YMMV / Pokémon: A Marvelous Journey

• Alternate Character Interpretation:
  • Amara - is she really a Bratty Teenage Daughter...or is she a scared, lonely girl who feels like The Unfavorite and unloved, and is thus lashing out in the only way she knows how? The fan fic mixes both of these in her characterization.
  • The other teacher who was present when Mrs. Amoretto was choking/beating up Julia and reacted by just standing there. Was she really an Apathetic Teacher, like Falkner accused her of, or was she so horrified by what Amoretto was doing she froze up in terror, like all the other witnesses? Note that even Falkner and his Pokémon stood shocked for a few seconds before they rushed in to intervene and save Julia.
• Anvilicious: The fourth bonus chapter drops a pretty big anvil about not invading a disabled person's privacy and autonomy when Merlin’s older sister, Lakeisha, records a video of one of her meltdowns without her permission or knowledge and texts it to her friends in an attempt to convince them that living with an autistic person is horrible. It backfires when her friends are disgusted with Lakeisha for what she did to her little sister and ends their friendships with her. One of those ex-friends also reports the incident to the principal and one of the teachers, getting Lakeisha in big trouble both at school and at home and she loses the respect and trust of her family and the other students. The only reason she isn’t punished more than she already is is because she had the decency not to post the video on the internet. In this day and age, many people, especially family members, think it's okay to violate a disabled person's privacy and autonomy, whether by recording videos of them depicting them in a bad light^note An example being the Autism Every Day documentary put out by Autism Speaks, where it was confirmed that the producers forced the families featured in the video to stop all therapies and medications for the sole purpose of showing them having tantrums and meltdowns to convey that life with autistic children is horrible. or recklessly revealing intimate information about them that the public has no right to know, thinking the autistic person is too developmentally delayed to give consent or feel anything in regards to having their autonomy violated.^note Example: Judith Newman's autobiography To Siri With Love, in which the author published text messages sent between her son and a friend and medical information, and admitted she wanted to sterilize him against his will. This chapter was likely written with the intention of saying that this is a really really bad thing to do and should be treated with the same seriousness as if it were done to anybody else (something that everybody does when they learn about it).
• Complete Monster: Hunter J once again establishes herself as a heartless Pokémon hunter only interested in making as much profit as she can. J has been responsible for many horrible crimes, to the point where she is The Most Wanted criminal in the entire world. J frequently steals Pokémon and sells them to the highest bidder; she is, however, perfectly willing to traffic humans as well. J begins working with Team Rocket to capture the three legendary beasts, Raikou, Suicune, and Entei. J uses any method she wants to capture Raikou, including painfully torturing it by sapping its electricity. When the heroes get involved, J gets her hands on Julia and painfully burns her with a cigar, which leaves a permanent scar on her, and then plans to sell her off. Later on, it's revealed that J was the one responsible for the Gyarados rampage that killed Amara's friend Chanel as well as many innocent people. J openly admits to doing this and dismisses all the deaths she caused.
• Crowning Moment of Heartwarming:
  • Chapter 56 has Julia briefly reunite with Geraldine. Though Julia can't take her back yet because she still has a lot of therapy to go through, Geraldine is happy to see her again and Julia promises to visit her whenever she can, reminding Geraldine that she'll always love her.
  • Despite everything Caiseal went through, his sister Violet continues to love and stand by him no matter what, even when she learns the truth about her parents' nepotism towards her and why they hate Caiseal so much.
  • The entirety of chapter 51, where the kids hang out with Caiseal's adopted family. It's made very clear that both of his adopted parents, Yvette and Geoffrey, love him as if he was their own child and care for him deeply, unlike his real parents.
  • In chapter 59, Julia and Amara share a sweet moment together in a run down shack near Mt. Silver, where they reminisce on a funny childhood memory. Later, when Amara finally agrees to turn herself in, her parents arrive and embrace her, happy to finally see their daughter again after so long. Even Amara is happy to be with them again, short as it was.
  • In chapter 61, Julia befriends Merlin, the younger sister of a girl who bullied her in school, after learning she's autistic like her, also likes Pokemon, and doesn't approve of her sister's mean ways. The two get along very well despite Lakeisha's protests and enjoy each other's company.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: The main character's named Julia, and her friend's Meganium is nicknamed Florian. Amusingly enough, the Pokémon Scarlet and Violet protagonists are named Juliana and Florian.
• Iron Woobie: Amara is sleeping outside in an uncomfortable sleeping bag in the woods, has little food, gradually getting dirtier and hungrier, is homesick, has to hide from police, and has no more friends. Yet despite this, she still perseveres and has the will to keep going.
• Jerkass Woobie: Yes, Amara may be a jerk and does things she shouldn't, but she does have a lot of problems.
• Moment of Awesome:
  • Hikaru's evolution after saving Julia and Raikou from one of Hunter J's machines in Olivine City. After all of the crap she went through as a young Pichu, she absolutely earned her chance to shine.
  • Any time one of the kids, or all three, have their Pokemon pull off an awesome attack or win a harrowing match, gym battle or not.
• Narm: Team Rocket is portrayed as a cult here, rather than Yakuza as they are in the games and anime, who put their Grunts into arranged marriages and force them to raise their own children as Rockets, calling it The Team Rocket Breeding Program. A horrifying concept that trips on its face both with the silly name, and with Petrel's line to one particular Grunt:
  "Become the willing piss-pot and spittoon of your husband and remain loyal to the organization, and we will be proud of you."
• Tear Jerker:
  • Julia being forced to give up Geraldine, the red Gyarados. While Julia loves Geraldine and treats her like she would any of her other Pokemon, her lack of experience with handling the species and inability to stop Geraldine's trauma-induced Berserker Rage forces Julia to realize her Gyarados needs specialized care and therapy that she just can't provide on her own. Many readers found themselves saddened by the Geraldine arc, and for good reason. It doesn't help that the authoress mentioned that this was based on an experience she had in college involving having to give up a beloved pet cat because she wasn't able to properly deal with her many health issues.
  • Saoirse's sudden and unexpected death in chapter 54 due to a heart defect that didn't cause her any trouble until it induced a fatal heart attack. Julia feels the whole thing is her fault for not having it be checked sooner. If the reviews on this chapter are anything to go by, this was definitely one of the saddest chapters...and it starts off so happy and pleasant!
  • In chapter 58, Amara learns the truth behind the Gyarados attack that killed Chanel. She's absolutely appalled and completely breaks down when she realizes what she herself has done. In the next chapter, she's still very distraught, even as Julia tries to comfort her. Later, she finally turns herself in and shares one last hug with her parents before being taken to jail to await her fate. You have to admit, this whole sequence is really sad.
• Toy Ship: Some people ship Caiseal/Perrine.
• The Woobie:
  • Both Amara and Chanel. At first, Chanel had no friends, grew up in a poor household, and was abused by her father. She managed to make friends with Amara and the girls, but then she's senselessly killed by a rampaging Gyarados. As a result, Amara becomes embittered and angry, thinking no one cares about her. When she learns that Pokemon Hunter J was responsible for the Gyarados attack that killed Chanel, as well as realizing how awful she's been to everyone because of letting her anger control her and her bad decisions, she goes into a huge Heroic BSoD where she releases all of her Pokemon and lies down on a dirty road, bawling.
  • Caiseal had it rough. He spent his whole life being neglected by his parents and was The Unfavorite compared to his little sister, Violet, the only person in the family that did care about him. When he was nine years old, his mother deliberately abandoned him in the Ice Path, he almost died the second he got there because an icicle nearly maimed him, and after he got out, he had no way of getting back home and forgot his phone number, so he had to spend two months on the streets. When he does get back home, his mother curses him out, disowns him, and finally tells him why she abandoned him. Before he was born, he absorbed his twin in utero. The revelation that his mother hated him before he was even born leaves Caiseal a complete mess, and although he is Happily Adopted by his teacher and her husband, he still has nightmares about the incident regularly and developed intense trust issues as a result. Furthermore, when he and Violet reunite, his biological father tries to keep them apart. Caiseal gets into a Pokemon battle with him, after the latter claims that he'll let him see Violet if he wins, and loses miserably... and then his father makes things worse by telling him that whether Caiseal won or not, he had no intention of letting him see Violet.
  • Julia's gone through her fair share of trouble as well, and when she's down in the dumps, you can't help but feel sorry for her. She was bullied by an abusive teacher in second grade, was unjustly blamed for a terrible incident by said teacher, leading to her developing low self-esteem and an intense hatred for Pokemon battles, picked on by other kids because of the way her autism manifests, grew up mostly friendless her whole life save for her Pokemon, and when the story begins, her older sister is constantly yelling at her and berating her over asinine things. Oh, and let's not forget some of the more recent chapters, where she not only has to give up one of her Pokemon because it needs professional therapy to help her deal with the issues caused by Team Rocket (Geraldine the red Gyarados), but watched one of her Pokemon die right in her arms (Saoirse) and being unable to do anything to save her.

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