Magical Pokémon Journey, known in Japan as Pokemon: PiPiPi Adventures, is a shōjo manga series set in the fictional universe of the Pokémon franchise. The manga is by Yumi Tsukirino .

The main character, Hazel (Maron in the original Japanese version), sets off to catch Pokémon after a scientist named Grandpa agrees to make a love potion if she catches Pokémon. Hazel is after the heart of a boy named Almond. Most of the Pokémon in the manga series can speak a human language. The manga's plotline has little to do with the original video games.

The first seven volumes of this ten-volume manga were published in English in North America by Viz Communications. The English manga is flipped to the Western left-to-right format. This manga is published in Singapore in English by Chuang Yi.

Human characters

Hazel is the main character of this series. She's a bubble-headed blonde who's madly in love with her friend Almond, and adores cute Pokémon such as Pikachu and Clefairy. As a child, she was an irrepressible tomboy who enjoyed playing pranks on Almond; now that she's older, she's still quite hyper, but in a more girlish way.

Almond is the love interest of the series. He calls himself a Pokémon trainer, but it's not known what Pokémon he has, or even if he has any besides Squirtle, who is more of a friend than a trained Pokémon. Almond shows little to no interest in either Hazel or Coconut.

Coconut is Grandpa's granddaughter, and Hazel's rival for Almond's love. She's a brilliant scientist, and so spends much of her time brewing love potions that backfire in some manner, usually injuring her Eevee. Later on, a man named Caraway confesses his love for Coconut, but she isn't interested.

Grandpa isn't Hazel's grandfather, as she points out to Almond when Coconut first appears. He's simply a crazy old man who everybody calls "Grandpa". He likes to ogle young women, even though he's married to Ginger. He made Hazel the outfit she wears much of the time; it has magical properties that can protect her from injury and even drowning.

Peanut is a sickly boy who recently moved to Hazel's town for reasons related to his health. His Pokémon is a hotheaded Charmander. His bad health is caused by a mass of dark qi surrounding him; he is able to communicate with and control this qi, which is quite unusual.

Peanut's brother Pistachio is a florist who has a thing for Hazel. Due to a mix-up on Viz's website, many people believe that in the Japanese version of the manga, he's really attracted to Almond; however, this is not true. Pistachio's Bulbasaur, named Danerina, has a crush on him, as does Chiko the Chikorita.

Walnut, or Wal for short, is a ninja-in-training under the great ninja master Ditto. He's a bumbling goof, though. When he's not training, he works in his family's bakery. Wal wears glasses when not training, and contact lenses when in ninja uniform.

Sandy is a 150-year-old ghost. When she first appears, Raichu is angry with her. Sandy's parents left him in a box by the ocean because he had a tendency to shock people, and Sandy promised to meet him there; however, just before they could meet, they were both killed by a tidal wave. Once Sandy explains this, Raichu forgives her and they are able to "cross over". They appear in later chapters to help pacify an angry Golduck ghost, and are reincarnated in the final volume.

Koume first appears in the eighth volume. Since only the first seven volumes were translated into English, most fans don't know of her, even though she's an important character. She is also a ninja-in-training, though she's much more accomplished than Walnut. Her master, Azumarill, is even more talented than Ditto; Azumarill's daughter, a Marill named Marimaru, is Koume's partner. Koume is addicted to bread, and winds up falling in love with Walnut.

Plum first appears in the ninth volume. She's an exorcist nurse who travels around with her senior, a Chansey, exorcising bad qi. She discovers the reason for Peanut's ill health, but she is unable to exorcise it. She falls in love with Peanut.

Caraway first appears in the tenth and final volume. As soon as he meets Coconut, he falls for her and kisses her on the lips (a much more intimate act in Japanese culture than in Western culture). Because of this, Coconut absolutely refuses to even give him a chance, until he helps her with an experiment she's working on. After that, she becomes friends with Caraway, but still isn't romantically interested in him.

Pokémon characters

Pikachu, the first Pokémon to appear in this series, is Hazel's best friend -- not surprising, as both of them can be described as scatterbrains. Pikachu is one of the few Pokémon in MPJ who cannot speak human language.

Clefairy is Hazel's second Pokémon friend, and is a scaredycat. He dislikes battling because he views himself as weak, even though his Metronome technique is quite powerful. He also uses Minimize often, usually when he gets frightened (which can happen at the drop of a hat).

Jigglypuff is a spoiled princess Pokémon whose family lives in a castle. Jigglypuff loves to cook, but she's terrible at it. Not seeming to realize this, she gets horribly offended when nobody wants to eat the food she makes.

Squirtle is the only boy Pokémon to live at the Jigglypuff mansion. He calls Almond his "big brother", but at the same time seems to have a crush on him.

Charmander is Peanut's companion, and his fiery temper is in stark contrast to the boy's quiet personality. Charmander gets angry when things don't go his way, which happens more often than not. At first he seemed to have a thing for Coconut's Eevee, but in later volumes he seems more attracted to Chiko.

Eevee is Coconut's Pokémon and lab assistant. He's usually in the way when her experiments go wrong, and is quite an unlucky fellow. In the sixth volume, he meets and falls in love with...

Lu, a female Eevee. At first, she loved Eevee from afar, but she managed to confess her feelings to him at the prompting of Hazel and Coconut. Later, she has to move away, but she occasionally visits Eevee.

Ditto is Wal's ninja master. He's a quite accomplished ninja, even though he's just a pink blob.

Chiko (short for Chikorita) appears in order to challenge Danerina the Bulbasaur's claim on Pistachio. They have a contest to see which one is good enough to him, with Chiko winning. However, Pistachio prefers Danerina's company, as she is his Pokémon and Chiko is an interloper. (But Pistachio's not thrilled with the Pokémon being in love with him....) After this, Chikorita falls in love with Almond, and then with Charmander.

Marimaru the Marill is Koume's ninja partner, both of them training under Marimaru's mother, Azumarill.

Roko and Arashi are two of Caraway's Pokémon. Roko the Vulpix (Rokon is the Japanese name of Vulpix) has a thing for Arashi the Cyndaquil (Hinoarashi is the Japanese name of Cyndaquil), despite his being somewhat dim-witted. They meet Coconut while searching for a Fire Stone.

Yousuke is a male Bayleef belonging to a travelling psychic named Akira. He has a thing for Chiko, but she prefers Charmander.

Chansey is Plum's senior, an exorcist nurse. She uses her magical egg powers in conjunction with Plum's cross to purify people troubled by bad qi.

See also

• Pokémon (manga series)
• Pokémon Adventures
• Ash & Pikachu
• Pokémon Gold & Silver (manga series)

External links

• Viz's official MPJ website
• Willow Haze, an unofficial fansite