The Electric Tale of Pikachu: Difference between revisions

The Electric Tale of Pikachu (Japanese: ポケットモンスター・電撃ピカチュウ Pocket Monsters: Dengeki Pikachu) is a four-volume manga series by Toshihiro Ono. Its four volumes were translated into English by VIZ Media under the names The Electric Tale of Pikachu, Pikachu Shocks Back, Electric Pikachu Boogaloo, and Surf's Up, Pikachu, respectively. Chuang Yi's Singapore English version uses Electric Tale of Pikachu for all four volumes.

In Brazil, this series had only the first volume released, with its four chapters split in four volumes. The split volumes used the American covers and it was based on the American censored version.

The characters are the same as in the anime, and the series loosely follows the plot of the anime up to the end of the Orange League, although characters differ between versions in significant ways. For instance, Brock's romantic advances often work, Ash does most of his traveling solo, Gary has a sister, Sabrina is nice, and Jessie and James end up as a couple.

The story is not very sequential, as only a few select anime episodes were picked to be adapted into manga form.

The manga concluded with Ash's victory in the Orange League. The entire last volume focuses on it.

List of chapters

Volume One: The Electric Tale of Pikachu!

• Chapter 1: Pikachu, I See You! (ピカチュウ Pikachu)
• Chapter 2: Play Misty For Me　(カスミ Kasumi)
• Chapter 3: Clefairy Tale　(オツキミ山 Mt. Otsukimi)
• Chapter 4: Haunting My Dreams　(シオンの塔 Shion Tower)

Volume Two: Pikachu Shocks Back

• Chapter 1: The Human Race and the Pokémon Race (激走！　ポケモンレース Exciting Run! Pokémon Race)
• Chapter 2: To Evolve or Not to Evolve, That Is the Question! (タイチとイーブイ Taichi and Eievui)
• Chapter 3: Pikachu's Excellent Adventure (ピカチュウエレキ旅 Pikachu's Electrifying Trip)
• Chapter 4: You Gotta Have Friends (ともだち Friend)

Volume Three: Electric Pikachu Boogaloo

• Chapter 1: I'm Your Venusaur (神さま The God)
• Chapter 2: Clefairy in Space (地下鉄のピッピ A Pippi From Subway)
• Chapter 3: Days of Gloom and Glory (リンドウ Lindow)
• Chapter 4: Welcome to the Big Leagues (セキエイリーグ開催 Sekiei League Begins)
• Chapter 5: The Indigo Finals (ヒロシ Hiroshi)
• Chapter 6: The Orange Islands (オレンジ諸島 Orange Islands)

Volume Four: Surf's Up, Pikachu

• Chapter 1: Attack of the Demon Stomach (カビゴン Kabigon)
• Chapter 2: You Bet Your Wife (ユズジム Yuzu Gym)
• Chapter 3: The Orange Crew Supreme Gym Leader (ウイナーズカップ Winner's Cup)
• Chapter 4: Pikachu's Plan (ウイナーズカップ（２）Winner's Cup (2))
• Chapter 5: Ash vs. Gary (ヤドン Yadon)
• Chapter 6: Epilogue: Wild Type (タイプ：ワイルド Type: Wild)

Controversy and Censorship

This manga is perhaps the most controversial Pokémon manga ever published, due almost entirely to the fact that the original Japanese version of the manga series had a lot of sexual content, including women such as Misty (to a lesser extent), Jessie and Misty's older sisters given oversized busts with very little clothing and a nude scene with a completely naked Misty with the main male characters (also unclothed) in a hot spring. In order to make the series marketable to younger English-speaking readers, much of this was censored during translations and all of the sexual content was taken out, leading to a "cleaner" version of the manga for international readers.

One scene in particular that was heavily edited was the chapter where Ash battles Misty for the Cascade Badge. She strips down to a very revealing bathing suit (one could say that she was barely clothed at all), but in the edited English version, she strips down to a black wetsuit.

There was one scene that was removed altogether from the English version. It is the original ending of Chapter 2 from Volume 2. This scene was set in a hot spring, and it pictured a naked Misty (with Pikachu) relaxing and washing herself, making a comment about how her chest should evolve, too. All of a sudden, Ash, Mikey and Brock are seen sitting in another hot spring, and they see Misty washing herself. All three boys like this a lot, and start to make lustful faces (drooling and blushing immensely) towards her. Misty, noticing their presence, is extremely embarrassed and feels very violated; and she runs away in anger. This scene was likely deleted due to excessive nudity and the adult nature of the scene.

In Chuang Yi's translation, only the first volume is based on the American censored version. Subsequent volumes are not censored.

Scene Removed from the North American adaptation

This article is part of Project Manga, a Bulbapedia project that aims to write comprehensive articles on each series of Pokémon manga.