There have been many Pokemon films over the years. There are usually one volume manga that go along with each movie. They are basically written adaptions of the films that they cover. This manga retells the events of the latest Pokemon film, but I will still be judging it as if it were an original story.

The manga starts off with Keldeo challenging the mighty Kyurem. Things don’t end well and the legendary Swords of Justice are forced to intervene. Later on, Ash and friends have fun buying boxed lunches and having a grand time. Pikachu is the only one quick enough to notice a damaged Keldeo on the train, but Ash and friends are quick to come to his aid. Things get dangerous when Kyurem follows them and starts a battle. Will Keldeo prove himself worthy and defeat Kyurem?

First off, let’s talk about Ash Ketchum, the legendary trainer from Pallet Town. He’s battled many powerful enemies in the past and his Pikachu should be one of the strongest beings on the planet at this point. Unfortunately Ash never shows this as he spends the entire volume getting beaten up. Ash and Pikachu don’t provide any threat to Kyurem and actually perform worse than Keldeo. Ash also doesn’t act brave in this volume and seems to be scared of Kyurem. Kyurem is tough, but Ash has dealt with Mewtwo and Gary, so he should be prepared at this point. When it’s all on the line for Ash to free some pokemon, he is unable to rise to the occasion. Ash is definitely not a really likable character in this volume and I’d recommend checking out other titles if you’re just reading the volume to see how cool he is.

His friends, Cilan and Iris are alright at best. Cilan seems to always be thinking about food and he doesn’t really take the situation seriously. I don’t think he would be my first choice if I needed a partner to go fight a legendary pokemon with. Iris knows a lot about Dragon pokemon, but she can’t seem to make up her mind. At first she claims that Kyurem is the strongest dragon type pokemon on earth! Later on she says that he is one of the strongest dragon type pokemon. That’s a pretty key difference, but aside from that she was alright. She took things a little more seriously, but she never got to take on Kyurem. Actually, compared to his friends I’d say that Ash was a pretty good character in this story.

Keldeo is arguably the main character of this adventure. He quickly learns that to truly become a Sword of Justice, he’ll need strength of character and the guts to accept defeat. He has a pretty climatic battle with Kyurem and I’d say that he was an alright character. I’m not a huge fan of the design (It wrecked some of his serious moments) but when the going got tough, Keldeo stepped up to the plate.

There was no Team Rocket in this story, but Kyurem took their place as the main villain. He definitely stole the show in this manga and all of his lines were pretty intense. He effortlessly takes down fighter after fighter and it seemed like nobody could stand up to him. The Swords of Justice couldn’t endure his power, Ash was frightened by his strength, and Keldeo lacked the experience needed to take him out. I’m glad that Kyurem could talk in human language, proving that he is one of the smarter pokemon. He has two different combat forms and both of them are definitely cool. Seeing as how he can fire off giant energy blasts, fly at super speeds, and freeze everything that he comes near; he’s definitely one of the toughest pokemon that Ash and friends have come up against.

This was definitely one of the better movie tie-ins to the Pokemon franchise. The art was pretty solid and while the comic relief could be a little off putting, the fight scenes came out strong. It is a fun Pokemon adventure and I’d definitely recommend it to Pokemon fans everywhere. Non pokemon fans will still get a kick out of it as well.

Overall 7/10