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Pokémon Adventures: Scarlet & Violet Chapter 12 Review - Meet Letty!

‘Ello, ‘ello, hola! Ciao and bonjour! It’s somehow both alarming and hilarious to see Scarlet wearing pigtails and having anything other than a frown on her face. The first time I’d seen her disguise out of context, I assumed she was a new character—absolutely not the highly serious treasure hunter with a terrifying reputation.

Keep in mind that there will be spoilers ahead. Please be sure to read the chapter yourself if that’s a concern for you!

Nemona playing along with Scarlet’s plans had me cackling. They’ve likely convinced any viewers that they’re a regular pair of completely normal friends. I’m surprised Scarlet even let Nemona hug her. She adapts surprisingly well to Iono’s energy, and since I sincerely doubt that Scarlet has ever watched one of her streams, it’s impressive how quick she is with building the persona she uses. Nemona seems to believe so too, especially in the conversation that takes place shortly after she suggests using the livestream to ask about the treasures of ruin. When Scarlet points out that Nemona hasn’t lived her childhood approaching every situation with caution, Nemona seems to linger on this.

Even though Nemona seems to be having a good time, I can’t help but feel bad for her when it’s blatantly clear that Scarlet is using her. In the Gym Test scene, the manga departs from the games by having the Uva Academy instructors hide instead of Clavell. Scarlet, not knowing any of them, has Nemona go first. In normal circumstances, this seems fine, but Nemona is used to Scarlet leaving before watching her Gym Test or battles, so it leads Nemona to believe that Scarlet is finally showing an interest in her skills and accepting her as a rival. That kind of hurts. While a little clingy, Nemona’s been nothing but supportive of Scarlet so far: she’s been keeping her badges; she saved her one of Arven’s Herba Mystica sandwiches and brought it back to her after Scarlet abandoned her; she gave her the disguise she’s currently wearing in order to protect her identity; and she’s generally her biggest cheerleader. On the other hand, Nemona helped Violet and Arven only once and the two of them still stopped in the middle of the West Paldean Sea to try to watch her Gym Test. Nemona doesn’t appear to be too fazed when she figures out that Scarlet is using her, but her positivity only makes this scene hurt more.

It was surprising that we got yet another instance of Violet being able to instantly recognize someone. I could see Scarlet having learned a skill like that to face the hardships in her life, so it’s interesting that someone as trusting and carefree as Violet would already excel at that. Then again, we still have never seen him figure out who Clive is, so maybe he has more to learn.

The battle scene was one of my favorites yet. It was flashy and clever—everything Iono probably wanted in her stream. I loved that as Nemona is mid-thought about how Scarlet could ever defeat Iono’s Wattrel with any of her Pokémon, her Sprigatito quickly knocks it out as if it’s nothing. What followed was something I’d been waiting for since the start of the arc—a Pokémon evolves during a scene that’s actually important to the plot! While it would have been fun to see Floragato battle, its Evolution was still super satisfying to see, especially after it had defeated Wattrel in such a quick and clever way. I was also impressed with Scarlet’s use of Substitute. Nemona actually had me worried that Armarouge was going to take a supereffective hit, but as always, Scarlet had a plan.

After Scarlet easily won her last two Gym battles by luring her opponents into Terastallizing, I like that Iono was able to throw a wrench in her plans for once. Her battling style is already fun to watch, but getting to see her grapple with a challenge would make the experience all the more entertaining, with the added effect of teaching us more about her character.

I’m excited to see how Scarlet and Iono’s battle concludes! What was your favorite part about this chapter?

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