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"I'm fine with being stupid! I'm going to keep meeting challenges and keep marching forward! And I swear I'm going to meet Dialga!"
Hareta

Pokémon Diamond and Pearl Adventure! is an eight volume manga based on the Pokémon Diamond and Pearl games. It is written and illustrated by Shigekatsu Ihara. All eight volumes are translated by Viz.

The manga stars Hareta, a boy who has lived in the wild for most of his life because Professor Rowan noticed that he had the ability to instantly become friends with Pokémon.

One day Hareta is called to Professor Rowan's lab by his assistant, Mitsumi. The two of them then set off in search for the legendary Pokémon Dialga. However, they have to worry about Team Galactic, who are also after Dialga. And off they set on a journey, beating the Gym Leaders (it's a Pokémon manga, what do you expect?) while simultaneously trying to stop Team Galactic from capturing Dialga.

Not to be confused with the Pokémon Diamond and Pearl based chapter of Pokémon Adventures (which has "Platinum" added to it in Viz Media releases to distinguish each other).


This manga provides examples of:

  • Abusive Parents: Cyrus is, for all intents and purposes, Mitsumi's father figure. Who raised her to be a war machine (in the games it's implied that his own parents were abusive, but in DPA it never comes up).
  • Adaptational Backstory Change: The backstories of Hareta and Mitsumi are completely different from Lucas and Dawn's:
    • In the games, the protagonist is a kid being raised in Twinleaf Town by their mother and possibly their father too. They're Childhood Friends with Barry. In this continuity, Hareta is a Wild Child who was abandoned by his father and allowed to live amongst Pokémon by Professor Rowan. Unlike the game protagonist, Hareta already knows Rowan at the start. However, he doesn't meet Barry's counterpart Jun until later in life.
    • Dawn-as-an-NPC lives with her scientist father and younger sibling nearby Twinleaf. In this manga, Mitsumi is an orphan who was raised by Cyrus in Team Galactic. She later ran away and became Rowan's assistant.
  • Adaptational Badass: Mitsumi yet again; when not the player character, Dawn (or Lucas, if Dawn is selected as the player character) is pretty much a Neutral Female, a rather average girl who only battles twice in the entire game, one being the capture tutorial, and the second time in a double battle relatively early in the game, with only three known Pokemon (the starter weaker to the player's in its second stage, a Kadabra and a Clefairy). The rest of the time she just stands by and cheers Lucas on, not doing much else except for sometimes showing up to give some exposition. Here, not only is she a really good battler, but she's clearly older and plays a very active role in the plot (a rarity to come by in later Coro Coro Pokemon adaptations from that point onwards, which may leave out the female character altogether). Not to mention the only main characters in the games to be involved with the evil teams are Silver, N, Wes, Lillie and Gladion, with her involvement most resembling the latter.
  • Adaptational Villainy: Charon is far more evil here than he was in the games.
  • Adaptation Dye-Job:
    • Mitsumi has green hair; her video game counterpart's hair is black/blue.
    • Hareta's hair appears to be pitch black, while his game counterpart's hair color is the same deal as Dawn's.
  • Anachronic Order: Several of the side story chapters. The ones in volumes 3 and 4 have to be set near the start of volume 2, and the one in volume 7 is set between volumes 5 and 6.
  • And the Adventure Continues: In the epilogue, Hareta is given the task of filling the National Pokédex.
  • Anime Hair:
    • Hareta and Mitsumi, but especially the latter
    • And, you know, EVERY MEMBER OF TEAM GALACTIC except the Grunts (who just have a minor case). Also most of the Gym Leaders, and Flint.
    • Cyrus actually gets his hair lampshaded by Jun at one point (though it's done in a quick gag), and Flint's afro seems to be (slightly) larger than it is in-game.
  • Ascended Extra: Dawn, or in this universe, her counterpart Mitsumi. See Adaptational Badass for details.
  • Berserk Button: For life itself, do not, repeat, do not sell Pokemon when Hareta is in the vicinity! That is the only way you can be evil from Hareta's point of view. And if you are arresting a friend of Hareta even if he/she is on Team Galactic... well, GOOD LUCK!
  • Big Bad: Cyrus for five volumes, Charon for the next three.
  • "Blind Idiot" Translation:
    • Averted for the most part, but it has its moments. Such as B-2 being identified as "the buttman of Team Rocket" (he's in Team Galactic; there are no Rockets in this series), misspelling a main character's name in a few places, mistaking Saturn's gender at one point, and formatting the occasional text in Western order despite the translation being released in Japanese order.
    • In volume 1's "DP Snapshots", the title of one of the pages is "ターゲット、 ロックオン!", quite literally the English words "Target, Lock-on!" in katakana. What did Viz translate it as? "Rock the Target's World!" ...
  • Breaking the Fellowship: When Hareta battles Cyrus on a Rope Bridge while Mitsumi and Jun deal with his subordinates, and... well the bridge breaks, with Hareta falling into the river below. It takes over a whole volume before he is reunited with either Jun or Mitsumi. (Who were also separated a bit later.)
  • Butt Biter: In the first volume, Hareta bites the bottom of a Team Galactic grunt who stole his Piplup. The grunt's posterior remains noticeably swollen for the remainder of the manga.
  • Butt-Monkey: B-2's rear end is routinely bitten, poked, and pecked by various Pokemon (and Hareta). He is also incapable of wining any battles against the protagonists.
  • Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Cyrus's Pokémon are last seen in volume 3 and only casually mentioned once later, in what's pretty much a joke (Hareta imagines Cyrus as a fisherman, mentioning Gyarados in the process). It's assumed that he had them in volume 5 since he waited for Hareta to battle him, but once Hareta actually arrives, he doesn't use them. It simply never comes up for the rest of the series.
  • Covers Always Lie: Volume 6 features Origin Form Giratina on the cover, the volume is about Hareta fighting in a tournament. Giratina is only mentioned once in the last panel of the book. Also, the cover pages do this as well such as "Win With Teamwork!!" that has Hareta, Piplup and Mitsumi skiing down some snowy mountains but the actual chapter has them in the woods with Gardenia.
  • Curb-Stomp Battle: Has quite a few. Mitsumi's beatdown of Hareta in Volume 4 when they battle comes to mind, until Hareta himself joins in.
  • Demoted to Extra:
    • Volkner. He makes a really brief one panel cameo in the final chapter. (In volume 5, he also makes an appearance between chapters complaining about how he hasn't made an appearance in the story.)
    • Maylene did the same thing earlier, sulking about how she was only present in one panel that chapter. Fantina was also given a minor role in just one chapter, and also lampshaded this between chapters. Maylene, Crasher Wake, and Fantina are all considerably less important than Roark and Gardenia were, at least until the gym leaders start helping out against Team Galactic.
    • Cynthia, while more important than the three aforementioned gym leaders, still doesn't appear as much as one would expect of her.
  • Determinator: Hareta. No matter how much you beat him, he'll come back with a grin and a renewed determination to train harder and fight better. And no matter how many threats you make against him, his friends, or any Pokémon, he'll be doubly determined to stop you.
  • Didn't Think This Through: Several Neo Team Galactic Agents try a Suicide Attack by setting up a bomb in a stadium...in the middle of a Pokémon League Tournament. Cue Koya, Jun, Mitsumi and two trainers using Metagross, Mime Jr., Espeon, Gallade and Medicham to surround the bomb in Light Screen to prevent it from going off and some utterly humiliated Galactic Agents who are now going to jail.
  • Dirty Old Man: Palmer, kinda. To be fair, Mitsumi is apparently legal.
  • Disappeared Dad: Kaisei, who is still alive, and left to find more Pokémon.
  • Driven to Suicide: Mitsumi, though she was saved by Jun at the last minute.
  • Enemy Mine: Team Galactic teaming up with the heroes TWICE to take down a greater enemy, including one of their own.
  • Even Evil Has Standards:
    • Cyrus in the final volume, as they go to fight Charon, talks about how Team Galactic was never about money or power. However, given what the team was about...
    • The means are bad with the team under both leaderships, but with Cyrus, Team Galactic at least had ideals beyond just "get wealth and power at the cost of everyone else."
  • Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Cyrus's rant in volume 5 is basically a textbook example of this, puncuated as it is by Hareta's subsequent sobbing.
  • Excited Episode Title!: Many of the chapter titles, such as Chapter 4's "Win With Teamwork!!" (yes, two exclamation points) or "Deoxys: The Phantom Pokemon!"
  • Fearless Fool: Hareta, who often laughs in the face of danger because he figures it's another opportunity for an awesome Pokemon battle.
  • Go-Karting with Bowser:
    • Hareta invites B-2 to join the heroes for lunch before invading the Galactic base.
    • The entire last battle could be an example as well, especially since it's established that going up against Giratina is for fun rather than out of necessity.
  • Good Is Not Nice: Koya is a member of the International Police, but that doesn't stop him from being a complete jerkass.
  • Happily Failed Suicide: Mitsumi seems right as rain after being pulled out of the explosion she pretty much begged to remain in.
  • Heel–Face Turn:
    • Cyrus (yes, you read it right), Saturn, Mars, and Jupiter, all after volume 5
    • As well as Mitsumi, pre-series.
  • Heel Realization: It takes almost blowing up the universe, but Cyrus finally realizes that he might not be the savior he thought he was.
  • Heroic BSoD: Jun after failing to save Mitsumi from Jupiter.
  • Honor Before Reason: Hareta in dealing with pretty much every villain except Charon. Cyrus does it too, especially when he delays his plan by several hours, waiting on the Spear Pillar for Hareta to show up so they can have that battle he promised the kid.
  • I Cannot Self-Terminate: Mitsumi asking Jupiter to blow her up in the base.
  • Idiot Hero: Hareta, being the main character of a Coro Coro serial manga, is this, full stop. When he beats Roark and gets his first badge, he tries to eat it. On the other hand, it does fuel his Determinator status, as he's apparently too dumb to realize when he may be in over his head.
  • "I Know You Are in There Somewhere" Fight: Hareta vs. Mitsumi in volumes 4 and 5.
  • Improbable Age:
    • It's never made clear how old Koya is, but he certainly doesn't look old enough to be a member of the International Police.
    • Granted it's not said if DPA Cyrus is 27 like his game counterpart, but since this is the only canon where he looks young enough to be that age and there's nothing really to contradict it, it can be assumed that he is. But that makes things difficult, as he'd have had to be in his mid-teens when he recruited Mitsumi. Not impossible, as this is a franchise built around the incredible feats of eleven-year-olds and we already know he was a massive overachiever as a kid, but... difficult.
  • Inconsistent Dub:
    • Various translation errors involving items and abilities from the video games.
    • While Jun keeps his Japanese name, the name "Jun" is localized in the video games (as an optional default name) and anime as "Barry".
    • In volume 6, the Japanese character Handsome has had his name translated as "Hansom", rather than being consistent with the games and anime which call him "Looker". And as of volume 7 it is back to being Looker with the rationale that Looker is his code name. So does that mean that his real name is Hansom?
  • Informed Ability:
    • Looker is said to be "invincible", but we never see him battle. Really he just stands around and yells.
    • Kaisei is also said to be an incredible battler, but again, we never see it, and to our knowledge he has only one pokemon.
  • Jerkass:
    • Koya.
    • Jupiter, particularly toward Mitsmi. Saturn too, especially in volume 7. He was The Mole at that point, but he played up his role WAY too much for comfort.
    • Though the biggest one in the series is, of course, Charon.
  • Journey to Find Oneself: Jun after he fails to prevent Mitsumi being taken by Team Galactic.
  • Kick the Dog: Frequently done by Cyrus or Charon.
  • Later-Installment Weirdness: Byron compares his training of his son Roark to lions throwing their cubs off cliffs, even though most later incarnations of the Pokémon franchise avoid making reference to real animals existing in the setting.
  • Let's Get Dangerous!: Mitsumi was shown to have a single Starly in volume 1. Volume 2 she dominates a contest with a superpowered Infernape. Volume 6 has her going head to head with Cynthia and only losing because she gives in, despite being equally matched. Of course, having a past as a Team Galactic officer will do that to you.
  • Mighty Glacier: Regigigas thanks to its Slow Start Ability. When it first awakens, it just slowly moves forward with almost creaking motions, leaving everyone confused...and then it slowly lifts its arm, cocks it back, and then whips it forward in a blur and one-shots all three of the lesser Regis that awoke it. Later still, it takes a point-blank Close Combat from Lucario that previously defeated one of said Regis without flinching and proceeded to body-slam him into the floor.
  • Mind Rape: Charon's control effectively turns critters into Shadow Pokemon.
  • Miniature Senior Citizens: Cynthia's grandmother has to be less than a meter tall.
  • The Mole: Saturn seems to have refused the Heel–Face Turn path and joined Charon in the Platinum arc, but it turns out he's a Double Agent and has always been loyal to Cyrus.
  • Mood Whiplash: The series can go from comedy to drama in about a page or two.
  • Mundane Made Awesome: The characters tend to give dramatic names to moves such as "ULTRA ULTRA DREADNOUGHT CLASS SURF" when Hareta's Piplup strikes Saturn's Rhyperior with a Torrent-powered Surf and "ROARING MEGA PUNCH!" when Hareta's Regigigas KO's Flint's Rapidash and "WHOLE-BODY HEADBUTT!" when Roark's Cranidos attacks Hareta's Piplup during their Gym Battle.
  • No Name Given: A recurring Galactic Grunt with a swollen ass is known for most of the series simply as "That guy with the butt". In volume 7 he states that as a grunt he has no name and that he is known as K-2. Also a Punny Name in Japanese due to it sounding incredibly similar to "ketsu", the Japanese word for "butt". Of course, in the English translation, he explains that he is named B-2, with Hareta cheerfully informing him that it "sounds kinda like 'butt'".
  • No Sense of Personal Space: Jun throwing himself at Mitsumi with a loud "Hello there!" when they get to Floaroma Town gets him slugged by her.
  • Older and Wiser: Strangely enough, while everybody mostly looks around the same age as their counterparts in the games, this doesn't go for Jun and especially Mitsumi, who are clearly older than Barry and Dawn, explicitly so even for Mitsumi. That doesn't mean Jun's personality has changed much from Barry's however.
  • Olympus Mons: Hareta gets Regigigas in Volume 4. At first, it doesn't look like it will live up to the hype as when it's awakened it acts almost confused and tired, but then it one-shots the three Regis that awoke it and forces Hareta and his team to go all out in order to earn its respect.
  • Parental Abandonment:
    • Hareta's father left him in the care of Professor Rowan, who in turn left Hareta in the care of wild Pokémon!
    • Mitsumi was an orphan and was raised by Cyrus.
  • Pet the Dog: All of the Galactics save for Charon. Even Cyrus gets in on it in the Platinum arc.
  • Plot Hole: In the first chapter it is stated that it's been four years since Hareta and Rowan have seen each other. The first half of the Deoxys side-story, which is set before the first chapter, features both Hareta and Rowan. Hareta doesn't look much younger than he is now, certainly not four years younger.
  • The Power of Friendship: This is Pokémon, after all. Comes with the territory.
  • Raised by Wolves: As mentioned above, Professor Rowan left little Hareta in the care of wild Pokémon.
  • Redemption Equals Death: Mitsumi. However, it's subverted, as it was a Disney Death.
  • The Rival: Jun in the first five volumes. Koya plays a less friendly variant of it in the next three volumes.
  • Rivals Team Up: Hareta and Jun, naturally. Also, with some of the members of Team Galactic later on.
  • Running Gag:
    • Throughout the first volume, Hareta can't throw his Poké Balls correctly.
    • The abuse of B-2's rear end is an even further running gag.
    • As is Hareta messing up people's names ("Mabs", "Surface", etc)
    • And people mistaking things for Earthquake. Except the few times it actually IS Earthquake, nothing's made of it.
  • Save the Villain: More emotionally than physically.
  • Scenery Censor: Piplup behaves as this when Hareta is naked.
  • She's a Man in Japan: Aaaaaalmost. Saturn gets called "she" twice on one page, but "he" the rest of the series. Admittedly, a few pages before, Saturn is drawn with broad hips, long eyelashes, and man-breasts for no apparent reason.
  • Shown Their Work:
    • When Hareta and pals head to Veilstone City in volume 7, there's a shot as they're approaching the town (riding Jun's Dragonite) of the entire city EXACTLY as it appears in Platinum version.
    • Also, Ihara clearly paid attention to how Sugimori drew Team Galactic. Mitsumi's eyes are brown when she's drawn in her normal outfit, but green in her Galactic uniform...because in the stock art, all the agents have matching hair and eye color. Most people don't notice this because it's never brought to attention, but it's there.
  • Sibling Triangle: Well... Not exactly siblings, but both Jun and his father Palmer have an interest in Mitsumi.
  • Slasher Smile: Cyrus gets some rather terrifying grins, particularly after he summons Dialga.
  • Sniff Sniff Nom: Hareta. Things that have been in his mouth include Poké Balls, Badges and a Galactic Grunt's ass.
  • Spiritual Successor: This manga can be seen as one to an earlier manga by the same artist, "Pocket Monsters Emerald Challenge!! Battle Frontier", which was a Japan and Singapore only manga based off the Battle Frontier portion of Emerald.
  • Spoiler Cover: The cover of the volume after Mitsumi rejoins Team Galactic prominently features her wearing the team's uniform.
  • "Stop Having Fun" Guy: Koya.
    "Once I too was a trainer who had fun during my battles... So you see having fun in battle is foolhardy. A perfect win, that is a Pokémon Trainer's duty."
  • The Stoic: Koya. Oddly not Cyrus, however, although he does say that "emotions only cause pain".
  • Suicide Attack: Several Neo Team Galactic members plant a bomb in the middle of Stadium when a Pokémon championship is going on. Alas they seemingly forgot they were in the middle of a Pokémon championship, and the trainers find the bomb and surround it with Light Screen.
  • Sympathy for the Devil: Hareta just can't hate Cyrus, even after all the man did.
  • Teach Him Anger: Most of Cyrus's manipulation of Mitsumi is focused on getting Hareta to hate him. It doesn't work, although he does make the boy angry.
  • Turns Red: Piplup's Torrent ability is used as a plot point to help Hareta win battles several times.
  • Vague Age: As expected from Pokémon. Hareta seems to be around the same age as his game counterpart, eleven or so, but Mitsumi and Jun seem considerably older than their game counterparts, with Mitsumi seeming even slightly older than Jun.
  • Vile Villain, Laughable Lackey: Team Plasma's boss Cyrus is a Knight Templar Omnicidal Maniac. The Galactic executives — Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars — are intimidating but this ability does not extend to grunts. B-2 is a near literal Butt-Monkey who is constantly getting attacked in the butt and isn't a real threat. Subverted with some other Galactic grunts though when they try to bomb a tournament. However, they were stupid enough to attack a well-attended tournament and Koya, Mitsumi, Jun and two trainers use their Psychic-types to use Light Screen to stop the bomb from exploding and the Team Galactic Members accomplished nothing but getting a free trip to jail.
  • Villainous BSoD:
    • Cyrus after realizing that Dialga and Palkia will destroy everything, without hope of rebirth, and it's all his own stupid fault, could also perhaps qualify as My God, What Have I Done?.
    • And Mars, a few chapters before that, when Cyrus reveals that his "new world" involves destroying everything and everyone in the current one. She snaps out of it enough to help in the end, though.
  • Villainous Demotivator:
    • Cyrus's reaction to Saturn's loss to Hareta is to fire Saturn on the spot. Never mind that Saturn had just successfully caught Azelf.
      • He does forgive Saturn a few pages later, surprisingly enough, but... still harsh.
  • Villains Never Lie:
    • Cyrus is surprisingly honest about his goal to become a god (blurting it out in what's basically his introductory speech as he does), and as in the games he goes on about a "new world" so much that it comes as a surprise that apparently all of his followers thought it was a metaphor...or rather, that he intended only for himself to make the new world with everyone else, including them, as ultimately disposable if it came down to it.
    • And the Galactics are true to their word about evacuating the exploding base, including the Gym Leaders they were holding prisoner. But that may have more to do with their plan to delete the universe in a couple of hours than any actual honor. They do enjoy a challenge, after all.
  • What the Hell, Hero?: Mitsumi and everyone else let Hareta have it after he uses a Sitrus Berry to heal Giratina and declares himself to be on its side. He says he doesn't want the battle to be over with too quickly.


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