These are the best Pokemon manga series that are must-reads for fans of the franchise.
Pokemon fans might know the anime and games, but there’s a whole world to explore thanks to the many Pokemon manga created by several authors and designed by talented artists. The world of Pokemon has many mysteries to uncover, and some of these stories address certain events never told in the games.
So, if fans want to discover more about this fantastical world, what better way to do it than by reading the Pokemon manga? These are the best of the best for those Pokemon trainers who are ready to start a new adventure.8 Pokemon Adventures
Author: Hidenori Kusaka
Artist: Mato, Satoshi Yamamoto
First Published: March 1997
The very first Pokemon manga was published back in 1997 and is still running up to date. This series narrates the adventures of Red, the original protagonist of the Pokemon games, which inspired the story of Satoshi (Ash) Ketchum in the anime. Throughout nearly three decades of publications, this impressive run of 64 volumes has explored the world of Pokemon like no other serialized story.
With beautiful classic designs, this story will take us from Kanto and beyond its borders, into a fantastic journey of discovery (and sweet nostalgia for those who started with Gen 1). The world of Pokemon Adventures is filled to the brim with heartwarming moments, incredible battles, and tales of friendship between humans and Pokemon.7 Pokemon Try Adventure
Author: Jun Keijima
Artist: Miho Asada
First Published: March 2009
One of the most underrated spin-offs of the original Pokemon Adventures, illustrated by the talented Miho Asada (Battle Story Megaman, Yokai Watch) and written by Jun Kejima. This story is about three youngsters chosen by a mysterious character named Mr. Crow to solve Pokemon mysteries and live dozens of adventures.
Katsuya, a battle trainer obsessed with becoming stronger, Toki, an expert explorer and survivalist, and Soto, a Pokemaniac whose objective is to discover and catch every Pokemon. The story is great, and the trio of characters complement each other quite nicely. This series is a fantastic run that emphasizes the lore of this fantasy world, especially of the legendary Pokemon.6 Pokemon Adventures Sword And Shield
Author: Hidenori Kusaka
Artist: Satoshi Yamamoto
First Published: November 2019
This story focuses on the region of Galar and is one of the best of the best. It is not only focused on explaining the Dynamax phenomenon (more than the games ever cared to do), and has three new protagonists to follow: Marvin, Henry, and Casey. Marvin has just moved to Galar when he meets Henry, a Pokemon Artifact Technician (or Meister), and Casey, a computer geek who is looking into the disappearance of her Pokemon team due to a Dynamax incident.
Needless to say, the story also involves many important characters from the Galar region, like its champion Lionel, and Professor Magnolia as well as every gym leader from the Galar Region. Filled to the brim with adventure, and one of the best runs of Pokemon world storytelling that exists up to date.5 Pokemon Adventures Sun And Moon
Author: Hidenori Kusaka
Artist: Satoshi Yamamoto
First Published: November 2016
A courier in desperate need of money, and a pharmacist proficient with creating medicines fighting using Poison-type Pokemon: these two are Sun and Moon, the protagonists of the Alola Arc of Pokemon Adventure. Needless to say, it is quite a strange tale that involves the outbreak of fury of the Legendary Tapus, an Ultra Beast invasion, and a conspiracy that lies hidden behind Sun’s reason to embark on a Pokemon journey.
Yamamoto’s art reached peak perfection during this run, with splendid scenario designs, colorful characters, and incredible battle scenes, though some fans do not find the Alola region so appealing. Worth a read for those who want to know more about the origin of the Ultra Beasts.4 The Best of Pokemon Adventures: Yellow
Author: Hidenori Kusaka
Artist: Mato
First Published: December 2006
A mysterious boy named Yellow reaches Pallet town to meet Professor Oak, catch his favorite Pokemon (Pikachu), and track down the best trainer of all time: Red. Though this particular anthology picks up some of the best chapters from the Pokemon Adventures Yellow Arc, it is not the full story. But, to compensate for that, it has a selection of the most fantastical stories and epic battles.
During his journey to find the missing Red, Yellow will face the infamous (and now deranged) Elite Four, who seek to overthrow the current world order and establish their own Pokemon Utopia. Something our little trainer will have to stop at any cost, even if it means beating down the most powerful trainers in Kanto. This particular edition was translated by VIZ Media and is one of the best translations of the original manga currently available in English, both due to its quality and attention to detail.3 The Best of Pokemon Adventures: Red
Author: Hidenori Kusaka
Artist: Mato
First Published: October 2006
This edition of the Pokemon Adventures manga compiles the first three volumes of the first Arc (Red, Green, Blue) and has a selection of the best chapters. Also edited by VIZ Media, with special emphasis on the fidelity of translation. It has been qualified as one of the best editions of the Pokemon Adventure series. It has beautiful internal art and special front and back cover designs.
The story follows the start of Red’s journey to become a Pokemon Master of the Kanto region and covers most of the adventures, including his encounter with Articuno, the battles of the Pokemon League, and the coronation of the New Champion.2 Pokemon Adventures: Gold & Silver
Author: Hidenori Kusaka
Artist: Satoshi Yamamoto
First Published: September 2012
The English edition of Pokemon Adventures stars a new trainer (Gold) and the start of a new journey through the region of Johto. For those readers that started their Pokemon journey during the 2nd Gen, this will be a tearjerking experience, with many cool references to the events of Pokemon Gold, Silver, and Crystal.
It has some differences with the Pokemon games, of course, but most of the events happening in this story are aligned with Gamefreak’s RPG but with some differences. In this case, Professor Elm tasks Gold with recovering a stolen Totodile. And we discover much more about Silver and his origins. The Neo Team Rocket also makes an appearance, and its leader is none other than Pryce, the Gym Leader from Mahogany Town.1 Pokemon Adventures: FireRed and LeafGreen
Author: Hidenori Kusaka
Artist: Satoshi Yamamoto
First Published: February 2004
A follow-up from the Kanto Adventures Series, FireRed, and LeafGreen is a new tale starring Blue, Yellow, and Red, who are hot on the trail to stop the evil Team Rocket from capturing Deoxys. For that, they will have the help of new Pokemon, and an unlikely ally: Mewtwo.
The series is a love letter for every Pokemon fan and a must-read for those who managed to play the 2004 re-mastered versions of the classic Pokemon games. Yamamoto’s artwork in this series is colorful, detailed, and more attuned to modern times, though it preserves the classic style of the original run.

The LG ToneFree T90s earbuds take an especially big bite out of the competition
I’ve made no secret of my love for Apple’s AirPods Pro 2. In fact, I love them so much I even bought my partner a pair so he could understand why I wear them every day – though I wish I’d picked them up when they were discounted, but I digress.
Being a headphone reviewer, I get to listen to a plethora of headphones and earbuds, and while I’ve definitely come across some top-performing pairs like the Sennheiser Momentum 4 Wireless and Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds, I’ve always returned to my trusted AirPods for their sound quality, noise cancellation and seamless connectivity with my iPhone. I really do believe them to be among the best wireless earbuds you can buy.
At least that was until LG came along with its latest set of flagship earbuds, the ToneFree T90S.
TechRadar’s LG ToneFree T90S review went live back in August but, at the time, they weren’t available in Australia where I’m based. I was eagerly awaiting details of their arrival as our review painted them to be a truly talented set, chock full of useful, innovative features and delivering “supremely balanced audio.” I was also intrigued by their ability to support Dolby Atmos – LG claims the buds to be the first true wireless set to support the 3D sound technology across all content and devices.
The AirPods Pro 2 support Dolby Atmos spatial audio when connected to an iOS device and with music being streamed via Apple Music, while the aforementioned Bose’s QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds employ a proprietary Immersive Audio mode that also provides device-agnostic spatial audio but technically not fully-fledged Dolby Atmos. I’ve personally never been one to immediately jump on the spatial audio bandwagon, but I was prepared to give LG the opportunity to see if it could prove to me that it’s the next best thing in personal audio.Size doesn’t always matter
One of the main reasons I love the AirPods so much is just how well they fit in my ears (I’m a bit picky when it comes to headphone comfort, which is why I also love the Sonos Ace). The whole process couldn’t be simpler: just take them out of the case and pop them into my ears, no fidgeting required. I’ve come across other pairs of in-ear headphones that either take a while to feel good in the ear, or they just feel uncomfortable no matter how much I try.
Fortunately, I experienced no such issues with LG ToneFree T90S, which surprised me considering just how small they are. Both the earbuds themselves and the case are incredibly compact and, to be honest, I wasn’t immediately sure the two of us were going to become friends. But I found removing them from their case was easy, and placing them in my ears and achieving a perfect fit the first time was equally simple.Music to my ears
The sound quality of the LG T90S earbuds is what took me most by surprise in comparison to my beloved AirPods Pro 2. I’d personally never really considered LG to be a particularly big player in the world of personal audio – the company makes some of the best TVs, but it hasn’t typically made our list of the best headphones or earbuds. But, boy, do the ToneFree T90S earbuds buck that trend. I’ve regularly praised Apple’s iconic buds for their clarity and balance but, when I wore the LG T90S for the first time and pressed play, I was taken aback by just how much more engaging they sounded. Bass levels were great and the whole soundstage had a greater sense of depth.
My initial listening sessions were conducted with Dolby Atmos disabled for third-party headphones from my iPhone, yet LG’s buds still managed to deliver a 3D-like soundstage. The effect was subtle, but voices and instruments were clearly placed all around my ears, as opposed to more obviously directly in my ear canal.
When I enabled Dolby Atmos via Apple Music for third-party headphones in my iPhone’s settings, it was a truly pleasant experience. That! Feels Good!, the opening track of Jessie Ware’s album of the same name features various voices speaking the track title – with Dolby Atmos enabled, those voices came from all around me. Some could be heard from out and up to my left while others sounded like they were coming from over my right shoulder. Disable it, however, and while the voices still came left and right, there was little in the way of separation, to the point where it sounded a little messy.
The AirPods did still manage to place voices, but not to the same extent. They sounded much closer to me, compared to the more expansive soundstage served up by the LG buds.
Listening to Californian Soil by English trio London Grammar revealed the LG to be the more impactful pair again. Bass beats are delivered with a lot more gusto compared to the AirPods, and while the sound from Apple’s flagship buds wasn’t disappointing by any means, it sounded a little flat in comparison.Apple still ripe in some areas
Now, one area where Apple does still have LG beat is with noise cancellation. I used both pairs on my commute to work on a busy train and the AirPods Pro 2 were able to cancel out more external sound, even when music wasn’t being played. LG’s pair does a mighty fine job when music is playing, but as soon as there was a break in a track or I was waiting for the next one to load, I could hear what was going on around me pretty clearly.
Both have the ability to let in ambient sound, or turn noise cancellation off entirely, although I personally never use either of these settings.
LG’s ToneFree mobile app opens up a few possibilities for sound customization, including preset sound profiles tuned by British audio brand Meridian. Immersive and 3D Sound Stage quickly became my favorites, with the latter being the one I would tend to use the most as it was the more spacious of the two to my ears. The AirPods Pro 2 doesn’t have any companion app to adjust the sound profile and, instead, you need to rely on the standard built-in EQ options within an iOS device’s settings.
Another feature I love about LG’s buds – although I haven’t yet had a real need to try it out – is the ability to transmit audio to the buds from the charging case when it’s plugged into an audio source. The most obvious use case for this would be on a flight, as you can plug the case into the in-flight entertainment system and have the audio transmitted to the earbuds. LG’s buds aren’t the first to offer this feature – it’s also available in the Bowers & Wilkins Pi8 and JBL Tour Pro 3 – but it’s a great one to have all the same.
And, speaking further on the case, there’s UV lights that LG claims will sanitize the earbuds when they’re placed inside. As far as I know, no other brand offers this feature and I really can’t tell if it’s effective as I’d need a laboratory to help me prove it works. It might even seem a bit gimmicky, but it’s good to have another item on the list of features.
Finally, if you’re someone who’s constantly taking or making calls while wearing your earbuds, the ToneFree T90S features what’s called Whispering Mode. With this activated, you can remove the right earbud and hold it up to your mouth to use as a microphone. As the feature name implies, you only need to talk quietly – the app even says if you speak loudly, you “may experience poor audio quality.” I can see this being especially useful when commuting, as it’s never fun having to talk loudly in a train carriage or bus, only for everyone around you to clearly hear your (one-sided) conversation.LG comes up trumps
Until I received the LG ToneFree T90S earbuds, I would automatically encourage anyone with an iPhone to get the AirPods Pro 2. It’s a little trickier with Android devices as there are many pairs catering to all budgets that get the job done.
Since using LG’s latest set, though, I’m now firmly of the opinion that Apple has fallen a little farther from its pedestal position and I encourage everyone to give the T90S an audition. I guarantee you won’t regret it.

At AWS: re-Invent, Amazon tips a slew of upgrades in everything from storage and databases to new computing chips and various AI tools, mostly aimed at reducing cost and complexity.
Watching sessions from last week’s AWS: re-Invent conference, what stood out was Amazon’s insistence that AI, rather than something that stands on its own, is fast becoming part of applications, meaning developers need to focus on things like cost and efficiency.
« My view is generative AI inference is going to be a core building block for every single application », said Matt Garman, CEO of Amazon Web Services. « In fact, I think generative AI actually has the potential to transform every single industry, every single company out there, every single workflow out there, every single user experience out there. »
To that end, Garman announced a slew of upgrades in everything from storage and databases to new computing chips and various AI tools, mostly aimed at reducing cost and complexity.Generative AI
Unsurprisingly, generative AI tools received the most attention. Garman pushed Bedrock, the company’s AI platform, saying: « Every application is going to use inference in some way to enhance or build or really change an application. »
I was impressed by the addition of model distillation features in Bedrock. This lets you use prompts and the output of a very large model to train a much smaller model that covers only a specific subject matter that is much smaller and much cheaper to run. Garman said such models can be 500% faster and 75% less expensive.
Other features he mentioned included better guardrails and security, including a preview of a new automated reasoning system that is supposed to prove a system is working the way it’s intended to, thus preventing hallucinations. Other new tools in Bedrock include improved retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) tools, including using better tools for ingesting and evaluating knowledge bases.
Agents are getting a lot of attention this year – see Microsoft Ignite – and Garman talked about a preview version of new agent services, including multi-agent collaboration and orchestration. We are in « the earliest days of generative AI », he said.
That point was reinforced by Amazon CEO Andy Jassy, who took the stage to talk about customer experiences and to announce new models.
« The most success that we’ve seen from companies everywhere in the world is in cost avoidance and productivity », Jassy noted. « But you also are starting to see completely reimagined and reinvented customer experiences. »
He pointed to internal Amazon applications, including customer service chatbots that know who you are and what your ordered. This has resulted in a 500 basis point improvement in customer satisfaction, along with 25% faster processing times, and he said, 25% lower costs.
Other internal applications Jassy discussed included « Sparrow », a robotic system that picks up and moves items from containers into specific customer totes; and « Rufus », which lets you ask questions on any product detail page. Overall, he said, the company has over 1,000 generative AI applications deployed or in development.
While praising Anthropic and its Claude models, Jassy said there will « never be one tool to rule the world », and that « choice matters when it comes to model selection. » In that vein, he introduced a new family of « frontier » models, in what Amazon is calling its Nova family.
These include a text-only Micro version and three multi-modal models – Lite, Pro, and Premier. The first three are available now, with Premier due in the first quarter of 2025. He also mentioned Nova Canvas for image generation and Nova Reel for video generation and said Amazon is working on a speech-to-speech model and an any-to-any multimodal model for 2025. (Below, Amazon Nova Reel transforms a single image input into a brief video with the prompt: dolly forward.)
Jassy said the new models have low latency and are deeply integrated with Bedrock features such as fine-tuning and should be 75% less expensive to run than the other leading models in Bedrock – a big step if all other things are equal.
The push toward integrating AI into general applications was brought home by changes to SageMaker, which started life as a tool mainly for training AI models but has now been turned into a unified platform for data, analytics, and AI. The new SageMaker Unified Studio brings together a bunch of various « studios », query editors, and visual tools that were separate products. A new SageMaker Lakehouse is designed to unify your view into storage across multiple data lakes, data warehouses and third-party data sources, for analytics and AI/machine learning. (The previous SageMaker is now rebranded as SageMaker AI.)
In terms of AI for code generation, AWS announced autonomous Q Developer agents for generating code tests, documentation, and code reviews, and previews of agents to transform .NET applications from Windows to Linux, and to migrate VMware instances. On the latter, Garman said the agent could move applications four times better than manual methods, and that the move could result in a savings of 40%.Compute, Storage, and Databases
For running models, Garman announced the general availability of instances based on the first Trainium 2 chips, as well as an EC2 instance with Trainium 2 UltraServers, which connect four nodes into a 64-chip node with 83 petaflops. This chip will be used for both training and inferencing on AI models; Garman joked that « naming is not always perfect for us. » But he said this would offer 30 to 40% better price performance than current-generation, GPU-based instances. (As always, I take the performance and price/performance claims from vendors with a grain of salt – your mileage may vary.)
Trainium 3 is coming next year; it will be the first AWS chip on 3nm, with twice the computing power of this year’s version and 40% more efficient.
For more traditional computing applications, Garman talked about how Amazon has been developing its own Graviton CPU chips since 2018. Today, Graviton handles as much compute as all of AWS delivered—x86 and Arm—in 2019. Graviton provides 40% better price performance than traditional x86 (Intel and AMD) server chips, while using 60% less energy.
« Graviton is widely used by almost every AWS customer », Garman said, with 90% of AWS’s top 1,000 customers using it.
He announced a new Graviton 4 chip, which can address more applications. This will be 30% faster per core, but also has three times the number of CPU cores and memory. On database applications, it will be 40% faster, with up to 45% gains on large Java applications.
In storage and databases, Garman announced new S3 tables for supporting Apache Iceberg and an S3 Metadata service. But I was particularly impressed by Aurora DSQL, which he described as the fastest distributed SQL database, a multi-region, serverless service that is still mostly PostgreSQL-compatible. This is designed for always-available applications and builds on a time-sync service Amazon discussed last year and a new transaction engine. He said it’s up to four times faster than Google’s competing Spanner database.

AI summary and handwriting recognition are US-only, but there is a workaround
The 2024 Kindle Scribe was released on December 5 in major markets
Its biggest selling point – AI features for handwritten notes at launch
Unfortunately, this headline act isn’t available to all users
About a month after the cheaper 2024 Kindles went on sale, the new Kindle Scribe was finally released for purchase on December 5. It’s headline act: AI features that, as per our Amazon Kindle Scribe (2024) review, are actually useful.
While Amazon has promised that these AI features will be rolled out to the older Kindle Scribe (2022) some time in « early 2025 », it does make the new model – particularly in the Metallic Jade colorway, an enticing option for early adopters in need of a great writing e-paper tablet.
The 2024 Scribe is now available to buy in most major markets, but there’s one glaring omission if you’re making your purchase outside of the US.
If you’re in the UK or in Australia, for example, and have just bought your new Kindle Scribe, you might be wondering where the heck are the AI features. Turns out, they’re only available to US customers and Amazon has no current plans to roll them out globally.
I reached out for a reason and was disappointed to be told, « we don’t have anything to share today ».
There are two AI features that are supposed to be on the 2024 Kindle Scribe at launch – note summaries and handwriting recognition. Both are accessed via a little star-like icon sitting on the top right corner of a notebook’s menu bar (pictured below).
I got my 2024 Kindle Scribe on the day of release, then spent an entire day wondering why I couldn’t access the AI features. Amazon made no mention to the media – at least in Australia where I’m based – that it was restricted. I was so looking forward to trying it out but, sadly, it was a no-go.
It took me a while, though, but a little digging online led me to a workaround that has allowed me to install the AI features onto the new Kindle Scribe.How to install Kindle Scribe AI features
If you live outside the US and want the AI features promised to you on your brand-new Kindle Scribe, you can still install them. Just log into the desktop version of your local Amazon site (for example, in my case it’s Amazon AU), then hover over Account & Lists and choose Manage Your Content & Devices from the dropdown menu to access the preferences for your already setup Kindle(s).
Go straight to the Preferences option on this page and, under Country/Region Settings, click on Change your country/region (see image below).
You’ll need an Amazon US account, plus a valid US address and phone number. Since Amazon arrived in Australia (my home country) only in December 2017, I already had an Amazon US account, so didn’t need to start from scratch. Moreover, close family living in the US allowed me to use their contact details for this.
It’s important to note that you absolutely do not need to change your payment method here, so no one but you will be charged for any content you might purchase from the Kindle Store. You will, however, be charged in USD rather than your local currency.
Anyway, once you’ve saved the new address, just restart your Kindle Scribe and, voila, the AI icon will appear on your Notebooks. You can then use the AI Summary feature or convert your handwriting into text.
In my case, I had to restart the Kindle Scribe (2024) twice before I could see the AI icon in the Notebooks app, but keep in mind that if you change the details for your Kindle (content and device), you will lose access again.
There’s no harm in leaving a US address associated with your Kindle account but, as I’ve already mentioned, your Kindle purchases (not your regular Amazon shopping) will be charged in USD. If that doesn’t appeal to you, then you can revert back to your original setup but, again, you will lose the AI features until Amazon decides to roll these out globally.
What I find rather ironic is that the AI summary feature (pictured above) actually uses the UK spelling rather than the US one. Go figure.