Well, to start things off, Chapter 1 was released on the 9th (in Shonen Sunday as a serialization, not in tankoban format as of yet), so what were your thoughts on the introduction to the series so far?

I personally found the concept of performing a "BURST" with a Pokémon quite intriguing, not that I've never this sort of thing done before, but I didn't expect it to be so boldly done in Chapter 1 of a Pokémon manga. Not only that, but unlike most manga where the trainer gets their Pokémon to fight for them all the time (granted, I think Pokémon Adventures is amazing), Ryouga actually fought off enemies by himself, not to mentioning lifting a boulder over his back. I do hope there is a more serious side to him as well, though, since having him as an overly-hyper character looking for a fight wherever he goes makes him less emotionally compelling, in my opinion, but again, this is only Chapter 1, so I suppose I can't make a complete judgement of him yet.

Also, for anyone who needs a brief explanation on how a BURST works, basically, a person uses a crystal called a BURST Heart which stores a Pokémon inside it, to combine with them and give the human the powers of the Pokémon, and a partial appearance of them. An example can be seen below with a BURST being performed with an Excadrill:



What makes things so interesting is that Ryouga's BURST was with Zekrom, which begs the question of just what role, plot-wise, Zekrom will play in the manga, and if it will be a recurring element, or only last for a story arc.

The concept of a BURST is... Interesting to say the least. I can see this working out, but I really don't want it to wiggle its way into the mainstream games. That could only end in disaster.

Nice...I wish there was different pokémon anime as there are different pkmn manga :/