Synopsis: In the POKÉMON ADVANCED CHALLENGE COMPLETE COLLECTION, a shadow hovers over Ash, May, and friends as they continue their journey through the Hoenn region, and it’s not just that of Mt. Chimney—both Team Magma and Team Aqua put plans into action with our heroes caught in the middle! When not foiling evil schemes, Ash and May chase their personal goals, with Ash battling for three more Gym badges and May winning her first three contest ribbons. The group also gains new Pokémon like Torkoal and Bulbasaur, but could they be too much to handle?
Continuing their release of full seasons, Viz media puts out yet another great full season of Pokémon. Following Ash, Pikachu, Brock, May, and Max through the Hoenn region, Pokémon: Advanced Challenge spans 52 episodes (Episodes 41-92) of the Advanced Generation series. Originally airing in 2004, the season has come out before on 10 different DVD’s, but this will be the complete collection that is out in a box set of 6 DVDs. The box is a standard DVD, plastic, case in a sleeve that matches. Personally, I prefer the book style cases that fold out into a longer piece. They seem to be more sturdy, and I just like the feel. I am slightly surprised they did not do something like that, or individual small cases in a larger box, with the amount of DVD’s that was involved with this particular collection.
Personally, this is one of my favorite regions in the Pokémon franchise. Hoenn has beautiful artwork and well designed Pokémon while keeping balance with the older, more classic, Pokémon. Also, the theme song is pretty awesome. Viz still holds onto the classic 4:3 aspect ratio, despite the non-widescreen viewing, I found it’s still easy to watch. The black bars on the side don’t bother me much and bring me back to the days of waking up early to pop on the TV and watch my favorite Pokémon trainer. Although this is a little bit more of a nostalgic, personal, preference than anything. The colors and animation are par for the course; always bright and entertaining. The voice acting hasn’t changed much, even from the original series, so any old time fans will recall the voices quickly and new fans can expect a lot of enjoyment out of it as well.
For about $50 USD, you get your money’s worth of content. However, with the back of the box stating the collection having 23 hours of content, the total content is actually about 19 hours. Again though, you still get great value for the box set and just in time for a holiday gift for any Pokémon fan! You can find this box set online and in stores such as Amazon, Best Buy, Walmart, and Target.
About Pokémon and Viz Media
POKÉMON is one of the most successful international entertainment franchises of all time. More than 290 million POKÉMON video games and over 23.6 billion Pokémon Trading Cards have been sold in more than 74 countries in addition to substantial publishing and merchandise sales. VIZ Media is the official North American distributor for a wide variety of Pokémon home media releases including animated series and films and also publishes a variety of POKÉMON manga graphic novel series including POKÉMON ADVENTURES, POKÉMON ADVENTURES: FireRed & LeafGreen, POKÉMON ADVENTURES: EMERALD, POKÉMON ADVENTURES: DIAMOND AND PEARL/PLATINUM, POKÉMON ADVENTURES: HeartGold & SoulSilver, POKÉMON ADVENTURES: BLACK & WHITE, POKÉMON X•Y, and POKÉMON OMEGA RUBY • ALPHA SAPPHIRE.
For additional information on POKÉMON titles as well as other anime and manga titles distributed and published by VIZ Media, please visit viz.com.
About VIZ Media, LLC
Established in 1986, VIZ Media is the premier company in the fields of publishing, animation distribution, and global entertainment licensing. Along with its popular digital magazine WEEKLY SHONEN JUMP and blockbuster properties like NARUTO, DRAGON BALL, SAILOR MOON, and POKÉMON, VIZ Media offers an extensive library of titles and original content in a wide variety of book and video formats, as well as through official licensed merchandise. Owned by three of Japan’s largest publishing and entertainment companies, Shueisha Inc., Shogakukan Inc., and Shogakukan-Shueisha Productions, Co., Ltd., VIZ Media is dedicated to bringing the best titles for English-speaking audiences worldwide.
Learn more about VIZ Media and its properties at viz.com.
