Random Dark Things Going On In The Pokémon Manga That The Anime Skipped Right Over (16 items)

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  (#1) Giovanni Freezes And Chops Up A Magmar's Body

  While he comes across as a fairly two-dimensional antagonist in other Pokémon media, in the Pokémon Adventures manga, Team Rocket's shadowy leader, Giovanni, is a mysterious presence with even more mysterious motives. He's also really cut-throat.

  This is no more evident than his run-in with a wild Magmar in Chapter 9, "Make Way For Magmar!" in which he instructs his Cloyster to freeze and then separate the poor creature from its limbs. 
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  (#2) Blue's Charmeleon Slices An Arbok In Half

  Ever wanted to know what an Arbok's insides look like? Well, look no further than Chapter 14 of the Pokémon Adventures manga, "That Awful Arbok." During a confrontation in Lavender Town, Blue's well-trained Charmeleon jumps in to protect Red and Blue from Koga's Arbok and does the job a little too well.

  For fans who are used to seeing their Pokémon just "faint," this is a particularly grim moment. The trainers also aren't phased by this Poké-murder at all. In fact, Red is even impressed by Blue's skills as a trainer, proving that this is an accepted risk of battling in the manga. 

   
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  (#3) There Have Been Pokémon Zombies In Lavender Town

  As a villainous Gym Leader and Giovanni's Number Two, Koga proves himself to be a blood-thirsty adversary, and he very nearly kills Red on a few occasions. One of these occasions was during their showdown at Lavender Town.

  If you think that town wasn't already creepy enough with the tower full of Poké-graves, imagine how much worse it would be if those deceased Pokémon suddenly started punching their way out of their resting places? That's exactly how Koga goes after Red - using the psychic powers of a Gastly to turn Lavender Town into Silent Hill. 

   
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  (#4) The Elite Four's Pryce Has No Problem With Killing Children

  The Pokémon manga is full of attempted child-murder at the hands of misguided adults, proving that it's not just what's lurking in the tall grass that young trainers have to be wary of. During Gold and Silver, Elite Four member Pryce makes a (secret) return disguised as Team Rocket's new leader - the "Masked Man," and proves he's still out for blood.

  As he confronts Gold and Silver at the Lake of Rage, he manages to freeze the entire lake and snatches victory by sending both trainers to fall to their doom at the bottom. They're saved only by the surprise arrival of Entei.
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  (#5) Gym Leader Sabrina's Soul Is Sucked Out By A Giant, Murderous Haunter Called The "Black Fog"

  The "Black Fog" is an extremely old and oversized Haunter that goes after the residents of Saffron City in The Electric Tale of Pikachu. It also has a dark history with Gym Leader Sabrina. As a child, the vengeful Pokémon took out Sabrina's parents by using "Dream Eater" to extract their souls.

  After discovering it's back on the rampage in Pokémon Tower, Sabrina heads there to settle the score... only to nearly suffer the same fate as her parents. Luckily, she survives (minus her soul) and manages to defeat the Black Fog by teaming up with Ash and Brock. Ash attempts - and fails - to catch it, which is probably for the best. (Do you really want that literal monster on your team, Ash?)
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  (#6) Most Of The Protagonists Suffer Terrible Fates

  The Pokémon world is a dangerous place, and though death is a clear part of life there, there are far more disturbing ways for a trainer to suffer. At the end of the Black and White arc, Black ends up being sealed into the Light Stone along with the Legendary Pokémon Reshiram while villain Ghetis is still at large.

  Before this, Red, Blue, Yellow, Green, and Silver are all turned to stone during the conclusion of FireRed and LeafGreen, with villain Sird able to escape. What's with all these unhappy endings, Pokémon manga writers?

   
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  (#7) The Elite Four's Lorelei Loves To Make Ice Voodoo Dolls And Freeze People

  All of Kanto's twisted Elite Four members have their own unique ways of inflicting pain on people, including Ice-type user Lorelei. She possesses the strange ability to create voodoo dolls from ice to help her capture her opponents. She also has a penchant for freezing people.

  Freezing Pokémon solid is a normal status condition in the games and anime, but never are its horrific aftereffects explored. In Pokémon Adventures, Lorelei's freezing of Red and Sabrina actually causes them terrible, long-term damage. She's also not adverse to using moves like "Ice Spike Cannon" (a cocktail of moves from her Dewgong and Cloyster) to almost deadly effect. 
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  (#8) The Kanto Elite Four's End Game Is Genocide

  The Kanto Elite Four - Lorelei, Bruno, Lance, and Agatha - are evil with a capital "E." (They even have a volcano island base.) In fact, they were so bad, they forced the other weaker villains - Team Rocket, Sabrina, Lt. Surge and Koga - to team up with the heroes to take them down.

  Throughout Pokémon Adventures, the four displayed a distaste for their fellow human beings, particularly those they thought weren't nice enough to Pokémon. Their solution? To eradicate the entire human race, save for themselves and their allies. They're basically an even more extreme version of PETA.
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  (#9) Gym Leader Koga Uses His Grimer To Choke People

  The trainers in the manga are a lot more physically-involved in fights than they are in the games or anime. Often, this leads to them getting just as injured as their battling monster companions.

  Koga, for instance, uses his Grimer in a deviously creative way. Most of the time, it covers his shoulder, disguised to look like part of his ninja-inspired outfit. In a match with Red, however, he sends it out to suffocate the young trainer, as well as prevent him from calling on his Pokémon.
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  (#10) The Climax Of 'Ruby And Sapphire' Is Filled With Violence

  If the downer endings of Black and White and FireRed and LeafGreen weren't enough, the dramatic conclusion of Ruby and Sapphire is thoroughly depressing.

  With Norman, Courtney, and Steven dead (yes - dead), it's up to Wallace to step up and take on the deranged Team Magma and Aqua leaders, Maxie and Archie. Though he starts off strong, once Wallace discovers that Winona is their prisoner, he gives up - leading to a severe and hugely disappointing defeat.
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  (#11) The Elite Four's Lance Blows Up Part Of Vermilion City

  Dragon master Lance makes it clear throughout the manga series how little he cares for his fellow human. His ultimate goal is to wipe out humanity in order to "save" Pokémon from humankind's cruelty, and he gets this plan off to a horrifying start during Yellow's "Breath of the Dragonair" storyline.

  Yellow follows Lance all the way to Vermilion City, but can only watch in horror as his Dragonair Hyper Beams a big portion of the city to dust, which would have surely taken out a whole bunch of innocent people.
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  (#12) Team Rocket Fuse The Three Legendary Birds Into One Big Bird Monster

  This monstrosity, named "Thu-Fi-Zer," was created by Team Rocket fusing the three Legendary Bird Pokémon from the Kanto region - Zapdos, Moltres, and Articuno. They previously tried out this mad science experiment on an unfortunate Eevee, nicknamed "Vee," causing the Pokémon to be able to switch between Flareon, Jolteon, and Vaporeon at will.

  Unsurprisingly, this freaky fusion was incredibly strong. It took Red, Blue, Green, and a mid-battle evolution from Red's Ivysaur to defeat it and force the trio to separate.

       
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  (#13) Underage Female Characters Are Oversexualized

  Some of the Pokémon manga has been censored in North America and Europe because of the frequent sexualization of underage girls. We're talking kids around the age of 12, here.

  The most problematic panels from the Japanese originals include those of Misty (or "Kasumi") bending over in the tiniest shorts and being spied on while washing herself. One scene featuring Green releasing two Pokémon from Pokéballs hidden in her bra was also edited out, though her ripped dress was still visible in the panels after.
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  (#14) The Elite Four's Agatha Uses Her Pokémon For Mind Control And Memory Wiping

  The Kanto Elite Four were not just terrible to others, they were also terrible to each other. Agatha, for instance, is revealed in Pokémon Adventures to have coerced Bruno into joining their ranks by erasing his memories and mind-controlling him using the power of her Ghost-type Pokémon.

  All poor Bruno really wanted was to be the strongest trainer in the world, and instead, he was made into an unwilling puppet with Pokémon-induced amnesia.
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  (#15) The Elite Four's Lance Has A Dragon Army That He Uses To Terrorize Kanto

  The Elite Four's master of Dragon types, Lance, is so much of a tough guy he can legitimately wear a cape and not look like a complete dork. In the manga, he unfortunately uses his badassery for evil - even building up an entire minion army of Dragonairs and Aerodactyls. 

  Led by a Dragonite commander, Lance's "Dragon Army" attack parts of Kanto. They're first seen ravaging Cinnabar Gym, with terrified protagonists Miles and Evan hiding inside.
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  (#16) There's A Character That Can Turn Himself Into Pokémon (And It's Not As Cool As It Sounds)

  ReBurst, the manga series set during the Black and White games, was a huge departure from what we're used to from the franchise. Rather than traditional battles and the usual human/Pokémon partner dynamic, the story features a protagonist - Ryouga - who can turn into a Pokémon.

  That Pokémon was the Legendary Zekrom, or rather, a freaky, human-Zekrom hybrid. As awesome as this idea sounds, in reality, it looks like something out The Fly and scarily reminiscent of Team Rocket's experiments to combine the three Legendary Birds. 

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