#he's so much more expressive in the b2/w2 arc

[colorful-bees]

Black 2 and White 2 are great games but it is a shame that you only ever get to see N smiling in his battle sprite. Luckily, the manga fixes this issue.

[themattress]

Some other interesting tidbits from Satoshi Yamamoto’s Pokspe Recollection Tweets:

- The FireRed/LeafGreen Chapter was when Yamamoto feels he fully came into his own as an artist on the manga and not just Mato’s successor, as he was actually allowed to redesign characters such as Red, Blue and Green in his own style rather than merely imitating hers. 

- Mewtwo Returns inspired many elements of the FireRed/LeafGreen Chapter such as Mewtwo’s characterization, Giovanni’s characterization, and the Team Rocket helicarrier. 

- Yamamoto grew very emotional about Green and Silver’s arcs, and to this day wondered if the dialogue he gave Blue to say to Silver concerning the circumstances of his parentage was sufficient enough to do justice to a complicated situation that many real kids share.

- Emerald’s character design was deliberately bad, since Yamamoto couldn’t bear the thought of putting real effort into designing an OC protagonist only for readers to criticize the design, so he pre-emptively made a design that he knew damn well was impossible not to criticize.

- Some of the angriest reader reactions ever came after the first round of the Emerald Chapter was released: “Now the main character shoots Pokemon to death with a gun!!!”

- The Diamond/Pearl Chapter is very close to Yamamoto’s heart since it was the first time he contributed with the story-making process alongside Kusaka and editors, and he really enjoys the way the main trio and their dynamic was developed. He notes that he isn’t a big fan of romance as a driving force in kids’ adventure stories, so having a pair of boys traveling alongside a girl while neither of them hold romantic interest in her was refreshing for him.

- Like with Emerald’s design, if you found Dia and Pearl’s comedy routines to be unfunny, that’s because it was intentional. Kusaka and Yamamoto wanted to express how completely out of their depth the two boys were, pursuing a career goal they lacked any real talent in.

- At first, the Diamond/Pearl Chapter received negative responses from readers who thought it was too silly, cutesy and kiddy by this manga’s standards. Again, this was an intentional creative choice since Kusaka and Yamamoto knew how darker and more perilous the arc would become later on. Once that transition happened, readers’ opinions naturally changed. 

- Mars’ depiction in the manga was conceived as “emotionally retarded” - her emotions and her rational mind don’t connect, which is why she doesn’t understand why something that’s supposed to be funny is funny or why doing hurtful things that she finds entertaining is morally wrong. To convey this, the irises of her eyes are always centered and don’t move.

- Cyrus is Yamamoto’s favorite villain, being drawn mostly to induce psychological anxiety in the reader which made him effectively threatening, but toward the end of the Diamond/Pearl Chapter drawn in a way that highlights his madness which came off as tragic as it was scary. Yamamoto says even before he got Cyrus’ backstory and resolution in Vol. 40 from Kusaka, he sensed a deep sorrow in him that made him feel for him and hope for him to find peace.

- Maybe it’s just hiatus-related Stockholm Syndrome at play, but Whitley of the B2/W2 Chapter became one of Yamamoto’s favorite characters. He notes that he always took extra special care when drawing her, and that he’d like for her to make reappearances in the future (one of which has already come to pass in the X/Y Chapter’s volume-exclusive epilogue).

- The Team Flare Grunt who says “there are some things money can’t buy, but even more things that money can buy you your way out of” is quoting a real person. In high school, one of Yamamoto’s sempais caustically said this in response to the financial difficulties an underclassman was having, and for some reason or other the line stuck with Yamamoto.

- Lastly, Yamamoto has made note that child abuse by parents appears to be the line in the sand for Viz when it comes to the Western releases of the manga, as so much shockingly violent and even bloody moments are retained while moments like Crystal’s mother slapping her or Norman punching Ruby are edited out (Ghetsis’ murder attempt toward N is an exception, since N is hardly a child and as Ghetsis screams at him: “I am not your father!”)

[themattress]

Just Pokespe Ghetsis Things (1/5)

Stray observation from this post.

Subject: The framing of Ghetsis’ physical appearance.

For the B/W Chapter, this is Ghetsis’ default appearance:

The noticeable differences from his game design is that his tri-tonged hair is less horn-like and more crucifix-like in appearance, his eye’s pupil has an iris in it, and he always has a soft, pleasant look on his face (a look that becomes excruciatingly smug once the context of when he has it on changes). In other words, the more visibly sinister traits are toned down.

However, in the second chapter to feature him, we have this odd moment:

Suddenly, he looks just like his game design. I believe Kusaka and Yamamoto’s initial intent with Ghetsis was, keeping with their change of making him more grounded and realistic, to make him be a two-faced politician type of character. He’d show one face in public, but then would show another face altogether in private. But this ended up changing, as they ultimately decided it would make him an even stronger depiction of a narcissistic psychopath if he kept his Mask of Sanity on at all times, even when he’s in private, because that way he keeps his expressions and attitude in line with the image of “perfection” that he believes himself to be.

However, they still maintained the creepy, almost supernatural way that his tri-tonged hair can curve upward into more of a horned shape, as can be clearly seen during the arc’s climax:

After sealing Black into the Light Stone, Ghetsis displays a feature that would become a staple of his B2W2 look: his pleasant smile looks much more forced with a notable crease at the edge of it. It now barely conceals the seething, malevolent anger and hatred behind it.

Along with this, his B2/W2 look also has his tri-tonged hair permanently in a horned shape, his eyebrow more frequently arched, and shadows having a more frequent habit of falling upon his face. Along with his outfit change from the games, he looks more villainous now:

But then, in Ghetsis’ final showing...

He comes out of the darkness to reveal that he’s back to his B/W Chapter face: hair is crucifix-like rather than horn-like, no arched eyebrow, no forced smile, not even any shadows falling upon his face. He’s on the verge of total defeat, so why does he look more calm?

Oh. Because he’s accepted that defeat and is embracing the last contingency he has: a glorious suicide that will take all the innocent lives aboard the Frigate with him. That’s why.

Of course, this changes quickly and we get to see the real Ghetsis:

The rabid monster beneath the grinning face of a man has finally been exposed for all to see: