest arc yet um because but then after that you get heart cold soul silver which

[01:33:19] is two volumes although one is massive and the other is tiny it's like a really weird thing

[01:33:26] yeah i don't know how a lot of these people decide like how long or short a volume is going

[01:33:31] to be or how many chapters they're gonna put in and or like all right we're gonna make this

[01:33:35] one really short and this one really long i was like okay well you could just make them

[01:33:38] both regular lengths but whatever yeah because then like black and white is nine volumes and

[01:33:44] then black and white two is four volumes yeah x and y is six and it looks like omega ruby

[01:33:52] and alpha sapphire is going to be three it's disappointing because i kind of wish that we

[01:34:00] would have i mean i don't i don't necessarily think that we need like full like seven eight

[01:34:04] nine volume um arcs for like the remakes because obviously like those stories are already

[01:34:09] told um but it'd be nice to have a little bit more than just two or three volumes to you know

[01:34:16] kind of catch up with the old favorite characters you know i mean apparently the new arcs are

[01:34:22] pretty short as well because i was reading uh into it during our little technical hiccup there

[01:34:29] um apparently because japan they're already collected into manga they just haven't localized

[01:34:36] it yet apparently sun and moon is six volumes and sword and shield is seven okay so i think

[01:34:45] diamond and pearl is the longest arc that makes sense i mean that that i think is like

[01:34:53] the first time that um pokemon has really tried to tell like a big like a bigger story

[01:35:00] um like even looking at the games um so it makes sense that they would need to do that and

[01:35:06] that is one of the ones that i have read after this and um i guess i kind of see why

[01:35:12] they wanted to make it that way yeah um i mean i'm looking forward to getting there but

[01:35:20] yeah well i mean the next one shouldn't be that bad because it's they're both shorter

[01:35:27] arcs the next two so we should get through those pretty quickly a knock on wood yeah well i think

[01:35:34] i think it would benefit us uh this time to kind of take each arc as its own episode

[01:35:39] because that it'll be a lot easier to get the reading done and um you know cover in more

[01:35:46] detail than we've been able to up till now yeah we'll have to plan diamond and pearl

[01:35:52] uh the time because that's going to be probably our biggest endeavor yeah well i mean that

[01:35:59] that's also the first um like the first point where pokemon kind of like resets the volume

[01:36:08] numbers and starts telling more standalone stories true so um i feel like from that point on it's

[01:36:16] kind of less pressing to continue the the reviews at that point because you know um

[01:36:24] where where the next couple that we're going to do is kind of like rounding off like the whole

[01:36:29] like big overarching story that connects everything um and then from then on it's

[01:36:35] going to be all standalone so it you know once we get like the big story done like we

[01:36:42] can kind of just cover them as we as we feel like you know at our convenience yeah i mean

[01:36:49] because i will say i'm looking forward to black and white obviously because i have a soft spot

[01:36:53] for that one uh diamond and pearl i'm curious about because i've heard really good things i

[01:36:57] mean like obviously our gold and soul silver that'll be easy to knock out because that's just

[01:37:02] two volumes yeah yeah again i i apologize for our technical difficulties in this episode

[01:37:11] i feel bad for you bill because this one is going to be a little bit more difficult to edit

[01:37:16] yeah i'm gonna probably do that tomorrow at some point in the day yeah um it is a little

[01:37:23] upsetting because i was looking forward to doing this episode and i feel like it kind of

[01:37:26] got thrown off the razzle lot because of our uh the constant glitching and everything and then

[01:37:31] it all cut out and everything but yeah uh thankfully the way the pause feature works is

[01:37:36] there's not going to be a huge gap there at all but um yeah i'll try to edit the gaps out and

[01:37:42] hopefully it'll at least flow decently yeah but um yeah so once again guys thanks for joining

[01:37:49] us on geek addicts so you can find geek addicts in it in its own feed now on uh all

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