What exactly is this?

[FANG-TAN]

While I was searching images, I came across this.

The book is referred to as ポケットモンスター ゲームブック ("Pocket Monsters Game Book"). It appears to have been illustrated by Mato, the artist that drew the original chapters of the Pokemon Special manga (I found it on her site). You can see this clearly from the fact that Satoshi looks more like Special Red than he does in the anime and the Pikachu is done in the same art style as Special.

Does anyone have this book or has any idea what this is? Is it a doujinishi drawn by Mato (judging by the copyright and Nintendo's seal at the bottom, probably not likely), or an official book/manga drawn by Mato? A game guide with cover art drawn by her? Looks like something worth owning.

 

[Kayi Rowling]

Does it say the date of publication? It could be helpful in figuring out what it is:

• A PokeSpe-like manga following the anime plot (Mato during the PokeSpe years)
• An art book of Pokemon in general (Mato after the illness made her quit, and she recovered)

 

[FANG-TAN]

An Amazon Japan listing has the date of publication, the publisher, and the number of pages.

Paperback: 250 pages
出版社:アスキー (1996/08)
Publisher: ASCII (1996/08)
ISBN-10: 4893665626
ISBN-13: 978-4893665621
発売日： 1996/08
Release Date: 1996/08

...but unfortunately, not much else, such as a description.

 

[Lugion]

It was probably a promotional booklet for the original games. Pikachu was popular before the anime, too.

 

[FANG-TAN]

It was probably a promotional booklet for the original games. Pikachu was popular before the anime, too.

Can't be. That wouldn't explain "Red" in wearing Satoshi's hat and using his color scheme.

Though, the publication DOES predate the anime AND the Special, which is odd. Maybe I'm getting the wrong listing from Amazon?

EDIT: Yes, double checked the title. Got the wrong book. Was a game guide that was also called a "Pocket Monsters Game Book". *facepalm* Sorry.

単行本 (paperback): 127ページ (127 pages)
出版社: 新紀元社 (1997/06)
Publisher: Nyūera-chō (1997/06)
ISBN-10: 4883176762
ISBN-13: 978-4883176762
発売日 (Release date)： 1997/06

Another book with the same title. Man, I suck at this. Well, I managed to find a description on Mato's site.

表紙とカラー８ページのみ描きおろし。
本文を知らされず、指定場面だけを再現しました。

内容はＲＰＧ小説。原作攻略本ではありません。
カラー以外の本文挿絵はアニメ画像
内容はアニメ版をモチーフにしています。

1997発行　Ｂ６版　　p180程

By this point, I do not trust my abilities, but it appears to be a game guide? If so, why is there an anime character on the cover?

 

[Kayi Rowling]

By this point, I do not trust my abilities, but it appears to be a game guide? If so, why is tehre an anime character on the cover?

Because it's good to cash in from another, quite popular side of the franchise? *has been wondering if that's what happened here*

 

[FANG-TAN]

Because it's good to cash in from another, quite popular side of the franchise? *has been wondering if that's what happened here*

It also says something about "being modeled after the anime". So, a book following the game's story using characters modeled after the anime? And it apparently has 8 pages of manga-styled drawings.

lawd, we need a more reliable translator here, because I honestly might be mixing a few things up here. :U

 

[The Outrage]

It also says something about "being modeled after the anime". So, a book following the game's story using characters modeled after the anime?

So... a book following the game's story then?

 

[FANG-TAN]

^ Right now, I'm led to believe that this is some sort of novelization of the anime that might take the game's plot into account more than the anime, or it's merely mentioning that the anime is based on the games. Most likely the former, seeing as it's called "Pocket Monsters GAME Book". Or, a book about the games that has a section about the anime.

Just see for yourself. There's a twitpic page with character bios from the book: http://twitpic.com/3r4txn

Holy crap. It's the anime characters, and they ALL look like their PokeSupe counterparts minus the clothes. The guy that posted this pic says that the book is 14 years old and one of the comments joke about how old the book is. Now I'm even more curious. It's most definitely related to the anime even though the book's description mentions the game's story and is apparently old news to the Japanese fan community.

~Nyoro~n

 

[Lil Brother]

This is such a cool find, FANG-TAN, thanks for pointing this out. The anime characters look really great in MATO's style.

*makes an avatar out of Surge*

 

[Somari]

I want that more then I've wanted something in a while, and I always want to buy stuff.

It's weird though. Is it their anime counterparts, or are they cosplaying? Why would she draw Satoshi like Red? He doesn't even have his birthmarks
I can understand the other characters, since that's her style and they look very similar.

..
Didn't she draw the Pokespe characters in those poses too?

 

[pokeslob]

if anyone finds an eBay link please share

 

[FANG-TAN]

It's weird though. Is it their anime counterparts, or are they cosplaying?

The character bios describe the characters as they are portrayed in the anime.

Why would she draw Satoshi like Red? He doesn't even have his birthmarks

She probably prefers her own design for Red compared to the game design. Satoshi looks more like Game!Red from Gen I than the Red from PokeSupe, so she probably doesn't like that particular design too much in general. That's probably the reason why Red doesn't look like a total expy of his Generation I counterpart in the first place, unlike the other manga characters. lol I've notice that a lot of manga artists like to take liberties when it comes to Red's design, specifically, and Satoshi's is actually one of the more faithful ones besides the color scheme.

That, and she probably wanted to draw the characters in styles that she's used to, so she just used the designs of their Special counterparts instead of directly copying the anime. Strange that she didn't keep Satoshi's birthmarks, though, since that's the one thing unique to him.

Didn't she draw the Pokespe characters in those poses too?

I definitely remember Red being drawn in a similar pose in the earlier Special chapters.

 

[Somari]

I can tell the bios are anime based just by the names.

A lot of mangaka tend to forget Satoshi's birthmarks for some reason, including the EtoP mangaka.

 

[Eitarou]

That doesn't explain the hair though...

 

[Somari]

Yea it does. They based him on Spe!Red instead of game!Red.

 

[pokeslob]

Yea it does. They based him on Spe!Red instead of game!Red.

as far as I'm concerned Satoshi and Spe!Red are both based on the same person, which in turn makes them pretty much the same person...

 

[The Outrage]

as far as I'm concerned Satoshi and Spe!Red are both based on the same person, which in turn makes them pretty much the same person...

So...the same person, but coming from two different canons and two different experiences? They may have originated from the same source, but they're hardly the same person. It's like calling identical twins the same individual because they came from the same zygote >_>

 

[pokeslob]

So...the same person, but coming from two different canons and two different experiences? They may have originated from the same source, but they're hardly the same person. It's like calling identical twins the same individual because they came from the same zygote >_>

well yeah its a little different, its more like 2 people telling different versions of the same story

 

[Somari]

as far as I'm concerned Satoshi and Spe!Red are both based on the same person, which in turn makes them pretty much the same person...

They're counterparts and look somewhat similar, but the resemblance ends almost there. There paths are somewhat similar and they have similar personalities, but they are so not the same person.