Magical Pokémon Journey facts for kids

Magical Pokémon Journey
Volume #5 of the manga cover art.
Quick facts for kids ポケットモンスター PiPiPi★アドベンチャー (Poketto Monsutā PiPiPi★Adobenchā)
Manga
Written by	Yumi Tsukirino
Published by	Shogakukan
English publisher	NA Viz Media SG Chuang Yi
Demographic	Shōjo
Magazine	Ciao
Original run	July 1997 – February 2003
Volumes	10

Magical Pokémon Journey is a fun manga series about Pokémon. In Japan, it's called Pocket Monsters PiPiPi ★ Adventures. This manga is a shōjo manga, which means it's made for a younger female audience. It takes place in the exciting world of Pokémon.

The story was created by Yumi Tsukirino. It was first published in the Ciao magazine by Shogakukan. Later, all the stories were put together into ten books called volumes. This series is special because it's not based on any specific Pokémon video game. It was also the first shōjo Pokémon manga to be released in the United States. The "PiPiPi" in the Japanese title refers to the Japanese names of three famous Pokémon: Purin (Jigglypuff), Pippi (Clefairy), and Pikachu.

The main character is a girl named Hazel (her Japanese name is Maron). She starts her journey to catch Pokémon after a scientist, who everyone calls Grandpa, promises to make a love potion for her. Hazel wants this potion to win the heart of a boy named Almond. Many of the Pokémon in this manga can even talk like humans!

This manga is available in English in North America through Viz Media. In Singapore, it's published by Chuang Yi. Viz Media released seven of the ten volumes. They changed the direction of the pages to be read from left-to-right, which is common for manga released in Western countries.

There's also a spin-off series called Pocket Monsters Chamo-Chamo ★ Pretty ♪. This series follows the adventures of Clefairy, Pikachu, Torchic, and Mightyena. The "chamo-chamo" part of the title comes from "Achamo," which is Torchic's Japanese name.

Meet the Characters

Humans in the Story

• Hazel: She's the main character and has blonde hair. Hazel is super in love with her friend Almond. She also adores cute Pokémon like Pikachu and Clefairy. When she was little, she was a bit of a tomboy and loved playing tricks on Almond. Now that she's older, she's still very energetic but in a more girly way.

• Almond: He's the boy Hazel likes. Almond says he's a Pokémon trainer. But we don't really know what Pokémon he has, except for Squirtle. Squirtle seems more like a friend to him than a Pokémon he trains. Almond doesn't show much interest in Hazel or Coconut until the very last book.

• Coconut: She is Grandpa's granddaughter. Coconut is Hazel's rival because she also likes Almond. She's a very smart scientist. Coconut spends a lot of time trying to make love potions. But her potions usually go wrong and end up hurting her Eevee! Later, a guy named Caraway tells Coconut he likes her, but she's not interested.

• Grandpa: He's not actually Hazel's grandfather, even though everyone calls him that. He's just a funny old man. He likes to look at young women, even though he's married to Ginger. Grandpa made the special outfit Hazel often wears. This outfit has magic powers that can protect her from getting hurt or even drowning. He used to run a company called POG Inc. but left because it wasn't fun. Ginger then took over the business.

• Peanut: This boy recently moved to Hazel's town because of his health. His Pokémon is a Charmander who has a fiery personality. Peanut's poor health is caused by a dark energy around him. He can talk to and control this energy, which is very unusual.

• Pistachio: He is Peanut's brother and works as a florist. Pistachio has a crush on Hazel. His Bulbasaur, named Danerina, also likes him. And so does Chiko the Chikorita.

• Walnut: He's a ninja-in-training. His master is the great ninja Ditto. Walnut is a bit clumsy and goofy. When he's not training, he helps out at his family's bakery. Walnut wears glasses when he's not training and contact lenses when he's in his ninja uniform.

• Sandy: She is a 150-year-old ghost. When she first appears, Raichu is mad at her. Sandy's parents left Raichu by the ocean because he kept shocking people. Sandy promised to meet him there. But before they could meet, a big tidal wave killed them both. Once Sandy explains this, Raichu forgives her, and they can finally move on. They appear in later stories to help a ghost Golduck. In the last book, they are reborn.

• Koume: She first appears in the eighth book. Koume is also a ninja-in-training. She's much better at it than Walnut. Her master, Azumarill, is even more skilled than Ditto. Azumarill's daughter, a Marill named Marimaru, is Koume's partner. Apricot loves bread and ends up falling in love with Walnut.

• Plum: She first appears in the ninth book. Plum is a nurse who can get rid of bad energy. She travels with her older partner, a Chansey. Plum finds out why Peanut is sick, but she can't get rid of the bad energy. She falls in love with Peanut.

• Caraway: He first appears in the tenth and final book. As soon as he meets Coconut, he falls for her and kisses her. Because of this, Coconut doesn't want to give him a chance. But then he helps her with an experiment. After that, they become friends, but Coconut still isn't romantically interested in him.

• Ginger: She first appears in the seventh book. Ginger is Grandpa's wife! She comes to challenge him. She tells him he needs to win the "best inventions prize" at a contest or move back home. She has a Natu and a Girafarig. Ginger is now running POG Inc.

• Haruka: This character is in the spin-off series. She gets her first Pokémon, Torchic. Haruka is based on May from the Pokémon anime series. Only her clothes are different.

Pokémon Characters in the Story

• Pikachu: He is the first Pokémon in the series and Hazel's best friend. Both of them can be a bit silly. Pikachu is one of the few Pokémon in this manga who cannot speak human language. Pikachu is a male Pokémon.

• Clefairy: Hazel's second Pokémon friend. He's a bit of a scaredy-cat. Clefairy doesn't like battling because he thinks he's weak. But his Metronome move is actually very strong. He also often uses Minimize when he gets scared, which happens a lot!

• Jigglypuff: She is a spoiled princess Pokémon whose family lives in a castle. Jigglypuff loves to cook, but she's really bad at it, even if her food looks delicious at first. She doesn't seem to realize this and gets very upset when no one wants to eat her food.

• Squirtle: He is the only male Pokémon living at the Jigglypuff mansion. He calls Almond his "big brother."

• Eevee: Coconut's Pokémon and lab assistant. He often gets in the way when her experiments go wrong. He's quite unlucky. In the sixth book, he meets and falls in love with...

• Lu: A female Eevee. At first, she loved Eevee from far away. But she managed to tell him how she felt with help from Hazel and Coconut. Later, she has to move away, but she visits Eevee sometimes.

• Charmander: Peanut's companion. His fiery temper is very different from Peanut's quiet personality. Charmander gets angry when things don't go his way, which happens often. At first, he seemed to like Coconut's Eevee (who is male). But in later books, he seems more interested in Chiko.

• Danerina: She is Pistachio's Bulbasaur. Danerina seems very possessive. She gets angry if Pistachio talks to other women.

• Ditto: Wal's ninja master. He's a very skilled ninja, even though he's just a pink blob.

• Marimaru: This Marill is Koume's ninja partner. Both of them train under Marimaru's mother, Azumarill.

• Roko and Arashi: These are two of Caraway's Pokémon. Roko the Vulpix (whose Japanese name is Rokon) likes Arashi the Cyndaquil (whose Japanese name is Hinoarashi), even though he's a bit slow. They meet Coconut while looking for a Fire Stone.

• Chansey: Plum's older partner and an exorcist nurse. She uses her magic egg powers with Plum's cross to help people troubled by bad energy.

• Raichu: Sandy's Pokémon. He was left by the shore.

• Chiko: She appears to challenge Danerina the Bulbasaur for Pistachio's attention. They have a contest to see who is better for him, and Chiko wins. However, Pistachio prefers Danerina because she is his Pokémon. (But Pistachio isn't thrilled that his Pokémon are in love with him!) After this, Chikorita falls in love with Almond, and then with Charmander.

• Bayleef: A male Bayleef who belongs to a traveling psychic named Akira. He likes Chiko, but she prefers Charmander.

• Azumarill: Apricot's ninja teacher and Marimaru's mother.

• Torchic: Owned by Haruka. Torchic quickly becomes friends with Pikachu and Clefairy. Then she meets Poochyena, and they argue often. Soon after, she meets Mightyena, Poochyena's older brother, and falls in love with him. Torchic is scared of evolving. She thinks Combusken and Blaziken are ugly and doesn't want to stop being cute.

• Poochyena: Owned by Kanata. Poochyena is introduced when Torchic mistakes him for a Prince Charming. Poochyena and Torchic don't get along well. He calls her "shorty," and she calls him "hick-Poochy." However, he congratulates her when she does well in a Contest and comforts her when she's sad.

• Mightyena: He is Poochyena's older brother. Mightyena meets Torchic and falls in love with her. Unlike his brother, he is much more patient with Torchic.

Other Pokémon You'll Meet

• Articuno: A male legendary bird Pokémon. People thought he trapped lost travelers in the mountains. But he's actually a friendly and cheerful Pokémon who runs a snowcone shop! He challenges Pikachu, Clefairy, and Jigglypuff to eat 50 snowcones. He also saved Hazel when she got hurt skiing.

• Onix: A harmless and friendly rock snake Pokémon. He usually appears to save humans. But he also shows up as a challenging boss. Almond's Squirtle defeats him with a Water Gun attack. Onix then rewards the humans and Pokémon with a special stone.

• Tangela: This Pokémon looks like a tangle of vines with a small face hidden inside. Hazel wants to see what Tangela's face looks like. But Tangela gets scared by Hazel and squeezes her with its vines. Luckily, they sort things out. Tangela communicates by touching a vine to a person's forehead. It agrees to let Hazel see its face. But because Hazel's painting skills are clumsy, no one else knows what Tangela looks like!

• Dragonair: A male dragon Pokémon who appears in the sky making it snow. He seems cold at first when he meets Jigglypuff. But Jigglypuff asks him where Articuno's hideout is, and he leads them there.

• Jynx: A fortune-teller who can read minds of both humans and Pokémon with her magic ball. Arbok tries to tell her he's in love with Jigglypuff's sister, Wigglytuff. Jynx had nothing to do with Arbok falling in love.

• Pidgeot: He is in love with Pidgetta. He leads three Pidgeotto (who are his servants). Hazel mistakenly thinks they are eating Pikachu. But they tied Pikachu up as a gift for Pidgetta. Pidgeot will do anything to win Pidgetta back.

• Pidgetta: A female Pidgeotto. She doesn't like Pidgeot bringing her gifts. She only wants a wilted flower that Hazel picked. She finally falls in love with him again.

• Golbat: These are very mean and unfriendly vampire bat Pokémon. They hunt other Pokémon in dark caves. They attack intruders by finding them with their sonic waves.

• Ditto: These shape-shifters are found at a hot springs resort. They once changed into many Pikachus, which caused some trouble for Hazel and her friends. They apologized and left after tricking everyone for a while. These Dittos are not related to Ditto the ninja master.

• Treecko: A wood gecko Pokémon who likes to pull Torchic's feathers. He has two sisters, Grovyle and Sceptile.

• Ralts, Kirlia and Gardevoir: These Pokémon are rivals in the Chamo-Chamo Pretty sequel. They fight with Torchic and Poochyena because they didn't get chocolates on Valentine's Day.

Manga Volumes and Chapters

The Magical Pokémon Journey series is collected into ten volumes. Each volume contains several chapters that tell different parts of the story. Here's a look at some of the volumes and their chapters: