Pokémon Adventures: Scarlet & Violet Chapter 5 Review - Introducing Scarlet the Treasure Hunter!

With a new Pokédex Holder and a battle with a Team Star Boss, this chapter was a lot of fun! I was already hyped about the Scarlet & Violet arc, but now we’ve got an exciting new main character to root for!

There will be spoilers ahead, as usual. If you didn’t get the chance to read the fifth chapter on the CoroCoro website while it was still available, make sure to pick up a copy of the first mini-volume!

This chapter gave us our first formal appearance of Scarlet! While she technically appeared in both the first and second chapters as Nemona’s opponent, her face was always covered by a helmet. I’m curious as to why her appearance was hidden until this chapter. Most fans can assume that she’s the one on the front cover of Volume 1, so I’m sure this reveal wasn’t just for shock value. Maybe it was done to show that this is a character who hides her true intentions? From her phone conversation in the second chapter, we already know that she didn’t come to Uva Academy legitimately.

I do really enjoy her characterization so far. I think it says a lot that when we first see her with her face uncovered, she’s showing kindness to a young child. It’s neat if the removal of her helmet is symbolic of showing who she is under the surface. Even though she comes off as rather brash, she means well deep down, as we see with the way she identifies with the child. Not only does she take the time to teach him about string figures, but she empathizes with him. Since we know Scarlet is going to be a mysterious character, this scene does a great job of setting up her complexities, and I’m definitely engaged in learning more about her.

The Star Barrage scene was rather short, but it held a lot of excitement as the clock ticked down. It was fun to see Violet in a time-based challenge—I just wished we got to see a little more of it. Hopefully we’ll get to explore the tension of that challenge in another Team Star base. I liked Violet’s meeting with Giacomo, too. The tone was very light, and it was cute how Violet completely failed to understand acronyms. Team Star really isn’t portrayed as malicious, which is nice to see. They’re a little goofy, but there’s something honorable about them. Giacomo isn’t treated like a villain that Violet must overcome, but instead with as much dignity as a Gym Leader or any other powerful Trainer.

Violet’s battle with Giacomo is probably the most difficult one he’s had so far. It was exciting, and a clever way to show off how his love of speed can be used in more than just racing. Giacomo’s battling techniques were very creative, and I liked how he deliberately used his background music to confuse the others. It was a clever misdirection, and had me fooled. This battle also gave us Violet’s first use of Terastallization. I was hoping we’d see Fuecoco Terastallize, but it was nice that Nymble got to shine. Since we still didn’t get to see much of Nymble’s Terastallization, I’m interested to learn more about the way that mechanic will be used in this manga.

Giacomo’s portrayal is very sympathetic so far. He accepted his defeat with grace, and even shared a nice moment speaking with Violet about the way he won. It showed that even though he lost, he’s still a good sport who was passionate about the fight. I was really intrigued when he shut down Clavell Clive’s suggestion about replying to the academy. His comment about Clive’s “understanding-seeming” attitude being “scary” is interesting, as it either suggests that someone from the school has misunderstood him, or perhaps even manipulated his emotions, depending on how you interpret it. I’m curious about the other Team Star Bosses and how their backstories will be explored.

I really liked this chapter, and it was fun to see it both begin and end with Scarlet. As much as I wish we got to see more from her earlier, I will say the authors did a good job getting us hyped about her by holding off on her first appearance, then showing that she’s this competent and mysterious treasure hunter. I think it’s also fun that someone taking on Uva Academy’s Treasure Hunt is actually here to, well, treasure hunt! Another thing that’s interesting about Scarlet is that her design is inspired by Wednesday Addams, specifically her depiction on the TV show Wednesday. I can definitely see the resemblance in both her appearance and personality!

Scarlet is finally here! How do you feel about our serious-faced, web-slinging treasure hunter so far?