You’re welcome! Yeah, totally planning to keep going right through to the end this, even if progress is a little slow right now. I’m currently learning some juicy info about the history of the Pewter Gym. I’m interested to see what new information can be gleaned about the Cerulean Sisters in the relevant chapter as well! It’s a shame that there was never a volume 3 (or 4, 5, etc.) of these, it’s fascinating how much stuff never made it into the actual show.

As for never getting an official translation, I think it’s probably a case of Pokémon being seen as a children’s franchise and some of the content in these books can get a little heavy. Delia got pregnant as a teen and had to raise Ash alone and run the family business after her mother passed away? Poké Ball transfer technology was built on the sacrifice of Pokémon’s lives? The existence of extremist groups who consider Pokémon to be unholy creatures that should be exterminated? The incorporation of Pokémon into the Genesis creation myth? I’m not sure this stuff would have flown with American parents back in the day. Plus translating all the puns is really hard. Plus it was probably easier to get Tracey West to write her own novelisations. (She doesn’t measure up to Shudo’s work though!)