Volume 2’s first chapter sets up for lots of excitement ahead! When it first released in
CoroCoro, I was a bit nervous about how I was going to approach it in a review, as it definitely felt like it was missing something. Now that we’ve got the full chapter, a lot of my initial questions are answered, and there’s some new content to enjoy! I love that while
Scarlet continues to be closed off to everyone she meets,
Violet’s list of best friends keeps on growing.
There will be spoilers ahead, so be sure to give the chapter a read before carrying on! I also want to mention that I won’t be spoiling anything from the
Scarlet & Violet games unless it’s been covered in the manga, so please don’t worry if you haven’t gotten far.
For those who don’t know, the mini-volumes sometimes add extra scenes that weren’t present in the magazine release. For example, in the original version of the
6th chapter, there was no scene of Scarlet saving
Penny from
Team Star—that was added in later! The same happens in this chapter, as we now have new scenes with Penny and
Clavell. One of these scenes helps clear up some things that went unexplained in the original release, like how Violet and
Arven learned about the
Stony Cliff Titan. It also includes a valuable development to Penny’s character by revealing that she is working for
Cassiopeia. I believe the added scenes with Penny really helped round out this chapter and lay the groundwork for her to become important to the story as it continues.
I love seeing the friendship between Violet and Arven grow, and I really enjoyed the moment where Arven is actually proud of Violet for requesting information from Cassiopeia that would help them on their mission to find
Herba Mystica. Of course, the feeling is instantly diminished when
Rotojī clarifies that Violet’s family is so rich that no prize would mean much to him, but I still like how this moment shows that Arven has a personal stake in Violet’s growth. Even though his main motivation is to heal
Mabosstiff, he really does seem to care about him. I also enjoyed that our dearest schoolmate Clive has acquired the elite status of “best friend”; it has me looking forward to his next appearance. When Arven gives Clive the chance to get away, he easily distracts Violet by getting him all excited about sandwiches—I imagine similar tactics have been employed by camp counselors and pet owners alike.
The panel with Arven and Violet camping together is very cute. I love that Violet has a fancy set of pajamas while Arven sleeps in his clothes and turns himself into a cocoon with his sleeping bag. When Penny has an overexcited
Miraidon jumping on her, it’s nice to see Arven be the one pulling it back. It shows that he’s taking some degree of responsibility for it, which is especially interesting after he’d resented it for years. While this chapter didn’t exactly focus on Arven in particular, it gave him many subtle moments that indicate how his journey with Violet is changing him. He’s grown quite a bit from his first appearance, even if he’s still often annoyed with many things (mostly Violet). While he was initially withdrawn from his peers—believing it was him and Mabosstiff versus the world—he’s really stepping up to take care of the people around him. Comparing him to a camp counselor certainly does make sense to me after seeing the way he looks out for Violet. Arven hasn’t been traveling with him for long, but he’s already become something of a guardian for him, and it shows just how much his character has developed.
I also think it’s funny that Violet instantly recognizes Penny, but still doesn’t know that Clive and Clavell are the same person. He seems to have a good memory, possibly because being able to identify one’s subjects would be a quality befitting of a prince. In this interaction, we’re reminded (or teased, depending on the way you look at it) of the fact that Scarlet and Violet still haven’t met yet. I have to imagine that we’re at least close to that happening...right? Both Violet and Arven’s faces in the panel where that’s mentioned got a smile out of me. I’m interested in learning how Cassiopeia found out about the Stony Cliff Titan. In the games,
★ Starfall Street ★ wasn’t quite connected to the
Path of Legends, so it’s fun to see some crossover here.
Hidenori Kusaka’s creative liberties do a great job twisting together aspects of the games in unexpected ways, and it has me excited to see where this goes.
Scarlet running
Katy out of stock was especially hilarious upon remembering that all of this was a dessert buffet. Scarlet seems like the type to only survive on the bare minimum of nutrients she needs to function, so the idea of her clearing out an entire bakery’s worth of sweets is definitely a surprise—and that’s not the only surprise this chapter! I was equally shocked as
Nemona to learn that Scarlet had never fought a
Trainer before Katy. It’s clear that she’s a very capable battler, but did she really build her skills by fighting
wild Pokémon alone? I thought I’d remembered her battling some
Team Star Grunts earlier, but was reminded that she had her Pokémon bundle them up in web and send them down the stairs. It’s hard to imagine she earned her skills by attacking Trainers directly, but maybe that’s where
Lance got his start, too? Even though I was a bit unsure about Nemona’s characterization, I did enjoy her daydream about Scarlet becoming her
rival. While she can still seem a little one-note, I like that we see her perspective at the end of the scene, and I hope it leads her to become more of her own character. There’s still lots of time for the characters to grow, anyway!
After Violet and Arven’s failed attempt at fighting the
Titan Iron Treads, it’s exciting to see them get to redeem themselves with Klawf. I liked that Violet and Arven battled together like in the games, but I was surprised to see Arven with a
Shellder. Although it makes narrative sense for Arven to have caught it sometime while on his journey, I would have liked to see it happen in a panel, since Violet was technically the one to catch his
Scovillain. After the two struggled to keep up with Klawf, I thought Violet’s idea of going to the watchtower was clever, and it was very much in character for him to send Arven there instead of going himself. This brings us to the cliffhanger ending; what an introduction for the final
Paldean first partner Pokémon! I never thought I would be afraid of a
Quaxly at any point in my lifetime, but there’s a first for everything. It was also pretty jarring to see Nemona unconscious on the ground after making a plan to stay by Scarlet’s side. I wouldn’t be surprised if Scarlet had ditched her before something happened to her, but after we saw her save Penny in a flashback last chapter, I would expect her to at least try to defend her if she was in trouble. We know she has
some morals, but she’s still a tricky character to figure out just yet.
What did you think of this chapter? Did you have any theories after that cliffhanger? Will a Quaxly show up in your nightmares anytime soon?
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