Pokémon Adventures: Black & White, Vol. 8

ポケットモンスターSPECIAL #50

by Hidenori Kusaka, Satoshi Yamamoto (Illustrator)

Team Plasma's King, N, has shaken Black's faith in his relationship with his Pokémon. But just when Black is about to call it quits and go home, he gets a last-minute chance earn the final Pokémon badge he needs to be eligible to compete in the Pokémon League! Black's friends Iris and Cheren are competing too. Unfortunately, kind and thoughtful Cheren is starting to change...

Will Black fufill his dream of winning the Pokémon League?

Genres: Manga, Fiction, Graphic Novels, Fantasy, Juvenile, Childrens

224 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 25, 2014

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

[Bastian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pokémon Adventures: Black and White, Vol. 8 is about trainers working with their Pokémon to face big challenges. The story is fast and has funny and emotional moments. I liked how the trainers and Pokémon worked together, which felt inspiring because they never gave up. The battles and teamwork made it exciting to read.

[Danielle Booey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lots of action takes place in this volume! Team Plasma begins making its move, suspicious trainers are everywhere in the Pokemon League Tournament, and Cheren is a colossal jerk. Good thing Black is going to lay the smack down on him!

[Flowergirl · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this one. We got to see Cheren again, though I can't say I liked him in this one, I hope he gets back to normal soon.
Black is in the final stages of his dream, he's been working really hard to get here.
We also got to see Looker again, he was quite funny.

[Santiago Bueno · Rating 4 out of 5]

A un tomo del final, estan acomodando todo para la confrontación final. Me gustó mucho el desarrollo de Black en este tomo. White lamentablemente toma un rol mas de apoyo. Tiene sus momentos, pero termina estando el foco en Black. Me dejó muy expectante con el final de esta saga.

[David Doel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the best volume of the series thus far. The next volume is the last. I'll make some comments on the series in that review.

[Nick · Rating 3 out of 5]

Munna leaving was a strong moment. The league brought with it a number of solid battles, though having it ultimately be 1v1 battles seemed a bit silly.

[Jo · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read volumes 8-9 (end of series)

I liked the ending but they’re not my favourite in the series because it’s very battle heavy. Musha coming back was a great moment!

Love N, as always

[Jessi · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is on back order everywhere right now, so since I didn't want to spend 30+ bucks on it, I had to buy it on the kindle. I do prefer to hold a paper back manga in my hands, but it wasn't terrible to read as an ebook. I do feel like it will be difficult for me to review though because I furiously flip through the pages while I'm writing. I just can't easily remember how so and so's name is spelled or where were they when this happened. So here we go:

The festivities for the Pokemon League are underway and the Elite Four are discussing how they'll handle Team Plasma. I feel like Caitlin looks and acts a lot differently than she did in Platinum. I guess she's older, but she's so aloof now.

Caitlin has Gothitelle psychically reach out to the kidnapped gym leaders. They don't know where they are being kept, but they for sure want to talk to Black. I'm sorry. That's just ridiculous. Anyway...

Meanwhile, Black is recovering from the shock of Musha's disappearance, yet he still wants to challenge Drayden for a last chance to enter the league. He is clearly wrecked. His heart is just not in it.

Enter Gothitelle! She gloms onto Black's face which looks so hilarious, and gives him the inspiring message from the kidnapped gym leaders giving him the push he needs to squeak by with a win and the eighth badge.

And we're off to the races, I mean the Pokemon League, and they blitz right through the preliminaries to the top eight weirdos that are going to fight for the championship. Does that swimmer dude have his pants riding down low and a tan line? That is... an interesting detail. And Cheren is not acting like himself.

I don't think I said this before, but Drayden's beard is freaking weird. How is it even looking like that? Does he purposefully sculpt it to cover his whole mouth?

Here we take a little break to see Virizion, Terrakion, and Cobalion meet up with Keldeo to train him to use his head sword thing, and they end up in a confrontation with the bowl cut triplets and Cilan, Cress, and Chili. I'm not really sure what the point of all that is. It doesn't seem to service the main story at all. Eh, maybe it will come up later somehow.

Anyway, the league battles are pretty awesome and it comes down to Black and Iris, where we get a bit of her back story about how she begin training with Drayden. Black takes the win, obviously, his name is in the title, and he promises Iris he'll take revenge against N for both of them. That was, eh, I don't want to split hairs, but who's going to stop Iris from fighting N also. It's not like she needs to win the championship to join the final battle.

During the battles, White's been investigating possible Team Plasma infiltrators and gets caught up in a trap. She's able to send out a quick warning to Black before she's spirited away by Hoodman. *snort*

Cheren wins his fight, and Black just can't take anymore of his bad attitude and they start brawling right then and there. Cheren goes on about falling under the influence of Team Plasma, and it was a really interesting twist that Cheren wasn't actually brainwashed or anything. He went with Team Plasma of his own free will. And finally, Musha comes back. He's an actual Musha now. He's not as cute as before, but I still love him.

And then Black's so mad at Team Plasma that freaking Reshiram pops out in a two page spread and backs up his challenge.

How will Team Plasma show themselves now? Hmm.

[Aleece · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Pokemon League is about to begin and Black needs one more badge to enter, so he challenges Drayden but doesn't seem to have the heart to continue battling and move towards his goal. The Elite Four's Shauntal interrupts in order to deliver a message from the captured gym leaders which renews his spirit and pushes him through the battle to claim his last badge needed to compete in the Pokemon League.

This was a great volume that was full of pokemon battles because of the Pokemon League tournament. I wish I was able to see more of the actual battles since they ended so quickly. Something is definitely wrong with Cheren and Black is determined to change Cheren's thinking by beating him in the finals. The next volume should be just as exciting with the momentum building with the Pokemon League finals as well as some suspicious characters that seem like they will be playing a role in the future.

I received this advanced copy from VIZ Media through Edelweiss in exchange for my honest review.

[Conor Flood]

I've currently read all 9 sagas of the pokemon adventures series and I've actually already read the 9th volume in the Black and White saga and loved every moment. I would have made this post on volume 9, but good reads has not uploaded a page for it yet. I love the story of the pokemon adventures series for its darker content in actualu battles that have effects on the characters themselves. I especially like how the protagonist can speak compared to their in game counter parts who play silent protagonist roles. I can't wait to read the Black 2 and White 2 saga.

[Miguel Vega · Rating 5 out of 5]

Again, this volume was just amazing and the fact that it followed closely tot he actual games is always good. I liked the tournament and seeing how Team Plasma's attack on the League plays out in this one.