Adventures – Pinkie's Paradise

Pinkie Gets Anime Powers: My Digimon

Welcome again my dear island guests to the already third installment of Pinkie Get’s Anime Powers. Today I am gonna be that Trekkie that is enthusiastic about a Star Wars Movie. So get your nooses ready! We all have wondered how it would be to insert ourselves into anime. Today I am going on forbidden ground for every harcore pokémon fan! I am stepping into the digital world… if DIGMON!

The Digidestined

Character Name:
Pinkui “Denise” Nettainoshima.
Digimon Partner:
Kotemon
Crest:
Perseverance
Age:
13, Keeps saying she is 12 to be the youngest of the group though.
Digivice Colour:
Pink
Role:
Group Leader
Fighting Style:
Brain and Brawn
Quirks:
Wears goggles over her glasses, pacifist, cries easily.

Digimon has a weird trope to give characters a western nickname. Taichi becoming Tai, Yamato being nicknamed Matt. So I thought I should honour this and go for an a japanese name with a typical western nickname. Why Denise? Because that is my username of preference in the real world! Big reveal!. Like most digidestined I’d have to go back to being a child, but since my real life age of 33 at the time of writing is something my friends mock me for..being so old. I am gonna include a gimmick that Denise is a lot older than the rest of the group but lies about her age.

Unlike in Bleach and in Jojo’s I’d take the role of the main character. The goggle wearing Digidestined leader. Why? Because I think my journey fits that of a leader very well. I could also fill the role of TK being the good hearted benjamin of the group ..but I don’t really have peers to bring with me for that. Hence I take the leadership role for this one. Denise would travel to the digital world during an online shopping spree with her friends Midori “Bean” Kuraitamashi and Futotta “Lyn” Kohatsu. A three member all female cast that can later get two new members. So since your in the digital world feel free to insert yourself if you wish.

Being the group oldest Denise has to lead the group and be prepared to save this world from an unspeakable evil. Let’s go Meta here and say that Denise is trying to spread positivity around the internet while it is becoming more and more negative. The digital world is slowly becoming more corrupted creating negative versions of Digimon. Yiyimon would have brought some positive internet people to the digital world to fight these Nega-mons as the new digidestineds. These negative digimon reduce the power of natural digimon so they cant fight for themselves as they are being pushed down. Denise would have a hard time coming to terms with this task though. I am very pacifistic in real life and will do anything to avoid a fight. But sometimes we have to realise we do have to take arms and fight for what we believe in. Sometimes in a more literal sense than we would have though

Thus she is paired up with a Warrior digimon.. something that doesn’t immediately gel with her. However during their journey they both learn to accept each other. Denise trying to outsmart while her Digimon is trying to overpower. Both can bounce of of each other fairly good as well. With Denise talking to get under their enemies skins to create openings for her digimon. Or by having her digimon display their powers by words Denise uses that example to lower morale. In the end both would prefer to spare their targets and save them from the negative corruption if possible.. but I would take a much more reluctant role in it. Trying to cling on to the false idea that violence never solves anything.. (in an anime world)

The Setting

Before I adress the Digimon itself a quick summary of the rulesets I am using. Digimon across its (I want to say ) six main anime series and plethora of games had several rulesets to play by.
First of all there is the classic Digimon Adventures Rules.. later added upon in Adventures S2 trough armor eggs and mode changes as well as an emphasis on DNA digivolution (or Yogress) Digimon Tamers added the aspect of swipeable modification cards. Blue cards and fusing with your digimon to achieve your mega form. Frontier had the digidestined collect figurines/spirits which they could transform with and could become digimon, completely eliminating the rooky stage. Saviours had alternative evolution pasts and a guy punching Digimon for energy as well as burst states and more. X-cross did not focus on evolving but on combining digimon and Applimon focussed on chips like megaman battle network and installables and such.

While for a collectable creator admirer like me the Xcross universe would be well suited it has no narrative element. My story would be… “fuses a bunch of pink things to create a bigger pink thing that looks like those other pink things combined” . It just doesn’t translate well. The Frontier Ruleset would be too much of a collectathon and it lacks that digimon feeling. It would just be another transformation. Applimon I really disliked so that one is out of the question. Armor Digivolutions where something very heavily connected to the story arc of S2 and I would not want to tell that same story over again so those are out. Which leaves us with the ruleset of Tamers or the original series. I feel like explaining every modify card would be to tedious and uninteresting but I do have some prepared for those interested to know. I feel for recognisability going with season 1 and subsequently tri would work best. That being said I will use any and all digivolution lines that have been established in all forms of media. Kotemon (my rookie) for example was introduced in Digimon World 3.. but mine follows another evolution path. Since in the world digital world evolution is not a straight line like pokémon but an ever branching path. Still by all means my digmon SHOULD be able to achieve any of these forms.

The Digimon

In Training Stage: Kapurimon

When first traveling to the digital world Denise would be paired up with her digimon in it’s In Training Stage. It’s the same stage as Koromon and Molitmon for example. “That pink blob face” for the most of them. Unfortunately for me.. mine would not be pink. I get a white and blue cat ball thing that looks fluffy and adorable as well. Like virtually any intraining digimon it’s attack is to shoot slightly acidic bubbles. It can also emit a soundwave from his helmet that paralyses the enemy. Yet this form would not last long. I would say that it would not digivolve the first episode because we try to avoid battles from the offset.. but definitely in the second one.

In the first episode Kuwagamon (it always has to be the first thing you fight in digimon) shows up.. drastically influenced by the Negativity.. not a Nega Digimon just yet.. but close to losing its mind. While Bean and Lyn’s digimon evolve in the first episode and they get their signature Lopmon for Lyn and Kamemon for Bean early.. two are not enough to hold off the feral Kuwagamon at bay. But I do not want to hurt it..after running in the second epsiode Kapurimon convinces me to let it fight as well .. paralyzing Kuwagamon before bravely dashing in and digivolving into………. KOTEMON!

The Rookie : Kotemon

Kotemon is a tiny dragon like person in a Kendo suit. It’s signature attacks are Fire Men and Thunder Kote (both based on Kendo terms/strike areas) . In this form it would be my companion throughout our digimon journey. It would be a very loyal and brave digimon that does tend to rush into battle if I am not there to stop it. For me to compliment it it would have to be a rather naive digimon.. she would be brawn I am the brain. I chose for it to be female as well because that way I can try to cute it up at times.. much to it’s dismay as knights do not look cute and pink! Luckily I carry a lot of ribbons with me. Kotemon and me would be fairly far apart in the beginning but get close rather fast when we both realise we do not seek to harm others. She learns to respect how I can negotiate and I respect that sometimes we have to brute force our way into things.

We both learn of each other. It might teach me some basics of Kendo.. like splitting a water melon on a beach. She refers to me as my Lady even when teaching me something she treats me like a superior. II would teach tricks to get her way without being the bad guy.. and how to read an opponent. As a gag I try to keep peaking behinds it mask and it keeps hitting me on the head going “Menmenmen”.. knocking me out or scaring me of.Bean who has to learn patience gets a Kamémon a turtle like pokémon that is very mellow and slow. Lyn who is always tardy and not very strict with her promises gets Lopmon.. an energetic little bunny. Lyn adores turtles and Bean adores bunnies so it’s almost as if they have each others digimon which cause some interesting group dynamics.

Kotemon is a Data-Attribute digimon that is of the Reptile type. While Typing does not oftenly matter in Digimon (unless it’s somewhat logical like setting a tree digimon on fire) and doesn’t offer super effective attacks or something.. Attribute is quite important in the world of Digimon.. even if it rarely mentioned. Digimon generally can be of three attribute types. Virus, Data or Vaccine. Virus monsters are stronger against Data, Data beats Vaccine and the latter trumps Virus.

It is nothing of major importance unlike in Pokémon but I thought you should know. Some are digimon are attribute free. Kotemon can attack with her flaming sword (Fire men) or give people an electrical gutpunch (Thunder Kote). It is a bit of a balanced digital monster with both decent defence as well as a good offence. Which landed it in the Balance Digimon pack in Digimon World 3 along with Patamon and Renamon. For those who don’t know who that are it’s that bubble firing ear bat wing ears piglike thing TK has in the original series.. and that yellow thing you found when googling furry.

Champion Stage: Gladimon

Imagine Silver Chariot from Jojo’s Bizarre Adventures and the Kool-Aid Guy doing a fusion dance. This is what you get … Denise’s Champion Pokémon is Gladimon. One of four possible Kotemon digivolutions. In case I refer to it as evolutions that is not actually a mistake. In Japanese the term digivolution does not exist. There when the great theme of brave heart plays the digimon shouts out their name followed by Shinka. Which literally j means evolve. The term was most likely changed to not overlap with pokémon as much. Being a sub girl myself though part of my brain clings onto my first experiences while another draws from recent memory. Hence the confusion! Gladimon would arrive to our show in episode 3. Kuwagamon returns but now as Nega-Kuwagamon. It power has increased and having accepted we have to fight I evolve my sweet little Kendo dino into … chibi Alphonse Elric. Gladimon is a Vaccine type.. and is part of the Virus Buster family which would seem like the perfect tool to stop Kuwagamon.. who is a virus type! But than we find out that a Negative Digimon changes it’s typing..so it is strong to what it was previously weak to. So nega-Kuwagamon is a Datatype! After a hard fight Gladimon still manages to pull out the win! But then we get introduced to the Dark Destineds. Self imposed travelers who have gained access to the digital world where they are harvesting parts of the digital world to form an army that can rule the earth and bring back an ancient evil that will wipe out all that resist.

Gladimon has only existed in Digimon Masters and not a lot is documented about it. It’s attacks are Wheel Rush wish we are going to assume works a lot like sonic’s spin dash and sword dancer.. which probably speaks for itself. Gladimon is a fair bit tinier than most champions. It would be about human size. Maybe even just kid sized. It’s a sizable increase from Kotemon , about 100% but compared to Greymon or Birdramon and basically all the Adventures cast it is a very tiny champion. It does seem to have stretchable arms though to compensate. In this form Gladimon would have the personality of a kid playing a knight. She would speak in clichés about glory and knightly things! In this form she would call me Princess, and her catchprase would be “I’ll save you Princess “ before rushing into battle. It will get is in trouble a few times.. as in this form she is a bit of a Leeroy Jenkins.

Going Further Beyond

The Crest

In the original adventures series you needed a crest of virtue to push your digimon to the level of Ultimate.. the third main stage of a digimon’s line. Usually signifying a trial to overcome. Perseverance would be mine. I have to save the world and bring positivity towards people and to do that I sometimes must do things I do not like. I must endure some hate and negativity and I must not let it discourage me. It is a journey that I figured would make a lot of sense as a counterpart for Tai’s bravery. We hit the same story elements while offering me some choices that are much more in line with my nature.

I will have to accept we have to kill some digimon who are tainted so they can be reborn as clean versions but in the area that holds my quest we encounter a digimon that once helped us and befriended us..but now he has fallen to the corruption.. the only way to save it is to kill it. This is the path we were set upon and even if things get very rough we must persevere.It seems like a nice heroes journey that fits in the world of Digimon.
Bean would get the crest of patience and Lyn would get the crest of Commitment. Two real life friends who have to learn those lessons but something I also feel could be good journeys for an anime character to learn.

The Ultimate: Knightmon

When exposed to the energy of my crest and my perseverance Gladimon can digivolve to Knightmon! Now this is a tall digimon yet still not as large as some of it’s peers. In this form my lady knight actually becomes a full fledged knight whose signature attack is called Beserker Sword.. which basically means she goes monkeydoodoo with the thing. She also has the ability to slam her giant sword into the ground or use it as a bashing weapon to blow enemies away. According to my sources she will also have access to an attack called “the Duel” speaking of duels.. next episode will be about what Yui-gi-oh deck I would use. I shall be honest though I have no idea what the attack does.. so let’s say for narrative purposes Knightmon says she has the attack but I think it sounds to omnious and ask her not to use it because I do not want harm to come to her. Then in one episode we finally have to use the attack.. and she seems to lose the duel.. I actually toss a rock at the enemy which than glows with a strange energy! “Stay away from my friend” I would shout.. before my Digimon gets hit again.. but the impact sends the rock to me. A strange gem called a positivity gem is formed.. and by believing in my digimon she could achieve her final form.

But before we move onto that some semantics first. Knightmon is a Data Attribute. Hey it switched back again! It still is part of the Virus Buster family and is known for its tremendous physical strength and extreme loyalty to it’s master. Which at one point can create another point of conflict for me as I do not want something or someone to blindly throw their live away for me. I want it to think on it’s own as well. Which is why it decides to use “the duel” eventually. In this form Knightmon would call me My queen. Her personality is a bit more “out there” being very stoic in rest but as soon as I get a scratch she practically turns into a barbarian swinging around her berserker sword.. falling back into old habits. After Kotemon originally transforms into her she starts to see herself more and more as a tool and less like a person that matters and I have to save her from that image! She matters to me after all. In the end with a gem of positivity ..or a little ray of sunshine if we rebrand it later we can finally fully connect and we get it’s final form…. and it’s PINK!

The Mega: Crusadermon

Crusadermom is a Virus Type, Virus Buster Holy Knight.. Jeesz! She did it all! Good job my friend! It is one of the Royal Knights in the digi universe. These are basically the guys protecting the gods. Even though they are powerful enough themselves. Her fighting style would be a mix of that of the pokémon Bisharp and Goku from Dragonball Z. Where she uses her extreme speed to use the slicy ribbons on her body to damage the enemy. But she can also at an instant teleport in their face and shoot sonic booms at their chest with that cannon thing! Which apparently is called a Pile Bunker. She can create laser nets with her normal hand palm and Tornado’s with the Pile Bunker as well. So she is definitely a force to recognised with and one of the stronger Digimon out there. Something we would definitely need to stop Nega-Apocalymon. Have I told you already her design is pink! PINK! So perfect for me!

***Pink, Ribbons, Monarch.. Definatly mariage material***

In this form Crusadermon would refer to me as Denise. Signifying she finally sees me as her equa instead of her superior. Which in my turn makes me realise how much I meant to Kotemon and it’s other forms. Since it’s a bit of a staple to give the destineds something that goes beyond the level of Mega for the final battle we would use something like Positivity charge.. where Crusadermon becomes Posi-Crusadermon or something of that nature. Or maybe we learn to do a synergy attack with that mysterious new member? Who knows? Why do I wear goggles over glasses? Who knows! Maybe because I can hide my tears better as I was a crybaby! Maybe to be hipster.. or maybe you have your own answers about all of this. Let me know how you’d finish the final boss or why I double dip in specs in the comments or tell me what would be your digimon!

Remember I love you all, and don’t forget to keep smiling! Stay Positive

XO
Pinkie

Previously on Pinkie Gets Anime Powers:

My Jojo’s Stand
My Zanpakuto

And Next time…..!

The Pokémon Adventures Manga

Hey little monsters, happy weekend to you all!
It’s Saturday so anything goes! Which is a perfect summary for the topic I would like to talk about. The Manga depiction of Pokémon is….different to say the least. Those who are used to the regular games and anime are in for a wild ride. Like I said before in the manga, anything goes. This series is written by Hidenori Kusaka and illustrated by Mato.

A different shade of Red
The manga starts of introducing us to red, which looks quite a bit like the game boy sprite, but not a lot like the boy we came to identify as Red. First of all, this guy has already been a Pokémon trainer. He and his pokemon Poli, the Poliwhirl are shown demonstrating how capturing pokémon works. He catches a Nidorino, just from the four opening pages of the manga you already know this story is going to be totally different. Red already has access to some two evolved mon’s after all. Or does it? Red doesn’t seem to take the Nidorino on his journey after all, once again establishing we are dealing with a different kind of beast.
Sharing his love for Pokémon with both Ash and game-R (gR after this for convenience) he is also a lot more arrogant. Seeing a mysterious trainer we know to be Blue battling a Mew he gets extremely angered when the rival withdraws his charmander to keep it safe after he realises Mew is to strong. Sending in Poli, Red gets completely destroyed. Much to his disbelief that he could possibly lose. In many ways he resembles Blue from the games more than he does gR. Yet a different protagonist is only the tip of the iceberg.

A different set of rules
I will try not to spoil too much but I will address some basic plot outlines which are fairly common knowledge. So though these won’t actually spoil the outcome of events I will name a few events. We won’t go into spoiler territory just yet though, not until the next block but warning people ahead of time seems like the nice thing to do. First we will talk about some of the rules of the series though, these are quite different from both anime and game. Biggest changes is that attacks actual DO what they should do. Slash doesn’t just do damage it rips flesh apart. A self destructing Pokémon does not faint… it gets blown to smithereens and is dead. In the anime an attack does health point damage. If a Pokémon gets hit in the face, that damaged is spread over the entire body. In the manga you can target specific body parts to blind or cripple making damage a lot more visceral. Damage matters. As a result , this leads to a somewhat secondary rule. Pokémon in the manga are a lot more throwaway. It’s by no means impossible for them to die in battle and people sort of accept it. Early in the series we see a Pokémon that looks like it fell apart. Several pieces being scattered throughout a ring. Though not confirmed it is actually dead,by everything we see later in the series, it should be. People cheer for the victor regardless that the arena now is filled with pokemon parts. Maybe that specific pokemon can survive stuff like that but later we see pokémon get cut in half and be actually dead. Their trainer just abandons it without remorse, only feeling bad about losing. Owned Pokémon can also be captured by other trainers as long as they are not in control of said monster. That whole game mechanical aspect the anime copied is no where present here. This is a more realistic approach to Pokémon. Evil guys will attack trainers and attempt to kill them as much as they will try to knock out their pokemon, whatever wins them the battle. This results in a much more exciting world where there is a lot more to lose and to gain. You can’t just battle until your pokemon gets spinny eyes, you have to actually be careful and protect them from harm. So for those who like Pokémon but do not like the low stakes, this manga is an excellent read.

A different story (mild spoilers)Though the manga still tells about Red getting his Pokedex and getting send out by Oak to catch as many pokémon possible this story has a completely different tone. Where gR’ and Ash’s journey feels like it is about catching them all, Red’s journey here feels a lot more altruistic. Respectively meddling with the Rocket Situation a whole lot more , he feels more heroic than his two counterparts. Quickly we discover that this world isn’t as nice and happy as those others we grew up with. Many gym leaders work for Team Rocket, like lieutenant Surge and master Koga. This manga is also not about challenging those to honourable combat. Many of the gym challenges are more presented like obstacles for Red to overcome, once done so he doesn’t need to do it in a gym. If he defeats an evil gym leader Red wil loot the badge from their (unconscious?) body. No gym puzzles and at times not even a gym. Defeating your opponent is all that matters. We get a feeling that this Red is saving the world and on his path to become the champion in doing so. This feeling is even further enforced in later installments of the series with the Elite Four trying to destroy the world and removing some main characters for a large part of the series. Though never going completely over the top dark the series does enough to make the stakes feel real. Establishing much more flawed main characters, with Red being quite ignorant and arrogant, Blue being massively uptight and controlling and Green being a swindler and thief. Yes Green is in this series as well, she is a great character that I wish we could see more off. Yellow is introduced near the end of the first series and this time it’s a she as well. While the first series focus on Red becoming the champion while he fights Team Rocket, the second series follows Yellow on her quest to defeat the elite 4. This means the Elite 4 are not part of the league challenge, instead it’s a tournament much more like in the anime. Keeping that more realistic feeling to it as well. The orders badges are acquired is very different (though starting similar) and the journey throughout Kanto takes a fairly different route then what you are used to. All in all, except for some staples, this is a completely new thing.

A different Style
The manga unlike the anime has quite a quick pace. A bikerace is resolved in a single issue. Pikachu terrorising a town, done in an episode. Same goes for nearly every battle. Though some may like battles for a large span of manga I vastly prefer this format. It makes the manga so easy to pick up. You don’t need to keep track of where you left off, this is just nice series of mini adventures that have some more oomph to them compared to those we see in the anime. No adventure feels pointless, they all contribute but they are just as easy to resume a week or a month after reading your last one as they are to binge. Visually , though I am not a fan of Red’s design the battles are appealing, although somewhat confusing. Due to the fast pacing, and much like in the games, battles are decided by a few moves. Yet the manga can depict a move in a single still frame, just to move to the aftermath and let you fill in the blanks. Which means at times it can be hectic and it would be preferable if you had some notion of how these attacks work and thus some pokémon knowledge to fill in the blanks. Then again, their names are pretty descriptive. What the manga manages to capture perfectly though is the intense visceral style of battling. It doesn’t shy away from depicting a rotten zombie psyduck (yes that’s a thing) as it is supposed to. We can see eyes shriveled up in the socket and bones sticking out the softening decaying flesh. We can see pain when a human is hit by an electric attack and fear when said person is tossed of a certain ship paralysed. Even the comical scenes get a bit of gravitas around them. A snorlax chasing a honey covered bulbasaur is cute… but there are consequences to when it goes wrong preventing the comedy from ever becoming slapstick. The batman like “CHOOOOM”S and “FWOOOOOOF’s when a move connects convey their respective typings great as well. If you ever not only want to see the power that’s inside pokémon but also feel it.. the manga is the place for you.

She’s sweet but she’s psycho!
Normally I am not the biggest manga fan. Anime is just a much more a full experience to me. Not only does it offer the visuals, it offers the soundtrack to go with it, the emotions in the voices. I do get the appeal of a manga and your imagination filling in the blanks but I just can’t get myself to consume as much manga as i can with anime. Yet this manga seems to be exactly made for me, with short chapters, nicely divided hurdles for the hero to overcome bound by the length of the medium. It makes it into an ideal little snack. With a good balance of lightheartedness and a world filled with more tangible risks and a whole lot of additional villainy it makes for one of the most compelling pokémon narratives know. The art may not always be that impressive and in fairness the pokémon, aside from Pika the pikachu do not show a ton of personality. Saur and Poli have their moments but you will never truly be able to grasp what they are like. The whole communication skit is left behind, pokémon appear and do their thing and occasionally give Red a certain look to convey how they are feeling. Which are single panel interactions. It manages to create a not so static pokémon world, a world of duality. A world of childlike wonder and whimsy, while being mature and somewhat grim as well. Exploring things none of the other media cared to explore. While Ash journey, i tend to remember the beginning, with Red’s journey I mostly remember the middle, when the tonal shift begins to take place and when i first saw that rotting Psyduck. Oddly enough that image was the thing that told me I had found yet another Pokémon thing I could enjoy but something that is very different.

So ends yet another post and we have discovered yet another thing to love about Pokémon.
With a poisonous gas alert for my home area , I found myself quarantined for a large chunk of the day. I actually read a bit more the manga! Dang..Red gets the harsh end of the stick in some later parts! I shall surely venture deeper into Yellow now and possibly further beyond. Have you ever read the manga? Let me know, and leave a like before I sick zombie Psyduck on you all… Mwuhahahahaha.
Stay Pink

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