ポケットモンスタースペシャル 1

An exciting journey through the Pokemon World

If you're reading this manga, it's probably safe to assume you are somewhat familiar with the franchise whether it's from the anime or the games. In that case, you'll already be familiar with the mechanics of the world making it easier to focus on the details of the adventures. Even if you don't have any prior knowledge of the Pokemon or their attacks in Japanese, it will be easy to follow along with the help of the images.

The fun part (at least to me) is unpacking the different names and techniques to see why they are called their given names. Sometimes you'll find that they often use English for inspiration!

If the language-deciphering doesn't appeal to you, then the action throughout the series will definitely capture your attention. Since it only lightly adapts the storyline of the games, the manga's plot is absolutely unique. You'll find (sometimes) horrific scenes and violence that they can't show on a TV show aimed at younger children. You'll be surprised that the characters are fleshed out really well - no more gym leaders just standing around at their gyms with no purpose to wait for the protagonist to take them out and claim their badge. You'll also encounter some other familiar NPC from the games that actually come to life in the text.

And most importantly - you'll get to see trainers and Pokemon interacting and sometimes literally fighting side by side together during battles. It's similar to the anime in that the Pokemon can use the field to their advantage, but they take it one step further in the manga, and if you want to see how, you should pick up a copy!

According to the details in the back of the manga, the reader level is geared towards 4th-6th grade elementary school students, so having a good grasp of late elementary school Joyo Kanji and at least a decent grasp of N4 Japanese grammar would help make the series a fun and comfortable read despite all the colloquial language.

Since this is a shounen manga after all, it might be difficult to decipher all the slang that many of the characters use. There's also the challenge that comes from the various characters' dialects since they come from various regions and are at various ages. This also makes it harder to really study "proper" grammar if that is your intention. But if you're looking for a fun-packed, page-turning manga, then look no further!

In regards to Wanikani, I read this starting at around level 14 and finished at level 16. It was between these levels where I learned quite a lot of useful kanji on WK and use the manga to reinforce my studies including 能、技、毒、etc. The entirety of the manga also uses furigana if you're not quite at the level to read 6th grade level kanji.