Something new! Okay, these are the two volumes of the series Pocket Monsters Diamond & Pearl created by 坂井 孝行 Sakai Takayuki. (There are only 2 volumes, so I have the complete set). This is kind of a neat series... it's based on the anime and follows the adventures of Ash, Dawn, Pikachu and Piplup. Some side characters like Nurse Joy and Cheryl make appearances, but no sign of Brock, Team Rocket, or Paul. I'm actually pretty legit surprised that this didn't get licensed by either of the English companies... I always figured VIZ Media would jump on it since it's anime-based (considering they did Electric Tale of Pikachu and the movie manga adaptations, and the Ani-Manga...) or even Chuang Yi (as they also licensed EToP and also the Ash & Pikachu manga based on the Johto/Hoenn seasons). Also it's a short series and from what I know about the manga industry in North America, a short series is much lower financial risk than a longer one...but maybe they thought 2 volumes was too short? idk. I also had a hell of a time doing this manga on Bulbapedia as the name "Pocket Monsters Diamond & Pearl" was sooo damn vague... had to keep it distinct from everything else called "Pocket Monsters Diamond & Pearl" especially since there is also the "Pocket Monsters DP" manga created by Kosaku Anakubo. Yikes! So anyway pretty much everything you see about this manga on Bulbapedia was wrote by me. *toots own horn*

I apologise for the long abscense. I will write about some "new" stuff soon, but for now, some of my recent aquisitions:

#1: Pokémon Adventures in Italian! This one was a surprise for me to learn about, I knew Italy had a translation of "Pokémon Get da ze!", but not this one. I found it when I was surfing eBay. Apparently Italy got the first ten monthly issues and the first two Magical Pokémon Journey monthly issues. The more you know! So ya I ordered this one once I knew it was real XD #2 is Pocket Monsters BW volume 4! This just came in the mail today! As y'all know this continues the adventures of Red, his rude Clefairy and other Pokémon. Green appears in this one again!! #3 is all the VIZ Media Pokémon Adventures volumes I got since my last post. @_@ they keep releasing them, I keep buying them... #4 is all the Japanese Pokémon Adventures volumes I got since last time. Shogakukan seems to be speeding up the volume versions, probably in preparation for BW2 or even a future X/Y arc... volume 47 came today with Pocket Monsters :)

Some updates after a long wait! Sorry, guys!

I have lots of new manga since I last posted. This will be the first post of a few... the manga volumes in this post I got after working out a deal with tumblr user blackjackgabbiani. :)

First one is How I Became a Pokémon Card volumes 2 and 4! This worked out great as you may know from my previous post, I had volumes 1 and 3 already. so now I have 1-2-3-4 all in a row! these ones all have the promo cards sealed inside too :) i am super excited cause volume 2 has Kaede in it and i think she is a really cool character. she worked for Team Rocket, and is a childhood friend of Erika. she has lots of allergies (just like me!) and her [Dark] Gloom is always following her with a box of tissues XD

Second one is Pokémon ReBURST! volume 1 created by Mitsuhisa Tamura and Jin Kusude. I don't know much about the series yet which is part of why I bought it. Other users did the writing for it on Bulbapedia so I didn't need to research it much XD I vaguely understand the characters can transform into Pokémon (that's what the BURSTing is). guess I will learn more about it now that I have the first volume :0

Third one is a bunch of the Pocket Monsters Film Comic XD I have collected sooo many of these now and there are still like 20 more to go! Volume 9 (the one with Ponyta on the cover) has a chapter based on EP035 "The Legend of Miniryu [Dratini]" which I think is way cool. So here I got 4, 7, 8, 9 and Orange Islands #1.

Next one is Pokémon Adventures volume 44 (aka Pokémon Special in Japan). This one is super brand-new, just came out, and now volume 45 is on the way so I gotta get that one too. I've decided to collect like ALL of the Black & White chapter stuff that comes out because it's such a complex release. (Magazine chapters, VIZ volumes based on the magazine chapters, French volumes based on the magazine chapters, then the volume version in Japan, then VIZ translation based on the volume version! ay carumba!)

Last but not least... I got more Pokémon Pocket Monsters volumes!! I've come to really like collecting this series (my dream is to have some of the English Chuang Yi volumes one day.... but for now I'll make do with Japanese volumes) I got #1, 3, 8 and 9. So now I have at least one from every story arc except Pocket Monsters DP. I have eleven volumes in total!

I still have more new manga from Anime North 2013 and that I bought randomly so look forward to seeing new posts soon *__* sorry for the long wait!

Just because I want to update with something, here are my Ani-Manga, also known as "film comics" "animation comics", whatever. You know, those books made from screenshots of anime movies or tv episodes. I hardly read the movie manga adaptations as it is so most of these I've only read once, if at all, but most of them I started collecting just because I'm hell-bent on having ~EVERY~ Pokémon manga ever licensed in English. Including these. The Japanese ones are just kinda for fun. :3

Ok so in order:

* These are my Japanese volumes of Pocket Monsters Film Comic. I have 10, 12, and GS 25 (which is like #52 overall). The tenth volume is kinda neat because it covers EP036-EP040. But obviously it skips EP038, Electric Soldier Porygon. HOWEVER the chapter numbering actually acknowledges that an episode is skipped, it literally skips from chapter 37 to chapter 39. With no mention of 38 or why it was skipped. * These are the graphic novels licensed by VIZ Media. I was so excited to find the Mewtwo Stikes Back one at a comic book store far away just past my city's boundaries. (I'm still missing the Pokémon the Movie 2000 one though). All That Pikachu was the first of these I bought, since I had run out of Pokémon manga to buy and I was determined to buy anything that got licensed. The Giratina one I had to search EVERYWHERE for since I guess Ani-Manga isn't popular but omg. * This one is Pokémon TV Animation Comic, which is published by VIZ Media as well. It is a bound volume of the "Pokémon Power" comics that were in Nintendo Power magazine, which in turn are adapted from Pocket Monsters Film Comic. This one has the first six episodes' chapters (I'm not sure if any other volumes were ever made) * This is the first of the monthly single issues of the Mewtwo Strikes Back Ani-Manga. I bought it at the thrift store for $1 before I had the graphic novel. Not much else exciting about it tho XD * And last we have "The Art of Pokémon the Movie 2000" which is really more of a storybook adaptation of the movie with lots of stills. It has like narrative paragraphs explaining what is going on in the movie. There is some bonus stuff at the end, character bios and such. Not a big deal though, I was hoping for more of like concept art and that kind of stuff when I bought it. Anyway, I'll try to update more often! Sorry for the inactivity!

I'm so excited!! This finally came in the mail today. This is the first volume of My First Wide: Pocket Monsters Special Ruby & Sapphire chapter. What is it? It's an omnibus compilation, like those VIZbig volumes that are 3 in 1, but from Japan and it's the Ruby & Sapphire chapter of Pokémon Adventures. When these were first revealed in 2011 I thought it was kind of random that they only did the Ruby & Sapphire chapter but at the same time I thought it was nifty and hoped VIZ Media would use this as a chance to bring over the chapter to North America (they ended up bringing over the regular volumes). What I didn't know was that apparently these would be discontinued only one month after printing!! Presumably due to the earthquake, Shogakukan gave up on these. There is a #2 and apparently a third volume known to exist, but they were all in print only for one month, and I was only able to get my hands on this first one. So I think due to the weird circumstance, this is super extra cool! I'm so excited!

Here is another update for today: Pokémon Zensho created by Satomi Nakamura. Pokémon Zensho is a really early Pokémon manga based on the Red, Green & Blue games - it's a single-volume manga and each chapter is from one Pokémon Gym/city basically. It's a very literal adaptation of the Generation I games's storyline, more so than the anime or from any of the other manga. Despite being based on the game canon, the main characters use the "anime" names, Satoshi and Shigeru (Ash and Gary's Japanese names), rather than Red and Green/Blue like in Pokémon Adventures or Pokémon Pocket Monsters. I think the art style in this one is really nice though :)

Hi everybody! (Hi, Dr. Nick!) sorry I didn't update much recently, i am dealing with a broken computer so I can only occasionally use my dad's :( anyway, here is today's manga:

This book is kind of unusual to me XD I got it at a comics shop in downtown Toronto in like 2010, it was in a sealed bag, I asked the owner what it was and he was like "i dunno? it's like $7 wanna buy it" so i thought what the heck and bought it. i am a HUGE fan of the Pokémon Ranger game series, and i noticed the Ranger stuff on the cover, so i thought it was a good idea. (it has Manaphy egg on the back)

turns out this book has a bunch of information on the Pokémon Ranger game (the first one) and then about half of the Pokémon Ranger and the Temple of the Sea manga adaptation created by 溝渕誠 Makoto Mizobuchi (also known for Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Ginji's Rescue Team and the Arceus movie adaptation). I already had the Ranger movie manga by the time I bought this so it's a little redundant but i thought it was neat and it's unusual so i kept it in my collection. besides, like i said, i'm a big Pokémon Ranger fan :D

Got this in the mail yesterday :) it's volume four of The Electric Tale of Pikachu by 小野 敏洋 Toshihiro Ono, also titled "Surf's Up Pikachu". It takes place in the Orange Islands. Anyway, I now have a complete set of Electric Tale volumes!! yeah!!

This one is usually on eBay for $60 and up. I even seen it listed for over $100 before. But this one I got from an Amazon seller for only $14.99 plus shipping!! So ya I pretty much said SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY .__.

also i'm excited because coming soon in the mail is My First Wide: Pocket Monsters Special Ruby Sapphire Chapter volume 1. Apparently these are unbelievably rare, they were only in print apparently one month and then discontinued by Shogakukan, possibly due to the Tohoku earthquake in March 2011. I always thought they were nifty but ended up procrastinating on buying them since VIZ Media is licensing the Ruby & Sapphire chapter now. But I changed my mind so I ordered the first one :V apparently there is a #2 and even a #3, but they are super hard to get. I can find ISBN online for #2 but that's about it. So now I'm super excited to get this in the mail XD

Breaking news!! My mail came in today and these were in it :) I ordered these from CD Japan a while ago and they finally came, I'm super excited!

So here we have the latest volume of Pocket Monsters BW created by 穴久保幸作 Kosaku Anakubo. It's the latest adventures of Red and his rude Clefairy in the Unova region. So overall this is my seventh book featuring Red and Clefairy, yay! Also on the right is volume 43 of Pokémon Adventures, known as Pokémon Special in Japanese, created by 日下秀憲 Hidenori Kusaka and 山本サトシ Satoshi Yamamoto. This volume concludes the HeartGold & SoulSilver chapter and begins the Black & White chapter. Since I've been collecting the English and French volumes based on the magazine releases, I thought it would be neat to buy this one now that it's actually in collected volume format in Japan. This makes my collection of Japanese Pokémon Adventures volumes pretty random though - I now have 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 9, and 43 XD

here's one more for today, this is the "Be a Master!! Pokémon BW" manga created by 勝見直人 Naoto Katsumi. This was the first Generation V manga to be created. It is known as a "walkthrough comic", so basically the idea is that they are fun stories, but each chapter teaches you about a game mechanic, like capturing Pokémon, triple battles, etc. This one is really episodic, while it's the same character Monta in each chapter, he suddenly gets random Pokémon or they evolved between chapters since that kind of stuff isn't really the focus. There are eight chapters in total published by various CoroCoro publications and i never ever ever thought it would be collected in a volume, i figured it would eventually fall into obscurity, so man was i suprised to see it on CDJapan one day! i thought this manga was nifty and combined with my expectation that it wouldn't get released, i decided i should buy it and add it to my collection. always support official releases!

i had to search hard for these ones too - this is the complete set of three volumes of Pokémon Chamo-Chamo ☆ Pretty ♪ created by つきりのゆみ Yumi Tsukirino, also known for Magical Pokémon Journey, to which this is a sequel. Chamo-Chamo Pretty is set in the same universe as Magical Pokémon Journey, and features Pikachu and Clefairy as returning main characters. However, it is set in Hoenn and most of the main characters are new, mainly a Torchic (Achamo, the title "Chamo-Chamo" being the sound an Achamo makes), Poochyena, and a human character named Haruka (a coordinator who shares May's Japanese name, but not appearance)

Since I'm a big fan of Magical Pokémon Journey, i always really wanted to find these. i ended up getting them on eBay for about $15 each, with free shipping! yeah! i always wanted VIZ Media or Chuang Yi to license this series, especially since both of them did translate Magical Pokémon Journey (though VIZ Media only did first seven volumes). Back when I used to write VIZ's survey every day I always asked them to relicense Magical Pokémon Journey and/or to license this series, but I don't think it will happen any time soon since recently when they published Fluffy, Fluffy Cinnamoroll, also by Yumi Tsukirino, they didn't list either series in her well-known works in the author bio!! Probably they don't want to license it but don't want people asking about it. Anyway I thought that was weird :V

This is really time for me to brag: these are my volumes from the manga series "How I Became a Pokémon Card" or "Pokémon Card Ni Natta Wake" created by 姫野かげまる Kagemaru Himeno. I have two of the six volumes: #1 and #3. I spent just a little over $70 USD (including about $6 for shipping) to own these. @___@ The reason why these are so damn expensive and rare is because they're awesome and have lots of cross-collecting appeal. See, Kagemaru Himeno is also a TCG illustrator, and each chapter is a short story based on one of the Pokémon cards she illustrated. So for example, you know how in the Team Rocket expansion there's this Grimer card? There is a chapter in the manga about this Grimer and its friend, a Gastly, living in the sewers of the city. At a point in each story, the Pokémon will be shown doing exactly what it's doing in the card illustration, and a photo of the card itself is shown. So that's basically why it's called "How I Became a Pokémon Card". Also, each book came with a sealed promotional TCG card, illustrated by Himeno, which is the other part of why they're expensive - TCG collectors want these because of the promo cards and Himeno's illustrations. But I just wanted them for the manga pages :( what's weird is all the time on eBay you see the cards with no books...why no books without cards? What happened to these manga?!?! so yeah usually the books are REALLY expensive so believe it or not I got a "deal" on these. o_O I think the premise of this manga is really cool and I love Himeno's illustrations so I am excited and proud to have these in my collection. (I carried them around for days showing them off/boring my friends with them XD)

Here are all my movie manga adaptations (except for the Keldeo one, I took this picture before). Like I mentioned in my previous post, I didn't read like half of these yet XD but I collect basically every Pokémon manga that gets licensed, so... yup :) Some facts to make you smarter: * The Victini, Zoroark and Keldeo manga are all created by 井上桃太 Momota Inoue. I haven't read any of them yet .___. * The Arceus and Pokémon Ranger manga are created by 溝渕誠 Makoto Mizobuchi, known for Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Ginji's Rescue Team. * The Giratina manga is adapted by Makoto Hijioka. I really don't have any interesting trivia about it, sorry! I have actually read it though! * The Darkrai manga was the first movie manga adaptation I ever bought :) I am convinced it was my idea haha since I used to write to VIZ Media every day asking them to license more Pokémon manga, then all of a sudden, Darkrai manga appears!! Also, the creator, 鷹岬 諒 Ryo Takamisaki, is well-known for creating the Mega Man NT Warrior manga adaptation. * The Lucario manga is adapted by 伊原しげかつ Shigekatsu Ihara, the creator of the well-loved series "Pokémon Diamond and Pearl Adventure!". He also did the single-volume manga "Pokémon Battle Frontier", based on Pokémon Emerald. (it's cool!) * The Deoxys manga was adapted by てしろぎ たかし Takashi Teshirogi, also known for "Ash and Pikachu" and some Pokémon Battrio manga that I don't know much about XD * The Jirachi manga is adapted by Oouchi Suigun, who is also the creator of "Pokémon Colosseum Snatcher Leo". Pokémon Colosseum Snatcher Leo was never released in volume format in Japan, only in magazines, so it's extremely rare.

This is one of my favourite Pokémon manga series of all time: Pokémon Gold and Silver: The Golden Boys created by 斉藤 むねお Muneo Saitō. An action story, it is based on the events of the games Pokémon Gold and Silver Versions. Unfortunately, it is only three volumes long and the story famously ends on a very abrupt and unresolved note. Despite this, I love it! The art is great and I love the interpretation of the story. Johto isn't really my favourite region and Gen II isn't really my favourite either, but this manga is just so much fun to read. Unfortunately for me, VIZ Media didn't license it (I was reaaaaaally hoping they would for the release of HGSS but instead all they did was Gold, Silver & Crystal chapter of Adventures), but Chuang Yi did! Great, right? But apparently it's out of print :( so the only volume I physically own is volume two. I'm tempted to buy the Japanese ones, but I'd love to be able to have a complete set in English....sigh... so instead I cherish Volume 2 as much as I can since it's the only one I got so far XD This volume is also special to me since it was one of the very first manga I ordered from Singapore. At that time, I knew someone on Bulbagarden forums who would take orders for Pokémon manga, you send her the money on PayPal, and she'd mail you the books. Nowadays, Chuang Yi has an online store on their website, which says it's only for Singapore but if you email them and ask nicely they can ship it to you overseas. So anyway the first parcel I got from Singapore was Phantom Thief Pokémon 7, Golden Boys volume 2, and Magical Pokémon Journey volumes 8-10 (<-which are the three volumes VIZ Media never licensed) and i was sooo excited :D

New additions to my collection! On the left is Kyurem VS. The Sword of Justice, the official manga adaptation of the fifteenth Pokémon movie of the same name. It is adapted by 井上桃太 Momota Inoue, who also did the Zoroark and Victini movie adaptations, and "Pocket Monsters BW: Meetings with the Legends", which was only released in Japan. To be honest the last manga adaptation I actually read was either the Giratina or the Arceus one (I forget) but I keep collecting them because it's my rules that I have to buy every Pokémon manga that gets licensed in North America. Especially since I used to write to VIZ Media daily asking them to please license some new Pokémon manga... and I like to support official releases of things I like anyway. Plus, as head of Project Manga it's good to have everything I can on hand for reference. :P

On the right... *drumroll* is Pokémon Adventures volume 15! I am *super* excited that this is finally released. I've been waiting to read the Ruby & Sapphire chapter for a long time, as Generation III is my favourite games, but I hate scanlations and I was wary of the expense of ordering them all from Singapore, especially since VIZ Media has been licensing most of the arcs. Basically, in short, I've been waiting for this to come out ever since VIZ Media started Volume 1 second edition in 2009 XD i was still in high school then!! i remember reading Volume 1 in history class...hehe... anyway, back to business:

VIZ Media relicensed Pokémon Adventures with a new translation beginning from volume one. Cool, right? They stopped at Volume 7 with their first edition, so everyone was excited to know if they'd continue further. Volume 8 came out with much fanfare in August 2010. (I bought it. A comic shop near where I used to work leaked it early so I was one of the first to have it hehehe) rather than use Chuang Yi's translation (trivia: the first 7 volumes of CY's version are VIZ Media's same translation. When those stopped, CY started translating volumes 8+ on their own), VIZ Media opted for an independent translation, so there are some differences with character names and stuff that can get confusing! (another reason why I waited) Anyway, mysteriously, VIZ Media stopped at the end of the Gold, Silver & Crystal chapter with volume 14. The very last round of that chapter is at the beginning of volume 15, so they mashed it on the end of volume 14, making it fatter than normal. So I was like "damn it! Now do I really need to get them from Singapore?" no! I found out in January that VIZ Media was licensing volumes 15+ after all. So now I have it. But it's extra thin due to the missing round. And still cost 10 bucks!! apparently according to the cover price i only paid $7.99 for big fat volume 14, but $9.99 for very thin volume 15. (volume 13 is shown for comparison as it is typical size) oh well, at least I get to finally read it *___*

If any of you know me personally, you may know I live in Canada. While my first language is English, I did study French when I was in primary and middle school, so I do have a basic understanding of the language. I doubt I could hold a conversation, but if I got lost in Quebec City or something I could read signs in French. XD Anyway, over the years I've become more interested in languages, so I often wish I could make my French skills better, especially since it is an official language of my country. One way I indulge this wishful thinking (and presumably improve or at least maintain what skills I have) is with my side hobby...collecting Pokémon stuff in French!! And, since I already love manga...French Pokémon manga! Yay!! (I also have 4 games in French, 2 chapter books, and some anime tapes, but I think that's stuff for a different blog one day.) So far, all of my French Pokémon manga is from Europe. In the first picture on the left, I have volume one of Pikachu Adventures!, the European French translation of Magical Pokémon Journey. I bought it from a Quebec seller on Amazon.ca. Also pictured is Pokémon Noir et Blanc volume 2, which comes from the Black & White chapter of Pokémon Adventures. Oddly enough it was available through Indigo Canada so I ordered it online. o_O this is like VIZ Media's translation of the Black & White chapter - it was started before the chapter was even published in volume format in Japan, so the rounds are presumably taken from the magazine version. Even more interesting is that Kurokawa in France is translating the stories faster than VIZ Media in the USA - their volumes are longer than VIZ's and they are at chapter 39, while VIZ Media's newest volume is at 28. So if you understand French, you can read farther in the series haha. I'm sure VIZ will eventually catch up so I'm not going crazy to collect all the French ones immediately - but I did want at least one of them because they are really different from the VIZ Media mini-volumes so I thought it would be cool to have one :) The second picture is one of my favourite items in my manga collection - Pokémon Attrapez-les tous!, which is a European French translation of the manga Pokémon Get da ze! created by Miho Asada, also known for Pokémon Try Adventure and Phantom Thief Pokémon 7. This series was licensed in a handful of Asian and European countries, but was never licensed in English to either VIZ Media or Chuang Yi. Therefore, so far, this version from France is my only chance to read this manga >:) unfortunately, Glenat stopped translating after volume two (there are five in total) but maybe I will collect the rest of the volumes in a different language some day. I lucked out and got these on eBay for a couple euros apiece and combined shipping! Some guy wrote to me on Bulbapedia once and said that they are unbelievably rare, even in France, so I'm really excited to have these in my collection. On a side note, I learned from another member of the Bulbapedia staff that The Electric Tale of Pikachu was translated into Canadian French by Imavision, the same company that licensed the Canadian French dub of the Pokémon anime. The name is "L'aventure électrique de Pikachu" and i want it SOOOO BAD, IF YOU HAVE ANY COPIES YOU WANT TO SELL, COME AT ME BRO :D

This time I'll be posting about the Pokémon Pocket Monsters manga created by Kosaku Anakubo. It is one of the first Pokémon manga ever to be created! Unlike Pokémon Adventures, which is one continuous series with different story arcs (chapters), every new generation resets the volume numbering in Pokémon Pocket Monsters. Kanto and Johto was volumes 1-14, and then the series stops, but continues with the same characters in Pokémon Ruby-Sapphire, the first sequel. Ruby-Sapphire is like six volumes, then stops again. After that, every new generation starts a new set of volumes, there is Pocket Monsters DP that lasts for about five volumes, then Pocket Monsters HGSS (2 volumes) and now Pocket Monsters BW (which is at three so far). The series has never been licensed in North America by VIZ Media, though the classic series and Pokémon Ruby-Sapphire were licensed by Chuang Yi in Singapore. Unfortunately it seems that version has been discontinued and it's really hard to find the English version anywhere. I am interested in this manga though so I've been collecting any of the Japanese volumes I've come across. So far I have #5 and #6 of the classic series (first picture), #1 of RS, #2 of HGSS (both in second picture) and the first two of BW (third picture).

The first one I actually bought was the Ruby-Sapphire volume, I bought it on my Japan trip before I ever contributed to Bulbapedia or had any idea which manga this was (at the time all I knew were VIZ Media's old series: Adventures, ETOP, and MPJ. I don't even think DPA was licensed yet!). So I just bought it because it was something I never seen before. Once I learned a little more about the series I bought the classic series #5 and #6 from eBay, and later I was able to purchase HGSS and the two BW volumes from CD Japan. They have some pretty random manga on there, it's basically cover price plus shipping, so they were very cheap! (if you collect Japanese CDs or manga or games, definitely check out the site. They are very reputable) I also ordered #3 of Pocket Monsters BW recently, along with Pokémon Adventures volume 43, but it didn't come in the mail yet cause a Sailor Moon CD i also ordered was backordered and they want to ship it all at once. So I will upload pictures once i get those. :)

Taking a breather from manga volumes, here is something unusual in my collection - manga merchandise! Unfortunately there isn't much Pokémon manga merchandise other than the books themselves - that's the way it is. However i got 2 different kinds of playing cards that relate to manga :D (i have a weakness for collecting playing cards anyway so it's extra deadly) The first picture is fake ass bootleg cards! I was shopping with jackandjordan and she encouraged me to buy these fake ass bootleg cards. Most of them are just weird-looking anime artwork but two of these cards are pretty neat - the one on the far right is an illustration from the Suzukisan album Can You Draw All the Pokémon? and the middle one, of course, is our hero Red from Pokémon Adventures. kinda weird looking but clearly it's Red from Adventures and not Ash Ketchum or Red from the games. The second picture is legitimate merchandise and not fake ass bootleg anything - they are Magical Pokémon Journey cards which were given away as a prize in Ciao magazine (which is where MPJ used to be serialized). As I mentioned previously, Magical Pokémon Journey is one of my favourites so I'm super happy to have something like this in my collection :) Please write to me if you have interesting manga-related Pokémon merchandise! I love knowing what's out there :D or you could start adding it to Bulbapedia! hehehehe