Pokémon Book Reviews

Individual Review of Hydrangea by Torterra657

Hydrangea is a Pokémon one-shot about a Tsareena named Reena who is released by her trainer Rei when he destroys her Friend Ball. Although Tsareena was deeply upset by Rei's course of action, she later comes to realize that what he had done was to protect her from danger.

My first impression of Hydrangea was that it was very well-polished and well-written. I was also drawn towards the book because the cover was wonderfully done. I liked the cool purple-and-blue color scheme that went into it. After I finished reading, it was really refreshing to be able to notice that the background on the cover was of hydrangea flowers, a prominent, recurring theme in the one-shot. Another one of the things that stood out to me in particular was the descriptions. I liked how the author used a unique assortment of vocabulary and varying lengths of sentence syntax to emphasize the appearances of certain things. There was a consistent tone, and that served to characterize Reena more as a relatable Pokémon character.

The thing that the story could really work on is clarity, or more specifically, how events transition from one to the next. I kept feeling like the story was full of gaps, as though there just wasn't enough information or context to truly understand what was going on. Yes, the description is there, but the actual plot seems to be lost amongst the descriptions that the writer seemed to have poured so much effort into. There was an excessive amount of pronouns like "it" over and over again, but with each time it was used, I could never really understand what the writer was referring to.The one-shot seems very obscure and muddled because of this. I couldn't follow the plot progression; I could only understand bits and pieces of certain scenes, and I feel that alone wasn't enough for me to feel any genuine emotional impact from the one-shot.

Another thing was that I couldn't really get a sense of what the setting was or how Reena came to be at that said setting. The only settings that were explicitly mentioned or described were Rei's bedroom, a forest of some sort, and garden at the end. But even that seemed really strange. The writer mentions that Reena's trainer Rei was an actor, but there weren't any particular mentions of a theater, a stage, or any places that I would expect Rei to be in. Rei's role as an actor didn't seem to serve any real purpose. Also, Laura and her Litten were really confusing. Did they become friends with Reena? What was the reader supposed to learn from Reena and the Litten's conversation? Why couldn't Reena go home on her own?

As the main character, I felt that Reena showed depth, but she showed it in a way that was incomprehensible. After Rei releases her, she doesn't seem to care, saying that Rei never deserved her anyway. But just moments later, she comes to the conclusion that she must of misunderstood him and decides to go back to him. How could she have known that so confidently just by a hydrangea flower?

**SPOILERS** The ending was also really confusing. Laura apparently seems to care more about turning in a bad guy to Officer Jenny than helping Rei, who was supposedly inflicted by a gunshot wound? I think the author intended the ending to be a heartfelt one, but it left me with more questions than a proper resolution. **SPOILERS END** I think even for a one-shot, the writer needs to clarify Rei's intentions and motives in the book. It felt too restricted from Reena's point of view. The writer should also try to strike a balance by developing Laura and her Litten more as characters. At least for me, they didn't seem like characters who were absolutely necessary for the plot.

Overall, I think the idea, the tone, and the polish are there, but the plot of the one-shot itself lacks too much of the elements that make a one-shot a compelling read.