Pokemon X.Y Vol. 2by Sheena McNeilReviews may contain information that could be considered 'spoilers'. Readers should proceed at their own risk. Publisher
Credits Grade: 6 X, Y, and friends get help from a photographer / gym leader. Shauna wanders off and gets brainwashed by Team Flare.Once again, Y (female) takes the lead in this story, only to be pushed aside when X (male) decides to step in and actually do something. The Pokemon recipe typically calls for male leads and female supporting characters, but this is ridiculous. Y has all the characteristics of a great lead character, and she's fun and interesting to read! X isn't even an active part of the storyline! Things revolve around him and try to pull him in, but he's not really central to it. In an attempt to rectify that (maybe), the story has him interact with two gym leaders (both female) and a stronger member of Team Flare (also female). The first gym leader / photographer, Viola, gets him to battle her, drawing him out of his self-made shell a bit (even getting him to smile!). It also stirs not-so-good memories since she's also a photographer. Flashbacks show us a bit more of why X hates the media, as well as how he got the mega ring. The second gym leader, Korrina, is the reason they defeat the Team Flare woman. She also has a mega-evolution stone in her glove, and mega-evolves her Lucario. Her knowledge provides some information, but also opens the door for more questions since she refuses to "teach" X once she finds out that he didn't come by his mega-evolution stones by the normal route. She gets X to mega-evolve Li'l Kanga again. The Team Flare woman, Celosia, almost succeeds at getting Li'l Kanga's mega-evolution stone, which gets X involved. The fact that she brainwashed Shauna actually ties more to Y's part of the storyline, as X doesn't seem bothered by that aspect at all. X starts to blame himself (again) because of the mega ring, which is only partially true, as Y points out. There's actually many great female characters in this volume. Other than X, Trevor is the only guy who plays a key role in this volume, and his is identifying with the reader as an outsider, learning how things works, figuring things out, etc. He even has some "notes" at the end of this volume about mega-evolution. I look forward to all of the "friends" using their talents along the way. I appreciate that Shauna's was used to exploit her, as that's also a valid use in the plot, but I'd like to see it in a positive light in the future as well. Korrina's statements about not helping X are meant to be the hook to get me to read more. For many, that will be enough. For me, I'm more interested in how Y will continue to guide the group, help X, bond with her new pokemon, and be an inspirational character. Written: May 7, 2015
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