June Plot Discussion

[G-SANtos]

While we wait for scans, here is Yamamoto's preview for this chapter:

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1384257853397995531

"Shī-chan appears after 3 months in PokéSpe SwSh! Those people also appear after 3 months, and that one also appears after 8 months!".
In other words, Melon and Makuwa (Gordie) appear (you can also see Melon's sillhouette in the third image), suggesting the group is now in Circhester, and Mary (Marnie) also reappears.

I expected Mary to reappear in this chapter, but only because she appears in Ballonlea in the games. I didn't expect her appearance to be moved to Circhester, and actually thought there would be something more before the group got to the next town.

I wonder if we'll see interactions between Manabu (Marvin) and Mary in this chapter. As I mentioned in a past thread, there's a theory on 5ch that Kusaka is setting up duos or something between the three kids and the three Rivals. Sōdo and Beet are straightup rivals, with the latter being pretty antagonistic between to the former, and Shieldmilia and Hop are becoming buddies (which I think adds certain implications with a theory I have, but that's for another post), so the only duo missing is Manabu and Mary.
And interestingly enough, each of those interactions started happened after a Starter Pokémon evolved. Stickun and Scorbunny both evolved in Hulbury, and the very next chapter after the Gym Battle had Beet attacking Sōdo and Hop helping Shieldmilia find Kilo. Namida-kun evolved in Ballonlea, and this is the very next chapter after that Gym. Maybe there's a pattern here?

Anyway, as we can see in the fourth image, Mary is wearing her Gym Challenge uniform and in the middle of a battle, which suggests it's a Gym battle. And here's the interesting part: We can see the foot of the Pokémon Morpeko is battling against, and it doesn't match any Pokémon on either Melon on Makuwa's team. The foot does resemble Hitmontop's, which is on Saitou's (Bea) team, but it's not a perfect match, and the idea Mary is still on Stow-on-Side sounds a bit ridiculous in my opinion. The texture also doesn't match the one Hitmontop had in the past, but that could be due to how many years since it appeared in the manga.

But you know what other Pokémon matches that foot? Galarian Slowbro. Yes, Morpeko appears to be in a Gym battle against a Galarian Slowbro. This means Klara or Savory is the Gym Leader Mary is fighting against, and I'm going to say it's Klara because the games treat Slowking as Savory's ace after completing the Crown Tundra.

This is huge for two reasons. First, it means Klara (and potentially Savory) is a Gym Leader that Gym Challengers can choose to battle and earn a valid badge for the Champion Cup. This, paired with the Gyms alternating Leaders, implies Kusaka's approach to the Minor League is that it doesn't exist at all. I can't blame him, as the game gives absolutely no info on the Minor League other than that it has the other 10 Gym Leaders not in the Major League. (We don't even know if the Minor League has a Champion, or a tournament at all!), but I think that decision could come back to bite him later, for reasons I'll explain soon.

The second is that, if Klara is already a Gym Leader, than it means the Isle of Armor story already happened. That means either no IoA arc and Mustard training Klara and Savory is a quick mention, or that an IoA arc would be set before SwSh.
Before the Isle of Armor was released I think I saw a theory Klara is from Circhester (or was it the Crown Tundra?) because of her jacket. I don't know if the same theory exists in the Japanese community (and I got no good Google results), but if Kusaka had the same thought, maybe that's why he is apparently having her Gym be in Circhester. And if I had to guess, I would say Savory is in Hammerlocke because he pretty much seems like nobility and Hammerlocke is full of castles.

That said, I don't like this because it feeds into the idea that "all the other Gyms are in the towns you know, you just can't see them". And while I don't have a problem with that being true for the version-exclusive Gyms, I don't like that being the case for all the unknown Gyms. I already don't like how Peony's rare card implies the Steel Gym is in Motostoke (thought considering how Savory's rare card also seems to depict Motostoke, maybe the idea is that every Minor League Gym is there?), and I would prefer to think Galar still has other towns we haven't seen, where the remaining Gyms could be. Because, unlike most people, I don't think Game Freak is done with Galar, for reasons I will explain in another post, because this one is already getting too big and already taking more time than I intended to use.

But anyway, if some time after the release of Legends Arceus SwSh gets another expansion, or, I don't know, Game Freak makes another Galar game focused on the Minor League, and we learn the Poison Gym is located in a city that is not on mainland Galar (in other words, a city that technically doesn't exist yet), or it is located anywhere NOT in Circhester, it screws up what Kusaka already wrote. In other words, the decison of having Klara's Gym in Circhester could come back to bite Kusaka.
Though I could just be overreacting, and maybe that is not a Gym Battle, but actually a training battle and Mary is in uniform because she's waiting for her turn to challenge the Circhester Gym, like Sōdo was in Ballonlea, and Mary just happens to know Klara, who happens to be in Circhester.

 

[lolipiece]

Please wait until Karubi's usual pics to make a thread. We kinda need something of substance to talk about. Speaking of which...

'Ello, 'ello! It's time for Pokespe SWSH for April!

Spoiler

Marnie returns!

Marvin gets a new Pokemon? A Dracovish named "Uonon".

Looks like Soudo's holding a Mr. Rime cane? Guess we know what he''s getting next.

 

[Mr.Munchlax]

I'm a little confused on why Soudo & Schilly are wearing wigs

 

[lolipiece]

Oh, I didn't even notice. Tera is Gigantamaxed. I was wondering why it was holding the guitar.

 

[G-SANtos]

Well, it seems I was completely wrong with everything I just said. I guess, then, that fourth image in Yamamoto's preview was, indeed, Mary fighting Saitou (Bea), but a flashback. I just remembered the preview for the Glimwood Tangle chapter also had a picture of Saitou, and when the chapter came out, the same image had "flashback" textures, so the preview images are all without effect textures. I should have considered it being a flashback.

I didn't expect Manabu (Marvin) to get that Dracovish, but I guess with half the Gyms covered he has to start building a team. And now we can guess the pattern for his Pokémon's nicknames is going to be "word in katakana + hiragana suffix", so we now have "Tear-kun" (Namida-kun) and "Fish-non" (Uonon). Yes, I know it's also a shortening of Dracovish's Japanese name, but it was still written following the pattern. "Non" doesn't seem to be a honorific as far as I can find, but I know it is used for nicknames in Japan. It might also come from "nonki" (carefree) or "nonbiri" ("in a carefree manner", "at leisure", "peacefully"), which fits its face.
If I'm right about the "carefree" part, than my theory that Manabu's team will be themed after facial expressions might be correct. On the other hand, both of his Pokémon are Water types, so it's also possible he's being set up as a Water Trainer. But I think the facial expressions theory is more likely.

So, Manabu has a Starter, is traveling with the player characters, and names his Pokémon. That's it, he's totally going to become a Dex Holder. And the Starter pattern indicates he's the real protagonist, not Soudo.
Speaking of which, remember what Poplar (Opal) said during the battle? She said she is testing Soudo's heart. And in the end he failed. That, in my opinion, is a hint that he's secretly an antagonist. And while subtle, it's probably the best we'll get before the reveal.

Soudo is going to battle Melon, which I suspected, and confirms the manga is following the Shield version. This is unusual, but I will discuss more about my theory later. I just want to finish this post now.

And as we can see Shieldmilia... LOSES!? And is DISQUALIFIED from the Gym Challenge!? I guess that explains why Soudo is holding Shieldmilia's board with the pictures of her Pokémon: He is going to continue using the Gym Challenge as a platform to find them. But I'm still surprised. I was expecting her to make it into the Champion Cup, and instead she loses midway.
I wonder if there's some sort of loophole that allows her back in, because part of the game's plot is that Dande (Leon) is defeated by the player, and basically takes Rose's place as League Chairman. But storywise, it makes no sense for Soudo to become the Champion. Ignoring the twist antagonist theory, Soudo has basically no interest in the Pokémon League. He's only in it to find Shieldmilia's Pokémon, and when they met, he didn't even know who Chairman Rose was.
Contrast with Red and Black. Red was the best Trainer in his town and wanted to defeat Green, ultimately doing so in the League. And Black, not only was his dream to the very best like no one ever was, but he also did his research to the point he basically knew everything one could possibly know about the Unova League.

Meanwhile, Soudo not only literally said that day he had no interest in the Gym Challenge, but he also initially went into battle without doing any research. Contrast this with Shieldmilia: She always does her homework before challenging a Gym Leader, and goes in knowing basically everything. Shieldmilia is basically the new Black. If anything, I would say she is the one who is more worthy of becoming the Champion. Even if Soudo is not a twist antagonist, giving the title to someone who is completely uninterested in the sport itself is just bad writing.

So this is the problem: Dande has to lose his title, but Soudo getting is bad writing, and if not him, there's no one else to defeat the man. Hop has to become Sonia's assistant and study to become a Professor, Mary has to become a Gym Leader, so does Beet who on top of that has lost his endorsement, and Manabu isn't even a Gym Challenger.
The only other option would be someone new out of nowhere who we didn't even know existed showing up during the tournament and defeating Dande. And that's ANIME levels of bad writing.

So, I think this is a fake out. There's probably some loophole that allows Shieldmilia back in just like how Black could get his eighth badge at the last minute so long as he won before the end of the opening ceremony. Either something is discovered down the line that nullifies the match, or some shenanigan with the Gym Leader switch, and Shieldmilia battles Beet for the Badge.

I want to point out the first page here they're discussing something about Shieldmilia having an alibi, possibly arriving late (I think), and "by those suspicious looks, the grounds for denial are weak". It seems there's already some shenanigans going on with this battle, so I don't think it's too farfetched that down the line they discover something that allows Shieldmilia to retry.

 

[BenLee really not taken]

Opal says 不合格 to Schilly, which most certainly means “you fail”, probably the exact same thing said to Sou. So I would say that that was a foreshadowing of evil Sou is out the window.

 

[Gamzee Makara]

Well, it seems I was completely wrong with everything I just said. I guess, then, that fourth image in Yamamoto's preview was, indeed, Mary fighting Saitou (Bea), but a flashback. I just remembered the preview for the Glimwood Tangle chapter also had a picture of Saitou, and when the chapter came out, the same image had "flashback" textures, so the preview images are all without effect textures. I should have considered it being a flashback.

I didn't expect Manabu (Marvin) to get that Dracovish, but I guess with half the Gyms covered he has to start building a team. And now we can guess the pattern for his Pokémon's nicknames is going to be "word in katakana + hiragana suffix", so we now have "Tear-kun" (Namida-kun) and "Fish-non" (Uonon). Yes, I know it's also a shortening of Dracovish's Japanese name, but it was still written following the pattern. "Non" doesn't seem to be a honorific as far as I can find, but I know it is used for nicknames in Japan. It might also come from "nonki" (carefree) or "nonbiri" ("in a carefree manner", "at leisure", "peacefully"), which fits its face.
If I'm right about the "carefree" part, than my theory that Manabu's team will be themed after facial expressions might be correct. On the other hand, both of his Pokémon are Water types, so it's also possible he's being set up as a Water Trainer. But I think the facial expressions theory is more likely.

So, Manabu has a Starter, is traveling with the player characters, and names his Pokémon. That's it, he's totally going to become a Dex Holder. And the Starter pattern indicates he's the real protagonist, not Soudo.
Speaking of which, remember what Poplar (Opal) said during the battle? She said she is testing Soudo's heart. And in the end he failed. That, in my opinion, is a hint that he's secretly an antagonist. And while subtle, it's probably the best we'll get before the reveal.

Soudo is going to battle Melon, which I suspected, and confirms the manga is following the Shield version. This is unusual, but I will discuss more about my theory later. I just want to finish this post now.

And as we can see Shieldmilia... LOSES!? And is DISQUALIFIED from the Gym Challenge!? I guess that explains why Soudo is holding Shieldmilia's board with the pictures of her Pokémon: He is going to continue using the Gym Challenge as a platform to find them. But I'm still surprised. I was expecting her to make it into the Champion Cup, and instead she loses midway.
I wonder if there's some sort of loophole that allows her back in, because part of the game's plot is that Dande (Leon) is defeated by the player, and basically takes Rose's place as League Chairman. But storywise, it makes no sense for Soudo to become the Champion. Ignoring the twist antagonist theory, Soudo has basically no interest in the Pokémon League. He's only in it to find Shieldmilia's Pokémon, and when they met, he didn't even know who Chairman Rose was.
Contrast with Red and Black. Red was the best Trainer in his town and wanted to defeat Green, ultimately doing so in the League. And Black, not only was his dream to the very best like no one ever was, but he also did his research to the point he basically knew everything one could possibly know about the Unova League.

Meanwhile, Soudo not only literally said that day he had no interest in the Gym Challenge, but he also initially went into battle without doing any research. Contrast this with Shieldmilia: She always does her homework before challenging a Gym Leader, and goes in knowing basically everything. Shieldmilia is basically the new Black. If anything, I would say she is the one who is more worthy of becoming the Champion. Even if Soudo is not a twist antagonist, giving the title to someone who is completely uninterested in the sport itself is just bad writing.

So this is the problem: Dande has to lose his title, but Soudo getting is bad writing, and if not him, there's no one else to defeat the man. Hop has to become Sonia's assistant and study to become a Professor, Mary has to become a Gym Leader, so does Beet who on top of that has lost his endorsement, and Manabu isn't even a Gym Challenger.
The only other option would be someone new out of nowhere who we didn't even know existed showing up during the tournament and defeating Dande. And that's ANIME levels of bad writing.

So, I think this is a fake out. There's probably some loophole that allows Shieldmilia back in just like how Black could get his eighth badge at the last minute so long as he won before the end of the opening ceremony. Either something is discovered down the line that nullifies the match, or some shenanigan with the Gym Leader switch, and Shieldmilia battles Beet for the Badge.

I want to point out the first page here they're discussing something about Shieldmilia having an alibi, possibly arriving late (I think), and "by those suspicious looks, the grounds for denial are weak". It seems there's already some shenanigans going on with this battle, so I don't think it's too farfetched that down the line they discover something that allows Shieldmilia to retry.[/u]

Or you could be overthinking things,and it's just that she was disqualified because Toxitricity's G-Max is not native to Galar's main area(Only to the Crown Tundra), so it's thought of as contraband(Like all the cut mons might actually end up being explained as, in-universe).

 

[Mr.Munchlax]

Well, it seems I was completely wrong with everything I just said. I guess, then, that fourth image in Yamamoto's preview was, indeed, Mary fighting Saitou (Bea), but a flashback. I just remembered the preview for the Glimwood Tangle chapter also had a picture of Saitou, and when the chapter came out, the same image had "flashback" textures, so the preview images are all without effect textures. I should have considered it being a flashback.

I didn't expect Manabu (Marvin) to get that Dracovish, but I guess with half the Gyms covered he has to start building a team. And now we can guess the pattern for his Pokémon's nicknames is going to be "word in katakana + hiragana suffix", so we now have "Tear-kun" (Namida-kun) and "Fish-non" (Uonon). Yes, I know it's also a shortening of Dracovish's Japanese name, but it was still written following the pattern. "Non" doesn't seem to be a honorific as far as I can find, but I know it is used for nicknames in Japan. It might also come from "nonki" (carefree) or "nonbiri" ("in a carefree manner", "at leisure", "peacefully"), which fits its face.
If I'm right about the "carefree" part, than my theory that Manabu's team will be themed after facial expressions might be correct. On the other hand, both of his Pokémon are Water types, so it's also possible he's being set up as a Water Trainer. But I think the facial expressions theory is more likely.

So, Manabu has a Starter, is traveling with the player characters, and names his Pokémon. That's it, he's totally going to become a Dex Holder. And the Starter pattern indicates he's the real protagonist, not Soudo.
Speaking of which, remember what Poplar (Opal) said during the battle? She said she is testing Soudo's heart. And in the end he failed. That, in my opinion, is a hint that he's secretly an antagonist. And while subtle, it's probably the best we'll get before the reveal.

Soudo is going to battle Melon, which I suspected, and confirms the manga is following the Shield version. This is unusual, but I will discuss more about my theory later. I just want to finish this post now.

And as we can see Shieldmilia... LOSES!? And is DISQUALIFIED from the Gym Challenge!? I guess that explains why Soudo is holding Shieldmilia's board with the pictures of her Pokémon: He is going to continue using the Gym Challenge as a platform to find them. But I'm still surprised. I was expecting her to make it into the Champion Cup, and instead she loses midway.
I wonder if there's some sort of loophole that allows her back in, because part of the game's plot is that Dande (Leon) is defeated by the player, and basically takes Rose's place as League Chairman. But storywise, it makes no sense for Soudo to become the Champion. Ignoring the twist antagonist theory, Soudo has basically no interest in the Pokémon League. He's only in it to find Shieldmilia's Pokémon, and when they met, he didn't even know who Chairman Rose was.
Contrast with Red and Black. Red was the best Trainer in his town and wanted to defeat Green, ultimately doing so in the League. And Black, not only was his dream to the very best like no one ever was, but he also did his research to the point he basically knew everything one could possibly know about the Unova League.

Meanwhile, Soudo not only literally said that day he had no interest in the Gym Challenge, but he also initially went into battle without doing any research. Contrast this with Shieldmilia: She always does her homework before challenging a Gym Leader, and goes in knowing basically everything. Shieldmilia is basically the new Black. If anything, I would say she is the one who is more worthy of becoming the Champion. Even if Soudo is not a twist antagonist, giving the title to someone who is completely uninterested in the sport itself is just bad writing.

So this is the problem: Dande has to lose his title, but Soudo getting is bad writing, and if not him, there's no one else to defeat the man. Hop has to become Sonia's assistant and study to become a Professor, Mary has to become a Gym Leader, so does Beet who on top of that has lost his endorsement, and Manabu isn't even a Gym Challenger.
The only other option would be someone new out of nowhere who we didn't even know existed showing up during the tournament and defeating Dande. And that's ANIME levels of bad writing.

So, I think this is a fake out. There's probably some loophole that allows Shieldmilia back in just like how Black could get his eighth badge at the last minute so long as he won before the end of the opening ceremony. Either something is discovered down the line that nullifies the match, or some shenanigan with the Gym Leader switch, and Shieldmilia battles Beet for the Badge.

I want to point out the first page here they're discussing something about Shieldmilia having an alibi, possibly arriving late (I think), and "by those suspicious looks, the grounds for denial are weak". It seems there's already some shenanigans going on with this battle, so I don't think it's too farfetched that down the line they discover something that allows Shieldmilia to retry.[/u]

As much as I want Schilly to make it to the Champion Cup, I've started to give up hope because of how much focus they've put on her gym battles so far, or how they brushed her character aside to focus on Soudo -_-

 

[SerGoldenhandtheJust]

Really disappointed how the main characters are being handled so far but oh well
Also not surprising the manga is following shield version considering the anime seems to follow sword version (with Bea and all) and Kusaka always liked to contrast the anime with his manga

 

[e9310103838]

In fact, Shieldmillia's goal is to become Professor Magnolia's assistant because she is very interested in Dynamax, and incidentally also familiar with the knowledge of Pokemon and League things. But I also think she might get some way to continue to gym challenge.

And about Zacian and Zamazenta, I think they are likely to team up with Soudo and Shieldmillia in the end, since they have met each other in the beginning. But I don’t know if Soudo and Shieldmillia will capture Zacian and Zamazenta or just work with them briefly.

 

[G-SANtos]

The 5ch PokéSpe thread isn't discussing this chapter, the most recent post there is talking about the manga's sales numbers, so I don't have any info to bring here, not even a confirmation Soudo already caught the Mr. Rime. But I'm going to analyze the pages we have.

The first page has Manabu (Marvin) and Magnolia talking about something that we don't have the complete context. It seems Shieldmilia is being accused of something. Manabu is wondering if she had already entered the Stadium when that happened and asks if she has an alibi. Mary (Marnie) shows up, with Team Yell, and says she can prove. This scene might be the interaction between Manabu and Mary that was theorized by someone on 5ch and that I also expected, and might form the final duo, whatever it is Kusaka wants with those.

The second page is Shieldmilia losing the battle. Tera got confused by G-Max Finale, which is weird because that move can't cause confusion or at least Bulbapedia doesn't mention that, and attacked itself.
The third page is Manabu letting Uonon out to heal itself, but Dracovish is taller than the trailer. Shieldmilia is still wearing her disguise. And of course, the final page is Soudo getting ready for the Circhester Gym battle.

The disguises Soudo and Shieldmilia wear are clothes from the games, and Yamamoto posted what they are.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1384820413641814019

Uonon is probably the same Dracovish that appeared in Route 9 Tunnel in the previous chapter's news article. We don't know yet what exactly happens in this chapter, but I'm going to make some some guesses. Last we saw Shieldmilia, she was with Onion (Allister) looking for some shop because she misunderstood his earlier words. Since Mary apparently can prove Shieldmilia's innocence of whatever is going on, it's likely the two girls met somewhere between the two scenes. This is Exhibit 1.
We know that due to Onion's absence Saitou (Bea) is the only Gym Leader on Stow-on-Side that day, and Yamamoto's preview pics show Morpeko being kicked by what appears to be Hitmontop, with Mary wearing the Gym Challenge uniform. Thus, we can infer Mary is fighting Saitou on that same day. This is Exhibit 2.

Putting Exhibits 1 and 2 together, we can infer that Shieldmilia ends up returning to Stow-on-Side. Right next to that town is Route 6, where you can meet Ukattsu (Cara Liss) who pieces together the Galar fossils. I guess you can see where I'm going here. Something happens in Route 6 that results in Uonon running away and ending up on Route 9 Tunnel where it Dynamaxes and ends up in the news. Maybe Team Yell is even involved.
With what we know for sure happens in this chapter, we might not see this incident in great detail, and will probably be like when Soudo rescued that Doctor from Team Yell: A small flashback with the events being essentially cameos. I believe that scene with the Doctor and Team Yell was set up for a volume-only chapter when we get to volume 70-and-something. If the same happens here, we might get Ukattsu and the other fossils as cameos, and then a completely new chapter in the full volumes that makes a better showcase of the fossils.

I can't think of a reason for the disguises other than avoiding someone (Team Yell?), but considering how close Route 9 Tunnel is to Circhester, they probably run into Uonon on their way. I also want to bring up the PokéSpe Twitter account posted a panel of Soudo asking Shieldmilia if she remembered something, so we might get some clue to whatever it is that's going on with her memory.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1384810565101494278

By the way, the path to Circhester goes through Route 8, where there's a wanderer Falinks that I expected to be adapted into Giga. But between Giga, Uonon, and Mr. Rime, that's three characters all getting a Pokémon in the same chapter, and that feels too jam-packed for PokéSpe's normal page length. Unless... Maybe they don't run into Dracovish at all. Perhaps Shieldmilia actually chased Dracovish all the way to Route 9 Tunnel, caught it before arriving in Ballonlea, and is giving it to Manabu, rather than him catching it in battle.
With how Dracovish is already news by the time Soudo's battle ends, it would be weird that absolutely nobody was dealing with it all the time between Shieldmilia having her battle and the trio passing nearby. So maybe the Dracovish incident is already solved when the chapter starts, and when that chaos with Dracovish being too tall happens and the trailer stops, they get out in Route 8 and run into Giga being attacked by a Mr. Rime.

If you think about it, so far, every time they find one of Shieldmilia's Pokémon, it is being attacked by a wild Pokémon that is then caught by someone else. Hop caught Cramorant, Onion caught Drakloak, and now Soudo is catching a Mr. Rime. Could this be an intentional pattern?
Anyway, going by nickname patterns, Mr. Rime is probably going to be named Tsuen, because "tsue" (杖) means "cane". Or maybe it might actually be named Cane, because in katakana that is ケイン, which ends in ン like all of Soudo's Pokémon's names.

Though Giga being found here would debunk my theory about Shieldmilia's team being found in the same order as their names are said in the Slumbearing Weald chapter, under which Giga would be the very last.

Seeing how Yarrow's (Milo) brother appeared early in the arc, I wonder if Melon's other children will also appear in the next chapters. Also, since every character is seemingly going to appear in every place they do in the games, Hop will probably reappear in Circhester. And Sonia too, because of the Hero's Bath.

Opal says 不合格 to Schilly, which most certainly means “you fail”, probably the exact same thing said to Sou. So I would say that that was a foreshadowing of evil Sou is out the window.

It means "failure", "rejection", or "disqualification".
I checked and it is the same thing she says to Soudo, but the context doesn't seem the same. Soudo's reaction makes it seem like it's something that is said to someone who loses, but she clarifies that it's just her personal analysis. Poplar is clearly referring to that "test of heart" she mentioned before. Soudo failed a test of heart.

But Shieldmilia, straight up lost the battle. The two situations don't seem equivalent here, even if we are to assume Poplar tests every Challenger's heart.

You know, I just realized, what if Shieldmilia passed the quiz and the test of heart? I mentioned before she seems like the kind of person who would actually answer 16 to the age question.
With how eccentric Poplar is, what if she actively looks for a way to bend the rules and allow Shieldmilia a rematch? What if she is the one who finds the miracle loophole? Heck, what if the quiz IS the loophole?

Or you could be overthinking things,and it's just that she was disqualified because Toxitricity's G-Max is not native to Galar's main area(Only to the Crown Tundra), so it's thought of as contraband(Like all the cut mons might actually end up being explained as, in-universe).

Dude, can't you see in the pages that she lost? I can understand if you don't know any Japanese to know details like the confusion, but look at the page, we clearly see Tera falling on its back, Shieldmilia's soul crushed face, and Poplar turning her back to the battlefield.

As much as I want Schilly to make it to the Champion Cup, I've started to give up hope because of how much focus they've put on her gym battles so far, or how they brushed her character aside to focus on Soudo -_-

I've been thinking for some time that Kusaka's plan might be to show Soudo's Gym battles, and then Shieldmilia's Cup battles. If Soudo is really a twist villain, depending on when the reveal happens, he might not enter the Champion Cup at all. In fact, considering he already had a battle with Kibana (Raihan), maybe he even drops out before the Hammerlocke battle. I mean, they're clearly avoiding repeated battles here. We only saw one battle with Kabu. PokéSpe doesn't seem to want repeating Gym battles, and unlike the anime there has literally never been a Gym rematch in the manga's entire history. We are only seeing another battle with Poplar because of plot relevance.

And there's two things I want to mention here. First is that the only two of Shieldmilia's Gym battles we saw are Kabu and Poplar. You know what they have in common? The player doesn't battle them in the Champion Cup. And while Yarrow (Milo) also doesn't battle the player in the Champion Cup, he is guaranteed to show up again because he has two Gigantamax Pokémon to showcase, so maybe Kusaka will change the Champion Cup a bit. I mean, we have 10 Gym Leaders now, and the Finals were designed for 8 Trainers.
Also, Shieldmilia's only Pokémon at the time was Scorbunny, so I don't think it would have been an interesting battle to have a single Fire Pokémon easily bulldozing a Grass Gym Leader who is also canonically the easiest Leader in the League.

And the second, is the version exclusive Gym Leaders. The only reason I can think of for Kusaka to do the shared Gym thing, is that he wants the other version's Gym Leaders in the Champion Cup. And since Soudo is battling the Shield version Leaders, doesn't it make sense for Shieldmilia to battle the Sword ones? Well, she might do it in the Champion Cup.

Also, the entire focus on Soudo might be a red herring. Like I've brought up before, he might not be the real protagonist here. Look at his Starter, it doesn't follow the rotation pattern! Remember when was the last time something was up with the Starters? BW. Cheren and Bel's Starters didn't conform to the pattern, despite the games doing, and we had two Tepig early on. The first was probably foreshadowing they wouldn't be Dex Holders, and the second was foreshadowing there being two sets of Starters.

If there's anything weird with the Starter distribution, assume shenanigans. That's the lesson you should take from the BW arc here. The one other thing that didn't fit the pattern was White having a Tepig instead of a Snivy, so Kusaka then literally switched her Tepig for a Servine. Look at how far he went just to keep the type pattern! That's how commited he is to this gimmick.
Which is why the apparent disregard for the pattern feels so off. Soudo should have the Water Starter, yet he has the Grass one, and because of his team theme another switch like in BW would make no sense. And with Shieldmilia following the pattern, it feels as if Soudo, and only Soudo, was specifically designed to ignore the pattern, which is incredibly weird when the pattern is the most consistent thing the manga has done.

That is why I believe the theory Manabu, who actually got the Water Starter, is the real protagonist, and Soudo is a false protagonist. In other words, Soudo is a red herring. And if Kusaka is actually going that route, making the readers think Soudo is the protagonist, and then reveal he isn't, then it makes sense to put so much focus on him before the reveal.
And if the focus on Soudo is a red herring for now, then it makes sense for Shieldmilia to get more focus later.

As for her entering the Champion Cup, and maybe becoming the Champion, I think this makes sense after Red and Black. Red is a Champion, and Black won the Unova League, and I believe Kusaka would've made him Champion in BW if B2W2 didn't exist or didn't have a different Champion. So far, we have one male player character being Champion, and one who almost made it, but no female player. While one could say "that's just Japan/editorial/etc", I want to remind you guys this is the same author who had the girl being the Badge collector two Generations in a row.
Sure, Sapphire and Platinum didn't challenge their Leagues, but I think Kusaka just didn't want to depict a Pokémon League on every new region. After all, not only would it be too repetitive, but the Leagues aren't even that important to the games' plots. They always happen after you've already defeated the evil team. BW is the first time the Pokémon League is a quintessential part of the plot, with it being hijacked by Team Plasma. If it wasn't for that, I'm pretty sure Black wouldn't even had challenged the League, even if he still collected Badges.

Lo and behold, comes XY with a return to norm... And X doesn't challenge the League. And neither does Sun. In fact, the Alola League seemingly doesn't even exist. SwSh, however, is the first time since BW where the League is a quintessential part of the plot, with the League Chairman being even the main villain. It's the perfect opportunity for a female player character to finally become Champion. And I think there's a chance of it happening because, well, Kusaka didn't have to make both players take part in the League, and yet he did;

Really disappointed how the main characters are being handled so far but oh well
Also not surprising the manga is following shield version considering the anime seems to follow sword version (with Bea and all) and Kusaka always liked to contrast the anime with his manga

Before responding to that, I want to bring up a related post I wanted to respond before but didnt have time.

I’m not surprised that Allister is the gym leader, though, since Bea appeared in the anime. And the manga has mirrored the anime with the opposite version in the past (Jirachi creates Groudon in the anime while it creates Kyogre in the manga, Team Plasma pursues Reshiram in the anime while it pursues Zekrom in the manga, Nebby evolves into Solgaleo in the anime while it evolves into Lunala in the manga).

Honestly, I think that's a coincidence. Sure, the fake Kyogre is an undeniable reference to the movie, but everything else seems like a coincidence, based on how the manga chooses version precedence.
One thing I noticed, is that whenever there's A and B versions, with A being the one whose name comes first (Red, Gold, X, etc.), if there's any version difference that is absolutely irreconcilable, Kusaka picks the A version. Example, the player and N have opposite dragons, which differ by version. PokéSpe went the Black route.
I don't know the context of the Plasma plot in the anime, but I think I read Zekrom appeared early in BW to nerf Pikachu. If Reshiram didn't appear before, I think it makes sense they would search for it, right?

Also, the anime had Shaga (Drayden) as the Opelucid GL. If Kusaka is always contrasting with the anime, shouldn't Iris have been the GL in the BW arc? And it can't be just so she could be in the League as a setup for B2W2, because Shaga was confirmed to be the GL early on.
No, it was because PokéSpe was following Black, BW's A version. So, Black fights Gym Leader Shaga and teams up with Reshiram, like in Black, Y catches Xerneas, like in X, and, while B2W2 shows both Kyurem forms, Black Kyurem came first.

And while, yes, Nebby becoming Lunala is a Moon thing, the USUM elements clearly favored Ultra Sun: Necrozma snatched Solgaleo first, Sun and Moon ride Lunala for Ultra Warp Ride, and the first Ultra Recon Squad members they meet are the ones who have more focus in US.
Why Nebby was an exception, I can only think it was so Lillie would have the feminine Legendary. It doesn't have to necessarily be because of the anime. Remember that 2018/2019 calendar? The last page was a poster of the Alola quintet and their Pokémon. A few weeks ago, I found an old Japanese tweet mentioning Nebby is looking at Moon, and asking if it it was foreshadowing it would become Lunala.

I don't remember when it was released, but the calendar starts at April 2018, and the anime episode where Nebby becomes Solgaleo aired on November 30, 2017. I don't know exactly how long in advance these things are printed, so the illustration could have been made after the episode, if it wasn't revealed before. But if that glance counts as foreshadowing, well, Moon was the one to save Nebby at Mahalo Trail, so maybe Kusaka had already made that decision at that point.
You could say I'm reading too much into it, after all the one to catch Xerneas was Y, not X. But remember, X's team is built around Mega Evolution, and there's no Mega Xerneas. Otherwise, X might have caught it.

SwSh is the first time, as far as I can remember right now, that PokéSpe is favoring the B version, Shield. Which makes me think: Hop has interacted more with Shieldmilia than Soudo. In the games, Hop and the player team up with the wolves. While everyone thinks Hop will be left out like Lillie was with Cosmoem's evolutions, those intereactions, together with the villain Soudo theory, makes me think in the end it'll be Hop, not Soudo, who teams up with Shieldmilia and the wolves to fight Eternatus.

That's it for now. I have a few other theories, but this post is already long (and took me two days to write!) and I have a few assignments now, so I'll leave it to the next post. I'm pretty sure I'll be able to reply again this month.

 

[Mr.Munchlax]

Sure, Sapphire and Platinum didn't challenge their Leagues, but I think Kusaka just didn't want to depict a Pokémon League on every new region

It's not just the league, Adventures always has a habit of making the female protagonists inferior to the male protagonists in terms of battling. Even Sapphire, the wild child tomboy who took on the Hoenn gym challenge with the personality of a typical shounen protagonist, was revealed to be weaker at battles compared to Ruby (who didn't even like battling and just wanted to do contests). On paper it just made Ruby seem like a Mary Sue who was the best at everything while Sapphire got the short end of the stick.

I kind of gave up hope that Schilly would make it to the Champion Cup or beat Leon (even if Soudo's a red herring & Marvin's the true protagonist) since that's what Adventures always does, so at the very least I was hoping we'd see more of her gym battles to compensate.

 

[lolipiece]

They found Dracovish being attacked by a bunch of Trainers (why, I don't know). Marvin used Drizzle's Tearful Look to make a bunch of water balloons that made the Trainers cry and caught Dracovish in the chaos. Later, the Trainers were shown to be working for Oleana. I'm missing context without a translation, but that's the gist.

 

[Spider-Phoenix]

The 5ch PokéSpe thread isn't discussing this chapter, the most recent post there is talking about the manga's sales numbers

Out of curiosity, what were they saying about it? Was it the typical "sales are down so it's only a matter of time for it to be cancelled forever" talk or something else?

 

[e9310103838]

Shieldmillia lost the gym challenge. It has not been mentioned whether she has a chance to re-qualify for challenge.

Marnie challenges Bea and Shieldmillia challenges Allister.

Professor Magnolia was worried that Shieldmillia would be misunderstood as the mastermind behind the scenes of this Dynamax incident because she made the VR projector. But Marnie testified for Shieldmillia, when the incident happened she was with her.

Soudo promised her that he would continue to help her inquire about her Pokemon's whereabouts, so she quickly cheered up.

Oleana sent some people (game NPC) to catch those out of control Pokemon in this Dynamax incident.

Because these people said that these Pokemon will be punished, so Marvin let Drizzile cover him and catch Dracovish before them did.

Shieldmillia seems to suddenly forget the knowledge about Pokemon since she lost her Pokemon. When she retrieved her Pokemon, she gradually got better. She said Dracovish can only breathe in the water, and it doesn’t have wild breed.

They changed their clothes just because they are investigating this incident (Even Shieldmillia is just directs them in the RV XD)

They all feel that Marvin has grown. Shieldmillia thinks Marvin is Soudo's apprentice.

The ice stick is a job entrusted to Soudo by Melony.


Marnie still doesn't have much screen in this plot, and there seems to be no sign that Marvin will interact with her (It’s more likely that Shieldmillia’s interaction with her). Then the reason Kusaka let Soudo to match Grookey was just to suit his profession in my opinion. And just my guess, the original exchange of Cheren and Bianca’s starter Pokemon in BW was probably to prevent two female characters all holding the grass starter Pokemon in later.

I think Marvin’s role positioning is very similar to Hachi in Mysterious Joker, who is phantom thief Joker's apprentice. In fact, the magazine's interspersed advertising has already used "the protagonist" (主人公) to call Soudo and Shieldmillia before.

 

[BlackButterfree]

I'm liking the disguises. Soudo is looking very... Handsome in that glaring panel lol

 

[BenLee really not taken]

Oleana sent some people (game NPC) to catch those out of control Pokemon in this Dynamax incident.

Strange that she would send out random NPC and not like Macro Cosmos employees.
And now we know they are.

And I can’t say if Kusaka will really do the whole champion cup thing. I mean, it’s just another tournament arc, which already happened in the beginning of Sun and Moon arc.
My guess is that the tournament will be cancelled in the beginning or midway, or it’s gonna be formatted differently like the Gym Leader tournament in GSC arc.

Looks like Gordie’s back for this month’s chapter!

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1395284282080251907

Interested to see how his relationship with Melony will go.

 

[G-SANtos]

As it usual, my busy college schedule prevented me from coming back here for most of the month, but there's still some things I want to say before we start the next thread in a few hours, starting with some comments about the previous chapters I didn't have time to post before.

First, last month's chapter, for the first time, had Dande (Leon), Sonia, and Kibana (Raihan) on the same place. That scene kind of makes them look like a trio, considering it's Dande and his two known Rivals, and I wonder if Sonia and Kibana are going to have a Venusaur and Blastoise and showcase their G-Max forms. I mean, Sonia and Kibana wear green and blue, like Dande wears red (sure, only his cape is red, but his Battle Tower outfit is completely red).

Also, I think in the end, Beet (Bede) is the one who'll fight Rose inside the power plant.
I think the SwSh climax will be: Shieldmilia and Hop VS Eternatus, Beet VS Rose, and Manabu VS Soudo. And maybe Mary VS the rampaging giant Pokémon in the Stadiums.

Rose and Kibana having knowledge about events from previous arcs makes me wonder if Kusaka wants to have a Dex Holder reunion in Gen 8. Yeah, I know we talk about a reunion all the time since B2W2 with the Pokémon World Tournament that never happened. But this time, Legends is a thing. That means Gen 8 is Kusaka's last chance to have a full, complete, Dex Holder reunion, because after LA he would need to involve Celebi and time travel every time (I mean, sure, I think there'll be time travel in the BDSP and LA arcs, but that's for the future arc thread), unless they pull some parallel world shenanigans to say "Well, actually, it's not technically the past" to excuse future crossovers and not convolute the timeline even further.

By the way, The Violent Tomboy posted a theory two months ago that I had completely forgotten until I found it recently. She thinks Poplar (Opal) is endorsing Beet to continue his Gym Challenge, because the letter Beet is holding two chapters ago looks like an endorsement letter.
This letter is most likely going to come up again later, and if the idea here is that a disqualified challenger can come back if they have a new endorsement, that might be how Shieldmilia reenters the Challenge: A Gym Leader gives her a new endorsement. No idea on who though. Rurina (Nessa) might be the easiest one because she's Sonia's friend, but maybe Poplar herself could do it if she sees something important in her later.

About the Trainers in this chpater, the Musician's name is Toshiyuki (Eric), and he's the Macro Cosmos employee you fight three times to get the key to the Rose Tower. So we'll see those people again, and maybe it's through them the Magnolia crew will learn Macro Cosmos is shady.

I think the Mary and Shieldmilia part will be a chapter in the full volumes, like Soudo saving that Doctor. And who knows, maybe even Mary's Gym battle too. This chapter alone seems like it's setting up two or three volume-only chapters.

The focus on the master-student relationship between Soudo and Manabu makes me even more convinced they're eventually going to fight.

I was writing a big analysis relating to info from this chapter and how it helps the evil Soudo theory make more sense, but I'll leave for the next thread so it can be discussed better, instead of dying out here. But I'll bring up one thing: Soudo has been to every historical place so far except the Stow-on-Side mural, so I think he'll be at the Hero's Bath unless there's something preventing his presence like in Stow-on-Side and his absence can kind of serve as a convenient way to avoid giving him a reaction to something. I know this last part doesn't make much sense without my big analysis, but I think it's a bit too convenient Soudo wasn't around when Beet was destroying the mural that hides the statues of Zacian and Zamazenta.

And BenLee already posted the chapter preview in the post above. Yamamoto teases the group will continue to use disguises. I wonder what for. Is there more stuff they have to investigate in secret?
And Shieldmilia is having an empty expression similar to the one she has whenever she freezes, so something important might be happening. Maybe they found Peta? The weather in Circhester is the kind of place Eiscue fits in, and it also works with my order theory. Maybe Peta is in a situation where they can't just openly go and rescue it, and that's why the disguises?
Or maybe she's remembering something. Hm... Makuwa (Gordie) is sitting down and sweating. Are they in the Hero's Bath? Twilight Wings does Melon(y) using the Hero's Bath as an ashiyu. Maybe Shieldmilia is seeing the wolf sillhouettes in the walls and remembering something about Zacian and Zamazenta? Part of my big analysis theory is that she knew about them.

Out of curiosity, what were they saying about it? Was it the typical "sales are down so it's only a matter of time for it to be cancelled forever" talk or something else?

Not really. Someone asked how many volumes PokéSpe has sold, including the full volumes and arc-specific volumes.
Someone else replied that in 2011 the official number was 12 million. This person also mentioned that in 2017 a fake number of 150 million was being passed that Yamamoto himself had to debunk and say the real number was around 30 million. This person also estimates that including the full volumes, XY-style volumes, and overseas sales the total might be 50 to 60 million.

A third person said these are not the total sales, but the number of printed units, and because of stuff like unsold stock and returned units there's no way to track the actual number of sales. And also, the limited edition volume 54 and 55 are NOT sold out. This last part surprised me, as I thought limited edition anything always sold fast and it was released over a year ago, but this explains why PokéSpe's Twitter account still has the limited edition being advertised on the banner.

Then the reason Kusaka let Soudo to match Grookey was just to suit his profession in my opinion.

The point is that Kusaka didn't have to give Soudo that profession. Gear meister is not a thing in the games, there's no reason Kusaka needed to write Soudo this way.
I don't see why this is so hard to understand, but in writing, everything is a choice. Kusaka chose to give Soudo a theme that wouldn't fit with Sobble. And it's not like he chose a theme and then decided on the first Pokémon, because I'm not sure the process is that linear.

Like, think of Sun. Do you think he has a Meowth because of his money theme? Maybe yes, but in this one case, I think it's the opposite: He has the money theme because of Meowth. Sun is named after the game with a lion Pokémon on the cover, and the Starter rotation dictates he has a tiger Pokémon. I think Kusaka probably looked at this and thought "Huh, two cats", and then, upon noticing Meowth, the most prominent cat Pokémon, was receiving one of those shiny new things called "Alolan forms" decided, "That's it, Sun will have Meowth". And because Meowth has a money theme, he then thought "You know, maybe I should make Sun about money".
Sun's money theme might have played on the decision of having Moon be a Berlitz. Or maybe the combination of Moon being a Berlitz and Sun having a Meowth is what made Kusaka decide on the money theme, but I'm sure him having a Meowth was decided before the money theme. Like, maybe at some point he was supposed to have only cat Pokémon.

And that probably applies to other characters as well. Lack-Two is a super serious samurai-like guy because Dewott is a samurai. X is gloomy because Chespin is cheerful, and maybe a hikikomori due to the Chespin family all rolling into a ball to attack. And maybe Y is a Sky Trainer because Froakie can jump high.

With Soudo, Kusaka could have given him a theme that fits Sobble. Like, he could have made Soudo into some easily scared crybaby or some kind of ninja that uses stealth or camouflage-themed Pokémon. In fact, I just realized that even Soudo potentially being a spy for the royal family fits with Sobble because it evolves into the "Secret Agent" Pokémon.

Instead, Kusaka chose a weapon theme (that is actually very similar to Lack-Two's theme) that basically prevents Soudo from having Sobble. That decision feels out of character for Kusaka, who has previously followed the rotation pattern so to the letter (arguably even obsessively) that he literally had White switch Starters and wouldn't let one of X's friends have Fennekin because Z could be coming.

Do you understand now why Soudo not having Sobble feels so off, and instead having a theme that forces Grookey seems so out of place? This is why I think the protagonist might actually be Manabu.

And just my guess, the original exchange of Cheren and Bianca’s starter Pokemon in BW was probably to prevent two female characters all holding the grass starter Pokemon in later.

I never thought about that, but I guess it makes sense. With Cheren being Black's best friend, and Bel basically bonding with White, one duo would have the same Pokémon if Kusaka followed the games on that.

I think Marvin’s role positioning is very similar to Hachi in Mysterious Joker, who is phantom thief Joker's apprentice. In fact, the magazine's interspersed advertising has already used "the protagonist" (主人公) to call Soudo and Shieldmillia before.

That sounds a bit like "Red, Green, and Blue are the RGB arc's protagonists" context, instead of the "Red is the RGB arc's protagonist" context I have in mind when I mention Manabu being the true protagonist. Like, the first is "these are the main characters of the story" kind of thing the official site does, while the second is "this is the most main out of the main characters" thing the XY and SM volumes did.

Also, one of things about a false protagoniost, is that the story tricks you into thinking that character is the protagonist until the reveal.

And I can’t say if Kusaka will really do the whole champion cup thing. I mean, it’s just another tournament arc, which already happened in the beginning of Sun and Moon arc.
My guess is that the tournament will be cancelled in the beginning or midway, or it’s gonna be formatted differently like the Gym Leader tournament in GSC arc.

Yes, we already had tournament arcs before, including in the previous Generation. And that doesn't matter because the Champion Cup is a quintessential part of SwSh's plot. Rose's announcement about the Darkest Day interrupts the Champion battle, and he chooses that time because that's Galar's biggest audience event. The story is structured in a way that depicting the Champion Cup is unavoidable.

And it would be bad writing to have the story be about the Gym Challenge, and then not have the Champion Cup, which is the very point of the Challenge.

Please wait until Karubi's usual pics to make a thread. We kinda need something of substance to talk about.

I forgot to reply to this, but, you also started threads without Karubi's pictures in the past, that's why I thought there was no problem doing so.

 

[SerGoldenhandtheJust]

@G-SANtos I love your passion when it comes to theorizing about the manga man, even if I dont necessairly think those are gonna happen its still so fun to read your predictions and wonder about them, makes me appreciate the manga so much more so thank you!

 

[BenLee really not taken]

If so, Schieldmilia I say is probably with Gordie and Marvin in the Hero’s Bath while Soudo is challenging Melony.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1395573767477239815

And now the official Pokespe account: “Gordie makes an appearance! Who will be his opponent in battle...?”
So now it looks likely that’s Gordie will be the main focus of this chapter.