Starting 2 years after the last volume, Pokémon Adventures vol. 4 starts out with a promising opening before getting bogged down by a sluggish second half. This volume introduces us to Amarillo del Bosque Verde (or as Blaine calls them, Yellow), who’s on a hunt to find and rescue Red from a challenge gone south. Teaming up with Pika, the only one of Red’s Pokémon to survive the ambush, Yellow and Red begin their journey, meeting up with Red’s old friends from previous volumes while on the run from the Elite 4, the group responsible for Red’s disappearance.

I really like the focus on Pika this volume and how that gives clues about Yellow as a character and trainer. Pika’s intelligence and personality are put to good use, as they normally zaps anyone who gets too close to them (even friends like Bill) but doesn’t do so with Yellow, choosing to go with them immediately to rescue Red instead of with Oak and crew. Yellow’s focus on friendship and their pacifist training style really sets them apart from the main cast too. I got a lot of similar vibes from N in the Pokémon Black/White games and I hope Yellow doesn’t lose that part of their character moving forward.

The second half really dragged for me. The fight with the super nerd, had some interesting gimmicks, but dragged way too long for me, and flashback with Blue feels out of place, like it should have been the opening of the next volume, but they needed something to meet the page quota for this volume.

Overall, this volume dragged in the second half, but has a promising premise and new lead character. Here’s hoping the next few volumes hit their stride.