The Electric Tale of Pikachu (Japanese:ポケットモンスター・電撃ピカチュウPocket Monsters: Dengeki Pikachu) is a four-volumePokémon manga series made byToshihiro Ono, originally serialized inBessatsu CoroCoro Comic Special. It is loosely based onPokémon the Series: The Beginning.

The manga follows the overall plot of thePokémon: Indigo League andPokémon: Adventures in the Orange Islands seasons ofPokémon the Series: The Beginning. However, the story is not very sequential, as only a few select episodes from the seasons were picked to be adapted into manga form. The manga concludes with Ash's victory in theOrange League.

The Pokémon illustrations in this manga are not based on the official artwork byKen Sugimori, and so many appear to be more/less stylized in comparison.

Differences between the animated series and the manga

• The characters are the same as inPokémon the Series: The Beginning, although characters differ between versions in significant ways.Ash does a significant amount of traveling on his own, althoughMisty andBrock appear frequently as traveling companions.
• Many main and recurring characters own Pokémon that they do not own in the animated series, such asAsh's Fearow.
• Occasionally, a story from the animated series will be adapted to the manga but will be altered slightly. For example, inPlay Misty For Me, Ash battles Misty for theCascade Badge just like in the series; however, she challenges him to retrieve hishat from her rather than a traditional battle.
• Sabrina is shown as a kind, caring person, unlike in other depictions where she is shown as cold and indifferent to others.
• Similar toSabrina,Damian is shown to be a nicer person who returns for his waiting Charmander after a coma. This personality change ties in with the differences in owned Pokémon between the manga andPokémon the Series: The Beginning asAsh's Charmander is not Damian's Charmander.
• Unlike inPokémon the Series,Gary Oak is shown to have a sister namedMay Oak.
• Jessie andJames are canonically confirmed asa couple in this manga: they are shown to be married at the end of volume four.
• Captured Pokémon are assigned "ranks" based on their rarity. Rank D Pokémon (such asMankey) are the most common, while Rank A Pokémon (such asClefairy) are the rarest.
• Ash's clothes differ in this manga from time to time.

English translations

The Electric Tale of Pikachu has been released in English by bothVIZ Media andChuang Yi.

VIZ Media

The Electric Tale of Pikachu was the first Pokémon manga to be translated officially into English, making its debut insampler editions included withhome video releases ofPokémon the Series: The Beginning and subsequently released in full as sixteenmonthly issues. These sixteen monthly issues were treated as four separate series, each consisting of four issues, and ran from November 1998 through February 2000. When the issues were collected for their graphic novels, each volume was named for their four-issue arc:The Electric Tale of Pikachu,Pikachu Shocks Back,Electric Pikachu Boogaloo andSurf's Up, Pikachu. The VIZ graphic novels do not mention any volume numbers or relation to each other, as each volume is titled as though it is a separate series.

The manga was heavily promoted by VIZ Media and was featured in several commercial advertisements. Aside from the promotional home video samplers, a collection was also released featuring the first two chapters entitledthe Special Signature Edition Red Version. This special edition was included with aPokémon Video Suitcase promotional set. A second edition, the Special Signature Edition Blue Version, which contains the second two chapters of the same series, was included with a second Pokémon Video Suitcase set.

By the end of 1999, the monthly issue-version of the manga had shipped more than 7.25 million copies in the U.S., with issue 1 of The Electric Tale of Pikachu in particular selling over a million copies. Viz Media claimed that it was the best-selling comic book in the U.S. since 1993.^[1]

Chuang Yi

The Electric Tale of Pikachu was also released byChuang Yi in their publishing region. Since the translations were licensed from VIZ Media's version, they contain all of the same edits. Chuang Yi's volumes do not have individual titles, though they also use the same English titleThe Electric Tale of Pikachu.

Chuang Yi's version ofVolume 2, while based on VIZ Media's translation, restored the final two pages ofTo Evolve or Not to Evolve, That Is the Question! which were omitted from VIZ Media's version. As VIZ Media chose to omit the pages originally, these pages are the only two of the manga which Chuang Yi translated themselves.

International versions

InBrazil, the first volume of this series was released by Conrad Editora in four monthly issues. These are direct translations of VIZ Media's monthly issues and therefore contain all of VIZ Media's edits.

InCanada, a French edition titledL'aventure électrique de Pikachu was published byImavision Distribution, the same company that releasedPokémon the Series: The Beginning on VHS and DVD in French-speaking regions of Canada. The French version includes the first four monthly issues and are directly based onVIZ Media's English version, including edits. The order of the issues forET02 andET03 is reversed in the French publication as well, just like the English.

InTaiwan, the first three volumes have been translated to Traditional Chinese by Da Ran Culture under the title電擊皮卡丘. InHong Kong, all four volumes were translated to Traditional Chinese by Da Ran Culture (Hong Kong) under the title電擊比卡超.

There was also a translation inIndonesian, renamed asKisah Pikachu yang Menggetarkan.

InSouth Korea, all four volumes were released titled포켓몬스터 전격피카츄, published by 대원씨아이Daewon C.I.. The Korean versions are translations based on the original Japanese version published byShogakukan.

• 
  Volume one published inTaiwan
• 
  All four volumes published inHong Kong
• 
  Volume one published inIndonesia

Controversy and censorship

This section contains material that may not be suitable for young readers. Viewer discretion is advised.

This manga is perhaps the most controversial Pokémon manga ever published, due almost entirely to the fact that the original Japanese version of the manga series had a lot of sexual content, including women such asMisty,Jessie, and theSensational Sisters given oversized busts, often accompanied by skimpy clothing or swimwear. In order to make the series marketable to younger English-speaking readers, much of this was censored duringVIZ Media's translations and all of the sexual content was taken out, leading to a "cleaner" version of the manga for international readers. The Japanese version was already slightly censored before being published in magazines and volumes. According to Toshihiro Ono, these edits were done by himself.

One scene in particular that was heavily edited was whenAsh battles Misty for theCascade Badge inPlay Misty For Me. In the original, Misty wears a very revealing swimsuit, which is completely redrawn as a wetsuit in the English version.

There was one scene that was removed altogether from the English version. It is the original ending ofTo Evolve or Not to Evolve, That Is the Question!. This scene was set in a hot spring, and it pictured a nakedMisty (withPikachu) relaxing and washing herself, making a comment about how her chest should evolve, too. All of a sudden,Ash,Mikey andBrock are seen sitting in another hot spring, and they see Misty washing herself. Misty, noticing their presence, is extremely embarrassed and feels very violated; and she runs away in anger. This scene was likely deleted due to excessive nudity and the adult nature of the scene. This scene, however, is not removed from Chuang Yi's version.

Scene removed from the North American adaptation

• 
  Page 1 of the scene that was removed by American censors.
• 
  Page 2 of the scene that was removed by American censors.
• 
  English translation by Chuang Yi.

In other languages

Related articles

• List of Electric Tale of Pikachu chapters
• List of Electric Tale of Pikachu monthly issues
• List of Electric Tale of Pikachu volumes

External links

• [1] (provides a side-by-side comparison of the English and Japanese versions).

References

This article is part ofProject Manga, aBulbapedia project that aims to write comprehensive articles on each series ofPokémon manga.

• Electric Tale of Pikachu
• Manga