Pokémon Black and White, Vol. 1

Pokémon Black and White #1

by Hidenori Kusaka, Satoshi Yamamoto (Illustrator)

Meet Pokemon Trainers Black and White White has a burgeoning career as a Trainer of performing Pokemon. Black is about to embark on a training journey to explore the Unova region and fill a Pokedex for Professor Juniper.

Who will Black choose as his first Pokemon? Who would you choose?

Plus, meet feisty Pokemon Tepig, Snivy, Oshawott and many more new Pokemon of the unexplored Unova region

Genres: Manga, Graphic Novels, Fantasy, Comics Manga, Fiction, Adventure, Comics

96 pages, Paperback

First published July 5, 2011

About the author

Created the Pokemon Adventures series.

Also made a Pokemon Rangers/ Almia manga. It is based on the game Pokemon Rangers, Shadows of Almia

Also known as : 日下秀憲

Reviews

[Timmavajjula Venkata karthik · Rating 3 out of 5]

The thing I don't understand is how Black has a level 54 Braviary and a level 34 Musharna at the beginning of his journey. If this was the scenario in the games, that would be really cool.

[Mohammed · Rating 2 out of 5]

NOT MY KIND OF MANGA

[Hilda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Masterpiece ^^

[Gi-Gi · Rating 3 out of 5]

I won this in a Pokemon Christmas giveaway along with some other stuff. It was pretty good but it will never stand next to the original Pokemon. A little funny and the motivation of Black reminds me of Ash's but like on super blast.

[Eros Rubbuano · Rating 3 out of 5]

L'inizio dell'avventura di nero e bianco, niente di che, rimane però un ottimo manga

[Ted Atchley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great for fans of Pokemon.

My son and I read this together. It has a strange arrangement. You read it back to front, right to left, top to bottom. It took me a few pages but once I got the hang of it, it flowed well.

The book is a graphic novel and assumes you already have a good understanding of the world. My son had to explain several things to me for it to make sense and he had to help me with the pronunciation of the various Pokemon.

I rated it four stars mostly based on my son's reaction and not my own. He loved it, and anything that gets him reading is a win in my book.

[Roxy · Rating 2 out of 5]

This one was a major disappointment for me. I read Red’s story (Pokémon Adventures) a long time ago, and I really loved its mature and gritty tone without leaving Pokémon’s roots.

Going into this, I was expecting something along those lines, especially given Black & White’s great story. Unfortunately, that’s not what I got. After reading volumes 1–8, I can sadly say this one felt far too juvenile for my taste. In some ways it felt like it wanted to be the anime.

[Mycal Stewart · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun story for all ages

Pokemon is always a fun story to dive into. This manga was no acception. It was a fun, short read that anyone can enjoy. From the loveable characters to the sweet story, this has something for everyone. This didn't blow me out of the water so it can only be 4 stars. A cute series to enjoy.

[Noelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Characters are very exaggerated, but that’s to be expected with children’s manga. Black is sort of annoying, but it’s nice to see that he has a personality (considering he was the player character that never spoke or reacted in the games). The Pokemon are well drawn and very cute! It was overall enjoyable.

[Alistair Parker · Rating 5 out of 5]

black [my favorite character in the region] is on a journey to be the greatest pokemon trainer in volume 1 I learn sevreal pokemon snivy tepig[tep] oshawott [my favorite water type in the region] munna [musha]braviary [brav]sewaddle woobat roggenrola cottonee and blitzle i want to read vol.2 next

[TreeSpright · Rating 4 out of 5]

Again I find this series a little average to the Pokemon series. I also think Black has a lot of characteristics in common with Ash. I feel a little sorry for his friends because he's just really eager.

[Spikeman2 · Rating 5 out of 5]

it is a good book, but it is just black meeting new characters and i know that i should not expect to much from a manga book full of action but still, Braviary is at level 52?!

[Leo. · Rating 2 out of 5]

2,5 stars actually
Its not bad, but its also not really good. I hope that it gets better. I know that pokemon is for children but its a little too childish at some points I think.

[Cayden]

Amazing

[Xitlali · Rating 5 out of 5]

I Loved reading this book. I loved how they were traveling and how there was a bunch of battling. This book is really good and it's fun to read.

[Ronin Reader · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.2 stars

A nice, short first volume. I do like how black can clear his mind, that’s pretty cool.

[Chiaki · Rating 4 out of 5]

*Me lo segno così, ma è un friendly reminder mio per segnare questo come il volume 20 di Pokémon - La Grande Avventura che non c'è all'interno di Goodreads ✨

[R1 Ireland · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Pokemon manga! this is not Violent, Black does get a bloody nose, though. I think everybody should read this manga! TEPIG!

[David Doel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This volume is devoted to introducing one of the principal characters, "Black." It does a nice job.

[Deez Nuts · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dieser Arc hat mich so zerstört, das schon frech. (Dieses Ende war zu viel für mich als ich 11 war)

[Santiago Bueno · Rating 3 out of 5]

Muy corto para tener mucha sustancia. Creo que cumple en presentar al prota y la región, pero poco mas. Habrá que ver como sigue.

[Stephen Paul Chase, Jr. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love books in print and audio.

[Karissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I got this to read with my seven year old son who is really into Pokemon. It’s an okay read, I think young Pokemon fans will love it, but adults will be a bit bored.

In this first installment we meet Black and his friends. Black has always dreamed about winning the Pokemon league, and now he is embarking on an adventure to fill his Pokedex and have his first trainer battle.

I am relatively new to the Pokemon universe. It was popular after I was a kid and as far as deck-building games go I was more of a Magic the Gathering fan. However, Pokemon is huge with elementary kids and when my son starting getting Pokemon cards the whole family started playing the Pokemon card game.

When my son saw this in the library he was super excited to get it. Neither of us had played the video game that this Manga series is based off of but we do own it. This was a cute story, but didn’t have a ton of meat to it.

Basically we meet Black and watch as he fills his Pokedex and engages in his first trainer battle. There is a lot of explaining about what you have to do to win a Pokemon tournament. There are also stats on the various Pokemon he encounters.

I enjoyed that Black needs to put his Munna on his head, so that the Munna can eat his dream and allow space for him to think about strategy during a Pokemon battle. That was kind of cute and creative.

The drawing is very typical Manga style, nothing special. It is enough to tell who all of the characters are and what’s going on so that is good. This book is read in traditional Japanese manga style; so you read from back to front...right to left. This was a bit confusing for my seven year old who is still somewhat new to reading, but he got the hang of it after a while.

I think kids and adults that are big Pokemon fans will enjoy this. If you aren’t interested in the Pokemon universe than skip this, it spends quite a bit of time explaining things about how the Pokemon battles work, etc.

Overall an okay manga, meant more for young Pokemon fans than adults. I think young Pokemon fans will enjoy this. Adult Pokemon fans will probably enjoy it too. It’s a cohesive story that is fun and does a good job of introducing us to Black and his world.

[Enrique · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've read Pokemon Adventures in the Kanto Sagas and the Johto Saga though I haven't gotten to reading the Hoenn or the Sinnoh arcs. I've heard that starting with Sinnoh there is no focus on the previous characters like with what they tried to do in the Emerald arc (Red, Yellow, Blue, Green, and Silver were rescued by Gold, Crystal, Ruby, Saphire, and Emerald from a new villain I think) so I didn't know if I would like the manga version of the latest games Blackk and White. But I did enjoy playing the games a lot and loved the characters and storyline so I picked up this series.

We are introduced to a new protagonist named Black who along with Cheren and Bianca recieve Pokemon and Pokedex from Professor Aurea Juniper to travel the region. Though Black's goal is to defeat all of the gymleaders, Elite Four, and the Champion Alder so he can become the Champion since that has been his dream since childhood. Choosing Tepig Black sets off along with his Braviary and Munna to challenge all the trainers of Unova so he can be the best one out there.

Now as far as terms of story and plot this is actually very solid. I mean if you've read Pokemon Adventures the plot of a trainer setting off to challenge gym leaders and champion has been seen before but most of the time previous characters focused on other big goals instead. Black really wants to become the Champion and he is dead set on that dream leading to Munna having to use dream eater on him a lot in order for him to clear his head when problems arise. His personality is also comical but fun to watch and he's just so himself that you want to see him get to his goal. That's how I see it anways.

Compared to other Adventures Volumes this is short conisting of only four chapters- the other volumes only consist of three- and reading through is very quick. But I think it's worth getting each Black and White Volume considering how cool the plot is. For me it's better than the Hoenn and Sinnoh arcs of the manga and it does well on it's own.

[Andre · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was pretty surprised by this book. At first it seemed to be kind of generic to me but then the main character Black as well as the supporting characters Dr. Junniper and Cheren (whom I first believed to be a girl I admit) surprised me.
Especially Black was different from male protagonists that I usually read about, in that he actively researched and still researches in libraries and all to actually make a plan to become a Pokemon trainer as well as e.g. in nicknaming his Pokemon. So unlike in other cases being book-smart was something good here, and Black showed some good ideas and tactical thinking.
Dr. Junniper and Cheren were kind of weird and funny, Junniper seems a bit two-faced or maybe it was just the way she was drawn.
As for the style: It was fitting to the demographic, so not too kiddy and not too adult in style (eye size and body porportions and all) and very good all and all. It was never cluttered or something and it had the details necessary to get the story across. Albeit from time to time it could have been a bit more detailed to make it clear that characters had moved.
But that is a minor thing.

Really odd I found only one thing:
Why is it that the character had the same number of Pokemon at the start of this four story volume as at the end? Does he even have Pokeballs? It doesn't look like it. This seems weird to me for a Pokemon title.

But whatever. The story did get me hooked and I will continue reading the other volumes of this series.

[Thomas phan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fiction book called Pokemon black and white vol.1 by Hidenori Kusaka tells a story about a young girl that is new to the game Pokemon and she got in a mail that had 3 new Pokemon's that she doesn't what the names are,and what they are and what they do. The 3 Pokemon's names are Snivy, Oshawott and Tepig. The 3 Pokemon's likes to make lots of messes because they have nothing else to do. A guy name Black stole the Pokemon's but he triped on a rock and fell so all of the Pokemon's opened and all of them got hurt. Prof Juniper told her that she can only keep one the the Pokemon. Prof Juniper had Pokemon's that clean up messes. One of the the Pokemon(Tepig) went up a tree and black stole him.Black trained Tepig to level up and evolve and Tepig evolved in to Pignite and to Emboar.

[Edward Lebowski · Rating 3 out of 5]

Si ok c'ho 22 anni però...
Quanto mi so mancati i pokémon, proprio in settimana ero tentato di installare un emulatore per Wii/Gamecube e rimettermi a nerdare ai giochi in 3d (Pokémon Colosseum e simili).
Inutile dire che dopo aver completato tutte le cartucce da pokémon blu fino al Perla non potevo farmi scappare l'occasione di questo ghiottissima nuova avventura, dove Ash è sostituito da un certo Nero e, finalmente, non c'è più quel topo giallo di merda pronto a mettere coda dappertutto.

Tepig spacca.
Tepig is life.
Tepig is love.

[Paige · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this manga and thought little kiddo Black was extremely funny. So was Bianca. Choosing Cheren's first pokemon for him. And saying they looked each other(so true). It was funny how the Snivy was a complete neat freak and how Bianca and Cheren destroyed Professor Juniper's lab. Black letting Musha bite his head was funny as well. Completely BLANK. One thing I didn't like was how White appeared on the cover but didn't appear in the actual book itself.

[Ashleigh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read as digital ARC. As an "Ash" and as someone who grew up playing Pokémon, I really enjoyed reading about Black's adventures. For one thing, it's awesome how he's actually been preparing for nine years and how obsessed he can get with researching every little thing--you've got to respect that. Meanwhile, it was also fun to see borderline-familiar faces, like a Hiker-type Pokémon trainer that I remember fighting in Red, Yellow and Blue.

[Bellatrix of Hoshido · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this manga because of the vibrant characters and some Pokemon that were new to me. I like that Black is determined to become the best trainer in the Pokemon league. I think this connects Black and Seto Kaiba in their journey to become the top ranked player of their respective games.
However, my favorite character was Cheren. She seems intelligent and somehow I think I would end up with a Snivy as well.
I look forward to reading the next installment soon!