Hidenori Kusaka became successful with the Pokémon Adventures manga about the time it was released. It was immediately decided that English countries such as America should read this comic. Unlike The Electric Tale of Pikachu, there have been few alterations to the artwork to bring it to Western audiences. The manga has become famous in the United States and is one of the most widely known and translated Pokémon manga series worldwide.

In 2000, Mato caught a disease making her hand weak. She now couldn't illustrate for the manga due to her disease. Kusaka was afraid that this could jeopardize the manga and it would have to withdraw. However, he met a new illustrator, Satoshi Yamamoto, who was willing to illustrate for the future volumes.

Recently, Kusaka acted as an advisor for Miho Asada's manga Phantom Thief Pokémon 7, coming up with the name for the manga and the name of main character Hiori.