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Pokémon: The Electric Tale of Pikachu
電撃!ピカチュウ (Dengeki! Pikachu)
Genre	Action Adventure, Fantasy
Manga
Written by	Toshihiro Ono
Published by	Shogakukan
English publisher	Viz Communications Chuang Yi
Magazine	CoroCoro Comic
Demographic	Kodomo
Original run	1997 – 1999
Volumes	4 (List of volumes)

Pokémon: The Electric Tale of Pikachu is a shōnen manga series created by Toshihiro Ono. The characters and storylines are all drawn from the Pokémon anime series, although the world itself has a visibly higher level of technology. The manga was released in four volumes, or tankōbon.

The manga was published in English in North America by Viz Communications. The U.S. English manga is flipped to the Western left to right format. In this adaptation, the four volumes are named: The Electric Tale of Pikachu, Pikachu Shocks Back, Electric Pikachu Boogaloo, and Surf's Up, Pikachu.

In Singapore, the manga is published in English by Chuang Yi and translated as Pokémon: The Electric Tale of Pikachu! for all four volumes.

Development

Toshihiro Ono, the author of the series, said that he began drawing the series after Mr. Saito, Ono's editor, asked Ono to draw a manga to go along with the anime. During the production of the manga, Ono received scripts of the anime series. The author then altered the stories to fit the desired amount of pages used per storyline.

Ono said that his favorite manga chapter was "Clefairy Tale" from the first volume and that he was "embarrassed that I can't say why." According to Ono he did not find any particular chapter to be more difficult than any other chapter. He said that he when the episode "Clefairy in Space" ("Subway no Pipi") was going in manga form, Ono had to redraw many of the pages, a time-consuming process. Ono encountered difficulty in drawing Dragonite in the final chapter, as he struggled to "get a face that cute to look powerful." His favorite human characters to work with were Ash Ketchum and Jessie and James. In particular he liked Jessie and James because they are minor characters and "have much more freedom" than main characters. Therefore minor characters are "more fun to draw." Ono's favorite characters to draw were Ash Ketchum, Ditto, Nurse Joy, and Oddish.

Characters

Japanese names in Western order (given name before family name) are given first, followed by the English name. For the sake of simplicity, English language names will be used in this and other articles in Misplaced Pages about Pokémon, unless explicitly referring to the Japanese version.

• Satoshi / Ash Ketchum - The main character, whose name in the Japanese version (Satoshi) is named after Satoshi Tajiri, the creator of the Pokémon games. Ash aspires to be a Pokémon Master, and together with the various friends and Pokémon that travel with him, embark on many adventures. In a similar fashion to the game, Ash does this by entering various Pokémon League competitions.
• Kasumi / Misty

• Takeshi / Brock
• Pikachu, a little, yellow, mouse-like creature with a lightning bolt tail and the ability to create an electrical jolt from its cheeks. Unlike the games or anime, Ash finds this Pikachu chewing on the electrical wiring in his house, and keeps it as his first Pokémon when he qualifies to be a trainer. It should also be noted that this Pikachu has a more mouse-like appearance.
• Shigeru / Gary Oak - His name in the Japanese version (Shigeru) is named after famed videogame designer Shigeru Miyamoto. Unlike his anime counterpart, this version of Ash's rival does not hang out with a pack of cheerleaders , nor does he travel by car. In fact, about the only thing this Gary has in common with the anime Gary is his antagonistic attitude towards Ash. In the manga's epilogue he travels with Ash.
• Musashi / Jessica "Jessie" - The female half of Team Rocket.
• Kojiro / James - The male half of Team Rocket.
• Nyarth (ニャース Nyāsu) / Meowth - The cat half of Team Rocket. One of very few Pokémon that can speak a human language.
• Sakaki / Giovanni - The seldom-seen leader of Team Rocket.

List of Chapters

Toshihiro Ono

Toshihiro Ono was born in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture on February 27, 1965. He moved to Chiryū, Aichi Prefecture when he was one year old. Ono said that he began drawing in elementary school and junior high school. He drew illustrations for advertising agencies, men's magazine columns, and English language dictionaries. In addition to his freelance jobs he also was an assistant for Glass no Kamen, a manga by Suzue Miuchi. In August 1999, after the publication of Pokémon: The Electric Tale of Pikachu, Ono appeared at the San Diego Comic-Con. Ono said that he likes American comics because the artwork and storylines have "such a different flavor" than artwork and storylines of Japanese comics. His favorite artists were Walter Simonson and Mike Mignola.

References

1. "Available Issues for THE ELECTRIC TALE OF PIKACHU." Chuang Yi. Retrieved on December 1, 2008.
2. ^ "Animerica Interview Toshihiro Ono." VIZ Media. May 10, 2000. Retrieved on May 31, 2009.

Other Pokemon manga

• Magical Pokémon Journey (known in Japan as PiPiPi's Adventures)
• Pokémon Adventures (known in Japan as Pocket Monster Special)
• Ash & Pikachu (known in Japan as Satoshi to Pikachu)
• Pokémon Gold & Silver

External links

• "Animerica Interview Toshihiro Ono." VIZ Media.

• Articles needing cleanup from July 2007
• Cleanup tagged articles without a reason field from July 2007
• Misplaced Pages pages needing cleanup from July 2007
• Manga series
• 1997 manga
• Kodomo anime and manga
• Pokémon manga
• Viz Media manga