Pocket Monsters (manga)

Pokémon, known in Japan as Pocket Monsters (ポケットモンスター), is one of the first Pokémon manga to come out in Japan and ran for 63 volumes. In Singapore it is published by Chuang Yi in English. While the first series is set in Kanto, and then Johto, new series are released based on Hoenn, Sinnoh, and Unova. The author is Kosaku Anakubo.

Plot
The manga follows Red, a young boy competing with a rival, Green, to complete the Pokédex and become the champion of Pokémon. In this manga, Pokémon can talk. It is thought that a Clefairy is the main character, although it is just a follower of Red. Clefairy is obnoxious but lovable, whose big mouth sometimes gets it into trouble. Surprisingly enough, Clefairy comes up with clever ideas to help Red and Pikachu.

In the first few manga books, Red's team consists of Pikachu and Clefairy only. However, later on, Red gains a valuable companion in Tyrogue, as well. Pikachu himself is unable to talk.

The story also goes to the Johto region, where Red gets introduced to trainers Gold and Silver, supposedly based on the video game characters. The story then goes to Hoenn in the last volume, where Red thinks of receiving a Torchic and abandoning Clefairy. It is after this that the story continues under the name of Pokémon Ruby-Sapphire, starting the volume number from 1.

Characters

 * Red (レッド) (Isamu Akai (赤井 勇): Charged with completing the Pokémon Zukan, he is Green's rival.
 * Clefairy (Pippi in the Japanese version): Red's first Pokémon ally. Clefairy is very vulgar and likes to do 'sick' things to attract attention.
 * Pikachu: Clefairy's younger cousin who joins Red and Clefairy. He is unable to talk.
 * Green (グリーン) (Kai Midorikawa (緑川 開)): Red's rival.

Pokémon Ruby-Sapphire
Pokémon Ruby-Sapphire (ポケットモンスターR・S(ルビーサファイア)) is the first sequel, and is set in Hoenn. The first volume was released September 25, 2003, and the last was released May 26, 2006.

Pocket Monsters DP
Pocket Monsters DP (ポケットモンスターD・P（ダイヤモンド・パール) is the second sequel, and is set in Sinnoh. The first volume was released January 26, 2007, and the last was released October 28, 2009.

Pokémon Pocket Monsters HGSS
Pokémon Pocket Monsters HGSS (ポケットモンスターＨＧＳＳ) is the third sequel, and is set in Johto. The first volume was released June 28, 2010, and the second and last was released January 28, 2011.

Pocket Monsters BW
Pocket Monsters BW (ポケットモンスターBW) is the fourth sequel, and is set in Unova.and was released March 6, 2011