>>57535494Continuing to reread early Special and I think the whole Pikachu "arc" (don't think it was supposed to actually be an arc, it's only like 2 chapters) is the first time the RGB arc's just genuinely Not Great. I've seen other anons complain about this too so it's definitely not just me. Up until this point in my reading any issues with RGB Special were extremely minor or just observations about how it feels the early manga was better in some aspects (especially re: the Pokedex) than it eventually became.
Just some stupid minor complaints first:
-early Special really seems to do a weird thing where like NO ONE besides Red and the major characters owns or knows anything about Pokemon. Sometimes people say the games used to be like that too, but I'm actually replaying RB alongside this to kind of get a sense of how well the manga matches Gen 1 and the NPCs seem to shove "omg you're a Pokemon trainer I'm one too aren't Pokemon awesome???" down a player's throat as much as ever. Like in these Special chapters there's an entire mob of people chasing down one wild Pikachu with nets and shit and when Red shows up and says he's a trainer they act like it's a godsend. Misty (gym leader, probably sees a lot of trainers) also seems amazed Red is a trainer too later.
-Dunno if Kusaka wrote this in the scenario or Mato just did this on her own but it's a little weird how all the random Pewter civilians and hundreds of people watching Brock's gym match seem to be male. This isn't some coomer complaint but just something I tend to pay attention to because I'm not a dude
-also it feels like an early example of Special feeling a lot worse when it focuses on non-MCs/game characters, considering the limited chapter length, because like 3 straight pages of nameless people chasing a Pikachu before Red enters isn't that interesting
-Bulbasaur seems to be drawn in like the exact same pose every time it appears but I guess its design makes it hard to draw compared to other mons
