What can I say about this arc? I almost feel unqualified to even review it since its been a while since I read it. But why is that the case? I remember the first two arcs very well yet GSC somehow seems to have left the least tangible impression on me. Is this the fault of me or the arc not living up to what came before? That's what I hope to figure out with this review. My muddied thoughts on the third arc of 'Pokemon Adventures' an arc full of great highs yet those highs possibly failing to match the carefully crafted highs of the greats that first got me into this manga. So a good place to start I guess is the characters. Adventures has so far done an excellent job with distinct characterisation for all its main players and this arc is luckily no exception. Gold right from start introduces himself far differently than Red. He has tons of personality, clear motives and quirks and is overall a joy to read. He plays off the characters around him beautifully and due to a good underlying moral compass he never truly becomes overbearing (unlike certain later characters) due to his more good natured side coming forth throughout the story. The gym leaders while may not being as well used as the kanto ones still offer good counterbalances with the rest of the cast and still get some good screentime. On the topic of gym leaders the kanto vs johto tournament was an awesome addition that helped keep me engaged throughout the story. But back to the characters, the protagonist of the second half of the arc 'Crystal' is even better than Gold in my opinion. Her role is well executed, she has good characterisation, a good arc and overall carries the story even more than Gold. Our third dex holder 'Silver' isn't quite as well executed. I still liked him but much like Blue it felt like more could be done, granted his story doesn't quite end here but for what they do with him here considering all the time spent on him he feels kind of boring. His story is ultimately carried by Green who along with Red and the others return during the later stages of this arc for one hell of a conclusion. So that's about it for the main characters. There are still some other smaller ones but to be honest they didn't leave much of an impression on me... Especially our villain this time around. With Giovanni he was as we remembered him from the games but he was at least well executed. But Pryce... He's just a mess. An absolute shit show of a reveal that destroyed the pacing of the story. It was so bad that before it was revealed he was our big bad I had convinced myself there was no way the story would be this predictable but yet we got exactly that. This manga's stories are simple but at least with previous arcs it has crafted a more down to earth world but this is just silly. His design is really cool and his motives on paper are cool but not enough is done and in the end he just never truly yet that opposing of a villain. This is a shame as I feel alot of what this arc attempts is cool on paper and with a better villain perhaps without a dumb "plot twist" maybe it could have been one of the best. However how it stands this arc especially its second half is a really enjoyable but ultimately exhausting ride that has alot of highs while leaving sour forgettfulness after the readthrough is done. It isn't bad but doesn't quite match what came before.
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