Mewtwo Strikes Back! (manga): Difference between revisions

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Cover of guidebook which includes the manga

(Japanese: ミュウツーの逆襲 Mewtwo's Counterattack) is the manga adaptation of the movie of the same name. The manga was written by Toshihiro Ono.

Publications

The manga adaptation of Mewtwo Strikes Back! has only ever been published in the July 1998 issue of Gekkan CoroCoro Comic and collected in the CoroCoro movie guidebook.

Plot

This plot summary is incomplete. Please feel free to edit this plot summary to add missing sections and complete it.

Mewtwo defeats the Charizard, Blastoise and Venusaur of a trio of Team Rocket Grunts, calling them weak before demanding they leave their Pokémon with him and get out of his sight. Alone in a room full of screens that show footage around the world, Mewtwo ponders if there is any trainer who can amuse him in battle.

In a city, Ash is battling Raymond where his Bulbasaur narrowly misses an attack from Raymond's Donphan before defeating it with a single Solarbeam. Frustrated at this loss, Raymond sends out his Machamp, Golem, Venomoth and Pinsir at Ash all at once. Pikachu unleashes a powerful Thunderbolt which defeats Raymond and sends him running from his loss. Ash teases him for the one-sided loss but his victory is cut short when Misty yells at him to get moving or else they will be late for the Pokémon League CoroCoro Cup which she struggled to get tickets for.

Characters

Humans

• Ash
• Misty
• Brock
• Jessie
• James
• Giovanni
• Nurse Joy
• Dr. Fuji
• Miranda
• Raymond
• Team Rocket Grunts
• Announcer
• Trainers
• Scientists

Pokémon

• Pikachu (Ash's)
• Meowth (Team Rocket)
• Togepi (Misty's)
• Bulbasaur (Ash's)
• Squirtle (Ash's)
• Staryu (Misty's)
• Venusaur (Team Rocket Grunt's)
• Charizard (Team Rocket Grunt's)
• Blastoise (Team Rocket Grunt's)
• Venusaur (cloned)
• Charizard (cloned)
• Blastoise (cloned)
• Donphan (Raymond's)
• Machamp (Raymond's)
• Golem (Raymond's)
• Venomoth (Raymond's)
• Pinsir (Raymond's)
• Mewtwo (M01)
• Dragonite (Mewtwo's)
• Mew (M01)
• Ditto
• Drowzee
• Tentacool
• Jigglypuff
• Rapidash (CoroCoro Champion's)
• Cloyster (CoroCoro Champion's)
• Sandslash (CoroCoro Champion's)
• Nidoking (Trainer's)
• Electabuzz
• Kangaskhan
• Tauros
• Scyther
• Articuno
• Lickitung
• Tangela
• Cubone
• Arcanine
• Magnemite (Trainer's)
• Oddish (Trainer's)
• Psyduck (Trainer's)
• Poliwhirl (Trainer's)
• Dewgong (Trainer's)
• Tentacool (Trainer's)
• Goldeen (Trainer's)
• Lapras (Trainer's)
• Gyarados (Trainer's)

Errors

• Ash's Pikachu defeats Golem with Thunderbolt, despite Golem being immune to Electric-type attacks.

Differences between the anime and the manga

• In an interview with Animerica magazine, Toshihiro Ono revealed he was instructed to include Mewtwo's origin story in the manga adaptation. Since Ono only had the movie's script to work with (the original theatrical version of the movie was released approximately two months after he had begun work on the manga, with the prologue not being written before the main series hiatus and subsequent episode delays caused by the EP038 incident) and the radio drama The Birth of Mewtwo had not been created yet, Ono created his own original explanation of Mewtwo's origin.
• Charizardtwo, Blastoisetwo and Venusaurtwo were cloned directly from a Charizard, Blastoise and Venusaur owned by Team Rocket Grunts. The origin of their anime counterparts are unknown.
• Ash battles Raymond in a city rather than in a grassy field. Raymond has a different design where he wears a baseball cap, shirt and jacket rather than a vest, bandana and holding a cutlass.
• During Ash's battle with Raymond, the match between Ash's Squirtle and Raymond's Machamp doesn't occur in the manga. Instead, Pikachu defeats Machamp alongside the Venomoth, Golem and Pinsir like in the movie.
• Instead of sending out invitations to Trainers it selected, Mewtwo hosts a tournament called the "CoroCoro Cup" at the Pokémon Dome and challenges its winner to a battle. After defeating him, it challenges the Trainers in attendance to visit it on New Island in a week's time. Unlike the movie, Mewtwo steals the Pokémon of the champion rather than doing so at New Island.
• Team Rocket explains the history of New Island where there used to be a Team Rocket laboratory studying Mew before an explosion occurred and that there is now a castle on New Island. Meowth is also treated as the boss of the trio where in the movie and series, the three are equals.
• Mewtwo and Dr. Fuji have a closer relationship than they do in the film, with Mewtwo considering Fuji like a father.
• Mewtwo physically talks, using its mouth, instead of through telepathy.
• Dr. Fuji's motivations are different than in the movie. In the manga, he is motivated to clone Mew out of a desire for revenge against an institute he was expelled from.
• Dr. Fuji meets Mew face-to-face and befriends it, leading to his acquiring one of its eyelashes. It later leaves him when he becomes consumed by his work.
• Dr. Fuji attempts to catch Mew using a Master Ball in the manga. No Master Ball is featured at any point in the movie.
• Giovanni's ultimate plan is to have Dr. Fuji mass produce Mewtwo and create an army of mindless living weapons. Fuji begs Mewtwo to destroy the laboratory to prevent this and it does so, causing Fuji's death.
• Officer Jenny isn't featured in the manga, while in the anime, she is seen trying to uphold the peace at Old Shore Wharf alongside Miranda.
• Ash and his friends leave Old Shore Wharf on their Pokémon, whereas in the anime, Team Rocket initially offers them a lift to their destination before they capsize and are forced to swim using their Pokémon.
• Several different Trainers are featured among the many trying to reach New Island, including a girl riding her Tentacool, another girl on a Goldeen, a male Trainer on a Lapras, another male on a Dewgong, and another Trainer with a Poliwhirl.

Related articles

• Mewtwo Strikes Back

External links

• Summary of the Mewtwo Strikes Back! manga adaptation

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