How I Became a Pokémon Card

A Slice of Life type Pokémon manga. Each volume contained a Pokémon trading card, and the chapters were drawn by Kagemaru Himeno who is an artist for the trading card game.

Tropes used in How I Became a Pokémon Card include:

• A Boy and His X: An unnamed boy (who turned out to be Bill) and his Dratini in the first chapter, which centers around Pokémon first meeting humans.
• Badass Long Hair: Giovanni in his young adulthood.
• Bifauxnen: Kaede, in some panels, seems to be a rather cute young man.
• Distant Finale: The chapter about a young boy and the injured Persian he befriended skips forward several years at the end, to reveal that the boy is Giovanni, leader of Team Rocket.
• Foe Yay: Played with in the case of Erika and Kaede, as Erika doesn't even realize that Kaede is evil.
• Harmless Villain: Hiroshi is a cute kid who wishes to be a member of Team Rocket. Team Rocket isn't nearly as intimidating as in the games, but they're still a threat. Hiroshi eventually grows up out of his Harmless Villain role, as shown in the author's note at the end of the volume he appears in.
• Mythology Gag: Giovanni has a Persian, and Team Rocket is shown in a similar way to the Anime. The ending to Giovanni's chapter also resembles when in Pokémon Red and Blue Red comes and beats him.
• No Export for You: Due to the trading cards involved, don't expect the series to come out outside of Japan ever.
• Non-Indicative Name: No chapter revolves around becoming Pokémon cards.
• Papa Wolf: Dragonite did not take kindly to his son being "kidnapped" by humans.
• Portmanteau Series Nickname: Pokémon Card Ni Natta Wake becomes "Pokewake".
• Used to Be a Sweet Kid: Giovanni is shown as a little kid, meeting his Persian, in one chapter. He nurtures him after he finds him injured, and saves him from being captured.
• She's All Grown Up: The ending page always shows the main character in the chapter a few years later, often once as a teenager and once as an adult.
• Transsexualism: Akari is a female-to-male example.