HANAMUSA is a webcomic based on Pokémon the Series by Tumblr artist Kiana Khansmith, as part of her Pokémon blog Yamujiburo.
After the Team Rocket Trio gets fired from Team Rocket, the three make their way through the Kanto region before ending up in Pallet Town, where an encounter with Delia leads her to helping them get back on their feet, even letting them stay at her house for a time. While James and Meowth eventually move out, Jessie continues to live with Delia in order to help her maintain the house. As time goes on, the two begin to grow closer and a romance begins to blossom.
The master post for the comic can be found here
. The comics can also be found posted on Kiana's Twitter account here.
Tropes in this webcomic:
- Adaptation Amalgamation: While the comic is largely based on the anime, it also takes elements from Pocket Monsters: The Animation, a non-canon, two-part light novel written by the anime's original chief writer Takeshi Shudō, which expands on background details not covered in the anime (such as Delia having Ash at eighteen, Delia owning a restaurant, and Ash's father being a trainer who failed his journey and never came home out of shame).
- Adaptational Sexuality: In the anime, Jessie and James are Ambiguously Bi at best, Delia's sexuality is never commented on (though Ash's existence would lead one to assume she's attracted to men), and Ash, while usually a Chaste Hero, has shown occasional attraction to girls. In this comic, Jessie is explicitly bisexual, James is aroace, Delia is a lesbian (with Ash's existence being explained as she had him prior to realizing she was exclusively attracted to women), and Ash is implied to be asexual.
- Affectionate Nickname: Delia has "Babygirl" as a nickname for Jessie.
- Ambiguous Situation: The final part of the journey arc subtly implies that Delia's newly caught Kankaskhan might also be the same one Pikachu was raised by, since Pikachu has a noticeable reaction to her, but it's unclear if this suggests an actual connection or is just Pikachu being nostalgic.
- Anachronic Order: Downplayed. The comics as they're released are done out of order from the events as they take place. However, the comic's master post orders the comics chronologically, as well as splitting them into multiple eras based on where they take place in the timeline.
- Babies Ever After: After Jessie reunites with Arbok, it's shown that Arbok is now the father of an Ekans.
- The Big Damn Kiss: The comic "First Kiss" portrays Jessie and Delia's, well, first kiss, which marks the beginning of their relationship.
- Big Damn Reunion: The comic "Arbok/Weezing Reunion", as its name would imply, depicts Jessie and James reuniting with Arbok and Weezing respectively, after Ash managed to find the latter two while in Hoenn.
- Can't Hold His Liquor: Jessie apparently claims that she can "drink [Delia and James] under the table", but she actually can't go a single glass of wine before she passes out completely.
- Delivery Stork: The comic "Where Do Babies Come From" has Jessie tell Ash that babies are delivered by Bombirdiers dropping them from the sky. Ash and Pikachu genuinely believe this and proceed to spend the day outside waiting for a Bombirdier to drop one so that he can catch it. According to
Word of God, Jessie also might genuinely believe this to be the case. - Disabled in the Adaptation: The comic explains Ash's inability to recognize Jessie and James in their Paper-Thin Disguise by him having Prosopagnosia, i.e. facial blindness. Delia has it too, though not as severe.
- Disguised in Drag: Ash and Jessie dress as the opposite gender to enter a "Daddy Daughter Double Battle" Pokemon competition.
- Formerly Fit: Jessie begins to gain weight over the course of the comic. Unlike the usual case of this trope, this is depicted as a positive development, as Jessie's prior skinny physique was the result being underfed and not eating healthily (as a result of growing up poor and constantly being on the road as a member of Team Rocket), so her weight gain is a sign that she's now eating healthy due to having a much more stable life (Plus, the author has made a point to never depict Jesse as being bothered by her weight gain).
- If You Ever Do Anything to Hurt Her...: Played for laughs. In one comic, James and Meowth confront Delia upon learning she's dating Jessie and start out seeming like they're threatening her if she breaks Jessie's heart. It turns out, however, they're actually fearfully warning her about what Jessie might do to her in that situation.James: Trust us, there's no telling what that woman will do to you if you break her heart!
Meowth: We've seen her take on Pokemon with her bare hands!
James: Please be safe, you're too sweet to die.
Delia: I think I can handle her. Thank you for your concern though. - Miss Conception: Ash, being ten-years-old, doesn't know where babies come from since Delia won't tell him, so he goes to Jessie (who's dating Delia) hoping she'll tell him. Unfortunately, Jessie also doesn't know, so she ends up telling him that Bombirdiers drop babies from the sky (prompting Ash to go outside and watch for Bombirdiers so he can catch the falling babies). When Delia explains the truth to Jessie, Jessie shows how much less she understands about where babies come from by assuming this means she and Delia will have a baby.
- Oblivious to Love: Jessie doesn't realize that Delia is flirting with her until she spells it out that she's inviting Jessie to join her in bed.
- Recognition Failure: Ash has severe face blindness, to the point where he can't even recognize Jessie if she wears her hair slightly differently or puts on different clothes. This turns out to run in the family, as Delia, while not nearly as bad, also can't tell that Jessie is the same person as her Idol alter ego.
- Wholesome Crossdresser: As per canon, Jessie and James are very good at crossdressing. They manage to get Delia in on it in the comic "Crossdressing", and she also looks quite good (although Jessie's reaction is certainly... less than wholesome). The comic "Daddy Daughter Double Battle" also has Ash assume his Ashley persona so that him and Jessie can enter a Daddy Daughter Double Battle competition.
- Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: In a case where it actually is snakes. Delia is terrified of snake Pokémon, which proves to be something of a problem when two of Jessie's Pokémon are an Arbok and a Seviper.