Warning: This review contain spoilers of the entire manga and Pokémon Horizons' first three episodes.
Pocket Monsters: Liko no Takaramono is a manga adaptation of Pokémon Horizons first three episodes by Oritoka Hori published in the shoujo magazine Ciao.
There's 4 chapters, the first one is a 4 pages original prologue and the 3 others are 30 pages long, each covering an entire episode. Cramming 20 minutes in 30 pages is impossible and many scenes had to be cuts or shortened and Ann and Gurumin shamelessly removed.
My main complaint about Liko no Takaramono is how lighthearted it feel. Hold on, I'm not saying Horizons is dark or something, but the first few episodes were a bit heavy by Pokémon standard. In the anime you can feel how little confidence Liko has in herself, this is what hooked me on Horizons in the first place actually.
In the source material she worked hard to get close Sprigatito so the moment Sprigatito finally listen to her in the fight against Zir's Rhydon is rewarding.
In the anime, you can feel how scared Liko is when the explorers arrive at Indigo Academy trying to take her pendant. In this manga, it was turned into comic relief.
In Horizons, many characters are introduced right from the start and with the ridiculously short amount of pages per episode it has, Liko no Takaramono had to focus on those who are the most relevant in the first three episodes resulting in some characters losing most if not all their scenes. Landau only appearance in this manga is a cameo and Orio only appear twice (if you consider her appearing inside Molly's text bubble an appearance)
Except Liko who's a bit too carefree and joyfull, most characters act in-character.
The art is ok. Some good looking pages there and there but overall nothing great.
Despite all that, I wouldn't call it awful. Sure it's the worst way to introduce someone to Horizons, but for a fan it's enjoyable.
TL;DR: you're better watch (or rewatch) the anime
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