To Have Trouble Quitting Art

After spending nearly 3 chapters in Castelia City, we're finally continuing with the adventure. To be honest, I never thought Anakubo would choose to slow down the story in the middle of Castelia City. It felt like AGES since we've seen anything outside the city, so seeing something like a desert ruin was a bit of a refresher for me.

Professor Juniper returns in this chapter and isn't just here to watch some sports match. Unfortunately, she's only in this one for a total of 4 pages. (And even then, her role isn't as big as the professors from other series.) Despite that, her appearance here shows that she does more than hang around her lab when it comes to researching Pokémon and becomes concerned when Red, Clefairy, and Pikachu are in danger. So even though Professor Juniper doesn't get that much time in the spotlight, her character is at least expanded upon. And that's something I've come to appreciate about Pokémon Pocket Monsters.

When it comes to new characters, Cofagrigus makes for an entertaining villain whose bizarre supernatural quirks make him a perfect antagonistic foil to the equally odd Clefairy. I also like the interpretation of Curse in this chapter as, instead of halving his health for the sake of slowly damaging the opponent, Cofagrigus mummifies his enemies and effectively immobilizes them. To be fair, this would make for a better take on Cofagrigus' Mummy ability. But by adapting an already existing move to fit a specific Pokémon, it definitely adds some uniqueness that this manga is known for.

Overall, I'd say this was another good chapter. There's a good mixture of comedy and action that helps keep the mood of the manga in check and certain characters become more detailed as the chapter continues. Even after "I Want To Increase My Good Luck", the quality of the stories continues to improve with each new chapter. I'm certain I'll enjoy the next few chapters!

TRANSLATOR'S NOTES

On pages 4 and 5, there's a joke that pokes fun at the similarities between the Japanese word for coffin (かんおけ) and karaoke (カラオケ).

Speaking of coffins, a different joke on page 4 is similar to how it was in the Japanese original, where Clefairy thinks that Cofagrigus' body is a luxury toilet.

I've seen this joke done before in Medabots. Sadly only one of these did it right. Whichever piece of media I'm talking about is completely up to your interpretation. (It's Medabots.)

If you think we're done here, think again. On page 11, Cofagrigus threatens to use Curse on Red and the others. In the original text, Clefairy claims that his attack wouldn't be effective on him due to how it takes him a while to complete certain tasks.